Prog4you.com - Progressive Rock Review

This Side of the Green Arrow

Daniel Rogers is an Ohio US based musician, and "This Side of the Green Arrow" is his debut CD. Previous to this release he has contributed music to various movies; the most notable of these being a track included in the soundtrack for the animation feature film "Hoodwinked".

Musically, Rogers comes across as a musician with a firm base in the singer/songwriter tradition. Most songs here seems to have been developed on either guitar or piano, and could well be performed without additional instruments. Indeed, on the first half of this release, the main portion of the songs are purely in a singer/songwriter style. What sets Rogers apart is that he has other influences as well; and a steadily growing influx of musical spice from prog rock; symphonic prog especially, is heard as the album play on.
Musically I'd say that Daniel Rogers is kind of similar to Manning in style; but with an American singer/songwriter influence to the music instead of a British folk music influence, and with a calmer soundscape overall.

The songs on this release are rather good as well. Rogers has a very good voice; conveying emotions small and large alike easily and with a great deal of professionalism. The musicians contributing here has a high standard as well; and the album has an excellent production.

The first half of the album gets to be a tad too nice though, and the songs are a bit too similar; especially the start of the songs but also the overall structure. In the second half of this album Rogers gets a bit more adventurous though; with "The Festival" being the first big standout track here with its playful rhythms and melodies; and a killer last half of the song with female vocals.

The instrumental mood pieces "Kitchen" and "Subcutanous" adds much flavour to the album as well, the first one with kitchen sounds over a background that after a bit becomes a news story, with dark synths adding a dark mood to this track. "Subcutanous" is more of an experimental track with vocal sounds and cold synths; and the inclusion of guitar in the mid-section giving the song enough nerve to stay interesting.

Another synth based tune is the highlight of this album though. The track in question is "Deeper Still", where some of the moods from the mood pieces are combined with female vocals and fast paced rhythms to create a very intriguing song.

Overall this is an interesting release as well as a very promising debut, and should be a release worth checking out by fans of mellow music in general and fans of art rock in particular.

Rating: 7/10
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen

: : Visit the Artist’s Website : :

: : Discography : :
This Side of the Green Arrow (2005)

Review also written for www.progressiveears.com