Review Nº 546

"The Early Singles" is a compilation of Pink Floyd and was released in 1992. It features the band's first three singles, the Syd Barrett's singles, which were written mostly by their band leader, Sid Barrett and the two first post-Syd singles.

"Arnold Layne" was the first Pink Floyd's single and was released on 11 March 1967, "See Emily Play" was the second Pink Floyd's single and was released on 16 June 1967, "Apples And Oranges" was the third Pink Floyd's single and was released on 18 November 1967, "It Would Be So Nice" was the fourth Pink Floyd's single and was released in 12 April 1968 and "Point Me At The Sky" was the fifth Pink Floyd's single and was released in 17 December 1968.

"The Early Singles" has ten tracks. The first track "Arnold Layne" was the A side of the first Pink Floyd's single. It was a non-album's song. It was written by Syd Barrett and was released on "Relics". This is a song featured on numerous others Pink Floyd's compilations. It hasn't any sort of prog rock sound but it's nice to hear. It's a good introduction to the music of Pink Floyd in Barrett's era. The second track "Candy And A Currant Bun" was the B side of the debut Pink Floyd's single "Arnold Layne". It was also a non-album's song. It was also written by Sid Barrett and it's also a song featured on numerous others Pink Floyd's compilations. This is a good song with some controversial letters, a classic song of their earlier psychedelic phase. The third track "See Emily Play" was the A side of the second Pink Floyd's single. It was also released as a non-album's song. Still, the song appeared on the American edition of "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn". It was also another song written by Sid Barrett. It also appears on "Relics" and on many other Pink Floyd's compilations. This is a song with an uplifting tune. I really love that psychedelic vibe. The fourth track "Scarecrow" was the B side of their second single "See Emily Play". "The Scarecrow" was also released on the original edition of Pink Floyd's debut "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn". This was also written by Sid Barrett. It also appears on many other Pink Floyd's compilations. It's a short song with an interesting and strange sound. It's a psychedelic song with a kind of a medieval sound with nice keyboards and interesting percussion. The fifth track "Apples And Oranges" was the A side of the third single of Pink Floyd. It's another non-album's song. It was also written by Syd Barrett. It's his final song written for Pink Floyd. It was also released on other Pink Floyd's compilations. It's meandering. Barrett's guitar playing is great with an interesting metallic tone. The sixth track "Paint Box" was the B side of their third single. It's another non-album's song. This is a song written by Richard Wright. It was also released on "Relics" despite be included on many other Pink Floyd's compilations. It's a quality piece of pop-psychedelic music. It points more towards to the spacier direction the band would take without Barrett. The seventh track "It Would Be So Nice" was the A side of the fourth single of Pink Floyd. It's one more non- album's song. It was a song written by Richard Wright and it was also released on other Pink Floyd's compilations. It's a decent psychedelic song with some different sections. Some parts are cool. Overall it's a decent song. The eighth track "Julia Dream" was the B side of their single "It Would Be So Nice". It's another non-album's song. It was written by Roger Waters and it also appears on "Relics". It also appears on numerous other Pink Floyd's compilations. It's a psychedelic folk song that oddly reminds me of The Moody Blues. It's pretty decent. The ninth track "Point Me At The Sky" was the A side of their fifth single. It's another non-album's song. It was a song with collaboration between Roger Waters and David Gilmour. It was also included on other Pink Floyd's compilations. It's a good psychedelic song that alternates between quiet and loud sections. The loud sections are actually pretty good. The tenth track "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" was the B side of their single "Point Me At The Sky". It's another non-album's song. It's an instrumental written by all band's members. It also appears on "Relics". It's an early classic of Pink Floyd, a great instrumental, very dynamic. Each musician contributes very well, from Water's bass riff, Wright's great organ playing, Gilmour's textural guitar and Mason's drumming, controlling the dynamic well.

