MOUSE

Dum, dum , dum dum ...I see faces and traces of home, back in NYC! Yes the return of the big, fat bassline. Quiet funny because they don't even have a bassplayer. This one sounds definetely Lamb-inspired. I really like the production and the arrangements too, apparently a lot of programming. I don't know if they do life shows but their studio work is very good. You feel the Genesis influence, but they got their own style. It'sa concept album too... and there is even a title called waiting room. Well, what I don't like are the vocals. The singer reminds of the Rush Singer, whom I don't like so much either.

A real mixed bag of an album and one that ultimately disappoints. It has all the right elements for a classic album, strong concept (even if it borrows a little too much from "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway"), some good melodies and musical sequies and lyrics that balance progressing the story and working as stand alone songs pretty well.

Having thought about it long and hard 2 things let this record down.

1) - the programmed drums are a bit too obviously a druim machine and sound mechanical rather than natural

2) - the vocals. The singer is sadly a disaster at times and shouts and screeches too much at the detrement of the music.

An album to take out once a year to listen too. Not essential but wothwhile dipping into (if you can tolerate the drums and vocals that is)

I have this album (CD) for some time now and it is one of my favorites. A truly fantastic story line. The music goes trought all of life emotions. These guys have also managed to get the production perfect. The Bass and drums sounds pretty dawn good for a band without these musicians. Allot of good sampling and programming too. The vocal sound might not be to everyones taste though. Reference: Genesis (Lamb) early Marillion

True: this can be a very difficult album to review, becouse of its own structure. There are 30 tracks in the first edition and 35 in the latest one. Some of those tracks are musical sketches, in which some good ideas are not fully exploited and this can be deceiving for some listeners. But the athmosphere is very good and there is the most important quality in a progressive rock album (IMHO): variety. The storyline is about a fantastic voyage with a spiritual taste and it's presented in all details in the booklet, just before the lyrics... maybe a little too much complicated and obscure, but interesting. And now,something about the music. It's mainly what we usually tag as "neoprogressive", with all the keyboard devices you can imagine and a very good choice of samplings and special effects too. You'll find good melodies, athmospheric tracks, rythmic and even powerful rock moments, in a rapid and beautiful succession. There are no bass and drum players in the band, but the programmed instruments sound good, just a little artificial sometimes. The vocals are "à la Rush", sometimes screechy, but not so bad . Finally, Aragon's Mouse can seem a little cold or mechanical, but these faults are perfectly balanced by fantasy and good taste.

Next please

Many years in the making, Aragon's Mouse finally appeared in 1995. This lengthy conceptual album in eight 'acts' had already been discussed by the band as early as straight after the release of their debut album in the late 80's. Due to pressure from fans and record companies, they decided to release act five of Mouse separately in 1992 as The Meeting even though the whole was far from finished. The original 1995 version of Mouse did not include the previously released act five, but a re-mastered re-release appeared in 1999 that contains all eight acts (as well as new art work, the story of Mouse and an audio interview with the band about the making of the album). As I have rated The Meeting tracks already (with three stars), I will concentrate on the rest of Mouse here.

My first impression of this album was that it was fragmentary and disjointed. Many of the tracks are very short and intended to function as link pieces. The problem is that there is not much for them to link to! Many passages feel like transportation and this reviewer's opinion is that there is just too much of that. Excluding the (very good and) previously released The Meeting tracks, there are not that many 'full-fledged' songs on Mouse. Having that said there are some good moments here also, but generally they are too few and too far between. Maybe there was a conflict between two very different objectives; that of telling the story, on the one hand, and that of making good music, on the other. Both the story and the music seem to have suffered as a result. There is certainly a shortage of memorable melodies.

Some spoken word passages seem out of place and distract from the flow of the album, rather than enhance it. As I mentioned above, the booklet (of the 1999 double CD version that I have) features the story of Mouse, but to be honest I have not managed to get through it. In the bonus interview on disc two, it is mentioned that the story is a layered one about (1) life in general, (2) about a character called Mouse and (3) about the history of the band! Maybe they just bit off more than they could chew?

