Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Pepe Maina - Birds of Passage CD (album) cover

BIRDS OF PASSAGE

Pepe Maina

 

Progressive Electronic

3.00 | 1 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

admireArt
Prog Reviewer
3 stars Non suitable for diabetics and similar cases.

TOO MUCH, tinkling bells, over sweetened M Olfield like melodies, and layers of "merengue" (or whipped cream as you know it). Enough seems not enough!

When you dig in your finger through the layers and layers of "fattening sweets", you maybe will notice some of this Pepe Maina's "Birds of Passage" remarkable attributes and thrills. I could mention the "acoustic Led Zep-like guitar melodies", the endless details in the arrangements (for good and bad), the potential use of his electric guitar skills in a "Tinker-Bells" environment, the wise use of very "primitive" electronic gadgets (remember the casio-mini/keyboard sounds), what else? Well there is track 6, same name as the album, which is one of the "highlights" as a whole song, due to its multi-oriented direction in composition. It is "electronics/crossed with a Jazzy "latin" flavor" percussions ang guitar work, and it is quiet progressive. So, I can dissect the album to pieces, and find very nice ideas here and there, but the problem is still the same. Even when I started to think it could go "deep", there is always this wall of over-sweetening solutions to almost all melodic lines (even the percussions), which makes the whole "hide and seek" game, quiet a bore.

Now as for the rating goes, a lot of Prog audiophiles enjoy this kind of "up-beat, new-age, multi-instrumental, electronics", for them maybe this could become "essential" or at least worth the try. But in my case, I know myself, I will listen to it tops one more time, in favor of more "neutral" taste findings.

Alternative recommendation: Skip this one and listen to his 2013 "Snow", that one is worth aquiring.

***3 "inches away from 2", PA stars.

admireArt | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this PEPE MAINA review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.