THEME OF SECRETS

This has long been one of my favourite albums.Yes it is' New Age' and certain tracks appeared on the Channel Four 'Art Of Landscape' series! Its a mute point whether it can be classified as ''prog'',probably not, but then Mr Jobson had been an important player in the prog scene with both UK and Frank Zappa so its seems fair to include his solo work.

This is all played on a computer which doesn't sound promising at first but actually the sampled sounds sit somewhere between acoustic and electronic which creates a unique atmosphere and original textures.Eddie also is a wonderfull composer and TOS gives full reign to his massive talent.The CD is sadly now deleted but try hard to get this if you can.Its as good as any insturmental album I've ever heard.

Eddie Jobson has always been one of my favorite keyboardists. This versatile musician can play progressive rock, jazz or even New Age. "Theme of secrets" contains very dreamy electronic New Age tracks, showing evidence of progressive elements, although there are no drums, no guitars, no violins and no bass: actually this record could be a reference when it is time to define what is progressive New Age. He uses state-of-the-art technology for the year, on the occurrence the synclavier: it gives multi-layered, mystic, mysterious, melancholic and nostalgic tracks, with just a small amount of never frightening darkness. Jobson creates here atmospheric & ethereal textures through symphonic and melodic sequenced patterns. It is absolutely not linear nor monotonous. This music gives you a bit the same feeling involved in the listen of David Helpling's "Sleeping on the edge of the World"; the difference is that Helpling is more linear and floating; Jobson is more symphonic. There are some variations on the same theme.

Eddie Jobson is a genius: he shows us here that he is not only technically very skilled: he shows us that he is also able to give a soul to his music, which materializes itself in the easiness for the listener to be transported into another Universe. BON VOYAGE AU PAYS DES REVES!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Eddie Jobson has certainly gotten around in the progressive music world, but oddly enough, has just two self-titled albums. The Zinc album (unless I'm very much mistaken it is Zinc and not Zink) is notable for having Gary Green of Gentle Giant fame on it. Zinc seems a bit dated these days, very much an '80's album. Theme of Secrets has a more timeless quality to it. It was released on Peter Baumann's (Tangerine Dream alumnus) Private Music label, which tended to have more "new age" oriented artists on it.

This is an entirely Eddie Jobson solo effort. Not only that, but it was entirely performed on the Synclavier, which was a cutting edge instrument at the time (The credits say just Synclavier but most likely it was Synclavier II). Not having played one myself, but being familiar with the work of other musicians using the instrument at the time, I get the impression that Eddie was doing a great job exploring what this synthesizer was capable of.

From Peter Baumann in the liner notes "On this album Eddie did not try to develop ideas or concepts of how the record should sound, he simply created the music in the studio, inspired by sounds he developed on a synclavier music computer, (some of the most intriguing and vibrant ones that I've ever hear.)" I agree with that even despite all the advances in keyboard instruments that have been made to this day.

By the way, Eddie has a new web site, just opened in 2007 and under construction as I write.

P.S. I've always been pronouncing that instrumet the "syn clavier", it's supposed to be pronounced "sync laveer"

The only progressive credential on "Theme of Secrets" would be Eddie Jobson himself, but this bears little resemblance to his prior work, instead being rightfully categorized as new age music. Those familiar with my tastes know that I am a new age sympathizer who feels that the genre was a refuge for some erstwhile progressive artists who could not stomach joining the throngs of electronic popsters in the 1980s. But even so, there is a point at which they may has well have sold out, and that barrier is broached on "Theme of Secrets".

Look to TANGERINE DREAM or even PETE BARDENS if you want an example of similar music that retains its essential character, plus a slew of artists not on these pages such as NIGHTNOISE, but look here only for a rare glimpse of Jobson solo. The presence of a decent theme on track one that repeats on the title cut and the album closer only serves to highlight the banality and utterly aimless electronic doodling of the rest of the material, in which neither composition nor arrangement rise to any occasion except la siesta. Well, maybe "Lakemist" is able to establish a worthwhile mood in spite of itself.

pssst - this is a dud, pass it on and pass on it.

Frank Zappa wasn't the only progressive musician who produced synclavier-based albums in the 1980s - Eddie Jobson also turned his hand to it on this solo album, which sounds less what you might expect a Jobson solo album to sound based on his classic 1970s violin playing and more like a rejected Tangerine Dream soundtrack, which might explain why Peter Baumann contributes liner notes. To be honest, the album offers nothing that any of the many similarly uptempo New Agey electronic albums from the era don't also offer, and has little to nothing in the way of individual personality, so I genuinely struggle to see what Eddie was attempting to accomplish here. One for uncritical fans only.