Lisa La Rue - Forged From Fire - Progressive Voyages Review PV073

Lisa La Rue – Forged From Fire – Progressive Voyages Review PV073

Lisa La Rue has been on the fringes of progressive rock music for many years.  I reviewed a compilation album of hers for DPRP several years ago.  She then became romantically involved with John Baker of Mars Hollow a move that caused an issue with the rest of the band  who subsequently split up, John re-emerged later with the Forever Twelve album. Lisa has  continued in embracing her cultural history (as she is of Cherokee descent), and has kept a fairly low profile since despite releasing several albums under her Y2K banner. Forged  From Fire is the latest release under her own name.  In this project she has used AI in the technical side of the album, everything is done by humans,  al though  she has helped out sound-wise.

The album consists of 9 tracks in all with the majority (5) of them being under 4 minutes in length and the remainder being longer.

The album begins with the lighter tones of Phoenix Rising which has a very Yacht Rock feel with its sweet saxophone parts – it is actually done by keyboards apparently.  Which is then then aided by a free flowing guitar line from John Baker.  This may be a brief tune but it’s a very fine one, it is followed by the cd only bonus track , Traces In Spaces, this has lots of proggy goodness especially with the strong organ parts, guitar interactions and fills.   

This is a great extra to the cd. It is followed by The Invisible Horizon  which is a synth led piece, this seems to be evoking the wide-open country spaces of Oklahoma and the Cherokee lands. Places which Lisa is certainly familiar with due to her heritage.

After wbhich comes Tornado Alley the first of the longer tracks, Tornado Alley is in the Mid west of America namely the states of Oklahoma, Kansas and the like. In short those states that form the basis of the wide open spaces of the continent. it represents The Prairies, the grasslands, the wheat belt through which Tornadoes travel unchecked and unrestrained. The track begins with a graceful piano motif and ethereal voices, after which symphonic sweeping strings play and a drum beat plays and anchors the tune.  The vocals come from Onur Cobanuglu and Alexandra Livshitz which together sound excellent.  This track has a very symphonic progressive sound to it, there is strong guitar support and fills from  John Baker it is a very atmospheric track.

They Were Young follows and this is a shorter gentler track. It is an instrumental piece, it is short and a welcome break as it falls between the tracks Tornado Alley and Frame 313 which itself has a strong narrative (about the shooting of John F Kennedy).  

White Hair And Chocolate follows and this is a mid-tempo piece  with strong keyboards and vocals from John Baker, it has great keyboard textures and sounds, all underpinned by a great guitar figure from John.  There is a great guitar break in this song and a good synth solo, I like this track as it is very memorable and strong.

Penultimate track is Under Their Influence which begins with symphonic keyboards leading into a hectic drum beat and more synths.  This opening is very ELP like in its dynamics and use of different keyboards.  This track is a lengthy instrumental with lots to commend it as a showcase for Lisa’s fine keyboard skills.  Here she gets to showcase all her compositional and  playing skills  in one well executed track, this is an excellent track which is really enjoyable.

The final track is the album’s title track Forged From Fire, this is again another shorter track.  The song is about resilience,self-belief and strength.  This is obviously a very personal song for Lisa and one that reflects her character and beliefs that she has held over the years, it is a positive song and concludes the album in a strong statement,

I wish I had the lyrics to fully appreciate the themes but I’ve done what I can. I think this album has a lot to commend it especially the longer tracks where they have space to expand which suits them best.

It’s certainly worth hearing if you can as I think it is a good album, although you might think differently it’s your call however.

Info here: https://lisalaruemrrartist.bandcamp.com/album/forged-from-fire

Author John Wenlock-Smith