VA - Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (2005)

“Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson is without doubt one of the greatest works of storytelling in the English language. The book was published in 1885 and it is an adventure tale known for its superb atmosphere, character and action. Full of interesting "good guys" and "bad guys" the book tells a story about a boy who happens to get hold of a map for a treasure a pirate has buried on a distant island. With some acquaintances he starts an expedition to the island. With a rebelling crew and the hunt for the treasure the adventure part of the book is extraordinary.

Good progressive rock has many similarities with an adventure story like "Treasure Island". Both are full of surprises, unexpected happenings, interesting details, good atmosphere, togetherness and rebelliousness only to name a few common themes. Stevenson built an image of pirates with tropical islands, one-legged seamen, black schooners, maps and buried treasures just like progressive rock is based on typical images of the sounds of the 1970‘s. Taking all this into account, it seemed to be a good idea to base a Colossus-project on the book “Treasure Island". The book has been divided in six parts, and each band participating has made a suite inspired by two of the parts chosen for the band. The bands were given the usual rules of the Colossus-projects. The sound of the suites was told to be like the sound of early 70s progressive rock and instruments preferred were original 7O’s keyboards (Hammond, Moog, Mcllolron, Fender Roades, Grand Piano etc), Rickenbacker bass and guitars with early 7O’s effects and styles. Previous Colossus-projects hove been so popular with the progressive bands of today that soon all three tracks of the new project were taken by Velvet Desperados (Finland), Floating State (Italy) and Nexus (Argentina). As usual, all bands participating in the project were interviewed for the Colossus Magazine. The bands thought that a project like this is a good way to grow with your music. Every band participating in the project has the some plot to work on and they must take the inspiration for their music from it but at the same time preserve their individuality and style as a band.

This is not so easy to do but to take the challenge makes the bands stronger and helps them to progress. Some bands thought that working in a project like this is in one way restricting because of the rules given but on the other hand it is also very inspiring and gives the bands a lot of ideas they would never have thought in other connections. The result of this project is, hopefully, a “Treasure Island” full of good progressive rock.

Haimo Eurasto,