I consider this album to be one of the most striking comebacks of bands in the history of rock. It is completely saturated with incredible energy and drive. All the elements of Deep Purple magic are still in place: inventive riffs of Ritchie Blackmore, powerful keyboard background of Jon Lord with periodic explosions of luxurious improvisations, mathematically precise rhythm of drums of Ian Paice and bass guitar of Roger Glover, and of course still clear and powerful vocals of Ian Gillan. This puzzle was especially successfully put together in the first song Knocking at Your Back Door, where the musicians take turns to play and set the tone for the entire album. This will happen again in the songs Perfect Strangers and Wasted Sunsets, which are also memorable for their original philosophical lyrics, not quite typical for Deep Purple. But the other songs are not weak either. It is worth noting the dashing A Gypsy's Kiss, very fast and driving. A later reissue of the album includes a wonderful lyrical instrumental Son Of Alerik, where Ritchie Blackmore's guitar sounds unusually soft and competes in sadness with Jon Lord's organ. In its style, it does not match the content of the album, but it is great to listen to on its own and is perfect for its finale.

I think that with this album Deep Purple once again set a very high standard, which was never surpassed later. It is worthy of standing in the same row with In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head. Of the subsequent albums, only The Battle Rages On was able to come a little closer to it. Of course, there were good albums later, but without Ritchie Blackmore it is a different story. Four stars without options.

This album is still being discussed and reviewed 50 years after its release. This is the best answer to the question of its greatness and significance not only for Deep Purple, but for the entire world of rock music. It is really difficult to add anything to the numerous reviews written here before me. I agree that this concert captured the band at the peak of their creative and performing abilities. Yes, they still have many great albums and concerts ahead, but there will never be a second In Rock and Machine Head. And the golden line-up of DP will last only a year to make another album with the eloquent title Who Do We Think We Are and then disperse for ten years.

But all this will come later. And here and now the band gives the best they can. A gorgeous interplay of keyboards and drums in Highway Star, charged with incredible energy. The sumptuous keyboard introduction to Child in Time, more expansive and majestic than the studio version, the irresistible attack of Blackmore's guitar that sings, howls and thunders, Gillan at his best vocally against a piercing electric organ that seems to scream along with him. Smoke on the Water is a great performance, a more extended version thanks to the guitar improvisation, and the following song The Mule consists mainly of a completely mind-blowing drum solo that stands on its own and is considered a benchmark. Strange Kind of Woman shows a great cross-over between Blackmore's guitar and Gillan's. Lazy begins with an expressive psychedelic organ introduction that then becomes more calm and disturbing. The song, which has few lyrics, is perfect for improvisation, and Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore take turns shining here for over 10 minutes. The final song of the concert, Space Truckin', starts similar to Lazy, but then the band goes off to explore exotic soundscapes for almost 20 minutes. From the seventh minute and for the next few minutes, the band sounds very reminiscent of The Nice, I wouldn't have told the difference if I didn't know better. The same tricks with the electric organ, the same clear, muscular, rich rhythm section

A great live album, without a doubt. DP gave it their all. Only seven songs, but it feels like we heard them all. Yes, Deep Purple demonstrated only a part of their incredible potential on studio albums, and fully revealed themselves in concert. It was then that it became obvious that hard rock is not only loudness, shaking long hair and smashing guitars on stage. However, Deep Purple did not fit into this style from the very beginning, as their first four albums, individual songs and solo projects of Jon Lord and Roger Glover eloquently testify. Yes, this is debatable. But the fact that they set a kind of benchmark that few have managed to achieve is indisputable to me.

— First review of this album —

One of the strangest and most original acts to haunt the psychedelic French underground of the 1970s was CATHERINE RIBEIRO + ALPES that existed from 1969 (starting as CATHERINE RIBEIRO + 2 BIS) and ending in 1980. Despite delivering a total of nine albums and touring the entire nation of the band's native France, the band has remained mysterious, elusive and still relatively unknown outside of small circles of hardcore prog and psych lovers. The band featured the incomparable CATHERINE RIBEIRO at the helm delivering her politically charged poetic prose and unique vocal bravado along with Patrice Moullet, the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and inventor of strange musical devices as well as the only member other than RIBEIRO to play on every album of the band's 11 year run.

