"Retrospective", the first album of the Norwegian band Retroheads, is, as its name indicates, a trip to the past. This album comes back to the golden age of progressive music, more precisely the 70's, when bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd or Camel were at the top of their creativity. Add to this one of the pioneers of soaring music, Tangerine Dream, as well as a little touch of personality (doubled vocals for example) and you get Retroheads!
Originality is clearly not the strong point of 'Retrospective', which offers a classic recipe with Gilmour or Latimer-like guitars, very spatial and retro keyboards but well highlighted, drums that aren't very demonstrative but are often enhanced by very successful percussions, and rather neutral vocals but with a quality interpretation.
'Earthsong', with a particularly pleasing intro, is a good start, followed by a shorter 'Man' with a successful guitar solo and a bouncy rhythm. The rest of the album is just as enjoyable, whether it's the darker 'Judgement Day', the cool and soaring 'Dreams', the more varied and masterful 'World Reveal', the excellent ballad 'Starry Night' or the more complicated 'Urban Flight Delight'. Admittedly, 'Taking My Time' may seem a little less inspired, but this is only a minor mishap of no consequence, just before 'The Fool', an instrumental that honestly fulfils its contract, closes this excellent record in a rather light manner.
"Retrospective" is an excellent record that can be recommended to all the fans of the mentioned bands but also to those who want to discover how to make something new out of something old and makes Retroheads a band to discover...