CYAN

Reed isn't quite equally capable on all instruments - his drumming is acceptable but not special, whilst his vocals really aren't great - but he's an adept enough guitarist to slip in some nice solos here and there and his keyboard playing on the album is excellent. It took a few listens for this one to win me over but on the whole I think it's a great debut. Recommended for fans of both the early 80s neo-prog scene and of Magenta, who of course are in many respects the successor band to Cyan.

After the release of three studio albums, Cyan gave us this compilation album consisting of remastered tracks from the first two albums plus three previously unreleased tracks. In fact, the present album was the second Cyan compilation album, the first one - simply called Remastered - being released in 1997 and consisted solely of remastered tracks from the two first albums. Echoes brings together the remaining tracks from those two albums that didn't make it onto Remastered. For anyone who already owns the original studio albums, Echoes thus offers very little new.

Released straight after The Creeping Vine, Echoes features a cover art based on the one for that album with the green "bubbles" here being filled with images of earlier cover art. The three previously unreleased songs are the opener named after the band as well as the two last tracks, Charm The Snake and Jimmy The Tank. The first of these three has something of a Camel-vibe and is wholly pleasant even if hardly very impressive. The last two are from the The Creeping Vine sessions and sticks out from the rest. They are worth a listen, but not up to par with the material that made it onto that very good album. Charm The Snake is a good song that reminds of Gabriel-era Genesis with some very appealing touches of flute. Jimmy The Tank is a jazzier affair with a rather predictable chorus.

By its very nature, Echoes is a release for fans only as it offers very little new to those who already knows the band's output. For those who don't, it is strongly recommended to begin with the band's regular studio albums, preferably in backward chronological order. If you would still want more after that, then you should go for the present release.

After the release of this compilation album, Reed would go on to form Magenta (also named after a colour) and following the widespread popularity of that project, Cyan faded away making Echoes their final release to date. Might Cyan perhaps be resurrected one day? One can only speculate.

The Creeping Vine is, in my opinion, the album that stands out among the three Cyan studio albums as the best one by far. While he had already proven that he is a competent songwriter, keyboard player, guitarist and vocalist, this third album was where Rob Reed finally found his own musical expression. This album is a much more personal and unique statement than the previous two Cyan albums that were both good but also a bit anonymous. These songs are memorable and charming and lead vocalist Nigel Voyle sounds a lot more assertive here than he did on 1994's Pictures From The Other Side. On that earlier album he often sounded as if his heart was not fully in it, but here he is very different. Another distinguishing feature of The Creeping Vine is that Reed is no longer playing all of the instruments himself. There is for the first time a fulltime drummer as well as a bass player. This brings with it a band feeling that was missing on earlier releases. In addition, Reed also brings in some guests including Nick Barrett of Pendragon on guitar.

Reed is exploring various different moods and styles on this album. The framework is Symphonic Prog, but there are elements of Folk and Jazz and more inside. Also the topics vary widely; the confessions of a naughty priest in The Original Sin, Nordic mythology in Valhalla and good old-fashioned romance in the out-and-out Prog Folk of Gwenan just to give three examples. The incredible thing is that he manages - despite the many styles involved - to tie it all together into an organic unit that is strongly appealing to this reviewer. Mike Oldfield is a standing influence on Reed and during the folky/Celtic moments, the sound here reminds me of that of the very good Prog Folk band The Morrigan whose leader and guitarist Colin Masson is also strongly influenced by Oldfield's work.

The three first tracks are among the better ones for sure, but the rest of the album does not disappoint. I Will Show You Life is probably the least good song on The Creeping Vine. The "Rap"-section in this song might perhaps put some Prog fans off, but it is actually not that bad. The nearly ten minute track Goodbye World shows a strong influence of classic Genesis with lots of very good Tony Banks-like keyboard work. The closing title track is another long one. This one is more rhythmic and displays some almost New-Age/World- Music vibes and an anthemic chorus that forms a great culmination of the album before fading out to some "nature sounds".

Overall I would say that The Creeping Vine is an original and generally superb disc. This is definitely the place to begin with Cyan. Reed would go on to form Magenta and the present album remains the last Cyan album to date (and probably ever?)

Highly recommended!

From the formation in 1984 up until the release of the debut album in 1993, Cyan was a one- man band consisting of multi-instrumentalist Rob Reed who did everything himself from vocals to keyboards to guitars, etc. Appearing one year after the official debut, this second album was therefore the first to feature a slightly extended cast. However, just as on For King And Country Reed is still playing most of the instruments himself here. Given this fact the result is surprisingly strong, but I still feel that the songs could have benefitted from having a proper band.

Lead vocal duties on the other hand are handed over to Nigel Voyle who does a fine job even if he often sounds like a session vocalist. Pictures From The Other Side is also noteworthy for being the first Cyan album to feature Christina Murphy (now known as Christina Booth) who would later on take a much larger part in another of Reed's "colourful" musical projects - Magenta. In addition to Voyle and Murphy, a couple of guests are also featured here.

The music found on the present album is in general more dramatic and theatrical compared to that of the debut. This is especially apparent on the epic closer Nosferatu (Requiem For A Vampire) which reminds in style of Arena's Opera Fanatica from their Pepper's Ghost album. This track has a harder edge than the rest of the songs on Pictures From The Other Side. The classic Symphonic Prog sound is not abandoned, however. There are some nice Camel-like flute parts, some tasteful acoustic guitar licks and lots of Mike Oldfield-like lead guitar. In some songs one can also note some slight folky touches. I occasionally get the feeling that Reed wasn't entirely sure about exactly what direction he wanted to go in, but he still manages to produce a reasonably consistent and overall enjoyable album.