Conclusion: "The Early Singles" is a compilation album of Pink Floyd that provides in an only single album, the first five Pink Floyd's singles that were released in UK. This wasn't absolutely true for the U.S. market. In the U.S. market, the third single of Pink Floyd was "Flaming" with "The Gnome" as the B side and the fourth single was "Let There Be More Light" with "Remember A Day" as the B side. So, "The Early Singles" has many common points with "1967: The First Three Singles" and is also very similar to many other Pink Floyd's compilations like "The Best Of Pink Floyd" and "Masters Of Rock Vol. 1". About the tracks on "The Early Singles", all are great with the exception of "Apples And Oranges" which is, in my humble opinion, a very disjointed song that shows unfortunately, but perfectly well, the state of dementia of Syd Barrett's mind. So, we may say that "The Early Singles" is a good and important compilation for all hard Pink Floyd's fans that can have all the first five singles on a chronological order and all only on a single album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Another multi-varianted 2022 album, some fresh produce coming in from Tenk Van Dool. Okay, plus a few friends in music, needless to say, everything covered under the moniker TEMPLE OF SWITCHES again. A mixed bag, 'Four' appears rich on impressions, surprises, turns, edges. Hereby offering a real crossover of music styles, a great mix of atmospheric moody things and heavier impressions, occasionally equipped with a touch of weirdness on top of it. And so, sooner or later, one is practically urged to find out more about the individual pieces of music. Very useful then, if you will have the accompanying PDF file at hand that is offering the particular lyrics, as well as some rather enlightening comments offered by the mastermind himself.

There is another regular contributor to consider here, not to forget. I mean drummer David White of course, who already has produced music with Tenk Van Dool in the past in one way or another. He intensively was involved in the songwriting process too. The songs are made of new material, but this is also drawing on inspirations, even recorded portions from the past in the same way. Now please, let's say welcome to the album due to the eponymously named short instrumental track that already evolves with an unpredictable flow. Showcasing the lovely Amanda Lehmann contributing the vocals for The Wind this appears in a proper Cary Grace mood, I would say. Fretless bass and nice organ are properly underlaying this charming matter. Paredolia then joins nearly in the same mood with a strong ambient, psychedelic and indo/raga feel.

To whom it may concern ... Dale's Neglected Song finally has reached for a renewal. A bit Rush infected this is culled from former recordings back in the late Eighties, when Tenk Van Dool, David White, and Dale Wiser (bass) intensively worked together. Towards the end it also shows some impressions from the original extended drum solo. Quite a lot of instruments are used for the suite The Unfurling. This may be acclaimed as the album's masterpiece by many. Certainly a challenge, especially from the compositorial point of view. This album offers an entertaining song collection. During more than 50 minutes playing time there's plenty to discover, that's guaranteed.

Porcupine Tree is finally back!

C/C is a culmination of everything SW has been doing from his solos career allied with a more present Richard Barbieri (since the Signify days of the band) and Gavin (which creates spectacular grooves). This time Steven himself decided to play all the bass parts and his different playstyle shows well through the whole album, especially in the very first second of Harridan. Unfortunately Colin is not anymore in the band, and while I enjoyed a lot his playstyle and I'll be missing him, this change might have been good in giving PT a new sonority.

After 13 years of hiatus, it is expected for the sonority of the band to change significantly, which indeed happens: C/C is probably the most complex album the band has ever created, embracing some of their psychodelic/textural side, abandoning a bit the metalish focus from their last albums and being more ambitious in their arrangements. SW extracts elements from his whole carrier: Harridan reminds me of Insurgentes, Dignify and Chimera's Wreck of GfD and HCE days, Walk the Plank of TFB with a strong Barbieri flavor and Herd Culling from TTB days.

As a result you get a quite diverse album and one that will take some listens to fully digest, as it is not as accessible as PT previous efforts. The 3 bonus tracks are also awesome and further develops the new sound, especially Never Have and Love in The Past Tense (this one with a strong The Incident inspirations).

A fantastic return and hopefully not their last!

I've been aware of Quiet Sun since the 1990s, For the longest time I thought it was a side-project of Phil Manzanera during the height of Roxy Music's sucess. Instead it was a band he formed in 1970 with Bill MacCormick of Matching Mole, Dave Jarrett, and Charles Heywood of This Heat. Apparently the band broke up in 1971 with Phil Starting up Roxy Music and Bill starting up with Matching Mole along with Robert Wyatt. By 1975 Quiet Sun was resurrected likely because the material written during the band's first existence was too good to not get recorded. Mainstream was released in the UK on Island's HELP budget subsidiary (Kings Crimson's Earthbound and ELP's Pictures at an Exhibition were also on this subsidiary). Make no doubt that Mainstream is the best thing on the HELP subsidiary. What you get here is much more in the Canterbury vein bearing little resemblance to Roxy Music. To me this sounds like a more edgy, more rock version of Hatfield & the North or National Health. If you felt Hatfield was a bit on the lightweight side, you'll like Quiet Sun much more. Phil Manzanera gives some amazing and edgy guitar work, with Dave Jarrett giving some nce keyboard work. My only gripe is "RongWrong". Charles Heywood is fine on the drums but he isn't that great on vocals. That's the only weak spot on this album as the rest is all instrumental and some of the finest in Canterbury you'll ever hear. Four and a half stars but not given that option.

