Post Description

Unitopia - Covered Mirror Vol.1:Smooth As Silk  Country of Origin: Australia 
Format: CD 
Record Label: Bird's Robe Records 
Catalogue #: UMCM005-1012 
Year of Release: 2012 
Time: 75:51 
Info: Unitopia 
Samples: Click Here 
 
Tracklist: 'Signs Of Life' Prelude (2:01), Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (6:32), Easter (6:42), Man Of Colours (5:22), Genesis Medley (The Silent Sun / Supper's Ready / Dancing With The Moonlit Knight / The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway / Carpet Crawlers) (10:10), Rain Song (7:02), Even In The Quietest Moments (6:41), Can We Still Be Friends (4:20), Speaking The Truth (Interlude) (1:19), Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime (5:09), Yes Medley (And You And I / Awaken / Close To The Edge / Soon / Onward / South Side Of The Sky / Owner Of A Lonely Heart) (12:11), To One In Paradise (5:04), Bonus Track: The Way The Waters Are Moving (3:18) 

Two of the best albums in recent times IMO have been The Garden (2008) and Artificial (2010) both from Australia’s finest, Unitopia. Following the excellent 2011 live album/DVD One Night In Europe (which curiously passed the DPRP by) comes the bands latest offering, Covered Mirror Vol.1: Smooth As Silk. The album subtitle - 'A Collection Of Songs That Inspire Unitopia' speaks for itself whilst the phrase 'Smooth As Silk' is indicative of the mood of the songs which are all on the distinctly mellow, melodic side. Genre wise however it's a mixed bag with quality pop tunes rubbing shoulders with prog classics where scanning the tracklist is rather like leafing through an old but much loved record collection. 

The album opens with an original composition, the 'Signs Of Life' Prelude which serves as an instrumental introduction to Calling Occupants.... I say original, but in reality the wonderfully overblown orchestral arrangement owes a significant debt to John Williams' score for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft was of course a 1976 hit for Canadian proggers Klaatu but many I'm sure will be more familiar with The Carpenters' epic version from the following year. Unitopia's take on the song remains faithful to both with elaborate orchestral keys from Sean Timms and a sensitive interpretation by vocalist Mark Trueack. With the sound of crashing waves, it segues seamlessly into Marillion's Easter from 1989's Seasons End album and whilst Trueack cannot quite compete with Steve Hogarth's wistful delivery it's still a beautiful version with a memorable solo from guitarist Matt Williams and a particularly uplifting coda. 

Man Of Colours will perhaps be of more significance to Unitopia themselves than most of us being the title song from the 1987 album by fellow Aussies Icehouse and a massive seller in their home country. It's a good tune and whilst I'm familiar with Icehouse's brand of '80s synth-pop and the hit Crazy in particular (taken from the same album) this is a more low-key affair with mellow sax, a chugging riff and engaging harmonies. 

Even if you're familiar with the songs that make up Unitopia's Genesis Medley (all taken from the Peter Gabriel era) the treatment here holds one or two surprises. Unitopia put the emphasis on the opening and closing songs (The Silent Sun and Carpet Crawlers respectively) with the intervening pieces fleetingly but respectively referenced (the lyrical Lover's Leap intro to Supper's Ready, a variation of the third and second verses from Dancing With The Moonlit Knight and a couple of lines of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway). Presented as a mature ballad, The Silent Sun is a revelation and a pointed reminder of just how good those very early Genesis tunes were even though they were all too soon disowned by the band. Carpet Crawlers is performed almost in its entirety and underlines the similarity between Trueack's and Gabriel's voices. 

Even though Led Zeppelin's fifth album Houses Of The Holy from 1973 is in my collection, Rain Song was never one of my favourite Zepp tracks (No Quarter for me was the album highlight). That said it proves to be one of the most successful adaptations here with Unitopia perfectly capturing the folk-meets-blues ambiance with inspired use of acoustic guitar, clarinet and electric sitar. Supertramp's 1977 album title song Even In The Quietest Moments is perhaps another not so obvious inclusion and although it's once again a worthy version, Unitopia's take on Dreamer, Crime Of The Century or The Logical Song would have been a tantalising prospect. The men from down under make this their own with the addition of jungle sounds, tribal rhythms (courtesy of drummer David Hopgood and percussionist Tim Irrgang) plus didgeridoo and impromptu soprano sax from Dan Burgess. 

Can We Still Be Friends was a minor US hit for Todd Rundgren in 1978 and like many of his pop tunes it's a very catchy affair benefitting from the lovely wordless harmonies here. A rambling flute solo (entitled Speaking The Truth) leads into The Korgis' sugar sweet ballad Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime from 1980. Beside the Genesis and Yes medleys, this was one of the tracks I was really looking forward to having been covered numerous times before but never bettering the original which was a guilty pleasure of mine. The Unitopia arrangement is busier with acoustic guitar, flute, koto and a gritty (but not out of place) guitar solo. 

If you're wondering how Yes epics like And You And I, Awaken and Close To The Edge can be squeezed into a medley lasting a little over 12 minutes the answer is simple but effective nonetheless. Taking the grandiose guitar and keyboard fanfare from Yes' live version of And You And I to similarly open here, Unitopia combine and overlap key vocal lines from Awaken, Close To The Edge, Soon, Onward (and an un-credited Survival) to create an hypnotic choral tapestry to stir the heart of any Yes fan. The memorable piano and chanting mid-section of South Side Of The Sky follows before a mellow version of Owner Of A Lonely Heart is given perhaps more time than it deserves to play-out. I should at this point mention Ed Unitsky's stunning artwork which combines several of the original album covers (most notably Houses Of The Holy and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway) but sadly nothing by Yes. As good as these collages are, I would have loved to have seen Unitsky's take on Roger Dean's landscapes for CTTE and Relayer. 

Lifted from the 1976 Tales Of Mystery And Imagination debut album by The Alan Parsons Project, To One In Paradise is a genuine piece of Beatles influenced nostalgia. Unitopia do full justice to the song with a swirling mosaic of counterpoint harmonies against a tranquil orchestral backdrop. If there was a competition to guess which song by The Flower Kings closed this collection I would be willing to bet that at least 50 other songs would be chosen before coming up with The Way The Waters Are Moving. That is unless you're familiar with Musea's A Flower Full Of Stars tribute album where Unitopia first performed the song which originally appeared on TFKs 2006 Paradox Hotel album and is one of shortest ever penned by Stolt and Bodin. Not wanting to repeat their previous version, Unitopia have revamped the arrangement although still staying close to the original with classical guitar and strings providing a low-key but still very satisfying conclusion to the set. 

No matter how earnest the intent, tribute albums are often on the receiving end of negative reviews (and with some justification). Unitopia in their favour however have produced a meticulous reworking of some well-known and not so well-known tunes that vary significantly in their complexity. Whilst remaining faithful to the spirit of the originals, Timms, Trueack and their collaborators inject enough of their own personality to avoid sounding like slavish copyists. The fact that several of these songs happen to be personal favourites of this particular reviewer is a very happy coincidence where for me the opening three tracks alone are worth the price of admission. 

Conclusion: 9 out of 10

Bron: DPRP