I must admit that I had never heard of the Dutch band Nice Beaver, which made three albums, and now, due to personnel changes, changed their name into Paravane. So, you could say that Forever Is A Long Way To Go is the fourth album of Nice Beaver, or better the debut album of Paravane. This Durch prog rock band now consists of "old" members Hans Gerritse (guitar) and Erik Groeneweg (vocals, keyboards) and two newcomers, being: Erwin Scheijgrond (bass guitar) and Ferry Zonneveld on drums. Forever Is A Long Time Ago contains six new tracks of which the longer ones, Miserable With You and the title track are the highlights of this wonderful prog rock album. Paravane kicks off with the title track, an epic prog rock gem highlighting all the typical Paravane musical characteristics that make this band so special. Groeneweg's unique voice, check out his wonderful timbre, Gerritse's brilliant guitar playing and the diversity and tempo changes create a 100% own Paravane sound indeed. Follow up That Girl, the shortest song of the album, opens with a beautiful soaring guitar piece, while the third track, Miserable With You, is indeed truly diverse and Gerritse's guitar dominates this track in a wonderful way. Home (Something's Going On) is another multi-layered song full of musical twists and turns and again the guitar melodies and solos of Gerritse are musical bliss indeed. Paravane's "debut" album ends with a song called Space Cadet and here you should check out the first two minutes where the new drummer and bass player really shine. Paravane really convinces me on this album, displaying their stylistic flexibility and their compositional craft for 100%, so a must have album for fans of sophisticated prog rock! Listening tip: Space Cadet. **** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
