CAUDEL, STEPHEN 
570804
CD
EARTH IN TURQUOISE (GUITAR/KEYBOARD SYMPHONY)

SYMPHONIC INSTRUMENTAL (PROG)

Track 1 is the title cut and it's a kind of prelude that introduces motifs of characters and events from the album as a whole. It opens with soft flute sounds and synth-strings that create a very relaxed setting before synth trumpets and massed choir effects break on to the scene with bursts of powerful dramatics. This heralds the arrival of an acoustic guitar that carries the main melody over a sea of swirling synth oboes and strings - This track has a wonderful "days of old" feel about it! ‘Call Of Destiny', is a dramatic nine-minute piece that looks into the mists of time as it depicts an army legion on the march. Stylistically, it is very similar to Steve Hackett material with keyboard flutes, brasses and strings revolving around a 'Bolero' like central theme, before it breaks of into some stunning electric/acoustic guitar interplay. This series of majestically sweeping themes take the music from its darker beginning into a brighter, more progressive passage of play that Camel (specifically Andy Latimer) fans will really go for. The 3rd track is 'Coronation', a grandiose four-minute work with the electronic flutes and strings creating a vision of some kind of royal display of pageantry, where synth choirs, brass and percussion build the piece up into a splendid collage of majestic keyboard orchestrations. Then it's straight into rock territory with six minutes of ‘Prog’ heaven on 'Gargantuan', where soaring electric guitars sing over layers of strings and brass samples, taking the music on a wonderfully melodic path that will haunt the ears of symphonic rock fans for years to come - Classic stuff - Brilliant music that's a prog fans dream! 'Forbidden Love' follows and it's a beautiful romantically inclined work with a stunning melody performed on acoustic guitar and set on a background of flowing strings - a lovely piece that Hackett or Anthony Phillips fans will adore. It's back to a more ethereal, dramatic style for 'Dark Of Night' - an evocative six-minutes of symphonic wonder that is initially dominated by keyboards, but as the track builds, the percussion and choral elements rejoin the show, with guitar of the "soaring into the heavens" variety making a welcome return with interludes of flute and acoustic guitar giving the track a more segmented feel towards the closing moments. The five-minute epic 'Eve Of The Battle/Dawn' is introduced with a sea of soft string and mystical flute sounds floating behind a beautifully honed acoustic guitar melody. Suddenly a crazed electric guitar solo makes a surprising entrance and proceeds to tear its way through the scene in a ferocious manner. Wild, crashing percussion then builds the scene up to fever pitch and then the calming sounds of more strings and flutes take over again to lead the track towards a grandiose symphonic finale full of sweeping strings and masses of other orchestral sounds. The nine-minute closer comes in the shape of  'A Legend Is Born', where a pulsing rhythm creates the base for the oncoming display of soaring electric guitars and thematic synth chords, with some fine, but brief acoustic guitar parts creating breathing space, before the powerful electric onslaught continues in grand Hackett-esque fashion. At the half way mark the track steps down a few gears and moves back into symphonic territory with the acoustic guitar crying over a sombre Mellotron like string backdrop - an extremely vivid emotional ending.Overall, ‘Earth In Turquoise’ is a superb example of ‘real’ instrumental symphonic-rock music, and it falls mainly into two categories – 1) The Gandalf style of melodic, electronic sound-painting, and 2) The more symphonic area of rock where the likes of Steve Hackett & Camel reign as rulers of that progressive kingdom. But in this ‘Earth’, the two have found a worthy adversary and a strong challenger for the symphonic rock crown!

Weight: 150.00 g