Winter Tree, The: The Best Of Magus & The Winter Tree
The Winter Tree have been quite prolific lately and here is another platter of progressive music for your perusal. The Best Of Magus & The Winter Tree was released in 2014 and is a career retrospective of Andrew Laitres' musical history so far. By no means is this a comprehensive set as it leaves off plenty of great tunes but there are still thirteen tracks and approximately seventy-eight minutes of music to absorb.
Of course with this kind of a collection there are many highlights such as the World influenced "Rainforest" with its biting guitar work and tribal rhythms, the Floyd influenced "Highway 375" touching on Gilmour inspired electric guitar circa Wish You Were Here, the lovely "Now That You've Flown" where perky Alan Parson's keyboard flavourings and melodic lead guitar meet head on and the gentle acoustics of "The Stone Circle" where Parsons' style electronics surfaces again. The list goes on as there is not a weak track in the bunch which only goes to show just how consistently good Magus and The Winter Tree were/are. There are others as well like the album closing twenty minute epic "RIF", taken from the Traveler album. It all starts with a mellower soundscape of shimmering guitar before heading into heavier space/psychedelic rock. The mellowness returns with interesting guitar work including excellent acoustic interludes. Porcupine Tree seems to be a major influence. Towards the end a huge climax ensues.
As is always the case with 'best of' albums you will not please everyone, however, this is an excellent compilation that gives a pretty good overview of Magus and The Winter Tree. If you are unfamiliar with the work of Andrew Laitres by all means give this one a listen. If you dig it, there are nine studio albums to further explore.
Track Listing:
1. Rainforest (6:06)
2. Highway 375 (6:15)
3. Now That You've Flown (4:36)
4. Angels and Demons (5:05)
5. Elune (3:16)
6. The Stone Circle (6:59)
i. Lament For A Lost Age
ii. Ruins
iii. The Secret of the Stones
7. A Twilight in Middle March (3:22)
8. The Lemurians (2:29)
9. Dolphin (3:13)
10. Beautiful World (4:14)
11. …and the River Joins the Sea… (9:34)
i. Human Condition
ii. Long Hard Climb
iii. The Infinite
12. Home (3:23)
13. RIF (20:00)
i. Monkey?
ii. Rif (part 1)
iii. Lucid Dreamer
iv. The Last of the Species
v. Millennium
vi. Monkey??
vii. Rif (conclusion)
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The Winter Tree have been quite prolific lately and here is another platter of progressive music for your perusal. The Best Of Magus & The Winter Tree was released in 2014 and is a career retrospective of Andrew Laitres' musical history so far. By no means is this a comprehensive set as it leaves off plenty of great tunes but there are still thirteen tracks and approximately seventy-eight minutes of music to absorb.
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