Reviews
2002-09-12
Straight from outer space the mighty monsters of progressive space fusion come to invade our minds and souls. In which they succeed after track no. 2 or so.
Derek Sherinian (Platipus and Former Dream Theater, Alice Cooper and Yngwie Malmsteen’s Keyboardist and currently on tour with Billy Idol), Virgil Donati (Tribal Techs legendary drummer, also played with steve vai on the 2001 tour) , Tony Macalpine (Ring Of Fire and solo projects) form together the ultimate supreme musicians combination a.k.a Planet X. This time they've taken 3 superstar bassists on their journey - Jimmy Johnson, Tom Kennedy and Billy Sheehan (Mr Big). The album was produced and mixed by Simon Phillips.
For those of you who never heard Planet X Ill try to explain the music and the CD.
Does the names UK, E.L.P, Return To Forever, Mahavishnu, Ozric Tentacles ring a bell? Well Planet Xs "MoonBabes" is nothing quite like it except in spirit maybe. Sherinians space synths together with Macalpines 7 strings Carvin guitar (which he learned to play only after he entered as a member of Planet X) fusionistic feel solos of Planet X) and Donatis odd time drumming and ostinatos at catastrophic speeds create a mind boggling matrix that leaves the listener in an owe filled trance like state that you emerge out of at the end of the disk like a deep sea diver that emerges out of the water.
The CD is more of a whole but here are a few tracks that deserve special attention: The opening track "MoonBabes" is classic Planet X material only with an amazing bass solo courtesy of Billy Sheehan , "Interlude in Milan" you can hear Macalpines classic addition in the composition, the very progressive metalistic intro of "Digital Vertigio", the beat and breaks of "midnight bell" and the very ozricy (if I can use such word) "ground zero".
And a word for those of you who will get hooked: Kids, don’t try this at home this CD is performed by professionals that use special effects and tricks, you might get hurt or even seriously injured. Enjoy.
Tal Galfsky
