Review Nº 800

Pendragon was formed in the progressive rock revival of the 80's with other British prog bands such as Marillion, IQ, Pallas, Galahad, Twelfth Night and Solstice. All of them formed what would be called the neo-prog style. Like their peers, soon and often, they appeared as support acts of major prog bands. Pendragon released their first original work the EP "Fly High Fall Far" in 1984. In 1985 they released their debut studio album "The Jewel" and in 1987 they released their second EP "Red Shoes". The band pursued a more commercial direction and released their second studio album "Kowtow" in 1988. In 1991 Pendragon released their third studio album "The World" and the third EP "Saved By You" returning to the prog style. Next, they release three studio albums, "The Window Of Life", "The Masquerade Overture" and "Not Of This World" in 1993, 1996 and 2001, respectively, and three EP's, "Nostradamus", "Fallen Dreams And Angels" and "As Good As Gold" in 1993, 1994 and 1996, respectively too. From this point, the band has improved and despite they were a bit obscure in their home country, they had a significant following in Europe, particularly in Poland.

"The History 1984-2000" is a compilation album of Pendragon and that was released in 2000. "The History 1984- 2000" has ten tracks. The first track "The Walls Of Babylon" was originally recorded on "The Window Of Life". It starts with a very bombastic organ sound before the very typical Barrett's guitar sound. This is a great song with great chorus and a great guitar work that opens "The Window Of Life", and this compilation too, in a strong good way. The second track "The Shadow" was originally recorded on "The Masquerade Overture". It's a relaxing song, almost a ballad with nice sensitive lyrics. This is calm and beautiful, with some nice vocals and beautiful keyboard and guitar works. The third track "Total Recall" was originally recorded on "Kowtow". It's a lengthy progressive emotional track with a good guitar work and some beautiful piano work added by Clive Nolan. I like very much of this song that represents one of the best progressive moments on that album. The fourth track "The Voyager" was originally recorded on "The World". It's a kind of an epic ballad with great keyboards and beautiful acoustic guitar work that could create a harmonic and engaging colourful pallet of sounds. The fifth track "The Black Night" was originally recorded on "The Jewel". It's a lengthy track surprisingly full of musical changes all over the song. This is an excellent track that gives perfectly well the glimpses of what would be the later Pendragon's music style. The sixth track "And We'll Go Hunting Deer" was originally recorded on "The World". It's a great relaxing song, a real lovely and gentle piece that opens with a relaxing atmosphere mood with some very nice piano passages and a beautiful guitar driven solo in the end. The seventh track "Am I Really Loosing You?" was originally recorded on "The Window Of Life". This is a soft smooth ballad with a nice, emotional and repetitive guitar solo. It's emotional and poignant and where the final guitar break is extremely melodic and catchy. The eighth track "The King Of The Castle" was never originally released on any of their studio albums. However, there are two versions of the song on two studio albums from them as two bonus tracks. "The King Of The Castle (The Shadow Part 2)" appears on "The Masquerade Overture" and an acoustic version appears on "Not Of This World". It's the acoustic version that appears on this compilation album. It's a nice track and a great addition to this compilation. The ninth track "Paintbox" was originally recorded on "The Masquerade Overture". It's an excellent track with a nice musical atmosphere, great melodies and a memorable chorus. It has a good keyboard work and a superb guitar playing by Nick Barrett. This is a great symphonic track. The tenth track is very special, indeed. It corresponds to a video of "The Last Waltz" which was originally recorded on "The World". It's the third part of the piece "Queen Of Hearts". This piece is the first attempt of Pendragon to make an epic progressive track. It's a pleasure to hear this track so beautiful and great. It's a brilliant song that alternates between gentle musical passages and a very powerful guitar work. There are plenty of great melodic moments scattered throughout the entire piece and where "The Last Waltz" is only a part.

Conclusion: "The History 1984-2000" is an excellent compilation album of Pendragon and is well representative of the band, in those times, with songs from their first five studio albums. This is a lengthy compilation and the inclusion of the two acoustic tracks "The King Of The Castle" and "Paintbox", which have been recorded solely for this compilation and its video section with "The Last Waltz", make of it an even more interesting release. The avid fan might want it for these bonuses, the collector will want to add it to his collection anyway, but "The History 1984-2000" is more than this. It's a great introduction to the beginning of the career of Pendragon. Therefore, it's highly recommended for all who are yet to purchase a release by this great progressive rock band. However, if aren't already a connoisseur of the band's work, especially in this phase, my recommendation is that you get one of their studio albums in those times, instead of this compilation, preferably "The Masquerade Overture", which is, probably, their best work until the end of the 90's.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

ART ZOYD decided to do this 12 hour marathon of live, in-studio music called an "interdisciplinary performance". They began the non-stop playing at noon and ended at midnight in their own studio. They are down to a trio here for the first time, but what a trio. Gerard Hourbette plays viola, keys and percussion, while Thierry Zaboitzeff adds cello, bass, keys, vocals and percussion, and lastly Patricia Dallio on keyboards. The hour of music here is culled from the first half of the performance, while there was a second release called "Marathonnerre II" that was taken from the second half of the event.

This surprised me because I thought there would be a lot of improvs and long soundscapes, and maybe there was some of that, but on this record we get 13 tracks of composed music. And this my friends is a must have if your an ART ZOYD fan in my opinion. They are in their electronic phase still here in the early nineties but they do mix things up some, even having a catchy track or two on here. No it's not perfect, but it is ART ZOYD, and this is quite the performance.

The 6 minute opener "Complainte" is an interesting pick for the opener because it takes a while to get going. Quite sparse early on. Some male vocals after 3 minutes, then it starts to build a minute after that. So good! Hourbette composed "2. Szene" and "1. Szene" and the one I mentioned first is over 9 minutes while the latter is over 12 minutes and both are highlights for me. The atmosphere and suspense, plus those stark keys are so ART ZOYD. Some organ and piano on the latter. Over 20 minutes of bliss for me with those two but they are seperated by six songs, and not back to back, and starting with "2. Szene" with "1. Szene" coming late.

"Barbares" is only a minute long but it's dark with so much going on. "Alleluja" is catchy and out of character for the band. I like "Danse De Mort" for the many samples used and the dark atmosphere. "Firebirds" is another where there seems to be so much going on with the electronics and beats as male vocals arrive. "Fair Fair" might be my favourite, it should have been the closer but is the second last song. The bass is outstanding here. It turns more powerful around 3 1/2 minutes and vocals will arrive late as it winds down. There's a world music vibe on "Konzo Bele" which I'm not big on.

Easily a four star record and while it wasn't what I was expecting, it's also very much ART ZOYD save for a couple of tracks. Fantastic music!

Formed in 1982 by David Tibet, CURRENT 93 emerged as one of those experimental collage type acts that followed in the footsteps of the strange industrial noise artists like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire and Nurse With Wound. In fact CURRENT 93's first public offering was on the "Mi-Mort" split with Steven Stapleton's Nurse With Wound act in 1983 so it's no wonder he invited Stapleton on board to assist in crafting a new style of bizarrely demented soundscapes that offered veritable soundtracks to hell. Tibet put out three releases in 1984 and it's not exactly clear which came first. While some claim "Nature Unveiled" to be the official debut, others cite this darker sibling DOGS BLOOD RISING to be the actual first. It's very likely they were released simultaneously when few were paying attention.

Whatever the case, while CURRENT 93 has become more famous for its experimental folk musical expressions that dominated the 1990s, at this first stage Tibet delivers an anarchic wild mix of Gregorian chants, poetry, grating industrial sounds, field recordings, nursery rhymes, drones and harsh electronics mishmashed into one of the freakiest displays of experimental music that the 80s had to offer in the company of equally disturbing sound weirdos like Zoviet France, Coil, Einstürzende Neubauten and Z'ev. DOGS BLOOD RISING features six distinct tracks that experiment with tape loops, chanting, haunting vocal accompaniments and random noise. With a clear obsession with Jesus Christ and the art of violence, the album opens with an abrasive droning industrial soundscape with repetitively looped chanting and absurdly unstable electronic sound effects.

The second track "Falling Back In Fields Of Rape" offers a 14-minute freakathon that finds a subdued backdrop of Gregorian chanting accompanied by an erratic electronic drumbeat and shouted vocals that "bleed" to the forefront with electronic effects. Tibet also showcases his spoken word poetic prose delivered with indignant passion and finding studio effects offering variations on the spoken word delivery system which leads up to crazed angry screams and moments of children's nursery rhymes with a collage of random noise and spoken dialogue overlapping. It just gets weirder and darker as it progresses with more abrasive electronic static sounds and industrial vocal styles akin to Skinny Puppy. "From Broken Cross, Locusts" offers liturgical church readings in text while eerie electronic buzzing jumps in and out along with Tibet's evil sounding chanting. Sporadic percussive clanking offers the bleakest of industrial griminess to the mix.

As strange as the entire album is perhaps the most bizarre of all is the 14-minute "Relo No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)" which finds Tibet bellowing out some of his most possessed vocal performances on the album while a demonic female backing vocalist offers operatic contrapuntal harmonies. The track progresses in cyclical loops with the same repeated phrases and production tricks that create a rather psychedelic weirdness to it all with echoes and reverberation. The layered vocals result in sounding like a swarm of hornets while the Gregorian chanting pops in and out of audibility. The hypnotic chanting reminds a bit of Tibetan Bhuddist varieties which is supposedly designed to reach higher levels of consciousness which can alter the fabric of space time itself. Well perhaps this doesn't achieve the same magnanimous task but does deliver one of the most hauntingly bizarre musical expressions ever laid down to tape. This is more bizarre than any Krautrock or experimental rock of the 70s.

After a rather short ending track "St Petes Keys All Bloody" which is a menacing recital of the lyrics to Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence" with minimal freaky effects, the album ends leaving you wondering WTF you just experienced! A highly alienating album upon first encounter, DOGS BLOOD RISING only reveals its genius after fully integrating it into your soul and only then can you truly appreciate the groundbreaking efforts that were performed in bringing this perplexing peculiarity to reality. An acquired taste for sure but the tapestry of musical elements that serve as some sort of musical quilting of pointillistic musical styles is actually quite brilliant. Personally i love this uncompromising experimental stuff and CURRENT 93's earliest releases will deliver to you the most bizarre and erratic quirkiness that you could ever hope for.

IRISH COFFEE was one of the few hard rock bands that emerged from the early 70s Belgian scene but packed a punch that was as caffeinated and intoxicating as its namesake. Formed in the West Flanders city of Aalst out of the ashes of a band called The Voodoo which got its start playing covers by bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Who and The Kinks, IRISH COFFEE crafted its own seamless fusion of its influences after it formed in 1970. The band delivered a rather crafty debut album in 1971 which happened to be its only release from its first run that lasted until 1975 when a car accident killed the drummer and seriously injured the bassist effectively ending the band.

While easily taken as an average organ driven hard rock band in the vein of Deep Purple or Atomic Rooster, IRISH COFFEE deceptively wove progressive elements into its soulful yet feisty performances that featured an exquisite sense of melody, an even more developed rhythmic drive and a top notch instrumental interplay of the musicians which included William Souffreau (vocals, guitar), Jean Van Der Schueren (lead guitar), Willy De Bisschop (bass), Paul Lambert (Hammond organ) and Hugo Verhoye (drums). This eponymously titled debut offered an interesting mix of early Led Zeppelin inspired bluesy rock along with the organ heavy rock of Deep Purple but also offered a bit of soulful heavy psych funk of Grand Funk Railroad along with the pop infused sensibilities of late 60s British acts like Gun.

