LAND OF GREEN AND GOLD

This new offering from the very prolific Ukrainian prog maestro Antony Kalugin has already gained a lot of praise in this site, so it's a bit surprising to note that mine will the first collaborator review. I found KARFAGEN a few years back and was especially charmed by Echoes from Within Dragon Island (2019). My fondness for Kalugin's CAMEL- influenced, melodic mellow-symph style remained very strong for the subsequent albums, considering also Karfagen's Birds of Passage and his solo album Marshmallow Moondust (both released in 2020) five-star delights. Perhaps new albums kept coming in a slightly too fast pace, those albums being also relatively similar with each other, and eventually my "honeymoon" era as a listener of Kalugin's music was gradually left behind. I felt appropriate to start my review this off-topic way, revealing my overall background as a listener, because I find it difficult to decide whether to give Land of Green and Gold five stars simply because I consider it among Antony Kalugin's finest albums, or should my slightly reduced enthusiasm amidst the fast chain of albums reflect my rating and round 4½ down to four. At this very moment I frankly don't know -- so unfair that the rest of you reading this already know!

With his recent solo albums Antony Kalugin has proved very capable of performing his grand-scale symphonic prog entirely by himself. Returning now to the Karfagen camp he lets his wonderful fellow musicians play the guitars, basses, drums and reeds, concentrating on his main instrument, keyboards. Surely for example guitar solos are more gorgeous because of that collaboration. Antony does the few vocal parts here as well; I would have enjoyed some female vocals thrown in too, but that's not a big deal because this is an instrumentally oriented album. As for the instrumentation, there are saxophones much more than flute, whereas I personally would have preferred it to be the other way round. Also I'm not very fond of accordion in general, although its appearance on two tracks is a fine addition to the sonic palette.

I won't go through the tracks in detail since there are as many as eleven of them, as opposed to several recent albums consisting mainly of two epics. That's actually a positive thing here, and it doesn't prevent the album structure to feel very symphonic. The overall mood is happily dreamy, rather mellow and relaxed despite the child- like adventurous spirit. Some parts are pastoral in a lovely way. 'Pastoral' is a 1½-minute piece for acoustic guitar that may make one think of ANTHONY PHILLIPS. The two 'Garden of Hope' pieces featuring vocals are sandwiching the 13-minute album highlight 'Land of Gold' (thus forming Chapter 2 : Land of Gold). One reason for it being a highlight is the flute -- which unfortunately doesn't appear elsewhere on the album. But sadly the use of vocoder is a minus in this otherwise wonderful piece. A strong Camel vibe is heard in the soaring melodies.

Chapter 3 : Land of Jazz is marked as a bonus. Not surprisingly the flexible jazz/ fusion element often present on Kalugin's compositions is given here more space, and the tenor sax of Sergii Kovalov has a central role. The separate 44-second Outro is very delicate in mood. Now, after writing this review I am better equipped to decide on my rating. As I said, I'd like to give the same full rating as to three other albums, but let's be honest, that was then and this is now. By just a few things more up to my preferences (more flute, some female voice accompanying Antony's, and not that irritating vocoder) I'd give the five stars! In short, a wonderful and highly pleasant album for all fans of Antony Kalugin, and a perfect place to get into his melodic and easy-on-the-ears symphonic and fusion-flavored prog in the vein of CAMEL, FOCUS, HAPPY THE MAN and WILLOWGLASS if you're not yet familiar with it.

The first time Maestro Antony Kalugin has been able to work with his Karfagan collaborators in a couple years, they team up here to produce some top-level prog, mostly instrumental, and more jazz- and blues-influenced than we've heard in a while.

"Chapter 1: Land of Green" 1. "Kingfisher and Dragonflies (Part 3)" (2:11) beautiful instrumental with classical guitar and synths. Very ANTHONY PHILLIPS-like. Absolutely gorgeous melodies and themes. What a start! (5/5)

2. "Land of Green (Part 1)" (11:00) sounds/feels to me like a modernized, watered-down take on Miles Davis' Sketches from Spain--a SYNERGY, TONY BANKS, or Smooth Jazz approach to such a theme. (17/20)

3. "Land of Green (Part 2)" (3:30) instrumental jazz and blues prog. (8.75/10)

4. "Solis Festum" (1:39) Fender Rhodes play joined by others in the second half and then finishing with classical guitar and accordion-led European street feel. (4.25/5)

5. "Land of Green (Part 3)" (4:58) cheesy keys and jazz sound palate gives this one a rather dated, Adult Contemporary feel--until Alexander Pavlov's high class guitar solo in the second minute. Soprano and tenor sax solos in the third minute only add the Smooth Jazz feel. Alexander's next solo in the fifth minute brings us almost into the New Age jazz category. (8.25/10)

6. "Pastoral" (1:34) solo classical guitar. (4.25/5)

"Chapter 2: Land of Gold" 7."Garden of Hope (Part 1)" (7:49) Smooth Jazz artists like Joe Sample, Ronnie & Hubert Laws, and Najee/Kenny G come to mind as I listen to this--and then Spock's Beard as I hear the vocal section. (13/15)

8. "Land of Gold" (13:20) piano and electric guitar(s) open this one. I love the pace, the solos and sounds, the bass play, and even the vocoder. My favorite song on the album. (27/30)

9. "Garden of Hope" (Part 2) (4:31) sounds like the Devonshire Canterbury band MAGIC BUS. Like the fretless bass and peaceful, pastoral keyboard and electric guitar riffing. Nice song. (8.75/10)

Bonus tracks: Chapter 3: Land of Jazz (bonus tracks) 10. "Land of Jazz" (6:37) another venture into the proggy-fusion world of the late 70s jazz artists as listed above for the "Garden of Hope (Part 1)" song--especially Hubert Laws--with the addition of Narada Michael Walden and even some of the later RTF/Chick Corea stuff--which I loved. (9/10) 11. Land of Jazz (outro) (0:44)

Total Time 57:53

Other reviewers have mentioned a CAMEL-like sound or influence to the music here, I'm not as sold on that angle though I do hear it--I do get it--especially some of the guitar sounds chosen. There are just too many disjointed motifs present here for me to endorse that perspective. I really like the contributions of Antony's two guitarists--both with very distinctive styles--as well as his bass player. Nice work, guys!

B/solid four stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection.