BACK IN THE WORLD OF ADVENTURES

Back when Roine Stolt & Co. were still defining their sound, style, and image, they released this album of admirably rendered Neo Prog compositions. The 1995 CD release contained 10 songs maxing out at 72 minutes while the vinyl LP released the following year only had five songs due to the inclusion of the album's two stellar epics, "World of Adventure" and "Big Puzzle" (each running over 13:30 in length).

1. "World Of Adventure" (13:37) exposing several themes right from the start, this has a feel of a truly symphonic epic. (27/30) = 9.0

2. "Atomic Prince / Kaleidoscope" (7:02) What starts royal/regally with the main theme being present by a synth horn, it becomes Reggae when crisp drums and bass enter. Then lead guitar introduces second melody line. Interesting--and very well recorded and engineered. The whole thing becomes a kind of round of soft keys restating the opening theme in between Roine Stolt's magnificent electric guitar work--with the "Kaleidoscope" part being a kind of New Age keyboard trip through a fairy forest ending with an exquisite little acoustic guitar piece. This may be the first time listening to Roine Stolt's guitar playing in which I'm thinking he may be a virtuoso of that instrument--in both its electric and acoustic forms. (14/15)

3. "Go West Judas" (7:40) a cheesy song built around a cheesy riff/motif telling a cheesy story. Great electric guitar work. Great bass playing. (13/15)

4. "Train To Nowhere" (3:45) plaintive vocal over "strings" and computer piano. PINK FLOYD melody borrowed and then a switch to a Hammond-base for the finish of the chorus. Verse two sees drums, bass, and other incidentals to expand the soundscape. (8.5/10)

5. "Oblivion Road" (3:45) * a deep dive into some serious blues-jazz as bass, drums, piano and sax float us down a river instrumental. Sustained electric guitar and spacey Hammond organ join in for Santana-like incidentals. Cool but ? why? (9/10)

6. "Theme For A Hero" (8:27) * another familiar melody theme supported by chunky bass (mixed well forward--which is kind of cool) and plastic sounding drums. MIDI-keys take over the melody making in the second minute. The slow pacing allows for lots of spaciousness and, therefore, lots of room to hear individual sounds and contributions--which is nice. As the music moves beyond the MIDI-keys we fall into another bluesy New Agey Smooth Jazz song. Nice--and, yes, proggy, but, like so much of TFK, there is something regurgitant about this music--like we've heard it before, it's just being rehashed and/or recycled in a slightly different form here. When Roine's guitar takes the lead in the fifth minute it's like Robert Fripp has exerted his will over the music. Nice step up. "One More Red Nightmare Part 6"! The drum play is impressive though I don't like the sounds as engineered for the final mix. (17.5/20) 7. "Temple Of The Snakes (1:38) nice synth interlude--with its main melody theme once again feeling as if "borrowed" from somewhere else. (4.75/5)

8. "My Cosmic Lover" (6:40) * another weird stew--as if many old and familiar riffs, sounds and motifs have been tossed into a mystery salad or soup. Great, engaging bass play. Weirdly religious subject matter. I'll give TFK credit for creating something fairly unique here; the salad is a hit (if a not very memorable one)! (8.75/10)

9. "The Wonder Wheel" (4:12) * a cinematic instrumental in which industrial percussion pattern is embellished with spacey synths, a ton of incidentals, and a rather nice prolonged electric guitar solo. (8.75/10)

10. "Big Puzzle" (13:35) bluesy first section accented by soprano sax. The second part, instrumental exposition, is founded on a Genesis motif and sound palette--cruising along nicely. (28.5/30) = 9.5

* Absent on 1996 LP edition

Total Time: 71:28

Perhaps the best constructs, performances, sound recording, engineering, and mixes I've ever heard on a Roine Stolt-related album. I've been most impressed by the guitar, drum, and bass play.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of eclectically inspired progressive rock music.