While the album may sound a bit generic upon first encounter, this is one that sort of sneaks up on you like an internet cookie and beckons you to return. Once you sink your teeth into the intricacies beyond the instant ear wormy grooves and irresistible melodic hooks, the album reveals deeper idiosyncrasies that make the band stand out. First and foremost, the star of the show is clearly singer William Souffreau who was the chief songwriter along with lead guitarist Jean Van Der Schueren who also delivers some excellently tasteful guitar leads. Souffreau's vocal prowess elevates the rather average musical style several notches as the groovy boogie rock style was fairly common for the day but something about a gifted vocalist that can really take an album experience up a few notches.

Another factor that offers a more complex approach than the average hard rock band is the drumming style of Hugo Verhoye which is fairly busy throughout the album's run with amazingly complex drumming patterns that sort of seamlessly meld into the overall flow of the album's musical style. The album stampedes into action with the heavy rocking "Can't Take It" with its off-kilter drunken sailor boogie rock groove laced with a unique percussive drive and a ferocious guitar presence. William Souffreau immediately dominates the mood setting with his powerful soulful yet gruff vocal style while the Hammond organ slinks around in the backdrop. "The Beginning Of The End" slows things down a bit and offers a completely different style with a melodic groovy addictive guitar riff and a stronger organ presence more in the Deep Purple "Child In Time" territory. Souffreau shows off his vocal range with a passionate lyrical delivery that pretty much continues for the rest of the album.

"When Winter Comes" follows suit with the same style but "The Show (Part 1)" jumps into a high energy funk show with a super catchy groove and even more ear wormy sing-songy vocal harmony section. It sort of reminds me of the White Stripes' "Icky Thump" which would follow decades later. This one in particular evokes a strong Grand Funk Railroad vibe. While "The Show (Part 2)" sort of insinuates a continuation in theme, the track is a bit different sounding more like the bluesy rock on Led Zeppelin's debut however does feature a funky groove after the introductory moments. The rest of the album pretty much follows the playbook set up at this point and continues the vibrant flow of heavy percussion and bluesy guitar soloing over funk, blues and slightly progressive underpinnings all glazed over by the hefty Hammond organ use.

Although the band only released a sole album in its initial five year run, it did release a series of singles all the way up to 1974 just before Paul Lambert was killed in a car accident and Wim De Craene was permanently injured. The band reformed as Joystick briefly following the tragedy with new members but never released anything. Eventually this album would find a reissue with all the non-album singles as bonus tracks in the 90s and IRISH COFFEE even reformed in the 2000s with original members and a new lineup and has been active since 2013. While i would probably call this a second tier band in the world of organ-based hard rock from the 70s behind bands like Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster, Uriah Heep and even Qatermass, i would still consider the sole IRISH COFFEE release from the 70s an excellent slice of passionately delivered progressive hard rock that only becomes more addictive the more time you give it a listen.

One of the most regularly celebrated progressive rock albums came out in 1977, as the massive punk tsunami was about to wash away the "pompous and elitist flash rock", by none other than Anthony Phillips, who had left Genesis after the Trespass album (1970). It was the beautifully decorated "The Geese and the Ghost", artwork from Peter Cross and subsequently reprinted in 1981, 1988, 1990 as well as remastered in 2007, 2008 and 2015 (as a 2CD+DVD deluxe Edition). Not only has it stood the test of time, but its impeccable pastoral, vary English feel was incredibly unique and distinctive, rarely copied or emulated.

Well, that legacy has been perpetuated with "Which Way the Wind Blows- The Music of Anthony Phillips" 2019, a British tribute ensemble with all kinds of famous special guests, such as Steve Anderson, John and Steve Hackett, Noel McCalla, John Helliwell, Nick Magnus and Kate St-John, with more gorgeous Peter Cross artwork. I should be reviewing that one soon as well. In 2022, a dedicated German crew led by the Morgenstern family of Nina and Robin on vocals and multi-instrumentalist Tom, decided to invite a dozen or so guests, namely Steve Hackett (again!) as well as two members of Fauns, Jan-Peer Hartmann on guitars and flutist Kirsten Middeke. They put together a list of highlight tracks from the legendary and ongoing career of a gifted and humble musician worthy of the highest praise. To mirror the Phillips catalog, there are song-oriented tracks as well as instrumental workouts for which he is perhaps more infamous for.

One of the prettiest melodies ever to be found, "Sistine" develops a breezy little jewel that breathes tranquility and reverence, originally presented on the 1984 album "Private parts and Pieces IV; A Catch at the Tables". I could call this "Pristine" and not be criticized, a fluid simplicity that expresses the most genuine of sentiments. Robin's vocal is charmingly effective. Taken from the delightful New England album, "Sanctuary" offers precisely what the title implies, a sense of love longing for eternity, while "God If I Saw Her Now" is a highlight track from "the Geese and the Ghost", previously sung on demos by Ant as well as the rather awesome Phil Collins version on the album, which is a hard act to follow. Robin does another admirable effort here. The album "Dragonfly Dreams" proposes "She'll Be Waiting", another crystalline ballad that shimmers gently. The ghostly "Unheard Cry", the redolent "Stranger", "Lucy- An Illusion" with its majestic synth solo a la Tony Banks, "Moon's Lament for the Sun" and "Master of Time" are all more than meets the ear.

On the instrumental side of things, the prog fan will find quite a selection of sensational excerpts A fascinating piece of memorabilia on "F Sharp", as it was a 1969 demo sketch by Ant and Mike Rutherford that eventually was shaped into this arrangement, furthered into the eventual and instantly recognizable solo on the Musical Box, played by Steve Hackett. This alone is worth the price of admission, a glimpse into the inner workings of musicians creating a masterpiece, in the most natural way possible, hours of work and practice. Needless to state, Hackett does his usual magic here.

On the previously unreleased "Study No.1 in E Major" is Gereon Schoplick on solo classical guitar, very much in the Phillips tradition. A sensational piece is the "Salmon Leap" features a full band workout that jumps out at you (excuse the pun) like a fish out of water. This was part of "the Scottish Suite" from the stunning "Back to the Pavilion" recording which also sits very high in the Ant pantheon. From that same album, Gereon does another admirable turn on the 12-string loaded with reverb with "Postlude: End of the Season"

"Slow Dance" perennially sits in my all-time top 25 albums, often selected for Sunday morning play, the excerpt from Part 1 a subtle reminder just how great this album is played by reverential musicians who can recognize genius when asked to tackle the repertoire. Anthony has acknowledged this album with his usual humble demeanor, stating that many of the tracks chosen were improvements on the original.

4 Illuminations from the Incline.

On November 27, 1968, RCA Victor released JEFFERSON AIRPLANE's third album, After Bathing at Baxter's. This was their second studio album release in the same year, the follow-up to their hugely popular platinum selling album, Surrealistic Pillow and its monster hits, "Somebody to Love," and "White Rabbit." This was fully intended to be a very experimental album: the band was consciously trying to break the mold of their previous albums--purposely trying to push their sound and songwriting beyond the proscribed formula of the album serving as hit-generators surrounded by fluff or fill. Each song, even the flow of the album, is finely crafted, with not one but five multi-song themed suites-- all at a level of consistency as to make the entire listening experience engaging and immersive--like Sgt. Pepper's Loney Hearts Club Band, providing the listener with a rewarding and theatric sight-seeing journey. I gladly call this album one of the first true examples of progressive rock music: the album as a whole being transcendently more important than just serving as provider of hits and AM radio attention.

Many people having explored this album due to the presence of the two iconic Grace Slick-led performances of "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit"--two songs that happened to have been brought to the Airplane by Ms. Slick from her now disbanded former band, The Great Society. On January 14, the band's new lineup performed at Bill Graham's now-iconic "Human Be-in," an all-day "happening" in Golden Gate Park alongside the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver. After this hugely successful event, an album was in demand--for which Dead leader Jerry Garcia championed and even provided "background production" talents--which the band gratefully acknowledged with their "spiritual guru" credit on the album's liner notes. Recorded and produced in 13 days, the album was released in February. It's single releases,, the first, former drummer Skip Spence's "My Best Friend," failed miserably before "Somebody to Love" (with "She Has Funny Cars" as its B-side) and "White Rabbit" ("Plastic Fantastic Lover") sky-rocketed up the charts. Radio play and influential television performances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour prompted a meteoric rise in public awareness. Their new type of unapologetic electronic psychedelic rock 'n' roll defied all trends in that it felt comforting and even romantic--bridging a gulf that no band before had been able to so successfully and ably reconcile. In June the band was asked to help headline the Monterey International Pop Festival being billed for the headliner spot of Saturday night. Though the festival was greeted with mixed reviews, many critics and audience members recognized the contrast between the "old" artists and their kind of music--which was "on their way out"--and the new artists--the "future"--of which the performance of the Airplane--and especially the mesmerizing (some called it "possessed") presence and performance of Ms. Slick.

After becoming America's most popular band in 1967--an achievement fueled by their significant contributions to their own West Coast's "Summer of Love": a rigorous schedule of touring, two Top 20 Album releases (one platinum selling) and four top 60 singles (two Top 10)--the band was able to continue to create and serve at this peak level with this, their one and only album release of 1968 (and two minor hit singles). A whole-band collaborative effort, almost all the songs were composed or arranged as a collective though some outsiders were allowed in (David Crosby, Tim Davis, Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention, Gary Blackman, Bill Goodwin) for their valued contributions.

1. "Lather" (2:55) the B-side to the album's second single release, the album's title song, it is based in acoustic guitar and electric bass with a rather unusually vulnerable vocal from lead singer and composer Grace Slick. "Nose" player Gary Blackman presents his unusual talents after the first verse. Grace's feigned Irish accent is fine but the constant stream of theatric musique concrète voices and effects going on beneath are not only distracting but diminishing to her own performance. (8.875/10)

2. "In Time" (4:10) acoustic guitars highlight this Paul Kantner and Marty Balin composition while Marty sings the lead with some insistence. This is the second song in a row that feels as if the band are trying to emulate folk rockers from the British Isles--here SPIROGYRA (Martin Cockerham) or COMUS (Roger Wootton). (8.875/10)

3. "Triad" (4:50) a wonderfully-nuanced acoustic guitar-based folk-rock song about polyamorous relationships (composed by The Byrds' David Crosby but rejected by his own band) with a great Grace Slick performance as the lone vocalist. My favorite song on the album. (9.5/10)

4. "Star Trek" (3:08) back to the electric side of things, with Paul Kantner getting extensive play on his newly-acquired wah-wah pedal. Fair but nothing so very remarkable (even considering the title and implied subject matter). Marty Balin's lead vocal is just too dull. (8.66667/10)

5. "Share A Little Joke" (3:07) the B-side to the album's first single release, "Greasy Heart," the Balin-penned song gets a nice vocal performance from its composer and some interesting multi-motif music. Those toms that Spencer Dryden has been hammering for the past two songs are getting very annoying. In fact, his drums in general are recorded a little too brightly or forward or something. Still, I like the song shows a little of the band's experimental side, which I like--and its ending. (9/10)

6. "Chushingura" (1:16) Paul Kantner's response to the Japanese film of the same name. Oscillators, hand drums, manipulated guitar strings. (4.25/5)

