Toon Martens Project - TMP download free

Tracklist

1	Columbus	8:07
2	Waste Of Time	3:10
3	70's Suite : 70	4:22
4	70's Suite : 71	7:43
5	70's Suite : 7 Wolves	6:26
6	70's Suite : 72	2:24
7	70's Suite : 73	2:41
8	Free Of The Spell	4:40
9	Cruising	3:44
10	Syrinx	6:35
11	Forward	5:51
12	Far Behind	8:57
13	Babylon	4:10
14	Ginkgo Biloba	5:36

Credits

• Design – Toon Martens

Notes

www.ToonMartensProject.net

Lineup:
Toon Martens - Keyboards
Christophe Belien - Bass
Johan Van Den Berghe - Drums
Guy Guisson - Vocals
Filip Gijbels – Guitar

In a world of continual change and high speed living the need for good music to relax, unwind and be challenged by is possibly greater than ever, with society seeking to make music just another tradable commodity it is reassuring to know that some musical genres still seek to stand outside of these parameters.

This is how I feel about progressive rock and the ever expanding cottage industry of artists and bands carefully and slowly crafting their own music at their own pace, free from corporate big brother constraints and seeking to make, very often at great personal sacrifice and cost, music that has life, depth, colour and value.

Into this category we can add the Toon Martens Project or TMP.

Here is an album played by a band from Belgium that seek to take us back to the halcyon days of the early 1970's, when those truly stunning and original progressive rock albums were unleashed on the wider world and you know what, they've done an outstanding job of it too.

What is it with Belgium at the moment? For years it's been famous mainly for Chocolate, Stella Artois and the machinations of the EU, but now there seems to be something of a musical renaissance happening, firstly there is the very Alan Parsons like Fish On Friday and now there is TMP both seeking to craft intelligent and articulate music that falls under the "progressive" tag.

Starting with an opening swath of keyboards over which Filip Giebels guitar plays a haunting reverb drenched line Columbus sets the scene for what follows over the next 74 minutes, with Guy Guisson sounding not unlike John Wetton this could be a lengthier Asia track balancing delicacy with restraint before entering an up-tempo segment of swelling Hammond organ. As an opener it's a great introduction to the fine music this band create, whilst heavily keyboard reliant there is enough six string wizardry on display to satisfy everyone and it's a fine opening salvo.

The 70's Suite is a fabulous idea, over 23 minutes in duration and broken up into 5 segments this takes the listener on a journey through the early 70's, each segment taking a different approach and sounding different from the previous one, quite what the 7 Wolves song represents is beyond me but it's an interesting concept and one that works very well over the duration of the piece. Both 72 and 73 are shorter pieces that conclude the suite well.

The CD is a mix of instrumental and vocal songs and there is a fine balance between the two styles. What is apparent is the sheer joy that these guys had in making this music that actually covers a variety of bases and even genres within progressive rock from the epic to the almost jazzy. The use of horns on selected songs adds a certain funkiness as does the fretless bass with songs like Syrinx showcasing this jazzier side of TMP.

Far Behind is one of the longer tracks and it uses some very pastoral sounding keyboards and sets these against some very fiery guitar work. On their website TMP say that they get easily bored hence the variety on this CD but for me it really works and I think they've created a really worthy release here with much to attract the average listener.

Closing track Ginkgo Biloba is a very good summation of all that precedes it. The track features on YouTube too showing just how versatile this outfit can be, often within the same song. With a walking riff and some fiery guitar this is the track to hear and see if TMP capture your interest.

I have to say this is a lengthy album and it will take several listens to really get what is going on here. It's very well played, produced, crafted and conceived and I for one thoroughly enjoyed it. It's quite an old CD now but it is very much worthy of your investigation so on this basis I have no hesitation in awarding it 8/10 as it is a fine album. I look forward to seeing just what TMP deliver next.

Conclusion: 8 out of 10

JOHN WENLOCK-SMITH