MAGENTA

It's always great when you get a debut album from a band that already has so many of their defining characteristics and sound in place! For those unsure of the band, Magenta combine an adult/contemporary pop/rock sound balanced with vintage 70's progressive influences and modern Neo Prog arrangements to create a lush and sophisticated sound. The band at this stage was built around masterful writer/arranger Rob Reed, also a top notch musician, and their main drawcard, the lovely Christina Booth, who's delicate and commanding vocals float between reflective, wistful and confident. The wavering and soulful tone of her distinctive voice places her so far ahead of the numerous other female prog vocalists. Chris Fry would also eventually become a fully integrated member of the band from here on.

I love the sheer guts and determination it shows when a band releases a double concept album as a debut, and then fills it with four epic pieces (running from 19-25 minutes each) with only a couple of shorter interludes to break it up! Although formatted like Yes' `Tales From Topographic Oceans' with 4 vinyl side-long pieces, which was a demanding and complex listen that required endless plays to appreciate, `Revolutions' is instantly catchy, accessible and highly melodic, while still retaining an ambitious symphonic and classical grandness.

Listening to the album I'm occasionally reminded of albums like `Scheherazade' by Renaissance with the orchestral grandeur and occasional folk leanings, while the keyboards have an upbeat snap like early Pendragon. There's some early 70's Genesis-like pomp and majesty, but Christina's (and Rob's occasional) vocals keep everything very grounded and relatable. Rob and Chris share guitar duties, ranging from placid acoustic beauty to epic and soaring soloing tastefully implemented with commendable restraint at only the most appropriate times. Rob's thick bass punches through perfectly throughout, while Tim Robinson displays endless variety of subtlety and bombast with his drumming. There's beautifully timed and masterfully executed reprises during the long pieces, which never get repetitive or feel overstretched. I especially love many of the shimmering piano solo spots too.

Lyrically `Revolutions' takes many influences from medieval history, poetry, Christian beliefs, old literature and sci-fi, with the main four unrelated pieces on the album brought together with the reprising theme of `Faith'. `Children Of The Sun' deals with placing belief and hope in the natural elements to provide for our every need. `The White Witch' is a gothic fairytale of a woman feared as a witch for having faith in things that others don't understand. `Man and Machine' deals with the consequences of putting too much faith into man-made objects/modern technology at the risk of the soul, while `Genetesis' is a dark science fiction/horror tale of `revolutionizing' faith through genetic tampering, the evolution of a perfect God created purely by man, and replacing true Divine Beings in the process of evolution. Heavy stuff in parts, but endlessly fascinating and thought- provoking. It's certainly one of Magenta's more lyrically heavy-going albums!

One thing I found a little disappointing inside the CD booklet is a comment from Magenta mainman Rob Reed:

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery. This album is the product of a life of influence by my favourite bands. It is an attempt to recreate the magical flavours which they refuse to serve to us today. Any similarities or coincidences with any band past or present is entirely intentional!"

I believe Rob sells himself short with this comment, because from this I was expecting a mere tired retread of every Genesis, Renaissance, Yes/Rick Wakeman, etc album. But what he and the band have done on `Revolutions' is combine little elements of these artists into their own modern and distinctive style seamlessly. This is no clich'd rehash of past bands, it simply takes the best elements of those greats and incorporates them in an original and memorable way. You'll find occasional moments that make you instantly think of those above mentioned bands, but never at the expense of Magenta's own identity and style.

I also believe a band like Magenta could quite easily tap into a stronger female fanbase, as their lyrics are often romantic, full of longing and relatable everyday emotions with a heartfelt and confident female front-woman. There's rarely any over-reliance on bloated soloing, instead going for quiet emotional subtlety and well-executed complexity. More streamlined and straight-forward albums like their later `Chameleon', `The Singles' and some of the more simpler tracks from their album `Seven' like `Envy' and `Anger' also highlight their accessible potential.

