Millenium are a band that for me is the perfect exponent of melodic prog with a small pop edge that sometimes goes just too far towards mainstream rock. Very occasionally, and then I lose my interest and appreciation a bit, but in general I am a great fan of the music of this long-standing Polish band around composer and keyboardist Ryszard Kramarski. I have all their albums on CD and especially in recent years those albums are getting better and better and even after flutist and saxophonist Lukasz Platek joined, they continue to make beautiful albums. Actually, the album discussed here, The Collector, is not such a new album because almost all pieces, nine of the thirteen to be precise, can also be found on the 2011 album White Crow (see review). This was also a kind of compilation album of unused tracks but is probably no longer available and so this is a kind of remake with extras. Well, The Collector lives up to its name because it is an album for collectors. We start right away with the highlight of this album; Epilogue is a more than fifteen-minute-long track that fits right in between the top tracks of the band. That Kramarski has a nose for beautiful melodies is no longer a secret and you can clearly hear that here. Good news is also the fact that Lukasz Galeziowski sings on all tracks and his voice remains one of the finest within our genre. The rest of the line-up is also known, so Grzegorz Bauer on drums, except for a few older tracks where Tomasz Paśko handles them, Krzysztof Wyrwa on bass, Piotr Plonka on guitar and of course Kramarski himself on keyboards and acoustic guitar. After the beautiful opening, Time Vehicle is a long track, which was not on the previous compilation album, with a saxophone contribution by Dariusz Rybka. By the way, this is the only song with saxophone. Here too, the classic Millenium sound can be heard and Plonka can once again show that he is a masterful guitarist, who is still getting better, as evidenced by the latest albums. We also know the song White Crow from the earlier release and this is also a great track with a clear Kramarski signature and a rather challenging rhythm in the middle part. This is followed by a number of significantly shorter tracks, which we generally already know, with a few new ones, one of which has been given the title Commercial Song and that covers the load of several tracks that are clearly more pop oriented than usual. In the reviews of White Crow, we often came across the name Pink Floyd and that is certainly understandable because especially the super melodic guitar playing of Plonka is often reminiscent of David Cilmour and I think it is even more beautiful. However, we must not forget Kramarski's keyboard work because it is always very tasteful with the occasional nice solo. His strength lies mainly in creating atmosphere and melodies. Tick Tock Corporate Clock is, just like Colours Of My Life (part II), a fairly unknown track and both are fun but not special, but very nicely sung again. Given the large number of duplications with the album White Crow, it might be less interesting for those who already own this album, like me, to buy The Collector. For those who don't know Millenium yet, I would rather recommend another studio album, but if you want to complete your Millenium collection, this album is definitely worth it, because it remains beautiful music. ***+ Erik Fraanje (edited by Dave Smith) Where to buy? |
