Tale - Elysium Fields
Rape Of The Catacomb (Part 1)
Rape Of The Catacomb (Part 2)
The Holy Man
Escape
Spirit Train
Baron House
The Lost Concerto
Memorial Hall
Rustle And Run
Beelzebub
The Card Game
Life Of Ryelly
Rose Garden
Elysium Field
Label: Baronhouse
Year: 1998
Producer: Tale
Total Playing Time: 54:22 m:s
I have to admit that the prospect of reviewing a progressive rock concept album was a bit daunting. Especially when my last venture into this department, Saga's Generation 13, was a disappointment and hasn't made that many visits to my CD player.
A brief synopsis of the concept - The principle character, Joe Boliero, is in the final stages of death. He creates a fantasy - the tale of Elysium Fields. Joe imagines himself as a nomad in search of a paradise called Elysium Fields. The musical adventure begins from Joe's hospital bed as he descends into a mystical world of exotic cities, animated trains, lost concertos and outrageous encounters of survival and seduction. In his arduous pursuit for the mystery fields, he dies and the fantasy becomes reality. With quite a few albums to review this month, I have to confess that I haven't had the time to sit down and read the lyrics to find out just how the story progresses.
Much to my surprise I find myself enjoying listening to this. There is quite a bit of variety in there. The band steers clear of several progressive clichés by keep the track lengths mainly below the 5 min mark and by avoiding long intricate musical passages.
The tunes I enjoy the most are: Rape Of The Catacomb which sounds like Pink Floyd with some nice vocal harmonies, the instrumental Escape, Memorial Hall which doffs it's cap to Supertramp, The Card Game which glides along for 7 mins and has some good female backing vocals, Life Of Ryelly and the title track.
The album has been beautifully crafted and I can imagine that the band spend a good deal of time paying attention to detail. By the way, I've probably played this more times than either Saga's Generation 13 or Marillion's Brave . AORsters or metalheads aren't going to dig this, but anyone with even a passing interest in progressive rock should certainly find out more about Tale.
Rating: 7/8
