Do the locomotion

Touch and Go was released as a single from the Emerson Lake & Powell album. It is a great song that was later re-recorded by the original line-up with Palmer and that remake was included on the Return of the Manticore box set. The song was also often played live on the band's late 90's tours and have been included on several live albums.

The b-side on this single is Learning to Fly, also taken from the same 1986 album. That's it for the 7" version, but the single was also available in a 12" version that included a third track (c-side). This is a non-album track and it is an instrumental cover of The Loco-Motion. It has subsequently been included as a bonus track on some versions of the album and is good fun for fans of the band. Until fairly recently I was unaware of the existence of this track and also Vacant Possession, another Emerson Lake & Powell track that didn't make it onto the original album.

"Senjutsu" is the 17th full-length studio album by UK heavy metal act Iron Maiden. The album was released through Parlophone BMG in September 2021. The material featured on the album was actually already recorded in early 2019 in Paris, France with producer Kevin Shirley (same studio and producer as used on "The Book of Souls" from 2015), but as a consequence of a heavy touring schedule and the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak meant the band sat on the album and kept quiet about having recorded it for over two years.

"Senjutsu" is a double album release, featuring 10 tracks and a total playing time of 81:53 minutes. Disc 1 features 6 tracks and disc 2 features 4 tracks. The album features quite a few lenghty tracks, and disc 2 features no less than 3 tracks exceeding 10 minutes in length. It´s almost needless to say that "Senjutsu" sees Iron Maiden continuing to pursue the more progressive, atmospheric, and slow building songwriting approach of most of their post-2000 releases. The pace is predominently mid-paced and even slow at times, and you won´t find many uptempo moments on "Senjutsu". With three guitarists in the lineup the tracks are often layered and intriguing in terms of the guitarist trio complimenting each other, and as the tracks also often feature keyboards, the album is loaded with epic atmospheric moments. Lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson has molded the melody lines to suit him singing in a lower register, which is probably wise considering his age. Although he is still a force to be reckoned with, reaching those really high notes is not something he does that often on "Senjutsu" (although he can still sing in pretty high registers when needed). While the always busy rhythm section of drummer Nicko McBrain and bassist Steve Harris deliver a tight and organic attack, the generally low pace of the songs do have a power sucking effect on their contributions.

Disc 1 opens with two rather uninspired mid-paced tracks in the title track and "Stratego". The former is a slow and repetitive track and the latter isn´t particularly memorable either. Thankfully "The Writing on the Wall" is a pretty great track, showing that Iron Maiden can still develop their sound and try new things which still make sense within the boundaries of their musical style. The almost 10 minutes long "Lost in a Lost World" follows and again it´s a slow building epic track, which features some great moments, but is ultimately a little too long and honestly a bit dull. "Days of Future Past" and "Time Machine" don´t really rock the boat either (the latter features a nice main lead theme, which is repeated quite a lot through the song, but that´s about it for the positives), and upon conclusion it´s only "The Writing on the Wall", which stands out on disc 1 as something a little out of the ordinary for Iron Maiden.

Disc 2 opens with "Darkest Hour", which is another relatively unremarkable track, and the same can be said about the 10:20 minutes long "Death of the Celts", which follows. Massive epic tracks featuring many layers of guitars, keyboards, drums, bass, and vocals, but they aren´t the most accessible nor the most memorable tracks. The album concludes with two more lengthy tracks in the 12:39 minutes long "The Parchment" and the 11:19 minutes long "Hell on Earth". Both are slow building and progressive structured songs, which are solid, but nothing out of the ordinary for post-2000 Iron Maiden. It´s the type of material the band could write in their sleep, and being Iron Maiden the end result is of course of a high quality, but there is a long way from delivering something solid to delivering something excellent.

"Senjutsu" features a dark and a little murky sounding production, and I have to say that I don´t think Shirley did a particularly great job producing the album. The sound doesn´t suit the material that well and it´s like the songs don´t open up to the listener but instead remain in an inaccessible format. As if it isn´t enough that the generally slow-to mid-paced tracks often suck the energy out of the performances, the sound production further enhances the feeling that the songwriting and the playing are relatively uninspired. It´s not that it isn´t a professional sound production job, but Iron Maiden´s music would by now prosper from a different production approach.

