01	Monday: Monday (Man)	Kerrs Pink					10:26
	02	Tuesday: March	Halloween					09:41
	03	Wednesday: Wednesday	Rousseau					07:58
	04	Thursday: Thursday	North Star					05:50
	05	Friday: The Love in the Cage	Vermillion Sands					07:03
	06	Saturday: Dark Angel Suite i prelude ii duel in a darkd imension iii interlude iv duel in a dark dimension	Ezra Winston					06:59
	07	Sunday: The Central Sun of the Universe	Sagrado					11:35

1. KERRS PINK: Monday Man (Lytomt / Nordberg)
A concept album, featuring seven bands from
seven different countries:

Kerrs Pink (Norway)
Halloween (France)
Rousseau (Germany)
North Star (USA)
Vermillion Sands (Japan)
Ezra Winston (Italy)
Sagrado (Brazil)


Produced by Francis Grosse, Thierry Sportouche,
Bernard Gueffier and Alain Robert for Musea.

Story: Francis Grosse and Thierry Sportouche.

The Concept:
This album relates, through the medium of the seven days of a week, the seven stages of a man's life, from birth to death. Each of the seven days is allegorically represented by a god or a goddess and indicates the different trials and tribulations faced by the hero, continually shaping his existence and his conceptions and values thereof, and its final summary at the point of death. As such he discovers in death the sovereign realm of art, creation and the sublimation of the material world which settles all the questions and contradictions, the wrong answers and the misplaced values of his life. Only then does he finally gain access to wisdom and fulfillment; and a sense of humility in the face of eternity, irrespective of where his soul is bound after death.
(Taken from the preface in CD booklet)

About the CD:
The story of this concept-album has been musically illustrated by seven groups of seven differing nationalities. This, it is to be hoped, shows irrespective of cultural differences, the universality of these themes; of the creative act, of the initiating cycle of the journey through life.
All titles have been composed especially to this end.
(Taken from the CD booklet)


Monday Man

Music: Harald Lytomt Lyrics: Per Oyvind Nordberg


Monday, day of the moon, Diana`s day
He saw the first morning ray
Stretching his hands out for the earth
Being a hunter by birth
Monday, he`s got his windows open wide
Letting antennae provide
Small flashing glimpses of the skies
Tou saw the moon in his eyes

His father used to build a wall around his cradle
And mother took him on her knee to mend his wing
But as time goes by, he`s older and he`s able
So on and on, they`ll tell him anything

To keep his fantasies from running into trances
To keep his ever growing ego on the ground
To keep his rebel-rousing manners inside fences
To him it`s just a merry-go-round

Monday, learning his lessons in school
He had his mind overruled
Learning the jungle by name
"That`s how we`re playing the game"

Don`t shout, don`t argue
Just keep your place in line
Hey, why are you such a naughty boy

Don`t steal, don`t borrow
You have to be prepared for tomorrow
Learn your lesson well

Don`t say, don`t gather
Don`t even try to think
That you`re better than the rest of us

Don`t touch, don`t tamper
Keep hands above the sheets
Hey, we`re watching - keep your mattress clean

You have to show the world you`re the best
And beat the beast alone
You have to prove it to the rest
And bring your treasures home

Grow up to be a Monday man.




The original MUSEA team idea was far from modest: to make a CD in which the 7 greatest early 90's bands from 7 different countries had all titles composed especially for "Seven Days of a Life" concept: the cycle of the journey through Life. The result is GREAT ! I'm trying to understand why this is the 1st review of this 1993 must have CD. Maybe because it's various artists disc, and generally those efforts don't work, but "Seven days of a life" is a flamboyant of sophisticated prog and the compositions were made only to it!

In "Seven days..." the diversity of moods is remarkable, as keep your interest throughout the run time. I deeply thank MUSEA to promote a much more elaborated prog - read mainly symphonic - during early 90's when the Neo prog was in force. Only later, principally in Sweden, prog bands took the 70's models for inspiration ( The first F. K. is from 1995).

So this is not a simple compilation CD as all tracks were unpublished. According to liner notes, because of long delay to gather all material, only SAGRADO was allowed to include the track in their 3rd album. Years before, at the vinyl era, MUSEA made the ENCHANTEMENT album that only had unreleased tracks by French bands (quite worth too). I will focus my rate only in each "Seven days of a Life" tracks (they are from 7 different bands, of course), NOT the bands previous work.

KERRS PINK - "Monday" 4,5 stars. Excellent own melodic moods, vocals, organ, keyboards and guitar; the Norway folk section brings great freshness. No sensation of I've heard this before; HALLOWEEN - "Tuesday" 3,5 stars. This title is in the vein of a sympho- trash-horror movie, not alike a soundtrack; the mood and line up is the same of "Laz" (****,1989 - hey, to me "Laz" album is underrated at PA in October/2009, why ?!). Halloween from France sounds its own with the violin and spectacular and weird ideas and vocals;

ROUSSEAU - "Wednesday" 4,5 stars. Simply one of the best compositions (instrumental) I heard by this German band and I know the 2 previous albums, you can compare Rousseau a bit with Camel; - NORTH STAR, 3 stars, from USA, a more direct prog, great song in Genesis vein, it rocks ; - VERMILION SANDS 3,5 stars. Representing Japan this beautiful song reminds acoustic Genesis meeting Renaissance, great female vocals.

EZRA WINSTON 4 stars. Here the powerful Italy. I'm not sure "Saturday" captures the full complex diversity of such grandiose band, but of course, this is a neat sample. I'm absolute fan of their 2 previous 1988 and 1990, albums; - SAGRADO from Brazil, my land, 3 stars. The last "Sunday" is very symphonic with great violins, English speakers may complain of accents, anyway SAGRADO sounds absolutely their own, main influence comes from Minas Gerais Brazilian state melodic music melted with prog, so very original. You may consider few rock energy, more symphonic, and song or a bit new age oriented music alternating bombastic with romantic. But this track suffers a bit of sameness, it could be shorter. Circa 1988 I watched a SAGRADO show which demonstrated how incredible and better a band can be on stage rather than on a record.

Looking to "Seven days of a Life" cover you may think: inside there's kind of Santa Claus celebration music ;-). With the back draw you get the whole idea. Oh ! Don't get deceived, this is as in MUSEA catalog words : "a magnificent land/soundscape of FLAMBOYANT progressive music" - Symphonic of course. Remind we are in 1993 a time when sophisticated prog was trying to reborn- ANGLAGARD "hybris" is from 1992. So it's musically and historically a very important effort by MUSEA team. In early 90's SI music label from Holland was promoting NEO PROG, but they failed, and MUSEA label exist from 80's begining till nowadays -2009.
Prog_Veteran | 4/5 | 2009-10-2