LAGUNA DE VOLCANES

Cast has several similarities with ... Mostly Autumn. Not in terms of musical genre of course. Both are releasing very (too ?) long studio albums which sound a bit flat at times because too many numbers are just not good enough.

That's the reason why those bands are much better to discover on live or an compilation efforts. They will both produce very good ones in that respect ("Mostly Autum" even producing true jewels). Cast already have released "A View Of Cast" (compil) and "A Live Experience".

Like "Mostly Autumn", they will record a double compilation album with "revisited" versions of original songs. In M.A. 's case, it has lead to the fantastic "Catch The Spirit". For this one, Cast will have a great idea : re-write Spanish versions of original songs in English.

For this Mexican band, it is almost a return to the roots. But the problem will be the track selection. Not as great as it could have been. Their obvious filiation with PFM in their original work, will even be increased with the Spanish lyrics of course (Latin similarities).

When you look at the back cover, you will see that Cast does not talk in terms of songs or track : they mention "ideas". Well, let's have a look at their ideas...in Spanish (sus ideas, compadres).

All their studio albums (but two) will be covered. Some more than other ones. Their first and not so good one "Landing in a Serious Mind" will be over represented IMO. Three poor numbers of which the (too) long "Solo Una Forma Mas" (Just Another Way).

"Sounds of Imagination", their second effort is ignored, but I do not know it, so I can not judge if it was relevant or not). For the same reasons, I can not compare the tracks from their fifth album "Endless Signs" either. I can only say that "Signos Infinitos" is a bit dull (almost fifteen minutes) while "Juegos De Poder" is a nice and almost symphonic piece of music. Tony Banks is not far away...

My favourite album is "Third Call". I am rather disappointed that they skipped "Door Of The World" which was the epic song featured. We'll get "Entre El Bosque Del Tiempo" (House By the Forest), "Sueños Estaticos" (Static Dreams) and "La Espera" (I Am Waiting). They will provide almost twenty-two interesting minutes. "Entre..." and "Sueños" being again very much Trespass-esque.

Out of their fourth album, they will pick-up "Ecos" (Echoes). It was an interesting number although tooooooo long (over seventieen minutes). I thought that they should have cut it down a bit in order to maitain the listener's interest; but to reduce it to less than five minutes, is maybe too drastic a treatment.

Their sixth album "Beyond Reality" was mainly made out of three long "suites", not very convenient to reproduce on a compilation. They decided to feature a portion of one of them, but picked up the wrong one. One of my all time fave "The Rescue" (clocking at over twenty-one minutes) is forgotten. "La Casa De Los Espejos" (The Mirrors House) was chosen. While the original song was a good one except for the last vocal part which was very poor, this one is far much better. Dino sounding alright through the whole of this long song. One of the highlight.

"Angels & Demons" is covered by "Iniciación" (Iniciation), "Signos Reveladores De Amor" (Revealing Signs Of Love) probably one of the best songs here (Genesis is the obvious source of inspiration) and "Realidad O Misantropia (Angels).

From "Imaginary Window", the great instrumental opener "Universos En Movimiento" (Moving Universe) is a nice piece while "En Manos De Los Bandidos" is better than ..."Alter Ego" (the original one). "Boton De Primavera (A Blossom in the Spring) is a carbon copy (except the language of course) of the original. A very subtle track. Tranquil, easy listening, very pleasant and incredibely "Trespass" oriented.

Their last "Legacy" is accordingly ignored. IMO it is the poorest one of the band.

The leader and main songwriter of Cast is their keyboardist Alfonso Vidales. Two songs of his solo album "Clavico" will be featured. IMO, none should have been. They do not add anything brilliant to this effort. Neither "Diazepan 50 Mg" nor "El Fin" (except for the title of the latter which means "The End" and is the closing number of this double set).

I believe that Cast did some casting mistakes here. But all in all, the concept to offer an alternative Spanish version of their existing material to their fellow countrymen (because it is obviously intended for a Mexican audience, even if it can be expanded to the whole of Latin-America) works well. I still believe that their previous compilation / live album (this one especially for their very long songs) were better and remain my recommendations to discover Cast.

The third band that inspires Cast a lot is ELP, but you won't find too many numbers which will refer to this band. Most numbers are of course PFM-likes and it sounds as if they picked-up most (if not all) their "Trespass"-oriented songs out of their repertoire.

Tres estrellas amigos. Arriba Mexico.