Tarkus - The Raft of Medusa

Tarkus “A Gaze Between The Past And The Future” 2002 Brazil Prog,Symphonic In the little game of names borrowed from legendary album titles of of the Seventies Progressive rock movement, TARKUS is one of the most evokative examples. And yet, this Brazilian outfit owes hardly anything to EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER ! Perfectly in line with the South-American school, “A Gaze Between The Past And The Future” (2002) is an excellent symphonic Progressive rock album, sung in perfect English. The obvious references to GENESIS and CAMEL are well present, a voluble flute and lyrical guitar parts in the foreground. As for the voice of Valdir ZAMBONI, it would be difficult not to think of Peter GABRIEL’s. The six long titles (Including two covers of Rod ARGENT and DEVIL DOLL) have a little soul added, which makes them be much more than a mere imitation. This is even probably one of the most successful works in the genre in the last few years. Reissued by the Musea and Rock Symphony labels today, this opus provides a reworked booklet as well as a bonus! track. This music surely stands undoubtedly at the top of today’s South-American school, and thus deserves the greatest attention…~ Review by Tarcisio Moura A very fine symphonic album by this interesting brazilian band. Great keyboards, guitars and flute interplay. Vocals on the other side are the weakest link. Not a bad voice, really, but vocals, like so many prog bands often do, seems to be an afterthought. Later on the band would get a much better singer and recorded a live album that showed their real potential. Anyway, the songs on A Gaze Between The Past And The Future are all good with some jazz influences here and there. Highlight to me is the first track, Exit From Calcuta, with some really inspired guitar breaks and wonderful flute. All in all a good CD, with adequate prodution and fine playing. All musicians are very skillful. If you´re into symphonic prog and want to know something different, give it a try……~ Review by ZowieZiggy Once you have overcome the first seconds of this album, you have to agree with me that this complex musical fantasy is much more worth than you could ever dreamed of. These musical parts are just GORGEOUS. No more, no less. The sublime is touching the human: do you grab my mind? The fantastic intro track “Exit From Calcuta” is an extraordinary piece of music: it could leave lots of people breathless, and I am just fascinated with this type of music. Grandiose, emotional, performing. The music available is just superb. Some fantastic moments are combined with very old feeling of my early prog ventures (the early seventies of course). This album is truly a great one: the music displayed is of great emotion and worth the time you could listen at. I wouldn’t say that a track is better than another one although you should consider each musical moments available here one of the finest. Freaks of the early “Camel” will just be delighted while listening to the great performances of this band. But there is such a bunch to expect. This is an album I just profoundly like. Some might say it sounds superficial: I just hold it rather high in my rating. Four no problems. Skilled band, touching music, sublime moments like during the splendid “Raft Of Medusa”. I am very glad that they are recording their next album “ Sanctuaryum” which will hopefully see the light this year. This is an excellent band from Brazil, and don’t expect any ELP clone: the music has nothing to do with this prog giant. It is unique, colourful, skilled, emotional, beautiful, gorgeous, fantastic, original, symphonic. You might understand that I am quite impressed with this gaze between the past. A great album for sure……~ Gredits Bass, Backing Vocals – Luiz Teixeira Drums – Cesar Frezzato Flute – Leandro Guimarães Guitar, Backing Vocals – Beto Guimarães Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Mickey Nicolas Lead Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin – Mr. (Doctor) Zamboni* Tracklist 1 Exit From Calcutta 10:43 2 You Want The Real Me 6:32 3 Fragments From Dies Irae. 5:50 4 Blue Light 5:42 5 The Raft Of Medusa 12:56