| The
Review |
This is Magenta's third full length album, and their first
concept piece. The band is formed from the ashes of Cyan,
a neo-prog outfit with Rob Reed at its helm. I was not very
familiar with Cyan, but I know that Reed handled the vocals
and keys. I hear the music was pretty good - but the vocals
were not outstanding. Reed solved the problem with Magenta
by acquiring the talents of Christina, who has a very lovely
mid range voice. Inevitably, whenever a prog band surfaces
with female vocals, the Renaissance comparisons begin. The
first two albums did not have much of a Renaissance feel to
me, however, as they were more Yes/Genesis (Tony Banks) inspired
keyboard driven prog. Both previous records were characterized
by a large amount of moog work, very long tracks with many
different parts, acoustic and electric guitar, and many other
vintage key sounds. I thoroughly enjoyed both of the previous
releases.
With "Home", Magenta changes somewhat. The album was
originally penned as a double cd release, much like their
first, "Revolutions". The story is roughly about a woman who
leaves her hometown in the U.K. for America, only to travel,
encounter many hardships, become miserable, and eventually
return home. The band decided, prior to releasing the album,
to split the release into 2 separate albums: Home and The
New York Suite. The latter will be discussed in a separate
review as it is somewhat different in sound from Home. I have
no idea why the band chose to do this, as I frankly would
have appreciated the double cd release more. This is especially
true given the fact that the New York Suite consist of a middle
portion of the story and it seems somewhat odd to split it
this way. Anyway - more on that later. Both Home and the New
York Suite are currently available in a special package (hurry
- once it is sold out, it is gone!).
Home is more streamlined than the previous two releases.
At first, I did not like this - the songs are shorter and
structured more in the verse/chorus/verse arrangement. Also
- it seems to me the keyboards are much lower in the mix than
before and there are not many moog endeavors on this album.
Organ and piano are the two primary keys, with some very faint
mellotron in a background role occasionally and a rare moog
appearance. So what I am saying is this release is less "prog"
than the last two, I suppose. But - it is a concept album
and runs together occasionally.
The good news is that Christina's vocals are the best
they have ever sounded and she is much more up front than
before, Maybe this is because the prog element is toned down
and she is into the music more, but who knows. (Yes, I'm assuming
she doesn't actually like prog. Look at the music she says
she likes on their website - none of it is close to progressive.)
Despite my negative first impression, this release takes time
to sink in and grow. After a while, when I discarded my preconceptions
about the change in style (which is actually not all that
apparent to most people, perhaps I've exaggerated it) I came
to really like this album. The melodies are creative and the
album really flows nicely as the story is told. The melodies
catch in your head, especially the Tower of Hope theme, which
is repeated at the end of the album. Repeated listens show
hidden moments that surface with headphones and demonstrate
a wonderful underpinning of sound. This album is mixed wonderfully.
Overall, I prefer the more proggy sounds usually, but
this one gets a high recommendation from me. It is a no brainer
for fans of the band - and if you like Karnataka, this one
is for you also. I mentioned the Renaissance angle earlier.
This album actually does sounds similar (I hate making that
comparison) due to the vibrato that seems more present in
Christina's voice and the slightly more classical feel to
some of the arrangements. These guys obviously spent quite
a while writing this, and I think it paid off. If you get
this - give it several listens before judging. I'm glad I
did.
Rating: 4 stars
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