I have to confess, in my musical heart I am not of
one mind; all the tastes and flavors that have impacted
my tastes over the years are still very distinct.
That is until I listened to “the Problem of
Pain”. It was simply amazing, it’s essentially
a rock opera, defiantly a 70’s flair to it,
and in parts I could almost see the high bangs and
spandex. Essentially it’s the first half of
story of Job, a guy who had it all, lost it all, lost
some more, and pretty much get’s left there
at the end of this album. But the strength and difficulty
in explaining the music here lays in the fact its
one continuous musical experience.
Yes there are tracks, and movements, and the enclosed
CD material quite nicely outlines the basic flow of
the album. But the music, the music is amazing! The
musical embodiments of angels, demons, striving through
life and even moments of despair are so eloquently
and powerfully conveyed; I had to stop myself from
envisioning a full blown rock musical that could easily
be done from this material. Tony Massaro does an astonishing
job on vocals, playing the parts of Job and Satan
with inflection and feeling; he even adds a slightly
insidious tone to Satan that impressed me. The overall
feel of the album goes from the opening overture,
a showcase of upcoming musical themes, to Job’s
Song. This paints a pretty idealistic/musical picture
of Job.
The focus then shifts to Heaven for the second movement
“Job’s First Test”. This movement
includes “Satan’s First Song” ala
Satan getting permission to fark Job’s life,
and features some guitar work that reminded me of
Joe Satriani. The following movement is devoted to
“Job’s Response”, and has some great
musical ‘dealing with life’ music. This
is followed by “Job’s Second Test”
which features another track with Satan, and more
crazy guitar work. The last movement “Job’s
Second Response” doesn’t leave me with
a feeling of completion, but then it is only part
I.
Overall I found this an engaging, fascinating and
refreshing Album. I was most impressed and please.
I plan on playing this album to several friends of
mine, ones who I think will enjoy it the most, and
hey, I’ll even let them borrow it….. “when
they pry it from my cold dead fingers.”
Key Tracks: …. Pretty much the whole thing,
yeah the whole thing.
Reviewed by James Reiner |