Following in the wake of the breakthrough album "In Absentia" and the following "Deadwing," PORCUPINE TREE was riding high as the 21st century's newest top dog prog rock band having honed their unique blend of psychedelic space rock with progressive alternative rock and metal. The band took full advantage of their new found success and engaged in massive touring as well as continuing to crank out new material with incremental leaps of sophistication. The next in line was the 2007 release FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET which parodied the well known Public Enemy album title "Fear of a Black Planet" only instead of gangstsa woes of racial problems in the USA, this concept album tackled the desensitizing nature of having our senses bombarded with stimuli in the 21st century. The album was a huge hit and critically acclaimed across the world.

PORCUPINE TREE pretty much upped its game on this release with a greater emphasis on the progressive rock aspects of their sound but the heavier metal parts were also nurtured in a similar fashion with drummer Gavin Harrison in particular displaying a much more technically infused sophistication than on his previous two albums with the band. Pretty much everything PORCUPINE TREE had achieved on "Deadwing" was ratcheted up a few more notches all the while without sacrificing the inner core of what the band was all about, namely instantly catchy and poignant melodies that transmogrify into myriad motifs and moods and highly complex composiitons. The album also added a string and orchestral backdrop as well as King Crimson's Robert Fripp and Rush's Alex Lifeson delivering some cameo appearances.

With only six tracks that are just shy of 51 minutes, FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET excels on variations of a themes. Strong melodic songwriting is teased out into sprawling psychedelic excursions with periodic metallic heft and electronic fueled modernity. In a way Steven Wilson delivers what i call mope prog as his middle range voice perfectly narrates the moody dark subject matter and keeps the musical procession fairly even keel and rather hypnotic with the beefy Tool-esque bass grooves and Radiohead styled detachment. The title track begins the album with an energetic guitar arpeggio but quickly showcases the layering effect of various guitar parts along with the bass and drumming variations. While it begins like a PORCUPINE TREE business as usual proposition, the track unleashes the fully power of Wilson's fascination with metal music as well as the cool ethereal synthesizer sounds that also make the psychedelic space rock aspects stand out.

"My Ashes," one of the few tracks not exclusively written by Wilson showcases Richard Barbeiri's brilliant songwriting with a more melancholic tune that allows the piano and symphonic rock backing to provide some chill time before the monstrously long "Anesthetize" plays on for almost 18 minutes, making it the longest track since Wilson's early psychedelic years on "The Sky Moves Sideways." This track perfectly displays Harrison's percussive overdrive with super tight drum rolls that churn out an incessant tribal rhythm while the echoed guitars and subtle sounds slowly ooze and erupt in and out of the musical procession. The track showcases an exquisite guitar presence of Robert Fripp and navigates many mood swings while it more or less nurtures a single bass groove that maintains a consistent hypnotic spell throughout the track's run with only the moments of pure metal madness breaking the nonchalant flow.

"Sentimental" slows things down with the by then famous piano style of Richard Barbeiri that sort of takes the rhythmic swing of a polka song and adapts it to the keyboards. Accompanied by Wilson's downer vocal style, the lyrics narrate the psychologically drama of today's youth but the track shifts to a complementary musical motif that is somewhat contrary to the opening piano parts which is a trademark PORCUPINE TREE style of modulation shifts that this album has perfectly mastered as the band performs these musical gymnastics without missing a beat.

The album really doesn't lose any traction as "Way Out Of Here" takes another turn to a completely different style of playing without derailing the overall mood of the album's conceptual theme. While most albums drag down towards the end, FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET just remains engaging until the very end as the closing "Sleep Together" delivers an ominous electronic sounding gurgle as the song slowly ratchets up into a heavy symphonic rocker while maintaining the psychedelic electronica throughout its entirety with a satisfying climax of psychedelic codeine rock splendor. Yeah this album is sort of a downer but in a good way. The music sort of navigates your mood level through the bleak subject matter and walks that usual PORCUPINE TREE tightrope between monotonous psychedelic hypnotism and active progressive rock technical workouts.

FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET displayed a remarkable maturity over the slightly inferior "In Absentia" and found the band at the top of its game. It seemed though that this was the end of the road for this third phase of the band's existence and the band was unable to match the magnitude of this album's perfection on the following "The Incident." This album found PORCUPINE TREE at its most calculated cleverness where the complexities were subdued in the subtleties of every cadence crafted or prosody presented. The mope rock scene had gone full fledged prog beyond anything Radiohead achieved on "OK Computer" or Grandaddy's indie rock classic "The Sophtware Slump." PORCUPINE TREE had slowly but surely made it to the top of the world of modern progressive rock and in its wake left three exquisite masterpieces in the first decade of the 21st century. While i prefer "Deadwing" to this one, i have to admit that this one is not far behind. Yet another triumphant achievement from Steven Wilson and friends. Although it took a few years for this to sink in completely, in the end i have succumbed to the magnanimous monstrosity that is FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET and it has easily become one of my favorite modern prog albums of all time.