7. "If You Feel" (3:21) another Marty Balin contribution--this time with friend Gary Blackman's help--it sounds almost as if he's trying to create an anthemic song for some kind of human potential rally or church revival. The drums are overboard, the bass rather loose, and too much leeway is given to Paul Kantner's play on his new toy (the wah-wah pedal). (8.33333/10)

8. "Crown Of Creation" (2:53) the second single release. Unfortunately, the song is trying too hard to be driven more by its high-brow philosophical human-potential ideas rendered in obtuse Jon Anderson-like lyrics than melodies or earworm hooks. Horribly sloppy drumming, disappointingly simple bass and rhythm guitar work with okay lead guitar work and nice multi-voice vocal performances and arrangements just don't all gel the way one would hope. (8.75/10)

9. "Ice Cream Phoenix" (3:02) a song that feels as if the band is "going back" to its blues- and folk-rock roots shows a little maturity and experience but at the same time suffers from the pervasive anti-establishment attitudes of the zeitgeist of San Francisco in 1968. I wonder what the band members would think when they listened to these songs in their middle and elder ages. Probably a lot of embarrassed cringing. (8.66667/10)

10. "Greasy Heart" (3:19) the first single released from the album. It and its companion song, "Lather," were recorded in February at RCA studios, while the rest of the album's songs were more carefully pieced together between March and June in the new basement studio of the band's newly acquired communal home, called "The Mansion," located directly across from San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The song sounds very much as if Grace is trying to capture the power and force that she projected in her breakthrough performances from Surrealistic Pillow. (8.75/10)

11. "The House At Pooneil Corners" (5:48) striving for more return to the heavier side of rock 'n' roll the band turn on (and up) the amps and fill the sonic field with controlled chaos and multiple voice vocals from the famed tandem of Grace and Marty. The lyrics seem to express a kind of prophetic/apocryphal vision that is probably intended to raise anti-war sentiment. Not a bad song made better for the lyrics. (8.875/10)

Total time 37:49

B/four stars; a collection of diverse songs from a fully-functioning if slightly-fogged collective of rock stars riding high on their newly acquired fame. Not for everyone--and not much of a forward contribution to the birth of progressive rock music--but a satisfactory representation of its time.

ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ME TO RATEYOURMUSIC.COM

Dichotomy of Beauty and Dissonance

The existence of "Easy Listening" implies the existence of "Difficult Listening", and this album would surely fall under that category.

Dichotomy ? "A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different."

I began my exploration of progressive, and experimental music approximately 25 years ago. Throughout the years my tastes have changed and I've gained an appreciation for different sounds and compositions, as is typical of the human experience. I have distinct memories of hearing specific songs or albums for the first time, and feeling like they had changed my perspective towards music. If you'd please humour me, I would now like to cite a few significant examples that will provide context for this review.

The albums "Metanoia", "Voyage 34", & In Absentia by Porcupine Tree provided me with an introduction to a style of music I was completely unaware existed. These works opened doors for my exploration into psychedelic and progressive music, as well as instrumental compositions of all genres.

The songs "Careful with That Axe, Eugene", "Echoes", and "Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun" by Pink Floyd sent me down a rabbit hole of music from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The use of intentional dissonance on "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" was enlightening on the ways that "negative" sounds can improve "positive" sounds quality by establishing negative range. By this I mean in lieu of a scale from zero to ten, this implied a scale from negative ten to positive ten may exist and the difference between two sounds could be greater than I'd previously imagined.

I'll soon digress, and I will not bore you with a cataloguing of my exploration of musical experimentation. I do, however, ask that I provide one more example that I find perfectly prepared me to appreciate this album.

The 2004 album "Catch for Us the Foxes" by mewithoutYou opened my ears to several sounds and styles I had not heard previously. The vocalist Aaron Weiss uses a style best described as anger-fueled spoken-word. The lyrics are very personal poetry he delivers in a way that makes you believe he's experienced every hypothetical scenario he describes or relate to every simile that perfectly describes human experiences like suicidal thoughts/ideations, struggle with existentialism or spirituality, and detachment from relationships or humanity. Though I am now a devoutly anti-religious person, I still listen to this album and admire what they were able to do and how they were able to do it.

This brings us to the task at hand, somehow inditing a review for Sprain's 2023 album "The Lamb as Effigy". I deliberately titled this review using the word dichotomy, and in my foreword provided the definition, I will now elaborate on why. My description earlier on the change of my perspective on music from a zero to ten scale for positive to negative sounds according to criteria we've been indoctrinated to believe to a negative ten to positive ten scale based off of a new perspective. This perspective shift is that of dichotomy or balance, one cannot fully appreciate beautiful, melodic, or harmonious sounds while ignoring the role loud, dissonant, or "noise"(y) sounds have in the development of a full composition.

In the colour spectrum, every shade has a role and it is through contrast that they shine most brightly.

My first time hearing "The Lamb as Effigy" I felt as though it had been tailor-made for me. I'd been searching for this album for 19 years since I'd first heard "Catch for Us the Foxes" and in that time developed such an appreciation for extremity that I was now prepared for this album to be released. Serendipitously, I was blessed that the axes of time aligned for me to hear this album in a moment I was prepared to appreciate it.

From the moment the album starts with "Man Proposes, God Disposes" one is greeted by aggressive spoken-word vocals, and a unique brand of Post-Hardcore instrumentation that initially caused me to question what genre I was even listening to. The lyricism is incredible throughout the album, but this track in particular highlights a potential struggle the individual may be going through. This is later confirmed by an (in the distance, but clearly audible through the microphone) potential panic or anxiety attack the vocalist has while struggling to deliver the last few lines of the album. The personal nature of the subject matter is clearly evident and cannot be overlooked by the beautiful instrumental compositions on the album.

Back to my main theme, dichotomy. The album is perfectly balanced in ways I had not previously thought possible or palatable. The most extreme moments hold truly dissonant notes to the point that the listener's patience is pushed to their boundaries, almost as if the band is testing our limits. On the contrary, the most beautiful moments could almost be classified at Post-Rock instrumental compositions or a vocal style that could be considered operatic. These two dichotomous extremes balance out to form the most incredible album I've listened to in years.

By rights this year's Grammy Award for Album of the Year should have been a two-horse race between Sprain's "The Lamb as Effigy" and Betcover!!'s "卵 (Tamago)".

This album gave me hope for the continued evolution of musical experimentation.

1. South Texas starts psychedelic, on a DOORS ersatz and their ambient, progressive and spatial variations, those of bad trips we agree. 2 basses to give a singular foundation to note 2. Twisted Flower extension of the 1st title, everything is in the cascade of crystalline notes, to be taken as ... continued 3. Here In The Year starts on an air referring to the future works of Mike OLDFIELD, yes the album is only a reissue and the origin dated back to the 70s, at the time when the prog drawers were not instituted; the sound becomes progressive in the end, ambient, spleen, with a staggering misty melody; psychedelic to reassure on the sound heard 4. For Ever for a piece highlighting even more (we can't do better in fact!) Bill's voice, accompanied by the choirs; break... suddenly, an organ, a military march drum, a guitar that twists the air, the sound swells, it rises, it saturates, a bit of Anglican grandiloquence for this Texan and the psychedelic side reaches its firmament. Too vocalized finale preventing to leave on the wadded limbo

5. See What You Cause riff in the ROLLING STONES, astonishing for the bass and the voice; rhythmic, jerky, denoting from the beginning of the album, well we are on the 2nd side, we made the effort to get up and change... in short, worn out more than that but remembering the release we are definitely on a pearl of yesteryear, a jewel of unacknowledged proto-Prog, of the psyche of the DOORS, of the PINK FLOYD still in short pants 6. Fall for the fall before its time... I had been thinking about the NEW YORK DOLLS, ALICE COOPER, a sound in its raw state for a while; the future of the ALIENS had already climbed onto the launch pad here and had deserted planet Earth; well, the voice launches me into the orbit of BLUE ÖYSTER CULT and Eric, yes the memory works at full speed to get out of the Earth's attraction. A fresh and old-fashioned air, the desire to test sounds that did not yet exist, the real pleasure of creating, deciphering and giving free rein to one's desires 7. Ra-Ma comes to close this LP taken from the bottom of the drawer, monolithic air like Riders on the Storm, atmosphere of the 60s gangsters on motorcycles, in a gang, dressed in black, the guitars lighting the road darkened by their misdeeds; hold a harmonica suddenly and the sound becomes marshmallow before its time, yes I was not yet born listening to this air which sticks to your skin, to your ears; the resemblance of a BOC, of ​​a DOORS is remarkable especially in reverse, this group was indeed avant-garde. The guitar looks at the bend of another break on the bluesy Louisiana atmosphere, that of sticky syrups, time stops. 4 for the sound of the time, for the originality.

HAIRY CHAPTER were a hard rocking four piece band from Germany, releasing two studio albums in the early seventies. On the site here they've chosen to post the 2 on 1 compilation, instead of the two studio albums on their own. Both albums were under 35 minutes so they released this in 1994 on cd. I only have the second album "Can't Get Through" which I'm reviewing now and it's from 1971. Their debut "Eyes" from 1970 is apparently more straight forward blues rock, and is even tagged with garage rock on RYM. Not the second one though.

This is adventerous and they've brought in some guests this time around. A second drummer who is on the opener only, a harmonica/bongo player, a double bass man besides their own bass player, and a trumpet player. The trumpet man was over 50 years old and looks so out of place with these hippies. Not big on his contribution either on that one track sounding like he's playing on the TV series Zorro. Dieter Dierks engineered and produced this album and composed the closer. He knew these guys were special but the singer is probably the wild card for most. I love the character of his voice and how theatrical he gets. No keyboards here.

"There's A Kind Of Nothing" opens with a lot of fire power. This guitarist is a light show but to start we get a lot of distortion before he changes to a cleaner sound. The vocals and guitar trade off which sounds so cool. We get pretty much silence half way through then double bass before it builds kicking back in late. "Can't Get Enough" has a lot of energy as the vocals and guitar cry out. Harmonica after 1 1/2 minutes as the vocals step aside. The vocals and guitar are amazing on this almost 11 minute track.

"It Must be An Officer's Daughter" is something. An 8 minute tour de force where lust rears it's ugly head and the band go into that dark mode with creepy vocals. They slow it down but it remains powerful and check out that pure emotion starting around 3 1/2 minutes. The bass is incredible here as the guitar lays waste all else. "As We Crossed Over" is almost folky with strummed guitar and more relaxed singing. My least favourite. The closer opens with them sounding like they warming up for a minute before suddenly the metal is flying. Vocals follow as it picks up.

A very solid 4 stars in my world.

One of my favorites by PV. I do not understand the hatred of the cymbals. I hear lush acoustic spiritual music with both a modern and krautrock sensibility augmented by a complete band effort which takes it from the prog folk to the new age early krautrock realm. Simply perfect in my opinion. I put this in the same category as Aguirre and the album has a spirit similar to their popular track Morgengrüss throughout. Also very similar to the Wounded Knee effort by GILA. The female vocal is a nice touch. This album fits in the sweet spot of their catalogue and would be a suitable introductory album for a prog fan in general. Along with Aguirre and Pharaohs their finest hour.

Some Swedish 'heavy prog' sir? Don't mind if I do.

