TREASURE ISLAND

Yet another of the joint ventures by Finnish prog association Colossus and French record label Musea here; this time around the project is Robert Louis Stevensons's classic swashbuckling novel Treasure Island. And as usual, the participating bands have been asked to make music with the sound and the instruments from the 70's, with a minimum length of 20 minutes, and with a focus on progressive rock in style.

Finnish band Velvet Desperadoes takes a slightly daring approach, although filled with catchy grooves the first half of their contribution have more in common with 70's funk infested pop-rock than prog, but in the second half improvisational sounding driving rock in the manner of Man sets things in order though.

Italian outfit Floating State visit some of the same territories as their Finnish colleagues, but with more of an emphasis on jazz. The song is rather patchy though, and isn't really a good song per se - but there are interesting segments in there from time to time.

Nexus from Argentina finish this album with a highly symphonic number, with segments ranging from lush, dreamy and floating to epic and majestic sounding. The song is a tad patchy, but all the parts are of good quality and overall it's the best number on this one.

Recommended to fans of 70's music in general and 70's prog in particular.