Search - Syn :: Syndestructible

Spring And Summer, Love Together

Jason M. Carzon | bowie, maryland United States | 02/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What are the chances of a member of a major recording and touring band like Yes becoming involved in reforming their old pre-fame 60's outfit for the fun of it? And what are the chances of it being any good, much less being current or modern and vibrant and not particularly wallowing in nostalgia? Not knowing anything about The Syn other than the fact that Yes bass maestro Chris Squire and original Yes guitarist Peter Banks were involved and that one of their songs called 'Flower Man', I was pleasantly surprised.



First word is that this is not a Chris Squire solo band project, and it sounds nothing like the post-modern cut-and-paste sound of Conspiracy with Billy Sherwood. This is Squire in the context of a band- the same bass/backing vocals role he serves in his day job with YES, just with different musicians. Whereas Conspiracy was sleek, modern and heavy on Sherwood's glossy production and stop-and-go arrangements, The Syn's sound is more dry, warm, organic and 'Summery'. I'm not sure how close they sound now to the 'original' Syn, but 'Syndestructible' poses the intriguing scenario of: What if Yes never formed in 1968? What if the Syn moved on into the 70's. What if 'The Yes Album' were released by The Syn? The same goes for Peter Bank's FLASH. Parts of this sound like an imaginary Syn of 1974. There is the inevitable YES comparisons with Squire's bass up in the mix and his trademark backing vocals. THE WHO is another infuence that can be heard, they were always heroes to Squire and Banks. On the other hand, there is a timeless modern sound as well. Clearly this is progressive rock to enjoy, not overcomplicated noise to anylize and write a thesis on. Yet most of the 7 songs are somehat long and many of them run together(think Abbey Road or Dark Side Of The Moon).



Though musically involved and vibrant, the album is also strangely laid back. Singer Steve Nardelli may have something to do with this. One expecting anything like Jon Anderson will be shot down. Nardelli's voice is more of a rock & roll ringer, more bluesy and 'rootsy', while the lyrics are a long way off from the cosmic pretensiousness of Yes. The lyrics are simpler and more direct. Nardelli, I believe a Catholic, has a preoccupation with Angels which reoccur in several of the songs. There's no preachiness, though the songs are every bit as positive as Yes lyrics- just simpler and direct. Nardelli should get credit for a lot of the direction of the Syn. Having been away from the music business for years, he had been involved in business for a long time, and the label this record is on(Umbrello Records) is partly his label. The production is good, but basic, the sound is more organic- guitars, voice, bass, hammond, piano. Synths are kept at minimum and only come in to serve the music. The vocal harmonies are distictive- it's nice to hear Squire backing any singer, be it Anderson, Nardelli, Sherwood or Trevor Horn. The results are always powerful.



Today's Syn consists of original members Squire and Nardelli, with keyboardist Gerard Johnson, and brothers Jeremy Stacey(drums) and Paul Stacey(guitars). Alan White from Yes is drumming for them on tour, while original Syn members Andrew Jackman and Peter Banks are not involved(jackman sadly died a few years back and Banks had left the project). Banks was originally involved but dropped out, leaving a scathing letter about his departure on his website. Whether Banks cruelly got shafted by Nardelli and company or whether he is just a bitter guy with an anger management problem who can't function in a group is up for debate. But it would have been nice to have his somewhat jazzy/Townshend/midi-guitar styles on the project. Anyway, here's the tracks:





BREAKING DOWN WALLS: the intro is less than a mere minute and consists solely of interlocking, almost church choir-like vocals. The first three tracks are pretty much one track.



SOME TIME, SOME WAY: When Nardelli first comes in, you'll be shaken out of that subconscience 'I'm listening to a Yes record' feeling that the inro set you up for. His vocals may take getting used to, but they do fit the more laid back, rock sound of the Syn. Of all the tracks, this one may be the most ordinary, but the album gets better. They save the best material for later. But there is this laid back, 70's vibe on display here that you can't help but bob you head along to it.



REACH OUTRO: the previous track moves into this: a somewhat half Yes, half psychedelic jam done rather tastefully with no real wasted notes. Mid/late 70's Yes or even German band Eloy come to mind with this section.



