Steven Wilson is definitely one of the most talented and hard-working musicians of our age, and I don't think can anybody argue with that. Speaking for myself, I'm a fan of Porcupine Tree since the '90's, owning about 10 studio albums + a few Ep's in my collection. Furthermore, I have 3 albums from Blackfield, 1 from No-Man, and 3 of Steven Wilson's solo works. (In vinyls cd's and MP3's). I included 'The Raven that refused to sing' in my list with the best albums of 2013, but I never thought of it as a 'masterpiece'. Knowing these facts, it's up to you to continue reading this post or stop right here. Having the really big success of 'The Raven' on his shoulders, Steven Wilson had 2 options for his next album: To continue in the same style and record one more succesfull and well appreciated album in the Prog circles, or try something different. He chose the second option. Hand.Cannot.Erase is a very different album in comparison with 'The Raven' in almost every aspect. Starting from the cover, continuing with the lyrics, and finally musically. I will not make any comment for the cover (which I didn't like), but that's the least important. The important is what is hiding on the inside, right? Let's take a look at the lyrics: In 'The Raven' the lyrics were mostly metaphysical stories, horror tales, and in general there was a dark and gloomy background. This new album was "build" around the true and very sad story of Joyce Carrol Vincent, who lived a lonely life, and when she died her body was discovered after 2 years. (You can wiki her name and read about her life, which I recommend you to do). In that sense you can say that 'Hand.cannot.Erase' is a concept album. And now let's take a look at the music: 'Hand' has a very different and more "fresh" sound in comparison with the previous album. The compositions are more melodic and simpler ones, and in many ocassions the guitar is been replaced by synthesizers. (Asthemaininstrument). 'The Raven that refused to sing' was a classic modern Progressive Rock album, but I wouldn't say the same for 'Hand.Cannot.Erase'. This album has a "lighter" approach to Progressive Rock, and in some ocassions is even "flirting" with Pop. But the fans of Progressive Rock shouldn't be afraid, and they should keep their faith in Steven Wilson.Why? Because the album includes some breathtaking Prog moments, on which the performance of the extremely skilled and talented musicians is setting once more very high standards. Fine examples are the songs '3 years older' (one of the best songs here), 'Regret #9' and of course 'Ancestral'. (Without a doubt the best Prog song by far in this album). One very interesting fact is the addition of female vocals (in some songs) which must be a surprise to all those who are familiar with the works of Steven Wilson. I will conclude this article by saying that if someone ask me the question "is 'Hand.Cannot.Erase' better that 'The Raven?", the easy answer would be 'No'. But that would be very unfair, because these two albums are different in almost everything. Surely the standards of 'The Raven' are very difficult to be repeated, but what we have here is a true & tragic human story, "dressed" with beautiful music, and some Prog explosions which are impossible to be ignored. My Rating would be 3.0 - 3.5 stars thanks for reading

Entity is an Italian band, founded as far back as 1994. After several years of performing live and going through a few line up changes, the band finally released their debut album Il Falso Centro. The album tells the story of someone going through an identity crisis, based on poems by Yuri Deriu. An interesting idea, and worked out in a surprising way, given that the album is largely instrumental.

In being instrumental, the bass and keyboards of band founders Gigo Lungo and Mauro Mulas dictate the music to a large extend, as with other Italian bands like Le Orme and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. The opening track Davanti alla Specchio is the best example of that, with the main part of the song being piano and bass only. The other instruments only join in to create a bridge to the following track Il Desiderio, which has a jazzy bass line and interesting dialog between the guitar and keyboards.

On Il Tempo, keyboards and strings are the main element, with a metallic guitar riff in the choruses. It is a melancholic track, with a nice piano part at the end. This is a perfect intro for Trip Dell'Ego, which is a full blown progressive rock song. Piano parts, guitar and bass dialogs, and a symphonic eruption of the keyboards lead to a sung poem of Yuri Deriu. This one needs a few listens to sink in, but it is very well composed.

The next two tracks, ANT, and L'Armatura, are the heaviest of the album. L'Armatura is a 12 minute epic with metal influences and emotional vocals. To cool off after that, the band included the six minute piano piece La Notta Oscura Dell'anima.

This album is almost a 21st century tribute to older Italian symphonic rock bands. Keyboards are in the lead, but never overpower the music - and although there are references to the 30 year old Italian prog in there, it never sounds out dated or old fashioned.