The "Chemical Playschool" series of albums are an outlet for the band to showcase their more creative and experimental side. After releasing their debut album in 1981 they released later that same year "Chemical Playschool !&2" and they have continued to do so releasing "Chemical Playschool 21+22" in 2021. The "Chemical Playschool" albums used to be sold to fans during whatever tour they were on then released officially after the tour was over. So this one was sold during the "Hallway Of The Gods" tour then released later in 1997. The music here consists of new and unreleased material from 1992 to 1997 so right up my alley. We even get an early version of "The Saucers Are Coming" from "Hallway Of The Gods" called "Saucers #1". I like on the back of the cd it says "Could this be the escape hatch from the Hallway". Yes it could.

Another very cool thing about this recording is the cover art which was done by a fan through a contest they had at the time. They thank 40 people in the "thankyous" who contributed and show a few of the runnerup pictures which are very cool indeed. It would have been a difficult choice. We're talking the mid nineties here so did they mail in their entries? I have a top five and that includes the last three tracks that average 8 minutes in length each. "Inside" track number two is one that I loved from the first listen. There's a CHICAGO vibe to the rhythm section here I think from "25 Or 6 To 4". Just so into this one with that spacey calm and the vocals come and go. I just like that groove man. "The Man With The Cut-Glass Heart" has these urgent sounds with synths over top. Vocals will replace the synths at first but the synths join the vocals fairly quickly. A mid-paced beauty.

"Saucers #1" is just one of those cool sci-fi tracks where Ka-Spel narrates telling the people "We do not have every thing under control! I repeat, we do not have every thing under control!" As he also gives other warnings and describes the sky as being silver as it's filled with saucers. "Premonition #19" is a soundscape of haunting music and atmosphere. Headphone music right here! The closer "Wonderdome" has it's share of humour and is quite experimental. At one point he's chewing out the "Alien bastards". The opener "Scarlet Wish" needs a mention for that interesting rhythm section with strummed guitar. Vocals and another layer of sound before 1 1/2 minutes. A melancholic piece that I quite enjoy. I have to mention "Little Romeo" for the guitar because the guitar just isn't a focus with this band but here it is.

Closer to 4.5 stars and one of the better "Chemical Playschool" releases. Love that 90's period from this band.

The Name!

Self-Deprecation

Anything But!

Regarding the name: HATS OFF GENTLEMEN IT'S ADEQUATE evokes mind-pictures of the subtle English habit of self- mockery, the gift of self-deprecation that characterizes one who is paradoxically humbly self-assured enough to be modest about what is "Anything But" simply adequate.

"The Confidence Trick" is much more than "adequate". Rather it is also evocative: it evokes ideas and images from earliest times of hubris and narcissism, until the most recent, timely moments in which we now find ourselves.

Set To Understated Musical Pieces

For these thirteen tracks, threaded with instrumental reveries, but mostly working within artfully expressed and poetic lyrics, convey the dangers and difficulties inherent in maintaining one's bearings amidst great odds of pressure and persuasion.

The music, nor the lyrics, are ever heavy-handed. Rather, subtle, suggesting, waiting gently for the rage and ferocity to be teased out, the disgust and revilement of betrayal by the overlords given the task of caring and protecting those most vulnerable...

...and simply too important and too confident to do those caring, protecting things.

Tastes of Symphony, Jazz, Metal, Rock

The music, in all its variety, is quietly, never flashily, sophisticated, melodic, expressive, and germane to the over-riding theme- "The Confidence Trick" in which the narcissist and the beguiled enter into solemn agreement that the status quo of exploitation and murder shall be oh-so-properly and oh-so-mannerly maintained.

Refuge

For me, the actual, literal story of Malcolm's great-grandmother Broni Krom set to music in this track, shines the clearest and most poignant light upon the intent of this album. She survived many "toils and snares" because of her faith and came through threats of death and also great hardship, with courage, optimism, and hope.

The best, and the worst, of human behaviors are shown in this story of surviving and thriving in and through the "Confidence Trick" as it then was slithering through the zeitgeist, revealing that "all empires fall", regardless of how mighty and impregnable they may appear.

