Mike Visaggio STARSHIP UNIVERSE [- Hide] VirtuositySpiritualprog.com
Mike Visaggio is a fantastically talented keyb...
Mike Visaggio is a fantastically talented keyboard player heavily influenced by Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman. He's unabashedly Christian, although his songs are much more seeker friendly than "in-your-face" preachy. His singing isn't the most pleasant I've ever heard and his lyrics are head-scratchingly obtuse at times, but don't let that scare you off because the vocals are a small part of the overall album. Mike can surely rip it up on the keys with the best of them, and he wrings the most out of his Alesis QS and Korg CX-3 synths, including fantastic vintage B-3 and Moog sounds. The album features extended instrumental interludes where he showcases his chops, including a great cover of Blues Variation from ELP's Pictures at an Exhibition, which he adds his own flair to. He also does a wonderfully jazzy re-interpretation of the theme to 2001 A Space Odyssey. It's a really fun album to listen to, and certainly hearkens back to the bygone era of caped keyboard virtuosos from the 1970's, with epic prog and fusion flair. Visaggio is a one-man-band, and performs basically everything on his keyboards using samples. Besides the weak vocals as mentioned, the lack of real drums (except on the Yes-like rocker Synchonized Life) and guitars damper the music a tad, although even that doesn't hold back his keyboard and compositional talents from shining brightly. I would absolutely love to hear Mike hooked up with some other musicians of similar talent in a full on prog band recording, preferably with an exceptional singer that would push his music to the next level, on par with the classic prog greats. Hopefully, he can sell enough copies of Starship Universe to pay for the next installment of original music and make it happen, which I will surely be lining up to hear. Guys like Mike surely deserve your support. You can download songs to sample his music at http://www.mikevisaggio.com or from his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/MikeVisaggio {dt}
Reviewed by Dave Taylor
