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Cos - 'Grace' Review | Opinions | LIVING LIFE FEARLESS

Cos – ‘Grace’ Review

Cos - 'Grace' Review | Opinions | LIVING LIFE FEARLESS
3.8
Stars

At some point, progressive rock got a bad name with quite a few critics as well as listeners. Most of it had to do with the fact that, as Dave Stewart (not the Eurythmics guy), keyboardist with Egg, one of the participants of the original prog rock wave said about that ‘wave’ itself: “Oh, man, we were so pretentious!”

That pretentiousness came up when quite a number of prog rock artists, big or small, decided that showing off their instrumental prowess and the ability to cram as many tempo changes in one song as possible, was more important than melody structure and well, musical balance.

Well, these days, prog rock seems to be back, but it also seems that the artists and proponents of the genre are forsaking the concept of ‘gee, look what I can do with my hands,’ for exactly the reasons why prog rock became popular in the first place – a combination of musical genres, the balance of melody and rhythm, and showing virtuosity when it is needed and in measure.

You can add to the list of the later NYC-based multi-Instrumentalist and producer Mark W. Costoso, aka Cos, and his third solo album Grace.

Cos might have named his latest effort after another great, prog rock-tinged album, Jeff Buckley’s Grace, but his musical inspirations may lie elsewhere than Buckley’s – original, melody-oriented prog rockers like Genesis, Todd Rundgren (in particular), even pop prog rockers like Kansas and Toto.

One thing though ties Cos’ and Buckley’s Grace, that is love for melody and, yes, instrumental virtuosity, which Cos has in ample quantities, as he, in the tradition of Mike Oldfield, another well-known prog rocker, plays everything himself. Where Cos particularly shines is with his compositional skills and piano playing, making his album one of the standouts in the recent prog rock cannon.

Cos - 'Grace' Review | Opinions | LIVING LIFE FEARLESS
Cos – ‘Grace’ Review
Conclusion
With 'Grace,' NYC composer/producer Cos delivers a real example of modern prog rock.
3.8
Stars
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