Ellesmere - Mere On Stage Progressive Voyages Review PV024

Ellesmere- Mere On Stage Progressive Voyages Review PV024

Ellesmere are a collaborative outfit headed by Bassist Roberto Vitelli , Guitarist Giacomo Angeli, Keyboard player s Maurizio Guarinii and Fabio Bonuglia, Drummer Diego Bertocci, they are aided by David Jackson (VDGG) on Saxophones and John Wilkinson (Swan Chorus) on Vocals, their style is very symphonic Progressive Rock music.

This live album consists of 8 live tracks recorded on may 2024 at the Cascina Caremma Besate in Milan, Italy and one hitherto unreleased studio recording, a cover of Procul Harum’s Broken Barricades.

The album begins with a very symphonic introductory Fanfare almost, with strong bass and great symphonic Keyboard sounds, all for the introduction lasting for 1 and a half minutes before it switches style to a more typical Rock band playing, and the sweeping synths take over, there is a very prominent bass line in this track as the band limber up begin to get into their stride. The music changes again with a lively guitar solo from Giacomo, this then leads to John Wilkinson being introduced to the crowd, as the song Northwards begins a song taken from Ellsemere’s last album Stranger Skies of 2023.

This is a great song which is actually improved in the live setting, John’s voice is clear and strong and everyone is playing well here, with little guitar flourishes and fills added by Maurizio which all sound great as he is a fluid player whose parts fit the bill well,

This is followed by Tundra from the same album, the is a longer song and one that has lots of bass pedals being used in the sound, and lots if shimmering synths used to great effect, a mid song vocal ad lib from john works well before Giacomo’s guitar solo appears in the mix. As it brings the song to a close.

We then have Runaway from the second Ellesmere album (11 – From Sea and Beyond) it’s a track originally performed with Robert berry on Vocals, John makes it very much his own here and it’s a great song fairly concise, This lead onto Crystallized which is an instrumental

again from Stranger Skies album, this is a much longer track at 13:18 duration it begins with sound of the sea and David Jackson’s saxophone playing deep notes that sound like a fog horn before morphing into something less aggressive sounding, The opening section is really an solo spot for David Jackson and his saxophone, supported by a background of synths and bass pedals, it all sound good after this we get some guitar histrionics from Giacomo, before a return to the saxophone once again, a floating guitar line then leads into for saxophone interactions, the song then features a short drum solo from Diego Bertocci,

Next up is Ajar from the Wyrd album, this open with more saxophone and synths along with a very busy bassline from Roberto, some excellent Synthesiser work on this song and strong rhythmic guitar lines as well, I do like the riff in this track, after this strong opening part John sings Ajar several times this has lots of moody synths in the latter stages of the track, in all honesty its not the finest track but at least everyone seems to be enjoying the opportunity to extend a little in their respective solo sections, very ELP I places here.

Another World is up next another longer song from Stranger Skies, this has a lot of great sounds in it, and it’s a great platform John’s excellent vocals, it also has more fine saxophone from David Jackson, who’s playing is subtle and essential to the overall sound of the song, a fabulous guitar solo from Giacomo makes a strong impression as does the strong solid bass work of Roberto Vitelli, overall this is a very strong song about heading north towards to North Pole.

Final live song is from Ellesmere 11 From Sea and Beyond and is another lively song, full of intricate bass runs and some fiery guitar parts, the song is very strong with further guitar solos and saxophone parts as well and a very lush symphonic backing help make this an excellent live closer.

The album has a further studio track of Broken Barricades to conclude this is a cover of a Procul Harum song off the album of the same name, the last to future guitarist Robin Trower who went on to a very successful solo career afterwards, well this cover is very well performed and it retains the essence of the original version, the song is about decline, loss and disappointment, it is quite a sad song but one that has lots of room for experimentation, they actually don’t extend it by very much in reality apart from a guitar solo at the end and lots of synths to fill out the closing bars the original stems from 1971so is probably ripe for a new take on this song. This is a very acceptable version of the song and a great finale to a good live album from this collective

Info here: www.ellesmere-ams.bandcamp.com