Erik Norlander has a new album out called The Galactic Collective which is a reworking of instrumental Erik created for Lana Lane, Rocket Scientists and his own solo releases. The reworking breathe some new air into the songs present on this album. I would go as far as saying theses are the definitive versions and are the way they were meant to sound especially on the epic of the album , “The Dark Water“. Up until now it has been presented in pieces on several Rocket Scientists‘ albums.
Erik assembled a bran new band to back him on this ambitious album. Joining Erik are John Payne, Mitch Perry, Mark McCrite, Ron Redfield and Freddy DeMarco (guitars) Mark Matthews (bass) & Nick LePar (drums) and choral vocal sections by Lana Lane and John Payne. These musicians help Erik recreate some beautiful magic on the entire The Galactic Collective.
The entire album is amazing from start to finish with some songs that stood out to me like “Fanfare For Absent Friends”, “Neurosaur”, “Trantor Station” and the afore mentioned epic 20 minute , “The Dark Water”.
All of this was inspired by the 2007 sessions featured on disc 4 on the Rocket Scientists’ box set Looking Backward (highly recommended!), which was absolutely brilliant. Just like Looking Backward, there’s supposed to be a DVD of The Galactic Collective. I read it’ll be released late in 2010, hopefully.
In closing if you’re a fan of Erik’s solo albums and the Rocket Scientists and Lana Lane’s then this album is a must have for your collection. Newbies to Erik’s music will also need to have this album as a perfect introduction. I’d also recommend fans of keyboard driven progressive music to look into this album ASAP. Highly recommended release of 2010.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on July 4th, 2010
