ATTILA & DAVE PROJECT
Lifeline (self-released)
Illuminated (self-released)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Although the Bay Area prog-rock trio Attila & Dave Project (ADP) garners comparison to the usual suspects of the genre (Pink Floyd, Genesis, etc.), the first references that come to my mind are the Pepper-era Beatles and the Satanic Majesty's psychedelia of the Stones. It's not so much the particular style of those groups (sonically, the comparisons to classic Floyd are probably much closer) but ADP's focus on songs as opposed to sounds that invoke my memories of those heady days of sixties psych. While the battery of keyboards used by Attila Medveczky, guitars by Dave Stevenson and percussion by Rusty Aceves can create some captivating washes of aural extravagance, they never stray very far from the hook. Progressive rock, after all, is still a variant on pop music, and at its best, song structure counts. ADP knows this, and that's one of the elements that puts them among the very best purveyors of the genre.

Though they came across my desk simultaneously, a year elapsed between these two releases, and it was a year well used. While Lifeline, released in 2001, is an excellent effort it's less cohesive than the subsequent Illuminated, the band's latest release. Either one, though, is worth the attention of anyone interested in progressive or psychedelic rock music.

Track Lists:

Lifeline: Seven Wonders In The Sunrise * Across 100 Summers * Moonlight * Mother's Milk * Hills & Valleys * Circe * Some Saturday Blues * Grace

Illuminated: The Lotus Eaters * The Harvest Man * Illumination * Streaming * Smoke & Mirrors * The Golden Gates * A Game Of Chess * The Neon Light

[Pick this up at www.attilaanddaveproject.com.]

© 2003 - Shaun Dale