Magenta would eventually move away from many of the more overt 70's influences in their early work as they refined and properly progressed their sound, so it makes `Revolutions' even more special and unique in their back catalogue. Fans of modern symphonic bands with female singers like Glass Hammer, Par Lindh Project and Cirrus Bay would be wise to check out this sumptuous and masterful blend of the old with the new, from a special band that continues to be the leaders of the female fronted progressive bands and the masters of adult rock and modern symphonic/Neo prog.

An easy four stars!

To me a true example of `crossover prog', `Chameleon' is Magenta's most straightforward release to date, but with plenty to still interest the more forgiving prog-rock fan. The majority of the tracks are quite commercial and accessible, very melodic and easy to get into, without being shallow and dumbed down to radio-friendly lengths, and while much of the album still sticks to typical verse- chorus structures, it's packed with atmospheric keyboards, epic guitar solos and evocative vocals. There's punchy and catchy pop-prog like the opening track `Glitterball', heartfelt ballads with `Turn The Tide', tougher pop-rock in `Raw' and a truly grand finale with `Red'.

Magenta has easily the best of the bunch of female prog lead singers with Christina Booth. Her voice is equally powerful, frail and wistful. She has a real character in her voice, and never feels the need to over-sing and drain any of the tracks with needless strangled and drawn out empty showboating. It's always been her subtlety and restraint that lifts her above others. Her voice often conveys such beautiful and sad weariness. She's also very confident on the rockier parts of tracks like `Guernica' and `Breathe', with a commanding presence. Her forceful reading of the lyrics in the second half of `Turn The Tide' floored me, as does her warm tones throughout all of album finale `Red'. Listen to her in that repeated chorus!

As usual much of the album is directed by Rob Reed, Magenta's jack-of-all-trades, who's keyboards, guitar and bass playing are all first rate throughout. He's also made sure that this album offers something a little different for the band, which will be appreciated in the long run. As expected from a Magenta release, his mixing and production is superb as always, crisp and clear.

The lyrics on `Chameleon', as on many Magenta albums, are frequently very relatable, and I think this is one of the great strengths of this band. We all know plenty of progressive artists that write very cryptic and wordy lyrics, so to be able to really get into what this band writes is very appreciated. Magenta often tell wonderful and vivid stories, filled with human feeling and experience.

One of the highlights of the album that comes out of nowhere is Chris Fry's superb acoustic instrumental solo piece appropriately called `Reflections'. Short but sweet at a little over two minutes, it's a touching and heartfelt piece that wouldn't have sounded out of place on an Anthony Phillip's album. Chris has numerous beautiful guitar passages throughout the album, but I'm not always sure which parts are played by him and which by Rob, also credited to guitars. Anyway, I'm now very curious to look into Fry's recent solo album!

I also draw particular attention to the stunning orchestrated and ambient intro to `Guernica', before Christina's treated vocals add a very eerie presence! Simply perfect!

`Chameleon' covers all the sort of music that Magenta always does so well, with much variety, possibly influenced by Christina's own solo album from a little while back. Sometimes the album is a little too simplistic, and a few sections border in being a little dull, but I believe prog artists like this really enjoy once in a while easing up on complex arrangements, long running times and bloated concepts! In some ways, this album is a good `easy listening' prog album, one you put on every now and then as a background album without having to pay too much attention to it. Perhaps it works better in this way, being distracted by all the surface gloss and great sounds, than really dwelling on it to find that it's a little overly-simplistic and sometimes...whisper it, just a little bland.

In the end, not a very important progressive rock album, nor the band's best album - that would probably be `Seven' or personally to my ears the `Live at Real World' double album - OK, I'm kind of cheating, because I'm really thinking of the DVD concert version of that one! But `Chameleon' is very listenable, and Magenta are a terrific modern prog band, with great musicians fronted by a wondrous and sublime female vocalist. Onwards and ever upwards for this group!

Really 3 and a half stars!

I had the pleasure of seeing Magenta live for the first time a couple of weekends ago at Celebr8 Prog fest in London. I picked up a copy of Chameleon after being rather impressed with their live show.

