You could think of Satellite as the one-man project of Wojtek Szadkowski. In
the strictest sense, that's what Satellite is - a solo project, with a fixed
lineup that includes three ex-members of Collage, with drummer Szadkowski
controlling all creative aspects of the band's activities. But after listening
to their two CDs and watching this DVD you'd never believe it.
The performances
are excellent, each musician's contributions show flair and imagination, the
cohesion among instruments is impeccable, and the tight, tight compositions flow
impeccably through the complexities. And on this DVD, a recording of just their
third ever live performance, all four artists' depth of experience and awesome
musicianship are abundantly apparent. More impressive still is how close
Satellite's stage performance is to their CDs.
The DVD was recorded in Poland so all audience interaction is in the band's
home language, but English subtitles spell it out. The sound and picture quality
are faultless and the viewing angles are quite good - with abundant cameras in
place - although you might wish for more focus on the guitarist's and
keyboardist's technique. Most of the attention goes to band-boss Szadkowski's
skilled performance on drums, and particularly, on singer/bassist Robert Amirian.
Satellite's musicianship on percussion, keyboards (especially piano), and above
all, the guitar, is out of the top drawer and ranks easily among the best in
progressive music today. An interesting note - despite his skills as a
guitarist, Sarhan Kubeisi is quick to point out that he isn't a guitarist, and
isn't sure why he's playing that instrument in Satellite - he's really a
drummer. And to drive that point home there are two drum kits on stage, and on
occasion Kubeisi puts the guitar down and the skillful dual-drummer sound is
interesting and works surprisingly well with Satellite's otherwise gently
symphonic tones.
The vocals in Satellite's music is perhaps the only point of contention among
most who have commented - Amirian employs a less-is-more technique, a soft,
expressive delivery that is pitch-perfect and well suited to the emotive content
of the songs, but you might wish for a bolder delivery. An unkind listener might
call his singing tentative - or even wimpy. Fans, on the other hand, will
appreciate the sensitive approach he applies to the subject matter. And make no
mistake, Satellite's second CD Evening Games was an emotional
rollercoaster and benefits enormously from Amirian's sentimental technique.
Metal Edge is well known for producing quality DVDs of progressive music in
Poland, but Evening Dreams may be the best they've produced. There's a bit of cheating and you can tell that some lines have been added in
the studio - but it's still a very professional, polished production, filmed in
what looks like an intimate, upscale theater with an appreciative audience. The
extras include separate interviews with all four of the artists, informal
footage of a rehearsal - badly filmed on a hand-held camcorder and with no sound
mixing at all - it's just a fun piece, but gives a small glimpse behind
Satellite's scenes. There's also footage of a trip to the gig, band members
doing their own stage setup, jamming through a sound check, and brief
backstage scenes after the show. These are short, and not essential. There's
also a made-for-TV style video of "Love Is Around You" - featuring band members
playing in the foreground, against a backdrop of a moving cityscape - presumably
to complement the theme behind the Evening Games CD. Not much money or
creativity was spent on the video, but as a 'bonus' piece, it's okay. And with
total running time of nearly three and a half hours this is a long DVD.
Get this one - and you just may find that it's the best DVD your collection.
As we learn from Szadkowski's interview, the good news is that Satellite is
under contract for 5 albums - so expect more from these guys. After viewing this
video, their inclusion as headliner's in ROSfest 2006 is no longer a mystery.
Track Listing:
DVD:
1. Intro ~ Never Never
2. Evening Games
3. Fight
4. Evening Wind
5. Beautiful World
6. Evening Overture
7. Children
8. A Street Between Sunrise And Sunset
9. Evening Games (Encore)
DVD Bonus Videos:
1. Love is around you (Video Clip)
2. Satellite Offstage (Documentary)
DVD Bonus Audio Tracks:
1. On The Run
2. Now
3. Rush
4. Why
Live Audio CD:
1. Intro ~ Never Never
2. Evening Games
3. Fight
4. Evening Wind
5. Beautiful World
6. Evening Overture
7. Children
8. A Street Between Sunrise And Sunset
Total Time: approx. 285 minutes
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