Purple - Good vocals, the music has touches of Pink Floyd. Mellow, melodic with superb keys and guitar, quite dreamlike. Ken Senior has worked with Bjorn Lynne.

Brian Hirsch - Yes, it does sound like an overture, a very classical sounding track. Some people would even call it New Age. It builds with chorals and becomes quite powerful with percussion and keys. This drifts effortlessly into "Why". This is deep, melodic music, quite breathtaking.

Robert Urban - At times this sounds like "Angel Earth", and you should know what I think of that band. Nice pianos, orchestral sounds and acoustic guitars. A song that builds with electric guitars and keys.

Dan Marske - This has a dark classical sound which develops with complex time changes and leads into electronic areas. This is quite a dramatic track that has hints of jazz influences, it certainly rocks at times, quite diverse.

Fonya - A haunting track full of atmospherics, opens with acoustic guitars, quiet keys and distant vocals.

Bjorn Lynne - Well, we should all have heard of this guy and I will certainly stick my neck out and say this projected album should be as major as his other two, "Wolves Of The Gods" and "When Gods Slept".

Paradox One - For a full review of the album that this comes from, check the A to Z index, Recent Reviews or Major Albums sections of this site. 90%

This is a good sampler which is musically quite consistent, considering the number of artists included. 'VOICES' was "put together by Phil Jackson and is distributed in the USA by Rick Ray at Neurosis Records.

EUROPEAN PROGRESSIVE ROCK REVIEWS

These are not reviews, mainly because it is impossible to know if the one track from each of these artists is a true example of their repertoir. So you will only find a short description of the style, category and mood of each song.

Tim Blake - An eerie, dark opening of synths and atmospheric noises. It then turns quite electronic/ambient. Could possibly be likened to Tangerine Dream.

Robert Urban - A progressive track with good guitar, the vocals and lyrics sound a lot like Fish .

Char-El - An ambient/New Age track with synths/mellotron, atmospherics and choral effects, this is dark, deep and melodic. It certainly portrays the title well. Very heavenly sounding with soulful cello or could even be viola. A peaceful meditative track.

Rick Ray - A slightly progressive track, full of time changes, keys, blistering guitar solos and clarinet. For a full review of the works of this artist, check the A to Z Index or Recent Reviews section of this site sometime after May 15th 2001.

Alexandre Maraslis - Piano opens this track. This is a piece that gives a feeling of love and a lifting of the spirits, although at the same time has a calming effect. This has good electric guitars and orchestral tones.

Ed Macan - This is an almost classical track with an assortment of keys portraying a very dark and deep atmosphere. Occasionally sparse with slow, gentle keys. Yes, very deep and thoughtful, not one to listen to if you're depressed. Has an equally dark vocal chorus at the end.

This is a good sampler which is musically quite consistent considering the number of artists included. This was "put together by Phil Jackson and is distributed in the USA by Neurosis Records. 20301 Ball Avenue Euclid OH 44123

'Progressive World' review of Voices

On it you will find seven tracks, five which have been lifted from existing CDs and two otherwise unavailable tracks. It’s, of course, these last two which are of main interest for collectors as chances are they already have the other material. Ken Senior who is now also a permanent member of Parallel or 90 Degrees is also active with his very own Purple project. “Airwaves” is lifted from his People Eater album and has the softer side of Pink Floyd written all over it, whilst the guitar solo contains a great deal of Steve Hackett references. Out of Quest For Truth comes “Overture/Why?!!?” by the late Brian Hirsch. Hirsch, who recently commited suicide, was the man behind Moonchild records on which the full CD was released. It’s a very bombastic, instrumental orchestral piece filled with great synthesizer parts and a great sense for harmony. The rhythmic “J’accuse” by Robert Urban apparently is a protest song against the [destruction of the] environment, lifted from the album Elegies and containing some nice piano parts and wonderful build up with hidden cello interventions. Great song with a Brian May sounding guitar solo to end. Out of Dan Maske’s The Age Of Balance album comes “Island Kingdom”, a complex sounding instrumental filled with breaks and heavy outbursts. This is exactly the kind of material which might get people to turn towards prog in the first place. Excellent choice. “Crushed” is an acoustic piece by Chris Fournier, aka Fonya, which results in a "dark" sounding whole. This comes from Sunset Cliffs the first album on the band’s very own Redshift Productions label. As already mentioned, the album closes with two unreleased songs, the first being by multi-instrumentalist Björn Lynne. From the projected CD The Gods Awaken, Acid Dragon has chosen “Jooli”, a song which contains some Eastern influences and nice orchestrations, and could clearly be used as a soundtrack. Journalist Phil Jackson closes the album with two parts from his projected Reality Quake album, which he wants to release under the pseudonym of pArAdOx OnE. It’s the most cosmic sounding song of the album and will please fans of electronic music and prog alike.

It might well be that these "so called" unreleased tracks were indeed unreleased at the time this compilation was put together, but have in the meantime been released in their own right making the term "unreleased" no longer valid. Whatever the case, it’s always interesting to include audio material together with a magazine (cf. Progression, Mellotron) as "our" music is hardly played on the radio anyway and by including a CD, the interested reader finally can hear what all the fuss is about. Voices contains a nice selection of the current prog revival and is a nice introduction for those who have just opened the prog door.