A one and done Scandi outfit but the one they done they done well. And I luv this being vocal free. Can be worth a half star alone! Actually the first track is very Santana, in their earlier more jamming style and the percussion underscores this. It sort of goes a bit Procol Harum halfway through for no discernable reason but it goes there with panache and those Leslie cabs working overtime for the keyboards. They follow it with the more pastoral Pa En Sten which could be a slightly heavy handed Focus if you really want.... I do have a Flasket Brinner album and its a bit lazy to compare but it is obvious for all to hear. The third track is 'the long one' and has a world music style opening and builds with a bass stomp and I can't help but say Wishbone Ash with keyboards and a pinch of Kraut thrown in to the mix. And they must have been very aware of Pink Floyd (who wasn't to be fair) and Birth Control. Sometimes a song doesn't have to get out of third gear either to work but they may marginally overstretch the point. The title track comes next. A stabby keys backing has the guitar line layered on top and I for one am still in Wishbone Ash with keys territory. Maybe BJH pop by too but the keys man is given some space and it jams out on his solo attack. If anyone knows Jody Grind...that's a box ticked. The Sudden Grace is pure Santana and I ain't complaining. Vagspel tips the wink to Focus again and maybe Brian Auger as it has a jazz/blues undercurrent. The final track tries to bend a shuffle out of shape and perhaps is the albums 'fail'. Nice tray and all that but...

So in summary. Interesting. No vocals. Jammy. A broad set of influences. Shame we never got to hear where it went on a follow up. Its a 3.45 but am moving beyond that with extra kudos for not having a singer. A 4 is almost unfair on others have rated as 3's but for this being a bit left field, that's where I am going. Oh and 'crossover' my backside...

This is one of the best Hawkwind albums, thanks to the gigantic You Shouldn't do That, a song that is difficult to describe due to the spacey Synthesizer Explorations, touches or jazz rock (with lots of sax improvisation) and some cacophonic repetitive sounds that create a very psychedelic effect. Not only that, the song lasts more than fifteen minutes, which was not so common in 71. Definitely, a true statement of the anarchic art of these fellows.

Besides that, the album features different things, with Master of the Universe being the closest to what would be known as the trademark Hawkwind sound, while You Know You're Only Dreaming and We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago are very spacey, but gentler and even a bit folkier, giving a nice flavor for the album, with it's different moods. It is like they were doing calm and contemplative counterpoints to the intense and denser songs of the album.

The band would still need some years to evolve to the more recognizable and polished sound of their mid and late seventies album that became their trademark sound. But X in Search of Space is a raw diamond that makes it one of the most interesting prog albums of 1971.

This album gets a lot of underserved criticism. The year was 1976 and Triumvirat was one of the few bands that were trying to do prog that sounds a bit different from the early seventies without conceding to pop. They'd be forced by their record label later and do a bad and an atrocious album. But that is not the subject here.

With a new lineup and no guitars, Triumvirat makes a tremendous job in keeping their sound fresh and very progressive. The four songs over seven minutes are all different, remarkable and enjoyable. The string synths are a special treat, just check the atmospheric passages on A Day in A Life and The History of Mystery, the two best tracks of the album.

Another highlight in a completely different mood is A Cold Old Worried Lady, which is basically a song with only piano and vocals (there is a bit of string Synthesizer as well). The piano arrangement is simply impressive and the song very emotional.

Unfortunately, the fortunes of this progressive rock band were changing, as the genre started losing its prominence in the late seventies and the following albums would never reach the heights of Old Loves Die Hard, that, along with Spartacus, represent the best and most inventive part of Triumvirat career.

Since the early 1980s the See For Miles Records has specialized in releasing long lost artifacts from the past by compiling flotsam and jetsam of both unknown and more familiar bands as well as nurturing new fledgling talented artists. In the mid-80s the label released one of its most critically acclaimed and most popular series THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP which came out as four vinyl records or three CDs. Comparable to the US Nuggets series, this one focuses on the British 60s scene with the first two editions focusing on the more obscure artists who didn't exactly burn up the singles charts during their day but nevertheless captured the spirt and zeitgeist of era in ways that equalled or surpassed the most famous bands still known today.

THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1 1966-1969 begins the series with artists who existed concurrently with the more famous bands like The Who, The Pretty Things orThe Small Faces but never found any success in terms of exposure or sales for that matter. In fact most of these artists never even had the opportunity to release a single album with only a few singles that dotted their short-lived output. Despite the obscure nature of the artists on this compilation, none of which i was familiar with before encountering this psychedelic pop gem, these artists showcase exactly how many talented acts there were in the day crafting excellently constructed psychedelic baroque pop that stood up to the best of the era.

Also falling in line with the 60s marketing trends of confusing the public, there are actually two versions of this compilation released simultaneously with slightly different titles. The vinyl LP edition only featured 20 tracks and sported a different album cover as THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP (1966-1969) while the CD edition featured 26 tracks and was released as THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1. This was the result of the limitations of vinyl which split the series into four editions whereas the longer CD format fit everything snugly into three. While most of these tracks will be completely unfamiliar, a couple of them may jump out at you including The Flies' version of "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" best known as a Monkees single as well as The Californians' version of Warren Zevon's "Follow Me."

What this compilation succeeds in is revealing a completely unknown underground of the richness of the British music scene of the 1960s and although these tracks are psychedelic pop, like experimental artists like The Beatles, many were pushing boundaries while engaging in their trippy fuzz guitar sounds and Beach Boys style harmonies. While all the artists here could ostensibly be considered pop artists, the degree to which they aimed for the singles charts varied with clear missed hits with the sunshine pop "The Muffin Man" from World Of Oz to the more etheral, less commercial sounding track "Renaissance Fair" from Human Instinct. Others such as The Californians actually sound a lot like The Monkees. Overall this is an excellent collection of lost gems that will exhilarate those who can't get enough of 60s British psychedelic pop in the vein of The Pretty Things, The Beatles or The Move. Not every track is equally compelling but none are throwaways either.

The year 1967 was America's Summer of Love, a time when idealistic youth fled the doldrums of their conservative communities all across the USA and flocked to the city of San Francisco in droves in order to find a piece of all that peace, love and free drug-fueled sex emulating out of the city's Haight-Ashbury district. While many bands are associated with the time and place where it all played out, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE remains the band that many first think of when referring to this particular music scene and indeed the year 1967 was the AIRPLANE's peak as it started it out with its amazingly popular "Surrealistic Pillow" which yielded two top 10 singles and ended with its complete transmogrification into a bonafide art rock band. In between the band engaged in a massive touring schedule and even played at the Monterrey Pop Festival in June. In fact, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE was the most popular act in the USA in 1967 and even found its popularity spreading all across the world.

The band didn't squander its success either as it engaged in its massive tour circuit and TV appearances from the release of "Surrealistic Pillow" in February, 1967 all throughout the year while the band members were enthusiastically working on a followup album. While initially JEFFERSON AIRPLANE was quite content with the psychedelic pop direction that propelled the band's music into the limelight, the members of the band like many musicians of the day were profoundly impacted by the release of The Beatles' game-changing album "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club" which was heard like a shot around the world that pop single oriented albums were out and that the era of conceptually focused art rock albums that offered more freedom were in. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE like many of the era immediately scrapped all its plans and started anew and fearlessly moved on well beyond its pop rooted comfort zone.

The band wasted no time and crafted its first art rock album in time to release at the end of the year in November. The results amounted to the first of its most interesting period and AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S came out only nine months after "Surrealistic Pillow" but saw the band maturing from its psychedelic singer's oriented pop simplicity to a bonafide proto-progressive art rock band. With a nebulous album title that referred to the group's code work for LSD and provocative counterculture album cover that satirized the shallowness of American consumer culture, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE hadn't abandoned its hippie ideals and revolutionary thinking that were drowned out with in heavy doses of drug use but rather took it all to the next level. While the band's pop single days were over and the band never scored another top 10 in its career, the album was touted by critics as one of the West Coast psychedelic rock scene's most mature undertakings finding praise as far afield as the hi-brow musical world of the UK.

The first impression AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S will give you is that JEFFERSON AIRPLANE had embarked on a journey of a newfound artistic freedom and breaking the shackles of the whims and profit seeking margins of the record label (RCA in this case) although it is true that the fast-changing music scene had record companies thrown off their game in the late 60s and RCA was gambling on the "Sgt Pepper's" effect that AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S would be met with the same chart success but unfortunately America wasn't quite ready for such heady art rock and the album was a disappointment in terms of initial sales despite raving critical reviews. To many this album will sound a bit amateurish with sloppy musical performances that embraced a bit of dissonance and off-kilter vocal harmonies which were in stark contrast to the slick pop aesthetics of "Surrealistic Pillow." Soulful lyrical content back by extended folk rock backing and slightly askew guitar accompaniments were prognosticating the world of post-punk and avant-prog long before either genre came to be.

Another aspect that made BAXTER's substantially different was the fact Paul Kantner picked up the songwriting slack as Marty Balin became ever disillusioned by the band's drug use antics. Kantner offered a much looser form of songwriting that found greater doses of garage rock nonchalantness to the mix however Grace Slick proved herself to have a much greater range on her vocal abilities and delivered some of the best performances of her career. Overt anti-war lyrical content had evolved beyond the "tune out, drop out" years of hippie ideals and taken into the realms of pure protest in the vein of many folkies of the era such as Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger. The album also featured more anarchic sounds with acid rock guitar sounds let off the leash as well as the highly experimental 9-minute track "Spare Chaynge" that sounded like an early Krautrock offering that would eventually become popularized by Germany's Amon Duul II" with its thundering bass rolls and provocatively dissonantly hypnotic guitar riffing.

When all is said and done, AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S proved to be an extremely influential album on many of the progressive rock bands that would emerge in a few short years and what the album lacked in terms of popularity at the time, it more than made up for in ingenuity and maturity that steered the band into the direction of one of the 60s most forward thinking bands which kept the band relevant well beyond the fleeting year of The Summer of Love. AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S is without a doubt an acquired taste as it lacks the instant liability factor that its processor endeared fans with. On the contrary, this album is a dark and brooding social critique steeped in harsher tones and musical delivery systems. It's a fascinating work that while not exactly perfect showcased many of the elements that would become progressive rock staples. Loose freeform compositional structures finding unpredictabilities and moments of non-rock instrumentation such as a flute only elevated its art rock status into one of the most innovative albums of 1967. It took me a while to warm up to this phase of JEFFERSON AIRPLANE but in the end this album has become more interesting the more i've listened to it.

A Boston-based psychedelic band opens their brief sojourn into the world of recorded music with this interesting rock opera novelty.

1. "Theme for the Masses" (2:52) a very nice, well-composed intro/overture with a pretty perfect blend of Hammond- dominated rock musicians and string quartet. (9.25/10)

2. "Harrison Street / Excerpt (from the Theme)" (10:29) now we're definitely in the territory of theatre soundtrack music, but then singer Joey Scott enters. The musicianship is very good though the composition is a bit stilted by conformity to stereotypic structures of Broadway rock operas and the ABCs of rock music construction; everything feels as if by-the-numbers--tight and constricted. Even the extended organ solo in the third and fourth minutes seems restrained and held in check. Arthur Webster's lead guitar solo follows and it's either filled with intentional mistakes or made horrible by beginner-like inexperience. The second guitar that joins in a little later at least has some knowledge of chords and jazz structures--and still it keeps going! This is one song that I know that I could have better composed and performed! (16/20)

3. "Back to Philadelphia / The Race" (4:39) turning to Philly's R&B sound, the band settles back into the smoky darkness of a late-night lounge on the shady side of town. It's better than the previous song but it's so cautiously conservative: again, by the numbers. It is, however, good music for Joey's rather nice, nuanced vocal performance. (8.75/10)

4. "The Race / From a Back Door Window (The Search) / Theme for the Masses" (17:18) blending together several motifs of very familiar DOORS-like pop music over which Joey Scott tries to deliver Eric Burden/Jim Morrison-type vocal performances. The musicians in the rhythm section show some proficiency at their instruments--at least until the two guitarists try to impress again, then it becomes near disaster. I find myself cringing with embarrassment (cuz I've been there)! (29.33333/35)

5. "Postlude: Looking Back" (2:10) the country-rock finale is another bookend of nicely rendered pop music. (8.875/10)

Total Time 37:28

An odd novelty topic serves as a vehicle for some fairly amateur musicians to serve up a rather mundane collection of standardized musical styles for a wannabe Jim Morrison-like rock star. An album that perhaps should not be included in my list of significant 1968 contributors to the Birth of Progressive Rock if not for the ambitious rock opera conceptual theme. Too bad the producers and band failed to incorporate the string quartet from the opening song throughout the entire album.

