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Sailor Free — Spiritual Revolution, Part Three
(Bandcamp Tide Records KTD65, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-04-13

Spiritual Revolution, Part Three Cover art

With nearly 35 years together as a band, no one can say that Sailor Free has flooded the market with product, with only five albums to show for it, in fact with the eighteen long years between their second album, The Fifth Door (1994), and third, Spiritual Revolution, Part One (2012), one might be forgiven for thinking that the band had called it a day. And now it's been nine years since Spiritual Revolution, Part Two (2016) and the final installment of the trilogy, under review here; but fans and newcomers alike will find this to be a most worthy band, occupying a space somewhere between the classic progressive rock sound and modern intelligent pop, at times with a metallic edge, not unlike Porcupine Tree before they went on their extended hiatus. This band from Rome is led by lead singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist (piano, keyboards, guitar, bass) and presumably chief composer David Petrosino, along with guitarist Stefano “The Hook” Barelli, bassist and backing vocalist Alphonso Nini, and percussionist and backing vocalist Stefano Toni, which quite surprisingly is the same membership that featured on the band’s first album way back in 1992. In addition, the album features seven guests on drums, bass, tammora (a hand drum), saxes, and backing vocals (Brian Petrosino and Cecilia Amici). The lyrics, sung in English, describe some future world that I went into more detail about in my review of Spiritual Revolution, Part Two way back when; I also was given a copy of Part One, which at the time of that review I had never heard before, enabling me now to listen to the three albums in sequence. All are quite good, but one has to say that Part 3 is by far the most engaging of them on a strictly musical level. There are many standouts here, including the somewhat avant-garde opener “Spiritual Overture III,” the edgy and powerful “Gambling,” the dreamy “Incognito” that turns to a heavy metallic edge half way through, while “Not for Me” offers the best vocal performance on the album, along with some interesting turns and twists, and the album closer “The Watcher” is perhaps one of the most unusual numbers, almost an instrumental save some spoken words out in the ether. It's good to have Sailor Free back in action again, maybe the next album won't take nine years — but if it does you'll hear about it here.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Sailor Free

More info
http://sailorfree.bandcamp.com/album/spiritual-revolution-part-3

 

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