TRANSATLANTIC

Transatlantic is a progressive rock super band formed in 2000 by Neal Morse of Spock's Beard and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater. Originally intending to include guitarist Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, Morse and Portnoy decided to include Roine Stolt of Flower Kings when Matheos was unable to participate. The band ended their line up by adding Pete Trewavas of Marillion. Their debut album, "SMPT:e" of 2000 received strong and rave reviews. Their second album, "Bridge Across Forever" of 2001 finds the band affixing the form that prog rock is known for. Their third album "The Whirlwind" of 2009 arise after a break of almost seven years. The fourth album "Kaleidoscope" was released in 2014.

"Kaleidoscope" is available in two formats, a double edition and a special edition, which is mine. The double edition has two CD's. The first CD has the main album with five original tracks. The second CD has eight tracks, which are eight cover songs. The eight cover songs are "And You And I" of Yes, "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" of Electric Light Orchestra, "Conquistador" of Procol Harum, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" of Elton John, "Tin Soldier" of Small Faces, "Sylvia" of Focus, "Indiscipline" of King Crimson and "Nights In White Satin" of The Moody Blues. The special edition, beyond the main album and the bonus disc, contains also a DVD that contains the making of "Kaleidoscope", a promo video clip of the track "Shine" and images behind the scenes. This is probably the version that most fans will desire.

The line up on the album is Roine Stolt (vocals, electric guitars and percussion), Neal Morse (vocals, keyboards and acoustic guitars), Pete Trewavas (vocals and bass) and Mike Portnoy (vocals and drums). The album had also the participation of Daniel Gildenlow (vocals), Rich Mouser (pedal steel guitar) and Chris Carmichael (cello).

If you like progressive rock music, you surely know or at least heard of the super group Transatlantic. As many of we know, the band's formation is a true constellation of progressive stars. All these super musicians met again in 2013 and planned a new studio work, "Kaleidoscope". "Kaleidoscope" is a long album, over an hour, and only five songs, which can chase away the listener who hates long tracks guitar and keyboard solos and long intros. But, Transatlantic knows how to reconcile very well in each song heavier and lighter passages, more poppy and accessible with passages of pure rhythmic smashing. Regardless of the taste of each one, they are all very well elaborated tracks that bring together everything that this band has already shown in previous albums, what really is the progressive rock primer is all about.

About the five tracks, "Into The Blue" is the first epic. It's the typical opening song for a Transatlantic's album. With 25 minutes, it's a complete journey divided into five parts, "Overture", "The Dreamer And The Healer", "A New Beginning", "Written In Your Heart" and "The Dreamer And The Healer (reprise)", obeying to a very common logic in the classical music and reused by progressive rock. Each of these parts contains its own riffs, solos, choruses and vocal melodies, making of "Into The Blue" a set of tracks united by the same narrative idea and the melodic theme. "Shine" is a lovely heartfelt number, a ballad with a very calm and a nice engaging groove. All four members of Transatlantic have their opportunity to sing. The whole band participates, giving vigour to the song. "Black As The Sky" is a vigorous song, one of the best on the album. While the keyboards and guitar are the main instruments on the song, there's a great interplay between bass and drums throughout the entire track. "Beyond The Sun" is the least emblematic track on the album and one of the weakest in Transatlantic's discography. It serves as an interlude between the previous and the next track. It's neither a thrilling song as the previous one, nor as beautiful as "Shine". "Kaleidoscope" is the second epic. It's almost 32 minutes divided into seven parts "Overture", "Ride The Lightning", "Black Gold", "Walking The Road", "Desolation Days", "Lemon Looking Glass" and "Ride The Lightning (reprise)". It's exciting, beautiful, well made and well produced. It takes advantage of the skill of all musicians. It delivers very accessible sessions to the audience for any listener to be able to connect with its verses, choruses and rhythms. But, like every great epic progressive track, there are many sophisticated harmony passages and different time signatures. This is a true progressive epic piece in all its aspects.

