THE SPAGHETTI EPIC 2 - THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Not too shabby this concept album; where three different artists have been asked to make 25 minute long epics inspired by the classic movie The Good, The Bad and the Ugly as well as symphonic prog from the 70's Italian style.

Two Italian bands and one band with an Italian sounding name that really consist of English musicians Andy Tillison and Guy Manning have made some nice tracks here, with more twists and turns than to be found in major labyrinths. Most of it with a distinct 70's feel to it; and rich on symphonic moods.

Fans of stuff like this better check this one out sooner rather than later.

Bands: Randone, La Voce Del Vento en Tilion (all bands 1 'epic') Again an impressive lay-out by the Finnish Colossus project: a huge booklet featuring lots of information, pictures and even cartoons about the famous movie The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, the subject on this album.

RANDONE (Italy) - The Good (25.04) This acclaimed new Italian five piece band delivers an alternating, very melodic composition in the 24-carat symphonic prog tradition with wonderful vintage keyboards (especially the omnipresent choir-Mellotron), strong interplay between keyboards and guitar, pleasant Italian vocals, powerful work on saxophone and lots of changing climates and breaks. It doesn't sound original but very tasteful and I am sure many symphomaniacs will enjoy this music.

LA VOCE DE L VENTO (UK) - The Bad (24.23) Despite the Italian bandname, this is a duo from the UK. Their music alternates between polished sounding prog/progressive pop and exciting ELP-like bombastic keyboard-driven symphonic prog. I am delighted about the parts with flashy Moog sounds, swirling Hammond runs and propulsive organ with wah-wah guitar, goose bumps!

TILION (Itay) - The Ugly (26.57) This new Italian band turns out to be the new Il Balletto Di Bronzo because of the expressive vocals, fiery parts, raw guitar sound, avant-garde/experimental undertones and lots of surprising breaks and shifting moods: from swinging with jazzy Fender Rhodes piano to fat Moog flights with dramatic vocals or bombastic keyboards featuring Moog and Hammond, followed by experimental work on piano and theatrical vocals. To me the music by Tilion sounds as very intricate and compelling but not everybody's cup of tea.......just like the sound of Il Balletto Di Bronzo on their legendary album Ys!

Not as good as the (book) first one. But that's maybe because I haven't seen it (yet). 1st one just hits symphonic parts more, this jazzy tune sometimes. Not bad, but also don't fit me to western theme. Accidentally I forgot about current track I'm listening and wondered, why this singer sounds like Guy Manning. At least the answer is simple here, it's him. Similar bands like at first take (epic 1), but reduced by 1/2. That makes just half of tracks than on their previous release. One thing is strange. Except GM, these tracks sound much better to me, than their original (I mean better than for example Tilion CD's)

4(-), I'm not so impressed by this, as I was with previous one (check it if you want), but it's not so bad as for these three shameful stars.

I have greatly enjoyed these Colossus releases, and this is no exception.

I will say though, that this one did not appeal to me as much as previous ones have (with the exception of Kalevala.......which, while having a lot of good material also contained much patchier stuff as well). However, repeated listens have made me appreciate it a good deal more.

One of the things that may have contributed to a slight drop in quality is the fact that the Randone composition was a hurried, last minute affair. This was due to the death of Haikara main man Vesa Lattunen, half way through the writing and recording of their piece that was supposed to be the opening track. Randone agreed to fill in, and had much less time than normal to complete and submit their piece. Despite this, they still managed to create an enjoyable prog epic, in the Italian style, though it doesn't reach the heights for me that their track on the previous Spaghetti Epic did.

La Voce Del Vento, the name given to the duo of Andy Tillison and Guy Manning, deliver a very solid contribution, though again, this seems a bit less satisfying than their previous contribution. It definitely seems that Guy Manning was the one responsible for this suite, as the style seems much more in line with his solo work, with Tillison taking much less of a role in the composition and performance (this was confirmed by Manning, who says that this composition was primarily his, with Tillison adding in some ideas to the finished piece). As a side note, Colossus lets us down just a bit by leaving out the bulk of the lyrics to this piece in the booklet. An oversight that is a first in my experience. Again though, repeated listens reveal that this is still a high quality prog suite. I just think that the previous one was more enjoyable, sounding like a much more collaborative work that blended the strengths of these two fine artists very well.

Tilion's piece is my favorite here, though I could understand if others disagreed. The piece has a much more avant-garde sound, with far more dissonance and strangeness than the previous pieces. The vocals, as well, might be a bit hard to take for more sensitive listeners. For myself, I find them excellent and obviously delivered by a very skilled vocalist whose tone and style appeal to me. The song is well constructed and excellently played, the bassist and vocalist being the standout musicians for me. All in all, a very satisfying, albeit strange, piece of music.

As usual, the packaging is excellent (aside from the missing lyrics mentioned above) and maintains the high standard of previous releases, with the incredibly thick booklet giving detailed information about the film the music is based on, and recording details and lyrics for all compositions (with English translations for the Italian lyrics of the first and third tracks).

On the whole, this doesn't quite appeal to me as much as the previous Spaghetti Epic, but still rates a solid 3.5 stars. I'll round down since this is not a standard band album, and because I don't want to give it the same ranking as the previous album. But if you enjoy the other Colossus releases, this is well worth getting.