This is the bands 5th studio album and features a selection of very catchy, but unmistakably prog rock tracks. Many of which are driven by some very fun and interesting synth lines, and this is one of the reasons this CD stands out. The other is the vocals of Christina Booth; her vocals soar over, and compliment the music beautifully. Her vocal style does remind me a little of Julianne Regan (All About Eve) and adds a bit of a folksy feel to proceedings.

I've given this CD quite a few spins and I still can't decide what my favourite track is. Definite highlights are the first two tracks ? Glitterball and Guernica. They are both upbeat, feature some interesting musical passages, and gnarly over the top synth. It's great!

I have to say I don't think the production on this release is that good, the drums seem lacking, and the guitars lost at points. As a personal preference I would like to see the band let rip a bit more; there are some really great build-ups on this album but most of the time they never really amount to much, you're always left waiting for the hit.

Overall I really enjoyed Chameleon; Magentas skill at song writing just shines through on this release. I'd like to see them get a little heavier in places, but I think many would disagree. If you ever get the chance to see them live, you will not be disappointed!

Discovered Magenta whilst browsing Youtube. Listened to the clip of them performing Wonderous Stories by Yes. Was well impressed with that so thought I'd dip into some of their back catalogue. Read some of the reviews of Revolutions and thought that would be a good place to start. I've listened to it a couple of times now and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. The musicianship can't be faulted for sure, but oh dear the lyrics. Twee at best. All this stuff about computers and lap tops etc - I mean please. Some nice tunes I guess, but nothing new whatsoever. A misnomer to call this prog rock as there's nothing progressive about it at all. It would be better named Regressive Rock.

Evidently, Magenta were perturbed by the mixed reception Home received, because Metamorphosis finds them retreating to more traditionally proggy territory. In fact, they cram on not one but two songs of over twenty minutes, as though going out of their way to stress their prog credentials. It's a pleasant enough disc, but to be honest it feels like the band are going through the motions, trotting out a bunch of well-worn prog motifs and jamming on them until they hit the 20 minute mark. The lyrical direction is mildly darker than expected, but otherwise this is good but rather typical neo-prog material which doesn't do anything particularly special.

I am not a musician, nor am I an expert on the variations of prog. Instead, I am a devoted listener to many prog bands, which I appreciate in many ways. I don't know the technical nuances of the songs. But, I know what I like and this fits right in there with older Genesis, Nektar, Camel, and Yes, while more closely being like Marillion (Fish era), Arena, Pendragon, IQ, and other neo-prog bands. The real difference, however, are the vocals of Christina Booth. In addition to the obvious (female), there is the fact that she has an amazing voice. This is not as evident in this album, but becomes very obvious in later albums Seven and Home. It is clear, strong, and emotive. It carries and melds with the music, rather than being distracting as many male prog singers can be (ironically, including Rob Reed on the few unfortunate occasions he sings on this album).

The production quality is excellent, as is the musical quality. The only drawbacks are that the lyrics are very awkward in some instances, particularly in Man and Machine, and the transitions between parts within each song are, in some cases, jarring and abrupt. Instead of being designed that way, they sound as though Magenta was not quite sure how to do it. Maybe this is a sign of a young band, or maybe I just don't appreciate it. Otherwise, this album is up there with any neo-prog album I have and is respectable compared to the giants that came before them. Very impressive for a first album. I also highly recommend Home and Seven.

Magenta's Home started life as a double concept album, but hoping to reach a broader audience the murky prog morass of the midsection (the New York Suite) was trimmed from the running order and released as a separate EP; later, a special edition would include it as a second CD, and most recently the album has been rereleased with the New York Suite tracks restored to their original intended position in the running order.

Sadly, none of the configurations of Home - with or without the New York Suite in place (I have both so I've been able to experiment) manage to meet the expectations established by the magnificent Seven. Without the New York Suite, the balance of the album is a bit skewed towards contemplated piano-plus-vocals pieces which become samey and tiresome over the course of the album; with the Suite in place, the album feels bloated and fails to sustain my interest.