Conclusion: Once again, some will say that Transatlantic doesn't propose anything new and is content to reproduce what they have already done in the past. It's true it has the same formula you've heard before and that offers very little in the way of experimentation or newness. But, it's done just as well as ever. Due to its technical quality and its above-average production, "Kaleidoscope" remains a fascinating album. Every element you expect is there fully. In the end, this is music adventurous, intricate, and fun that deserves acclaim, regardless of how identifiable it sounds. The fact that these great musicians can reunite compose and perform so well, it's reason enough to celebrate. The quartet still stands as a dominant force in its field. Let's hope they keep it going for years and years to come. So, fans will love it.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Transatlantic is the best example of a super-group to me, with four very talented musicians from four of the greatest progressive rock bands ever, Dream Theater (Mike Portnoy), Marillion (Pete Trewavas), Flower Kings (Roine Stolt) and Spock's Beard (Neal Morse). And I'm a huge fan of all these four bands and of the four musicians. But this doesn't mean necessarily a guarantee of the quality of Transatlantic. However, Transatlantic isn't, for sure, one of those failed experiments. It was proved before with two previous amazing studio albums, albums that are branded as two classics.

"The Whirlwind" is the third studio album of Transatlantic and that was released in 2009. It's available in three formats, a standard traditional edition, a double disc special edition and a deluxe edition, which is mine. The standard traditional edition has the main album, while indexed into twelve tracks, "The Whirlwind", which is considered as only one song. The double disc special edition, in addition to the main album, has a bonus disc that includes eight studio recordings, four original Transatlantic's songs and four cover songs. The four cover songs are "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed" from Genesis, "A Salty Dog" from Procol Harum, "I Need You", a song that is a combination of America's and The Beatles and "Soul Sacrifice" from Santana. The deluxe edition, beyond the main album and the bonus disc, contains also a DVD. This release of "The Whirlwind" is probably the version that most fans will desire, and that it will be by a very good reason. The DVD contains a rather lengthy and very insightful journey with this super group. Namely, it tells that Roine Stolt, Neil Morse, Pete Trewavas and Mike Portnoy as they reunite and go about recording this new Transatlantic's album. All over the DVD, we can clearly see that they have an amazing chemistry between each other.

"The Whirlwind" is a concept album divided into a twelve part epic, running just about seventy-eight minutes. It deals with ecological and political issues. The full piece has some recurring themes, both lyrically and musically. Lyrically, there are a lot of references to the wind in most songs, while musically the themes of the album appear on it at different times and in different forms. The concept is more difficult to grip than many usual concepts. For instance, it's easy to find out the concepts behind "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", "Scenes From A Memory", "2112", "The Wall" or "A Thick As A Brick". It revolves more around the struggles faced in live, not just in ours, but in other lives too. Many running themes that will pass the album are the whirlwind, the ship and the lives that are affected by the whirlwind.

One of the greatest advantages of this album is that the concept is split into twelve parts, making some of the songs more accessible and easier to listen to. That was some elements that were missing from the other two earlier studio works, with tracks sprawled between ten minutes and a half an hour. The balance between the vocals and the rest of the band also improved. Morse and Stolt share their vocal duties equally and the four musicians bring more highly complex instrumental works into each track. This became an important advantage that was gained in the making of this album.

Musically, the album arising with an orchestral introduction, the customary cool prog instrumental arrangements follows and the Transatlantic sound returns as they used to serve us. There are many fine musical arrangements here, which combine vocals and instrumentation that sound wonderfully. Subtle musical references to symphonic prog rock legends like Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant and Pink Floyd are audible and recognizable here. However, fans of The Flower Kings, Spock's Beard and the solo albums of Neal Morse will also love this album. The craftsmanship of these four musicians is outstanding and the compositions are even better than those on their previous albums. There are many fine arrangements that combined with the vocals of the chorus sound wonderful. "The Whirlwind" has ample twists and turns to maintain your attention, with their enthralling musicianship Transatlantic have again given us a fine release.

Conclusion: Many improvements were made on "The Whirlwind". The album is more accessible, better balanced and laid a great foundation for the concept to lie on. None of these elements were so well contained in the past two studio albums. So, "The Whirlwind" is a better album than its predecessors. Transatlantic isn't an everyday band, but a group of extraordinary and accomplished musicians who have come together to do what they do better and record the kind of prog music that they and their fans like. So, give to "The Whirlwind" the time to be perfectly digested as it deserves. Albums like these are the reason why I love prog. So, this new Transatlantic's album deserves an inclusion in your prog collection. Just to finish, I need to write some more few words about the disc two. As I wrote above, the second disc is actually a bonus disc. It's one half originals and the other half is covers. I personally enjoyed it, but it's just only a nice bonus disc to the really impressive first disc. I particularly enjoyed the cover songs on it. It's always a pleasure to hear such songs performed again in a more modern way, as a tribute to so many great bands and musicians from the past.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Song by Song:

Track One: Duel With the Devil "Have you woke up screaming in the silence of the night?..." Great opening lyric, and (bad grammar aside) Love the synth work in the first of three epic tracks that grace this record. I love the quiet backing guitar about 7 minutes in. Near the 12 minute mark, there's an epic Wah guitar solo, with some accompanying Sax near minute 13. I've never been a huge fan of Morse's lyrics overall, but they're pretty good here. The female backing singers near the end work pretty well. Great symphonic Rock Epic, 4.5 stars. Very 'Epic' in scope.