So upon conclusion "Senjutsu" is not really the triumphant return that fans have been waiting for the last 6 years. It´s a solid heavy metal album with progressive songwriting structures and ideas, performed by a seasoned crew, but the album does not feature the most inspired compositions, and the lack of pace tends to suck the energy from the tracks and the performances, and when the sound production doesn´t manage to help the material shine either, we´re left with a solid but not great effort, and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is probably me being a little too nice.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

The Dark Presence is a concept album that describes a journey told with symbols and images from ancient Egypt to the Middle Ages. It is a journey of a lost soul in search of the inner light, your own 'I'. The protagonist has to face the darkest sphere of his mind, he has to go deep into his own heart, overcome the obstacles on his way to light, and then face a new journey that leads him to a new life. This is an interesting topic and is accompanied by even more interesting music. Maintained, of course, within the framework of progressive-rock canons.

Well, the leader, pillar and driving force of the Blacksmith Tales group is David Del Fabro. For some time he has performed in cover bands Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Kansas, Gentle Giant ... and at the same time he started smuggling his own songs at concerts, which now filled the program of the album "The Dark Presence". Apparently, they soaked in the atmosphere of the songs of legendary rock groups. This can be heard clearly on this album. In its creation, David was strongly supported by his longtime musical friend, Luca Zanon (keyboards, flutes). He brought with him a group of young instrumentalists (Stefano Debiaso - drums, Denis Canciani - bass and Marco Falanga - guitars). Only the vocalist was missing from this group. Not one, but two people were found who took over the main vocal parts, complementing each other perfectly and building interesting harmonic atmosphere with their voices. The male vocal is Michele Guaitoli, the female vocal is Beatrice Demori.

The album "The Dark Presence" is a long, epic colossus , and its program consists of 13 compositions, two of which (the epic title suite opening the whole and the song "Possessed By Time") are multi-threaded and very extensive , several minutes long programmatic works. The climates mix in them like in a kaleidoscope, often balancing between pathos and sleepy moods, decorated with a piano, dynamic strokes of the strings, strong guitar parts, sophisticated melodies performed on Moog, classic orchestrations of oases the melodies played on the flute. Both long tracks represent the real added value of this release and along with the third epic long, "Book Of Coming Forth By Day" (it lasts nearly 9 minutes), are not only the strongest points of the album's program, but also proof that the style of Blacksmith Tales is deeply rooted in classic prog rock. Together, they last the same length as the 10 other recordings on the album. And of the others, the emotional "Golgotha", the wonderfully flowing dynamic song "Let Me Die", the catchy "The Dark Presence Revelation" and the late-Genesis-like "Rain ... Of Course!" Two short themes are also interesting: the instrumental "Tides From A Faraway Shore", in which progressive rock is mixed with court dances, and the cosmic "Chapter LXIV", which serves as an introduction to the already mentioned epic composition "Possessed By Time".

Important points in this story are two short acoustic pieces: "Interlude", in which the protagonist gets to know his 'I' and finally begins to rely on it (on himself), which has its consequences in the further part of the story told on the album, and placed near the finale, very melancholic recording of "Last Hero's Crusade", in which the soul of the main character flies towards the stars ..

"The Dark Presence" is a very romantic album, kept in good progrock tradition. It shows the great potential of this Italian band and emphasizes its dynamic and diverse sound. From the beginning, it sounds like a band from Italy is playing. This is probably the second, after the Norwegians, nation that perfectly feels prog rock, giving it its own specific style. For debutants, the musicians making up Blacksmith Tales did more than decent on their first album, giving us a very successful mix of neo fret and symphonic rock.

Great listening pleasure guaranteed!

Review Nº 471

"The Gathering Light" is the fourth studio album of Karnataka and was released in 2010. It only happened seven years after their previous studio album "Delicate Flame Of Desire". Since then, the band have split and reformed with the only surviving member, Ian Jones, carrying the name forwards in a completely new incarnation. Thus, this is an album featuring almost a new line up, after the disbanded of the group in 2004 due to unforeseen personal circumstances. From their classic line up, Rachel Jones decided to take time out from the music business and Jonathan Edwards, Anne-Marie Helder, Paul Davies and Gavin Griffiths formed Panic Room, in 2006, remaining only Ian Jones in the group.

So, the line up of the album is Lisa Fury (lead vocals and percussion), Ian Jones (bass guitars, keyboards, piano, bass pedals, bodhran, percussion and programming), Enrico Pinna (lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars), Gonzalo Carrera (keyboards and piano) and Ian Harris (drums). It has also the participation of Troy Donockley (whistles and Uilleann pipes), Hugh McDowell (cello) and Philippe Honore, Bridget Davey, Clive Howard and Jane Fenton (violins).

