KING LAURIN AND HIS ROSEGARDEN

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.