Post Description

Gouwe Ouwe - Forum verzoek!


 Tracklist:

Killing fields (4:53) 
Forever young (8:53)
April first (4:54)
Foxing the fox (4:26)
Terracotta army (6:37)
Freefall (3:34)
Tippy Hedren (7:42)
After I died somewhere (3:34)
Suite St. Helens (9:51)
Borders (4:59)

Over the years our British friends Landmarq have had their fair share of problems. First there was the problem with vocalist Damion Wilson, then there was the difficulty with their Ducth recordcompany SI which went bust just when their album 'The vision pit' got released making it almost impossible to get hold of a copy for years ! In the end Damion was replaced by drummer Dave Wagstaffe's ex-girlfriend and ex-Quasar singer Tracy Hitchings and Landmarq started kind of a second life holding the wish to one day re-release it's entire output on their very own label. Probably down to the many musical activities and solo sidesteps the band has decided a band should produce music and other people should run the management side of things which is why Cyclops have now re-issued the Landmarq catalogue.

Recently appreciated by American progfans whom for years turned down anything stamped with the label 'neo-progressive', of course this Karl Groom / Clive Nolan produced material clearly bears the Thin Ice Studios stamp. Originally released in 1992 'Solitary witness' holds some memorable moments not in the least between guitarist Uwe D'Rose and keyboardplayer Steve Leigh as is illustrated during 'Forever young'. To nicely create a balance on this album, two instrumentals have been added one being 'April first' which sounds like an 'étude' by Leigh and 'Freefall', a joint venture between Leigh and D'Rose. However 'Solitary witness' is mainly known for it's inclusion of two Landmarq classics. The first is 'Terracotta army' which, needless to say, contains a fair amount of eastern influences. The other highlight has to be 'Suite St. Helens' which sports some great pianoplaying in the intro. Once again it's the interaction between guitar and keyboards which do the trick for me. To regain interest a shorter version of 'Suite St. Helens', here referred to as the 'alternate version', has been added as a bonustrack. Surely no need for the Landmarq fans to go out and buy an extra copy of the album even if it sports new artwork, but those who have been looking in vain for any Landmarq material will be pleased to learn their search is now luckilly over. 'Solitary witness' certainly is a must have if you want your collection to include a fine example of what the 'neo-prog' fuss is all about.