Gotic - Escénes

Year of Release: 2003
Label: M2U Records Korea
Catalog Number: M2U-1006
Format: CD
Total Time: 37:15:00

This wonderful all instrumental Spanish gem has been compared an awful lot to Camel's The Snowgoose. As with Camel's masterpiece, the flute gets a very prominent role here next to the piano and guitar. Other than delivering pure symphonic textures, Gotic also adds a fair amount of slight fusion-like elements into the music without forgetting its Spanish roots for one single second. In a way you get a similar feel as when listening to that other great Spanish find Iman Califato Independiente. Maybe the fusion bit is not surprising knowing that Rafael Escote's band after Gotic was the fusion group Pegasus, which also featured guitarist Max Sunyer known from his stint with that other Spanish fusion classic Iceberg.

Escénes already got released on CD by means of Fonomusic (CD 1024) way back in 1988. No doubt in very little time the album was sold out, so it's with great pleasure that we welcome this lavish re-release in miniature cardboard sleeve. A couple of years ago Jep Nuix died from cancer. A sad loss as his flute playing is the main ingredient on this album. Nuix went on to release many more albums after Escénes. All born and bread in Barcelona, the members of Gotic really worked well together, helping each other out in order to deliver stunning arrangements. Some of the flute playing in the opening track even gets close to the lyrical approach of Thijs Van Leer.

The electric piano that opens "La Revolucio" sounds like dewdrops in the early hours of a brand new morning. There's even a tiny snippet of Greenslade-like music to be heard, whilst the piccolo flute delivers a folky melody. With "I Tu Que Ho Vienes Tot Tan Facil" being more like a repetitive exercise for synthesizer, the track we've all been waiting for comes right at the very end with the lengthy "Historia D'Una Gota D'Aigua." This simply is acoustic folkrock at its very best. Modest and solemn acoustic guitar and flute make way for some gentle organ followed by dashes of Steve Howe-like guitar chords. The sound is long and stretched whilst extra percussion augments that droney feel. The flute mainly plays the same pattern over and again yet it makes the sound swell as time passes by. It's a joyous sound which lifts your spirits up ending in a grand finale. Lovers of nice, melodic, not so complex instrumental symphonic rock with a decent amount of folk elements will be most pleased to give this album a spin. Escé is probably an album that has to be slotted into Spain's top ten prog albums of all time.

Tracklisting:
Escenes De La Terra En Festa I De La Mar En Calma (4:02) / Imprompt ? 1 (5:53) / Jocs D'Ocells (3:33) / La Revolucio (4:08) / Danca D'Estiu (3:30) / I Tu Que Ho Vienes Tot Tan Facil (5:39) / Historia D'Una Gota D'Aigua (10:14)

Musicians:
Rafael Escote - electric bass, gong, percussion
Jordi Marti - drums, percussion etc
Jep Nuix - flute, piccolo etc
Jordi Vilaprinyo - piano, fender, moog, hammond, violin
Jordi Codina - acoustic guitar on 1
Josep Albert Cubero - acoustic & electric guitar on 1,2,6

Discography:
Escénes (1978/2003)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin ES

Added: January 27th 2004
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website:
Hits: 3656
Language: english