BARBARA THOMPSON'S PARAPHERNALIA

For some reasons, I begun replaying all my cassette collection in the past as I was quite bored with the sound of digital music which in my opinion was not quite ear-friendly and in a way disconnected me with my past experience listening most of music collection from analog source which mostly cassette. Hey, I could not afford to buy vinyl at that time; it's too expensive for a poor student like me. I started listening to my (approximately 800) cassettes since couple of months ago, including those that I got the CDs already. To me, listening to music from cassette creates unique nuance that is irreplaceable by any other form of recorded music as I was grown with cassettes as my main source of listening plus radio, of course!

I was stunned with the fact that I got this Pure Fantasy album by Barbara Thompson. By the time I purchased this was not, I thought, my cup of tea as I was more on progressive rock or contemporary jazz rock like Return to Forever. But now when I play this cassette this time .. Oh boy ..!! This is truly a gem from the past! By the time I purchased this cassette I was truly falling inlove with Marillion's Fugazi and Script for a Jester's Tear - a totally different kind of music! But now this this time, I can really enjoy this cassette collection. The cassette audio quality is still top notch! It's already 28 years of age but the quality is still excellent! One thing I love with cassette is that I am forced to listen to it and not doing skipping as I do with digital records.

The opening track Fields Of Flowers 4:38 blew me away at first listen as it has great flute- work by Barbara. I leaned that from wikipidea Barbara married to the world's great rock drummer Jon Hiseman of Colosseum fame. Jon's drumming work is also great here. I also notice the other great player Dave Ball who plays bass guitar - he is great in this album. I think most track in this album have great bass guitar work. The other great tracks that I love are Listen To The Plants 4:29 and also Kafferinya 3:28 - I love the great violin work.

Overall, this is a really good album with overall 3.5 stars rating. As I learned from Wiki, Barbara has been permanent member of Colosseum since 2004. Keep on proggin' ...!!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

What a pleasant surprise it was. Thompson has always been a brilliant composer, and really fine, fine player, but this outing really shows that those two factors are now one total package. The performances from all members in the band is superb and inspired - especially the violinist.

The other nice attribute to this release is the extreme high quality of recording and production. Very modern type of mastering, but still that feel that "the band's in the room playing together." It must also be noted that the synth work is absolutely fantastic. Really fresh, clean and not trying to replace an orchestra, just being cool well played synth's and keyboards.

So, a big WOW goes to this one, and most of Barbara's works actually. Those darned English just stir up my soul!!!

Thanks Progarchives for being here, and thanks Barbara Thompson for continuing your musical explorations!