Hybrid are : 'Doctor' Dave Boland on Keyboards, Vocals and Programming Martin 'Balls and Chunk' on Electric and Acoustic Guitars Richard 'Mystic Rhythms' Brooke on Drums and Electronic Percussion Jonathon 'The Hat' Thornton on Bass Additional Musician : Ian 'Funkbone' Salmon : Bass on tracks 2 & 3, Guitar on track 11, 'Hidden' Vocals The tracks are : 1. Great Institutions (3:42) 2. Atlantis (6:43) 3. Dreaming.. (i) Disconnected (instrumental) (3:56) (ii) Falling Down (3:53) (iii) Wild Idea (2:51) (iv) Falling Apart (2:51) (v) Dreaming Apart (2:24) 4. Time To Rest (5:52) 5. Balance Of Power (4:13) 6. Journey's End (5:48) 7. Parallel Lines (3:10) Hybrid started playing together in the early nineties, but only last year decided that they wanted to take it more seriously. Drummer Richard Brooke and guitarist Martin Hayter have decided to keep themselves strictly in the Hybrid camp, but Dave Boland and original bassist Paul Brown have been seen around the prog sphere for a couple of years now - they were both with Medicine Man ( replacing Clive Nolan and Pete Gee ) and Paul has recently teamed up with Janison Edge. Red Jasper's Jonathan Thornton stepped in to fill Paul's shoes when it came time to do the album. The album was recorded at Thin Ice - now Dave's second home ( Clive's tech ) and they turned down some amazingly famous names who all offered thier services to help them make the album. Ian Salmon of Shadowland was the one exception - tidying up some bass and contributing some great guitar on the last track - they personally rate him as the most underrated musician in prog. Karl Groom and Clive Nolan were around to help Dave produce it. This album is designed to be the first of a series of three 'linked theme' albums that should hopefully tell a story when put together. The opening track is 'Great Institutions', this track fades in with some spacey type keyboards followed by some superb intricate guitar work. Nice vocals from Dave and there are some nice changes in direction, mood and tempo. The next track is 'Atlantis', this starts off fairly quietly, Spacey type keyboards. Dave's vocals are a lot softer on this track. Occassionally a heavier riff comes in. This track remind me a little of Hawkwind. Some of the keyboards sound a little angelic. There's also lots of intricate guitar work, a stunning guitar solo and some great keyboards. The third track 'Dreaming..', is split into five parts. The first being 'Diconnected' which is an instrumental. Nice keyboards and some superb guitar work. Some of the guitar work is slightly heavier on this track, theres some nice percussion arrangements. Middle section of the track is more mellower, with some nice spacey type keyboard work, but it's not long before the sound of a heavier guitar returns. 'Falling Down', has some nice soft vocals, excellent intricate guitar work and nice soft flowing keyboards. 'Wild Idea', has some wonderful keys, nice acoustic guitar. This track is quite catchy. 'Falling Apart', nice piano and keyboards. a nd the final part 'Dreaming Of Sanity', feature some stunning guitar work. Great bass and drums, this is more of a guitar orientated track. Theres also some nice effective keyboards. The next track 'Time To Rest', this is a nice track with great vocals from Dave. The guitar work is mainly intricate with some nice mellow keyboards. Theres a superb guitar solo,some spacey kinda keyboards, nice bass, towards the end theres more mellow keyboards and some nice acousttic guitar. 'Balance Of Power', this track has a really nice rhythm about it. Theres some nice keyboards and some stunning guitar work. Nice vocals a little similar to Alan Parsons Project. The sixth track 'Journey's End', this is another track that reminds me quite a bit of Hawkwind. Theres some nice keyboards, but the vocals do seem a little strained on this track. The final track is 'Parallel Lines', this track starts with some great guitar sounding more in the Rush kind of mode to me. Great bass and drums. The vocals come in just as the music changes direction, nice keyboards and some stunning guitar work. Well, This is an extremely good album, but it did take me a little while to get into this album, it's not one that immediately grabs your attention. However, I must say that the musicianship is superb and it's one of those albums that grows on you the more you listen to it. Hybrid is self-released on their own label. Website : http://www.hybrid.force9.co.uk Email : dave@hybrid.force9.co.uk |