As you would expect with this sort of release they wheel in all kinds of people to do the remixing including Rob Caggiano from Anthrax, Jon Clayden of Pitchshifter, Virus of Dope, Clayton Worbeck of Revolting Cocks, and Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan. I suspect Prong had no shortage of volunteers to have a go with their music. They are that sort of band that gets a great deal of respect from their fellow muses.
In the end, what we have is a collection of tracks that would be out of place at a goth/industrial dance club like Sin City @ Electric Ballroom in London. It's dance music for heavy rockers and the other black clad hordes. As far as an everyday listen, it doesn’t work that well. Next time you are having a party for your friends who hate dance music, but want to dance this might just do the trick.
Icon: 3
John Wetton, voice of ASIA and King Crimson and Geoff Downes have released this, their third album, as duo Icon. If you could imagine a more keyboard heavy version of ASIA then this just about fits the bill. I can’t see how any ASIA fan would not like this release. It has all those basic elements that made the original band so damn good. Considering Wetton & Downes are two parts of ASIA this should be no surprise at all.
This is the quality you would expect from the two of them. Soaring vocals and grandiose music; that can any moment slow down to a relaxing piece of keyboards and vocals as on the track "Green Lights and Blues Skies". And just to prove their chops they manage a three part vocal part with the two members and a female vocalist, Anne-Marie Helder of Karnataka and Mostly Autumn fame. We have a former ELO cellist Hugh McDowell along for the ride as well as Dave Killminister.
Listening to this you will have no doubt why fans of the band were clamouring for a new release. It is uber-classy keyboard ladened rock that never drifts into lame middle-of-the-road territory, preferring to retain that rocky edge to give it gravitas. Not that I am surprised at all, but this is a thoroughly enjoyable release from a great band who keeps getting better.
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