Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quality music for the discerning rock fan, 12 Feb 2004
Life was great in the 70s. I was in my 20s and bands like the Beatles and 'Floyd had already launched an exciting period where many musicians and writers were no longer satisfied with producing 3 minute ditties - the new music was being called Progressive Rock and it was, well, progressing. Bands like Camel, Yes, Genesis, ELP and others produced sounds which involved the listener, challenging them to improve their attention spans - most of it was brilliant stuff and you could even listen to it on British radio on Saturday afternoons courtesy of Alan Freeman. Happy days - this would surely be the classical music of the future!! Well, for a while there, it appeared not. Punk, boy bands, hip hop etc. all took there turns in swamping the airwaves and prog. rock seemed to be doomed to extinction - it even became the butt of DJ jokes. But it's back!!I'm in my 50s now and after a period in the musical doldrums have just discovered Transatlantic - I know I've been slow off the mark and taken my eye off the ball these past few years but better late than never. If you're a prog. rock fan buy this album. If you are not, become one and buy this album. The music appears to be largely influenced by Yes and Genesis although I also hear touches of Rick Wakeman, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath and others. Most of it is a unique Transatlanticness, though. Buy the CD to find out what that sounds like - you'll love it. It's brilliant. I'm off to buy their other albums and check out Spock's Beard etc. Music is progressing again. Happy days return.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE album of 2000!, 19 April 2001
By A Customer
Forget your Boyzones and your Westlifes.... TRANSATLANTIC are a TRUE rock band and their first album is extremely promising!Despite the 31 min running time of "All of the Above", Neal's arrangement of the track into several coherent (and memorable) pieces make it very easy going. I often croon "Full Moon Rising" at the top of my voice... just to annoy the neighbours! (I blame Morse - he shouldn't have made the song so good) "We All Need Some Light" is a ballad par excellence. Not your bland, clicheed excuse for a song (Who do you think they are, a Boyband?), but something original that doesn't even mention the dreaded 'l' word! "Mystery Train" just plain rocks. "My New World" is Roine Stolt at his finest. A Beatle-esque epic with very memorable melodies and great vocals by Morse & Stolt. "In Held (Twas) In I" is also a great take on the Procol Harum classic, on which all 4 members (even Trewavas!) take on a lead vocal of some kind. In summary, "SMPTe" is a fantastic album - well composed, perfectly performed and an 80min example of musical pleasure! Buy it.... NOW!!!
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Believe the Hype!, 17 Feb 2005
I'm bracing myself for an avalanche of negative feedback as I seem to be one of the few (if not only) reviewer/s who consider this recording to be a very disappointing effort. Oh well, here goes..
To begin with I actually bought this CD on the basis of the gushing recommendations already listed (a sometimes unwise move but occasionally taking a chance can really pay off). My expectations were sky-high after reviewers were mentioning the album in the same breath as Yes, Genesis etc but, oh Lordy, either I am suffering from savage auditory hallucinations or they are all wrong, wrong ,WRONG!
So OK there are undeniable parallels between the tracks featured on here and the work of the established 'Gods of Prog' (Yes, Crimson, Floyd, Genesis etc) for example the sprawling lenght of the compositions, the musicianship, the unusual time signiatures etc but beyond that there is little to distinguish this band from dozens of other new contemporary prog-rock pretenders (Vulgar Unicorn, Jadis etc). The tracks themselves are largely forgetable save the occasional interesting musical motif (notably on 'All of the Above')and despite giving it that 'just one more chance' to win me over, it has never left me remotely musically satisfied. It should come as no surprise really though, as I've read that the constituent parts of this opus were recorded entirely seperately then finally studio-engineered together; this 'composition by committee' type approach I feel comes through in the piece. Also, I would add that the production seems rather 'flat' and does not lend itself to the sense of epic scale that the band obviously would like to achieve. These guys should stick with their regular outfits such as Spock's Beard and Dream Theater who really have produced some outstanding prog that could well be mentioned alongside Yes etc without undue embarrasment (particularly 'Scenes from a Memory' by DT).
The best 'new' prog of the last few years? Well, imho Porcupine Tree have done several outstanding albums that I believe in years to come will be regarded as classics ('Up the Downstair', 'Signify', 'Stupid Dream')and - ironically - Yes rather surprised me with a belated return to form with 'Magnification' (still no 'Relayer' though!).
Having said all that however, a friend of mine who I would normally regard as having very good taste in music (and prog especially) thinks this CD is quite good or even great.
So maybe it is just 'me' after all.
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