Short Reviews [PRC - 2007 - "Progressive Rock Covers"]

Continuing the line of their budget-priced compilations, such as the popular "Un Voyage De Progressive" series, Musea Records have recently brought out another sampler in that category. Titled simply and unpretentiously "Progressive Rock Covers" (PRC hereafter), this CD finds twelve contemporary prog-rock bands doing cover versions of twelve classic progressive and proto-prog tunes. Respectively, Gerard (from Japan) play Toccata by ELP, Pangaea (USA) - Time by Pink Floyd, Blue Shift (UK) - Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin, Ars Nove (Japan) - Birds Medley by Trace, London Underground (France) - Traveling Lady by Manfred Mann's Chapter-III, Twenty-Four Hours (USA) - Darkness by Van Der Graaf Generator, Quidam (Poland) - Child In Time by Deep Purple, Halloween (France) - House With No Doors by Van Der Graaf Generator, Now (Belgium) - Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Dificil Equilibrio (Spain) - Dynamite by Gong, Visible Wind (Canada) - Strange Days by The Doors and, finally, Thierry Crusem & L'Autre Systeme (France) - Exile by King Crimson. It is no surprise that the latter tune comes as a bonus track, as this is not a cover of that brilliant composition, but is a rather wretched interpretation of it. All the other tunes without exception are performed with passion and confidence alike, the songs, unlike most of the instrumentals, all leaving the impression of being tributes rather than covers. Overall, the correlation between the output's content and its price makes PRC worth buying for all those forming that rather wide circle of lovers of tribute albums and similar releases.

VM: June 28, 2007