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Paul Adams

Imaginings

Review by Gary Hill

Perhaps this isn’t progressive rock. It is progressive music, though. Besides, it has a lot of fusion built into it, and we put fusion under prog at MSJ. This is a pretty instrumental (a couple songs have non-lyrical vocals) that has a lot of world music built into it. It’s gentle and would make really nice music for just relaxing.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016  Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
Just Such Beauty

There really is a lot of beauty in this mellow number. The sitar brings some psychedelic textures, while a lot of the other instrumentation brings world music, too. This has a definite new age vibe, but is a pretty mellow instrumental that lands firmly in the vein of progressive music, if not progressive rock.

Giggles and Grooves
There literally are giggles built into this piece. They belong to children. The music has a cool tropical groove. It’s melodic, mellow and very cool. There are some non-lyrical vocals and definite fusion elements at play here, too.
Imaginings
Combining new age, fusion and much more, this is a wonderful musical journey. It’s quite dramatic and also very pretty. I think it was a good choice as title track because it’s one of the best songs here.
Panda Bears At Breakfast
Another great tune, this has plenty of fusion and world music mixed into it. While the world music things catch the most attention, if you listen carefully there are some great retro jazz sounds in the mix.
Pastoral
This is mellow and quite pastoral. It’s more world music in a lot of ways. It’s very pretty. The more energized bit later takes on some psychedelia, and the whole thing has a decent amount of fusion built into it. There are some non-lyrical vocals built into it later, and in some ways this makes me think of Pat Metheny a bit.
Like Blue and Velvet
There are no big changes here. Instead we get more world music infused sounds. I like this one a lot. It’s pretty. Yes, it still has plenty of fusion, too.
For Two Lovers
While not a huge change, in some ways there is more mellow jazz here than on some of the others.
The Mysteries of Mood
This really does have a mysterious tone to it with the world music driving it nicely. Piano has a prominent place on this piece. It’s slow moving and so beautiful. Then around the half way point, it gets a bit more energized and moves more into fusion territory.
Upon Early Rising
I love the intricate acoustic guitar and the piano on this mellow number.
Clouds
Built upon waves of sound, this is pretty and quite tasty.
Dawn
Slow and quite gentle, the world music really drives a lot of this piece.
Conch Shell By the Sea
Another that leans on the slow world music textures, this is pretty and quite effective.
 
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