Waiting For Autumn
Self-Released, 2022
8/10
An album released by Mike and Tom Salvatori, Waiting For Autumn served as a follow up to their 1976 Apocalypse studio album, The Castle, and here the prog-rock classic is resurrected in all its retro glory.
“When I Look Into Your Eyes” opens the listen with firm guitar strumming and scrappy drumming in the fluid and smooth nostalgic-rock that certainly sounds right at home in the early ‘80s, and “Waiting For Autumn” follows with a much calmer spirit of dreamy song craft that welcomes soothing vocal harmonies.
At the midpoint, the crunchy and thicker presence of “Throw It To The Wind” balances melody and grit with precision, while “Letter From The Front” spends nearly 8 minutes mesmerizing us with its intimate and airy qualities that land near balladry.
Close to the end, “A Matter Of Time” is quite animated, with some grooves that you could dance to amid the chunky bass, and “Epilogue” exits the listen gentle, poetic and with calm synth buzzing that segues into a fuller, thumping rocker.
Michael handles guitar and vocals here, and his brother takes up classical guitar. Additionally, Gail Salvatori (Michael’s wife) provides backing vocals, Gary Polkow contributes keyboards, and Henry Bahr sits behind the drum kit.
A recording that has aged quite well, Waiting For Autumn showcases symphonic prog-rock that certainly is still quite enjoyable and relevant in 2022. This did serve as Salavotori’s last solo rock album, as he moved into the world of commercials, jingles and video game soundtrack scoring, and it’s quite clear that his musical talent goes back a long ways.
Travels well with: Apocalypse- The Castle; Going Up North- Waiting For The Sun