In short, I think trimming back the material was the right idea, but the band went the wrong way about it - rather than selecting the proggiest part of the piece and excising it, they should have trimmed back the filler over the course of the entire album and produced a single-album concept with each of the different sections (pre-New York, New York itself, and post-New York) condensed down to a point where it's all killer and no filler. That would require substantially more work than just removing some songs - actual existing songs would need to be modified - but I think the results would have been much more satisfying than either the castrated short version or the overstuffed "director's cut" of the album are.

Magenta's Home started life as a double concept album, but hoping to reach a broader audience the murky prog morass of the midsection (the New York Suite) was trimmed from the running order and released as a separate EP; later, a special edition would include it as a second CD, and most recently the album has been rereleased with the New York Suite tracks restored to their original intended position in the running order.

Sadly, none of the configurations of Home - with or without the New York Suite in place (I have both so I've been able to experiment) manage to meet the expectations established by the magnificent Seven. Without the New York Suite, the balance of the album is a bit skewed towards contemplated piano-plus-vocals pieces which become samey and tiresome over the course of the album; with the Suite in place, the album feels bloated and fails to sustain my interest.

In short, I think trimming back the material was the right idea, but the band went the wrong way about it - rather than selecting the proggiest part of the piece and excising it, they should have trimmed back the filler over the course of the entire album and produced a single-album concept with each of the different sections (pre-New York, New York itself, and post-New York) condensed down to a point where it's all killer and no filler. That would require substantially more work than just removing some songs - actual existing songs would need to be modified - but I think the results would have been much more satisfying than either the castrated short version or the overstuffed "director's cut" of the album are.

The point being to play all their songs live at least once?

With this, their second live concert DVD, Magenta admirably decided to feature a set list with as little overlap as possible with their first live DVD. The backside of this choice, however, is that, as The Gathering had featured the best tracks from their first two albums, this one inevitably had to hold the lesser tracks from these two albums. The great suite of tracks from their then new Home album saves the day here though, even if I would have preferred a performance of the unabridged Home album (my favourite of the Magenta studio albums).

As always they open the show with Opus 3, played over the PA system (not performed). The first song performed is Speechless, a song that was released as a single and as such is a rather conventional Pop Rock song with some commercial appeal. Not my favourite. As I said above, the best tracks from that somewhat overrated album (Gluttony and Pride) were on the excellent The Gathering DVD and what was left for them to play here are the lesser tracks; Envy, Anger, and Sloth. The Revolutions album is similarly represented by some of its least good tracks in Man The Machine and The Warning. The great Genetesis and The White Witch are also performed, but in shortened versions. The latter is reduced from more than 20 minutes to some seven minutes! Almost needless to say, the full live version of the latter song featured on The Gathering is much preferable over this truncated one.

The highlight of the show for me is the eight songs from the conceptual Home. Here, the band shines! Only here do I detect the kind of pure passion and energy that I liked so much about the band's previous live releases.

Good, but it simply pales in comparison with the magnificent The Gathering DVD

Opus 1

This double CD was Magenta's first live release, followed only a year later with a live DVD (called The Gathering) featuring live performances of many of the same songs. However, unlike the DVD, this live album does not feature a single complete show, but instead was recorded in various places, over a longer period of time (hence the title: Another Time... Another Place). This fact alone favours The Gathering DVD over this live album.

But also the respective set lists, though very similar to each other, favours the DVD. Comparing the set lists, we see that there are only two songs featured here that were not also on the DVD; Lust and Anger. These are also my least favourite songs here. Lust, in particular, is somewhat dull and meandering in comparison with the rest. The DVD, on the other hand, holds a few more songs that are not on this album, all of which are among the band's best.

Like the live versions featured on the DVD, the versions found on the present album are much improved over their studio counterparts. Magenta's live sound has a slightly harder edge, it is slightly heavier, and also more energetic compared to their studio sound. As I found the studio versions of these songs somewhat too timid and lacking in power, I am very happy with these live versions. Children Of The Sun is a brilliant piece of music, and the version on this live album might be the best version of it.

Overall an excellent live album, that outshines the studio albums by the band by a wide margin. But if you manage to find The Gathering live DVD, you don't really need this as well unless you are a collector of all things Magenta.