After the first album For King And Country had already been re-released in 2021 and played by the current line-up of the Robert Reed-led band Cyan, the re-release of second album Pictures From The other Side followed in 2023. However, two songs were missing from this reissue because Reed had too much music for one album due to the much more elaborate compositions and did not want to release a double album because it would be too much to take in. These two songs, The Guardians and All Around The World have undergone a similar treatment and are now available on a separate album but in a considerably modified version. The title The Guardians has now been given the addition Of Your Destiny and is almost twenty-five minutes long, you read that right, and has become a monster epic. The original was certainly not a radio-friendly song with twelve minutes and where the other songs had already received many additions, that applies to this song doubly, literally. We can be brief about the quality of the current line-up, which is of exceptional class. All-rounder Peter Jones (Tiger Moth Tales, The Bardic Depths, Camel) plays the saxophone and sings his parts fantastically again and guitarist Luke Machin raises the level of the original guitar parts by a multiple. Angharad Brinn sings the female parts with a flawless voice, which makes this short album vocally much better than the first version. Of course, we hear a lot of solos on keyboards and Reed's arrangements are to die for. The steady rhythm section with Dan Nelson on bass and well-programmed drums, provides a great backbone for the relatively relaxed prog with many solo escapades from both Reed and Machin, the latter of course having a very unique style, very virtuoso but with a slightly jazzy edge. The level of rocky parts is not really high and that means that the dynamics are a bit limited and I do miss a bit of excitement and surprises. The short saxophone solo towards the end of the song is not my cup of tea but it's not disturbing either, it's not too frantic. In short, it was already one of the better songs on the original album and has only gotten better and a perfect complement to the 2023 reissue. I didn't think All Around The World was the best song on the original release on SI music and that hasn't really changed, although the guitar solo in the middle brightens things up a bit and the keyboard solo at the end is nice again. Jones gets the most out of his voice and does a great job, so the harmony vocals with Brinn make the song very enjoyable. As a filler, because that's how I see it, an instrumental song has been added with the prophetic title Cyan and according to Reed this is a combination of two pieces from the early days of his career. I can be brief about this, I don't like it very much, it's the saxophone that has a leading role in especially the first part which sounds very jazzy and Machin is also allowed to solo for a while before Jones' saxophone takes over again. Well played but an inappropriate end to an otherwise fine album. For those who want to hear the complete story of Pictures From The Other Side, this is a mandatory purchase. As far as the rating is concerned, that is very difficult because the difference between the songs is quite substantial. The total playing time is quite short but on the other hand, The Guardians Of Your Destiny forms the vast majority of the music on this album, so let's take a weighted average. *** Erik Fraanje (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
