EXPLORERS CLUB
Raising The Mammoth (Magna Carta)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Explorers Club is a side project for Magellan frontman Trent Gardner's explorations of the roots and branches of progressive rock, allowing him to put together groups from Magna Carta's impressive roster of practitioners of the form, old and new. For Raising The Mammoth he's gathered drummer Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa, etc.), bassist John Myung (Dream Theatre), keyboardist Mark Robertson (Cairo) and a guitar trio including Marty Friedman (Megadeth), Gary Wehrkamp (Dream Theatre) and Kerry Livgren (Kansas). He rounds off his own keyboards and vocals with another pair of singers, James LaBrie (Dream Theatre) and Steve Walsh (Kansas).

The result is just about what you'd expect from the lineup - sweeping anthemic sounds that point back to the glory days of prog rock in their ambitious scope, but avoid sounding dated or cliched due to the solid talent of the assembled players and Gardner's fresh reinventions of classic elements. With echoes of antecedents including ELP, Pink Floyd and vintage Genesis, this will satisfy the traditionalists, but it's an album recorded for the prog fan of the present, and they'll be pleased as well. It's listed as two parts with four sections, and your CD track counter will find 44 separate pieces, but this should really be considered as a whole, and you should schedule time for the whole thing when you slip it into your player, which you should do as soon as possible if quality progressive rock is anything close to your idea of good music.

Track List:

Raising The Mammoth 1: a) Passage To Paralysis b) Broad Decay c) Vertebrates *
Raising The Mammoth 2: a) Gigantipithicus

© 2002 - Shaun Dale