Shakary
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Prog Rock Revisited: Shakary Revitalizes 2 Earlier Albums into New Classic

Shakary, a noted progressive rock band from Switzerland, has reworked two of their classic albums into new and vastly improved expressions. When 2000’s Alya and 2002’s The Last Summer were initially released they both received mostly positive reviews, although some critics complained about the substandard and heavily-accented vocals of singers Aloisio Maggani on Alya and Michael Branzino on Last Summer. So the band decided to totally revamp these two albums with new vocals, while revising songs and adding solo performances from a cadre of guest musicians. 

Released on Germany’s SHK label, the double-album Shakary 2006 is very much a winner in the prog rock category, featuring stimulating new vocals and soloing to revitalize the band’s sound into a new and compelling dynamic. While initially popular in Europe, the band should receive some well-deserved attention in the US as listener’s get acquainted with the new sound of this reworked recording.

Noel McCalla, a singer from Manfred Mann's Earth Band provides the new vocals. Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon and Steve Rothery of Marillion both contribute guitar solos to one of the reworked songs. Lele Hofmann (ex-Clepsydra) used some alternate tracks and had some keyboard parts replayed. The entire album was re-mixed and re-mastered by Shakary’s Mario Krag. 

The new album features the best tracks from the 2002 double CD, Alya, on its first disc and The Last Summer is revitalized in its entirely on the second disc.  

Other changes include the first track of Alya was shortened by two minutes, losing its first and last minutes, making it more of a concise overture. The acoustic guitar solo in “Lost Angels” is replaced with a provocative electric guitar solo.  

“Sentence” gets a huge push up by the added guitar solos by Arjen Lucassen and Steve Rothery, both of whom contribute propulsive yet smooth instrumentals very much in keeping with the style of their own bands.  

The songs on The Last Summer are re-sequenced quite effectively. The albums now opens with “Masks,” given a new and impressive symphonic introduction. Some songs are a bit shorter. The superfluous intro of ”Sparkles in the Dark” has been omitted.  

This “director’s cut” revisitation of a pair of already impressive recordings has turned the work of Shakary into  

“The new versions sound less neo-progressive than the earlier versions, especially due to the different timbre of Noel's voice,” wrote one reviewer.  

Shakary has announced that their next album will be an all-new recording and will again feature McCalla as vocalist. For lovers of progressive rock, it’s definitely something to look out for. 

I haven’t seen Shakary 2006 available on the American amazon.com yet (I got my copy from amazon.de), but a google search should find you a copy at a reasonable price. It’s highly recommended.