If James Cameron decided to halt work on the Avatar sequel and the 3-D conversion of Titanic to record a progressive-rock album, it would probably sound quite a bit like David Minasian’s lofty, keyboards-rich Random Acts of Beauty. Minasian also is a film director (plus multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer)just a much less famous one than Cameron. In prog circles, his name might ring a bell with fans of Camel, the band whose new DVD, The Opening Farewell, Minasian produced and directed.
He recruited Camel vocalist/guitarist Andrew Latimer for the lush opening track, “Masquerade,” and Minasian’s 20-year-old son, Justin, plays guitar throughout this rare solo album. Random Acts of Beauty boasts soaring orchestration, lengthy arrangements and gorgeous melodies that evoke Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues and Camel, and parts of these seven songs contain passages that sound as if they’ve been lifted from soundtracks to yet-unseen Minasian films.
