Progressive progressive rock label, InsideOut have reissued A.C.T.'s first three albums, each as a Special Edition by adding some juicy bonuses to the original tracklist.
If ever a band deserved this kind of treatment and exposure, it's A.C.T.
Swedish, progressive, unique, innovative, funny, down to earth. ACT are all of these things and more.
Phenomenally talented also applies. It fits the profile of a band who've attracted an intensely loyal following, but none of the wider acclaim we might have expected.
The amount of influences the band have absorbed - ELO, Queen, Saga, The Beatles, and countless Progrock bands - is breathtaking. Yes, you can hear them all, but they're stitched together seamlessly, and with considerable skill and imagination, creating one huge tapestry of pretty, colourful, complex pictures. A whole that is considerably greater than the sum of its parts.
Most tracks have more ideas per minute than most other bands have in a lifetime of recording. You keep waiting for the band's music to collapse under the weight of all these rhythmic gear changes and style swaps. But it doesn't. The band manage these sudden switches from light-as-cake-frosting musical passages to bruising, riff driven rock with effortless ease. Impressive.
'Today's Report' (1999) was the debut. Full to the brim with soaring guitars, towering melodies and successfully introducing us to the band's patented concept of musical juxtaposition.
'The Wandering' is a great example. Reggae sits cheek by jowl with labyrinthine prog passages, biting axework and string quartets. And it works by drawing you in, at first fascinated by what's going on, then hypnotised by the melodies and virtuosity.
Every track is someone's favourite here.
The picks are, arguably, the alternately lilting, hardhitting, '
Waltz With Mother Nature', a song that smoothly mixes majestic keyboards, a faux steel band and rushing rock guitars; the hulking, hard rocking
'Why Bother', and '
Cat's Eyes' , a catchy pop song, cleverly dressed up in ornate progrock frills and jazzy textures.
This re-release is topped off with three bonus tracks. The awesome
'Grandpa Phone Home',
'New Age Polka' and a live video
'Welcome'.
The sensory overload continues with
'Imaginary Friends' (2001).
Again, minor chords, primary colours and aurally adhesive melodies come together like the solution to a three dimensional puzzle, slowly revealing a liberal breadth of expressive content.
Like '
Today's Report', the songs are refreshingly original, bold and accomplished, brimful of exhilarating orchestral interludes and lusciously inventive arrangements.
Again, the choice of standout tracks is totally subjective, but any sentient being would surely find a place for the 8 minute epic '
Biggest Mistake' on their shortlist, and probably too would squeeze the title track,
'Imaginary Friends' - chock a block with deft, collusive harmonies and subtle, resonating tones - into the top placings.
The second half of
'Imaginary Friends' is a series of 7 short, interlinked musical pieces, some with vocals, some without. The
Valentine-ish '
No Perspective' and the softly spoken instrumental '
Gamophobia' are marginal standouts, but there's little to choose between any of them.
Bonus tracks come in the form of '
Catherine' and a video, "
The Making Of 'Imaginary Friends'".
The third of the 3 reissues,
'Last Epic' (2001) is probably the one that attracted the majority of the plaudits on its original release. You can see why.
While it's clearly cast from the same mould as the previous 2, here the band have taken what they did best and added more melody, more urgency, more energy. Consequently they've created many more commercially minded slices of pop/pomp/prog, all peppered with orchestral flourishes, music hall theatrics, neo operatic song structures and the occasional dash of reggae flavouring.
Progressive rock in the true sense of the description, taking us back to before the genre got locked into a much narrower definition.
Outstanding tracks a plenty, with Jerry Sahlin proving himself unquestionably to be one hell of a songwriter. '
Manipulator' flirts with Dream Theatre's sharp edged, narrowly focused prog style; '
Wailings From A Building' melds Jellyfish and
Valentine pop, then percolates it through a contemporary progrock filter.
Album standout though just has to be '
Torn By A Phrase'. The song's serpentine plotting takes us on a labyrinthine journey through light, through shade, from chugging, guitar and keyboard driven rock through dancing, heavily orchestrated motifs, radiant bursts of axe soloing and phased, ELO-esque harmonies. A genuine ensemble piece, beautifully arranged and spectacularly delivered. A true magnum opus. To be honest though, the classically constructed
'Teds Ballad' isn't far behind.
And with four bonus tracks this album has width
and quality.
Overall a cracking package.
Ratings:
TR 7/10
IF 7/10
LE 8/10
Written by
Brian Sunday, June 3, 2007
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