ALTAIR

Altair was a project of Catalan drummer Alfredo Arcusa, found in 1986, after he met female pianist/keyboardist Isabel Muniente at the music school were he was teaching.The duo recorded the self-titled debut in Barcelona during June 1989 and it was eventually released the next year on the tiny Spanish label Sirius Records.

As written in the liner notes of the booklet the album is dedicated to KEITH EMERSON, thus indicating some of the music's orientation.Arcusa handles the drums with Muniente being responsible for the piano, keyboards and bass synthesizers.The (all instrumental) music has mostly a certain Fusion edge with complex breaks and is filled with the complicated drumming of Arcusa along with Muniente's keyboard pyrotechnics with virtuosic solos among others.So the comparison with E.L.P. is reasonable and other bands coming to mind are TIEMKO, SOMBRE REPTILE, MONGOL or WAPPA GAPPA, however it is quite unique to think that these sounds come off by only two musicians.Among these technical performances there are some softer parts with smooth piano lines and organ passages, sometimes with a hidden Classical charm.Despite being quite virtuosic, all tracks seem to have a tight structure and connected themes, so ''Altair'' sounds far from anything improvisational.

This album deserves some reward.Of course it is not along the lines of Progressive Rock's diversity, as a keyboard/drum duo has certain abilities, but is a very rich-sounding, well-executed and performed and will appeal to all fans of Fusion-esque keyboard-driven adventures.Recommended.