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A cross between RENAISSANCE, YES, Steve Hackett-era GENESIS, CAMEL and a bit of CARAVAN, featuring some fantastic instrumental work-outs and soling!
We’ve only just discovered this Symphonic Prog gem, but better late than never because I can honestly say that it is one of the finest all-round Melodic Rock albums I have heard this side of some of the CAMEL and CARAVAN classics on the 70’s!
‘Two Worlds Encounter’ is a studio album released in 2016. It is collaboration between Finnish musicians and the people behind the wonderful THE SAMURAI OF PROG series of albums, and being on the same label as TSOP, comes in similarly designed lavish, high quality fantasy style packaging.
The beautifully illustrated full-colour 6-Panel Mini-LP style Gate-Fold Card Sleeve designed by Ed Unitsky comes with a thick, 24-Page Booklet and the disc has even been given it’s own protective paper inner sleeve, showing that great care and attention to detail that, like the TSOP releases, this production has been given.
Musically ‘Two Worlds Encounter’ is like a cross between RENAISSANCE, YES, Steve Hackett-era GENESIS, CAMEL and a bit of CARAVAN, and the 11 tracks it holds leave plenty space left for some fantastic instrumental work-outs and soling!
Released five years after their 2nd album: ‘Behind The Curtains’, ‘Two Worlds Encounter’ is a special project, just as the extended title suggests!
It is an album that contains almost 60 minutes of wonderfully diverse sonic landscapes, some of which are extremely infectious and all with tremendous production values that allow each and every instrument and vocal to be delivered in crystal clear clarity.
The standards of composition and playing really are way up there with the best of them! All the musicians involved in the project are true professionals and they seem to have a perfect musical alchemy going.
A special mention has to go to the stunning vocals from Jenny Darren, the beautiful flowing melodic electric guitar sounds, the ethereal fretless bass textures and the wonderful keyboard work that includes some really nice majestic Mellotron work and incredibly flowing melodic synthesizer solos.
Some background information of how it all started….
April 2015 saw core PAIDARION members (drummer Kimmo Pörsti and bassist Jan-Olof Strandberg) invite several international friends to join them on a small tour of southern Finland. These friends were US vocalist: Jenny Darren (who has in the past supported AC/DC & Patti Smith on stage), British hard-rock bassist: Kev Moore, Hungarian guitarist: Ákos Bogáti-Bokor (leader of the bands YESTERDAYS and TABULA SMARAGDINA), Finnish electronic music oriented musician: Otso Pakarinen, and Robert Webb (keyboardist / guitarist best known as being the frontman of 70's Progressive Rock band: ENGLAND).
Here’s a brief run-down on the album’s 11 tracks…
'Colin And Wendy', written by Robert Webb, is a beautiful Prog song full of sensitivity and dynamics and features a fine vocal performance fro Jenny Darren. Piano and sombre Hackett-esque electric guitar and Mellotron backdrops provide a great arrangement for the vocal delivery.
'Billy Would Climb' is a slow rock song credited to Darren & Webb and features Robert Webb on acoustic guitar and Ákos on electric guitar. Otso's retro keyboard sounds provide a great backdrop to this excellent little song.
A deeply emotional: 'Fragile Bridge' originates from PAIDARION’s Finnish-language debut album: ‘Hauras Silta’ and this excellent translation of its title track is beautifully delivered by Darren, with the second half going all-instrumental with some brilliant synth / electric guitar interplay produced in style of reminiscent of classic CARAVAN.
The Prog Fusion-flavoured instrumental: 'Jungle Fever' is a tuneful cover that again has the feel of CARAVAN at it’s core as the synths and guitars merrily dance around the main melody with luscious improvisations to die for, all held together by a tight rhythm section.