CATHEDRAL OF LOVE: this is supposedly the 'hit' or airplay track that some progressive or underground stations have been playing to promote this record, and an instant classic. The album's anthem, the guitars recall Steve Howe, as Nardelli sings of finding love during a dark period of life. The song goes into a Deep Purple-like middle section before returning to its main themes. This is a well written song, with a beginning middle and end, and already a well loved album track.



CITY OF DREAMS: this is a good rock track with different sections. Squire provides a plodding bass line and Stacey provides some appropriate slide guitar twangs. The middle section is kind of 'Neo-prog' and reminds me of bands like early Marillion or Pallas, before moving back to the main themes and a long fade-out similar to 'Silently Falling' from Squire's solo album 'Fish Out Of Water'.



GOLDEN AGE: Not to be confused with either the unreleased YES track nor Billy Sherwood's WORLD TRADE track, both with the same name. This is a rock & roll track recalling Zeppelin, Mott The Hoople and similar bands. It is here that Nardelli's voice works best, when he opens with 'I was standing in a courtyard...'. He works well with Squire in the more progressive rock styles on the album, but his more down-to-earth delivery best suits the more bluesy rock styles best, where he excells rather than merely handles.



THE PROMISE: is the album's 'epic' track(13+ minutes), which goes through many sections, and is an undisputed high point of the record. A dreamy ballad moves into a dramatic anthem section, powerful instrumental fanfare, recurring themes and finale and fades out 'Close To Edge'-style with Squire's trademark bass getting the last word in. This is the kind of epic track that YES had been incapable of producing for some time now, the last great YES epic being 'Endless Dream' from 1994's TALK. Finally here is something here to rival it. Great ending to a fine album. I hope there is more to come.



With Yes stalling for time these days and not producing any new music, The SYN are lined up to take their place, and are a suitable clean slate for Squire to rediscover his music and possible futures. This will appeal to Yes fans, but also to rock fans who like the instrumentation of Yes but shy away from their more ponderous, pretentious side. The Syn aren't Yes but exhibit the same attention to detail and strong musicianship, but with a more rootsier atmosphere and wider appeal. I wouldn't be surprised to hear this in a pub somewhere on the docks. Let's hope there is more of The Syn to come.



"

An Extremely Good album!

Tom Pitsis | New South Wales | 12/10/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been trudging across the tundra, mile after mile, trying to find a good modern prog band - I've found lots of great musicians - synth solos by the truckload - but why, oh why do they insist on choosing people as singers that are 'emoting' hysterically, to the point where they sound like 'bad actors' playing the part of a singer? Is it merely because Jon Anderson is such an 'odd' sounding singer (a singer who I think is PERFECT for a band like Yes) that all prog nerd musicians say to each other "Hey! HE/SHE sounds weird! He/she has to be our singer!"? Anyway, here you don't have that problem - the singer on this extremely good album has a very pleasant and non-irritating voice: and he doesn't 'over emote' to try to convince us the lyrics are fantastic! (which would be an error here, because, sadly, as usual for most prog, the lyrics here are pretty lame, but the subdued vocals make the lyrics sound pleasant enough - Lyrics informing us that "we are all members of the human race" and some Christian flavoured lyrics about "making a promise, now keep it" & "cathedrals of love" etc. Which are much more pleasant and unpretentious when compared to all those "I'm an insane loner because I had a bad childhood" type lyrics most modern prog bands come up with.) To my ears he sounds tonally a bit like a love-child fathered by Peter Gabriel and Sting (without the power/technique of those guys.) And sometimes he sings some phrases with higher notes which reach high enough to get near Anderson's low notes and which remind me of Anderson a little bit. What's weird here is hearing that old familiar voice of uncle Chris Squire doing backing vocals all over the place, but not fusing together too easily with the lead singer's voice. (Squire's voice estranged from Anderson's will for Yes nuts feel a bit like seeing your divorced mum/dad kissing your new stepmum/dad for the 1st time.) Anyway, despite all the problems, this really is great music, the melodies are nice, the arrangements are nice, the playing is excellent! And it's so good to only hear light touches of keyboard/synths (playing a nice Bach like line on the last track) - but still intricate and 'there'. (I'm hoping one day YES will make a guitar/bass/drums/vocals only album - it would sound so fresh, Yes?) Buy this, listen to it a few times, it will grow on you. RECOMMENDED!"