Let Them Eat Cake was Motorpsycho's first true foray into pop. For that shocking reason it is probably, to their fans, one of the more famous albums, along with the most ambitious heavy prog offering, Heavy Metal Fruit.

Cake is filled with breezy pop rock songs, fueled by strings, horns, organs, deep bass and a light guitar. Even though Motorpsycho is more known for their heavy stuff, a lot on here is in a mellow mood. For their hyperprolific 20-year output (an album a year, sometimes twice), it is a testament to Motorpsycho that almost all their songs are distinct from one another with very little filler per album. That said, I think that Cake is more famous what they were trying to do than what they actually did, because on later works their pop becomes even more refined. And who can forget the immortal "Lets get some weed and chill out to Pink Floyd" line? I'm only mentioning it passingly, because another reviewer already beat me to it.

As soon as I see the iconic sleeve, my mind relays the past 28 years since I first heard 'Die Mensch Maschine'. So many memories... but as far as the recording goes, it's razor sharp in my mind. Every note, lyric and fragmentary silence between notes are permanently etched in my brain.

From the striking red, white and black colours displayed on the cover - used elsewhere in German history to great effect - to the purely functional, without fuss approach, I'll always be a huge fan of this album. While American artists like Springsteen were chest beating and crotch thrusting, Kraftwerk displayed a purely synthetic, non human, non sexual mechanical approach which went on to influence more bands than I've had hot dinners. From post punk, new romantics (with their white faces and red lipstick), to techno and hip-hop. Whew! that's one hell of a legacy they hold.

'Robots' is as far away from their origins as you could imagine. Flutes and drums are now the arch enemy, to be eschewed at all costs. The Vocoder vocals over this entirely electronic track sets the scene. Plinky-plonky keyboards rigidly patter out the melody of this Tuetonic pop tune as Ralf Hütter's sexless vocals recites the the hilarious lyrics (in my mind only) 'We're filthy Roboters'. Springy, bouncing synths and playful percussion only add to my amusement.

You'll pretty much get from the above as to what follows - and it does. There are some straight vocals but they still sound like a more tuneful 'HAL' from '2001- Space Odyssey' during it's malfunction phase. The best is left till last with the title track - with its primitive sequencer sound and highly manipulated vocals saturated beneath a pulsing clockwork bass throb. Fragments of which you'll hear in such bands such as New Order, Ultravox, OMD, John Foxx, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Aphex Twin, Autechre... the list goes on and on...

Sensibly they put a lid on things during 1981, after Computer World, realising that there really wasn't that much more they could contribute that was ground-breaking or cutting edge. What we're left with is some of the best electronic albums ever put to vinyl - which sounds twice as good on CD format.

Steven Wilson is modern Progressive Rock's figurehead with a spirited work ethic. A singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and four time Grammy nominated surround-sound genius, he has influenced Prog's steady resurgence worldwide the past 25 years. A master in the studio, he remixed (with permission of the bands) the great classic Prog albums by King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, ELP and many others but his own discography guarantees his place among the greatest of Prog legends.

Hand. Cannot. Erase. is a modern concept album inspired by the compelling real life story of a young, popular, attractive London woman who dies in her apartment and is not found for three years. The music and narrative are powerful, heartfelt, and immersive. Highly creative compositions that are atmospheric, elaborate and multidimensional as well as complex pop/rock tunes deliver Wilson's hallmark time-signature changes from melodic to metal to symphonic. This is the Prog music that Prog artists aspire to create and the rest of us celebrate. Executed and performed with precision by Wilson on vocals and several instruments and his brilliant band that includes guitar virtuoso Guthrie Govan, Prog's best bassist Nick Beggs, former Miles Davis keyboardist Adam Holzman, ever present drummer Marco Minneman plus additional musicians, singers and orchestra, this is par excellence.

The tracks in order:

1 & 2) First Regret/Three Years Older segued together is an engaging and multifaceted arrangement 3) Hand Cannot Erase is melodic pop/rock 4) Perfect Life is a beautiful song with female spoken voice and electronic landscape 5) Routine has old school Prog time-signature changes, choir, orchestration, piano and Nanet Tayeb's Floydian vocal 6) Home Invasion is a heavy, catchy song with post-punk guitar riffs 7) Regret #9 is an instrumental with Moog and a guitar solo from heaven 8) Transience is understated emotion 9) Ancestral begins with haunting strings and flute followed by percussive guitar driven heavy metal 10 & 11) Happy Returns/Ascendant Here On... is a soulful end to the story.

Seamless from song to song. One of the top 10 Progressive Rock albums of all time. A masterpiece!

