William Red Rossi's Three is an ambitious album featuring WRR as the main songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, but he is supported by a legion of other musicians, all of whom contribute to the CD with varied instrumentation, including saxophone, piano, clarinet, didjeridoo, and backing vocals.
What we have here is a mix of classic hard rock, progressive rock, and neo-prog. Depending on the song, William Red Rossi determines as to whether he should go for his more laidback, confident singing style, as he perfectly demonstrates on "Time Has Never Stopped"; or the more early Marillion type of neo-prog vocals; or the uber-poppy singing exerted on "It's My Reflection". With loud guitars and vocals, the song seems a bit overproduced to the extent that it gets difficult to enjoy the melodies created by the bubbling synths in the background. Rossi speaks, whispers, sings, and screams throughout the album -- again depending on the song. "As You Go Down the Road" is a ballad decorated with acoustic guitars that also lay down some bluesy melodies. The two-minute piece "Different Worlds" is chock full of sound effects while the drumming on "In the Light of the Day" sounds like a drum machine that we'd normally hear on pop tunes. Certainly an interesting mix.
The symphonic touch of "Love Again" makes for a great neo-prog piece, but the melody isn't all that memorable. The piano-driven "What Do You Mean?", with its female back vocals, and weird vocal improvisation, was perhaps added in order to diversify the album, but how well it works is highly debatable. As a matter of fact, Three sounds more like a best-of compilation than a full album, as each song is totally different from the other, thus hurting the cohesive feel a prog album is supposed to possess. You may want to check out some samples before investing in the album.
Track Listing
- Time Has Never Stopped
- For You
- It's My Reflection
- As You Go Down the Road
- Different Worlds
- In the Light of the Day
- Love Again
- What Do You Mean?
- Sound Sleep
- Oh Jessy!
- Sweetly
- Dreaming in Your Wedding Dress
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