01	The Probe						07:00
	02	On The Verge Of A New World						05:25
	03	Soft As A Feather						09:23
	04	Mindscapers						16:04
	05	Homeland						08:01
	06	Run For Cover						11:41
	07	Last Train To Wonderland						03:31

- Jesus Filardi / voice and keyboards
- Jose Bautista / bass and guitar
- Nacho Serrano / electric and acoustic guitars
- Alex Roman / piano and keyboards
- Renato di Prinzio / drums

Galadriel: Mindscapers
Musea

Mindscapers is the third album from Spanish progressive rockers Galadriel. The band was formed back in 1986 around the music and lyrics of Jesus Filardi. Their first two albums Muttered Promises From An Ageless Pond (1988) and Chasing The Dragonfly (1992) were both released on Musea, and the band have stayed with the label for this release. There has been a total change in personnel in the years since Dragonfly. Only Jesus remains from that line-up; and he provides lead and backing vocals, keyboards and sound FX. The new Galadriel includes Jose Bautista on guitar, and keyboards, Nacho Serrano n electric and acoustic guitars, Alex Roman on piano and keyboards and Renato di Prinzio on drums. They are helped out by David Fulton - Mindscape Narrator and Station Control, Pablo Filardi - Mindscaper 14, Manolo Blanco - Mindscaper Control, and Tommy Caggiani on percussion, kalimba, drums and scream. All of the songs were written and arranged by Jesus and Jose; all lyrics were written by Jesus. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Guillermo Quero at Red Led Studios in Madrid. Worthy of a mention is the excellent artwork courtesy of Toni Mena whose front cover is superb.

The Probe is an exiting, cluttered track with loads going on. Jesus' vocals are at the fore. He manages to cram a lot into a lyrical line, and as always the lyrics are very impressive - especially when you consider he writes in a foreign language. It is an excellent up-beat track, ideal to drag the listener further into the album. On The Verge Of A New World is more mellow with subtle use of acoustic guitars and some wonderful swirling keyboards. More great although obtuse lyrics: "Sun goes down on the cactus and the rattlesnake. If it wasn't for the spell, I'd swear I was wide awake." This segues straight into Soft As A Feather - dreamy lyrics sung with a yearning emotive ambience. The whole track has an almost daydream quality to it - and is somehow over nine minutes long. And the final line "There is one place where all your hopes go beyond the bright line - silently flown:" is such a great lyric. Great stuff!

Here things get weird! Mindscapers is the epic sixteen minute title track. It opens with a narration, which I can only liken to Todd Rungren's introduction to Sing-Ring And The Glass Guitar from the Utopia album Ra. We are introduced to the mindscapers, who are "microscopic midgets, not one stands higher than a flea, have become the brain-patrollers". First listen and I thought Jesus had lost it! We have David, Pablo and Manolo adding the sampled voices like air-force pilots - indeed Pablo and Manolo are pilots! And over this we expect to take Jesus' lyrics seriously: But this emerges as the most powerful track of the album. It has some great lyrics: "If you could only feel the pain, chance are you'd go insane. These tiny people working in my head all day drilling and hammering away the strain of modern life-style. It could be rough for a while:" Hell, you end up taking it seriously. I have started e-mailing my mindscapers when I am getting a bit stressed out:my shrink tells me to start worrying if I start getting answers!

Homeland is another laid-back track. From the open crackling of wood-fire this has more yearning ambience to it. This is Galadriel at their most accessible. There are no unpredictable tempo changes or stunningly complicated harmonies - just a beautiful ballad with some great guitars, solid vocals and a really relaxing feel to it. Run For Cover is the other epic of the album. This is more like the Galadriel of old. It is a complex track that I am still getting my head around - a month or so after receiving the album! There is loads going on, and the track meanders from theme to theme. Actually it did not oust the title track as my favourite on the album - but it was a close run thing!

Last Train To Wonderland is the strangest track on the album. It has the same ambience as Circus of Heaven from the Yes album Tormato; or maybe it is just that Jesus has written something that sounds as if Jon Anderson must have written. Very mellow - almost too shallow in a way, and yet it does grow on you. David provides the narration here too, while Jesus' vocals are almost spoken. The harmonies of the piano and keyboards offset the vocals wonderfully. It is too "nice" to be called rock music, and will probably offend the prog-metalheads out there - but I think it does provide a totally different end to an album. And that is what progressive music is all about (so there!).

Jesus asked me how I found the CD? Was it the same as the previous ones or different? After considering my answer, I told him that I found it a lot less complicated and intricate than the previous two. It shows a move towards more mainstream progressive music. Personally I am not sure I like it as much as the previous two, but then again I was always guilty of ploughing my own furrow. I think that this will certainly win Galadriel a lot more coverts to the cause, and I doubt if any of their hardcore fans (which I will happily admit to being one!) will be too upset. The essential Galadrielness is there. Jesus' vocals and lyrics are as strong as ever. There are some great track here - some are as complex as anything they guys have done in the past, while stuff like the title track shows a more accessible complexity which will appeal to a wider audience. After all what is the point of writing stuff that is so convoluted that it only appeals to a twisted minority? As a comparison, this is more a Going For The One to the previous Tales From Topographic Oceans - if you understand the analogy!

In saying that, the sound quality is quite different too. Each of the band's albums is better and better produced. The track Avalon, for example, on Muttered... has a very raw sound to it, and compared to the track Mindscapers it sounds like it was recorded on a very low budget - probably was! This is a step in a new direction for Galadriel, and one that makes good sense. It shows an evolution in the band's sound which may have had something to do with the massive change in personnel. It also may also have had something to do with the temporal gap between the last release and this, but I feel mainly it is a conscious decision by Jesus to produce more accessible, but still top-quality music. And if this is what he was doing, I think he has achieved his goal.

Mindscapers (FGBG 4233.AR) is released on Musea and should be available from all good prog outlets. Musea are based at 68 La Tinchotte, 57117 Retonfey, France and at http://www.id-net.fr/musea. You can contact Jesus Filardi at C/Rio Tajuna 3,12D, Alcares de Henares - 28803, Madrid, Spain; tel: 341-880-02-12; e-mail: mindscapers@arrakis.es; or check out the excellent Galadriel website at http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/1912.

Postscript: I will admit to being doubly biased towards this release. Not only have I thoroughly enjoyed Galadriel's releases to date, but this is the first album to give me a credit in the sleeve notes. There was a whooping and a hollering around the house when I spotted that, I can tell you. Neither my flatmates nor Einstein the house cat understood what the hell I was making all the fuss about! People just have no idea of the important things in life:

reviewed by Frank Blades

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