WORDS OF THE WIND

Long before Greek Neo-Progsters La Tulipe Noire entered the foreign market,they presented themselves in early-90's to the Greek underground rock scene with the greek translation of the later name (Mavri Toulipa).Practically their line-up was the same with the later effort ''In The Gates Of Dream'': G.Hyde on bass,female singer Lena behind the microphone,Spyros Kontakis on guitars,Alix on keys,while their drummer by the time was Babis Leontiadis.Their debut was made on the Greek label Wipe out Records in 1992,a LP only release entitled ''Ta logia tou anemou'' (Words of the wind''),recorded at the legendary 111 Studios in Athens,the music shelter of many Greek cult rock bands.

Stylistically the band explores the same style as on their later works,dreamy Neo Prog with emphasis on symphonic keyboard arrangements,emotional solos and melodic guitar work with some more grandiose heavy passages thrown in for good measure and strong lyrical content.Actually the keyboard/piano work of Alix is really captivating and among the more symphonic approaches met in Neo Prog and the guitar work has strong similarities with the 80's MARILLION's albums,especially the instrumental passages are really interesting.What holds the album from rising into a higher level is the use of the Greek language,a sort of unsuccesful experiment,as the type of music sounds so strange mixed with the language.Additionally, and while Lena has a good and clear voice, the dull social lyrics are typical of dark Gothic bands and anyone familiar with the Greek language will find them cheesy against the style of music presented.Otherwise the album has a fair amount of decent Neo/Symphonic moments to offer to a prog listener with a very ethereal atmosphere created by the musicians.Finally,the production of the album is not the best,but definitely better compared to the band's early efforts as La Tulipe Noire.

The rest of the story is known.By 1997 the band would change the name into La Tulipe Noire mainly due to the interest of foreign companies in their music and all lyrics would afterwards be written (fortunately) in English.

I would not call this album essential for a listener of Greek citizenship, as I am.The lyrics is a bit of a problem.The music though is quite good with a special reference on the awesome keyboard work and foreign listeners can add even a whole star to this rating.Almost recommended...2.5 stars