Track Two: Suite Charlotte Pike "If she runs, let her run, run, run..." I think I detect a 12 string guitar somewhere in the opening, (I should know, I own one). A bit of 80s harmonies on this one, near Beatles-esque. I have a feeling they realized this, considering the ending of Section I. If She Runs has the lyric 'It's Hard -- Calming the Beatle inside me" It reminds me of (at the time of posting this) the latest Moon Safari record, obviously, that came later, but perhaps Moon Safari took a page out of Transatlantic's book. Everything goes back to The Beatles it seems, go figure.

Many prog-heads don't seem to focus on the lyrics too much, but I'm an exception. I'm sorry Neil, these lyrics are rather generic, nothing spectacular.

The electric piano in the background works on section V, not sure about the REALLY high pitched synth in the background, as I'm writing this, I'm developing a headache because of it. Otherwise, great track!

Track Three: Bridge Across Forever "There's a bridge made of light, that crosses between death and life..." Ok, stop the review

What kinda Jon-Anderson parody stuff is this. I believe this is Neil writing Christian lyrics. I'm a Christian myself, these lyrics aren't where it's at man, I'm sorry. I could write better than this. Generic Rhymes all around, anyways, back to the review.

The shortest song on the album, (and the title track) Runs a mere 5:33, it opens with an ethereal piano intro. This is a very spiritual song. (this is the obligatory Morse Ballad Track, but one of his better ones... I think) Slightly repetive, he repeats the title too much, It's like a Bob Seger song. But slower

Track Four: Stranger in Your Soul "Not so long ago, I lived Far Below..." VERY Nice drum and keyboard intro, Portnoy contributes a drum fill before the rest of the band joins in. Transatlantic love their Overtures, that's for sure. (That's not an insult, OR a compliment. It's a statement, take it how you like) Near 4 minutes they get HEAVY. The backing choir synth, and metal guitar, it all gels together so well? The song builds to a WONDERFUL climax (as per usual).

Having the multiple singers works well here, who cares about the lyrics if they're sung this well?

This is a rather smooth track, my favorite on the album.

ANALYSIS: 5 Stars for the musicianship, 3 for lyrics, it gets a 4

The first (and so far only) Transatlantic album I've listened to, I've heard it nearly half a dozen times, and it really only gets better with each listen. Usually I go through each song individually, but they are so musically and thematically linked, it would be near impossible. However, I will say my favorite section is VI. Rose Colored Glasses. I think it just has a great feel to it, and the lyrics flow very well, especially the line; "This world is not our home, You can live like a rollin' stone, But you cannot escape with your life!"

The record never slows down, in it's 72 minute runtime, (All one GIANT Suite, though some might not agree, who cares when the music is this amazing!)

Like I said earlier, I'm not familiar with the band's catalouge very well. I'm more used to the 70's stuff, and I'm slowly expanding outwards. It seemed cool to listen to a 72 minute suite, so I did. Lo and Behold, it's good. Each member has their time to shine (especially Stolt, he solos all over here)

Section 12 (Dancing With Eternal Glory) seems to get some flak for being your typical Neil Morse Ballad, it seems fine to me, but maybe that's because I grew up with 80s music, it's all ballads there. Nevertheless, it doesn't really bother me in the slightest.

Overall, a fantastic record, and I highly recommend it to those looking to expand their musical horizons.

Easily a 5-Star album, it's beautiful.

"...And from the whirlwind, Comes the breath of life!"

"Bridge Across Forever" is the second studio album of Transatlantic and was released in 2001. Due to the debut studio album of Transatlantic, "SMPTe", Neal Morse, without question, has become the pivotal figure in the progressive rock supergroup Transatlantic. But, for this second album, the group attempted to balance each member's contribution more equally, because of the criticism that their debut studio album "SMPTe" was too dominated by the musical style of Neal Morse. Anyway, "Bridge Across Forever", at times, sounds more like a Spock's Beard's album than an album from any of the other players' primary bands. Perhaps that's because Morse handles most of the lead vocals, but it could be something deeper than that. While isn't a concept album, the lengthy epics share at least one movement with another.

