'Alan Simon' returns with a new episode of the saga devoted to 'Excalibur' and between the chapter I and the last one, which is the fifth, more than 20 years have passed, the chapter IV being released in 2017. An ardent defender of freedom, he takes us on an acerbic critique of this world which, day after day, brings its share of deprivation, and, as usual, he has surrounded himself with a pleiad of renowned artists from the progressive scene, among whom we find, excuse me for the few, the guitarist and singer 'Steve Hackett', guitarist and flutist 'Martin Barre' from 'Jethro Tull', singer and keyboardist 'Michael Sadler' from 'Saga', singer 'Bernie Shaw' from 'Uriah Heep', the late 'John Wetton' from'ASIA', singer 'Roberto Tiranti from 'Labyrinth' or singer and guitarist 'Richard Palmer-James' and the list goes on.
This jack-of-all-trades, always on the lookout for a new project whether in film, books, comics, or musical shows, takes us on a journey through his varied musical universe which mixes different styles from pop to folk via rock and hard rock and 'Excalibur V' confirms once again all his talent starting with this cry 'Move, Cry, Act, Clash' alerting us to the uncertain future of our planet. In the same energetic style, we can also mention 'The Prisoner', which could very well be part of a hard-rock opera of one of the projects of'Arjen Anthony Lucassen' or 'I Said Shout', which combines Celtic folk with muscular rock, or 'When Your Feelings Grow', which takes us back to the eighties with a rhythmic and arrangements of a certain 'Alan Parsons'. Alternating with these compositions, 'Alan Simon' also offers us some real melodic gems with beautiful ballads, starting with 'The Last Bird', transcended by the magical voice of 'Michael Sadler' and the violin accompaniment of 'Jerry Goodman' and 'Messaline' with its heady melody that we all want to sing along to. We can also mention the magnificent acoustic 'Heaven' which makes us climb on a little cloud, 'Wake Up' which is a progressive must and which obviously brings us back to the best of 'Pink Floyd' with beautiful performances, with the saxophone of 'John Anthony Halliwell' and the vocals of 'Jesse Siebenberg' (singer of 'Supertramp' at the end of the 90's) or 'Hey' which reminds us of 'Hey You' of 'The Wall' with the vocals of 'Roberto Tiranti' which are completely bewitching, or 'A Brand New Day', a sort of melting pot of different musical cultures with the magnificent voices of 'Michael Sadler', the Israeli 'Shira Golan' and the Palestinian 'Miriam Toukan', without forgetting the sensual and torrid blues 'The Lady of The Lake'. And to finish off this beautiful album, we go back some fifteen years with 'A Vision', a composition that appeared on the first CD of his best of 'Songwriter - My World and Symphonic Side' and was sung by 'John Wetton' and pays tribute to the singer and bassist of 'King Crimson' and 'ASIA' who passed away from cancer in 2017.
Bref, this magnificent album from the 'Excalibur' series takes us on a beautiful musical journey, varied and full of sensitivity, and for those who want to discover more, the best person to talk about it is still 'Alan Simon' himself who presents it in English in this video which I'll sum up with these few but so strong words : "Move, Cry, Act, Clash"... | |
