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Musicians :
Steve Cochrane -Electric, Classical, Acoustic, MIDI and Bass
Guitars, Keyboards, Lead and Backing Vocals, Drum Programming
Murray Bosch - Backing Vocals
Marie Bodine - Backing Vocals (2nd lead on track 2, refrain
on track 4)
Mary Dube - Backing Vocals (soprano on track 1)
Kevin Richards - addition MIDI drums
Roland Ivarssson - addition percussion and drum programming
Steve Cochrane is a multi-instrumentalist from Toronto, Canada.
He has released three albums 'Heroes Awaken' in 1991,
'To See It Made Real' in 1995.
'The Purest of Designs' was released in the summer of 1998.
The opening track is 'To The Glory Of Man' quite a beautiful
track, this one, for me starts off very much in the Yes, AWBH vein
with some superb keyboards, heavy bass and some wonderful guitar.
Very melodic, with the latter part of the track being more like a
Mike Oldfield composition. This track is played with lots of feeling
and emotion and the keyboards to the end have a choir like quality
about them.
The next track 'When Music Speaks' starts off with some classical
inspired piano and continues in the same mood as the previous track.
Steve is joined on vocals by Marie in a celebration of Steve’s love
of music. This is another melodic track with some wonderful instrumental
breaks.
The third track 'Songs For Spring' is a twenty-seven and a
half minute track which is divided into seven parts.
(I). 'Overture/The Melting Snow' is the introduction. This
track starts with some nice keyboards and guitar work, again I would
say some of Steve's guitar work reminds me of Steve Howe (Yes) and
the track gradually builds up, then all of a sudden all the other
instruments come in, after a while this fades to a funky bass line.
This is followed by some nice keyboard and guitar work, then this
fades, then towards the end there's some nice instrumentation in between
some vocals.
(II). 'The Hopeful Seed' segues straight from Overture. This
is a much quieter track with vocals from Steve and Marie, there's
some nice subtle guitar work in the background, with intricate lead
over the top. Then as the seed grows the track builds up into...
(III). 'The Flower'. As this track come in, the music changes
direction, it's still a fairly mellow track, but occasionally a heavier
sound comes in in-between the vocals.
(IV). 'The Dreadful Weed' this track starts with some atmospheric
sounds and then takes on more of a haunting feel to it. The first
verse to me is sung in the style of Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) then
after that the music changes direction and mood. There's some nice
acoustic guitar, nice vocals and stunning guitar work.
(V). 'The Storms Of Passion'. The guitar work on this track
is reminiscent of Kevin Ayer's 'Confessions Of Dr. Dream'. There's
also some highly complex interplay between keyboards, bass and guitars.
Again I found some parts of this track were quite haunting.
(VI). 'The Scent Of The After-Rain' starts off with some nice
mellow keyboards and intricate guitar, acoustic and electric. This
is followed by more acoustic guitar with some keyboards coming in
later. The vocals are fairly emotional and again this is another track
that gradually builds up finishing with a superb guitar solo. (VII).
'The Garden Of Earth’s Possibilities' a dramatic track with a good
driving bass and great keyboards then another superb guitar solo.
Then there's another change in direction in which you'll hear Tubular
Bells, Fanfares, the lot. Great stuff!!!
The next track is 'Dreams Of Reason' this is a nice track with
a very catchy melody, in fact It's virtually a folk orientated pop
song.
The final track is 'The Promise Of Music' and to finish we
have a 16 minute epic instrumental. This is a classical influenced
track played mainly on classical guitar with some nice keyboards in
the background (remind me a little of Focus). Next we have a change
in direction, still more classical influences, but the mood has changed
and the keyboards are more atmospheric and there's also some guitar
loops being used. Next another change in direction with some of the
parts from track one being played finishing with yet again another
excellent guitar solo!!!
Well, if you like Yes, early Genesis, Anthony Phillips, then I would
suggest you take a listen to this excellent album
Highly Recommended!!!
The Purest Of Designs (SC103) is released on Steve’s own Spirit Compass
Music label.
You can contact Steve at Spirit Compass Music, 6230 Starfield Crescent,
Misissauga, ON L5N 1X1, Canada
Tel: 905-813-8918
Email : spiritcompass@globalserve.net
Website : http://www.globalserve.net/~spiritcompass
Buy
the CD
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