ON GOES THE QUEST (MASTER MAGICIAN II)

Though already some years old, I bought this album a few weeks ago. It sounds like being done yesterday... The melodies are tremendous, keys and guitars are Spitzenklasse and the songs are brilliant. Why has this album never reached the status of "Classic"? Does anyone know whether there is more available from Maryson?

Initially I bought this on a recommendation that it was like Ayreon: Into The Electric Castle. Well, that is not really a fair comparison. This album is much less spacey and more song oriented. It is also not a real heavy album, but the album has grown better with each listen. WJ has put a terrific ensemble, and this album is best to be appreciated when using headphones. I would give it four out of five stars...and that is conservative. It is a very good album. If you like ambient sounds of birds, wild animals and dreamy keyboards and flutes, then you cant go wrong.

=^..^=LCAT

Then reading 2 good review about this album, i decided to give it a try, but i disagre with the other members. The sound is very old to be in Neo prog....there is a lot of key flute, synth strings, piano and organ, but the way like is played is very very close to the Symphonic Prog rather that Neo-Prog. The structure is complex too with a lot of time changes and armomies, but i hate the way like it change due to the lack of softness.

I give to this album just 3 stars because im a fan of the Neo-Prog, but racomanded if you are in the vein of early Genesis with a touch of Yes

Ever heard an album that is for about 2/3 stunning and for 1/3 almost embarrassingly cheesy ? I'm afraid I have found one here. The stunning part is the concept (musically) as well as the instrumental handling. The cheesy aspects are the lyrics and the vocals. And then I mean both the vocals of W.J. Maryson and Rosemarije Laurens. They simple both can't execute the main aspect of singing and that is hold tune. Fortunately Rosemarije only sings in two songs but Maryson himself is the lead vocalist so there we have a bit of a problem. And it becomes immediately clear in second track Master Magician.

Right after this annoying "opener" (the actual opener is a short instrumental) we get a great example of the stunning part. Impressive keys by the same Mr. Maryson turn the feeling around for me and in fact these switches go on for the entire 68 minute release. Just as you think it's simply a poor effort by Dutch amateurs (caused by lyrics and vocals) you get tossed 180 degrees in opinion by marvelous instrumental contributions. Not just by Maryson with his excellent keyboardplay but also by a great Chris van Hoogdalem on guitar and as icing on the cake Dutch prog hero Thijs van Leer (Focus) with fantastic and enchanting flute passages.

So that leaves me doing a bit of maths for the overall rating. It's 2/3 * 4,5 (stars) added with 1/3 * 2,5 resulting in 3,83 which we can safely round up to 4 stars. Because the concept works very well despite the lyrics which well, let's say simply don't work for me. If you make lyrics about a magician you'd better do it as Rush did it in 1975 with The Necromancer. These lyrics are captivating and intriguing but the lyrics on this album sound a bit childish and therefore cheesy. But in the end the instrumental bits and pieces are so wonderful that this wins the internal battle/struggle for me and make me decide for the four stars. I'm curious what other Prog Reviewers would make of this one. Anybody ?