C+/three stars; a good but not very valuable contribution to the development of early progressive rock music. And if you're thinking, after reading my review, that the band might have potential that will be better realized on its successive albums, you'd be wrong: this is the peak of their sound and development; the next one just gets more kischy Off-Broadway-like.

The kitschy cheap Off -Broadway-sounding follow up to the Boston band's ambitious debut from the year before, Trilogy for the Masses. I'd say this one is for completionists only as the kitsch and schlock are just too overwhelmingly nauseating; one would have to be either quite the masochist or quite the Off-Broadway completionist to want to suffer through the full album listening experience. Perhaps it's all intended to be in fun--as sarcasm or a parody--as the humorous group photo on the album cover might suggest--but regardless, the music and its performances are so poor and inconsistently produced that it actually hurts. I want this hour back from my life!

The second album release from this collaborative pairing of two of Sweden's jazz virtuoso instrumentalists.

1. "Live" (1:17) why the band chose to include this excerpt from a live concert performance I can only guess--to display the tight, skillful rhythmic play of the duo.

2. "I Love, You Love" (13:52) While the loud sections of this recording are a difficult listen due to trouble in the source tapes at handling the decibel levels on the recording tapes, I am quite fond of the slower, more spacious downtempo (and volume) sections. Drummer Janne Karlsson definitely delivers from his end--which is no small accomplishment given that he's one of only two instrumentalists up on that stage--and considering that he's up against the monster potential of an organ. At 8:45 Bo starts into a new motif, chugging forward with the insistence of a freight train while Janne gallops alongside, the peak of which begins at the end of the eleventh minute. By the middle of the twelfth minute Bo has slowed everything back down to a stop, creating a peaceful patch in which he barely fills with some extremely low-volume note play. Subtle drum play returns and some gentle organ pulses and swells, but the song is really just suffering a slow death. Stellar performances from two masters of their instruments. (27/30)

3. "Carolus Rex" (1:46) a smash-up and distortion-pack of double-tracked performances by the duo performing a kind of public band piece in the shell on the city green. Weird but interesting! (4.3333/5)

4. "Chateau Plaisance" (21:55) opening with a fade into a blues-tinged swing that sees Janne holding down the rhythm with Bo's foot pedals while the organ fills the rest of the sonic field with some very expansive chords and play. Janne has plenty of room in which to fill and embellish--a lot of it quite impressive--while Bo keeps testing the number of notes he can hold on the organ all at the same time with his raunchy Hammond sound. At 5:40 there is a weird fade out while, at the same time, there is a fade in of a whole new motif with totally different sounds and engineering effects--and again at 6:18. I really love the new motif that is established: something in the nearly-funky groove really succeeds at drawing me in--but then its lost when the organ backs out at the nine-minute mark and we're left with a drum solo. The dude's good, I just don't really like drum solos. Another fade out/fade in at the eleven minute mark serves up more drum-dominated music--until Bo finally gets his act back together in the 12th. From there out it's a Hammond fest with lots of requisite screeching, swirling and wailing. One good five minute section is not, however, enough to make this a winner. (39/45)

Total Time 38:50

I'm a little irked to think that song edits like these--of obvious live performances--keep getting passed on to the public as "studio recordings." I, for one, am so thankful for the invention and advent of multi-track recording! While I am not a fan of either this type of music or the organ (especially the Hammond), I have decided to include this album in my celebration of 1968's contributions to the Birth of Progressive Rock music due to the creative engineering and editing as well as the obvious skills and creative talents of the two instrumentalists involved. Plus, I can see how this tandem might quite possibly be where modern day psychedelic jazz-rock prog artist Ståle Storløkken got his inspiration for his small trios, duos and quartets.

B-/four stars; a fine representative of the organ and drum genre of 1960s blues-rock displaying two very fine musicians.

Who Do We Think We Are is getting a right royal pasting by the prog collabs and rightfully so. Deep Purple set the bar so high with the brilliant Machine Head, it would've been a shock to the fan base to see them come crashing down to Earth. Gillan didn't let the door hit him on the bum on the way out as Coverdale swiftly entered through the swinging doors.

It opens well enough with the only song that bothers to grace the greatest hits back catalogue with the energetic Woman from Tokyo. It's memorable though I've never rated it too highly as it's not as inspired as the earlier material.

It goes downhill from there faster than a rat out of an aqueduct. Mary Long has bizarre lyrics and a forgettable tune. Inspired by the queen of censorship Mary Whitehouse and forgotten just as quickly.

Super Trouper is less than 3 minutes and not even as good as the catchy Abba tune.

Smooth Dancer is better, really rocking with a style like the awesome Highway Star.

Rat Bat Blue is definitely better in terms of Blackmores fret work instilling a passion lost on most of this album. The riffing is terrific so it stands out after the earlier mediocrity. The keyboards blaze in a blistering solo with Lord at his best. He is attacking those keys like a man possessed.

Place In Line is a bluesy guitar driven thing that I kinda like being a blues fan. Mistreated us a better blues number, but there's still some cool hooks on this. Lord delivers a shimmering organ solo and Blackmore rocks out so that elevates it.

Our Lady is a psychedelic groovy track that runs out of steam and ends the album with a whimper rather than a bang.

In short, apart from three gems this is a Purple misfire that reflects the inner turmoil that was troubling the band at the time, leading ultimately to their disbanding til a refreshed approach gave them a return to greatness and Gillan on 1984's Perfect Strangers.

Deep Purple's Burn surfaced at the height of their fame as progenitors of British proto metal. The classic lineup consisted of David Coverdale's vocals, Ritchie Blackmore's axe work, Jon Lord's keyboard wizardry, Glen Hughes bass, and Ian Paice on the boom booms. They burst out of the gate with a frantic pace on Burn, the most beloved of all these tracks. The melody and vocals are infectious and the musicianship sizzles like flaming embers. The percussion of Paice cooks and Lord's keys grind up a storm.

Might Just Take Your Life is motored by organ shreds in a bluesy rhythm. The harmonies are wonderful and Blackmore's lead breaks are scorching.

Lay Down, Stay Down has some great riffing and an ice cool lead break.

The pace becomes a slow burn on Sail Away that features a catchy melody and Coverdale in fine form.

You Fool No One has Paice locked in a rhumba rhythm and harmonies throughout. An oddity in Purple's catalogue and again Coverdale is a powerhouse on vocals. The lead break ascends to some high note fret work.

What's Goin' On Here has an infectious hook and a blues rock feel. The harmonies are glorious and Blackmore is having a ball on lead guitar with the call and answer approach to the vocals, then ballroom piano follows. This one is a real fun blast and remains a favourite obscurity.

Mistreated has been a favourite of mine since I've heard it live, powered by Coverdale and a blistering lead guitar solo. The slow bluesy feel is wonderful, and how this builds gradually with layers of guitars over Hughes brooding baseline has a genuine emotional resonance. The outro lead break is a belter, a blazing inferno of speed picking.

"A" 200 closes the album with spacey keyboards and catchy melodies. The instrumental is captivating.

Overall, Burn is a blazing triumph and the band would keep the candle burning for the next year's albums with only a few burnouts along the way.

Technically considered a proto-prog, we all know the effect their hard-rock cover of The Supremes' monster hit, "You Keep Me Hanging On" had on the rock and pop world as well as the tremendous respect the rock world had for long- time journeymen, bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice (Cactus, Beck Bogert & Appice; Bobby & The Midnights, Boxer, Rick Derringer; Rod Stewart, King Kobra, Blue Murder, et al.), but not a lot of people know the overreach of excess that was this band's sophomore album, The Beat Goes On, or the triumph of innovation that was this album, Renaissance.

1. "The Sky Cried - When I Was a Boy" (7:41) opens with quite the bombastic barrage of sound--and not just rock instrumentation but LOUD storm noises and more--while all four musicians flail away with their volumes turned up to 11. The sound recording is not great (especially on the drums) but then what engineer and tape could tame and contain this kind of barrage? The theatric, impassioned lead vocals of Mark Stein are reminiscent of The Animals' Eric Burdon as well as many of the hard rockers to come, including those of Grand Funk Railroad, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath. (14/15)

2. "Thoughts" (3:32) a powerful song using two vocalist in the alternating way that Uriah Heep, Grand Funk, and others would do, I'm told these lyrics are equally moving. (9/10)

3. "Paradise" (6:04) B-movie horror soundtrack organ opens this one before inane Killing Eve theme music bass and vocalese join in. It's really not until 2:20 that the song kicks into full rock form--and it's a killer--one that THE ANIMALS and ARGENT would be quite proud of. Then it reverts to cinematic theater for a church choir vocal section before exploding into the hard rockin' chorus of the title. The final minute has the band winding down into a more subdued vocal part. Interesting and creative song! (9/10)

4. "That's What Makes a Man" (4:29) opening like a FOCUS song from one of the Dutch band's early albums. Mark Stein enters as the music softens, singing sensitively in his higher-pitched almost-falsetto register. The bridge to the multi- voiced chorus is a great build with heavily distorted guitars and swelling organ chords What a well-crafted, perfectly- constructed rock song! So many hard rock bands will benefit tremendously for the example of this song and album! (9.25/10)

5. "The Spell That Comes After" (4:32) a song credited to Frank Zappa album artist Calvin Schenkel and Frank Zappa protogé, Essra Mo(w)hawk. (Will the real author please stand up!). It opens with quiet, syncopated high bass notes, gradually joined by gentle strains of organ and higher-pitched vocalese notes giving the soundscape an eerie and misty feel. At 1:45 the band finally bursts into its full rock motif--another one that previews so many dramatic hard rocking prog-related bands in the near future like URIAH HEEP, IRON MAIDEN, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, MOUNTAIN, HUMBLE PIE, and even Andrew Lloyd-Weber's rock operas (Jesus Christ Superstar). (9/10)

6. "Faceless People" (6:07) the pensive opening 90 seconds feels based on a familiar riff/construct from classical music, but then the rock juju can no longer be contained and the band bursts forth with a nicely complex, if somewhat ragged (drums and electric guitar) motif. Still, it's not till the end of the third minute that any singing enters--and then 30 seconds later Vince Martell is encouraged to take his dirty distortion guitar to another level: launching into a very nice solo for about 20 seconds. Then we return to the rock motif for more of Mark Stein's vocals, but in the sixth minute we are privileged with a side tangent that seems to re-engage the classical side of these artists training bass for a very cool instrumental and choir finish. (8.875/10)

7. "Season of the Witch" (8:47) here the band shows how their own particular vision of how a song should and could sound still drives them as they rock/psych out for nearly nine minutes on this Donovan song (which in Mr. Leitch's catalogue was originally only three-minutes long). The song opens with another 90 second intro speckled with subtle, individual note and sound contributions in an attempt at creating a mysterious mood. This is augmented when the singer, organ, bass, and drums join in, not really changing the sparse cave-like feeling, only adding their own elements--until the choruses when they ramp it up to full rock power (though never as heavy as they did on their previous songs). Then there is the sixth minute in which Mark Stein recites some poetic theater with some great acting chops. The theatrics go well on into the seventh minute, even when Mark returns to "singing" around the 6:40 mark. The band's extreme efforts are pretty effective but never really totally persuasive--though their "failure" could have more to do with the shortcomings of the original song (which had never really impressed me in the first place). Anyway. Kudos for the attempt! It is fairly entertaining! (17.75/20)

Total Time 41:12

A great rock album that for well qualifies in the "proto-prog" category. I can definitely see how and why these musicians were in demand after the breakup of this band: they're really skilled professionals.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of skillfully composed and executed proto-prog that I think all prog rockers would enjoy; it's a true "blast from the past"!

