Every now and then an unknown artist or band
steps out of the obscurity and delivers a truly magnificent album. It
happened with Mangala Vallis, it happened with Grand Stand, it happened with
the Watch and this time it’s time for Simon Says. Having released their
debut album “Ceinwen” several years ago (it was released in 1995 on the
Bishop Garde Records label) our Swedish friends surely have delivered their
masterpiece by means of the follow-up “Paradis square”. Opener ‘And by
the water’ certainly holds strong Genesis references which continue
throughout the titletrack as well. The Mellotron parts in conjunction with
nice piano really delivers an incredibly powerful result. Here and there
some elements from the household of Cross or Galleon pop up yet the result
of Simon Says is much more symphonic, more ‘vintage’ prog. The final
part of the titletrack even contains some experimental passages I would
associate with bands such as White Willow or Valinor’s Tree. Breathtaking
! Dark, slow guitarsounds form the perfect
counterpoint for the melodic synths during the intro for ‘Striking out a
single note for love’. Here for the first time it becomes obvious that
“Paradise square” is a concept album as various atmospheres and sounds
enter this song. To me ‘Fly in a bottle’ is Simon Says’ very own
‘Private investigations’ which hopefully says enough about the inclusion
of classical guitar here. Simon Says takes a trip to India when sitar
introduces ‘Darkfall’. A good balance between acoustic and keyboards
occupies the first part of the lengthy ‘White glove’ leading towards
“Wind and wuthering” era Genesis. ‘Aftermath’ not only wraps up the
story but kind of delivers a musical endresult as well once again delving
deep into the rich colours of the keyboards in order to deliver yet another
unique statement containing a slight hint of Hapy the Man. Surely Simon Says
has taken a BIG step forward with this “Paradise square” leaving the
humble beginnings of “Ceinwen” far behind. It not only puts the band in
the picture it also establishes the Galileo label as a label of quality
where each release deserves a thorough examination. Reviewed by : John
‘Bo Bo’ Bollenberg |
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