Chris Squire & THE SYN create tuneful retro-prog with a posi

Jeffery K. Matheus | Indianapolis, IN United States | 04/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There seems to be a wierd trend in the world of progressive rock today - musicians getting back together with bands they played with in their 'pre-fame' days. In recent years we have seen Kerry Livgren (of Kansas) do this with Proto-Kaw, Keith Emerson (of ELP) with the Nice, and Martin Orford & Mike Holmes (of IQ) with The Lens...Now comes a newly-reformed version of THE SYN, a 60's-era rock/psychedelic outfit that featured future Yes-members Chris Squire & Peter Banks. Back in the day this band released a few popular singles, were well-loved in London club scene, and often served opening act duties for The Who, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and The Move (an early version of E.L.O). As it turns out, Peter Banks is not part of this 2005 reunion CD, and seems quite bitter about that fact judging from a scathing 'open letter' printed on his website! (prior to "Syndestructible" there was apparently an aborted Syn line-up featuring Banks, with Landmarq's Steve Gee filling Squire's role.) The new Syn line-up, featured here, consists of Squire (bass guitar and harmony vocals), original founding member Stephen Nardelli (lead vocals), new keyboardist Gerard Johnson, and the sibling team of Jeremy Stacey (drums) and Paul Stacey (guitar). Perhaps not surprisingly, given their pedigree in the 60s music scene, the band's new music has a definite "retro" vibe to it. The production style, even down to the way that the drums and guitars are recorded, might lead one to believe that they are listening to a record made somewhere between 1967 and 1974. This might usually be something that would turn me off (as I tend to gravitate to more modern-sounding prog bands), but these guys pull the 'time warp' off so flawlessly (and so sincerely) that it's hard to find any fault. It's amazing to hear just how different this band sounds from the darker, more modern work of Conspiracy (Squire's other side project featuring Billy Sherwood & Jay Schellen.) It's almost is if these two bands bring out different sides of Squire's personality. Much of the songwriting on "Syndestructible" definitely has a strong flavor of 70's prog-rock, with the most obvious points of comparison being early-Yes (first 3 albums), early-Genesis, and maybe even a bit of Pink Floyd. Howeverk, I also noted some occassional nods to more mainstream 60s/70s acts like Manfred Mann, The Yardbirds, and Badfinger. The songs here are all melodic, well-structured, and arranged to display the skills of the whole band. Gerard Johnson is certainly a good find, giving some nice "retro" keyboard touches reminicent of Tony Kaye's work with Yes & Badger. Also impressive is Paul Stacey, who provides some blinding melodic runs and solid rhythm guitar. Allthough Squire, as would be expected, turns in plenty of dazzling bass work (as well as his trademark vocal harmonies), he always does so in the context of the song, never sacrificing melody or taking away space from the other players. Stephen Nardelli is a vocalist that, to be fair, may take some Yes/Jon Anderson die-hards a few listens to adjust to. His anaffected mid-range voice sounds like a hybrid of a British bluesman and laid-back coffeehouse folkie. Nardelli may not be the rangiest singer in the prog world, but regardless, I've come to appreciate the character & tone of his voice (Actually, it may be one of the very things that helps gives The Syn an identity that's distinct from Yes or Conspiracy.) I also like Nardelli's spiritual, positive lyrics, with all their playful imagery of angels, cathedrals, peace, and human empathy. Some of my favorite tracks are "Breaking Down Walls" (great acapella vocals!), "Some Time, Some Way" (a memorable chorus and solid harmonies on this one), "Cathedral of Love" (a true classic, with a stunning progressive arrangement, strong melodies, and even some cool electric sitar flavorings!), and "The Promise" (a complex, dramatic 13 minute epic that stands up proudly alongside some of Squire's best 'masterworks'.) All in all, this is definitely one that should not be missed if you are a fan of Squire's, or a fan of the formative days of progressive rock...I look forward to seeing what comes next from The Syn!"