As far as I am concerned, Pictures From The Other Side is every bit as gratifying as For King And Country if not more so. While none of these albums are essential by any means, both of them are worthy additions to any Prog collection.

Cyan was formed in 1984 as a one-man band by multi-instrumentalist Rob Reed (also the brain behind another band named after a colour - Magenta). The initial active period of the band did not last for long however, the project was shelved after the recording of a demo and before any official album had been released. But this was not the end of the band as it was resurrected in the early 90's after Reed had received encouragement from fans including one Nick Barrett of Pendragon-fame (who would also guest on a later Cyan album). The present album was Cyan's official debut release and consisted of re-recorded versions of songs that originally appeared on the demo from the 80's plus some new songs. The style is somewhere in between classic Symphonic Prog of the 70's and the Neo-Prog scene of the 80's; Camel and Pendragon often spring to mind while listening to For King And Country.

Keeping in mind that Reed is doing everything by himself here including guitars, keyboards and lead vocals, this is really impressive. There is no doubt about his considerable talents which is proven by this and also several future releases (both under the Cyan moniker and under other names). I believe that Reed is primarily a keyboard player, and there is an emphasis on the keyboards in the sound of Cyan, but his vocal and guitar skills are clearly more than adequate (guitar sound often remind of that of Mike Oldfield). Though, while a thoroughly enjoyable listen, there is very little that really stands out as such here for me. Indeed, it is often hard to distinguish between the eight tracks on For King And Country - they are all of them good songs, but nothing here is really excellent or truly memorable. The tone is rather mellow and melancholic throughout, yet melodic.

It is interesting to speculate about what could have happened if this album had been released in the mid 80's instead of in the early 90's - would Cyan then have been a more recognized band? It is very hard for a one-man band to make it, and indeed, for the next album, Pictures From The Other Side, Reed did form more of a real band around himself. This was the right move to make, if you ask me. Regardless, we should be happy about the fact that Reed didn't abandon music after the initial demise of Cyan and came back to give us this and further albums.

While by no means truly original or very distinctive, this is certainly a worthwhile and thoroughly pleasant listen.

4(-), dear proggers and progsters, maybe better after more listening. It's quite promising and I edit reviews quite often.

It's most likely you love this album .!

especially if you favor neo progressive music like Pendragon, Pallas, IQ, Arena and the like. In fact, this album sounds like Pendragon in more dynamic way. Surprisingly, the voice of Nigel Vole is quite similar with Nick Barrett (Pendragon) who sings and plays guitar in Pendragon. For me personally, I like the combination of keyboard and guitar work throughout this album as most of them are delivered at the passages with dynamic and energetic style, plus there are many catchy segments. From the opening track "Original Sin" (8:47) the band brings you to "the other world" through excellent combination of guitar solo as well as keyboard solo. The overall song is actually keyboard-driven with accentuated singing style.

"Valhala" (3:42) is a nice and mellow track with catchy melody. "Gwenan" (6:17) starts nicely with keyboard work followed with low register vocal notes, sung with solid accentuation. The song moves in traditional style which reminds me to the Scottish traditional music. "I Will Show You Life" (5:30) flows nicely from mellow to upbeat tempo with a passage that reminds me to Genesis "I Know What I Like" (well, at least you can observe how drum is played, quite similar with "I Know What I Like".) "Goodbye World" (9:54) starts with wonderful piano work followed beautifully with keyboard work. This song has a nice melody as well. I like the acoustic guitar work and vocal line. The song moves in crescendo at has its peak in the middle of the track when the tempo is quite fast and guitar plays its solo role combined by excellent keyboard.

"The River" (7:22) is another song with catchy piano solo at the opening part of the track. The first verse of the lyrics is being sung while the piano plays catchy notes at the background. It's a nice piece of music. The acoustic guitar work is also great. The guitar solo at the end of the track is stunning. But unfortunately it finishes through fading out. "Home" (4:36) is definitely an excellent track with great Floydian guitar solo. The concluding title track "The Creeping Vine" (9:30) is rich in texture especially the intro part which has variety of sounds representing something like the African jungle nuance. The vocal is nice, melodic, augmented by dynamic bass lines, Hackettian guitar work. The song moves from mellow to louder parts smoothly. It sounds solid overall.

Overall, this is I believe it's a very good album. The songwriting skill is excellent and it results into tight composition with many catchy segments throughout the album. Keep on proggin' ..!

Pecae on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)

The second track Pictures From The Other Side (6:16) is not as strong as the opening one, however, it has nice melody and it uses flute in the music on top of piano. The flute solo is very enjoyable it accentuates the music brilliantly. The keyboard solo is also excellent. The next track Solitary Angel (4:19) opens beautifully with flute in ambient mood followed with low register vocal notes augmented nicely with acoustic guitar.

The stream of music flows nicely from one track to another and it offers similar style of neo prog with most of them are in mellow mode. Keyboard is the key in rhythm section and guitar fills intercept nicely in between segments. The concluding track "Nosferatu (requiem For A Vampire)" (14:03) is I think the best track offered here with varied style and tempo changes in tight composition.

Overall, this is a truly neo progressive rock album that favors those of you who love this sub-genre. For those who love keyboard-based music, you would find it enjoyable. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW