SYMPHONIC PROG

These recent years, specially the last couple of them, (2008 and 2009) have been special to progressive rock as it comes to impressive new releases of new material from both young and old bands. I have, however, most of times enjoyed better the new releases from old bands, such as the new Cynic album, the new Delirium album, the new Maudlin of the Well album, the new Ayreon album, the new Meshuggah album and so on, mainly because they allow be to look (or listen) in perspective what they have done in the past and what they did in the recent years and enjoy better their past or recent album(s). With Transatlantic it was no different.

Upon listening repeatedly to their newest album, The Whirlwind, and their first two albums, A Bridge Across Forever and this one (SMPTe), I was able to put all of their works in perspective and, therefore, was able to enjoy more the band's two most recent studio albums wile their debut left me more and more cold: when compared to their other releases, SMPTe sounds less like a teamwork than Transatlantic's other studio albums. Some reviewers went as far as saying that this is simply a Spock's Beard album or a solo Neal Morse effort with other great and talented musicians but, despite the obviousness of Neal Morse's strong influence in the production of this album, that did made it sound somewhat close to some of Neal's work outside Transatlantic, the influence and the work of the other band members can be noticed throughout the album many times. So it is clear (or it seems so) that such result was mainly caused due to the lack of interaction in the daily work in the studio they had with one another until recording SMPTe, because, as far as I know, they had never worked together before Transatlantic's debut album.

Regarding the songs, musicianship and related features

As the title of my review and what I wrote before can show, SMPTe is one of those albums that shouldn't (or couldn't) have anything after its release. That is because, if the band keep on working, improving itself and making its music more refined, as has happened with Transatlantic, the flaws of such album become terribly apparent in the same pace as the qualities of the refined album become more and more appealing. So, when considered by itself, SMPTe is a very nice album, but when put in perspective and compared with other albums by the same band, it becomes obvious the drastic improvement they have done over the years.

The Highlights go to: All of the above and We all need some Light.

Grade and Final Thoughts

All in all, STPMe is a very interesting album. It is fun to listen and have some impressive music inside it, but due to its roughness and crudeness, the 3 stars grade seem to fit the album perfectly.

Steve Hackett's been on a bit of roll when it comes to his progressive rock output in the past ten years or so, as well as making some fine classical oriented albums. Out Of The Tunnel's Mouth offers up a fine set of prog. To the extent that there is a theme here in the songs, it's about dreams. Roger King confesses in the liner notes that the album was constructed on a computer. But ultimately a quality outcome is dependent on the musicians. Steve's never been one to go it alone on his progressive rock albums and has many of the usual musical suspects working with him, some new names to me, and even Anthony Phillips and Chris Squire are guesting on a couple of tracks each.

An eclectic mix of mellow and heavier tracks. The only disappointment here for me is that a deluxe edition wasn't released.

Agreed that this album has the guitar-oriented Siberian Khatru and the famous title-track, and both are masterpieces of Yes and the genre in whole, but And You and I is, in my opinion, one of the worst songs ever written.

It's dull, in the vain of Wonderous Stories, which is also very dull, it has no soul AT ALL! It's acoustic-12-string-guitar-eighties, which sucks, and the lyrics are just plain cheesy. Gibberish cheesy. "And you and I, climb over the seas to the valley, and you and I reached for seasons to call.". That's one too many season in this album!

"A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace, and re-arrange your liver to the solid mental grace!"

I would recommend this to all proggers, because it's an excellent addition to any prog music collection, but the only thing stopping me from giving this a five is the boring third of the album, AYAI.

4/5, subject to change in the future.

Kansas is one of the few progressive rock bands from the 70's coming from the United States that I listen. Despite not knowing, neither being interested in knowing, their entire discography, I find myself listening to some classic era album of this fantastic band from the US countryside in a somewhat regular basis (once every two months or so) and today was one of those days I have put one of their albums (Masque in this case) to play on my Ipod and I was really impressed how this album is, literally, a roller coaster ride.

That is because, like a roller coaster, Masque have numerous ups and downs, numerous boring, forgettable and discardable parts of songs and songs, wile it still have many exciting, thrilling and impressive parts of songs and songs. This can be explained easily: after the release of the fantastic Song for America, which somehow failed to impress the public and, therefore, had bad sales, something I find rather unexpected for an album like that and released during the 70's (despite the fact that Kansas was a very obscure and unknown band), the band's recording company pressured them to come with more accessible songs, which would be (or should be) the hit singles of Kansas all across the world. As happens in most cases like this in progressive rock, the album not only did not became a hit album, but it sold even less than the album before it, because it failed to please the band's following and was unable to bring enough new fans to the fan base.

Regarding the songs, musicianship and related features

The album don't start very well with the forgettable song It Takes A Woman's Love (To Make A Man), which can be clearly identified as one of the Kansas's recording studio's intended hit singles, which obviously failed in being that for lacking any kind of catchy melody. The next song, Two Cents Worth, is a great improvement, though not being a really remarkable song. One characteristic those two songs share is that none of them sound like Kansas at all. The next two songs, Icarus - Borne on the Wings of Steel and All Over the World, change the album mood drastically for two reasons: 1 - they actually sound like a song Kansas would make; and 2 - they are great songs. Icarus - Borne on the Wings of Steel is a powerful, energetic and epic-feeling song with tight instrumentation and composition wile All Over the World is a very beautiful ballad. Child of Innocence, It's You are average songs with some very interesting parts, wile Mysteries and Mayhem is a very good bluesy rock song with some forgettable parts. The last song of the album, entitled The Pinnacle, is definitely it's best (hence its name) and one of my all-time favorite Kansas songs: a multilayered and complex progressive rock epic with that distinct Kansas instrumentation.

The main problem with Masque, as you possibly could see in the paragraph above, is its unbalancedness. The album alternate amazing songs with not so amazing ones, resulting in a rather sloppy album flow. The highlights obviously go to Icarus - Borne on the Wings of Steel, All Over the World and The Pinnacle. Honorable mention to Mysteries and Mayhem.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Despite having some great songs, Masque have an uneven track list and some bad songs that drag the album's quality down. If the band could deliver an album filled with songs like The Pinnacle, Icarus - Borne on the Wings of Steel and All Over the World (pretty much what they in Song for America), the album would have been much better. Since that is not the case, Masque's grade is 4 stars.

Things start off rather quietly in the title track, with some bird noises and running water slowly building up until the band comes in, full swing, to get the show really moving. And move they do. The beginning is a rather frantic passage, with everyone going a little bit nuts on their respective instrument. Near the three minute mark, things calm down a bit, and we're given a melody to hold on to via the guitar. Eventually, Jon joins in on vocals and the track continues on with Squire and Bruford being the great rhythm section we all seem to know (and generally enjoy). The track continues on until a change to a calmer, ambient bit around 8 or 9 minutes in. Nearly 10 minutes in, Rick comes in with chiming keyboards, then light vocals join in for a while, getting up and down. Things stay calm here for a while, the vocals are given a chance to shine until Rick comes in on the church organ for a bit of a solo. They trade back and forth for a little while, with Rick finally winning out and moving us into the next bit of the song. Bass and drums finally rejoin us as Rick switches back to a keyboard. Chris Squire and his Rickenbacker sound really help define Yes in my eyes. The track ends with "I Get Up", and then we're on to And You And I.

This song is a much quieter affair overall than the title track, and it starts the second side of the album. Mostly acoustic guitar from Howe and quiet keys from Wakeman to begin, with fairly minimal bass and drums. The song is more about the vocals to me than it is about the instrumentals. Near the three minute mark, Squire and Bruford get to play a bit more interesting snippet. Near the four minute mark, we get a nice instrumental bit, with Howe being in the spotlight here for me. Jon rejoins before long, and the track continues on. The riff from the song's introduction comes back for a bit, then changes up a bit and brightens the track up some. Eventually the rest of the band joins back in, and the track continues on until its end. It's a good song, but lacks some of the punch of the first and third tracks for me.

Finally, we come to Siberian Khatru, probably my favorite song on the album. The bass is good and chunky, the drums are active, Steve keeps guitar moving with a fun riff, Rick plays some tasteful keys, and Jon sings about whatever a Khatru is in his mind. Everything seems to work well on the song, and it seems to be just the right length. The rhythm section is probably my favorite part of it, if I had to choose. Not a surprise, though, as 1) I'm a bassist and 2) this is, as far as I'm concerned, the best rhythm section in symphonic prog.

Overall, the album is great, but as I prefer two other Yes albums over this one (Relayer and Tales From Topographic Oceans), I can't justify giving it 5 stars. I will, however, give it a healthy four star rating.

Bass on Lamplight Symphony is what it makes perfect. When melody element is somehow "muted", not as much exaggerated as in previous track (which was monumental, like Mount Rushmore for example), bass kicks in and improves it all. And I even wasn't listening and looking especially for it, it just happened unintentionally.

Also, most of things I've said in previous (Leftoverture) review are true here too. Same as Ocean's Eleven has all-stars cast, this has all-stars prog elements (all of them) and also all stars rating.

5(-), still not without flaws. Drums solo in last track can be shorter (as it doesn't fit me here so good) and also certain songs, especially fourth and fifth aren't so perfect, just very good. But still, advantages of this album raises it high.