Band: Cast

CD Title: "Mosaïque"

Band Website:  www.castlives.com  

Label: Musea Records

Label Website: www.musearecords.com

Release Date: 2006

With so much uncertainty in the world these days it's niceto know there some things we can always rely on. One of those constants isknowing you can rely on Cast to produce a new CD. If you include the live andcompilations this is the 19^th CD offering from what has to be one ofthe most prolific progressive rock bands in the world today. To their credit Mosaïque is a double-disc and shows theband in absolutely top form. ***

While we're talking about constants most fans will knowthat the lineup for Cast is one that has changed dramatically over the years.As always spearheading the musical efforts is keyboardist Alfonso Vidales whoemailed me to say the current Cast line-up includes Kiko King (drums), Claudio Cordero (guitar), Pepe Torres (sax, flute,clarinet, woodwinds), Lupita Acuna (vocals, percussions), Dino Brassea (leadvocals, flute), and Flavio Miranda (bass). I also got a sense at how pleased hewas to see the involvement of his wife Lupita and son Bobby in the creation ofCast music. This may very well be one of Cast's most internationallineups with Cordero hailing from Chileand Torres from Spain.When it's all said and done there are 16 different musicians performing partson Mosaïque. ***

The two-discs include a host of new compositions as wellas four previously unreleased tracks. The compositions take their cue from the midseventies traditional symphonic progressive rock approach of bands such as Yesor Genesis but in reality having so much music under their belts, Cast haveclearly established their own sound. It's a sound that includes a variety offlute and woodwinds, many keyboards and soaring guitar. Their pallet of musicalstyles is continually expanding and now encompasses classical, jazz, folk andeven ethnic elements. All of that is to say that these sixteen compositionshold a wealth of musical variety. One moment the music is moody and dramaticwith tons of keyboards and then suddenly it turns into something more brightand breezy with flutes and percussion only to have the next piece be more jazzoriented with the saxophone front and centre. Most pieces are long, sevenminutes or more providing the members lots of room for musical expression. Infact seven of the sixteen tracks are instrumentals. But even on the remainingtracks, many of which are also long the vocals are sparse, mostly in Spanish,but a couple of the older tracks are in English. The liner notes while inSpanish provide you with all the information you need to see who's playing orsinging on which track. ***

When it comes to musical styles this is without a doubtthe most diverse Cast recording yet. That holds true for the variety of musiciansand musical instruments as well. Mosaïqueis loaded with so much music it's hard to take it in all it at one time. So youcan plan to have Cast's new CD on the player for quite a few spins before itall sinks in. In amongst everything else Alfonso and the band do for theprogressive rock community it's great to see them continuing to grow musically.Mosaïque is a great addition to theCast catalog and will be a fine addition to your progressive rock collection.  ***