The band was not only unique in its idiosyncratic approach of mixing progressive rock, avant-folk and a compositional style more akin to Indian ragas that appealed to lovers of complex music and hippies alike. Sounding something like a more avant-garde Nico, RIBEIRO is probably better known for her lengthy career as a solo artists where she belted out traditional French chanson with her brash baritone vocal style that sounded like no other. While the albums "Paix" and "Âme Debout" have captured the attention of some who have developed a taste for all things strange and weird from the 1970s, the rest of the band's canon has been a little more difficult to track down as the albums remained out of print and the rare reissues were of limited quantities.

In 2015 the Mercury label compiled all nine of the albums released titled INTÉGRALE DES ALBUMS ORIGINAUX 1969-1980 - 9 CD which featured every album in its entirety including the band's final two albums which have been virtually impossible to track down. While it's unclear if these 9 albums received any remastering, each album exhibits an excellent sound quality and at long last offers a one stop shopping experience for anyone who has been seeking some of the more obscure releases and a true bonanza for anyone discovering the band for the first time. Each album is essentially a mini-version of the original vinyl LP with identical album sleeves as well as a booklet that offers a historical narrative of one of France's most unique underground sensations that seems to have remained more obscure than deserved for the last few decades.

The 9 albums are contained in a sturdy cardboard box with a pleasing display of the band's entire canon. The downside is that there are no bells and whistles, no bonus tracks, no live albums or nothing other than the band's 9 original albums in their entirety however for the price of the band's entire discography in one shot you simply cannot go wrong with this one as it's virtually the only way to get some of the later albums including the final two "Passions" and "Le Débousille" which despite not being the band's strongest efforts are well worth owning as each RIBEIRO + ALPES album offered a totally unique display of the band's stylistic approach. There has never been any artist sounding even close to what CATHERINE RIBEIRO + ALPES delivered with these albums making this excellent box set a mandatory addition to any collection of fans of outsider weirdo music.

The last album for CATHERINE RIBEIRO + ALPES found the band succumb to the pressures that psychedelic and progressive artists of the previous decade had been falling victim to for the latter half of the decades that being abandoning long experimental tracks in favor of snappy and catchier pop hooks. The band's final album LA DÉBOUSSOLE which literally translates into English as "Discomfiture" which means frustration, disappointment, lack of ease and the most damaging "D" word of all: defeat. The band literally stamped their frustration on this final album which basically found RIBEIRO's solo career of chanson and funky grooves mostly replacing the wild and uncompromising progressive rock and psychedelia that the band staunchly retained until the previous album "Passions."

While "Passions" was already heading into shorter more accessible songs, the album still retained enough of the band's classic style to be recognizable. On LA DÉBOUSSOLE most traces of the past had been abandoned for funky bass grooves and a simple percussive backing however keyboardist Patrice Lemoine still managed to sneak in a few trippy organ runs and heady atmospheric effects. Once again the band underwent a final lineup change with RIBEIRO and Patrice Moullet welcoming violinist René Werneer and drummer Pierre Gasquet to the team however bassist Francis Campello stuck around for this final chapter of ALPES where he unleashed his most serious funk chops. Despite the simplified poppier song structures, RIBEIRO delivers her usual vocal bravado with her poetic depth still finding its way into the mix however once again everything is delivered in the French language.

Despite the shorter tracks, the band did manage to include the 11 minute "L'Oiseau Devant La Porte" which most resembles the band's former glory with the more familiar song structures that graced the previous albums but even here the funky bass is the dominant force which ends up sounding like a clash of two distinct worlds, namely the pop chanson solo career that RIBEIRO had launched in 1977 with her debut solo release "Le Blues de Piaf" which clashed with the experimental progressive rock and psychedelic folk sounds that ALPES had crafted throughout the 1970s. Likewise the album ends with an updated new version of "Paix" in the form of "Paix 1980" which incorporates the funky bass grooves and modern commercial flavors to the track that appeared on the album that is the band's best known and most popular. The rest of the tracks are all focused on a quick delivery system however RIBEIRO's vocal style that displays an emotional depth beyond the average singer sounds a little stilted in these simplified tracks.

