From: manitp@vccsouth19.its.rpi.edu (Philip Joseph Manitta Jr.)
Subject: Animator Review (REAL PROGRESSIVE  MUSIC!!!!!!)
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 06:13:30 GMT

YO:

I haven't had the album long enough to do a thorough review yet, (and I
will do a really good one when I get more familiar with it), but here
is an overview of Animator's "GALLERY" for those of us who have been
praying for more prog-rock than KX and the Cowboys.

Well-  Their drummer gives thanks for inspiration to 'Neil, Phil,
Chester, and Bill'.  I can only assume he means
Peart/Collins/Thomson/Bruford - which makes him a fan of the acknowledged
masters of prog-rock drumming.  However, the fact that three of them have
been in Genesis at some time worried me a little since I am into the
high-energy approach to prog music a la Rush, rather than the
tkae-it-easy approach a la early Genesis.  My fears were founded- their
strongest influence appears to be early Genesis, but if you are a fan
of Gabriel/Hackett era Genesis, then you will probably like this album.

Structure:  They like long songs!!!!!!!!  Only one of the songs on the
album is shorter than 5 mins. Most of them are in the 7-9 minutre range! 
(For those of you who don't understand us prog-heads, longer=better in
most cases!)  Unfortunately they are all single-movement pieces.  Nothing
like 'Close to the Edge' or '2112'.  but hey- even YES had to start
small!

Production:  considering that it's a debut and not even on a medium-sized
label.......  I am really impressed!  Although I can't help but wish it
was produced by Eddie Offord..........   A little redundance of sound
usage- particularly in the keyboards.  But all sounds are present and
well used, nobody gets stuck in the background.  The keybords tend to
saturate the sound mix and give a hazy feel to this album.  That is my
one gripe, the keyboards need to be more cutting on the next album.

Style:  the best I can describe it is to say, 'Firth of Fifth' meets
'Subdivisions'.  (If you don't know what songs I'm talking about, then go
back to square one and learn more about prog before trying to listen to
this album!)

Songwriting: a little weak- but more than adequate for a debut album
considering what they attempted to do.  They are not progressive in a
tonal sense- they use mostly primary chords and more standard
progressions.  I get the feeling that they aren't classically trained
exept possibly for their keyboardist.  And the melodies are lacking any
real power.   I think their vocalist has a strong Geoff Tate
influence.  Their strongest point is rhythmically.  for the most part the
album is in 4/4.  However they do like to throw in a measure of 3/4 or
5/4 here and there to keep it interesting.  For an example of their
rhythmic technique, give 'changes' by YES a listen - especially the first
half of the song.  Both of the keyboard solos sound much like Wakeman's
"Cans and Brahams" from Fragile, but with much more interesting time
variations.  Their bassplayer seems to be a Chris Squire fan.  He does
some nice embellishments but does not break any ground in a melodic or
harmonic sense (unlike Chris in that sense).

Musicianship:  VERY TIGHT!  I was very impressed with this.  All
members did some not-so-mundane tricks that many typical professional
rockers would do well to take a lesson from.  

Overall-  If you like the mellow approach to prog rock you might do
well to pick this one up.  If you are looking for some higher energy
stuff a la Rush/Dream Theatre/King's X....... then you should probably
listen before you buy.  This is not a masterpiece, but it certainly
legitmate prog!  And to tell the truth, I would rather listen to
GALLERY than any of YES's first three efforts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If
they can get a decent producer to listen,  these guys WILL shake some
things up!  Anybody know if they are planning a second release
soon???????

I will be back with a song-by-song review someday soon!

PS: Rob Martino-  BUY THIS ALBUM NOW!

-- 
Philip J. "Ralph" Manitta Jr. (RLF)     _|_       " For me to live is
88 14th st.                              |        Christ, to die is
Troy NY, 12180                           |        gain!"   (manitp@rpi.edu) 
" Don't even think of copying this! The band NEEDS money! " -Fluffy
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian