| The
Review |
With so much uncertainty in the world these days it’s
nice to know there some things we can always rely on. One
of those constants is knowing you can rely on Cast to produce
a new CD. If you include the live and compilations this is
the 19th CD offering from what has to be one of the most prolific
progressive rock bands in the world today. To their credit
Mosaique is a double-disc and shows the band in absolutely
top form. ***
While we’re talking about constants most fans will know
that the lineup for Cast is one that has changed dramatically
over the years. As always spearheading the musical efforts
is keyboardist Alfonso Vidales who emailed me to say the current
Cast line-up includes Kiko King (drums), Claudio Cordero (guitar),
Pepe Torres (sax, flute, clarinet, woodwinds), Lupita Acuna
(vocals, percussions), Dino Brassea (lead vocals, flute),
and Flavio Miranda (bass). I also got a sense at how pleased
he was to see the involvement of his wife Lupita and son Bobby
in the creation of Cast music. This may very well be one of
Cast’s most international lineups with Cordero hailing from
Chile and Torres from Spain. When it’s all said and done there
are 16 different musicians performing parts on Mosaique. ***
The two-discs include a host of new compositions as well
as four previously unreleased tracks. The compositions take
their cue from the mid seventies traditional symphonic progressive
rock approach of bands such as Yes or Genesis but in reality
having so much music under their belts, Cast have clearly
established their own sound. It’s a sound that includes a
variety of flute and woodwinds, many keyboards and soaring
guitar. Their pallet of musical styles is continually expanding
and now encompasses classical, jazz, folk and even ethnic
elements. All of that is to say that these sixteen compositions
hold a wealth of musical variety. One moment the music is
moody and dramatic with tons of keyboards and then suddenly
it turns into something more bright and breezy with flutes
and percussion only to have the next piece be more jazz oriented
with the saxophone front and centre. Most pieces are long,
seven minutes or more providing the members lots of room for
musical expression. In fact seven of the sixteen tracks are
instrumentals. But even on the remaining tracks, many of which
are also long the vocals are sparse, mostly in Spanish, but
a couple of the older tracks are in English. The liner notes
while in Spanish provide you with all the information you
need to see who’s playing or singing on which track. ***
When it comes to musical styles this is without a doubt
the most diverse Cast recording yet. That holds true for the
variety of musicians and musical instruments as well. Mosaique
is loaded with so much music it’s hard to take it in all it
at one time. So you can plan to have Cast’s new CD on the
player for quite a few spins before it all sinks in. In amongst
everything else Alfonso and the band do for the progressive
rock community it’s great to see them continuing to grow musically.
Mosaique is a great addition to the Cast catalog and will
be a fine addition to your progressive rock collection. ***
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