- JD, host of Closer to the Edge, AshevilleFM

This is Yes' first album with the classic line-up that we have grown to know and love, all the cylinders are firing well and all of the geniuses are in place. The only difference in the line up from the previous "The Yes Album" is the addition of the keyboardist extraordinaire Rick Wakeman who replaced Tony Kaye. The difference in the keyboards is obvious almost immediately as we can hear the confidence in Wakeman's playing. Even though the previous album is a masterpiece also, if there was anything missing, it was a more up-front, in-your-face type keyboardist and they found that in Wakeman. The keys are more defined and technically complex, and thus, you have the classic amazing Yes sound beginning with this album.

This essential album is made up of songs credited to the entire band and also shorter tracks composed and credited to each single member of the band, sort of like ELP's "Works Volumes I and II" but more consistent. (By the way, "Fragile" was released long before "Works", but I just make the statement as a comparison to album structure.) We start off with the ever popular "Roundabout" which should only be heard in the full album version, not the edited versions that were made for radio play. This is the perfect album starter and immediately lets us know what we are in for when listening to this album. The mix is perfect as you can hear every single instrument and each contributor equally and as such you can hear all of the wonderful things that go into each of Yes' most complex works. I know this song has been overplayed, but the amazing thing is that I still love this song and it still has not lost it's amazingness to me like other overplayed radio songs have. Definitely still one of my all time favorites, but then this album has a few of those. Next is Rick Wakeman's solo contribution to the album called "Cans and Brahms" which is a keyboard arrangement of a composition by Brahms. Sort of underwhelming considering the pompousness of Wakeman's other compositions, but still short and enjoyable. Another solo contribution follows, this time from Jon Anderson. "We Have Heaven" is a complex composition of multi-tracked vocals all of Jon in an amazing harmonic blissfulness. There is some support of instruments, but they are minimal and drowned in the vocals. Once we get to the climax of this short song, we are swallowed up in harmonics each singing all the different hooks from the melody at the same time when this is suddenly stopped by the sound of a door slamming and the sound of footfalls of someone running away.

The next track is a long epic "South Side of the Sky" which is not one of my most favorite epic songs but it is still a great one. I do love the long piano interlude from Rick here though, and it is at this point that we know that Yes has made a wise choice. The interlude is full of flourish, beauty and excitement, and proves that you don't need special effects and fancy synthesizer to create a powerful passage, this time it is all done acoustically and it is amazing. The rest of the song is great, but not one of their best. The next track is the short contribution from Bill Bruford. At only :35 seconds, this composition has more going on in it than most other bands can put in a typical 5 minute song. It goes by quickly, but still begs to be listened to closely. There is nothing typical about this song, but it does plenty to prove that Bruford is an amazing musician. Another band composition follows, this time a relatively short one called "Long Distance Runaround" which ends up segueing into "The Fish" which is the outstanding contribution by Chris Squire. These two songs have always been expected to be heard together almost as one song. Of course, this features the bass which is amazing. The good thing about this entire album is you can hear the bass as much as all of the other instruments, but in later albums like "Relayer" and "Going for the One" the bass seems to be pushed down into the mix. Even though the version of "The Fish" is longer and slightly better on the "Yessongs" live 3 album set, this one is still amazing.

Finally, the last track is another one of my all time Yes favorites "Heart of the Sunrise". This has to have one of the best bass/guitar hooks in existence that switches back and forth from 6/8 to 3/4 time without even blinking. The introduction of the song goes on for quite some time and I love this part of it. It starts right off on a tension filled riff at high power and lots of energy before calming down for a while with a killer bass line and building back up slowly to the high energy riff again before the tension breaks again and it comes into the main melody. Jon sings softly in 6/8 with a 5/8 riff thrown in just to keep it unconventional and Rick adds a 9/8 meter keyboard riff and the song builds and releases several times repeating several riffs, especially that crazy powerful hook that is so entrancing. This song just has to be heard, that's all there is to it. If there ever was a perfect rock composition, this is it! I just can't say enough about it. Oh, then "We Have Heaven" has a short reprise thrown in at the end.

Anyway, yes I love "Heart of the Sunrise", but I love this whole album and even though "South Side of the Sky" is one of their weaker epics (except for that piano solo), it is still better than most musicians can even hope to come up with and still does not take away the fact that this is by all means an essential Yes album and essential prog album.

