TREASURE ISLAND

Here's another new 'joint venture' project by Finnish progrock magazine Colossus and French progrock label Musea. The album delivers 3 bands from different countries, each plays one 'epic' composition.

1 - Gentlemen Of Fortune (25'39) by Velvet Desperados (Finland) : We can enjoy tasteful and melodic music that ranges from in general mid-tempo and swinging to compelling and bombastic (like the final part that evoked Urish Heep during Salisbury). The band uses a wide range of instrumentation, from saxophone and trumpet to harmonica, guitars and even the bagpipe. But the focus is on the blend of Keith-Emerson inspired Hammond organ work and lots of woodwind instruments (like Chicago), a pleasant combination if you like it.

2 - The Shore And The Breathing Night (24'40) by Floating State (Italy) : This is a nice composition but it lacks a spark, the only memorable moments are a flashy Moog solo, a wonderful and compelling part featuring sensitive guitar and soft Mellotron waves and in the end a Latin-American atmosphere with Spanish guitar runs, quite adventurous in comparison with the rest of this track.

3 - La Aventura En El Mar - The Sea Adventure (23'22) by Nexus (Argentina) : Here is the highlight of this CD, the Argentine progrock sensation Nexus. This track does not really sounds as a head-and-tail composition with a theme, it's more a serie of climates and accellarations. First the impressive and fat sound of the Moog synthesizer, then a mid-tempo with bombastic Hammond organ runs and propulsive guitar riffs, the interplay is exciting. The tempo slows down to bluesy with a sensitive 'cloud number nine' guitar solo, accompanied by beautiful strings and eventually we hear spacey synthesizer sounds and acoustic guitar runs, very creative. Suddenly a mid-tempo with bombastic keyboards, a fluent rhythm-section, quick Hammond organ flights and a slow wah- wah guitar solo with biting licks, this is Nexus too! The final part starts with the sound of the wind, then a gradually more lush atmosphere with the focus on an Emersonian synthesizer sound that finally slowly fades away.

Yet another of the joint ventures by Finnish prog association Colossus and French record label Musea here; this time around the project is Robert Louis Stevensons's classic swashbuckling novel Treasure Island. And as usual, the participating bands have been asked to make music with the sound and the instruments from the 70's, with a minimum length of 20 minutes, and with a focus on progressive rock in style.

Finnish band Velvet Desperadoes takes a slightly daring approach, although filled with catchy grooves the first half of their contribution have more in common with 70's funk infested pop-rock than prog, but in the second half improvisational sounding driving rock in the manner of Man sets things in order though.

Italian outfit Floating State visit some of the same territories as their Finnish colleagues, but with more of an emphasis on jazz. The song is rather patchy though, and isn't really a good song per se - but there are interesting segments in there from time to time.

Nexus from Argentina finish this album with a highly symphonic number, with segments ranging from lush, dreamy and floating to epic and majestic sounding. The song is a tad patchy, but all the parts are of good quality and overall it's the best number on this one.

Recommended to fans of 70's music in general and 70's prog in particular.