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REVIEWS |
![]() THE
MORRIGAN - "Hidden Agenda" CD '02 (English Garden, Eng) - Moving on
smoothly from their last release, "Masque," & main man Colin Masson's
"Isle Of Eight," THE MORRIGAN deliver a grand statement with "Hidden
Agenda." You could call this progressive Celtic rock, but in doing so,
would lose all reference to the levels of beauty & diversity in
the music here. Traditional work-ups like "Joe Cooley's Reel" &
"The Parting Glass" stand side-by-side with originals like the epic
"A Night To Remember" & the nearly Broadway-sounding piece, "The
Other." Wonderful!
At last
the long wait is over and The Morrigan finally deliver their long awaited
follow up to "Masque" and the question is was the wait worth it........And
the answer is you 'bet it was!'
Reviews
of Hidden Agenda and other titles can be viewed at the following sites:
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![]() Review from Classic Rock Society magazine ìWondrous Storiesî If come the end of this
year this album hasnít won or come close to winning the CRS Best Album
of the Year there will be no justice. I can remember hearing this album
almost a year ago in its rough form on a tape sent to me by Colin Masson,
known also for being one member of the band The Morrigan (soon to visit
the CRS), and I was blown away by it immediately. That wasnít because
it was breaking any new ground, quite the opposite in fact, as comparisons
with Mike Oldfield classic albums are very easy. No, it
was merely because this album is a wonderful production full of highs
and no lows with a mature mixture of progressive rock, folk and medieval
too. It all comes together as a beautiful piece of music and one
that sits very high in my collection of thousands of albums. This
would have been a classic in its own right twenty years ago but should
still create a buzz now among readers of magazines such as this one.
Colin Masson "Isle of Eight" Headline HDL505 n Although recorded in 1999 the Headline release came out in 2001 and although it contains passages very much in the vein of The Morrigan reveals Colin as a gifted composer and musician in his own right. There are only three tracks on 'Isle of Eight'. The opening title track lasts for a full 251/2 minutes and is a dream for lovers of skilfully conceived and executed progressive rock with guitar playing matching Camel's Andy Latimer in expressiveness and also reminiscent of Mike Oldfield. There is an orchestral feel near the end of this epic track but even this is eclipsed (!) by the 27 minute long 'Total Eclipse'- this starts in gentle traditional style but Colin shows he can also rock- witness the blazing guitar riff 20 minutes in! 'Return to the Northern Wasteland' seems so short- it's only 13 minutes long for goodness sake! This has a superb pulsing bass line and a memorable mandolin like guitar riff. Colin plays all the instruments himself on this remarkable album (various guitars, recorders, keyboards, percussion, trombone and drum programming) assisted on the first two tracks by The Morrigan's Cathy Alexander and by Ryan Masson on the final track (random noises) He is also a talented artist of a different kind judging by the fetching cover artwork. Highly recommended. Phil Jackson Zeitgeist http://www.the-rocker.freeservers.com/sept2002/escapade.html
Isle of Eight Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, August 2001 Progressiveworld.net http://www.progressiveworld.net/masson2.html Firmly rooted in the classical folk tradition Colin Masson (who is also a member of the folk band The Morrigan) has used his multi-instrumental strength and inspiration to spread over three lengthy tracks. The occasional use of recorders certainly highlights the atmosphere of this album. Add to this the typical guitar style and you immediately land yourself in the Mike Oldfield back garden. Although the drums are programmed, they rather sound OK, which doesnít happen a lot in these cases. Colinís acoustic guitar playing, combined with the use of the recorder, certainly creates a medieval feel to the music. After Cathy Alexanderís (also from The Morrigan) guest vocal, the title track speeds up, unleashing freaky guitar sounds. Towards the end itís as if Gordon Giltrap steps in to help a hand. In fact I can easily see myself in rural England enjoying a good pint of the local brew and a ploughmanís lunch whilst this music keeps me amused. Thereís a mixture of Bert Jansch, Gordon Giltrap and John Renbourn to be found in the acoustic intro for "Total Eclipse." Once again the fragile nature of the music is extra underlined by introducing sparse recorders. "Return To The Northern Wasteland" starts with sequencer loops and dark sounds as if thunder and black rainy clouds are packing over the Masson flagship. This Colin Masson solo album sounds as if the best bits out of Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn have been mixed together and spiced up with extra folk elements. Isle of Eight is a nice album that sadly will not sell millions of copies as there will always remain a big gap between Masson and the real Mike Oldfield!
Isle
of Eight Tracklist: Isle Of Eight (25:32), Total Eclipse (27:06), Return To The Northern Wasteland (12:56) Recorded during 1998/99 at Greenacres Farm in Wiltshire, Isle of Eight is the first solo album from Colin Masson, who is no stranger to the world of progressive rock, being a member of one of the foremost progressive folk-rock bands in circulation, The Morrigan. Regarded as an excellent guitarist as well as a multi-instrumentalist, Masson demonstrates his musical capabilities on this album, which though only containing three tracks, runs at over one hour in duration. Musically this album resembles in more ways than one the musical output of Mike Oldfield especially with Masson's ability to fuse folk elements, especially Celtic ones, with some great symphonic rock. He is not alone in creating this album as two of the tracks, namely Isle Of Eight and Total Eclipse features the voice of Cathy Alexander while Return To the Northern Wasteland also has Cathy Alexander and Ryan Masson contributing to keyboards and random noises respectively. Apart from that the electric, acoustic, classical and 12 string guitars, bass guitar, recorders, keyboards, percussion, trombone and drum programming are all in the hands of Colin Masson. As you can expect it is very difficult to try and describe a whole track that runs over twenty minutes in duration, but in synthesis Masson does manage to create masterpieces with his works. The electric guitar is very very similar to that of Mike Oldfield especially when one compares the styles of playing of both guitarists. There is no flurry of notes along the fretboard, but each note is calculated and delayed, giving it the necessary emphasis and importance. Another similarity is the introduction of various instruments at various sections of the track which play a short tune that is immediately picked up by the guitar and continued from there. Also the common love for folk music, especially what seems to medieval music can be felt throughout the album. At times the music has tinges of Gryphon or Amazing Blondel, not to mention The Morrigan. Cathy Alexander's voice, one of the most beautiful voices in British folk music, further adds to the folk roots feel. Much like Oldfield did with Maggie Reilly, Masson does with Alexander as her voice adds to the depth of the tracks she is present on as well as add to the variety within the track. Having said that there also times when Masson lets his rock roots take over with his guitar work changing slant (see the introduction of Return To the Northern Wasteland). The use of twin guitar playing, as well as guitar harmonies, similar to Brian May's style of playing, comes as a surprise when compared to the mellow nature of much of the music on the album. On the other hand it makes a great contrast, never straying away from the underlying musical theme of the track while at the same time serving as a bridge between various musical ideas. On the whole this album
is a great album to listen to and should appeal to all those progressive
rock listeners who are enamoured of Mike Oldfield's solo output. As
I have said there is alot of similarity between Masson and Oldfield,
yet at the same time Masson has managed to create three tracks which
have their own individual identity, making this album worthy of anybody's
collection. Nigel Camilleri
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