If you get the 2003 reissue, you also get the excellent cover of the Paul Simon song "America" which is Yes-ified completely and made into a progressive rock marvel sounding almost nothing like the Simon & Garfunkel version and stretched out to over 10 minutes. You also get an early version of "Roundabout" which has some interesting twists from the version we are used to.

Anyway, no progressive rock collection should be without this album. It's just as important as their next album "Close to the Edge". 5 stars, but if there was a 6th star for perfect albums, this one would have it.

Like other reviewer stated, giving this album five stars would be unfair to the true masterpieces of the golden age. BUT! I believe that this album truly deserves a place up there with other important works of the past, and this is not because of the sound resemblance of such works in some parts of this album, but because Steven created an amazing modern prog album. I don't find it fair either to label this album right away as a "retro prog" sounding album, because it really has nothing of that. As a prog musician, I find it natural to include some elements of past influences more as a homage to our past heroes, but this doesn't mean that you may lack creativity. Here, Mr. Wilson blends these few "retro" elements with some very modern ideas, which create an amazingly new sound. What I like the most about this album is that it actually presents a set of ideas very well put together to create a very listenable and enjoyable sound structure where you never grow tired of hearing. I have to admit that the Raven album was grower a to me because it sounds like a set of ideas just scrambled together all through out the length of the album. Obviously I enjoyed the aforementioned immensely, but I sensed a purpose missing whether as here you can sense the artistic expression of the artist and yes, the catchy, poppy side of the album helps a lot to give this album a far more melodic approach than its predecessors. I feel like a progressive rock work really triumphs when it sounds appealing to non prog listeners, and I'm sure that this album is one of those. Me, like probably everyone else, is longing for a PT reunion, but if Mr. Wilson keeps evolving like this, we don't really need another PT, do we?

Do I have to be the one to rain on the parade? Well, I remember the run up to the album's release, when some singles were released and most gulped; none of what was being shown sounded inspired. The promised concept and electronic rock sounded tasty, but we weren't getting anything that lived up to expectations of the great Steven Wilson making a prog stew out of those ingredients.

Actually listening to the final product started out great, as "First Regret" sounded much like and as good as the trip rock Archive put out in January with "Restriction", and flowed naturally into "3 Years Older", which came out as a neat piece of modern crossover prog that weaved various styles into a ten minute extravaganza. But, alas, that was the end of the fantastic, well-executed part of the record. What we get beyond the opening combo is some decent, nice, unoffensive and by-the-numbers modern cross. Turns out those previews were representative of most of the result. Again, uninspired. Also, once again for a post-"Fear of A Blank Planet" offering SWilson has bungled a concept beyond repair. What about any of the lyrics does it have to do with the idea he was supposedly building off of I have no clue. Not much I can say about any of the latter nine tracks in particular beyond the above, and understandably.

So, after the masterful "Grace for Drowning" and "The Raven That Refused To Sing" we get a piddling album. His use of electronic rock has been bested by the aforementioned crossover underdogs Archive, and non-prog bands the world over have proved themselves better at making concept albums than two out of the three tries Wilson has given. While this is very hard to call an out-and-out bad album, it's a very poor showing and only for a good chunk of fans. I also round down since the next time I listen to this in whole - for more than the opener - will be a long, long time from now. I'm even left half-dreading any possible Porcupine Tree reunions, since Steve seems to be charting a career trajectory that will mirror itself going forward, leading to an inevitable Son of The Incident. One last thing I wonder is if his naming of two tracks as regrets is a hidden apology note and as prophetic as the track called "Routine".

To the question who is my all-time favourite of female musicians, the answer is KATE BUSH without any hesitation. I have enjoyed her music since my teens. But like it is the case with all of my long-time favourites (GENESIS of the 70's being the most important), I have never felt I should like everything - or, for God's sake, to have every available music - by those favourites. This fact was brought to my mind with this DVD release. The 1979 Christmastime television special starts with 'Violin', a wild, actually punkish song from the then upcoming third album Never For Ever. I simply can't stand it! I have forced myself to listen to it less than five times in my entire life, and having it now served with an artistic visual performance didn't make it any better musically. If I had been originally introduced to her music with this song, I would have needed to win a deep prejudice first before letting her to become my favourite.

Sorry for that long introduction not quite up to the point. On the other hand this speculation about the liking or disliking of one's favourites gets very poignant with this DVD. You see, first I thought: "Wow, this is Kate Bush! This is rare! This is something special indeed!" And then, after viewing it, I thought "well, naturally it was interesting to see, but I won't miss it at all after I have returned the DVD to a friend." In one word, the television performance (it's not a live concert in the truest sense) is terribly UNEVEN. Enjoyable at its best, an embarassing nuisance at its worst.

