ProgressoR - Detailed Reviews - Mind Gallery - 2000

Mind Gallery (Canada) - 2000 - "Three Meals from Revolution" (60 min, "Mind Game")

Prologue. Five years after the release of the very strong "Guilty Until Proven Rich" album one of the best Canadian progressive rock bands for all time is back, at last. All the fans of Neo Progressive Rock, please be forewarned: "Three Meals from Revolution" is really instruMENTAL music. This is a complex Philosophy without words, and each piece brings really marvellous associations within itself.

The Album. It all starts with a message To the Four Winds that blow in the Univercity. Sun Wind is the King of all Winds. First lines of the message appealing to Him are full of a wise calmness in conformity with the Nature of the King, and all the keyboard's passages bring to Him the energy of Spacy Laws. Interstellar Wind, like Mercury, is a cheerful courier, such a Dispatch-Wind, blowing anywhere in the Universe. Soft yet rhytmical notes by acoustic guitar and synthesizer are dedicated to Him in conformity with His Nature. Planetary, or better to say, Interplanetary Wind is the most strong of this magic Four. He moves the planets, drives the asteroids, comets and all the other cosmic rays. Lines appealing to Him are full of power, diversity and unexpected combinations, as well as worn-out notes-paraboles in conformity with His Nature. This is the kingdom of powerful guitar riffs and virtuostic playing, or better to say, interplaying by all the Four Messengers. Fourth Wind is the Wind of All The Space Invisible Seas, whose Visible Nature is a Mirror that reflects only the Natures of the three first Winds. So, Its True Nature is the Nature of the Sacred Three.

Armageddonouddahere begins with the blowing of Earthly Wind, the younger brother of the Four Winds, who presented them sounds of the singing of Earthly Birds. Earthly Wind is the Wind of Time, though originally He lives in Timelessness, the Wind of Events, the Wind of Changes. Hear, this composition definitely reflects all these sides of Earthly Life, whose Nature is the same Complexity within a Diversity, and the other way round. Distorted chords and solos by keyboards and guitar, nervous pulsations of bass, slightly arrythmic drumming paint a vivid picture of everyday Earthly Armageddon, so an Intricate Drama is the right combination of words to describe Armageddonouddahere.

The same strenuous atmosphere is on Free the Free. Like Earthly events, definitely arranged improvisations by all the four Messengers are rushing, mixing among themselves in a united stream that's called Earthly Life. Do you want to hear a wonderfully harmonius collective thinking of independent virtuosos? Do you believe a united terrible chaos of myriads of separate Earthly events is also Harmony? The latter one is just an abstract question... no more than just a question... the eternal question, though.

Nothing is Not, strange though it may seem, sounds a bit more optimistic in the beginning. Yes, Nothing is just an illusion in the Timelessness, but we all know that such words like Nothing and Not sound mainly negatively in our Earthly life. So, about a minute after the beginning of the composition, a 'nice' pair, Drama and Suddenness, are back in the music of the Four Messengers of the Four Eternal Winds that are none other than Love, Hope, Faith and Understanding.

The Increate. Quite a quiet, on the whole, composition reminds about an illusory calmness within our Earthly life in the face of Future. And only some as if accidental notes of the same feeling of Drama manifest themselves from time to time. Bringers of Earthly Reality, they are sure, the believers are blessed, and the sleepers are just dotty.

Ennui in You. Wow, that's true. But, seems Ennui in me (in us) sounds not bad, I'd even say, it sounds very nice to a certain extent - like a light sorrow of Eternal Life. Beautiful modulations of acoustic guitar, wonderful rise and falls of acoustic piano sound exactly so. But anyhow, whether I (we) like it or not, I (we) hear how the drops of tears - solos of a crying guitar - are falling onto Earth. Perhaps not Tragedy, but something very much like it anyway. Drama is the word. The word remains the same... The world remains the same...

What Goes a Round. Really, it is something special. Reminds me of having a hangover. A true state of the 'hair of the dog' is closer to death, so thinking about the continuation of genus is just the most reasonable sure remedy. Have you ever heard 'sexclusive' notes in some music? Do you think the words stated above are just a primitive philosophy? But, can you really suggest something more effective for self-preservation in those, to put it mildly, unpleasant moments of our Earthly existance?

Walking the Dogma. Yeah, Dogma is walking exactly so. What is more, it goes so round my (our) way(s). So let's reject all the traditional teachings and look at the world with our own eyes wishing all the very best to the sleepers. My congratulations on 'as if' worn-out guitar solos and the asymmetric drumming that act against the monotony of Dogma, beautifully showed by keyboard. One of the most 'crafty' (ingenious!) compositions on the album.

Medieval to Fullevil. My English is poor, and I don't know what is it - Fullevil. I only see here the combination of two words - Full and Evil. The Middle Ages were full of evil, as well as any other 'ages' on Earth, including the present one. The same picture, the same word - Drama. This composition is a pure magic with lots of exquisite 'acoustic' and 'electric' arrangements. Of course, some of all these wonderful chords and solos, plays and interplays, have an obvious medieval touch, though there are no medieval or chamber instruments in the band's arsenal.

Custer's Last Stand. A real epic progressive killer. There is a 'heroic spirit' sound in the first and last guitar solos, but anyway, most arrangements here are full of Drama, too. Surely, any kind of heroism contains drama within itself. Custer's Last Stand sounds a bit optimistic not for nothing because, having a drama, all we really need to add in our everyday existence are the elements of inner heroism. I only hope this last track of the best work this Canadian band ever created, called exactly so, won't be their own last stand - I do wish Mind Gallery to carry on to make some people happy with their music as long as possible. It is a Mission, though.

Summary. Need I add here they perform a very original, melodious yet complex and virtuostic Progressive Rock if they are able to bring quite concrete associations without words? I will just add, this album was recorded and produced by Woman, as well as both previous Mind Gallery albums, by the way. Quite a unique case in the history of the genre.

VM. May 19, 1999

Also read on Progressor:
"The Lemmings Were Pushed" (Mind Gallery-1991) short review
The "Guilty Until Proven Rich" (Mind Gallery-1995) detailed review