The very productive Robert Reed has more than earned his spurs within the prog genre in many areas. Magenta, Cyan and certainly his Sanctuary projects have been delivering beautiful albums with a clear signature for years. Reed has never hidden his admiration for Mike Oldfield and this influence is very prominently represented in the music on the Sanctuary albums. It's not plagiarism, but it's sometimes very close. In particular, the guitar sound is very closely related to Oldfield's and you have to love that. Clearly no problem for many because there are many enthusiasts. As the album title Sanctuary Covered, this is an album with covers of songs that have or have had a special meaning for Reed. If you look at the tracklist you will probably come across many well known names and Reed has played almost all the instruments himself except for some help from a few musician friends. We hear Les Penning and Angharad Brinn on vocals, Tom Newman on various instruments and Terry Oldfield on flute. If you expect nice and long prog tracks then I have to refer you to his other projects because on this album there are thirteen short to very short tracks including a number of tunes from TV series from the past such as Theme from Doctor Who or Witchfinder. The chosen tracks are of a very diverse nature and come from Ennio Morricone (Chi Mai), The Tornados (Telstar) or Brian Wilson (Rio Grande), among others. And even a traditional like Scarborough Fair is just as easily interspersed with a cover of Stevie Nicks, Hush Thee My Dove, sung by Brinn who does a great job. Such a very personal list of songs can lead to a hodgepodge of styles, but Reed has overcome that well by clearly putting his Sanctuary stamp on it. As a result, the tracks that do come from Oldfield's Tubular Bells don't even stand out that much and that makes this an album that you can listen to in a relaxed way without too many exciting moments. Cleverly made, though. So no prog this time and especially the choice of songs is something that doesn't do much for me because I have no feeling with them. For fans of the previous Sanctuary albums, this is a nice addition, but no more than that. However, Reed himself is very happy about it and that is heartily granted to him. ***- Erik Fraanje (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