The line up on the album is Roine Stolt (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, Mellotron, keyboards and percussion), Neal Morse (vocals, grand piano, Hammond organ, mini Moog, Rhodes piano, synthesizer, guitars and mandolin), Pete Trewavas (vocals, Warwick bass and Taurus bass pedals) and Mike Portnoy (vocals and drums). It had also the participation of Chris Carmichael (violin, viola and cello), Keith Mears (saxophone) and Elite choir (background vocals).

"Bridge Across Forever" has four tracks. All songs were written and composed by Roine Stolt, Neal Morse, Pete Trewavas and Mike Portnoy except "Bridge Across Forever" which was written by Neal Morse and Celeste Prince. The first track "Duel With The Devil" is divided into five parts: "Motherless Children", "Walk Away", "Silence Of The Night", "You're Not Alone" and "Almost Home". It starts with good instrumental themes played in a classic heavy progressive style. After some minutes Neil's vocals starts with a heavy Mellotron sound. The lead vocals are shared by the band in a very effective way. After that, Roine brings a second vocal melody, which is also very strong, followed by a quieter part, with some guitar sounds and saxophone. After several minutes, the rest of the track mainly consists of themes that were introduced earlier, performed with some variations. This is a great and very exciting opening track to the album. The second track "Suite Charlotte Pike" is also divided into five parts: "If She Runs", "Mr. Wonderful", "Lost And Found Pt. 1", "Temple Of The Gods" and "Motherless Children/If She Runs (Reprise)". It has a more bluesy feeling and is the song most different from the other tracks on the album. According to the diary on the official website of the band, it was meant as an ode to The Beatles and a way to use some unfinished bits that the band had lying around. This is a track that sounds pretty good and that has a very strong retro feel, and where at the times the band is doing wild 60's rock. Sincerely, I don't feel this piece of music too much original, cohesive and progressive. However, we must say that it has some great musical moments like "Temple Of The Gods". The third track is the title track "Bridge Across Forever". It's a short and intimate piano ballad where the emphasis is on its melody, which is very beautiful, and is magnificently sung by Neal. A nice sensitive romantic ballad is a very good idea to break the all tension of the album, indeed. Like "We All Need Some Light" of "SMPTe", this lovely ballad it would have fitted very well on one of Neal's solo albums. The fourth and last track "Stranger In Your Soul" is divided into six parts: "Sleeping Wide Awake", "Hanging In The Balance", "Lost And Found Pt. 2", "Awakening The Stranger", "Slide" and "Stranger In Your Soul". It shares many similarities to the opening track, and in a way this reflection gives the album a cyclical feel. Again, some very good themes are used, and performed in a very fresh and energetic way. The mood changes from aggressive and bombastic to melancholic and subtle. Vocally, it's a very strong track, both on melody and on the singing voices. Some earlier themes from the album appear on this track, mostly effectively. This and the first track are clearly the best and worth buying the album.

Conclusion: "Bridge Across Forever" has the same formula of their previous studio album "SMPTe". Nobody can criticize the band as a low respectable band, because they always said that Transatlantic wanted to make classic prog rock music releasing all the musical influences from the old classical bands of the golden prog era. The two long tracks "Duel With The Devil" and "Stranger In Your Soul", are in the same vein that "All Of The Above" from the first album. This is where the band develops their own sound and at the time shows all the musical influences that they have. The performance is very good, providing the technical skills of each member. The vocals are excellent, giving the perfect balance between the classical symphonic rock and the freshness of the present day production. Between these two masterpieces there are "Bridge Across Forever", a typical beautiful ballad which isn't very well connected to the rest of the tracks and "Suite Charlotte Pike" a funny track with a lot of The Beatles feel were all band's members singing for a final unsorted but an interesting result. Concluding, here we have again a very good album with a high commercial potential, with two long tracks with absolutely stunning quality from the band that helps to cover the other weak points.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Transatlantic is a multinational progressive rock super group consisting of Roine Stolt of Flower Kings, Neal Morse ex-Spock's Beard, Pete Trewavas of Marillion and Mike Portnoy Dream Theater. They formed in 1999 a side project to their full time bands and solo musical projects. Transatlantic started when Portnoy invited Morse to join him on a super group project. Portnoy is known for his love for Spock's Beard, so Morse wasn't a strange choice. One of Portnoy's other favourite bands is Marillion and Trewavas was another natural choice. But, finding a guitarist was more difficult. Originally Jim Matheos of Fates Warning was meant to be the first choice, but due to several delays it wasn't possible. So, Morse suggested Stolt and finaly the project was ready to go. It was disbanded in 2002 but they reunited in 2009.