While it may be tempting to hate this album for its reckless abandon of the band's classic sound, it's actually not a bad album at all showcasing the band adapting to the times as best they can although it certainly is the weakest album in the entire RIBEIRO + ALPES canon for sure but like many progressive acts, ALPES displayed a knack for adapting their classic style to the brave new world of funk and disco without sounding ridiculous. This is by far the most forgotten album in the entire ALPES catalogue and has pretty much been out of print since its original pressing however it has found new life on the excellent box set "Intégrale des albums originaux 1969-1980 - 9 CD" which features every album from 1969's "Catherine Ribeiro + 2 Bis" all the way to this final effort LA DÉBOUSSOLE. Personally i find these prog artists gone pop albums to be fascinating as it creates a bizarre tension and a touch of surreality that no artist would've ever conjured up left to their own forces. The end of the line for ALPES as the band would call it quits in 1981 while RIBEIRO herself continue her solo career singing classic French chanson. R.I.P. ALPES and in 2024 R.I.P CATHERINE. A true legend of the French underground.

3.5 rounded down

As one of Italy's most talented and innovative progressive rock bands of the 1970s, PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONIA or PFM also proved to be the most successful finding audiences well outside the confines of the Italian scene and wooing receptive audiences in both the USA and England as well as throughout Europe. While releasing a string of albums throughout the 1970s in its native Italian language, the band began to aim for an international audience and released its first English language album "Photos Of Ghosts" in 1973 which compiled various tracks from the band's first two albums and singles only dubbed with new titles and lyrics written by lyricist Peter Sinfield of King Crimson and ELP who decided not to simply translate the original Italian. The album proved to be a major success and therefore when it came time for PFM to record its third Italian language album "L'Isola Di Niente" in 1974, the band decided it would be beneficial to release the same album with completely different English titles and lyrics to present to the rest of the world.

The results yielded the album THE WORLD BECAME THE WORLD which featured all the tracks on "L'Isola Di Niente" only completely reimagined with English lyrics with only three major differences. Firstly the midsection tracks were placed in a different order and secondly a sixth track which would become the title track was rechristened from the band's first single "Impressioni Di Settembre" from the band's debut release "Storia Di Minuto." Unique to these albums, the track "Is My Face On Straight" actually appeared as the first English language track to be heard on an Italian language release and remained identical. Musically the tracks are also identical on both albums. This album followed its Italian counterpart released in March 1974 exactly three months later when it was released in June of the same year. Both releases showcased a stylistic shift in the band's approach by delivering a more diverse palette of musical styles that added more complex elements of avant-prog, jazz fusion and other influences in addition to its classic symphonic prog of its earlier albums.

Both guitarist Franco Mussida and keyboardist Flavio Premoli shared lead vocal duties and both do an excellent job of delivering PFM's music in the English language without sounding stilted or overly accented. In fact they handled the foreign tongue with grace and ease making THE WORLD BECAME THE WORLD just as palatable as the original Italian release even though the preference for most Italian prog lovers seemed to prefer the band's original language over the international accessibility of English. Neither the track order differences nor the addition of the emotive title track reformatted from the band's debut album detracted from the overall masterpiece status of "L'Isola Di Niente" thus making THE WORLD BECAME THE WORLD pretty much an equal counterpart in this double marketing attack. While many artists can sound rather clumsy tackling a language other than their own, PFM were masters of their craft in every way and that included marketing themselves to a larger world following.

The album was a huge success and the band continued to release albums in both languages with a total of five English language releases appearing between 1973 and 1977. Pete Sinfield deserves a lot of credit for making THE WORLD BECAME THE WORLD so believable as an English language release given that the way Italian is constructed is so vastly different. There is nothing about THE WORLD BECAME THE WORLD that detracts from the Italian version, at least to my ears as the music delivers all the same passion and musical maestro magic that the original Italian language delivered so masterfully well. Given that the Italian version worked so well with "L'Isola Di Niente" opening and "Via Lumiere" closing the set, the band opted to keep those tracks in the same running order however the scrambling of the mid-section proved to remain as powerful either way. In short, yet another masterpiece!

3.5 stars. Baris Manco was well known in Turkey not only for his hit songs, but he was an actor and TV host as well. He seemed to have that perfect formula of combining traditional Turkish folk music with what was then modern rock music. The people of Turkey ate it up. His one single sold well over 700,000 copies. I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for this his debut studio album from 1975 that he would be on the site here under Prog Related.

Folk actually makes more sense in many ways, but this debut features his foray into prog as we get a concept album about the year 2023. So yesterday. Actually my plan all along had been to review this is 2023, but after a spin of this record last year I decided to put it off. This is the album where he brings out the Korg 700 synth and the solina string synth to create some spacey music for the concept. Some spoken narration too but all the words on this album are in the Turkey language. Gobble gobble.

