Visible Wind

Visible Wind is a Progressive quartet from Quebec, which music alternates instrumental and vocal parts sung in English and French. The band offers an elaborated, contrasted, climatic, energetic, feverish Progressive music. They can evoke Genesis, Marillion, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Camel or Yes by their melodies mixing virtuosity with a very interesting music that combines Mellotron and Harmonium with a more contemporary sound. Extra instruments include violin and flute.

Released in 1996, Narcissus Goes to the Moon remains Quebec progressive rock band Visible Wind's finest hour. This fourth opus saw them in full control of their musicianship. Creativity was at its peak and, now owning its own studio, the band had a chance to develop its musical ideas further, resulting in a musically cohesive album, where every song segued into, or at least related to, the next. If it had not been for the unexpected demise of the Kozak label, this CD could have introduced them to a more international prog audience. Stylistic references on Narcissus can be summed up with two names: early Camel and the Flower Kings. Bubbling synthesizers, solid guitars, and angular rhythm patterns balanced out by infectious melodies are the essence of highlights like "Fuzzy Concept," "Xenophobia," and the 20-minute epic "The Awakening," all tracks that will appeal to any fan of the aforementioned artists…

This 1995 release followed closely on the heels of the enormously successful Officium, Jan Garbarek's meditative collaboration with the Hilliard Ensemble. The same tranquil aesthetic prevails on this release, but the methods and materials differ. Garbarek opts here for the recording studio over the monastery, building up many of the tracks himself with percussion and keyboards as well as the keening, resonant sounds of his soprano and tenor saxes. His compositions emphasize folk-like melodies and ethereal soundscapes, and there's effective work from pianist Rainer Brüninghaus and bassist Eberhard Weber. The often-dramatic percussion from Marilyn Mazur, Manu Katché, and Trilok Gurtu adds ceremonial and world-music touches to some superior work in the New Age genre.
–Stuart Broomer

Apart from David Sanborn, probably no living saxophonist has a more instantly recognizable voice than Jan Garbarek; actually, given the fact that Sanborn's sound is so widely copied, Garbarek's may be easier to identify in a blindfold test. This album in particular puts that sound front and center. Garbarek's the show; he composed all of the music, and is essentially the only soloist. The music (much of which was composed as soundtrack material for film or video) is quintessential Garbarek, full of the world music influences that have characterized his work since the 1970s.

Apart from David Sanborn, probably no living saxophonist has a more instantly recognizable voice than Jan Garbarek; actually, given the fact that Sanborn's sound is so widely copied, Garbarek's may be easier to identify in a blindfold test. This album in particular puts that sound front and center. Garbarek's the show; he composed all of the music, and is essentially the only soloist. The music (much of which was composed as soundtrack material for film or video) is quintessential Garbarek, full of the world music influences that have characterized his work since the 1970s.

As the predecessors of Sony Classical, CBS Masterworks had not a catalogue of ""authenticity-minded"" recordings (the pioneering efforts of Raymond Leppard and Jean-Claude Malgoire notwithstanding), Sony made a distinctive new start and engaged indubitably one of the most experienced producers in the field of early music, Wolf Erichson. If the successes secured by such musicians as Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Frans Brüggen in the 1960s were the most visible signs to a wider audience of thorough-going change in the interpretation of music from medieval to baroque times, there was no doubt in assigning a part of the general success to the work of the production teams behind the recordings.