Out of all the fusion records produced during the 70s & 80s, this one here stands out for its special uniqueness, comparable to none. It Certainly wasn't the generic fusion variety of which there were too many recordings those days. Though some of these compositions were recorded on some of Al Di Meolas albums. But they sound much more polished rather than raw like this. Where Al's group consisted of world class session musicians Barry Miles, Steve Gadd and Anthony Jackson, this here is a total band record. Mingo Lewis is a gifted and creative artist and a powerful one too and it's speaks entirely for itself. The blending of jazz, rock, latin and even progressive rock are all here with lengthy songs such as Heartsong & the title track of the album. These are very speedy, intense and complex music that can rival other albums such as Birds Of Fire & Romantic Warrior.

Venezuelan guitarist FELIX MARTIN has been on the technical guitar music scene for almost 15 years now and still remains quite unique with his self-designed 12, 14 and 16-string guitars that he has perfected the art of finger tapping on. After studying at the Berklee School of Music in Boston and relocating to Los Angeles, MARTIN has been touring with other guitar wizards ranging from Bumblefoot (with Sons of Apollo) and Marty Friedman to Tony MacAlpine across the world. MARTIN has delivered a steady stream of nerdy instrumental albums since his debut "Bizarre Rejection" in 2010 and currently in 2024 he has released his latest power trio assault THE GATHERING.

For a guitar virtuoso MARTIN plays it cool and on the 10 tracks featured on THE GATHERING he definitely showcases his two-handed double-neck guitar tapping approaches with his collection of multi-stringed guitars and accompanying 10-strong basses but he integrates inspiration derived from progressive rock and metal along with medieval music, video game soundtracks, Japanese anime themes and an abundance of jittery math rock time signatures. Unlike other modern guitar gods such as Tosin Abasi who favor djent-fueled guitar heft, MARTIN offers a gentler approach making his music a bit more light and breezy despite the incessant flow of finger-tapping techniques permeating the album's run.

Add to that MARTIN infuses his Latin musical roots into the mix and the entire album has a bit of the jazz fusion vibe that has been more prevalent on his previous albums. First and foremost MARTIN is dedicated to intriguing melodies and dynamic rhythmic drive with the virtuosity supporting the overarching theme, a trait lost on many virtuosos although that has been changing in the 21st century as gifted guitarists have found new musical avenues to incorporate their shredding skills into. Perhaps the most dynamic feature of MARTIN's music is the fact that his 16 and 12-string guitars along with the 10-string basses offer a huge palette of sounds and technical possibilities. Add to that MARTIN uses two hands on two necks to craft contrapuntal guitar techniques, some of the most advanced technical wizardry possible.

Each track on the album includes its own artwork of an anime character that represents it as seen on the album cover art. While usually tucked into the world of progressive metal, THE GATHERING is less metallic than previous albums and offers a cleaner less distorted array of tones and timbres. The trio is flawless in its nerdy execution of the string attacks however i find the drummer to be the least interesting of the bunch as he basically only exists to maintain a steady beat with no outbursts of virtuosity in his own right although he doers offer some moments of interest. Even more exhilarating than hearing MARTIN play is to experience the visuals on his videos where you can marvel at the beefy excessively stringed guitars that he and bandmate Joan Torres double tap with amazing grace and ease.

Overall this like any MARTIN release is impressive on a technical level and even competent as far as painting interesting melodic developments and balancing the elements involved however even with all the attention focused on the songwriting with the finger tapping a secondary process, the album still comes off as a bit one-dimensional as the tracks don't vary significantly enough from one another and by the time the album nears its final tracks the wow factor has diminished. While MARTIN has learned the discipline of toning things down and honing his skills into a greater sum of the parts, unfortunately the music isn't diverse enough to maintain the interest of the listener for an album's run but the craftsmanship is rather brilliant and the clean tones and timbres that MARTIN has eked out of his guitar army is quite pleasing indeed. Personally i prefer the faster tracks as the slower ones are a little too pandering to the non-techies but really there's nothing horrible about this album other than a little monotony at times.

3.5 rounded down

— First review of this album —

This bizarre Romanian avant-metal act from Brașov has its roots in a brainstorming philosophical conversation that took place as far back in 1999 when Lao Kreegan revealed to his friend Jamm Klirk a series of dreams he had been having which inspired him to create a musical project. In this dream a fallen angel came to Kreegan and revealed himself as the unpronounceable HTETHTHMETH and had a tale to tell that would make its way into the new project which was supposed to be titled "Moldy Walls With Joints" however after a few years of floating around ideas and compiling musical chops to accompany such an album, it seems Kreegan was the one with the passion to carry through with Klirk dropping out of the project. Undeterred Kreegan carried on and slowly pieced together a band that would be named after the fallen angel who inspired it all to begin with.

Throughout the 2010s HTETHTHEMETH developed its ideas and released its first three songs on a split album with The Bipolar Disorder and then releasing one of those tracks "Light Lies" as a single the following year. The year 2013 finally found the stable lineup of Robert Cotoros (guitar), Lucian Popa (guitar), Vlad Andrei Onescu (keyboards), Koldr (bass) and Costea Codrut (drums) with Kreegan handling the vocals. The band's sole album release would emerge in 2016 as BEST WORST CASE SCENARIO which found the band in full theatrical mode with a musical style that was loosely based on gothic metal but incorporated a wide variety of metal styles including death, thrash, classic heavy, alternative and even a bit of bluesy 70s hard rock amongst others. Add to that moments of Romanian folk music, classical, bossa nova, progressive rock and even some strange exotica and what you end up with is Romania's answer to Slovenia's Devil Doll.

BEST WORST CASE SCENARIO features three distinct Acts broken down into a total of 15 tracks. The album is quite lengthy and just misses a 76-minute playing time. A concept album which narrates a guy looking for the perfect woman and ultimately fails and turns to the dark side in the form of hate as HTETHTHEMETH however for the most part these sorts of nebulous concepts don't really grab me as i'm more engaged in the music itself which is a wild ride through treacherous turf throughout the album's three acts and myriad tracks. Honestly i don't find that the acts themselves are rather distinguishable from one another and musically speaking the album doesn't really convey the story at hand although it does represent the strangeness of how dreams usually don't logically and cohesively translate into a reality situation as musical motifs just sort of morph into others with no rhyme or reason however the album does maintain a melodic connective flow which at least makes it accessible.

An inserting idea for sure but HTETHTHEMETH seems to have bitten off more than it can chew with a monstrously epic tale that is supposed to narrate a tale delivered by the fallen angel in his dreams. This album seriously sounds like it's trying to emulate Devil Doll however Lao Kreegan is no Mr Doctor and lacks both the charisma and the vocal octave range to pull it off. Likewise there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how the music is supposed to evoke the storyline and even when the concept is totally ignored simply sounds like a haphazard journey through various musical motifs and corny cadences that simply don't always work together. There are lots of great individual tracks on here especially the more metallic moments that merge with progressive rock but some of the non-metal tracks can sound a bit ridiculous! It's a decent album to check out but hardly something that holds up with repeated listening sessions. Sometimes disjointed can serve a purpose but in the case of BEST WORST CASE SCENARIO it sort of loses all effects. A better vocalist could've animated this to another level though.

It would come as a surprise I imagine, to even most 'well-educated' music lovers, that a vast quantity of exceptional music is created nowadays via the internet with no more technology than a laptop and an audio interface. With the widespread industry embrace of digital audio recording from the early 80s, musicians no longer required access to the ponderous (and expensive) machinery of multi-track, reel to reel tape recorders to produce albums. Steady developments in both hardware, software and internet capacity over the past four decades have provided musicians with the luxury of collaborating globally from the comfort of their home studios.

The Wisdom of Simple Things (TWoST), the debut album by MÔR, is a shining example of what can be achieved with today's technology. All told, 13 musicians, none of whom ever set foot in a conventional studio with each other, contributed to this album. The core of the unit includes Peter Rand (composition, keyboards, guitars) and Chris Matthews (composition, guitars, mixing/production), both of whom reside in the U.K. and Ramlee Oak (lyrics, vocals, drums and bass), an Australian who lives in Japan. The 10 guest musicians (Nick DeNardo, David Stahl, Brian Henry, Jim Bryan, Alex Fadista, Alberto Alberti, Moe Howard, Ralph Tonge, Matthew Heindorff, and Milt Barney) all contributed their parts from other locations - chiefly Europe and North America.

Across 11 gorgeous tracks, TWoST explores the complex world of relationships. Ramlee writes "I am absolutely convinced that if we were more mindful of our relationships, if we really put them front and centre, a lot of the misery we create for ourselves and others would be avoided."

The album begins with the enigmatic 'Night Light' - the world seen through the eyes of a sea turtle. To Peter's haunting piano phrase, David Stahl and Jim Bryan add an intoxicating liquid pulse. Strings surge like ocean swells as Ramlee begins with "Along an ancient coastline, into a sheltered bay..." It's a stunning, dramatic lyrical journey with references to Hemingway and Paul Gauguin, both of whom had long associations with the sea. Finally, Alex Fadista weaves in his choppy rhythm guitar parts and outro solo to complete a thoroughly satisfying album opener.

Track 2., the title track, explores our relationship with truth and the history of intellectual persecution. Chris Matthews' captivating Acoustic Guitar and Ramlee's Bass paint a lovely, pastoral canvas as Ramlee sings "Twas almost inconceivable we'd ever conquer flight, We used the think the Earth was flat, the Sun our satellite". He finishes with an optimistic quote from Shakespeare, "Hope is swift and flies with swallow's wings".

'Room for Another' fires a salvo at organized religion. Over Peter's sparkling guitar arpeggio, Ramlee begins with, "The faithful form a line in soto voce wait their turn". Nick De Nardo (drums) and Ramlee create a lilting rhythm part that dances the song towards the more straight-ahead and vigorous pre-chorus and chorus sections. A powerful and thought-provoking piece.

'Circles' reveals Ramlee's deep reverence for the life-giving forces of our pale blue dot. Over Chris's Acoustic Guitar, he plays a slit drum figure throughout the song reminiscent of Bruford's slit drum parts on Sheltering Sky. Moe Howard adds Cajon and Hammond and Milt Barney plays Soprano Sax parts that bring the whole song together with class and sophistication. Fave lyric, "By decree, oceans are lifted up to float across the sky, to finally flow back into the sea"; truly inspired.

