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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Gandalf

To Another Horizon

Review by Gary Hill

If you are looking for musical wizardry, look no further than this new reissue. This is a mellower, electronic based prog album. It’s essentially instrumental, but a couple tunes do have spoken vocals in some form or another. I’d consider this living in the vein of things like Vangelis, Mike Oldfield and Tangerine Dream. If you enjoy stuff like that, you will probably like this, too.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
March of No Reason (Including "The Falling Star")

The first parts of this song are strictly electronic with keyboards driving the music. They are also powerful, beautiful and lush. It’s the kind of stuff you might associate with Tangerine Dream. It does manage to rock, though. Around the four minute mark, it drops down to particularly mellow stuff and builds out into a different type of thing (featuring acoustic guitar) from there. A smoking hot rock meets fusion jam ensues beyond that soundscape.

Natural Forces Getting Out of Control (Including "Wind, Rain, Thunder & Fire")
As the atmospheric elements start this one there is flute dancing over the top. That drops away after a time and an organic sound, like something you’d expect to hear at Rainforest Café enters to move the piece forward. It continues to evolve in mellow, rather space music oriented ways from there. Around the five minute mark (roughly half way through) it drops way down with the sounds of nature dominating the piece. After a time electronic music starts to rise to move the piece onward. It eventually works forward to more energized electronic territory. There is a rocking element to it. There are oddly dissonant things that come into it later, too. The space electronics continue beyond that point, eventually taking the number to its close.
Requiem for a Planet
Still electronic, this is very classic in nature. It’s quite pretty, too. I really love some of the melodies that are heard on this piece. It’s a journey, even if one of the mellower variety. This has a spoken vocal section, more like a recitation that’s echoey, perhaps. Piano solos during that segment.
Flight of the Crystal Ships
Waves of keyboards dance around one another as this one starts to develop. The piece works forward from there part Vangelis and part Tangerine Dream in nature. The rocking edge is more developed here than on some of the others. There is some guitar soloing over the top that’s particularly rock related. There are some things here that almost make me think of Yes at times.
To Another Horizon - the Divine Message
This starts off with elements that feel like wind chimes. It grows out from there in a mellow motif. There are synthesized spoken or chanted vocals as this continues. We get some flute, sitar and other elements in the sedate mix, too.
To Another Horizon - Change of Consciousness
Coming out of the last piece, this really is very much a psychedelic type piece, with a lot of sitar. It gets pretty well built up and involved, but never really leaves that kind of psychedelic territory. That said, it does get more of a space rock or prog sound, but informed by fusion.
To Another Horizon - Creation of a New World
This brings the whole trilogy to fruition, coming out of the previous movement. It’s much more of a rocking excursion with electric guitar soloing over the top early. This has a definite fusion meets prog thing going on within it. There is some killer instrumental work on this tune, really.
Cosmic Balance
This mellow tune is a powerful electronic excursion. It’s very much like the kind of thing Vangelis does.
Peace Without End
This electronic music piece is intricate and quite pretty. Mike Oldfield is a good reference point here. The guitar soloing later is very classy and brings it to a bit higher plane.
 
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