Unitopia- More than a Dream
(Unicorn Digital Records UNR-5039)
Unitopia- More than a Dream
(Unicorn Digital Records UNR-5039)
From Aural Innovations #37 (Sep 2007)
It’s getting to be almost impossible to tell one neo-prog band from another,
and Unitopia’s More Than a Dream vividly illustrates why. This Australian
duo, with a mammoth supporting cast that includes brass, strings and orchestral
arrangements, seemingly borrows its licks and vaguely apocalyptic lyrics from
just about any and every prog rock outfit extant from the 70’s onward—and
this doesn’t include what appears to be the group’s fervent desire
to be the next Moody Blues, complete with the London Philharmonic in tow. As
a consequence, one can hear fragments of Todd Rundgren and Rush, Peter Gabriel
and Renaissance, Steve Hillage and The Alan Parsons Project, Radiohead and Porcupine
Tree in virtually every song on More Than a Dream. Frankly, if More Than a Dream’s
production were any slicker, the disc would probably slide right out of your
CD player. This is certainly not to disparage the technical virtuosity of either
the playing or arrangements on the album—both of which are laudatory;
however, rehashing classical and lyrical clichés (as on “Take Good
Care” and the title track) serves little or no purpose in an age where
contemporary music has evolved beyond the gloss and sheen of superstudio production.
Instrumentally, the band is certainly capable of performing with fire and guts:
two of the album’s best tracks, “Justify” and “Ride,”
demonstrate Unitopia’s ability to occasionally break out beyond the boundaries
imposed upon its music by the superficial concern for “sounding”
progressive. Hopefully, on future releases the group will curb some of its excesses
and faux pas pretensions and concentrate instead on a more streamlined approach
to musical diction.
For more information you can visit the band’s web site at: http://www.unitopiamusic.com/Home%20Page/home.htm
Reviewed by Charles Van de Kree