Cyan were formed all the way back in the early 1980s by a young Rob Reed – who of course has become a big name in the progressive rock world particularly with Magenta and his various other projects.
Cyan didn’t last too long back then before Rob formed Magenta. The second Cyan album was Pictures from the Other Side originally released in 1994.
Now twenty nine years later Rob has put together a resurrected version of Cyan and recorded a “reimagined” version of the album with a new line up comprising of himself, Dan Nelson (Magenta) on bass, Peter Jones (Camel, Tiger Moth Tales) on vocals and Luke Machin (The Tangent) on guitar.
Sharing the load on vocals is Angharad Brinn. She has a terrific soprano voice which compliments the lower register of Jones very well indeed.
This new “reimagined” version of Pictures of the Other Side has a couple of fewer songs from the original however the six songs here run in at a smidgeon under an hour.
I don’t have the original version of Picture from the Other Side for comparison purposes. However what we have in this new “reimagined” version is very well performed and presented of melodic-leaning progressive rock – that is until the eighteen minutes of Nosferatu taking us in to darkly brooding gothic territory.
Broken Man is superb. Eleven minutes of glorious prog with at times a folksy feel to it at times. Jones and Brinn trade off vocally. Lush, expansive keyboards and wonderfully expressive guitar. Tasty stuff. Check out the video:
The title track is another winner as that rolls along well possessing a nice catchy element and some well times saxophone breaks from Jones.
Solitary Angel and Follow the Flow I can’t get on with. A slow, clunky ballad type songs which to my ears don’t offer much. Tomorrow’s Here Today is better……then comes Nosferatu.
You’ll win no prizes for guessing what Nosferatu is about. Some of the lyrics are slightly cringe worthy however concentrate on the music. It’s a proper progressive epic. Dark, brooding, creepy bringing in everything a prog epic needs as it moves between styles and tempo to tell the tale.
For example sweeping guitar and a variety of keys and synths blazing away – especially a couple of synth bursts which if you were listing to this not knowing who it was by you’d swear it was a “lost” part off a 1970s Rick Wakeman solo album.
Overall for me, this reimagined version of Pictures from the Other Side is an enjoyable listen if (in my opinion) let down a little by the two middle tracks which (in my opinion again….) drag along too slowly. Worth having for Broken Man and Nosferatu alone.
The CD version is in a nice package which includes an accompanying DVD which has the album in Dolby digital and DTS 5.1, some promotional videos and “the Quiet Room Session” which is Rob, Peter and Luke performing songs from Cyan’s For King and Country album.
Digital and CD versions from Magenta’s BandCamp page:
https://magenta.bandcamp.com/album/pictures-from-the-other-side