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Ever wondered what happened to Seaweed and John after they left Ozric Tentacles?

Well they ended up in this British/Italian group called Dream Machine

(since then, according to their website, they acquired Joie and Metro)!

Aside from them, this group consisted of bassist Gabriele Tosti, drummer Maurizio Rossi,

keyboardist Julian Adamoli, and guitarist Alex Pym.

If you're a space rock fan, enjoy groups like Ozric Tentacles, as well as Hidria Spacefolk,

Øresund Space Collective, Korai Öröm, and even the old '70s German group Yatha Sidhra, Dream Machine is right up your alley!

Of course the Ozric Tentacles comparisons can't be avoided thanks to some of the

members involved (not to mention ex-Ozrics bassist Zia was credited to mastering).

Now if you liked the ideas of the Ozrics, but thought that Ed's guitar playing was a bit

overbearing, you'll be happy to know that Alex Pym's guitar playing is much more restrained.

This album tends to be mellower than anything the Ozrics would come up with,

it's like Dream Machine is to Ozrics what Yatha Sidhra is to Ash Ra Tempel,

one group tending to be mellow and laid-back,

the other often quite aggressive and in your face.

In 2005 comes Trilogia (to spell it right would involve a Tibetan symbol with "logia"),

released privately.

I am happy for the Internet, because without it, I would've never heard of Dream Machine.

Really, this is really nice, laid-back space rock with Eastern influences,

and John is really given much more chance to show what he's made of than he did with Ozrics.

He uses lots of flute, as usual, including Kaval (Bulgarian flute), Ney (Turkish flute),

Duduk (Armenian double-reed), and concert flute, giving that nice exotic touch to their music as he often did with the Ozrics.

Seaweed, just like he did with the Ozrics, would give us those nice synth bubbles, while

Julian Adamoli would give us more conventional keyboards

(piano, synthesized organ, electric piano).

There's only three cuts on this CD, but much longer than anything the Ozrics would do,

with the shortest at 16 minutes, the longest at 29.

With extended cuts like these, they could end up as exercises in boredom,

but instead give us some truly amazing laid-back space rock.

Remember, this isn't aggressive in your face music like the Ozrics.

There are three cuts, "Invisible Maze", "Macchina Dread",

and the three part suite "Trilogia dei Sogni (Trilogy of Dreams)".

Really I can't describe this stuff cut by cut,

because there's that great overall mood throughout the whole CD.

And like that old '70s German group Yatha Sidhra,

there are some more intense parts too as well.

I am so happy to find stuff like this,

proving that prog rock isn't the old fart dinosaur music it's too often accused of.

This is truly a great CD worth your attention.