Musically, Mouse is clearly inspired by Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. There is even a track called The Waiting Room (but there is no further connection between the two tracks as this one is just a short piece of pointless dialogue). Aragon do have their own approach but I think that it came to its right much better on both some earlier and some later releases of theirs. While the 1999 re-release of Mouse is now (I suppose) the best and easiest way to get hold of The Meeting (act five), which is well worth hearing, I cannot give Mouse as a whole more than two stars. If you have The Meeting already as a standalone release, this overblown concept album is recommended for you only if you are a fan or collector.

As a side note, I can mention that the artwork (which is different from the one displayed here on PA, which I suppose is the original 1995 artwork) reflects the band's Australian origin. It features a photograph that (I suppose) was taken somewhere in the red Australian dessert.

I guess the point of this album was to return to the band's progressive routes, after the rather commercial direction they took in Don't Bring the Rain. Unfortunately, this double-CD concept album fails to convince. Once again, the keyboard sound is decent and the vocals by Les Dougan are alright, but the band rather lacks for strong compositions, with what few good ideas the band have being diluted to the point of irrelevance in order to fill out the narrative. The album ends up being all filler and no killer, the concept is incoherent, and on the whole the brilliant potential shown on the Rocking Horse release is pretty much completely squandered by this point.

Aragon had been working on a monster concept/autobiographical album since the start of the 90's, which was actually a slow work in progress, which ''Rocking horse...'' surpassed through the sands of time.Actually the 92' mini-album ''The meeting'' was the fifth act of this long work, which the band managed to finish by mid-90's.With respect to the fans, who had already purchased the fifth act a few years back, the album ''The mouse'' was released in 1995 without the pieces of ''The meeting''.Three years later the full work was re-released by LaBraD'or Records in a double-CD edition.

This is a collection of thirty tracks, flowing in a tight cohesion and passing through tons of different moods, all of them connected to the already familiar style of Aragon.No epics or even mid-length pieces, ''The mouse'' is a story unfolding via very short tunes in the vein of PENDRAGON and CLEPSYDRA, fronted by the trademark fast paces of the band, the use of many dreamy instrumentals and the aggressive vocals of Les Dougan.Of course the somewhat synthetic keyboard sound and the overall plastic production, which comes along with all Aragon releases, is not among the advantages of the album, it seems at moments that the sound quality has been stuck sometime in the mid-80's.Otherwise this is another decent effort by the group, not always sealing its extended length, but containing good enough material with theatrical singing, rockin' grooves and even symphonic backdrops in a MARILLION/mid-70's GENESIS vein.Maybe they should have used a larger number of longer pieces, because some of these arrangements are fascinating, for example ''Cold in a warm place'' gives plenty of room for variations between CAMEL, GENESIS and PINK FLOYD overtones and a very poetic vocal performance by Dougan, ''The sheer joy of creation'' reminds of the greatest days of old ABEL GANZ with its playful guitar, sweet keyboards and emphatic vocals, ''Brave new world''features a a slow development from background echoes to more bombastic music with sentimental solos, while ''The cross'' is a fantastic, old-styled MARILLION-like tune with another Dougan monumental vocal performance and the use of semi-symphonic synths next to discreet New Wave samplers.The good thing about ''The mouse'' is that the are no weak pieces or dead holes in the process, everything seems to be in the right place next to the mass of memorable tunes and pompous instrumental sections.Lack of trully fascinating moments, but the band passed a really hard test on producing a long and consistent album.

For fans of MARILLION, PALLAS, PENDRAGON, ABEL GANZ and IQ, this is strong Neo Prog with efficient melodies and a decent flow among all pieces.Recommended.

An OMNI that is worth more than a passage through our space! - Act 1 with The Dark prepare yourself for this haunting spatial intro which marks the innovative sound, A Private Matter yes a synthetic drums, either you stop, filthy for you for a prog album or you surpass and you enter the world of ARAGON filled with emotions; The Sweet Unknown follows and goes straight to Fish; marked accentuation on this synthetic bass, for me ahead of its time and thumbing its nose at the prog curmudgeon who wants sound the way he wants and will complain about the end of the prog Mohicans in this society; in short Tom puts on his synth touch, John a spleen glimpse of Rothery; The Gate closes this title chained with a swirling tune, Les launches and heats up

