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REVIEWS: CAIRO Cairo back to artists page Discography • Audio • Tour Dates • Links Released Jan 1, 1995 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– This new album by a young group of Californians serves notice that American progressive rock can hold its own against anyone, including the Brits and the Swedes who have churned out their fair share of winners in recent months. It also goes to show that the folks at Magna Carta have a pretty keen ear for progressive rock, adding this promising group to a growing (and glowing) stable of domestic talent boasting fellow Golden Staters Magellan. Cairo combines a powerful approach with melodic songwriting and finely crafted arrangements, showing maturity beyond its years. The opening track, an instrumental entitled 'Conception' is a clever little teaser sporting Middle Eastern thematics that will have you walking like an Eygptian. The next four songs more or less serve notice on the band's potential - strong melodies, plenty of room for instrumental flights of fancy, ok lyrics and pleasant singing by Bret Douglas. But in the final analysis all this is but a prelude to the album's tour-de-force, the 22-minute 'Ruins at Avalon's Gate.' It's a modern-day 'Tarkus,' full of twists and turns, starts and stops, and all that wonderful stuff that made us fall in love with prog-rock in the first place. The king of the hill on this disc is keyboardist Mark Robertson. Some have knocked him for being a bit too obvious with the Keith Emerson influence (witness the rollicking Hammond intro on 'Between The Lines,' and similar references within 'Ruins'). But that's ok by me. Anyone who can play like this is worth a listen, regardless of his source of inspiration. Criticisms? Not many. The band could perhaps work on developing a stonger sense of menace in its compositions, and concentrate on more compelling lyrical fare. But those things will come together with time. I only hope these guys realize they have a good thing going, and keep it together for the long haul. – Progression –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Cairo burst out of the gate on this, their debut CD, as if they are ready to become the standard bearer of classical, retro-prog. They have all the key ingredients in place: aggressive, busy keyboards, MOR rock style vocals, surging guitar and a terrific rhythm section. The group likes its songs on the long side: bright and busy. They generate a tremendous amount of energy and seem to love playing together... – Music Uncovered –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Click here to order Cairo. Click here for the Cairo discography. |
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