4.5 stars

Dropshard's "Silk" is a top ten of 2014 album for me. There: I put it out there. I do not consider 2014 a very good year for prog, with notable exceptions, of course. Dropshard's album fell into my mailbox a few months ago, and I didn't hear it until November or December due to a busy life. Once I put it on, I knew why it was sent to me, and I knew I had found one of those exceptions.

The band is made up of Enrico Scanu on vocals, guitars, and flute; Sebastiano Benatti on guitars; Valerio De Vittorio on keyboards; Alex Stucchi on bass; and Tommaso Mangione on drums. These guys instantly appealed to me with similarities to my favorite bands, like Riverside. Alex's bass is easily one of the highlights here, as is Tommaso's drumming. This rhythm section is dynamic, crazy, and all over the place in everything except quality. Add soulful guitars from Sebastiano and Enrico and peaceful, beauteous keys from Valerio, and you get a huge range of sounds. The last piece of the puzzle, though, is Enrico's emotive, expressive voice. Enrico sings gorgeously, and he is especially good at singing conversationally with perfectly placed vocal lines.

Tracks such as "Eyes", "Cell 342", and "The Endless Road" are particularly attractive with amazing instrumentals punctuated by stirring lyrics and vocals. Emotions rage and delicate feelings are expressed. Heavier in some tracks and fragile in others, "Silk" appeals to all the senses.

So, if you like modern progressive rock with a bit of an edge, get "Silk" as soon as possible. Dropshard has their own sound and their own footprint. Don't miss this, as I think you'll be hearing the name of this band more and more in the near future.

4.5 stars

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this ended up as one of my favorite albums of 2014. This really surprised me, as my first listen did not yield much for me. However, after several spins, I can say with confidence that "wearewhoweare" is awesome, and I'll tell you why.

I originally heard Pallas for the first time with their spectacular previous album "XXV". It was spacey, scary, and ominous with bits of serenity and pure beauty therein. After hearing this, I investigated some of their discography, and time and time again I heard Pallas' ability to compose tight, catchy melodies. "wearewhoweare" follows this same trend, but adds quite an electronic feel along with quirky, dark instrumental passages that are near the top of my list for 2014.

The band consists of Paul Mackie on vocals, Graeme Murray on bass, Niall Mathewson on guitars, Ronnie Brown on keyboards, and Colin Fraser on drums. This team is simply incredible. Niall's guitars floored me as he bounces back and forth between ominous edge and Gilmour-ish soul. Ronnie's keys are constantly there, filling out the atmosphere with gusto and presence. Graeme's bass is fleshy and head-turning. Colin's drums are pounding and played with finesse. I was simply blown away with the dark-as-night verses that transition into lovely choruses guided by Paul's lush voice. I cannot compliment these guys enough.

I've seen some complaints about Pallas' new sound. Some people think they should have stayed in their 80's neo- progressive sound, but I personally applaud this old band for the incredible ingenuity and creativity that are so obvious. I mean, just look at the array of artwork they've applied to this album! It's easily one of my favorites from 2014 because I get and enjoy the quirky, almost sci-fi horror behind it all.

My favorite tracks are the catchy opener "Shadow of the Sun", the wonderful instrumentals of "Harvest Moon", and the longing, expectant sound of "Winter is Coming". Every track, though, has high points that are very memorable. Pallas has given me, then, the exact album I hoped to hear from them. I wanted a little progression in sound. but I wanted that clean, clear melody, too. "wearewhoweare" is exactly that.

A Song For All Seasons was released in 1978, and is generally recognised as the last of the "Prog" albums released by Renaissance, although I personally find much merit in later albums. Not all "AOR" is bad.

Anyhow, that is for future reviews. This album, of course, contains the band's best known piece of music in the wider world outside of progressive rock music fans, Northern Lights, which, deservedly, became a smash hit. It contains, in my opinion, everything that is good about this great band, the soaring lyrics of the beautiful Annie Haslam, intricate and detailed songwriting, performed with panache. I fell in love with this track, and, as a result, with the band as a young 14 year old. I remember taking the album home with me on the school bus, with "who the f**k are they?" ringing in my ear!

