Planetary Overload Part 1: Loss

Album: Planetary Overload Part 1: Loss
Artist: United Progressive Fraternity
2019 Giant Electric Pea
CD: GEPCD1061

Jon Davison: vocals (1, 11, 16)
Lisa Wetton: vocals (1-3, 10, 11, 16)
Mark Trueack: vocals (all)
Matthew Atherton: vocals (1), synths (3, 5, 11), soundscapes (11 opening narrative)
Steve Unruh: vocals (1-5, 7, 10-12), backing vocals (13-21), violin (1-3, 6, 7, 11, 13-21), electric violin (9, 11), flutes (1, 2, 11-21), nylon-string guitar (1, 4, 6, 8), slide guitar (2, 13-21), electric guitar (5, 7, 12), acoustic guitar (10), sitar guitar (10, 12-21), steel & nylon-string guitars (13-21), mandolin (11, 13-21), keys (2), percussion (1, 12-21), drums (3 first part), congas (3), kalimba (4), tabla (4), floor tom (4), soundscapes (9, 11)
Christophe Lebled: keys (1, 2, 13-21), soundscapes (1, 13-21), sequences (1), piano (2), synth (2)
Marek Arnold: sax (1, 2, 11)
Satish Kumar: spoken word (1)
Dame Jane Goodall: spoken word (1, 9) Goodall's spoken word extract is described in the liner notes as at the beginning of track 10, but on the CD, is the end of track 9
Sir David Attenborough: spoken word (1, 5)
Dr James E Hansen: spoken word (1, 2)
Prof Mark Maslin: spoken word (1, 7)
Guillermo Cides: Stick (2, 12)
Brendon Darby: trumpet (2, 3, 8, 10, 14), flugelhorn (2, 3, 8, 10)
Mark Franco: fretless bass (2, 3, 6), bass (10), vocals (4)
Clive Hodson: trombone (2, 3, 8, 10), alto sax (2, 10), trumpet (3, 14)
Angus Keay: electric guitar (2)
Jerry Marotta: drums (2)
Raf Azaria: piano & synth solos (3), piano (12), slide guitar (3), electric guitars (3, 4), vocals (4, 12)
Charlie Cawood: zhongruan (3), pipa (3), liuqin (3), electric guitar (3), oud (9), saz (9), bouzouki (9), dulcimer (9), zither (9), bass (9)
Angelo Racz: keys (3)
Ettore Salati: electric & acoustic guitars (3)
Joe Toscano: drums (3, 10), vocals
Hasse Fröberg: vocals (5)
Colin Edwin: fretless bass (5), soundscapes (5)
Nick Magnus: keys (5, 10, 11), synths (5), soundscapes (5, 11)
Hans Jörg Schmitz: drums (5)
Alanna Mitchell: spoken word (6)
Matt Williams: vocals (7), electric & acoustic guitars (7), bass (7), synths (7)
David Hopgood: drums (7)
David Suzuki: spoken word (7)
George Perdikis: guitar (8), electric guitar (10)
James Lovelock: spoken word (8)
Alex Grata: vocals (9), piano (9), synths (9), loops (9), electric & acoustic guitars (9)
Phill Soka: drums (9)
Brodie Byrne: small boy (9)
Jorene Ng: additional vocals (9)
Pang Joey: additional vocals (9)
Stella Yap En Xin: additional vocals (9)
Loy Wei Jie: additional vocals (9)
Charmaine Goh: additional vocals (9)
Dr Cary Fowler: spoken word (11)
Gordon Bennett: keys (11)
Jesús Gancedo García: drums (11, 12)
Steve Hackett: nylon-string guitar (11)
Daniel Mash: bass (11)
Marc Papeghin: French horn (11)
Michel St-Père: electric guitars (11)
Fraternity Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Cornel Wilczek (11)
Grace Bawden: vocals (12, 15)
Clare Vezina: vocals (13)
Michelle Young: vocals (14, 18, 19)

Produced by Trueack/Unruh (1-12), Trueack/Unruh/Lebled (13-21)
Mix engineered by Unruh (1-6, 8, 10-12), Williams (7), Grata/Unruh (9), Unruh/Lebled (13-21)
Mastered by Rob Aubrey (13-21)
Artwork by Ed Unitsky

Tracks:
CD1:
Phase I: Dawning on Us:
1. "Loss (Anthem)" [mus: Lebled/Trueack; lyr: Trueack] (3:25)
2. "What Happens Now" [Trueack/Unruh] (4:04)
3. "Cruel Times" [mus: Salati/Racz/Trueack; lyr: Trueack] (8:05)
4. "What are We Doing to Ourselves" [Trueack/Unruh] (3:19)

Phase II: Destraction and Destruction:
5. "Stop-Time" [mus: Unruh/Magnus; lyr: Trueack/Unruh] (6:56)
6. "One More" [Unruh/Trueack] (2:37)
7. "Mercenaries" [mus: Unruh/Williams; lyr: Unruh] (6:48)
8. "What If" [mus: Perdikis/Trueack/Unruh; lyr: Trueack] (1:44)
9. "Forgive Me, My Son" [mus: Grata; lyr: Cindy L Spear] (7:46)

Phase III: Growing
10. "Dying to be Reborn" [Unruh] (5:19)
11. "Seeds for Life" [mus: Bennett/Trueack/Unruh/Magnus; lyr: Ted Ollikkala/Trueack/Unruh] (19:33)
12. "Loss to Lost" [mus: Cides/Gancedo García/Trueack/Unruh; lyr: Trueack] (5:15)

CD2:
Romantechs: Reimagine
13. "Fall in Love with the World" (6:11)
14. "This Time" (5:08)
15. "Loss to Lost" (4:17)
16. "Seeds for Life" (8:27)
17. "Rebirth" (2:11)
18. "One More" (1:46)
19. "Cruel Times" (3:59)
20. "Forgiveness" (1:39)
21. "The Great Reward" (5:35)

arrangements by Lebled (13-21)

Notes (***): (12) is based on Guillermo Cides' "You're Still There". CD2 is a set of remixes of the album, except (13) is a remix of a song by Trueack from the prior UPF album, Fall in Love with the World.

This concept album about environmental threats to the planet dates back some years. Trueack and Stephen Layton (who has worked with Jon Anderson) made contact in 2009 and planned a project called The Hope to feature multiple guest musicians. That led to Anderson guesting on an album entitled Fall in Love with the World, the United Progressive Fraternity debut, released 2014. The Hope was then initially expected in 2015, with early reports giving the following tracks: "Home", "Hope", "Reality Breaks Through", "Broken World", "Water" (an alternate version of the piece on Fall in Love with the World with Anderson), "In the Palm of Your Hands", "Dreaming the Truth", "Follow Me", "Leading Me On", "Cruel Times", "Free the People", "Hope (Reprise)". A Dec 2015 update said that, "Significant progress has been made regarding development of lyrics, arrangements, vocalists, and musicians allocated for each track." The project evolved further, splitting into 2 albums, this one and Part 2: Hope, to come later.

At various times, various further names were attached to the project. Guy Manning long appeared to have a key role. Trueack was also, at various times, in contact with Billy Sherwood and Nikki Squire about possibly guesting, but neither of them are involved. There was talk of Anderson guesting through an alternate versions of "Water". There was most talk of Igor Khoroshev contributing keys and arrangements, as described here, but he is not on the album.

Davison guests with backing vocals on two tracks. He's distinctive on (1), not as much on (11). Both solid contributions, but you might not want buy this album just for Davison's input! (HP, 9 Jun 19)

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