Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Arc Angel
Label: Frontiers Records
Released: 2013
Length: 53:03
Rating: 4.5/5
Jeff Cannata is the name of the game this time. Soon after the boom of progressive rock bands on the old European continent, North America started cooking up its own answer. They blended the energy of rock n’ roll and blues in their guitar phrases with a sensual feel for how a melody develops, then backed it up with livelier arrangements (improvisational bits) that drew inspiration from that same prog rock boom across the Atlantic. These bands developed their own character in different directions. We got a whole bunch of excellent bands with unique voices, and among the most prominent you can count Kansas, Styx, Chicago, Angel, Boston, REO Speedwagon, definitely Toto, and even Journey, who started out as a prog rock jazz fusion outfit. These bands always pinned down the varied appeal of their songs with clearly crafted melodic lead motifs that held everything together, head and tail. As bands gradually put more and more emphasis on giving melodic motifs the dominant spot in their songs while trimming the improvisational parts, the right conditions started to appear for the expansion of AOR.
Arc Angel mastermind Jeff Cannata, who will get most of the attention this time, led a band called Jasper Wrath in the early seventies together with his loyal buddy Michael Soldan, and that’s where later House Of Lords frontman James Christian first stepped onto the scene as an »apprentice«. The band, devoted to the then-“hot” progressive rock, gained visible recognition on the local scene in their native Connecticut, and that was about it. In 1976 Cannata and Soldan dissolved the band but kept writing material. In a period and environment already friendly to the AOR boom, they managed to sign a deal with CBS Records with their new project Arc Angel, and the self-titled debut »Arc Angel« came out in 1982. In Europe people carried the album around on their hands out of sheer enthusiasm; in the US critics tore it to shreds as just another Kansas clone. From then on Cannata only put out the occasional album under his own name.
Obviously the artist felt this year that the time was right and went back to where his musical story began. He released the material he’s written over the last few years under the Arc Angel name again. And it is exactly what Cannata, as an artist, has always stood for: firmly grounded and convincing. An excellent bridge between AOR and progressive rock. A middle ground »par exlellence« between the two worlds. You can feel right away that a seasoned old tomcat is at the helm of »Harlequins of the Night«, someone who has everything figured out, from arranging compositions to studio sound techniques. This album has the most authentic connection to the sentiment of progressive rock and heavy rock, which grew exponentially especially in the second half of the seventies. It constantly calls to mind the bands mentioned in the first paragraph of this review, but when you get to the cheeky rock n’ roll march California Daze, the story gets close even to Night Ranger or Damn Yankees. Wherever the riff steps back from its dominant spot in the backing and Cannata’s lead vocal over piano takes its place, the album picks up the outlines of influences like Alan Parsons Project and Electric Light Orchestra, and Boston too (especially when the Hammond jumps into the backdrop), so Cannata is basically a »Beatles guy« (As Far As The Eye Can See, Get To You) . Cannata often gives off that feeling mainly because of the basic color of his voice. The harmonizing of melodies with multi-part vocals is cut in the best possible light of arranging. It channels the mastery of the most prominent creators who popularized this element in their work, including Queen, Uriah Heep, Styx. The album sails down the middle between prog rock and AOR and evokes leanings tied to Kansas, especially from the eighties, as well as the project of former Kansas singer John Elephante called Mastedon.
The songs never stop thrilling, with clearly crafted authorial charisma and striking, successful colorfulness carried by diversely built lead melodies, arranged as if there were a »mini orchestra« in the studio. Keyboards and guitar riffs don’t overpower each other but build the backing picture on equal terms. The choruses reach a hypnotic, grabby catchiness that hits full-blooded from the very first listen. Cannata has a refined sense for building drama step by step, which instantly pays off in bombastic, pompous grabbiness (the album’s special peak, with a fantastic chorus melody that gives you goosebumps in a heartbeat, is captured in the song Fortune Teller 2). And he’s in no rush at all. Sometimes there are two verses and two pre-choruses, here and there a tempo change kicks in, a new passage, an unexpected twist of mood, yet the atmospheric crescendo never fails to land. The opening title track already has these traits, but what really feels good is the unpretentious and natural build-up of atmosphere, especially in songs like Voices Of illuminati or later Tonight… Forever, and also Get To You. The album closes with the calm and soothing Legend Of The Mary Celeste, where the old-school arranging traits, from the retro sound to the way it’s composed, are pushed to the max, and with them the feeling of »mini orchestral« orientation of the composition that Cannata keeps striving for. Perfection, plain and simple, and an excellent song that automatically points a finger at every fan of fully melodic rock music to hit the »play« button on the CD player again.
This is an album that doesn’t waver in quality and doesn’t buckle across its entire running time. That means only two things: the ideas were born and grew over the long haul, and Cannata polished them to the max, thinking of every single detail. Even though the valiant multi-instrumentalist and »DIY« workaholic likes to create in »solitude«, to get an album close to pure perfection he gathered a colorful crew of contributing musicians around him, and the name that sticks in your ears is Jay Jesse Johnson (guitar), who with his band Cryer once helped Arc Angel back in the eighties (check out the video for the song »Tragedy« too), as part of the backing lineup for Cannata and Soldan. Another such »rascal« is Jimi Bell, today’s House Of Lords guitarist.
»Harlequins Of Light« is a fantastic record that strikes the perfect middle ground between tastefully varied arrangements and the melodic polish of its lead motifs. The songs are led by the warm, pleasant, fully soulful vocal tone of seasoned master Jeff Cannata, so all in all we can say this is a release that delivers the optimum of its musical character. Let’s hope a follow-up is on the way. And not only thirty years from now.
In short, Arc Angel and the album »Harlequins Of Light« are among the best achievements released this year that can be filed under AOR. The art rock touches give the album a one-of-a-kind character. It’s a first-rate bridge back to the debut that came out in the long, long-ago year of 1982, and with this gem Cannata has at least partly made up for all those long years of waiting.
Lineup
Jeff Cannata – vocals, backing vocals, drums, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Jeff Batter – keyboards (synthesizer, piano)
Jay Rowe – keyboards (Hammond organ, synthesizer)
Scott Spray – bass guitar
David Coe – acoustic guitar
Jimi Bell – guitar
Gary Maus – guitar
Andy Abel – guitar
Tony Spada – guitar
Mark Proto – guitar
Jay Jesse Johnson – guitar
Pete Hodson – backing vocals, synthesizer
Production
Jeff Cannata
Track list
1. Harlequins Of Light
2. As Far As The Eye Can See
3. War (Battle Wounds Of Life)
4. Voice Of Illuminati
5. Through The Night
6. Amnesia (The Rest Of Your Life)
7. Fortune Teller 2
8. California Daze
9. Tonight… Forever
10. Get To You
11. Diamonds And Gold
12. Legend Of The Mary Celeste
