'Ellesmere' is a progressive rock project led by the Italian 'Roberto Vitelli' who I discovered with the group's fourth opus, 'Stranger Skies', released over a month ago. First of all, the cover of 'Rodney Matthews', well known in the progressive rock world for having designed most of 'ASIA' but also from 'Magnum', is well in the tone of this opus which pits two worlds in opposition, one of cold, in the first 4 compositions and the other, hot, in the last two long developments of the album. And, as was already the case in the last album 'Wyrd', in addition to the line up consisting of 'Roberto Vitelli' on keyboards and bass, 'Giacomo Anselmi' on guitar, 'John Wilkinson' on vocals and 'Mattias Olsson' on drums, the Italian has surrounded himself with numerous artists with, among others, 'Clive Nolan' ('Pendragon' and 'Arena') came to accompany 'Roberto Vitelli' on keyboards, 'David Jackson' (one of the pioneers of progressive rock with 'Vand Der Graaf Generator' bringing all his talent as a saxophonist, the brother of 'Steve Hackett' who plays of the flute and the Italian 'Riccardo Romano' who released the excellent album in 2017 'B612' and including his latest solo album 'Spectrum' is from 2022.
The first part of the album, dedicated to the world of cold, welcomes us with 'Northwards', plunging us directly into symphonic progressive rock with generous keyboards, the whole looking towards the first period of 'Genesis ' with a first guitar solo from 'Giacomo Anselmi' that 'Steve Hackett' would not deny then 'Tundra' continues in these rather blatant influences with numerous changes of tempo and with, this time, the singing of 'John Wilkinson' me reminiscent in certain places of that of 'Phil Collins', the a cappella section at 4 minutes bringing an originality which tends more towards 'Yessian' influences and the new guitar solo of 'Giacomo Anselmi' being admirable. 'Graeme Taylor', on acoustic guitar, offers us a very nice introduction in the instrumental 'Crystallized' and it is then the turn of 'David Jackson' to be highlighted with his saxophone, accompanying the song in a beautiful way in the continuation of the title which takes us through many rhythmic changes. The last title from the world of cold is the energetic 'Arctica' which has a fairly complex construction, and which alternates different intensities and rhythms, the vocal harmonies being remarkable. The rest of our journey takes us towards the world of heat with the first long development of the title song which takes us into a progressive labyrinth in which it is good to get lost and in which each artist brings his contribution to the building, with a special mention to the 'Jethrotullian' parts brought by 'John Hackett' on the flute but also to the organ sections played by 'Bob Hodges' and also to the vocal performance of 'John Wilkinson' whose singing still recalls the 'Genesis' of the 'Phil Collins' period. Also note this last rural part which ends the title in a very beautiful way. The last composition 'Another World' also exceeds 10 minutes and sums up this very beautiful album very well by taking us once again on a beautiful progressive journey which, for my part, represents real progressive fireworks and the high point of this album, with all the ingredients that any fan of progressive rock looks for in this style: a beautiful alternation between parts sung magnificently by 'John Wilkinson' (always this resemblance to 'Phil Collins') and sumptuous sections instrumentals in which we find most of the musicians in remarkable solos, without forgetting the rhythm section of the pair 'Roberto Vitelli'/'Mattias Olsson' which accompanies all these little people in a masterful way.
In summary, with his project 'Ellesmere', 'Roberto Vitelli', well accompanied by talented progressive artists, offers us a sumptuous album which takes us back to the best of progressive of the 70s and 'Stranger Skies' is yet another album to add to the ideal discotheque of all fans of progressive rock through the ages... | |
