Mind Gallery - 10th Anniversary (Special Edition)


Year of Release: 2001
Label: SoCan?
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 139:48:00

Believing that Mind Gallery has been around for ten years already is a bit difficult to believe when one looks at the meager number of albums that comprise the Canadian quartet's discography. When one takes a listen to the band's special edition compilation 10th Anniversary and gets to listen to the obvious evolutionary differences between The Lemmings Were Pushed, Guilty Until Proven Rich, and Three Meals From Revolution, however, it becomes immediately obvious that those ten years of existence were certainly put to good use. What's that they say? Quality before quantity? Well, that's the idea here.

This record is a veritable trip through the identity acquisition of Mind Gallery; a comprehensive guide to how the band left its obvious influences behind and turned into one of those acts that has an immediately recognizable sound ... certainly an enviable thing for many progressive rock acts that struggle throughout their existence to rid themselves of the chains of comparison. The formative steps, however, are just as enjoyable as the end results, although tracks like "Bent Straight" from The Lemmings Were Pushed do bear more than just a passing resemblance to King Crimson, and "Bushing Around the Beat," from Guilty Until Proven Rich, is really nothing more than derivative symphonic rock.

All in all, however, what Mind Gallery has certainly excelled at during the course of its career is developing instrumentals that blossom in their own character, maintain a definite progressive edge, and are yet accessible for the most part. It is thus that "Psychicactive Wind" floats in a dormant threat of Middle Eastern wonder, "The Eighth Sea" begins with an engaging acoustic flamenco passage before exploding into a wonderful musical tale of epic proportions, and "Ennui In You" tugs at the heart with a beautifully melodic piano theme of sweet melancholy. Even with such variety, however, there's something that screams Mind Gallery at every step of the way, allowing the album to glide through various emotions without losing coherence or the sense of balance that are a must for this kind of music.

Perhaps one of the most important characteristics of anniversary compilations is the need to demonstrate the evolution of a band with sufficient profusion, and, of course, showing that such an evolution has actually been of some use to the world. Well, with two discs to span a relatively small discography, a unique identity that produces immensely enjoyable instrumentals, an excellent sense of emotional variety, and the ability of producing pieces that are simultaneously progressive and accessible, there was no chance in hell that Mind Gallery could fail to come up with an excellent anniversary celebration of its own. Certainly not a bad place to start digging into this wonderful band and join the party.

PS. Just in case you were interested, Disc 1 is by far the better of the two...


Tracklisting:
Disc 1: Industrial Age Messiah (5:24) / Anxious (5:09) / Nothing Is Not (4:39) / Psychicactive Wind (6:30) / Armageddonouddahere (6:05) / To The Four Winds (8:00) / The Eighth Sea (12:48) / The Holey War (4:58) / Peeking In The Dark (6:44) / Ennui In You (3:10) / Custer's Last Stand (7:05)

Disc 2: Into The Light (7:44) / The Last Drop (3:23) / The Increate (7:18) / Melting Dawn Away (6:56) / Vertigo (3:53) / Free The Free (4:45) / Bushing Around The Beat (3:39) / Earth Rebirth (8:08) / Thru The Cracks (4:58) / Bent Straight (1:41) / What Goes A Round (4:58) / This N' That N' (4:51) / Just Say Yes (7:05)

Musicians:
Mike Anderton - bass, bass pedals
Tracy Gloeckner - drums
Gary Bourgeois - guitars
Elio Bruno - keyboards

Discography:
The Lemmings Were Pushed (1991/1999) Guilty Until Proven Rich (1995)
Three Meals From Revolution (2000)
10th Anniversary (2001)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin CA

Added: July 30th 2002
Reviewer: Marcelo Silveyra
Score:
Artist website: griffin.multimedia.edu/~mindgame/
Hits: 1855
Language: english

  

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