Chris Stassinopoulos

REVIEW 1 by CHRIS PARKER(LONDON)-Friday, November 28, 2008 http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk A stalwart of the Greek progressive rock scene since the late 1960s, drummer/keyboard player/composer Chris Stassinopoulos has assembled a great cast of like-minded souls, from violinist extraordinaire David Cross and fuzz bass supremo Hugh Hopper to saxophonist Alex Foster and guitarists Barry Finnerty and Joe Berger �- not to mention his own Explorer Band spearheaded by guitarist Stelios Frederikos �- for this extravaganza, an album he says represents ‘my live adventures in Athens with my dear friends, as a spiritual research of the human lifestyle … an exploration of this and of the parallel Universe’. The music itself is appropriately grandiloquent, an unrestrained riot of synthesised keyboard sounds, stratospheric guitar and violin solos and the odd burst of processed vocals, all driven by the thunderous, powerhouse drumming of Stassinopoulos himself. If drumming styles can be seen as occupying a spectrum with John Bonham at one end and Kenny Clarke at the other, Stassinopoulos is firmly ensconced at the former edge �- this is full-on, no-holds-barred, go-for-broke prog rock, and none the worse for it. Play it loud for maximum effect

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REVIEW 1 by CHRIS PARKER(LONDON)-Friday, November 28, 2008 http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk A stalwart of the Greek progressive rock scene since the late 1960s, drummer/keyboard player/composer Chris Stassinopoulos has assembled a great cast of like-minded souls, from violinist extraordinaire David Cross and fuzz bass supremo Hugh Hopper to saxophonist Alex Foster and guitarists Barry Finnerty and Joe Berger �- not to mention his own Explorer Band spearheaded by guitarist Stelios Frederikos �- for this extravaganza, an album he says represents ‘my live adventures in Athens with my dear friends, as a spiritual research of the human lifestyle … an exploration of this and of the parallel Universe’. The music itself is appropriately grandiloquent, an unrestrained riot of synthesised keyboard sounds, stratospheric guitar and violin solos and the odd burst of processed vocals, all driven by the thunderous, powerhouse drumming of Stassinopoulos himself. If drumming styles can be seen as occupying a spectrum with John Bonham at one end and Kenny Clarke at the other, Stassinopoulos is firmly ensconced at the former edge �- this is full-on, no-holds-barred, go-for-broke prog rock, and none the worse for it. Play it loud for maximum effect

REVIEW 2 by JOHN PATRICK ”PROGRESSION” -music magazine-USA/april 2009 http://www.progressionmag.com

CHRIS STASSINOPOULOS & FRIENDS ”Light in the Dark” 2008(CD 66:05): CHRIS STASS RECORDS 001

Greek dual drums/keys wiz and session mainstay Chris Stassinopoulos has assembled an all-star jam comprising a who`s who of crack sidemen and British prog/fusion champs. The resulting album runs the gamut of (mostly) improvised “sturm und drung “ jazz-rock blowing one can expect from names such as Hugh Hopper, David Cross,and quondam Miles Davis,and Jaco Pastorius(respective) axemen Barry Finnerty and Alex Foster. The first five cuts are studio realizations,and rather curious insofar that Stassinopoulos took liberties to dub in some quiet reedy(and very Canterbury leaning) polyphonic synth,and still have them sound totally spontaneous.On”Ancient Civilazation,”David Cross`s violin is crunchy enough to pass for a guitar.The three remaining cuts are totally live.”Flight of the Condor”, given the full- band treatment (with Hopper's poorly mixed but audible bass),is the funkiest. “Fa Blues(Space Hymn 2)” and “Cosmic 1”are duets.The former contains a furious Stassinopoulos drum solo. The latter,based on a scored head riff, features some astronishing vocal samples.

REVIEW 3:(JAPAN-TOKYO)music magazine"EURO ROCK PRESS"-of mr NAKANISHI NOBUHISA. http://www.marquee.co.jp/erpwebnew/erpwebver2_main.html

-Review by Shunya Nakajima. on English:

An album by an Greek drummer who have a long career, and have played with NOSTRADAMUS, VANGELIS, ZAO, Cyrille Verdeaux according to the booklet. The core of this album is Stassinopoulous's drumming that sometime reminds me of Bill Bruford. The formation of this album is consisted of a core band, but also adds some guests (guitar, sax, bass etc) on each tracks. Of the guests, David Cross (violin on track 1 & 6), Hugh Hopper (bass on track 6) should be most worthy of noting for our readers,but I have to point out that the guitarists (there are three of them) play very well too. Generally the album have a feel that crosses Progressive Rock and Fusion, and partly reminds me of ELP & UK in it's keyboard use. Unlike the shredding fusion that are common today, there are no trace of Heavy Metal / Shredding Guitar here, and with this this album can also to the fans of symphonic rock. Overall this is really good album.

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