Great-grandmother Broni THRIVED and SURVIVED, and she was given aid and comfort by other bright souls, in the face of hatred, prejudice, and murder.

COVID, SMO, Elon Musk Escaping Earth

How many people have died- been murdered- by over-confident/immoral/incompetent people doing or refusing to do simple, straight-forward, scientifically sound things- providing masks. Admitting one is ill-informed. Sharing scientific evidence even with 'enemies'. Working for the greater good. Refusing 'sanctions' that mostly destroy the vulnerable, the poor, and the humble of the earth. Contributing money for heath-care rather than inter-planetary travel so Mars can be colonized...

For Me

The album is thought-provoking, stirring, lovely, troublesome, maddening, literate, suggesting, provoking. It seems to me to be a collection of thoughts and sounds designed to push humans into action based on caring rather than on cashing-in or lording-over.

My rating

4.0 stars, "Excellent addition to any progressive rock music collection".

The problem with reviewing albums is mixing the taste with the technical part. But of course personal taste also indicates a focus on certain specific areas. In the case of Daemonia, when I heard it, I loved it. A great dark progressive feel, Goblin's offspring, could only be good. The atmosphere is dark, metaphysical, full of synthesizers and keyboards atmospheres, allied to the weight of the guitar and drums. A great combination bordering on symphonic Doom and Black Metal, with guest appearances by the singer of Cradle of Filth. Nothing to worship a certain style. Music is music, good rock is good rock. Progressive, dark, trash, metal, heavy, blues, kraut, etc... are denominations. ears. It pleases the soul, it pleases the intellect and the spirit. Daemonia mixes moods from Mike Oldfield to Opera, electronics with kraut, dark metal with minimalism. It's an excellent sound for anyone with an open ear to the avant-garde and professional music of talented musicians. Claudio Simonetti is great and that's it. Also those who enjoy horror movie tracks like Dario Argento and Stephen King, supernatural atmospheres, is highly recommended. Every record and show I've heard is excellent. FANTASTIC!! Welcome to the Nightmare!!

— First review of this album —

"Hall of Mirrors" is the 4th full-length studio album by Greek technical/progressive death/thrash metal act Acid Death. The album was released through 7Hard Records in September 2015. It´s the successor to "Eidolon" from 2012 although the two full-length releases are bridged by the 2013 "MisleD 2013 Re-recorded" EP. There has been one lineup change since "Eidolon (2012)" as guitarist Kostas Karavelas has been replaced by John Anagnostou.

Stylistically the material on "Hall of Mirrors" continue in the same technical/progressive death metal direction as the material on "Eidolon (2012)". It´s music strongly influenced by the early 90s technical/progressive death metal scene (artists like Death and especially the Italian Sadist come to mind). It´s a bit more contemporary sounding though, which means it´s a little more heavy and groove oriented than the 90s influences. The title track is for example a full fledged groove metal track.

"Hall of Mirrors" features a well sounding production job, tight and skilled musicianship, and the material is well written and effective. The combination of 90s technical/progressive death metal elements and more contemporary heavy groove metal oriented elements won´t please all listeners, but there´s nothing wrong with the execution or the overall album package. This is a quality release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Listening to the two pieces last night...moved and with immense pleasure, I had to do this remaster and post to those interested a musical analysis of the works a little more technical. I saw reviews from the 70's and some more recent ones here too with bad approachs about Jon Lord's work and in these symphonic arrangements. Which in itself is a total lack of culture and level both intellectual, and sensitivity of these people. The analysis made based on personal taste gets even worse. In my opinion as a musician, pianist and composer, Jon Lord surpasses all contemporary English composers from afar with his works with Deep Purple, Sarabandes and Gemini Suite. His orchestration technique is close to that of Russian composers, especially "The Five Group" ( Balakirev, Cui, Borodin, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov ) and also arrives in the aggressive technique of Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Not to mention his total placement of Asian/Oriental solos and umlauts extremely present throughout the work. Besides, not looking at all like a European composer, let alone English (maybe that's the point) his music is beautiful, full of nuances in minor chords and dramatic thirds, with sublime atmospheres that I personally love music Russian scholar, master. Finally, I see Deep Purple with Orchestra in 1969, an unmissable work that will lead directly to the other work from the 70's (which I post here a fantastic live bonus excerpt) "Sarabandes" which is the icing on the cake. Not to mention the incredible performance by Blackmore on guitars, Glover on bass, solos by Ian Paice with the Orquestra killer percussionist, and the sublime lyrical vocals of Ian Gillan. Saying it's bad shows total alienation and musical culture.