PÄR LINDH PROJECT

It's strange to see how little recognition PÄR LINDH PROJECT received, their music is structurally perfect from start to end, adapts his style to any Classical Era he wants (In this case to Baroque), adds pure Symphonic and strong Heavy Rock elements,and yet only a couple of reviews. But if we add the fact that PÄR LINDH is a solid Classical Organ performer and responsible for the existence of Symphonic Prog today, this guys should have a monument.

"Mundus Incompertus" is after "Gothic Impressions" my favourite album, mainly because PÄR LINDH'S undeniable skills in the organ is at last complete supported by an outstanding band that helps to create the perfect atmosphere always, but taking good care to keep a sober and academicsound.The pomp is in the music, not in exaggerate performances, nothing is ever out of it's place, but still frenetic, innovative and radical.

"Baroque Impressions N° 1" stars with an impressive church organ solo that reminds of "Bach" in every instant, but suddenly and out of nowhere Jocke Ramsell adds his almost metallic guitar to remind us we're on Rock territory, every note is played with surgical precision, we're jumping back and forth from the 1700 to 1977, and the violin of Inge Thorsson adds the perfect complement.

But about the third minute, the balance changes, we're on frenetic Hard Rock style with the Hammond being the star and if this wasn't enough PÄR LINDH adds his unique 12-string guitar, perfection and balance from start to end.with another Baroque organ coda.

"The Crimson Shield" starts acoustic with the sweet voice of the late Magdalena Hagsberg" guitar and Clavinet, the melody is somehow unusual for this frenetic band, absolutely melodic and paused.

Normally people talk about the similarities between the Swedish master and Keith Emerson, but to be honest I find very few, while Keith is pompous and excessive, Par is calmed and sober, a real genius in a different way.

But the best is yet to come, the 26:43 minutes epic "Mundus Incompertus" brings us everything the band has in their arsenal, starting with a beautiful vocal passage again by Magdalena, they start a extravaganza that brings us from the Gothic period to the Baroque in a matter of seconds, but the impressive drumming of Nisse Bielfeld is what keeps the integrity of the song, the rest of the instruments may wander anywhere, but Bielfeld always keeps the track like a human metronome.

From this point to the end, expect anything, organ solos in Gothic style, jazzy passages, dramatic violin, chorus, frenetic guitar, solid bass, excellent arrangements and radical changes, with outstanding Piano, Moog and Mellotron, in other words pure Progressive Rock.

In my opinion any rating bellow 5 stars is unfair, a perfect masterpiece, maybe a bit too short, but I select quality over quantity any time.

If only the last track was not there !!

Gothic Impressions is what we may call a dream made of angel's music, dream that fell short.

From the first seconds of that CD, we know it will be fabulous : beautiful arranged keybords leading to the first song : "the Iconoclast". Every little things are made with genious taste. The bass partition is so "right" (the magic of a real Rickenbaker", the singer is so fabulous in singing notes - it shows that ones do not have to scream to me a singer. And this goes without saying Pär Lndh's keyborads : lots of organ, lots of synthesisers, and everything well balanced. Then come "Green Meadow Lands". Again very well sung, but with beautiful guitar parts (the acoustic one played by Roine Stolt). It is not often that a male vocalist gives me shivers but those two are definitely in for. Finally come the majestic "The Cathedral". Beautiful classic organ intro leading to light organ, bass & drums line with the superb Ralf Glasz' singing. He is even better in this one than in "the iconoclast". the piece continues with a suite of instrumental keybard led section, followed by a mellow sung section, and another instrumental keybard led section. It finally hit a climax with Johan Hogberg's superg guitar solo which will blend with the vocals near the end of the song. It will ends as it begins with a church organ solo. Simply breathless. Gunnlev's Round is then a "short" (3 minutes) instrumental medieval-oriented piece with Magdalena Hagberg on vocals. It would have been a fabulous intermezzo between "the Cathedral" and another great piece but, sadly, "Night on Bare Mountain" missed the beauty of the arrangement of the previous pieces. It's a good keyboard-bass-drums (all played by Pär Lindh) that does not reached the height of the remaining of the album. Without this last piece, it would have been a 5-stars CD.

Ultime

Par Lindh or ELP?

This is by far the most similar to ELP PLP gets, at least tracks 1 and 3.

