SAFE

What do you do after you release a masterpiece? That must be the question Collage faced after producing not only the best record from Poland, but one of the best neo prog records of all time. Moonshine was indeed a hard act to follow and being only their second original release you can say it was also quite an early success. Too much too soon? Maybe. Anyway, Safe is quite a fitting title. They now had their own style, nobody could deny Collage the tittle of one of the most important prog acts of the 90's. But with fame and success also comes pressure.

So, on Safe the band seems to try to expand the formula, rather than just repeat it. A nice try. But that does not mean it was completely successful either. The first three tracks sound just out of place and a bit forced to me. Not too much, but still not very convincing. After repeated plays I found those songs inferior to the remaining tracks. Things get better from then on and reach their peak with the trilogy Eight Kisses, One Of Their Kind and the title track. Oh, how I wish the whole album was like them! There Collage takes the melodic sound of Moonshine and go one step further: soaring guitars, beautiful landscape of keyboards, emotional vocals and a strong rhythm section. Those 3 songs are worth the price of the CD and then some.

The rest of the CD is not bad either, I found them better than the first tracks, but not as good as those 3 aforementioned songs. So, in the end a very pleasant album with some minor flaws. Moonshine was a tough act to follow and the band broke up very early. fortunately the key musicians of Collage got back after some years with the equally brilliant band Satellite. There they went back to their trademark sound.

Safe is definitely not as revolutionary and melodic as Moonshine, but it has its moments and stood well the test of time. If you like neo prog, this album is a must have anyway. If you're a fan of Collage then you probably already have it.