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Cover |
Musicians |
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Hansi Cross - guitars,
keyboards, lead vocals, harmony vocals, percussion
Lollo Andersson - basses
Tomas Hjort - drums, harmony vocals
Guests:
Olov
Andersson - keyboards, harmony vocals
Lizette von Panajott - harmony vocals (1,5,7)
Göran Johnsson - toms (4), harmony vocals (5,7)
Linus Kåse - soprano saxophone (3,5)
Göran Fors - taurus pedals (3), harmony vocals (7)
Alex - toms (3), snare (4)
Hannah - electric violin (4)
Robert Iversen - thrashy cymbal (5) |
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Release |
Label |
Cat. N° |
Playing Time |
Rating |
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2004 |
Progress Records |
PRCD013 |
54’05” |
8,5/10 |
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Website |
Contact |
Style |
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cross |
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progressive rock |
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Review by |
|
Claude |
Swedish ‘Cross’, a
symphonic project from Hansi Cross, has produced through the years a
respectable discography. But unlike many other bands, Cross has
succeeded to improve the quality throughout each release, and this
seems to be the case again with ‘Playgrounds’. Influences from the
past like Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, etc are now reunited into a
very own sound, neo-progressive symphonic rock as this seems to
become typical for Scandinavian bands. On this album Cross has found
the perfect balance between the vocal and instrumental pieces. Some
will have difficulties with that raw, sometimes complaining voice of
Hansi, but after a few listenings you will find out that his voice
fits perfectly the instrumental parts.
‘Let the play begin’ has a certain Genesis-feeling, especially
because of the keyboards, but Cross tends to give the song a
‘heavier’ turn, often followed by softer, melodic passages. ‘Déjà
vu’ is a full instrumental track, where heavy guitar riffs (even a
bit progmetal) are alternated with dreamy guitar solos and mellotron.
‘A new beginning’ could easily have been a new number of Spektrum,
with those typical keyboard sounds with an intriguing voice,
supported by excellent Camel-like guitar parts. A bit surprising is
the use of saxophone, which makes the end a bit jazzy. But no
mistake, this is truly a symphonic, progressive rock-cd. For
instance in the second instrumental ‘The battle of Thalyma’, Cross
seems to have a patent on those beautiful melody lines. And although
Hansi is an excellent musician, he prefers arrangement and
compositions above technique, that’s why the rhythm section is
rather inconspicuous, but solid.
‘…and enter the game’ has a heavier basis, with at times even some
fusion, later on again neo-progressive, but the symphonic nature is
always dominating, the addition of some choir samples is helpful in
this way. This tracks is full of tempo changes, and listen carefully
to the wonderful guitar solo at the end. After a short ‘ambient’
transition track comes ‘Mesmerizing enterprize’, a worthy ending
introduced by mellotron, with many surprising turns on guitar and
keyboards and harmonic vocals. The voice of Lizette gives it a
Spektrum feeling, although Cross’ music is a lot more risky than the
aforementioned Swedish musical project of the Progress Records
label. But the beautiful varied guitar solos remain the most
striking on this album, the influence of top guitarists of the
seventies is obvious.
Some tracks were recorded already in 2001 and ‘Playgrounds’ should
have been released that year, but as Tomas Hjort was living in New
York during 911, the whole project was cancelled. In the meantime
the successful Spektrum-album was released, this gave the last one
of Cross more time to grow. And the result is probably the best
album, that the band has produced so far: a promise for the future.
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Tracklist |
1 Let the play
begin ... (7,37)
2 Dejá vù (4,36)
3 Anew beginning (10,10)
4 The battle of Thalÿma (5,31)
5 ... and enter the game (9,44)
6 Fjärilshonung (0,51)
7 Mesmerizing enterprize (15,20) |
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