The remainder of the album is a glorious example of how the best Prog rock bands from this "classic period" began to reinvent their sound, approach to songwriting, and musical commercial nous. Utilising the services of David Hentschel, he of Genesis fame, and the lovely orchestrations of The London Philharmonic Orchestra, the album still sounds wonderfully fresh and vibrant, and stands as a glorious buttress amongst much of the commercial new wave fodder of the day.

It is, in truth, symphonic folk Prog rock personified, only now, with the exception of two longer, "traditional" tracks, the wonderful Day Of The Dreamer, and the title track which closes proceedings, in a shorter form. This does not mean that any of the things which made this great band so vital are compromised. It merely made them more accessible, and that is never a bad thing to this reviewer's mind. The title track is one of the finest pieces of classical symphonic rock ever put to vinyl. Jon Camp's bass lines are simply to die for, and, at their best, as here, Renaissance most certainly gave Yes a serious run for their money in this sub-genre.

Of course, longstanding fans such as I will already have this album, and it is fair to say it still divides opinion. This review is rather directed to younger folk looking to see what they might enjoy whilst trawling through Prog Archives. If you want an immediately, beautifully performed, accessible introduction to the type of pastoral music that earned us lot the derogatory "bloody hippies" title in our schooldays, then look no further.

A joy to return to, four stars for this. An excellent addition to any serious progressive rock collection.

To make it short, Men Who Climb Mountains is exactly the album one expects from Pendragon. The title is an added bonus for me, as I like to climb mountains myself, although there is no song literally about my hobby on the album. But I read this in Nick's ramblings last summer, so no disappointment here.

The first two songs, Belle Amie and Beautiful Soul, the titles identical in meaning but in French and English respectively, are fine appetizers of what's to come. On other albums this slow intro followed by a fine rocker have been merged to longer openers, but they definitely work as separate tracks. Come Home Jack then reminds me a wee bit of Voyager from The World which is neither very original nor bad. The only little weakness of the album is nondescript In Bardo, but this is more than cancelled out by the following wonderful ballad Faces Of Light. If a title with "light" is immediately followed by the same title just with "darkness" one would expect a stark contrast, and the next track doesn't disappoint with its driving beat. The last three tracks are quite typical Pendragon songs, each with one instrument providing the extra bit. While the end section of For When The Zombies Come is far slower and bluesier than its counterpart in my favourite Pendragon song, Am I Really Losing You?, I can imagine to love it equally after I'll have heard it several times more. While I couldn't hear out an extraordinary solo section in Explorers Of The Infinite which IS something that can be associated with mountain climbing, it has one of the best bass lines I've heard in the last 5 years. Finally, Netherworld is defined by the good keyboard work, especially the section where the keys sound like a blues guitar.

Had Pendragon never published The World and The Window Of Life, this album would have straight 5 stars. But they have, so the bonus for originality cannot be applied, but my rating remains at solid 4 stars with a tendency towards 4.5.

This is a rare sampler released in 1976 (between the Yes releases "Relayer" and "Going for the One") of tracks from solo albums the individual band members at the time: Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Patrick Moraz and Alan White. This was an attempt to try to get some radio airplay for the individual musicians relying on their status as Yes band members. As you can expect, you get quite a variety of music here, some great, some okay and some downright bad and cheesy. Production fluctuates throughout and genres are all over the place.