'SMPTe' is the debut studio album of Transatlantic and was released in 2000. The title is a play on words. It's a combination of the band's member initials and a type of time code used in recording technology of the four names.

So, the line up on 'SMPTe' work is Roine Stolt (vocals, electric guitar, twelve string acoustic guitar, Mellotrons and percussion), Neal Morse (vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar and electric guitar), Pete Trewavas (vocals, bass guitar and moog Taurus pedals) and Mike Portnoy (backing vocals and drums).

'SMPTe' has five tracks. All songs were written and composed by Roine Stolt, Neal Morse, Pete Trewavas and Mike Portnoy except 'We All Need Some Light' which was written by Neal Morse and 'In Held (Twas) In I' which is a Procol Harum's song that was written by Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher and Keith Reid and arranged by Stolt, Morse, Trewavas and Portnoy. The first track 'All Of The Above' is divided into six parts: 'Fool Moon Rising', 'October Winds', 'Camouflaged In Blue', 'Half Alive', 'Undying Love' and 'Full Moon Rising (Reprise)'. It's an epic of a length seldom seen in the recent years. Atmospheric sounds in the style of 'Close To The Edge' lead to a typical Spock's Beard intro. This is quite Beard's, especially the vocal parts of Morse that are very much similar to his own Beard's style. The music rolls through rhythm and tempo changes, through symphonic and bombastic. The keyboards are quite dominant and the influence of the guitar style of Howe on Stolt is perfectly evident. This track alone is more than a worth to buying the album for. The second track 'We All Need Some Light' is a song with a beginning of acoustic guitar and piano that gives place to a great melodic song. It's the shortest song on the album that develops into a very nice ballad that would have fitted perfectly well on any Neal's solo album. It's the most accessible song and serves as a contrast with the complexity of the previous track. The third track 'Mystery Train' is a song with influences of The Beatles and has a very good work of its rhythm section with a lightly filtered voice. It has a dynamic melody elaborated with Mellotron and excellent chorus, without losing its almost psychedelic air that presides over the whole song. The highlight of the song is the drumming work by Portnoy. The fourth track 'My New World' has a beginning in the style of Yes and where Stolt appears singing with filtered voice. The differences among both vocalists are patent in this music. The song is guided more towards the classic progressive music, being very well worked, with good vocal harmonies and a soft melody. There are some guitar fragments that remind me strongly Howe, and powerful musical atmospheres clearly influenced by Genesis with some references also to Camel. The fifth and last track 'In Held (Twas) In I' is divided into four parts: 'Glimpses Of Nirvana', 'In The Autumn Of My Madness', 'Look To Your Soul' and 'Grand Finale'. This song was originally recorded by Procol Harum in 1967 and was released on their second studio album 'Shine On Brightly' in 1968. It's widely regarded as the first progressive rock epic. This dark and enigmatic suite has a length of about 17 minutes and is a modern view of the classic version, which is taken into a more symphonic version. I like very much of this new version of the song, and that can real explain why a cover song became as one of the highlights of this album.

Conclusion: 'SMPTe' is an album with heavy reminiscences to the 70's. We can revisit many classic prog bands such as The Beatles, Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson and Camel, for instance. They even covered a song of Procol Harum, one of the most underrated prog bands. The references to some of the greatest classic prog musicians are also evident. Listen to Stolt's guitar playing and you might be able to relate to Howe. Some keyboard playing is also similar to Wakeman. 'SMPTe' is an excellent album of symphonic prog rock with the objective of arriving to more public and making the genre more known. If we compare it with the musical trajectories of the bands of the musicians that form this project, we may say that it's much closer to Flower Kings and Spock's Beard than Dream Theatre or Marillion styles. So, 'SMPTe' is an excellent musical proposal served with some of the best prog musicians in our days. It seems to be an obligatory purchase for all progressive rock followers, especially for the lovers of the classic progressive era.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

The setlist was (almost) perfect, revisiting the entire discography (except Kaleidoscope... it would be great to hear 'Shine' or 'Black as the Sky', or even better, a bit of 'Kaleidoscope' inside the Medley), but... The Absolute Universe Ultimate Edition, Whirlwind Medley, WE ALL NEED SOME LIGHT, and the Final Medley with sections of their best prog epics... almost 3h of epicness, I think it's fine.

