Supper's Ready (Luxembourg) - 2001 - "Listen to the Pictures"
(54 min, "Musea")
When I've learned about the release of this album on Musea, I've asked the people at the promo department to not include it in the promo package. What could I expect from the band, the name of which is so specific? However, it turned out to be that the music of this band has nothing to do with the creation of Genesis. Last year, I read several reviews of this album in various Prog magazines, including the most established ones. What is interesting is that all of those reviews were more than just positive. I think the majority of the reviewers (if not all) were confused with the discrepancy between that which they expected to hear from the band, which is called Supper's Ready, and what they actually heard. In other words, the band's trick of a name did work well. I am talking about it now because recently I discovered this disc in one of the recent promo packages from Musea. To my surprise, the music of Supper's Ready turned out to be not only rather mellow and boring, but also highly derivative. Really, there are no Genesis's influences to speak of on "Listen to the Pictures". A hint to what the band's music is about lies in the strange title of this album. The cows that 'pasture' on a cover of this CD's booklet are not unlike those on a cover of "Atom, Heart, Mother" by Pink Floyd. Furthermore, in fact, these guys are heavily influenced by the UK's Neo band Pendragon, which, in its turn, most of all reminds me (not only me, though) of an unsuccessful imitation of Pink Floyd. What can I add here? The words of my antipathy to Supper's Ready? Nah: just the next sentence. Most, if not all, of the Neo-headed, and especially fans of Pendragon, will love that double plagiarism to death. I hope the connoisseurs of Pink Floyd haven't lost their ears, unlike some respectable reviewers.
Synkopy (Czech) - 1985 - "Flying Time" (45 min, "Panton")
Led by vocalist/keyboard wizard Oldrjikh Vesely this Czech (or better to say Moravian - they're
from Ostrava) Symphonic Art Rock band released a pure masterpiece of the genre in the middle
of the 'dark' decade. There are no pauses in this epic conceptual work consisted of incredibly
original, innovative and complex structures, typical rather for the first part of the '70s
years. Excellent dramatic vocals (in English), lots of complex, diverse arrangements, wonderful
virtuostic solos from each musician create a unique mosaic, a real kaleidoscope of musical
ideas. In my opinion, "Flying Time" from the obscure East European band Synkopy is one of the three
(at most five) best albums released in the '80s years.