Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Deyss — The Dragonfly from the Sun
(Musea FGBG 4320.AR, 1979/2000, CD)

by Dan Casey, Published 2000-10-01

The Dragonfly from the Sun Cover art

Let's be honest. Deyss's debut At King (1985) and their follow-up double concept album Vision in the Dark (1987) are widely considered to be among the most embarrassing and pitiful releases of all time. So what are we seriously supposed to think when this archival live recording from 1978-79 comes flying at us from Musea, complete with a preposterous 51-page booklet of Biblical proportions? In the interest of space, I will forgo any further comments about the booklet (which could easily fill a Roundtable) and simply state that The Dragonfly is better than you would think. The astute reader will, of course, instantly realize that's not saying much, but it's still true. Borrowing (or stealing) heavily from Trespass-era Genesis and French symphonic heroes Shylock, Deyss attempt to carve out their niche in the hall of legends but trip over the first step. Arguments could be made that Deyss were among the first neo-proggers also, as much of the material here sounds like stuff that IQ or Marillion wouldn't be doing for at least two to three more years. Compositionally, there's plenty of reason to cringe as some passages contain wildly wrong notes and chords (and I'm not talking about performance errors here). The list goes on and on, but because of their youthful inexperience and the sketchy nature of the low-quality archival live recording, it somehow becomes (dare I say it?) forgivable when viewed in contrast to what would come years later. It's hard to recommend this disc to anyone, bu, thinking from a marketing perspective, a good target audience would be: (1) people who have never heard of Deyss, and (2) immediate family members of the band. TIP: if you and your friends are either of the above, save a tree and share a copy.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 20, 2000 releases, 1979 recordings

Related artist(s): Deyss

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.