- Act 2 followed by End of the Line in 2 parts, a spatial electro interlude, taking a photo of another world and this latent bass, we move on to the 2nd, the metallic percussion amplifies the spatial, giant, aerial neo-metal prog side and a neo guitar that screams louder; ah this drum kit, even robotic, I'm starting to like it, it reminds me of Phil's in 'In the air'; Next Please cinematic yes I use words that did not yet exist at the time, 15'' for the break with this cough of wanting to smoke like a grown-up, this robot sound ah 15'', this typewriter and Untying the Knot in 3 parts again and Fish which becomes even more encrusted, he even starts to cough; the sound becomes heady, nervous, the vocal ready to vomit out his text, bam aerial vocal break on a real neo MARILLION or IQ, the finale with these metallic sounds, I still can't get used to it

- Act 3 Cold in a Warm Place with finally a calm, crystalline title and the marshmallow-like synth, Les shows that he can vary his voice, the most for a neo group; he modulates it and gives sensitivity and a very beautiful guitar solo followed by a dark, long, intoxicating ambient break, bringing a latent atmosphere; The Gathering yes it must be that go one more door and Under the Eye to finish this 3rd concept drawer where everything is different and everything is linked; an OMNI with ARENA which brought the prog out of a cruel lethargy, that alone deserves attention; ah this synth break à la GENESIS 3rd version I get lost in the titles with these 30 pieces, come on let's settle down and listen for yourself above all!

- Act 4 In Deepest Sympathy for the exception a piece for a title where are we going? come on a broken glass yes we must follow, The whispers to us - Act 5 The Meeting (was initially released separately) but which is well integrated here more to ask - Act 6 Burning Off ah that's it, halfway through and we finally arrive at the ARAGON sound, the one best known, but Les resumes his vocal vomit, fortunately the keyboard softens the air; succession of breaks with 6 subtitles, some linking together perfectly, others more or less stuck together and sowing doubt... yes the prog blood flows freely here, guitar which searches for itself, synth which rounds off in echo, drums including we end up getting used to it; aside to return to these titles which honor neo, prog, music in general even if the soulless drums that I spoke of at the start can slow down; the guitar solo; The Waiting Room ends this title with this newspaper read and the cup of coffee which is poured over it

- Act 7 At the Mercy of Lions on a consensual title which feels good, yes it's... predictable, the bass rests the ears a little; good spatial effect for Waiting for the Big One in 2 parts and the heaviness of the bass and the choirs which come to see what the speakers have in... their stomachs, of course; it doesn't vibrate, the adjustment isn't that bad, no more experiments with loosening the putty from the windows; Sings them... normally and it's very pleasant, more in the strings; it vibrates, a plane, an aircraft, it screams, aren't we at the gates of Paradise? At Heaven's Gate makes us believe it; Hello God melodic and catchy then Brave New World with this intro and this riff from behind in the distance which puts us on alert; a pure metronomic crescendo based on prog on an angelic vocal, one of the most beautiful climbs that even Hogarth did not imagine, a sovereign pleasure and at the end we doze off... bam woke up at this knock at the door

- Act 8 The Switch as the last act and MARILLION, GENESIS for the orchestration on an arpeggio and a posing tune; The Cross cottony synths and the dream continues, ARAGON here is indeed the best representative of MARILLION, bucolic, chivalrous, airy with these trumpets from up there, a beautiful crescendo again and a well-standardized, high, sublime guitar solo before the outro Auld Lang Syne in music box, in short It's just goodbye but no I'm putting the replay on!

This album does everything wrong that it amazes me how people can hail it to such a high regard! The vocals are awfully trying to imitate Peter Gabriel and fail to do so successfully. The substitution of a real, human, drummer and bassist by these synthesized and computerized instruments for their entire duration of this album really makes me hate this one all the more. I wish that they had just focused more on melody-led songs rather than utilizing this awfully computerized rhythm section. And while the album has been in the works for a long while, the resulting product simply overstays its welcome almost right from the start and it provides little to now enjoyment throughout its arduous runtime. This one just drives home the point that it's excruciatingly hard to find proper progressive-rock from Australia...

One star, no doubt.