Michael Whalen - Future Shock (2021)

With a cover that evokes James Cameron's long-running fantasy blockbuster "Avatar", composer and keyboardist Michael Whelen presents his new album Future Shock. He is a very remarkable person. Michael is a two-time Emmy Award winner (the television equivalent of an Oscar), a person who has worked in the field of television, film, advertising and video games for more than 30 years, a producer of more than a hundred works by other artists and the owner of his own discography of more than 35 works.

Whelen has long revered the music of Keith Jarrett, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Return to Forever by Chick Corea. A combination of fusion, prog-rock and world music, steeply mixed with his excellent melodism and ability to creatively make his music attractive to listeners with a variety of tastes, he also offers in Future Shock, the program of which is made up of ten of his original compositions. Well, even more interesting is this energetic and well - "lying on the ear" music performed by the excellent team of musicians gathered by Whelen for this project.

In my opinion, the biggest name here is Tony Levine, an innovative bassist and virtuoso, who was recently ranked 42nd in the list of the best bassists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in July 2020. Levin has worked with a lot of big names, from Lennon to Tom Waits and from King Crimson to Peter Gabriel, and our readers are quite familiar with him from the releases of his band Stick Men. Drummer Simon Phillips has long played in the famous American prog-rock band Toto, and he has worked with such people as Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck and John Anderson. Finally, multi-instrumentalist Bob Magnuson is an experienced and sophisticated studio musician who has played with BB King, Isaac Hayes, and Frank Zappa's Universe.

As you know, such a team by definition can not play badly. There is enough drive and positive emotions here for everyone-if, of course, you like the style offered by Michael Whelen.