Label: Cyclops

Tracks:

1. Tortoise (5'25")
2. The new moon (7'59")
3. Hindsight (3'33")
4. Radiation part 1 (1'27")
5. Jemetrion (6'05")
6. Radiation part 2 (1'16")
7. The seagulls (5'53")
8. Hurt (1'47")
9. Tribulation (7'03")
10. Spectrum of colours (3'17")
11. Endgame (5'39")

Musicians:

• Edo Spanninga : flute, oboe, strings, organ, cello, vibe, Mellotron mples, ELKA leslie
• Eric Mulder : acoustic and electric guitars, bass
• Menno Boomsma : drums

"...It feels good to be one of these devotees, although we do not hump Mellotrons around anymore, but progressed to the use of Mellotron samples. The heydays of Genesis, Yes, Greenslade, Renaissance, PFM, Gentle Giant, Gryphon, Focus, Rush, Finch, Kansas, Camel, Caravan, Druid, ELP, England, Jethro Tull, Supersister y King Crimson (to name just a few...) have long gone now, but all these bands influenced us more or less until this day.."

These words by Edo Spanninga, leader of the Dutches Flamborough Head, are a part of a long explanatory text on this work and this project, included in the album booklet we are talking about. And yes, really Trion is Spanninga's new parallel project, in which he tributes our dear mellotron and the bands of the 70s. The same Trion's name comes from a mixing between the words Trio and Tron (abbreviation of mellotron), and likewise, the showy cover of the CD, as well as the inside drawings, are an emotive tribute to the designs of the mythical Roger Dean in the first 70's. Already only for the presentation of the CD, I think that the album is worth the money.

In order you to see how much this album is done to fit the taste of mellotron fanatics, I will say that, apart from the guitars, bass and drums, the rest of sounds are created by different mellotron samples, particularly flute, oboe, violins, organ, cello, choirs, and vibes tapes. So, all the keys sounds in the album are performed with mellotron.

"Tortoise" is a totally instrumental record of pure 70's prog rock, far from being a coarse copy of past times, in spite of being influenced by all the bands that Spanninga mentions in the text included above. Some current works to which we might relate this work would be "One for the Crow" by the own Flamborough Head, the homonym of Submarine Silence or Hostsonaten's "Springsong".

Do not think that this album is just a mellotron festival, so the electric and acoustic guitars, inheritance of Anthony Phillips, Steve Hackett, Jan Akkerman, Andy Latimer or Steve Howe among others, take enough protagonism in the creation of melodies.

It's a pity that the record eventually becomes a bit repetitive, but it turns out to be a pleasure anyway to delight our ears with this endless mellotron sounds. The album is worth the fee, especially for a number of excellent tracks as "Tortoise", "The New Moon", "Hindsight", "Spectrum of Colours" or "Tribulation".

Rating: 7/10

Ferran Lizana