'David Minasian' whose main activity is cinema, for which he is a producer, director and screenwriter is also a singer, keyboardist, author and composer and after 'Randow Acts of Beauty' in 2010 which had been well received at the time and which was reissued in remastered a few days ago, released in 2020 a new opus 'The Sound of Dreams' which shows that music is a kind of hobby alongside his first passion, the cinema. In a typical progressive style of the 70s with influences in essential formations of these years like 'Camel' (he has also made several DVDs of the British training), 'Barclay James Harvest', 'Alan Parsons Project' or 'Renaissance' ('Annie Haslam' is part of the long guest list with prestigious names such as 'Steve Hackett' or the singer and guitarist of 'The Moody Blues', 'Justin Hayward' or the bassist and guitarist of 'Yes', 'Billy Sherwood' or the current singer 'PJ Olsson' by Alan Parsons'), he concocted 12 tracks for us in a delicate and relaxing atmosphere for an hour and 15 minutes of listening, leaving plenty of room for the instrumental sections.
It is in a light atmospheric style that 'The Wind Of Heaven (Prologue)' welcomes us with the sweet sound of the flute of 'Francesca Rapetti' and with a calm and subtle first melody in which we do not see pass the 8 minutes, then, 'All In' continues in this quiet atmosphere reminiscent of the ballads of 'BJH' of the first period with the sweet voice of 'David Minasian' and 'Faith Hope Love' is a relaxing instrumental unfolding a slow melody becoming quickly addictive. Then come 'Sound Of Dreams', in two parts, which highlights the singing so characteristic of 'Annie Aslam' with a new melody that could very well have been sung by 'Renaissance' in the 70s, the second part being devoted to 'Billy Sherman' on bass in an instrumental also very typical of the first 'Renaissance' albums, then the third part of 'Sound of Dreams' is also instrumental with the magical sound of the guitar of Sieur 'Steve Hackett' which sails with the accompaniment of the piano. The second part of the album continues in this serene and delicate atmosphere with 'Road To Nothingness' offering us beautiful instrumental arrangements and a delicate song that perfectly matches the relaxed atmosphere, then 'Room With Dark Corners' offers a very beautiful vocal performance of the chorister of 'Moodies Blues', 'Julie Ragins' which surfs on a new melody which settles immediately in your head and 'Hold Back The Rain' is a new melancholic ballad which brings us back once again in the seventies. With the 13 minutes of 'Twin Flames At Twilight', we embark on a progressive saga with its beautiful Hispanic acoustic introduction to classical guitar and which continues with folk tones and which gradually introduces electric instruments in a always very soft way, the vocals coming after four minutes in a 'BJH's melody and continuing in that atmospheric style with a more muscular foray into the middle of the track, highlighting slightly more guitar-saturated riffs to return to a much more heavy-handed end, quieter, giving way to the instrumental parts, the acoustic guitar and the flute making their appearance again, then 'So Far From Home', is a new ballad in which the current singer 'PJ Olsson' of 'Alan Parsons' forms a very beautiful vocal duet with 'David Mimisian' and which still has a memorable melody with, of course, a chorus very tagged 'Alan Parsons', the album ending with 'The Wind Of Heaven (Epilogue)', a last melodic jewel of almost 10 minutes which takes up the starting theme in which 'Annie Haslam' gives us a magnificent last performance with her high-pitched voice.
In summary, 'David Minasian' made his dream come true with 'The Sound of Dreams' by inviting legendary progressive rock artists from the 70s and he makes us enjoy this beautiful time travel in a wonderful way, which makes this last opus a must of refined and relaxing progressive for all lovers of these mythical groups mentioned above... | |
