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Goad — Landor
(Black Widow , 2018, CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2018-11-28

Landor Cover art

Italian prog rocker Maurillo Rossi (AKA Goad) returned this year with a double album. The first disc is all new material and the second disc is a live recording from 1995 of his 1994 album Tribute to Edgar Allan Poe. Landor contains 13 tracks of majestic, lush, and cinematic prog rock, with tons of Mellotron. Goad continues his exploration of gothic Italian prog with the first half of the album being mood pieces with a hint or two of King Crimson peaking out. There are some very nice touches of flute, violin, and guitar solos. It isn’t until we reach track seven, “Where Are Sighs,” that we are truly treated to full-bore Italian prog with an extended jam over a synth ostinato. The music gets very interesting now. “An Old Philosopher” reminds me a bit of The Lamb Lies down on Broadway. “Defiance” is a melodic dance number with exquisite violin. “Brevities” is 48 seconds of unison acoustic guitar and Mellotron. And the album closes with “Evocation,” a dark cinematic synth and piano duo.

The juxtaposition of the 23-year-old live recording shows that Goad has mellowed a bit with age. Back in 1995, Goad’s music was majestic, lush, and cinematic, but with a higher level of energy. Perhaps not so much Mellotron, but instead dark and mournful violin and guitar work. The crowd loved them, even with the abstract and surreal “Dream Land.”

I would recommend this album for both its archival live recording and the new music. Kudos to Black Widow for this release.

Filed under: New releases, 2018 releases

Related artist(s): Goad

More info
http://goadband.bandcamp.com/album/landor

 

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