After moving to the new house, I had to rearrange my CD's. I used my usual classification: two big broad categories "classic" and "new" rock, plus other, less expansive for me, genres and sub-genres (e.g. jazz, country, punk, psychedelia, electronica etc) all arranged alphabetically. I had to add another category I call "poor relatives" for albums that will stay out of view in drawers or boxes because the shelves are full. Tough choice, but had to do it. Here's my criteria: first of all, the doubles i.e. CD's that I also have in vinyl: Go to the attic please. Secondly, minor albums from bands whose long discography already takes up a lot of shelf space. "A Bigger Bang" in the drawer you go. Thirdly, compilations from groups whose interesting albums are already on the shelf: Queen's Greatest Hits I, II and III, I don't even know what you're doing here. To the attic! Fourthly, groups the world has rightly forgotten: Gigolo Aunts, you had your day. It was April 4, 2015. Maybe I'll listen to you again after 10 years, but don't count on it. The drawers! Fifthly, well, the freebies: Uncut, Mojo, Pop+Rock, CMJ: thank you for the free CDs, you introduced me to artists I wouldn't have otherwise known. Now get in the box! There is no sixthly -and thank God, because sixthly is such an ugly word. But -stay with me and you'll see what I'm getting to- there's another new classification which I haven't quite settled on yet: the geographical. There's a section of my wall starting from Ireland and ending in Quebec (don't ask my why). The problem is, of course, that it messes with the other categories. There's no good reason why Christy Moore is in the Irish section and Gary Moore in the Classic Rock section. Or why Kraftwerk are in the German section and Can in the prog/experimental section. A friend inspecting my South America shelf remarked that I had missed Chile. I said "of course not, I have Aguaturbia but it's in the psychedelia shelf" and promptly moved it to close the shameful gap. At which point my eye fell on this one and I was like "wow, I actually have a rock CD from Bahrein". Now that's a gap that could go unnoticed for ever. Only it didn't. So now my tiny Middle East corner is a little fuller, and I'm eagerly waiting for someone to challenge me by asking whether I have anything in Arabic prog.
Not that there are many clues as to the band's origin, other than their naming themselves after an Egyptian God. Osiris' heart and soul are the brothers Mohamed (guitar) and Nabil (drums) Al-Sadeqi who, upon returning from studies in England and the U.S., decided to recruit like-minded musicians and create the first prog rock band in their country. Singer Isa Janahi is often referred to as Sabah Al-Sadeqi, probably a nickname to make the band sound like even more of a family affair. He's a competent singer: he can carry a melody and sings English comfortably and without much of an accent, but his voice is neither powerful nor versatile enough to leave an impression. There are no less than three keyboardists (playing piano, organ, and a mini-moog synth) in the band, so you can bet they are all over the place, although the dominant instrument is the electric guitar. Reviewers at progarchives.com all point to the similarities between Osiris and English band Camel, although they all resist making a bad joke about it (Arabs - Camel: get it? No you're right, it's not that funny). The lack of state-of-the-art recording studios in the country means that the production is not particularly impressive but the playing is very good and compositions as good as anything coming from Europe in the period. Opener "Fantasy" is one of the highlights, a heavy prog tune reminiscent of Eloy. "Sailor on the Seas of Fate" is a 12-minute epic with some oriental percussion for local colour and nice analogue synths. "Struggle to Survive" gets to a rocking start and sports some heavy guitar solos, but it's the soft and melodic keys and vocals that follow that really hit the spot. "Atmun" is a dynamic instrumental while "Embers of a Flame" alternates melodic passages with crunchy hard rock and "A Story of Love" begins -as one would expect- like a ballad but also sports a heavy jam section between 3:30-5:30. The closing "Paradox in A Major" begins with a catchy Arabic melody played on the electric guitar and could have been a nice commercial single if it kept on the same manner, but it kind of fizzles out in an amiable but rather lukewarm sequence. The band is apparently still (semi) active and has released a handful of well-received albums. I'll admit I bought this as a curio because of its unusual origin, but it was a surprisingly enjoyable listen. It should satisfy most classic prog fans, so if you're one you would do well to seek out a copy. The initial pressing of around 1000 self released LP's lies beyond most mere mortals' budget, but there's a recent bootleg reissue by Prog Temple - this is the one I have.
Not that there are many clues as to the band's origin, other than their naming themselves after an Egyptian God. Osiris' heart and soul are the brothers Mohamed (guitar) and Nabil (drums) Al-Sadeqi who, upon returning from studies in England and the U.S., decided to recruit like-minded musicians and create the first prog rock band in their country. Singer Isa Janahi is often referred to as Sabah Al-Sadeqi, probably a nickname to make the band sound like even more of a family affair. He's a competent singer: he can carry a melody and sings English comfortably and without much of an accent, but his voice is neither powerful nor versatile enough to leave an impression. There are no less than three keyboardists (playing piano, organ, and a mini-moog synth) in the band, so you can bet they are all over the place, although the dominant instrument is the electric guitar. Reviewers at progarchives.com all point to the similarities between Osiris and English band Camel, although they all resist making a bad joke about it (Arabs - Camel: get it? No you're right, it's not that funny). The lack of state-of-the-art recording studios in the country means that the production is not particularly impressive but the playing is very good and compositions as good as anything coming from Europe in the period. Opener "Fantasy" is one of the highlights, a heavy prog tune reminiscent of Eloy. "Sailor on the Seas of Fate" is a 12-minute epic with some oriental percussion for local colour and nice analogue synths. "Struggle to Survive" gets to a rocking start and sports some heavy guitar solos, but it's the soft and melodic keys and vocals that follow that really hit the spot. "Atmun" is a dynamic instrumental while "Embers of a Flame" alternates melodic passages with crunchy hard rock and "A Story of Love" begins -as one would expect- like a ballad but also sports a heavy jam section between 3:30-5:30. The closing "Paradox in A Major" begins with a catchy Arabic melody played on the electric guitar and could have been a nice commercial single if it kept on the same manner, but it kind of fizzles out in an amiable but rather lukewarm sequence. The band is apparently still (semi) active and has released a handful of well-received albums. I'll admit I bought this as a curio because of its unusual origin, but it was a surprisingly enjoyable listen. It should satisfy most classic prog fans, so if you're one you would do well to seek out a copy. The initial pressing of around 1000 self released LP's lies beyond most mere mortals' budget, but there's a recent bootleg reissue by Prog Temple - this is the one I have.
**** for Fantasy, Sailor on the Seas of Fate, Struggle to survive, Embers of a Flame
*** for Atmun, A Story of Love, Paradox in A Major
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