HAMBURGER CONCERTO

Musicae delitae A short snippet on acoustic guitar and flute. I like this kind off stuff very much, plus it´s short enough not to get repetitive. 5 stars

Harem scarem A fast rock instrumental with the band sounding agreably tight. The main melody is carried by Van Leer on the piano. Akkerman plays a marvelous relaxed solo over the meaty basslines by Ruiter. Energetic, well played and the melody is fine, too. 5 stars

Le Cathedrale de Strassbourg A relaxed, jazzy instrumental dominated by Thijs van Leer. The melody is not that great, but the track has its moments (especially in the piano parts) and is mostly up to the point and short. 3.5 stars

Birth After an intro of acoustic medieval inspiration, the track gets into a more rocking part over the motif. The track is great, with a powerful rhytm section (a new drummer Collin Allen alongside Ruiter), the way the passages interchange is great, the whole song is very melodic and the solos are all perfect, whether itr is flute or a blazing melodic solo on the guitar. 5 stars

Hamburger concerto A great, majestic and very melodic suite with nice organ playing from Van Leer and the whole band sounding really fine. Van Leer´s vocals (mostly just a combination of scatting and yodel) drag the track a bit down, but not much, as a fine jazzy solo on Hammonds comes shortly afterwards. A moody flute solo follows, after which one of the main motifs occurs again. A long, precisely structured solo from Akkerman comes next. Soon a vocal passage follows, complemented only by orgn, wwhich gives the track lots of a baroque feel. When the whole band steps in , the track becomes more powerful and ethereal. For the conclusion. the opening motif returns. A great track. 5 stars

Early birth a fastter track, continuing in the vain of Birth. Great flute solo and bass playing on this one. 5 stars.

Overall rating: 5 STARS

ESSENTIAL: A MASTERPIECE OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC

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