'Out of Place' rails against the mindless pursuit of wealth and materialism. It's a high-tempo rocker driven by Peter's piano and Ramlee's persistent rimshot figure. Matthew Heindorff (of Myriad) infuses several layers of clever Electric Guitar and Chris adds a beautiful and unexpected clean guitar solo towards the end. Ramlee finishes with, "No more daisies for the iPhone babies, the connection's lost".

'Rivers' shows what Peter, Chris and Ramlee can do as a core unit. Peter creates a stunning melodic foundation with Keyboards and Guitar to which Ramlee adds both a programmed trap drum groove and a mind-altering sub-bass part. Towards the end of the central instrumental section, Chris offers a melting, delayed guitar solo that takes the whole piece to a truly rarified level of beauty. Fave lyric, "Doubt not your power to change, unto yourself, yourself deliver." Magic!

'Interior Man' puts Chris's production and mixing genius on full display. Brian Henry (drums) joins the crew here and, along with Ramlee's bass, delivers a tight, pulsing rock groove that relentlessly drives this strange psycho-drama. Some of Ramlee's most powerful vocals here. Fave lyric, "I'd bet on mould before I ever back bacteria, We walk a razor between rational and mass hysteria".

'The Fortunate Ones' is arguably the most touching and poignant track on the album. Chris and Ramlee create nothing short of a masterclass in minialism here assisted only by cello and oboe. Fave lyric, "The child reaching out her hand, inviting me to play, Instead I let the troubles of the world get in the way". Superb!

'First Here' is an art rock nonpareil. Nick De Nardo (drums) and Ramlee are reunited as rhythm section for this celebration of the microscopic. Peter's Keyboard and Guitar work here are breathtaking, creating melodic and harmonic textures that shimmer with brilliance. Some fabulous rhythm guitar parts and a cracking solo by Italian guitarist Alberto Alberti set this one ablaze. Ramlee's vocals are rich and powerful as he pays homage to Earth's oldest inhabitants. Fave lyric, "Covert, yet results, devastating, sans violence or bloodshed". Can this dude write or what!?

Every album should have a centerpiece and for me, it's track 10., 'Hymn to the Ordinary'. The longest track on the album sees the 'Night Light' ensemble in full flight. This is the band at it's heaviest and, if there was any doubt that MÔR can deliver humongous symphonic Prog rock, this song puts that doubt to bed. From the initial suspended string note, the song employs a crescendo form that gathers steam and intensity, building up to a magnificent Guitar solo by Alex Fadista. David Stahl and Jim Bryan deliver an outstanding rhythm section performance. Ramlee conveys his personal journey to fatherhood and his profound love for his daughter skillfully, honestly and intensely. His vocals soar above the raging sea of music. Every father should read these lyrics. Truly uplifting.

MÔR chose to end the album on a wistful note with 'Downstream'. Chris and Ramlee once again prove that less is more, utilizing only Acoustic Guitar, Recorder and voice to create a gem. Lyrically, the song invites us to question our certainty, our hubris. Fave lyric, "They say that every human heart is usually broken twice, So 'third time lucky' hardly sounds like good advice, Could be true, a broken thing repaired is never good as new".

It's almost impossible to believe that this album was created by musicians who've never met each other and communicate by text messages. The depth, cohesion and ambition of the album is self-evident. Peter and Chris are both stupendous composers and the album is a solid and satisfying musical journey that maintains the listener's interest from the first note to the last. Ramlee Oak's lyrics are worth reading even without music - they're so finely crafted and insightful that they deserve to stand alone artistically. When combined with the music here, something extraordinary happens.

I gave this album 4 stars only because I can imagine what this album could potentially have been had they found themselves in a world-class studio with ample time to fully develop their ideas face to face. Having said that, this is a very, very fine album that, I'm quietly confident, will garner well-deserved respect in the future.

3.5 stars. This lady sure paid her dues, playing museums and anywhere she could be heard and seen with her visual and audio performances in the late seventies. She released a single called "O Superman" in 1981 that became a surprise hit in the UK. This certainly motivated her, and allowed her to make a full album which is "Big Science" released in 1982. And yes "O Superman" is on this record.

She started out playing the violin but her focus became the keyboards and in particular electronics. And she speaks the lyrics she writes, at least on this record and the next one from 1984 called "Mister Heartbreak", before starting to sing more on the albums that followed. So yes this is different. Not my thing overall but I do have an appreciation for how inventive she is. There's nine musicians helping her out that I don't know, plus a backing female singer. I like the tags for this one as in art pop, experimental, electronic and spoken word.

The lady has a way with words, and that deadpan delivery is something. I get the appeal. Telling stories to music with a lot of wit. I'm not big on the processed vocals she uses at times, like on "O Superman" and the closer. She does actually sing on one track called "Example #22". My favourite song is "From The Air" with the honking horns and catchy rhythm as she speaks "This is your captain..." as humour and synths follow. The title track has some interesting lyrics as it plods along, bassoon too. At one point she says "Big science, hallelujah!". "Sweaters" is another highlight but "Walking And Falling" disappoints.

It's interesting that she was married to Lou Reed for 5 or 6 years before his passing. I really don't like the cover art, it's so 80's. Good album though, and I agree with her being in Crossover on this site.

The Brazilian psych rock band's debut album. Notice: they are talented, they are clever, and they have a message they wish to serve with their music.

1. "Panis et circenses" (3:40) a song that demonstrates the huge influence THE BEATLES' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band era has had--even on Brazil! The female vocals present a nice change for prog world. Also, I'm very glad that the band decided to sing in their own native language rather than picking up English. I love the little musique concrète finish. (8.875/10) 2. "A Minha Menina" (4:45) an odd but very entertaining (and even humorous) little peephole into a kind of mamba Beatnik psychedelia that may have existed in Brazil! I like this very much! Something that previews David Byrne's work of the late 1980s and 1990s as well as the Gypsy rock of bands like Les Negresses Vertes? (9/10)

3. "O Relógio" (3:32) gentle, bare-bones musical support for angelic reverb-voice of Rita Lee opens this song for the first 90 seconds--beautiful! But then the band jumps into a different room/universe of joy and ZA! partying for a minute before giving way to the somnambulant music of Rita's heaven. Brilliant! (9.5/10)

4. "Adeus Maria Fulô" (3:06) opens with some eerie cemetery/garden music with musique concrète inputs before Brazilian percussion group jumps in with a group choir presentation. Not really prog or rock but definitely interesting. (8.875/10)

5. "Baby" (3:02) an odd take on an early British approach to organ and electrified pop music. Not great--and certainly not innovative--but highly entertaining for its (intentional?) poke of fun at the early 1960s Anglo love song. (8.75/10)

6. "Senhor F" (2:36) another excessively clever and humorous interpretation on the pop music coming out of the Northern Hemisphere in the late 1950s and early 1960s (even 1920s!) Part parody of The Beatles, part of New Orleans and Parisian jazz pop. Even the fade out, fade in, and re-fade out at the end is totally cheeky/disrespectful of The Beatles. (8.875/10)

7. "Bat Macumba" (3:10) surfer pop rock that sounds so much like the music revived by Spanish psych-rockers ZA! in the 2010s. Infectiously fun. (8.875/10)

8. "Le premier bonheur du jour" (3:40) a turn to 1960s French Ye-ye dream pop with some brilliantly paired musical and vocal arrangements. I could live off of this type of music! It's almost Gamelan! (9.75/10)

9. "Trem Fantasma" (3:19) more wild ZA!-like indigenous music to open this one before stopping and resetting into a musical form that is more of a Brazilian Hollywood-surfer rock. Very nice vocal arrangements to accompany (and parody) this jazzy musical form. It sounds so much like a Brazilian/Beach Boys rendition of Donovan's "Sunshine Superman." (9/10)

10. "Tempo No Tempo" (1:49) opens like a sleepy reluctant-wake up song, it turns into something much more caffeinated with the complex, lightning fast group vocals. (4.5/5)

11. "Ave, Gengis Khan" (3:51) more totally sarcastic parody of British rock forms and styles, the facetiousness of the lyrical topic seems to give notice that the Brazilians get how corny and ludicrous some of the British song topics are. (8.875/10)

Total Time 36:30

What I LOVE so much about this album is the total freshness of the Brazilian mind and cultural interpretation of rock, prog, psychedelia, parody, sarcasm, etc. Retention of their own cultural and musical backgrounds is the key to my enjoyment of these songs, even when they try to go Anglo ("Panis et circenses," "Baby," "Senhor F") . Plus, the engineering/production of this music is so interesting!

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of early Southern Hemisphere proto-prog. this is an album that I think any and every prog lover would find very entertaining and humorous, no matter your linguistic background. One of South America's first contributions to Prog World.

The day after the extraordinary "Scenes From a Memory", surely one of the best albums in Progressive Metal, was a huge challenge for Dream Theater. A challenge they did not shy away from, and taking advantage of their stellar compositional and musical moment and the widespread recognition of the early 2000s, the band released the voluminous 'Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" (2002), a work of just under a hundred minutes divided into two distinct parts.

The dark first part tackles heavy digestion tracks: the intense "The Glass Prison", referring to the first three of the twelve steps of the program in the fight against alcohol abuse and sustained by an excellent introduction with John Petrucci's huge guitar riffs and Mike Portnoy's hyperactive percussion, the disenchantment for religious dogmas in "Blind Faith" marked by John Myung's deep bass and the exchange of protagonism between Petrucci's guitars and Jordan Rudess' synthesizers, the dreary and insipid "Misunderstood", the controversy over stem cells in the powerful "The Great Debate" with riffs and chords very much indebted to Tool and Rush to mention a couple of influences, and the deep grief at irreparable loss in the mid-tempo, melancholic and heartbreaking "Disappear".

The second half, one of the New Yorkers' most committed creations, bravely exposes six different disorders and upheavals that afflict the complicated human mind. After the instrumental orchestral arrangement "Overture", which includes some metal touches, the suite flows without pause through Petrucci's thick guitar riffs in the traumatised "War Inside My Head", through Portnoy's percussive display and his haunting second voice supporting James LaBrie in the schizophrenic and very thrash metal "The Test That Stumped Them All", also through the pause proposed by Rudess's keyboards in the heartbroken and maternal "Goodnight Kiss", by the unplugged harmonic luminosity of the autistic "Solitary Shell", by the intricate intensity of the bipolar "About to Crash (reprise)", and finally by the epic and dissociative "Losing Time" that prologues the reflective call for understanding and acceptance of those afflicted by these disorders in the conclusive "Grand Finale", and its prolonged and disturbing final point.

"Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", the band's sixth album, was one of the best releases of the genre in the 2000s, and ratified Dream Theater's position as one of the must-have references in Progressive Metal.

4/4.5 stars

The band's follow up to its mega-successful landmark album, Days of Future Passed shows marked influence from The Beatles recent work as well as, perhaps, the psychedelic inputs of mind-altering experiences provided by experimental drugs and Indian cultural and musical traditions.

1. "Departure" (0:44) here we go again: a spoken word intro to an album means we're probably in for a Days of Future Passed-like adventure.