"The Gathering Light" has eight tracks. The first track "The Calling" written by Jones starts the album with a very short and mellow instrumental piece of music. It's a song dominated by the Uilleann pipes performed by guest musician Troy Donockley, together with some atmospheric keyboard sounds played by Gonzalo Carrera and by Ian Jones himself. The second track "State Of Grace" written by Jones and Carrera represents another instrumental track. It's an up tempo piece of music that shows for the first time how strong are the new players with their instruments. Most of all, guitarist Enrico Pina shows how brilliant he is. This instrumental piece of music just sounds fantastic and at some moments it reminds me a little "Awaken" of Yes. The third track "Your World" written by Fury, Jones and Carrera is the song that gives for the first time the opportunity to hear the voice of the new female singer Lisa Fury. And the only thing I can say is that she shines in full glory. We can't compare Lisa's voice to the voice of the former female singer Rachel Jones. However, both voices are absolutely amazing and beautiful. The fourth track "Moment In Time" written by Fury and Jones represents a musical magic moment of music in terms of melody and vocal performance. It's true that it's a track with some pop influences, but however it's so beautiful that we can forget that. Once more we have the beautiful sound of the Uilleann pipes of Troy Donockley. The fifth track "The Serpent And The Sea" written by Fury and Jones is an epic track with over ten minutes long. Despite isn't a too complex song this is a song that suits very well with great musical performance by all band's members. In my humble opinion, the progressive rock influences rules are present on the entire album. The sixth track "Forsaken" written by Fury and Jones is probably one of the best tracks on the album. The climax of this song is just awesome and builds up to an incredible and great drum rhythms. It's a long song with great melody and orchestration that makes us completely surrender to it. Lisa has a wonderful gesture having dedicated this song to her mum and dad. The seventh track "Tide To Fall" written by Fury and Jones is a song that stands out from the rest of the album. It's an excellent song, once more with a very beautiful melody and with a clear slight Arabic feel. This is a song that my imagination can see clearly Lisa Fury to move eloquently like a real belly dancer. It's another great track, short, direct and effective. The eighth and last track is the title track "The Gathering Light" written by Fury, Jones and Carrera. It represents the perfect ending to this excellent comeback studio album of the band. Again we can hear Troy Donockley and his Uilleann pipes, the cello of Hugh McDowell and the wonderful string quartet for the first time. This is a monumental beautiful piece with masterful proportions that made many people love the music of them.

Conclusion: It's very impressive to me that a band that was practically reduced to ashes with only one remaining member may have returned from its grave with an album with the great quality of "The Gathering Light". All eight tracks are great and tender but it's in the details of the individual musicians that the magic of the album surely resides. Enrico Pina brings expression, sensitivity and emotion to his playing that the guitar melodies could be considered in the same way as vocal lines. Gonzalo Carrera has contributed to the album colours and every moment with his truly wonderful keyboard arrangements. These lead characters (guitars and keyboards), are very well supported throughout by a very dynamic and articulate rhythm section performed by Ian Jones and Ian Harris. Crowning the whole affair is Lisa Fury's vocal work. She contributes with emotional depth and passionate delivery with technical brilliance putting her with one of the best female vocalists, not only of her generation, but amongst those before her that left their distinctive mark in this genre of music. Thus, "The Gathering Light" is highly recommended to everybody who likes the older albums made by Karnataka, but also for those who like bands such as Yes, Genesis, Mostly Autumn, Iona, Clannad and Renaissance.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

The album has inspired an actual four-hundred page novel, 'Skallagrim ' In The Vales Of Pagarna', which Babb plans to release in early 2022. 'Skallagrim is a thief who lost his memory and the girl he loves,' explains Babb. 'He's up against all sorts of wickedness to reclaim both, but finds an ally in a sentient, eldritch sword. Now his fate is bound to the sword as much as to the quest to find his love.' Into The Breach finds our protagonist going to war, so the music absolutely has to reflect that.' Babb promised that fans will hear 'a much heavier, angrier album than we've ever done before.'

In addition to Babb and Schendel as well as drummer Aaron Raulston, the session guitarists Brian Brewer and Reese Boyd are involved. Especially their contributions in the form of hearty riffs give the sound of the band their excitingly different timbre. Integrate crisp elements ' la Rush or Porcupine Tree and even traces of space rock in the style of Hawkwind in the pieces, which are still very well thought out and elegantly composed. The album offers 75 minutes of brilliant prog rock sound with an emphasis on the rock aspect. It is also the band's first full album with their now established singer Hannah Pryor. She follows in the great footsteps of predecessors like the wonderful Susie Bogdanowicz or Jon Davison, who has been on the microphone with Yes since 2012. Glass Hammer fans already know her from her appearance as a guest star - on 'A Matter of Time Volume I' - a collection of re-recordings of well-known classics from the group's repertoire - released in 2020. Pryor does a great job on 'Skallagrim: Into the Breach' with her vocals that are as emotional as they are powerfully expressive.