Goosebumps since minute one when the intro started. The Absolute Universe was a long album, but watching it live makes it better. The 'Overture' was an incredible prog exhibition with all members showing their skills. This first CD has no pauses or moments to disconnect. The songs flowed perfectly smoothly, increasing the tension until 'Looking for the Light' (really powerful performance) and 'The World We Used to Know', ending the first set with an emotional Transatlantic-ish short moment. 'Bully' sounded really strong too and 'Rainbow Sky', the most poppy song, was really fun actually.

The second part of the Absolute Universe started with the Mike Portnoy speech, there was almost no salutations until that moment. CD2 is less powerful than the first one but it has some of the most emotional moments, like 'Solitude' with Pete singing, beautiful song... and 'Can You Feel It?', a typical Morse happy section from the Abridged version, but personally it's a shoot of energy that song in that moment of the album, goosebumps... After that, the tension increases until the big melodic theme at the end, with all people standing up, waving arms and singing in unison.

The second part of the show was spectacular: Whirlwind Medley was like "Is It Really Happening?", it was incredible. No words, music speaks by itself. 'We All Need Some Light', the most emotional song I've heard live, a really clever choice for a last song, before the Final Medley breaks in. 'Duel with the Devil', 'My New World', 'All of the Above' and ending with the best closing section of all time, 'Stranger In Your Soul', the crowd was like a sea of waving arms. What else can we say? This concert should not end...

A special evening in an incredible venue, one of the concerts of the century, Transatlantic is the synonym of prog.

To enable them to fully realise their vision, Neal Morse (keyboards, acoustic guitar, vocals), Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals), Roine Stolt (guitar, vocals), and Pete Trewavas (bass, vocals) brought in Ted Leonard (guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals), making that supergroup just a little more super. This means we have three people who are normally lead singers in their own right, a rhythm section where both players have sold multiple millions of albums, and a list of bands they have been involved with which all progheads know and love. But all of that would stand for nothing if the music they were writing and performing together did not stand up against the expectations, but Transatlantic have been incredibly consistent since the outset, putting their egos at the door and doing whatever it takes to come up with the best group outcome. I have long thought that Pete does this to take any from the boredom and banality of working in Marillion, as that band is nothing like it used to be, and here he can really demonstrate his skills in a style which totally suits him. Roine and Neal love bouncing off each other both vocally and musically, while Mike is always one of the happiest drummers one can find and his love of working with Neal is apparent give all their collaborations together over the years (and if you have yet to see the Yellow Matter Custard DVD then you need to seek it out). Ted Leonard has fitted in seamlessly, just as he has in Spock's Beard, but the very first time I saw him perform was with the wonderful Enchant and is another I have always rated very highly indeed.

Although this concert may not actually be the end of the road for Transatlantic, they are all realists and given how long it takes for them to produce a new album it is quite possible they may be too old to play a three-hour concert in future. As Roine said, "I felt the challenge of learning, or re-learning, three-and-a-half hours of music before leaving Sweden. Now that I am getting slightly older, I was a little worried about playing for that long ? it requires a lot of concentration: 'Is this one in 7/8 or 9/8? Maybe we'll play it in 13/8 and in a different key?" Of course, when they hit the stage there were no issues whatsoever and the reaction from the crowd is wonderful. There is a point when Neal says they were considering playing just two hours and letting the crowd sing the rest and the dismay was palpable, so he quickly gave in and said they would play for three after all. When you bring together Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings, Dream Theater and Marillion in one place, the result is what you hear on this album, with four musicians performing wonderful flowing complex and intricate progressive rock which has its roots firmly in the Seventies (and even a few hints from the Sixties) but brought right up to date and polished until it gleams.

There is another live album due, showcasing the band at 'Morsefest', but this concert was after that one, so this may well be the last show from the band. If that is the case then they can rest easy, as more than 20 years into their career they produced yet another wonderful album and then took it on the road and absolutely nailed it.

Musically, what can we say? All of the musicians show their great individual skills but with a solid band writing, and a nice mix by Rich Mouser. In this record, they sound more like a band. After a decade since their two first albums (SMPTe and Bridge Across Forever), they returned with these mature compositions, showing a great evolution individually and a great complicity as bandmates. Without any doubt this album was their best job.

This is a must in prog rock history.