Track 1, Rondo, is not a surprise since it was that song that Emerson brought to the rock world via both The Nice and ELP versions. This one is not quite as good as either, but does feature a guitar solo which is a nice change. Otherwise, pretty much a lesser interpretation of early ELP. The percussion solo really is only interesting for the fact that it is played by Lindh himself. At least it's less than a minute long. Jazz Eruption sounds pretty much like ELP's various jazzy instrumental bits, especially some of the improvs on the Welcome Back live album.

It's really only the final track that makes this EP interesting, as it is something of an ambient type of piece, with an interpretation of a traditional Swedish folk melody in the middle which features Magdalena Hagberg's lovely wordless singing. As an ambient piece it's not all that successful, sounding a bit too experimental and disjointed. But the middle section is nice and the piece as a whole is something very different from the usual Par Lindh fair.

This really only deserves 2 stars, not because it's bad, but because it really is a fans and collectors only type of release. I have no idea if it's even available anymore, but if it is, I'd only suggested it to people who absolutely love PLP and can't get enough. For myself, I bought this along with all the studio albums all at once on a hunch that I would like PLP's type of music. Mostly, I was right. But while fairly good, this is far from essential.

I think people often forget that Par Lindh was one of the early proponents of the third wave of prog. This album from 1994 is quite interesting for a number of reasons.

First, 2 of the most important tracks (including the epic) feature the rhythm section from Anglagard, with another track featuring both their guitarist and bassist. If there was ever a band that can be seen as a starting point for the third wave, it was Anglagard. They even borrowed Par's mellotron for their first album!

Second, Roine Stolt is featured on one track, playing acoustic guitar, and was also mixing engineer. Yet another link to a third wave giant. Roine was also recording his solo album, The Flower King, at the same time this album was being recorded.

Finally, Par notes in the booklet that most of the material was written by him in the 70's, but was not recorded at that time due to lack of interest from any record label. So, in the early 90's he started to see that real music was making a comeback and started his own label to release this material.

So how is the music? Well, it's kind of uneven really. The first track is an instrumental lament to Dresden, very gothic sounding and quite nice, fitting well with the album title. The second track is a slice of classic 90's prog, helped immensely by the Anglagard boys rhythm section. However, vocalist Ralf Glasz has a style that can best be described as overdone. He is not a screamy, over the top singer, but his style is distinctly non-prog and non-rock. I'm not really sure what his style is exactly, but it's not very good to my ears. Still, not a bad track.

Next up is the pleasant Green Meadow Lands. A different singer, not as bad as Glasz, rather unremarkable but serviceable. The song goes from pastoral to symphonic quite smoothly at various points in the song. A nice piece. This leads us into the nearly 20 minute epic, The Cathedral. The singing on here is even worse than on track 2, but at least there is a lot less of it. Some nice and very heavy guitar solos, along with great organ playing from Par. The song is a bit disjointed and doesn't seem to flow all that well, but once again the Anglagard rhythm section gives it the extra punch it needs to be at least not a bad song. Gunnlev's Round is a short, pleasant medieval piece featuring a choir, Magdalena Hagberg's lovely vocalizations, and a wide array of acoustic instruments including harp and classical guitar.

The final track, Mussorgsky's Night on Bare Mountain, is probably the most enjoyable. Everything on this track is played by Par, which is pretty impressive since some of the percussion work is quite good. A great interpretation using modern instruments, probably the best track on the album.

While this isn't nearly as good as Mundus Incompertus, it's still worth checking out if you enjoy that album. Just be warned about the poor singing. On the whole, a decent if a bit spotty album. 3 solid stars.

Par Lindh's story with progressive rock goes back in the late 70's.Being trained on piano,organ and drums Par was a member of a couple of prog rock groups,but after the huge fall of the progressive rock movement he decided to purchase a career as a musician of classical music.Studying piano and hapsichord and based in France,he performed all over Europe as a classical composer.But his love for prog rock didn't fade away.By late 80's he was back in Sweden and in 1991 he founded the Swedish Art Rock Society.With the rebirth of prog rock and the presence of excellent groups such as ANGLAGARD and LANDBERK,things were a lot more easier for Par to focus on working on a progressive rock group...