This can already be seen in the wonderful, unfortunately a little too short, dreamy-atmospheric piano intro 'He's Got a Girl'. Pryor's enchanting ballad voice works well on the crisper numbers. The front lady proves this immediately afterwards with 'Anthem to Andorath', a majestic-looking widescreen hymn. Further highlights are the dirty, groovy classic rocker 'Sellsword', with doom-style guitar work joined by forceful keyboard chords. This is full- on '70s hard rock ,'Steel' with a psychedelic touch with Hammond organ use and, which alternates between early Journey and Rush and is sung by Babb and Schende. 'The Ogre of Archon ', the atmospherically and rhythmically somewhat reminiscent of Porcupine Tree 'Into the Breach' and the loosely flaky 'Hyperborea', which is also clearly influenced by Rush, can also completely convince. A well-timed change in both atmosphere and tempo occurs with a trio of instrumental tracks. A Spell Upon His Mind has pulsating keyboards and effects, with the electronica accompanied by haunting guitar tones. Moon Pool has a jazz-influenced drum and bass dominating, but the space prog atmosphere is maintained by the intertwining guitar and keyboards. The trio comes to a close with The Dark and it's presented by a dark/spooky guitar and Hammond organ combination. Three tracks that really add a magical and secretive feel to the album.

A great album by gifted musicians who, commendably, do not shy away from trying out other ideas after almost 30 years of thoroughly successful band history and then implementing them consistently. Dark, heavy and bass driven, yet with enough of the band's keyboard-led 'proggery' to please their loyal fanbase and bring in fresh devotees as well. We can already look forward to the end of the trilogy, which will hopefully not be too long in coming.

Review #121

Being released in a year in which Progressive Rock wasn't on its highest peak as it was in the first half of the 1970s, "A trick of the tail" became an absolut classic, not only because of the songs in it but because of what the whole album represents: the evidence that even without the most famous member of a band, if the remain musicians are as creative and talented as COLLINS, BANKS, RUTHERFORD and HACKETT, the results will be nothing to complain about.

"Dance on a volcano" is an amazing way to start the album: it is a strong melody with a very recognizable riff that comes and goes for almost the entire song, great and powerful structure combined with the unmistakable voice of COLLINS. "Entangled" is mostly an acoustic song with very harmonic vocals and very subtle keyboard notes that increase reaching the end. "Squonk" is probably my favorite song in the album: the rhythm is slow but very powerful and consistant at the same time; probably one of the best drum lines played by Phil COLLINS. "Mad man Moon" is a delightful ballad mostly led by keayboards and drums with very elegant guitar lines in the background.

"Robbery, assault and battery" starts as an average rock song with a very predictable rhythm but near the middle of the song it changes to a much more experimental instrumental section which gives the song its Progressive nature. "Ripples" is absolutely beautiful: just as "Entangled", it is a mostly acoustic song but this song has a much more recognizable melody and (I think) a much nicer arrangement; at the middle of the song it changes to a more energic instrumental led by BANKS' piano until it returns to its original melody but this time with a much more strong rock arrangement.

"A trick of the tail" is actually the shortest song on the album, it reminds me a little to YES' "A venture" but with a much more powerful structure, it is evident that the album is close to its end. "Los Endos" starts with an instrumental section and then it brings back the melody of "Dance on a volcano" as if it was a coda to the album; the song continues with excellent bass and drum lines until the rhythm slows a little bringing another fragment of the volcano only before it starts reviving "Squonk". This is an excellent instrumental track that closes the album in a very creative way.

Even when the absence of GABRIEL was notorious, it didn't make this anything of a bad album, actually, this is probably one of the greatest albums in GENESIS discography. There are no weak points in this masterpiece.

SONG RATING: Dance on a volcano, 5 Entangled, 5 Squonk, 5 Mad man Moon, 5 Robbery, assault and battery, 5 Ripples, 5 A trick of the tail, 5 Los Endos, 5

AVERAGE: 5

PERCENTAGE: 100

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #15 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

ANIMA-SOUND were a husband/ wife duo who made most of their own instruments to create this Avant stew with vocal expressions mixed in. This is "out there" to say the least. Two side long suites that are somewhat similar making this a long listen despite it only clocking in at under 35 minutes. I'm tempted to give the 2 star rating except I really do think they were serious about what they did and clearly put a lot of time and effort into their music. The second track is called "Traktor Go Go Go" and yes they pulled their stage which looked like a small house with a porch on it to their gigs at 20kms. And they had sheep on stage! What is going on? I have these picture in the liner notes.

