To sleep, perchance to ... nod off?
Artiste: The Arc Light Sessions
Nationality: Canadian
Album: Perchance to dream
Year: 2015
Label: None
Genre: Symphonic Progressive Rock
Tracks:
Perchance to dream...
... only to awake
There will come a day
Through these years
Please let me know
Eye of the storm
The old man and the sea
The ghosts of winters past
Jigsaw
Deception days
Misunderstood
Over the horizon...
… Till the end
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: So far as I can see, this album is only released on CD by individual request, as the artiste does not believe it is the best medium for his music.
Initial impression: Powerful, dramatic opening, very Genesis/Yes and other seventies progressive rock bands come to mind.
Best track(s): … Only to awake, There will come a day, The old man and the sea, The ghosts of winters past, … Till the end
Worst track(s): Deception days
Comments: In essence I guess TALS could be described as spiritually similar to the Alan Parsons Project, as this is a band who are made up of musicians who work in other fields and is the brainchild of one man, John Alarcon who, though not really ever considering himself to be a professional musician, has released two albums under the name Synthology, having been playing piano and keyboards for over four decades now. Comparisons of his earlier material have been compared to Arena, IQ and Genesis keysman Tony Banks, so I know I’m interested at least.
There’s certainly a very Yes/Asia feel to the opener, with plenty of bright keys and muted drumming, the vocals very APP with a touch of opera thrown in there too. A good start for sure. Not certain though if this is one track or two: album cover shows
Perchance to dream … onyl to awake” with one running time, but it’s shown as two tracks on my copy. Either way, the second part is pure mid-seventies Genesis instrumental and I can see why comparisons are made so often to Banks in reviews I’ve read of this album. Alarcon has a great presence on the keys, though praise should also be given to the two guitarists, who do a fine job. I must admit though, either the production is poor or the vocalists are weak, as a lot of the time they seem to be fading into the background.
Another problem is that, so far, this album is becoming too piano driven, with two ballads following each other and to be fair, sounding rather similar. After a good, promising start it’s beginning to fall a little apart.
The old man and the sea is nice, with some decent flute, but this is not turning out to be the powerhouse I had been led to expect. The vocal is lacking something here too. None of it seems to be strong enough or have enough character to keep my interest. To a degree, given the (possibly) poor production, it really does sound like something put together in someone’s bedroom or garage. Which is not to take from the proficiency of the musicians, but perhaps if it had been an entirely instrumental affair this might have worked better. One of the few albums I’ve ever heard where, with a very few exceptions, the vocal songs let the overall quality down.
Deception days really highlights this, with the vocalist straining to reach the notes and sounding like he’s in pain. The music, to be fair, that backs it, is a little confused to say the least.
Sad to say, that by the time I reach the last two tracks I really don’t care any more. I thought this was going to be something I’d be enthusing about, but it’s a far cry from what was promised. Good, mostly, but certainly nowhere close to great.
Overall impression: Maybe with some better vocalists and some decent production, but not right now. Maybe not ever. A big disappointment.
Hum Factor: 5
Surprise Factor: -8 (A minus score means I was expecting much more and was let down)
Intention: I was originally going to check out the Synthology albums, but I feel less inclined to now.