In 1994 Par released his first album under the name of PAR LINDH'S PROJECT with the tithle ''Gothic impressions''.And the result is exactly what you expect from such an experienced musician,a prog rock little gem.His work is very much influenced by RICK WAKEMAN and KEITH EMERSON,but Par also adds his personal touch with all these baroque,medieval,middle age influences,combining all these elements in a perfect way.Keyboard freaks will have the time of their life with this album .Synthesizers ,piano ,mellotron ,hammond but mainly tons of excellent church organ work give Par the title of the ''Keyboards' modern hero''.''Iconoclast'' is a fantastic starter with operatic vocals and grandiose keyboards and organ,while ''Green meadow lands'' is an absolute stunner,a lost GENESIS gem,with Collins-like gentle vocals and beautiful Mellotron.It's time for the epic of the album,what to say,a masterful arrangement.Starting with the thrilling organ,the vocals are added so gently,followed by Par's complex keyboard soli.Melodic guitar solos,ethereal vocals and a great organ theme will end this track up in a dramatic way.A medieval track such as ''Gunnlev's round'' follows as an intro to what I call ''Par Lindh's personal time'' and that is ''Night on bare mountain''.This is maybe the weak point of the album.Of course the musicianship is absolutely masterful,almost every organ that Par has studied is in here,it's almost like a soundtrack of a horror movie with Par playing in a dramatic,complex,almost scary way,but I find this track a little bit excessive in duration and self-confidence.I would prefer again a more symphonic,melodic yet dramatic way by Par Lindh on showing his undenieable skills.

Not much to add.This is for sure an essential album full of great arrangements motivated by classical music,baroque,the middle age and of course 70's prog.I will rate this with 4.5 stars downgraded to 4.Sympho-maniacs have no reason not to add this to their collection.Prog rock fans in general must check this effort out so they will understand why classical music and rock music are so much related....

During this concert in Poland the Par Lindh Project performed as a trio on keyboards, bass and drums, without violin players, guitarists or singers. So their sound moved even more towards early ELP, especially because of the frequent use of the hammond organ (connected with the distinctive Leslie box) like in the bombastic opener Night On Bare Mountain (incredible how easy Par Lindh switches from organ to synthesizers), the Mundus / Veni Vidi Vici Medley (swinging piano and swelling church organ sound), the new composition Suite In Progress (spectaculair fat synthesizer flights and sensational part that reminds me of Fanfare For The Common Man) and the compelling Gradus Ad Parnassum (swirling and gracious piano work, an exciting piano/bass duet and a powerful drum solo). The interplay between the three musicians is excellent (especially in Montagues & Capulet in which Par Lindh succeeds to give this classical cover an own turn) and during this concert the chemistry grows and grows, I also notice that the music on stage sounds more powerful than on the studio-albums. In two songs Par Lindh his loyal bass player William Kopecky gets room voor soloing, in my opinion he does a good job, very inventive and I enjoyed the fuzzy sound in Baroque Impression (then captivating interaction with sparkling piano work). The lightshow is beautiful, from dreamy blue and green to a see of orange light.

This is a great keyboard driven live DVD, not to be missed by any serious keyboard aficonado and ELP proghead so I would like to end with: Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends, Ladies And Gentlemen: the Par Lindh Project, highly recommended!

www.progwalhalla.com

I recently acquired this great album and was right away impressed by the quality of the musicianship and songwriting. The more you listen the more you discover subtleties in the composition and soudscapes. The instrumentation is also wonderful. Really I wish we could give Half stars as this one fully deserves it. Fans of symphonic prog this is a release for you.

Pictures of an exhibitionist?

After a break of some 5 years, Pär Lindh decided to resurrect the Project name and embark on a tour. Bassist William Kopecky, who appeared on the band's previous live album (but who did not play on any of the studio albums) is present, along with new drummer Svetlan Råket. The gig which was recorded for this DVD was only the second time this line up played together, being filmed at the Wyspiański Theater in Poland.

The music here is taken from all of the Project's three studio albums to date; sometimes being put together in medley format. Also included is a brand new composition which Lindh says Does not even have a name yet; the audience responding with enthusiastic applause.

If you've ever wished ELP had continued to follow the course suggested by their Pictures at an exhibition album, this could well be the set for you. Lindh has obviously modelled his keyboards style on that of Keith Emerson, the organ sound often being like that used on Blues variation for example. The line up too is instrumentally very similar to that of ELP.

The concert is entirely instrumental, and almost exclusively focused upon the keyboards skills of Lindh. William Kopecky (Bill) gets the opportunity to carry things along on bass from time to time, including a solo section. His bass virtually becomes a lead guitar at times, during such forays.

