Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Watch, The
Label: Self-released
Release: 2007
Rating: 3/5
From the land of macaroni and tortellini, symphonic prog rock revivalists The Watch are back with their new album “Primitive”. If I count the record they put out under their original name, The Night Watch, this is already their fourth album. The Watch are more or less a playground for the ideas of their ambitious singer Simone Rossetti, a passionate, more-than-obvious devotee of the Genesis legacy. And not just any Genesis legacy, but mainly the best of it, meaning the era with Peter Gabriel on vocals, although the influence of the two post-Gabriel albums creeps in here and there too. Rossetti’s obsession with the great artist of prog rock theatrics also shows in his singing, especially the color of his voice, which in the lower registers has a rather similar poetic character to what Gabriel had in his day, just with a far narrower range. As for charisma, it’s not worth wasting words, and Rossetti probably knows that well himself. He’s surrounded himself with good instrumentalists who likewise nurture the familiar Genesis symphonic palette, though it wouldn’t hurt them to put a bit more emphasis on innovation now and then. The guitarist’s main idol is obviously Steve Hackett, so here and there you can catch those typical “Hackett-style” guitar flourishes. And of course there’s no shortage of heavy use of Mellotron, Hammond organ, piano and synths. Keyboardist Fabio Mancini is flat-out obsessed with the Mellotron, more than Tony Banks ever was in his whole career. I hope he isn’t trying to prove that he’s one of the few people who can still use this ancient instrument well today.
The Watch can’t escape their own skin on “Primitive” either. Most of the compositions are very well arranged, especially the romantic symphonic arrangements on the keyboards, but after listening they usually leave me pretty empty, which isn’t typical for most good symphonic prog rock. Within the individual pieces I miss that ethereal magic their great role models were able to conjure, no matter how hard Rossetti and his bandmates try in that direction. In that respect, plenty of other modern neo prog rock bands are more effective. The central problem with The Watch remains the lack of something unique and recognizable, something that would let a listener know who the band is before even glancing at the album cover (nice-looking, almost classic this time, I’ll give them that). The Watch almost constantly have their finger on the copy key, the one that says Genesis in bold letters. True, everything has already been invented in symphonic progressive rock and it’s very hard to be all that original today, but still, this Genesis imitation could have been at least a little less obvious. Thanks to Rossetti’s flawless, poetic English, despite some pretty cheesy lyrics, they’re something special on the current Italian prog scene (as far as modern bands go), but right now there are tons of neo prog bands around the world emulating the Genesis sound and trying to please everyone who longs in vain for the prog dinosaurs to record something new again, and above all something on par with their best days.
Compositionally speaking, most of the pieces on the album will surely appeal to any fan of Gabriel-era Genesis. Why that fan won’t be spinning it very often, I’ll explain in the following lines. Even if he probably thinks of himself as an excellent poet, Rosetti’s lyrics about great artists and important social events are cheap at best. The Genesis flourishes repeat from one composition to the next. The opening “Sound Of Sirens” is soaked through and through with Mellotron, Hammond organ, Rossetti’s poetic vocals and numerous rhythmic changes, all while keeping a central melodic motif. You can spot quite a few parallels with the Genesis classic “Fountain Of Salmacis”, so it’s worth the attention of anyone who loves heavy Mellotron use. “The Border” is marked by a melodic flow after an obscure intro. Here too, keyboardist Fabio Mancini proves himself an expert at handling all sorts of keyboards. “Two Faces To The Rear” is again dominated by a combination of Hammond organ, Mellotron and melancholic classical-leaning guitar lines. Some of the arrangements remind me of the Genesis classic “Entangled”. On “When I Was a Three” Rossetti wants to be ecologically dramatic with his lyrics about an ancient tree that loggers cut down in a few minutes, but as usual it comes off pretty pretentious. Here too you can find motifs inspired by some of the better Genesis albums. The Mellotron is dominant as usual, and the guitar passages are typically woven into the piano effectively. On “Another Life” the electric piano takes the place of the main keyboards. The lyrics are, as usual, a muddle of poorly connected metaphors. Besides art, Rossetti obviously also likes history and sports, as proven by the epic “Berlin, 1936”. Who doesn’t know the famous epilogue of the Berlin Olympics in 1936, when American Jesse Owens humiliated the German dictator and his racist delusions by winning gold medals in all the major track and field events? Jesse was the Führer’s first big defeat. The lyrics describe his memories of that event shortly before his death. But as usual, Rossetti couldn’t tell it in a nice, poetic way and instead used some pretty strange turns of phrase that fail to create the desired atmosphere. Here The Watch again play the card of epic drama compositionally, which they at least partly pull off, and it may even be the best piece on the album. The closer “Soaring On” has a rather pathetic love lyric and a melancholic piano accompaniment. Rossetti obviously couldn’t think of anything better for the finale, so he fell back on one of the usual lyrical clichés. If I tune out the lyrics, the good use of Mellotron and the symphonic arrangements do add a bit of that much-wanted romance, but it’s nothing special. As for this ode to his unhappy love wrapped up in all kinds of metaphors (poor, poor Rossetti…oh well), he bowed more to the Collins-era Genesis than the Gabriel one.
With “Primitive”, The Watch have made yet another album that is, compositionally speaking, pretty and easy to listen to, but one that won’t shock the progressive world even remotely. Every prog gourmet will still prefer to listen to records by the legends of the golden age of Italian symphonic prog like PFM, Le Orme, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, etc. rather than revivalist bands like The Watch. The legendary Fish, ex-Marillion singer, was of a similar opinion to mine, saying in our interview that these days far too many prog rockers try to imitate Genesis and that he personally much prefers to put on some PFM rather than assorted imitators. Well, let’s let ourselves be surprised. Maybe Rossetti will someday realize that creating quality progressive rock takes more than good technical skills, a certain measure of talent and emulating the legacy of the legends, and that you also need a certain character that breathes some soul into the music. Once The Watch show progress in that area too, they may be able to make it onto my list of favorite progressive rock acts of today.
Lineup
Simone Rossetti – vocals, flute
Ettore Salati – guitar
Marco Schembri – bass guitar
Sergio Taglioni – keyboards
Roberto Leoni – drums
Production
Simone Stucchi
Track list
1. Sound of Sirens (8:00)
2. The Border (4:15)
3. Two Paces to the Rear (9:08)
4. When I was a Tree (6:00)
5. Another Life (6:10)
6. Berlin, 1936 (8:55)
7. Soaring On (4:37)
Total running time: 47:05
