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Taal - Mister Green (2000)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Released in the end of 2000, left on the threshold of the new millennium, "Mister Green" is just the debut album by Taal, but how hard to believe in that! I haven't heard in years such strong, mature and high-quality debuts with regard to both the compositional and performing mastery. Taal is a traditional "Rock" quartet (keyboards, guitars, bass, drums), but there were no less than the same number of the guest musicians, played on various wind instruments (including brass ones) and violin-cellos throughout the album, too. As a result, the "Mister Green" album represents a unique, complex, extremely interesting music, that actually is a very well balanced mix of Classic Art-Rock (or Symphonic Progressive, if you will), Prog-Metal, and Classical Music with additional bits of fairy-sounding and buffoonery-alike music. The album's (self-titled) only song (English lyrics written and sung by the drummer) stands in the middle of the track-list, being surrounded by all-instrumental compositions. Most of them range 8 to 15 minutes, while the opening (15-minute Barbituricus), third (13- minute Flat Spectre), and closing (12-minute Super Flat Moon) are especially rich in diverse and highly effective arrangements. All in all, Taal's "Mister Green" is not only an absolute masterpiece, but also one of the few top albums (if not the best one) that were released in the last year of the end of the past millennium. More than highly recommended! ~ Review taken from Buy It at Lowest Price on Amazon

Mister Green is the debut album for Taal, a group from Poitiers, France. The members making up this band, also were part of the band Stratus, and are Loïc Bernardeau (Drums, percussions, Lead vocal), Sébastian Constant (Keyboards, background vocals), David "Stuart" Dosnon (Bass, background vocals) and Anthony Gabard (Guitar, background vocals). I must admit that the French have rarely impressed me with their progressive rock vein, especially with regards to inventiveness, though there are a few exceptions, Caféine just to mention one. Taal manage to fall into this latter category with their brand of music which does draw influences from a number of classic bands, yet on the other hand the band manage to create a sound of their own making it very hard to define (and describe) their style.

The strength of this album is in the instrumental sections, which are long and full of imagination, in fact one could easily state that the weakest section on the album is the lead vocals, though these are not often present. The fifteen minute opener Barbituricus fuses elements of classic progressive rock with Hammond Organs et al coupled with the driving rhythm and power of a prog-metal band. Thus the band fuse the sounds of bands such as Pink Floyd with the power of Dream Theater together with a dose of quirkiness from bands like Caravan. One of the strengths of this album is the sheer force of the music that is played, and the band also achieve this with the help of additional guest musicians which bring the total number of musicians up to ten! This is heard to full effect towards the end of the track as woodwind and brass instruments join in the fray competing with the traditional electronic instruments, creating an ending straight out of a soundtrack.

Coornibus opens with a Middle Eastern-tinged orchestral piece, something that Jon Lord (Deep Purple) would have added to his Concerto for Group and Orchestra. With a sound like rumbling thunder, the woodwind section is joined by the guitars forming a duet that is answered by a delightful keyboard piece. The pizzicato-like guitar work reminded me of eighties band Mekong Delta who were masters at fusing classical orchestral pieces with a heavy sounding band. Simply fantastic!

Flat Spectre maintains a similar thread to Coornibus, though the mood seems to be slightly darker on this track with a somewhat slower tempo. The band and string section are in continuous response, utilising a style that Michael Kamen loves to use.

Ragtime has the band playing to a Vincent Boisseau's clarinet with a tune that is almost fifties sounding with a touch of The Klezmatics. No Way ! features a series of sound effects that include a man drinking and retching!

The almost circus-like feel that was present on Ragtime resurfaces on Mister Green though one cannot but remain intrigued at the complexity of the music that this band presents, incorporating various instruments and sounds together with continuous variations in both time signatures and musical styles. Mister Grey on the other hand sees the group returning to a more straight forward format with the music veering more or less into a progressive metal direction. Interesting nonetheless as they still introduce the occasional uncharacteristic sound and tune.

Aspartamus retains the happy feel that has been present on the previous four tracks though this time there is an increase in the orchestration with the string instruments (and keyboards) coming out in full force. The track flits between metal sections to ones of calmness and serenity, something that is also utilised to great effect on the closing track Super Flat Moon. once again on this track there is an Eastern influence in the tune, though the track features a march-like rhythm that creates a strength and power similar to what one gets in Le Sacre Du Primtemps by Stravnisky.

This album is a must for those who love to listen to instrumental music with a twist full of orchestrations and complex time signatures. Listening to the album one can pick out references from classic progressive rock bands, yet on the other hand Taal do not dwell for any substantial amount of time on these influences for one to be able to make a likeable comparison between bands. In plain simple language this group has come up with a sound of its own that is bound to please most progressive rock fans. ~ Review by Nigel Camilleri @

Tracklisting:

1. Barbituricus (15:18)

2. Coornibus (8:42)

3. Flat Spectre (12:34)

4. Ragtime (2:40)

5. No Way! (1:24)

6. Mister Green (4:34)

7. Mister Grey (4:33)

8. Aspartamus (7:35)

9. Super Flat Moon (11:06)

Total Time: 68:26

Line-Up:

- Anthony Gabard / guitar

- Loïc Bernardeau / drums

- David Dosnon / bass

- David Lucas / vocals

- Sebastien Constand / keyboards

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Rating:
2.5 out of 5 by Book123