Sun Domingo Live in Montreal Marillion Weekend Review by Gary Hill
I would almost put these guys under progressive rock. They are closer to jam band music, though. The sounds here are potent and the songs are intriguing. They take us into some real progressive rock and space rock territory here and there. It’s a great liver performance.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2010 Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
New Love City
Take a proggy sort of arrangement and mix it with a bit of a Dave Matthews vibe and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what this track is like. There is a soaring instrumental section later that’s great.
Santa Teresa A mellower number, this is tasty and quite jam band like. It’s flowing and quite cool.
A Song In Your Name A more soaring number, this again calls to mind Dave Matthews to my ear.
Gwylyddyn This is another with a definite jam band vibe. It’s an energetic rocker that’s quite strong.
weetest And Saddest Here we get a slower, mellower cut that is very progressive rock like. This is pretty and has some intriguing changes and alterations. There is still a jam band vibe to it, and echoes of Dave Matthews, but a lot of other elements on the table, too. I even make out hints of Marillion and Pink Floyd at times.
Fingers Of Love Another that makes me think of Dave Matthews, later this moves out into a soaring musical excursion that’s very prog-like. There is some killer guitar soloing and a nice interplay between that and non-lyrical vocals. The second half (this cut is about nine minutes long) is a smoking Latin meets progressive rock meets jam band kind of instrumental. There are vocals but they are non-lyrical.
Mad Maze Here is another that makes me think of Dave Matthews, but there are also some hints of Pink Floyd and other proggier acts. I can hear some REM on it, too.
Burning Both Ends A harder rocker, this is very much in an alternative rock motif. It’s a good tune and a nice change of pace. It’s one of the most straightforward cuts on show here.
Ohio Song This has more of that Dave Matthews styled jam band sound. It’s a good song, but not really above and beyond the rest of the set.
The Race Has Already Begun There’s a soaring sound to much of this killer number.
Immigrant Song They put in a pretty amazing performance of Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.”
Something Face This is a powerhouse jam. It’s funky, but it’s also very progressive rock oriented. It just plain rocks. There are strong showings from each member of the group. They give us a section later that they say is “the closest we get to hip hop,” and then fire out into an almost Dream Theater meets alternative rock jam. This is the most dynamic cut on the set and one of the best.