So Baris has combined that spacey style with songs that are straight up ethnic folk with vocals. And I have to say some of it is hard to take. I also feel that as a singer songwriter Baris is very talented. He's playing his 18 string on this album for the most part, plus we get some ethnic instruments like the saz and more. I have to mention that fifth track because it's a trippy hand percussion led piece with flute that is so Krautrock. I love it.

There's as many misses as hits on this album for my tastes, but I have a respect now for this artist after spending time with "2023".

Review Nº 817

Eden was a German progressive rock band dedicated to the Christian symphonic rock music. The band emerged from a hippie community in Germany that had joined the American Jesus People Movement in the first half of the 70's. As part of the Jesus People Movement, some of the members of that community founded in December 1972 in Eininghausen in Prussian Oldendorf, one of the first Christian communities in Germany. Among the board members of that community were some musicians that in 1977 started making music. So, a new music group under the name of Eden was founded. Between the years of 1978 to 1982 three albums were produced by Eden. So, their debut studio album "Erwartung" was released in 1978. Their second studio album "Perelandra" was released in 1980. The album was inspired by the eponymous book by the Irish writer C. S. Lewis. In 1980 it was released their third and last studio album, "Heimkehr".

So, long before Neal Morse, there was a group in the German lands, named Eden, which subordinated their music to the Christian faith in symphonic rock sound images. The band combined the European Art rock tradition with Christian lyrics. Eden represents a second wave of the symphonic prog rock from Germany. Unlike their Krautrock predecessors, they embrace the more traditional beauty of Bach, Beethoven, and Wagner as much as The Moody Blues, King Crimson and Genesis. Eden drew on a wide range of music in their complex progressive style, lots of folk references, adapted classical melodies. Aptly, in tune with their name, virtually all of the songs of Eden use texts taken from the Bible.

So, "Erwartung" is the debut studio album of Eden and that was released in 1978. The line up on the album is Anne Dierks (vocals), Markus Egger (vocals), Annette Schmalenbach (vocals), Hans Fritzsch (guitars), Dirk Schmalenbach (vocals, violin, piano, ARP and Moog synthesizers, acoustic guitar, sitar and percussion), Michael Dierks (vocals, organ, piano clavinet and strings), Mario Schaub (vocals, flute, clarinet and saxophone), Michael Claren (vocals and bass) and Hans Muller (drums and percussion).

"Erwartung" is a conceptual album, as its name indicates, about the biblical story of the Garden of Eden. Most Christian progressive albums are rooted in folk/rock, with fairly simplistic sing along material spiced up by tempo changes and classical frills. This is anything but, being genuinely complex and adventurous symphonic progressive, with everything from lush keyboards and strings to electronically treated vocals and prepared piano. The material is very well crafted, with some great hooks, and if the songs are occasionally a little disjointed the constant surprises more than make up for it. The band, which comprised eleven people and sounds like a full orchestra plus a choir, was the brainchild of the composer and multi-instrumentalist Dirk Schmalenbach, who excels on guitar, keyboards, percussion, violin and sitar.

"Erwartung" has five tracks. The first track "Spatregen" is the opener on the album. It convinces with wide synthetic rugs, on which the enthroned recited flute inserts are embedded. Very cautiously, a lighthearted romantic mood is built here in the still slight pathos. The electric piano rolls slowly away and smoothes the way for some pleasant vocal lines, which are still presented here in cautious praise. Very well accented guitar riffs enhance the balanced sound all over the track. The second track is the title track "Erwartung". "Erwartung" quotes a passage from the Bible, probably from the apocalypse. Unexpectedly, a Far Eastern element also enters inside the musical scene with a sitar. A beautiful choir singing emphasizes the religious orientation of the overall musical concept and puts the album in feather light symphony in the sacred climes. The third and fourth tracks are "Eden, Tail I" and "Eden, Tail II", respectively. This is a piece with great music, amazingly constructed all over the all piece. I can see here some influences of The Moody Blues and of the King Crimson too. The end of the piece includes a few bars from "Nights In White Satin" just to drive home the reality of the influence. The fifth track "Ein Anderes Land" is the lengthiest track on the album. Extravagant arrays of choral voices are favoured over lengthy instrumental runs. With this track, the album ends in a befitting exuberance.

