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- Musicians:
- Thoshio
Egawa: Keyboards
Atsushi Hasegawa: Bass
Masuhiro Goto: Drums, Percussions, Vocals.
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- Guest
Musicians:
- Jean ‘F’ Nakji: Vocals - Mika Nakajima: choirs.
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- Released :
may 2002
- Label:
Musea
- Catalogue number :
- Total
playing time : 46'35''
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- Website:
- http://praza11.mbn.or.jp/~gerard/
(in japanese)
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Tracklist:
- 1. Sights Of The Water
8’08 - 2. From The Deep 7’22 - 3. Pain In The Bubble 5’53 - 4.
Keep A Memory Green 5’10 - 5. Cry For The Moon 4’45 - 6. Aqua
Dream Part One: Aqua Dream 6’50 - 7. Aqua Dream Part Two: Spring
8’23 (Musea Exclusive Bonus Track)
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Gerard
was created by keyboards player Toshio Egawa. After the departure of
cofounder Yukihiro Fujimura, the present line-up of keyboards, drums and
bass guitar, was formed. Because they were an instrumental trio, they were
often compared with ELP, but that’s not completely correct. There are
influences from many other great bands of the progressive rock history like
Genesis, Yes, UK and others.
This album of Gerard isn’t a demonstration of their skills as they often
did in the past. There are a lot more quiet pieces with string and flute
sounds, which give a lot more variation and make this one the most
interesting CD of Gerard. I can’t really say it’s the best because I
haven’t heard all of their other work.
I was a bit afraid to start to listen to this CD to make a review. I often
have a hard time accepting that a guitar can be omitted from a line-up. But
knowing the quality of the music of Gerard, it’s worth a try. As the bass
guitar often changes its sound to simulate a guitar and also the keyboards
produce some guitar sounds, you tend to forget the lack of the guitar.
This is pure classic progressive rock, full of clichés but played in a
splendid way.
Toshio keeps on using only Korg synthesizers and he seems to find every
sound he needs. That’s quite amazing if you see the equipment of some
other keyboard players.
A
few songs are sung by the drummer, Masuhiro Goto. I don’t really like his
voice. He sounds like a kamikaze that changes his mind just before the
crash. That’s my personal opinion of course. Maybe you like the way he’s
crying, it’s a special way to express his emotions. (I have the impression
that there’s some distortion added to his vocals) Why not let Jean ‘F’
Nakaji (guest) do all the vocals? He has a beautiful voice, his English is
good and he has worked with Gerard before.
The first (title)track of the album is the best song. It’s played with an
incredible anger and intensity, with a Hammond sound that tears everything
apart. The 8 minutes are over before you know it.
“From The Deep” is introduced by the bass guitar. This is one of the two
songs on which the drummer Masuhiro Goto does the vocals. There are a few
perfect switches from heavy Hammond parts to quiet string and flute
melodies.
”Pain In The Bubble” has a dramatic, frightening sphere. This song would
fit perfectly as a soundtrack for a thriller.
”Keep A Memory Green” starts off with a choir on keyboards, played by
Mika Nakajima (Triton, Ars Nova) The vocals by Jean ‘F’ Nakaji are very
good.
The heaviest song on the CD is “Cry For The Moon”. As the title
insinuates already, the drummer is back on vocals. But maybe this time
it’s a better decision, because the voice of Jean isn’t rough enough for
this song.
”Aqua Dream” is split up in two parts. The second part is a Musea
Exclusive Bonus Track. (This CD also appeared on Avalon, without this song,
but with “The Victim” as an extra song.)
Conclusion:
The vocals aren’t perfect. Some themes, especially
in the “Aqua Dream” double are repeated a bit too often. Yet it’s an
excellent CD to get to know Gerard, or if you like this kind of music with
plenty of keyboards and no guitars.
Reviewed by : Danny 'Camil' Focke
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