MIRAGE

If you're enjoying emotional mellow side of prog rock this band is probably the best choice for you. But not only that, also jazz- fusion, psychedelic rock or symphonic prog fans can enjoy this album.

So, let's start the review. First of all, to me, this album is one of the best prog albums of all times but it's a bit underrated even among the proggers. This album gives you some symphonic, some psychedelic and lots of emotional delights with a bit of epicness (especially The White Rider).

Album's opener is Freefall. And first few minutes of this song is pretty good for opening. And the song continues with catchy vocals and Latimer's crazy and psychedelic guitar work. I think this song is a very good song but probably the worst of the album! That shows the brilliance of the album.

Second track is Supertwister. I think this is one of the best flute usage in prog music. It's a very symphonic song contains especially lots of quality keyboard an flute materials. It's not only symphonic and musically progressive enough, it also touches your heart. Maybe this is the shortest track but it's very good. An interesting thing is that the composer of this song is Peter Bardens but Latimer's flute work is more dominant in the song.

Third track is the best to me. Epic The White Rider. Song opens with a beatiful keyboard melody and then a fanfare-like music with an epic flute solo by Latimer. Then song continues with mellotron, bass, drums and acoustic guitars, I think. There's small amounts of flutes between the verses. But the middle section of this song is what makes this song great. A wonderful keyboard solo begins. Especially the Moog part gives me goosebumps everytime when I listen. I think Bardens' solo is one of the best keyboard solos of rock music history. Then Latimer's guitar comes in and ends this session. Lyrics starts again. Closure of this song is another perfect moment. The bass and synthesizer's melody is very spacey and can take you to another world. But guitar and especially drum work is beyond perfect here. Ward drives the song to a chaotic outro. And an interesting thing is that Latimer composed this song, but Bardens is on fire!

Next song is Earthrise. A melodic and symphonic instrumental which is very good. I love the drumwork here by Ward. But keyboards and guitars are fine too.

The closing track Lady Fantasy is probably the best composed song of the album. The melody changes, reprises all these well knitted melodies are wonderful. A very melodic but also emotional masterpiece. Song begins with a crazy keyboard riff and hopeful guitar melodies. As the song continues those melodies becomes more entangled, hopeless and finally depressed. Especially the melody that comes in at 4.10 approximately is a beast! This guitar can make you cry! Some people say to other rock guitarist that they can make the guitar cry. But Latimer makes 'you' cry! The song slows down to a sad part. After the words 'I love you!' the song becomes even more wonderful with keyboard-guitar conversations. And song finishes with a legendary reprise!

Also the very first sound of the album which appears in the beginning of the Freefall, appears again in the very last seconds of The White Rider. That is an also interesting detail.

My rating for this album is undoubtly 5 stars!