Each artist has two tracks that represent them here. Jon's tracks are from the album "Olias of Sunhillow" opening the sampler with track 5 from that album and closing the sampler with track 2 also from that album. Both of these songs are decent songs from the Yes vocalist, they are somewhat lite progressive and pleasant sounding. Chris Squire (bassist) is represented by two songs (tracks 2 and 9 on this sampler) from the "Fish Out of Water" album which are tracks 1 and 4 from that album. These are both excellent songs that showcase not only Chris' excellent bass playing, but his great songwriting skills and okay singing voice. Steve Howe takes up tracks 3 and 8 on the sampler and his songs come from the album "Beginnings"; tracks 4 and 9 respectively from that album. His first song is very good and gives a great representation of his guitar skills and his not always so great vocals (but they are passable at least). The second song is not as great but okay at least and also features a brass section. Patrick Moraz's first song is a piano solo and very new age sounding, but then his 2nd song is a full band with substandard vocals that is also very new age sounding, even though new age didn't really exist at the time. Both songs are quite cheesy. Alan White unfortunately doesn't fare much better in his representative songs that take up tracks 5 and 6 on the sampler (back to back). The first is a piano led instrumental which is really only Albinoni's "Adagio". The other track is a full band with lyrics sung by a soulful voice. It is very poppy and the voice again is cheesy but the brass section and the percussion is still great.

This sampler is only good for collectors or completionists. The songs are available on regular albums and are probably better served there than they are on this haphazard sounding sampler. I can only give this a poor rating because the production is not always very good, the songs are not conhesive and not always the best representations of the band members solo works, even for the time of the release. I highly doubt this sampler served it's purpose very well. For those who have to find it for their collections, all I can say is good luck, but it's probably not worth the time it will take to find it. You are better off getting the proper solo albums or sticking with the masterpieces released by the band. 1 star.

Ten years has passed since the release of this album and still sounds great for me. Perhaps the listening after all this time includes another elements and comparisons, this promising debut still surprises with their fine work on keyboards and guitars, epic moments and the balance of 70's-00's mixtures in most of the tracks.

Starting with the 20+ minutes magnum opus 'Change' this Norwegian band still impresses me with their musical skills that turns into very nice symphonic sections without losing the tasty 70's flavour. There are a lot of reminiscences here (from Deep Purple to Dream Theater) and even with the contemporary Flower Kings and Echolyn but Magic Pie definitively has their own and particular proggy style.

The technical playing of guitars and keyboards, the bombastic moments and the ambitious epic sections (sometimes even pretentious) repeats along the album, but if I got to pick some real jewel here, I choose the optimistic 'Motions of Desire', the almost metal prog 'Without Knowing Why', maybe the only piece that escapes almost totally from the 70's influence perhaps the sound of the keyboards, and the complex rhythm of 'Dream Vision' which turns into a really nice proggy song at least in their instrumental parts.

Ten years has passed and still 'Motions of Desire' is a very enjoyable album and that's quiet an achievement for any band or musician. 3.5*

Trees - The Garden of Jane Delawney (1970)

Britisch psychedelic folkrock group Trees released two records in 1970. The debut (currently being reviewed) and slightly more stately yet stiff 'On the Shore'. Both albums are hailed as favorites by listeners.

Trees has a sound that reminds us of Sandy Danny era Fairport Convention and early Steeleye Span; traditional and pure female vocals, folky guitar drones, some playfulness and beautiful ballads in the minor key. Yet Trees is slightly more progressive then beforementioned bands with some nice psychedelic electric guitar playing and a more dynamic approach to songwriting - which becomes appearant mainly on the first side of the record. Trees makes good use of two skilfull guitarplayers, which also adds to the progressive vibe. The title track is surely one of the most beautiful folksongs I've ever heard, the vocals of Celia Humphris are outstanding.

Conclusion. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite folk records and I can warmly recommend it to every-one with even the slightest interest in folkrock of progressive folk. This is what collecting little known music from the progressive period is about. Five stars.