After Kate has danced in bat-like clothes and screamed all the horrible high notes of 'Violin', she gets a spare moment to change costumes while two faceless men dressed up like gigantic violins - or cellos or whatever - move slowly to Erik Satie's tiny and pretty piece 'Gymnopédie No. 1'. Next Kate sings and plays piano on 'Symphony in Blue', a fine and too forgotten track from Lionheart. In the end, I prefer this kind of honest live performance of a good song over the arty-farty coreographics for silly songs. I know, 'Them Heavy People' enjoyed success at the time and was a live favourite in her tour of '79. Kate and two men in large trench coats keep pushing each other as if they were rubberballs. It gets slightly irritating before the naive ear-worm song is over.

A choir-like introduction of "angel Gabriel" is amusing. PETER GABRIEL plays his 'Here Comes the Flood' all by himself on keyboards. We remember how he prefers that ripped-down version (also heard on the ROBERT FRIPP album Exposure, 1979) over the heavily overproduced 1977 album version. Kate's non-album track 'Ran Tan Waltz' is among her poorest songs, and the amateurish coreography (for three again) featuring Kate dressed as a man is equally silly and annoying. 'December Will Be Magic Again' appeared as a single almost a year later; here its live performance, Kate back on piano, is among highlights.

'The Wedding List' and 'Egypt' are also tracks to be released in 1980's album Never For Ever. Here the television performances are totally made up; the former song features acted scenes of the bloody wedding and the female rage with a gun, while the latter sees Kate miming the song with a veil covering her nose and her round eyes almost popping out, against various Egyptian sceneries. This kind of a cheap and half-baked music video stands time much worse than a real concert. (And when you're listening to an album, you can direct your own inner videos!) Then comes a sad ballad 'Another Day' written by Roy Harper, performed with Peter Gabriel, though probably just miming instead of real live. They sit apathically looking very tired (of each other), visualizing a dead relationship. Gabe has short hair like in the covers of his 3rd "peter gabriel" album. This song is the most valuable rarity on the whole DVD. The 45-minute set ends with 'Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake', in my opinion one of the weakest Lionheart songs. I can't say I much enjoy the semi- dance performance (again accompanied by two men); the whole thing looks somehow very gayish, a bad slice of phoney cabaret.

All in all the song selection is interestingly very unexpectable, and that certainly has its pros and cons. I would have rather chosen other songs from The Kick Inside and Lionheart. A minus comes also from the shaky end credits, totally missing the band?! Still, to give only two stars would feel too heartless. I don't recommend you to buy this DVD but it's worth seeing once. At least parts of it can be found on YouTube.

There is life in the farthest corners of the empire. It truly is. And what's more, there is brilliance and vision too. I am constantly amazed by the number of bands that through the decades struggled and struggles to get their Music out. Back in the 70's, from where Earthrise originated, the only way to get Music out was by way of record companies or by self funding. Earthrise did the latter. As a consequense, apart from being slightly out of touch in 1977, they lost the opportunity of the major companies pushing for them through ads and what not. I am speculating but I think that may have been the case.

The visual side of the album is stunning. It baffles, intrigues and fascinates me. The pyramids turning up in the skies, perhaps going in for landing. It is brilliant. Then there's the music. There are only four tracks but four great ones.

"Eden's Child" opens up the record. At first I thought it to be too much in the pop tradition, heading for the charts and imitating later Chicago, or something in that vein. The first inclination soon wears off though, when keyboards of the finest degree kicks in. Spacey Moog and tasteful organ. This is one hell of a song. Superb!

"Arcturus" starts ever so gently but holds a great beat and rhythm. Great latter part of instrumentation and the organ is wonderful. The title track is a beautiful, spacey instrumental working really well. The ending "New clear dawn" is more up-tempo and holds a great drum solo. I am usually no fan of drum solos but this one is really good.

It's really sad that this much talent went unnoticed back in the day. There is so much promise here and I wonder what they might have come up with if they had had the opportunity to record further. The resemblence to ELP is alright but Earthrise is really an entity of their own. There is a lot of spacey sounds that differ from ELP. It is a very competent and fine blend of symphonic textures but also a slice of pop (in the first track especially). The vocals are great, the instrumentation superb. This is one ot the finest discoveries I've made in 2015. If you can get a hold of this album, buy it. I would.