This isn't as bad as I thought it would be and yes I thought there might be some actual animal noises features throughout. Thank you for not including those.

At first I didn't have faith in this band, but after listening to this album, I was totally retracted. Ocean, Eloy's sixth album, is a concept album that tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical "Atlantis". The creation of atmospheric atmospheres and passages into thoughts of mythical beings and different worlds really achieve a higher level of instrumentation and sound that other albums do not have. The ethereal keyboards and Bornemann's pivotal guitar playing feature prominently in epic interludes throughout this album. Despite Eloy's great influence on groups like Pink Floyd or King Crimson, his originality when composing music should not be overlooked, and this album is the clearest example. I recommend it mainly for all those who love Space Rock.

10/10, 5 stars for this fantastic masterpiece.

"Tempo senza tempo" is the second and last album by the line up gathered in Sardinia by Adriano Monteduro under the name Reale Accademia di Musica. It was released in 2009 on the independent label Delta Italiana and the line up is the same of its predecessor, "Il linguaggio delle cose": Adriano Monteduro (music, lyrics, arrangements, keyboards, vocals), Giuseppe Aramo (vocals, percussion), Antonello Monteduro (piano, keyboards), Manuel Muzzu (bass). The overall sound is more varied than on the previous work and, in my opinion, the quality of the compositions is better but it a has nothing to share with Reale Accademia di Musica 1972 eponymous debut...

The ethereal opener 'Latenza sogno' evokes falling thoughts that at night get lost into a dreamy blue sea... Then it's the turn of 'Caccia alle balene' (Whaling), a piece against whale hunters, that starts by annoying drum machines and a macarena rhythm and then, luckily, turns into a passionate, melodic environmental declaration inviting you to listen to the beat of the heart of Moby Dick...

On 'Paranoia (D'j' vu)' you can find electronic touches and drum machines that contrast with vintage keyboard waves while the lyrics tell of the inner duality hidden inside every person... The following 'Vulcano' (Volcano) tries to describe in music and words the feelings and the reflections of a man who, during the night, admires the fiery force of a volcanic eruption...

The lively 'Atomo' (Atom) is a short instrumental track with a good interaction between bass and keyboards that leads to the long, evocative 'Sogno (Compagno di sempre)' (Dream, companion ever) where music and words paint blurred images, lights and shades, labyrinths of memories drifting away on a misty sea towards never-land...

'Thin Colours' is a calm, short instrumental track for bass and keyboards while 'Get Back' (despite the English title the song is sung in Italian) mixes tango and electronica to depict a sensation of fulfilment and spiritual tiredness. Next comes the delicate 'Tempo senza tempo' (Timeless time), a reflection about time and its abstract relativity...

'Merlino (Mirddyn)' was inspired by the mythic character of the Arthurian legends. The musical landscape and the subject matter could recall the atmospheres of Alan Stivell's album the Mist Of Avalon (in particular, Le chant de Taliesin) as they try to conjure up the imagine of the old enchanter and wizard running again through the forest of Kelyddon... The following 'African Oldoway' is a nice instrumental track that takes us in another direction (the title refers to the Oldoway human skeleton of the type of homo sapiens found in Tanganyika Territory, in 1913). Then 'Attimi' (Moments) ends the album with a reflection about time and space where single moments resound like bouncing pebbles on the waters of life...

On the whole, despite the large use of drum machines and electronic effects, I enjoyed the album. Nonetheless the name Reale Accademia di Musica that Adriano Montedurro decided to revive might be misleading for prog fan. Some members of Reale Accademia di Musica's original line up did not appreciate this operation and Adriano Monteduro dropped the name after this work releasing other albums in the same style as a solo artist, albums that could be of some interest for prog lovers...

What a great discovery. Haven't heard about this band until recently and came across "Origins " accidentally. This indeed is huge effort with excellent result both in terms of the concept and the music itself. Supposed to sound like music from 80's, it does - and in the very positive way. Listening to the whole thing in one go is the best way to appreciate it with paying attention to the story - downloading lyrics from artist's website definitely helps. With the playing time nicely above two hours, this could present bit of a challenge but definitely worth it. And it gets better with every listen. I understand that narration might be polarizing, it's indeed quite a lot of storytelling and dialog but for me it's part of an experience.. cinematic, as advertised. Lot's of outstanding tunes, so won't go through all of them. Highlights are "2048 Numbers", "Violet Alone" and absolute masterpiece - closing epic "Infinite Within" which has made it to my personal Best of Prog playlist. Looking forward to next release... It's 4.5 stars rounded to 4