KING LAURIN AND HIS ROSEGARDEN

If you like concept albums, Peter-Gabriel-era Genesis, Marillion, Italian symphonic prog plus great guitar work, this CD could be worthwhile to check out. It tells the story of Laurin, dwarf king in the Dolomites of Southern Tyrol in Italy. As the folk tale goes, Laurin was extremely proud of his rosegarden, which was surrounded by a silken thread. Nobody was allowed to step into the garden or to break the silken thread. Although small, Laurin had the strength of twelve men when he wore his magic belt. Also he could wear a magic hood that made him invisible. Being rich and strong, all Laurin was longing for was a woman. When he heard that the King of Etsch was planning to give away his daughter Sybill, Laurin expected to be invited to compete with other kings and knights in battle for the hand of Sybill. When he didn't receive an invitation, he decided to go anyway, wearing his magic hood. While the other man fought to be accepted as husband for the kings daughter, Laurin fell in love with Sybill and - as he wouldn't have a change to fight for her - decided to kidnap the young woman. When the other men found out about the crime, they followed Laurin to his kingdom and one of them got so mad that he broke the silken thread and stepped on some of the roses. Laurin had threatened, that anybody committing such an act of violence to his roses would be punished and attacked the knight. Others came to help and when Laurin put on his magic hood, they nearly lost the fight. Laurins bad luck was that his movements could be seen in the grass and among the roses and thus one of the knights was able to grab him, pull the magic items from him and take him prisoner. At that point Sybill stepped forward and declared that Laurin had treated her well, hadn't harmed her and asked the knights to befriend Laurin, who invited the men into his court. He gave them food and drink and when the hour was late, the dwarfs suddenly attacked the knights and put them into their prison. The knights got strength from this betrayal and were able to break out of their prison cells. The captured the dwarf king and took him away. Laurin on the way out looked at the rosegarden and felt, that the roses had shown the knights were to find him, so he cursed his rosegarden, which turned to stone and it is only on some days in the twilight towards evening, that the glow of the roses can still be seen.

I took the liberty to tell the whole story, because in my opinion Mad Puppet did a magnificent job when they wrote the music for "King Laurin". They capture moods and atmospheres and show excellent musicianship. You really should get a copy of "King Laurin and his Rosegarden" and thanks to the generosity of Mad Puppet, that isn't a problem at all: You can download the whole CD from their homepage.

4 stars for the CD / 1 extra star for generosity

If you are constantly on the look out for that rare hidden gem , here is a mesmerizing concept album by the relatively unknown Germanic progmeisters from Tyrol, Italy. This is an imposingly exhaustive story with lots of narration (not always a good sign yet critical here), a teutonic fairy tale about a dwarf king of unusual cruelty and the enchanted rosegarden that was his rather selfish pride and joy. The musical envelope is compelling, gushing forth effortlessly with all players ebuliently inspired, no instrument trying to dominate the other, all tuned into creating a cohesive story. Starting off with a 20 minute suite takes a lot of audacity, dive bombing straight into the saga of the mad king Laurin but the next piece the "Rosegarden" is the killer cut here, (Woe be to You) offering up a canvas very reminiscent of a harder edged Floyd both in spirit and inspiration, with a hook-laden chorus to die for and a blistering guitar solo to boot ! This hour long CD is an oyster of tasty neo-prog, quite original in scope and delivery , certainly not a Classic but a very trusted recording that I like to revisit regularly. 4 schtroumphs

In 1994 Mad Puppet released what can be considered their best album so far, "King Laurin And His Rosegarden". This work features a slightly renewed line up with Manfred Kaufmann (keyboards), Manfred Schweigkofler (vocals), Christoph Senoner (guitars, vocals), Thomas Pichler (bass) and Georg Lang (drums, percussion). During the recording sessions they were helped by many guest musicians who contributed to enrich the sound adding many musical colours. The result of all this hard work is a complex concept album inspired by local folklore with an amazing synthesis of modern and vintage sounds.

All the the tracks are linked together in a long suite that tells the lore of King Laurin and of his mythical garden of roses. In fact, the Rosengarten or Catinaccio is the name of a spectacular spot in the Dolomites and Laurin was the king of the dwarfs who lived up there. The music is less derivative than on the debut album and the song-writing here in my opinion is rather good. Some passages could recall Pink Floyd or Genesis or Marillion, but this influences are just reference points. There are some narrative parts that help to follow the development of the story but, in my opinion, it's a pity that the band chose to sing in English rather than in Italian, German or Ladin since this choice put some limits in the lyrical expression. Anyway, listen to the album and judge by yourselves! You can listen to the complete work and read the lyrics on the official website of the band. Don't miss it!

This was MAD PUPPET's third studio album from 1994. One of the earlier Neo Prog bands for sure with their debut being released in 1982. I haven't heard it though so I'm not sure if it was Neo or not. This band is a five piece out of Italy and I'd say that almost every person who has heard all four of their albums would rate this one the highest. This recording is all about the story, so yes a concept album that even goes as far as to have narration(in English) or spoken words on every track. Mostly to end the song but at other times too on that 20 plus minute opener. I'm not into the narration and I've never been big on concept albums so 3 stars fits given the music is well done and the vocals sound like you would expect from a Neo-Prog band.

Highlights for me include "The Rosegarden". I just like the sound as the vocals arrive around 1 1/2 minutes and they will become passionate. Some nice guitar after 3 minutes during an instrumental section. I like "The Meditation" as well and again it boils down to me just liking how this sounds. The bass is at it's best on this one. Check out the guitar before 3 minutes. The music is quite well done and so are the vocals so I would recommend this highly to Neo-Prog fans out there.