One of the five founding members present at 1978's very first 'Rock In Opposition' festival in London(don't ask) Belgian avant- gardists Univers Zero belong to that strange little sub-set of groups who have essentially been thrown-in with the prog-rock crowd as a result of their inherant weirdness, the utterly unclassifiable nature of their sound, but most of all because there was simply no place else to put them. Branding Univers Zero under the label of prog-rock is therefore not only incorrect, but dangerously misleading as some listeners have discovered, for this is not rock music as you probably know it. Dark, challenging, deliberately obtuse, influenced by 20th century classical music, chamber music and rock 'n' roll(really?) and featuring a line-up of seriously capable musicians armed with acoustic instruments such as bassoons and obeoes, Univers Zero are, very probably, every record company executives darkest nightmare. Of the five groups present at that very first RIO concert, Univers Zero are arguably the most inaccessible of the lot, making even British avant-jazz jokers Henry Cow seem bright and breezy in comparison. Therefore it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that this was a group that largely operated outside the margins of the known Music Biz universe, in the process becoming influential members of the RIO movement's subsequent get- togethers. Self-released in 1977, the group's eponymous debut is now regarded as a cornerstone of the genre, and on paper it seems like an intriguing proposition, yet the reality is rather more disturbing. That's because one of the main tenets of the RIO sound, and a core piller of it's DNA, is to utilise intricately-woven and deliberately-unsatisfying melodies and chord sequences to create a sound unlike anyother, meaning that to the average rock fan the music of Univers Zerio must sound acutely awful. However, those versed in ways of prog-rock may find more crumbs of interest than most, if only for the way the music is constructed, and not because of the way it sounds. Whilst for some the RIO movement was an exciting platform for creating original, daring and thought-provoking new music, for pretty much everyone else it was just a bunch of overly-intellectual art-twits indulging in inaccessible silliness. Some of the music is of course valid, but for many the experience of listening to this record will prove rather unpleasant. Subsequent listens do reveal the complex disposition of the compositions, the subtle and shifting textures and the surprisingly strong rock 'n' roll influence, yet the relentlessly confrontational nature quickly becomes gruelling, making this a hard listen for anyone in search of actual entertainment. Yes, it's impressively played and original and all that jazz, but in the end none of that seems to matter. Give me Foreigner, Journey or Styx anyday. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2015

The second Flower Kings album after the affable 'Back In The World Of Adventures', 1996's 'Retropolis' finds Roin Stolt and company tipping their respective hats in the direction of their 1970's heroes whilst mainting the glossy sheen and impressive technical proficiency that would eventually become the group's trademark. There is, of course, no doubting the Swedish outfits die-hard love of all things progressive, and thus, 'Retropolis' provides fanboy affection by the bucket-load, only from fans with serious talent and their own ideas. However, despite semi-successful attempts at replicating the old school synth-and-organ sound of yore and Stolt's seemingly neverending arsenal of guitar solo's, 'Retropolis' is actually something of a letdown, the golden melodies that adorn the Scandanavians very best work replaced by an earnest, overly-tricksy and actually rather boring modern-prog sound. Not only does it lack the upbeat, almost joyous, ambience of it's predecessor, 'Retropolis' lacks any real stand-out cuts, a rare thing indeed for a Flower Kings album. The chief offender in this misfire has to the title-track, which also serves as the album's opening epic, and serves up over ten gruelling minutes worth of relentless soloing from Stolt. More of the same is offered up on the slightly-less draining 'There Is More To Thias World', whilst the album's second half continues the general theme of polished production values, top-notch technicals and Stolt's tiresome guitar histrionics. Buy 'Stardust We Are' instead. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2015

Pallas is a rare case of a legendary (or, in their case, semi-legendary) band whose reunion work is better than the original. Pallas sounds like an 80s style arena rock band (you know, the cheery/sad melodies, thin-sounding guitars and synths) with Pink Floydian neo-prog atmospheric and church- sounding leanings. On Beat the Drum, they sound less bombastic than on the albums that follow, mostly straight-forward socially-conscious adult-oriented rock not unlike 80s Rush, Genesis or Midnight Oil. The album is about evenly divided into melody-driven rocky tunes, some ballads and attempts to return to epic scale, of which only Ghosts can be considered memorable. While other songs are not bad, they can suffer from a repetitive beat or absence of good melodic hooks. The guys are just having fun here, exploring what avenues their reunion might take them.