The mellow, slightly YES-like song: 'Yellow' originates from ENGLAND's ‘Garden Shed’ album from 1977. Streams of lovely Mellotron and weeping electric guitars provide an intro the Darren’s multi-tracked vocal that is bathed in mellow Tron strings. A 1-esque acoustic guitar solo takes over in the middle section with splashes of electric slide adding more tonal colour before the piece closes with more gentle vocals. A really beautiful track is this one!
'Ode To Billie Jo' is a bluesy rendition of the song initially performed by Bobbie Gentry in 1967 and Jenny Darren is very much at home with her vocal delivery! The band really gets a great groove going on this arrangement, and I think I prefer this version to the original by some way!
‘Cloudberry Sky’ is a short, but rather lovely acoustic guitar solo by Ákos.
'Grand Canyon Of My Dreams' is another Darren/Webb composition and the album's last song sung by Jenny Darren. It’s a symphonic ballad with an incredible keyboard-based arrangement orchestral.
With weeping electric guitar weaving in and out of the mix there is a deeply emotional feel to a track that closes with a wonderful guitar keyboard driven finale.
The gorgeous semi-instrumental: 'Horsemen To Symphinity' is the longest track on the album and it’s a track that started life out as a fine slice of 70's Symphonic Prog by the Australian band WINDCHASE, but to me it sounds like a long lost CAMEL gem! It intros with fretless bass and distant electric guitars set over an atmospheric keyboard backdrop before rolling into a classy instrumental passage filled with Latimer-esque guitar melodies set over gorgeous flowing keyboards.
If you’re in any way a lover of CAMEL’s classic music you’ll love this one for sure!
‘Why Oh Why' is a little uplifting rock song with a slight country edge that was written and sung by Robert Webb and there’s some brilliant keyboard / guitar soloing going on here too in the middle to later stages.
'Hahmo' is another translated semi-instrumental song from PAIDARION's debut album and it’s a haunting, dreamy, nicely flowing track that intros with fretless bass and streaming synth textures and also features some excellent extended guitar and keyboards work during the extended instrumental sections.
This album sounds like a real labour of love for just great music, and the only mild criticism I could level at it might be here is a slight incoherent mixture of styles going on in the track selection, which I suppose is understandable given the nature of the project and the fact that the material coming from several different directions, but it somehow all gels together well in the end and ends up as what really is an amazing 70’s influenced retro Symphonic Prog album.
The standard of playing is so high – at times intoxicating - that any mind misgivings on some of the material is simply blown away with the wind.
Conclusion…
This is one album that you do not want to miss if you are a CAMEL, CARAVAN or SAMURAI OF PROG fan – It really is genuinely brilliant melodic Symphonic Prog laced with a bit of pure melodic rock.
The full musician line-up for ‘Two Worlds Encounter’ is: Jan-Olof Strandberg (fretless & fretted bass), Kimmo Pörsti (MIST SEASON / SAMURAI OF PROG - drums), Jenny Darren (vocals), Robert Webb (ENGLAND - keyboards / acoustic guitar / vocals), Otso Pakarinen (keyboards / synthesizers), Kev Moore (vocals) and Bogáti-Bokor Ákos {YESTERDAYS - electric & acoustic guitars / backing vocals).
Also available by PAIDARION …
BEHIND THE CURTAINS (2011 2nd Studio Album) CD – Stock # 2062370
HAURAS SILTA (2009 1st Studio Album) CD – Stock # 2062371
‘Two Worlds Encounter’ was released on 1st November 2016.
PAIDARION [FINLANDIA PROJECT]: TWO WORLDS ECCOUNTER Track List:
Track List:
01. Colin And Wendy (5:31)
02. Billy Would Climb (4:26)
03. Fragile Bridge (5:01)
04. Jungle Fever (5:36)
05. Yellow (5:33)
06. Ode To Billie Joe (6:12)
07. Cloudberry Sky (1:37)
08. Grand Canyon Of My Dreams (5:08)
09. Horseman To Symphinity (8:29)
10. Why Oh Why (2:57)
11. Hahmo (6:22)
TPT - 56:53