KALEIDOSCOPE

Whenever a brave band emerges which attempts to recreate some of the excitement of classic 1970s prog (more particularly: the "symphonic jazz-rock" of bands like Bruford and National Health), they deserve to be applauded. D.F.A. consisted of four intrepid virtuosi who recorded EXACTLY what they wanted, without concessions to record company executives.

On their first album, disc 1 of the current set (dating from 1995) they still seem a little lost (the first two tracks are terribly noisy - the band were trying too hard to sound like Gentle Giant) but from track 3 onwards, things just keep improving: there are instrumental tracks which strongly remind me of "The Cinema Show" (with flashy Tony Banks-style keyboard solos) and during the remainder of the album (and especially on "Space Ace Man" and "La Via") lead guitarist Silvio Minella impresses me most. His solos reach for the sky: no bombast but passion, intelligence and ecstasy.

On the band's second album (here represented by disc 2) the National Health/Bruford influences really kick in. At times I felt like shouting: "Wait a sec, you nabbed that riff from ONE OF A KIND!" But the music always moves fast, and usually there's one more exuberant solo just round the corner.

Over all, this collection's disc 1 probably sounds more daring and original than disc 2 (D.F.A. would subsequently take their British-inspired jazz-rock to even greater heights on "4th") but the studio part of the second disc actually ends on a lush ballad featuring female vocals, which proves that D.F.A. were also capable of delivering heart-meltingly beautiful SONGS. As a bonus, there are live performances of 3 of the original studio tracks.