STEPHEN PARSICK

2008 sounded like the future back then, so its fads, musical styles and fashion. Stephen Parsicks' "Traces of the Past", I suppose, understands the past as 1975 (which also seemed like the future back then), the year of Tangerine Dream's emblematic "RUBYCON".

This release in fact owes half its charm to TD's explorations, in its benefit it adds up a very contemporary guitar sound to these "old roads". Oddly volume wise this addition is subdued most of the time to the more orthodox keyboards and electronic sounds...strange?!

Anyway, music wise, as many others included in PA in this sub-genre, have been strongly influenced by the "Cosmic" (or sequencing) School" or Tangerine Dream's unavoidable language imposition, which in fact is the only way to be accepted in this prog "kingdom".

So let me stick to its own musical proposals which although creative and outbalanced by the "borrowed" musical idiom, add up some bricks to the prog-electronic wall.

Let me say ***3 "enjoyable and unpretentious "tribute" with bonuses" PA stars.