The playing is always extremely tight. Even when the style drifts towards jazz on pieces such as the Mundus/Veni Vidi Vici medley, there is clearly no improvisation. Classical influences and extracts are used regularly right from the opening Night on Bear mountain, the appearance of Mussorgsky and Prokofiev themes also emphasising the ELP connection.

It is clear throughout the concert that audience participation is not expected or indeed invited; a factor perhaps emphasised by the absence of a lead vocalist. This is music to sit back and enjoy as the complex waves of quasi-classical compositions reveal themselves.

The gig runs to around 80 minutes in all, the filming being complementary and unintrusive. Also included is a 20 minute interview with Par Lindh, conducted in perfect English by the Polish interviewer and the Swedish subject. Lindh reviews his career and various projects to date. Interestingly, during the interview Lindh indicates that he is currently looking to recruit a vocalist for the next album, his preference being a female singer (but he would also welcome a call from Jon Anderson!).

In all, a highly enjoyable set which captures Lindh in a live environment. The recording quality is superb throughout, and the playing exemplary. Do not however look for an flamboyant light-show or over the top Emerson style pyrotechnics, this is more akin to a classic recital.

I have known this band (project) quite sometime ago through various discussions with prog colleagues in my country. I finally purchased a CD of Par Lindh Project titled "Rondo" which did not truly impress me at first spin and I just kept it in my CD shelf and never touched it anymore. A colleague prog head brought with him this "Mundus Incompertus" album for me to listen. Oh man . it blew me away right from the start of the album until the end.

I have been exposed with many kinds of keyboards or church organ sounds in different kind of bands from Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Mathew Fischer and many progressive symphonic bands who use keyboards/ organ to accentuate their symphonic style. But still, I am amazed with what this album by Par Lindh offers. Having read his biography as musician where he started his musical journey dated back in 1977 in which in 1979 he was involved in the symphonic trio while he played a role as multi instrumentalists ranging from church organist, classical pianist, harpsichordist, drummer, Hammond organist, and even jazz musician with extreme success - it is quite clear that he is a brilliant musician.

There is nothing special that I can say with respect to how classical music is being interpreted by Par Lindh because I have been bombarded with may repertoires by other bands like ELP, Ekseption etc who have done best on this part. But when I listen to the opening track "Baroque Impression No. 1" (9:10) for the first time, I did not think much about the classical composition with Baroque style. I was more interested on how the band crafted the pieces or segments of music to become a cohesive and tight composition. The first impression was coming from drumwork which I thought it was really wonderful - dynamic and inventive. Secondly, of course I love the sound of the organ and the way Par Lindh plays it wonderfully. The music flows in high energy and drive, however, it also gives balanced ups and downs with intriguing break. The electric guitar solo followed by acoustic guitar fills in the middle of the track is really cool. Of course, I love this opening track very much.

The second track is totally different style with nice clavinet work accentuated by mellotron at background followed with mellow female singing line performed by Magdalena Hagberg. Oh yes, you might associate this melodic and catchy track with Annie Haslam and Renaissance, it's not because of both of them females but more on the combined music and singing line that is really nice.

The last track is actually an epic "Mundus Incompertus" (26:43) which, due to its wonderful composition, does not create any feeling of getting bored throughout the span of 26 minutes of music. This is of course a brilliant effort that deserves respect by all prog heads in the world. You don't need to challenge me on how this composition would lay nicely into your mind - especially if you love vintage prog music like King Crimson, ELP, Renaissance or Van Der Graff Geenerator. Each of the band has its own characteristic, and Par Lindh is kind like combine all of them together into one beautiful composition as well as delivery. It starts mellow with nice female singer followed with stunning music which moves into dynamic style at approx minute 2. Oh my God .. I really love the way organ is being played as well the guitar work. It's truly a masterpiece composition.

Conclusion:

It's a true masterpiece of progressive rock!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Not really interesting record, mainly a collection of rarities very difficult to add to his albums." Rondo" is just a cover of the typical Keith Emerson arrangement, undoubtedly a tribute to him. "Jazz Eruption" is a brief example of LINDH´s ability in jazz and, although it is not a superb example, it could have been interesting to see how PAR LINDH would have fit into jazz music if he has developed his music that way. The main point of interest in this record is "Solaris", a magnificient demonstration of the ability of LINDh in atmospheric and soundscaping keyboards, not really developed in his records but we can chack here that he has a lot to offer in this field.

Only reccommended for those interested in PÄR LINDH music apart from PLP. 3 stars.