Album review: SAILOR FREE – Spiritual Revolution

(Tide Records, 2012)

This is definitely an album of ‘despites’. Despite not having English as their first language, despite this being a concept album and despite having a band name like a John Inman sit-com – this is actually a rather good record.

Hailing from Italy but not really slotting into the Rock Progressivo Italiano model, Sailor Free have been around for a few years now and certainly know their way around a tune.

‘Spiritual Revolution’, despite (again!) my initial fears that it may be some sort of God-bothering nonsense, is a concept album inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Silmarillion’. The press blurb goes on in some detail about mankind, osmosis, a better world and mind and spirit, which usually has punters running for the hills, but the music, despite (again!) all this bollocks, is worth persevering with.

Sounding to these ears like a prog/Goth band fronted by a an ‘80s indie band singer, the fourteen tracks on offer deliver the whole diversity of how good progressive rock music should be played.

Swinging from crunching guitar rifferama to delicate keyboard and acoustic passages in an instant, the album maintains a high quality level throughout.

While no awards will be won for pushing the boundaries of music onto another level, Sailor Free have delivered an album of considerable merit well worthy of a listen by all those tired of the general pap on offer these days.

***

Review by Alan Jones

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)