Conclusion: "Erwartung" is an excellent album and represents a great surprise for me. It's consistently interesting and is a very cohesive effort. This is really a quality album with awesome arrangements and majestic parts. Every musician has the occasion to demonstrate their talent. Great vocal harmonies, brilliant instrumental breaks, apparently good production too. The album has a very interesting prog mix between the symphonic and folk styles. The album is very well balanced, as we can expect from any conceptual album. It has also great vocal male and female harmonies. The weakness may be the spoken word parts, but I think it's infrequent and tastefully done, and overall, I think the sound is quite unique. The singing is a treat and the flow makes for a consistently interesting album. The final result is very captivating. This is truly a great prog obscure stuff of the 70's. It's highly recommended, in the german prog rock scene.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Admittedly as I'm now on my 11th short review of a Ruins album, I'm running out of different ways to describe their bonkers take on music. But while their early albums were akin to recording the sound of throwing a drum kit and guitars down a long flight of stairs, there is an evolution. Make no mistake, Vrresto is complex to the extreme and is far from accessible to the masses, however there is a high level of technical skill, and dare I say it, refinement, despite the jarring wall of noise. It's Avant-Garde, RIO, Zeuhl, and a little jazzy. For a semi-accessible example of the latter, as well as that tight technical refinement and a bit of craziness, have a listen to the second half of Kpaligoth. A track by track review would be a serious feat, instead I'll just suggest listening to the section of Quopern, Laipthcig and Jarragoh as a good sampler.

After Leprous vocalist Einar Solberg dropped his solo debut last year, I was hooked. Having come to his music from his collaborations with Ihsahn and Esa Holopainen, I was already in love with his acrobatic vocal antics. Being, of course, a longtime lover of prog rock and metal, I went into a "pop" Solberg album a questionable proposition, but I found Scandinavian melancholy pop to be a medium in which he worked surprisingly well, and I rated "16" as one of my favourite albums of 2023. So when I heard about the new album from his main band, Leprous, I knew I had to check it out.

Was I ever let down.

The album kicks off with "Silently Walking Alone", a decent opener that boasts some bouncing, grooving riffs and a bombastic singalong chorus. It's probably the high point of the album, though I note it sits closer to the Euro-pop- metal style of Amaranthe than it does to any progressive metal tradition. That's not a crime, but it's not exactly my preference. The album nosedives sharply after that opener, turning into an amorphous blob of Sad Pretty Boy brooding. Half-mumbled vocals sit atop bland electronics, a drawn-out slither through dull, lifeless, and unimpressive melodies set to limp bass drum samples and sub-bass drones. Is Einar Solberg almost always a treat to listen to? Yes. Is his seemingly half-hearted attempt at his usual vocal stunts enough to save this from being a boring slog? Not at all.

If you like progressive metal, you can skip this. If you like Imagine Dragons, consider giving this a shot.

Track Rating: Silently Walking Alone (6), Atonement (5), My Specter (4), I Hear the Sirens (5), Like a Sunken Ship (6), Limbo (6), Faceless (5), Starlight (6), Self-Satisfied Lullaby (5), Unfree My Soul (5).

Overall Rating: 5.3/10, or, 2 Stars, rounded down.

The eleventh volume of John Zorn's improvised organ live album sequence took place in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral as part of a concert series celebrating the composer's seventieth birthday. A large crowd of Zorn's closest family, friends, and colleagues were present for his performance, making it a rather special installment. It is also a special volume as it is inspired by and dedicated to Terry Riley, a pioneering composer of minimalism in the jazz and classical worlds, and one of Zorn's biggest inspirations and most important mentors.

The first piece, "A New Door Opens" begins with bell tones, gently waking up the listener and drawing attention to themselves before fading into proper organ tones. From the moment the bells cease Zorn launches into an intense series of buildups and cluster chords that rise and fall constantly, punctuated only by the occasional wind chimes. These extended buildups are often made up of just a handful of notes and take so long to get to where they're going that one's ears becomes accustomed to the drone and it's easy to get lost, wondering when the note(s) will end, or if they ever even started. Across multiple minutes Zorn constructs chords comprised of semitones that pulse in the ear, and he often plays them so loudly that it's unbearable. I found myself thankful for the breath of fresh air provided by those wind chime moments - having something to focus on that's actually moving and changing. It almost ends up feeling like a Swans album for solo organ, an equally bizarre, repulsive, and morbidly intriguing proposition.

The performance must certainly have been a special moment for Zorn, and the improvised pieces he made during it are certainly impressive and academically intriguing, but even at my most generous I couldn't call this a particularly listenable album.

Track Rating: A New Door Opens (6), Elissa's Tears (6).

Overall Rating: 6/10, or, 3 Stars.