Clearlight - Infinite Symphony

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Clearlight 888 Music
Catalog Number: C8M 008
Format: CD
Total Time: 66:50:00

One of the artists signed to the Clearlight label is French keyboard maestro Cyrille Verdeaux, a man who has already an impressive list of releases in his name. Infinite Symphony is the seventh chapter of the Kundalini Opera, a piece of music Verdeaux has been working on for a long time. However, you can listen to Infinite Symphony without having heard any of Verdeaux's other work. If you would like more information on this Kundalini Opera, visit the label's website. There you can also find all the other releases by this virtuoso composer.

Infinite Symphony should be listened to as a whole piece, as the individual tracks are named "Movement I" to "Movement VI." The music is a mix of styles, mainly new age and progressive rock, where the characteristic voice of Shaun Guerin adds a vintage touch to the sound. The music is mainly keyboard oriented, but the many guest musicians add their layer to the sound, making it a rich blend of electronic and acoustic instruments, resulting in a remarkable piece of music, which in the end turns out to be very progressive. Besides his vocals, Guerin also plays drums. Gong soloist Didier Malherbe guests on flute, saxophone and douodek and other instruments, like violins, guitar and tabla drums, are used.

There is not much more to say about this album anymore, than to again mention it is a remarkable album, with excellent melody lines, well played and a pleasure to listen to. And fortunately it is more a progressive rock album than new age, but the mix of these styles gives a good end result and should appeal to many people. In addition, this is also a part of the legacy left to us by the late Shaun Guerin [who passed away in July 2003 -PW ed.]

[This review originally appeared December 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
Movement I (10:58) / Movement II (8:40) / Movement III (12:28) / Movement IV (8:45) / Movement V (10:56) / Movement VI (9:17) / Bonus track: Movement III (radio edit) (5:47)

Musicians:
Cyrille Verdeaux - piano, Kurzweil 2600, Moog Voyager, and electronic orchestrations
Shaun Guerin - drums (1-6), lead vocals (3)
Didier Malherbe - flute (2), saxophone (1, 2) and douodek (1, 6)
Peter McCarthy - guitars (1,2,4,6)
Dan Shapiro - bass (1-4), NS Upright bass (5)
Trevor Lloyd - electric violin (1,4,5)
Hom Nath - tables (1,6)
Gene Stopp - Moog modular system 6
John Thomas - rhythm guitar (2), guitars (3), classical, lead and slide guitars (5)
Cory Wright - tenor saxophone (3)
Matt Brown - backing vocals (3)
Richard Hardy - soprano and tenor saxes (4), flute (4,5), tin whistle (4) and tenor and bass clarinet (5)

Discography:
Symphony (1973)
Forever Blowing Bubbles (1975)
Delired Cameleon Family (1974)
Les Contes De Singe Fou (1977)
Clearlight Visions (1978)
Offrandes (1980)
Nocturnes Digitales (1980)
Prophecy (1981)
Flowers From Heaven (1983)
Piano For The Third Ear (1983)
Journey To Tantraland (1984/1999/2001)
Complete Kundalini Opera Box Set (1984) (6 cassettes)
Messenger Of The Son (1985)
Rhapsody For The Blue Planet (1988)
Symphony II (1990)
In Your Hands (Les Contes De Singe Fou) (re-recording, 1994)
Impressionist Musique (1995)
Tribal Hybrid Concept (1998, w/Menestreyl)
Ethnicolours (1998, w/Menestreyl)
Best Of Rainbow (1999) (sampler of box set below)
Complete Rainbow Box Set (1999) (6 CDs)
Aerobix 99 (1998)
Mosaique
Best Of Kundalini Opera (1999) (sampler of box set below)
Complete Kundalini Opera Box Set (1999) (7 CDs)
Infinite Symphony (2003)
Impressionist Musique (tba)

Genre: Various Genres

Origin VA

Added: December 8th 2004
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.clearlight888music.com/
Hits: 2257
Language: english