Inspire - October Dreams

Year of Release: 2004
Label: independent
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 65:49:00

At the Casual Silence and Kayak concert in November 2004, out of interest I looked at a music paper and read a short review of the album October Dreams, which was released independently by Inspire. Some research taught me that Inspire was in fact one man: Erwin Idema. The biography on his website does not give much information, save for the fact he has been active in music for a long time.

When listening to October Dreams, I kept in mind it was not recorded at a professional studio. And the drums were coming out of "a box." But fortunately the quality of the album is pretty good. While listening to the album, one name jumped in my mind: Herman Brood (a late Dutch rock and roll singer). Not that I'm a great fan of this Herman Brood, but I recognized to a certain extent the same style of Brood in the compositions of Idema.

It is mainly, fairly straight on hard rock, but with a very melodious guitar sound. It may be very clear Idema controls his main instrument perfectly, because the guitar parts are top notch. But there are some great pieces on the album, such as "Train To Freedom," which made me think of John Wetton. This song would not sound out of place on any of his albums. Or the instrumental "1995," which reminds me of Gary Moore in his better days. No, nothing is copied, but in the same vein.

The vocals are better than I expected, just in the spoken parts the English sounds like a typical Dutchman, speaking English with a heavy Dutch accent. Pity. Most songs are relatively short, 3 to 5 minutes, but in "Sacred Mystery," Idema takes more time to work out the composition, which is for the better. This is a very progressive piece, with good keyboard play and nice experimental guitar sounds, from distorted to nice and heavy, and great solos.

The second half of the album is more symphonic/progressive, while the first half is more (rough) hard rock. Fact is, there are some great songs on the album. Of course, the album does have a few slips here and there and the production could be better, but it is a good album, which will appeal to the fans of melodic hard rock. The album is available through the website of Inspire and for the money, you don't have to let this one pass you buy. Personally I think there are enough interesting parts that will also appeal to the more progressive minded people.

Hopefully, though, Idema will get the chance to work with like minded musicians, because I think then more justice to his compositions would be done.

Tracklisting:
Cry 4 An Audience / Indian Carnation / Different Ways / White Trash / Train To Freedom / Eat This! / 1995 / Sacred Mystery / Fallen Angel / Asia '98 / Highlands / Yeti's Merry Snowdance / Still Believe

Musicians:
Erwin Idema - all instruments and vocals
Arnoud Idema - guitars (7, 12)

Discography:
Princes in Exile - Magic (1992)
Blind Date - Disconnected (1995)
Idema - Bloodline (2000)
Bloodline - Bloodline (2003)
Inspire - October Dreams (2004)

Genre: Rock

Origin NL

Added: January 17th 2005
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.inspiredmusic.nl
Hits: 2620
Language: english