A GRANDER VISION

When most people see the name I'm sure they will expect a Yes-type disc being of the same name "Relayer" .. however that is not the case. On "Grander Vision" the band Relayer have a sound of their own which is very nice. I would say there are Prog overtones, but other influences such as Queen, Rush, & Pink Floyd are evident. The 20+ minute title track is very prog and has many peaks & valleys. They can be technical in parts but seem more based out of melody. "The River" is a kind of pop song with a great little bridge/solo part. "Anyone" has some heavier moments countered with another bridge section that takes you off the path in a good way. The 4th and final song is "Wire Mill Scars." It is an interesting song, however the mix is off from the others and could have used a bit more care to even it up. That aside, I really liked the disc. Prog is not a big seller in the USA, so it's nice to see some countrymen contributing to good music. All musicians are skilled and have their moments to shine. The singer has a voice like Freddie Mercury at times and the guitarist can go from Howe to Gilmour in a heartbeat. Some nice Key parts and solid bass/drum combos. A change of pace from the normal prog overkill of Spock's Beard, ect.

Relayer's debut was both hard to find and a bit costly to purchase, but since I was so blown away by their second and third releases, I went the extra mile and bought this. I'm not disappointed, I can be obsessive about collections and I needed this one to fill the void. If nothing else, A Grander Vision sets up The Teething Fashion quite well. This band is a merger of Freddie Mercury vocals, Howe/Hackett guitar, a mix of master keyboarding; hints of Banks, Wakeman and others, a solid bottom end that nods to Squire, Geddy Lee and others, and drumming just as influenced by prog's early percussionists.

Poor production techniques are the main problems, along with a band trying too hard to create something epic. If I edit the first two and half minutes off the title track, A Grander Vision, they would have had a much better tune. The attempt at being artsy fails, with falsetto vocals and slightly off time gimmickery that just doesn't seem to gel. One other well intentioned mistake, is allowing one of the other band members to try to sing two lines. Steve Howe's ear ripping vocals would have been a welcome relief. The rest of the disc is okay, at best. A band still searching, questionable "la la la da da" lyrics when real words may have been more appropriate. Padding, the probable downfall of prog, is evident in more than a few instances. If you don't have anything interesting to say, say nothing at all. So what if the song comes in at 17:00 rather then 22:00. Keep it fresh.

I would say that Relayer learned a lot during this first endeavor and certainly improved their product, but if you have the money to buy this, use it for something else.

Relayer is a US prog band,formed in 1991 in a suburb of Illinois called Libertyville under the guide of bassist Tom Burke and guitarist Tim LaRoi with vocalist John Sahagian joining the band a year later.Initially named ''The relay'',they soon changed their name to Relayer and by 1994 they tranformed into a quintet with Greg Panmer on keys and Michael Ways on drums.This line-up led the band to the private-pressed debut ''A grander vision''.

Despite named after the eponymous Yes album,the band doesn't sound really like their inspiration masters.The opening ''Anyone'' is a powerful prog rock piece with driving guitars,nice solos and a very personal vocal performance by Sahagian,not unlike TILES' prog approach.The long self-titled 20-min. opus is a total different story.This one falls into the modern Symphonic Rock category with an excellent result.Good performance by Ways on piano,even better synth and organ work,the guitar work is fantastic and somewhere between RUSH'es power and GENESIS' trembling,not to mention the fascinating solos,with Sahagian in full shape once again.An easy flowing essential modern prog epic.The following ''The river'' is somewhere between Heavy and Symphonic Rock with fantastic work on synths,ALEX LIFESON-influenced guitar work and very nice breaks and changing moods.''Wire Mill Scars'' is closer to the later style with grandiose keys,shifting moods and a bombastic atmosphere overall till the great ending outro.An hounorable mention must be done to the very tight and strong rhythm section.

''A grander vision'' was quite a surprise.An unknown US prog band delivering energetic,diverse,challenging and rich musicianship with elements from Symphonic to Neo to Heavy Prog,without any mistakes in a very tight release.Highly recommended.

Although the first album from North-American band RELAYER "Grander Vision" has the lower quotation between his discography in P A, I consider their more consistent work ! This consideration is intimately linked to the fact of more easy interaction of various musical parts that compounds each track from this album ( fact that I don't feel so easily in their next works). The music is filled by countless influences, as for instance YES, GENESIS, RUSH and some others in small scale. The first track "Anyone" is a theme mainly influenced by RUSH and their more heavy counterpart TILES, the guitar clearly influenced by Alex Lifesson' ( is enough listen RUSH's track "Subdivisions" guitar solo). the track 2 "Grander Vision" is a beautiful symphonic prog tune in YES/GENESIS musical construction and maybe the best track of the album. The Track 3 is a "nervous" ballad , where keyboards mixing Wakeman/Banks and Styx's keyboardist Dennis de Young style with detach. The last track " Wire Mill Scars " is very close by GENESIS, due some vocal parts, but , the guitars sounds again like Lifesson's style. My rate is 4 stars !!!