CHESSBOARD

Actually a ****1/2 almost perfect cd. Hello prog heads all around ! I´m a 44 years old prog fan since the 15. From the 70´s vinyl era till nowadays mp3, I always loved prog music. Tempus Fugit is a band from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a new album "Chessboard". They were invited and played at PROGFEST 2000, ( available on DVD and CD) and Buenos Aires Prog Festival. The compositions for "Chessboard" were ready since 2002 when I was lucky to see them playing them live in Copacabana theatre in 2002, november, 17 here in Rio de Janeiro. WOW it was one of the greatest live performances I ever saw ! I mean musically speaking, it was fantastic, apart of famous trademark bands. I have already been present at Camel, ELP, Jethro Tull (2 shows), Yes, Caravan, Anekdoten and Flower Kings to name a few shows. The material for "Chessboard" impressed me so much that I´ve been waiting anxiously for a studio album since then. Finally "Chessboard" (that was already recorded in december 2006) got released... well, what a SUPERB work it is ! Confirmed all my optimistic expectations since the Copacabana 2002 show. To describe Tempus Fugit influences is a bit hard as they sound very original. Yeah it´s melodic symphonic and dynamic prog, I can find hints of Rick Wakeman 70´s solo álbuns, Eddie Jobson (of UK fame), Anyone´s Daughter (for the space lyrical beauty) and Camel (for the melodic side). Their performance reminds me the dynamics peaks of IQ. The compositions captures a large range of prog archetypes (maybe more than IQ) yet are very concise (like IQ is). This 3rd Tempus Fugit album demonstrates the band musical maturation of their 2 first álbuns, so this is my favourite of the 3 so far. The 19:30 minutes title track is my favorite. Ah ! I can´t miss to speak about the artistic work of the 3 sides folder open cover with booklet inside, one of the most beautiful covers I saw since many years. My congratulations to all band members. Andre Mello, our keyboards (he plays original MOOG synthesizer) hero and composer, deserves all the honours, apart of some english language accents at the vocal. Ary Moura plays a very tasteful and creative drums. Andre Ribeiro is a wonderful bass player and so on Henrique Simões on guitars.