2. "Ride My See-Saw" (3:38) solid psychedelic rock music with the near-patented Moodies harmonized group vocals over the top. I must say that Justin Hayward's lead guitar is surprisingly good: aggressive and decisive. The vocal melodies are pretty engaging but its the tambourine and bass combination that get my attention. Well played, Graeme Edge. (8.875/10)

3. "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?" (2:58) another band that feels compelled to imitate the almighty BEATLES, here a melancholy as-if disinterested "Yellow Submarine" like vocal and music. The chorus, at least, is original and highly alluring. Yes, We're all looking for someone. (8.875/10)

4. "House of Four Doors" (4:12) there's the Mellotron! Starting out with the choral vocals and then switching to single lead for part two of the verse is interesting. Graeme Edge's drumming has become very Ringo Starr-like. I love the anachronistic acoustic interlude at the end of the second minute, and then an even further dive into Baroqueness with the introduction of the harpsichord at the end of the third. The classical bombast in the first part of the fourth minute is a bit much--as if Liberace had just walked in. An interesting if ultimately weird and disjointed song. (8.875/10)

5. "Legend of a Mind" (6:36) Timothy Leary's dead? No, he's on the outside looking in! I guess this might tell us where the band might have been getting some of its psychedelic inspiration. The sound palette and engineering here is, fittingly, quite unusual with its partially muted parts. At the two-minute mark the motif shifts into something more trotting for the next installation of the story. Then there is a mediæval pastoral instrumental section with some Indian- like cello slides. An interesting and proggy song but nothing Earth-shattering or worth writing home about. (8.75/10)

6. "House of Four Doors, Pt. 2" (1:47) great orchestral opening with Mellotron and timpani and bass. Then the vocal choir returns to recant the main melody of song #4. (4.5/5)

7. "Voices in the Sky" (3:25) a very pleasant acoustic-oriented song that feels/sounds like a song from Justin Hayward's great 1975 BLUE JAYS release with John Lodge. Though nothing groundbreaking, this would make a good John Denver or Dave Mason song. (8.75/10)

8. "The Best Way to Travel" (3:14) fading in with multiple strumming acoustic guitars, once the bass, drums, and vocals arrive it feels all BEATLES. Again Graeme Edge's drumming is so Ringo Starr-like. At 1:04 the music suddenly cuts out leaving space for some doppler effect rapid pitch descents repeated over and over, spaciously, until the third minute when everybody returns to what they were doing before the "break"--with the slight addition of a rather annoying squeak repeating itself every second. (8.66667/10)

9. "Visions of Paradise" (4:15) flute and acoustic guitar picking open this one with some very pleasant chords and melodies. "Distant" voices join in at the 0:30 mark with sitar and banjo, singing its lyrics in another very pleasant melody that weaves harmonically with the other instruments. I like this very much; it sounds mature and sophisticated yet expresses itself with nice delicacy. Also, I love the growing confidence Justin Hayward exudes on the sitar as the song progresses. Exquisite flute playing, Ray Thomas. A top three song for me. (9.25/10)

10. "The Actor" (4:39) using flute and acoustic guitar picking again, the melodies here are ver yfamiliar as if they come from/were left over from their previous album, the classic Days of Future Passed. I especially like the fullness of the Mellotron-drenched choruses. Another top three song. (8.875/10)

11. "The Word" (0:48) a standard Moody Blues poetry reading, here by Mike Pinder, this time introducing a song. Powerful.

12. "Om" (5:44) Indian instrumentation here dominate as the band members take turns singing BEATLES-esque from different vantage points in the sonic field sounding a bit like "A Day in the Life." I love the sound of Indian instruments- -especially when played by native Indian musicians. 'Nuff said. Still, not many Western bands/musicians in the 1960s did as nice a job without the help/presence of Indian musicians as these guys do here. Great finish to this album. (9/10)

Total Time 42:00

B/four stars; an excellent addition of psychedelic acoustic-dominant early prog that rises above its tendencies toward Beatles imitation.

Spain goes JR/F. Ok. Although the convoluted story of how this and their next album landed in my possession is as unlikely as the opening statement. But am glad they did.

The opening short track has you heading down symphonic prog boulevard and you would have been admiring the view and sounds as it has promise. But then a sharp left (track 2) into JR/F avenue leaves you in no doubt where you are heading. Let's pray it won't be a cul de sac....Nova...the second track is firmly in the Return To Forever town planning oeuvre and not a hint of a smooth and lazy by numbers design. Plenty of guitar/keys mirroring and for once a bass player with chops but also the knowledge that it is his job to provide the solidity for what else is being layered on top. Twists and turns and no straight road...dynamics and atmosphere. Marvelous. This bleeds into the third track with a detour via ECM stylings and a prog layering of synths and I suppose being Spanish ... the old Scottish cattle prod comes out....or acoustic if you prefer (this will not translate well/reference may be lost on many) but only the merest suspicion of flamenco is in there. The only slight downer is the synth sound is a little thin and not as rich as I assume they were aiming for. La D'En Kiftus is my standout. And not just because they employ a guitar sound similar to Micky Jones of Man in parts. Loads of freak out keys/guitar response that works for me every time. Then a slurred bass riff takes this somewhere else before the guitar and keys guys decide they want to play the same thing before the bass and guitar man want their turn .More time changes and proggy keys builds. They know their stuff. Actually they do throw some flamenco scales and chordings into track 5 but it is subservient to the JR/F imprint. I can't make my mind up about the guitar man. Oh he can play and he certainly is attacking rather than carefully constructing and is probably close to Al Di Meolaesque with a nod to Akkerman and Bill Connors. I think, like I mentioned re synths earlier, it is a thin sound that stops me short of really singing his praises. This being 1976 it was unacceptable to put out a JR/F album without a funky track (A Valencia). This one has a Nektarish feel too, surprisingly. And doesn't dote on the funk. And you wouldn't expect to find BJH referenced either but some of the keys wash would fit with/from them. We close with 11/8 Manifest....now there's a time signature that makes my dancing make sense...and while it goes nowhere new from the above, it underscores how good this band/album is and I would take this/them all day long over say Brand X (far too polite). Sometimes obscure gems turn out to be diamonds and this lp plus Sentiments (1977) really are worth mining for. I can't vouch for the rest of the catalogue but it doesn't matter. These two albums are the business. Proper, proper JR/F.

Oh boy, my 300th review! Like my 100th, and 200th review, I elected to review an album from my top 10 list. You know, to share my opinion on what I believe to be the best of the best in terms of music. And today, the lucky 3rd place in my favorites of music goes to Magma's own 3rd place, that being Mekanïk Destruktïẁ Kommandöh, or MDK as I will call it throughout the rest of this review.

Now as with Yes and Genesis, I have a bit of a personal history with Magma, maybe a tad too personal. I won't go too much into my history with the band, but in late 2021 I was flat out obsessed with the group. I practically listened to any album they have released that was available on Spotify, just being entranced in their weird and wacky world of zeuhl music. I have more than cooled down in my obsession with the band after a bit, but every now and then I will go back to their music with open ears. Truth be told, I still absolutely love this band no matter what, I will continue to love it, and, on top of that, I will forever see MDK as the magnum opus of weird progressive rock music.

Unlike my previous reviews of these masterpieces, which all had at least one large epic that bumped up my feelings for the record considerably, MDK, in its whole, IS the epic. It's one of those albums where it is one large song, just split into multiple songs. Honestly speaking, I think MDK is the best at this front, and this ain't bias talking. I genuinely think the record nails the whole effort of making an album long song. Each track on here has their own charms, and their own climatic effects on my psyche that, on their own, they excel on every aspect of what I crave in zeuhl music. But, as a whole, these songs manage to create a whole experience that is magical.

The instrumentation and vocals are also just immaculate. You have the lovingly weird Kobaïan vocals and methods that the singers, mainly Christian Vander, promotes. The brassy, almost apocalyptic sounds that zeuhl has in the dozens. And a general flow throughout each track that makes the music feel all the more conceptually inclined. While I know many may find these sounds to be a bit too weird, I think that is the charm Magma rightfully holds. They may not be as weird as, say, Art Zoyd or even their Japanese little brother of Ruins, but Magma owns their refined avant-gardeness with pride. They care not for conventions of rock or jazz music, nor do they care for if they will ever appear on a radio ever. The only thing they care about is making the weirdest, most trippy experiences possible, and also to refine them into more interesting sounds.

This is evident as to how this record came out after their second record of 1001 Degrés Centigrades, which, while still zeuhl, was a lot more based in jazz fusion and a more traditional rock flow. However, MDK explores a sound that fits way better into the vision of what zeuhl should be, a more orchestral, brass based version of what they did before. It all evolves into something that I think firmly is within its own thing, and I fully believe it works perfectly. This is a once in a lifetime record, since everything just fits together with zero hang ups or different expectations. You aren't gonna get jazz fusion, at least not in a traditional sense, nor a traditional prog rock, or jazz rock experience. You are gonna get ZEUHL. MDK is zeuhl in its purest state. It is the absolute zero in this amazing and weird musical genre, the basis if you will.

It is not a surprise that Vander is proud of this record, as he practically remakes it whenever he can in live shows, his own records, and or even releasing an older version of the music in the 90s. I'd be too if I made something this good. While I do think the live albums are a discussion for another day, MDK in a live setting works just as well as the studio version. The versions of MDK on Retrospektïw, Magma Reims 1976, and Trilogie Au Trianon are my favorites, maybe I might consider them masterpieces in their own rights too. My personal favorite is the one from Retrospektïw, as it has this bass solo from Bernard Paganotti that has a bit of a call back to De Futura, another s-tier Magma track. Not only that, but it also has that amazing opening that feels so dramatic and heavy, that it turns MDK into not only a musical expression for me, but a full blown epic.

I could go on all day, though I think I'd be scraping the bottom of the barrel for my love on this record if I continued any further. Where Close To The Edge made me fully fall in love with progressive rock music, and Foxtrot made me fall in love with the epics they propose, MDK is where my love of the different, more avant-sides of the progressive rock house fully bloomed into a point of no return. Of course, I fully believe everyone should at least listen to this album once, as it is just amazing. I love Magma with my whole heart, and I doubt that love will waver throughout my life. If it ever does, then I probably got brainwashed.

There is no prog, only zeuhl.

Best tracks: All of them

Worst tracks: N/A

The last MB studio album is inspired by Christmas but in contrast with younger musicians, there are no commercial aspirations. The band provides their usual artistic acumen, solid original compositions, warmth in the music execution and a good impression. Both main vocalists are in a good shape. Instrumentation is subdued as usual in the songs of this setting, likewise there isn't any space for experimentation and leaving the comfort zone which MB developed in the 80's. Cover versions are average ones, with classical ones faring better than pop music. Given that there isn't enough original material, the record still sounds less dull than MB albums of 1986, 1988 and 1991. Not exactly recommended but also not discouraged either to listen to this album in late December.

Review Nº 799

Tangerine Dream is a progressive rock band that was formed in Berlin. The band was among the earliest explorers of a new musical universe opened by the electronic instruments. The universe of Tangerine Dream was born as a journey aided by the new electronic keyboards, transformed into a contemplative survey of the universe. They were able to create music without a regular pulse but just with organ chords, a few manipulated guitar lines and synthesizer effects. Tangerine Dream became a landmark and one of the first bands that made the first explorations in electronic realms.

"Tangerine Dream (1996 Disky Compilation)" is a compilation album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 1996. It's a compilation album with six tracks. It comprises the four tracks on their fifth studio album "Phaedra" that was released in 1974 in it's entirely, the first part of the two parts of their sixth studio album "Rubycon" that was released in 1975 and the title track, which is one of the four tracks on their seventh studio album "Stratosfear" that was released in 1976.

As I mentioned above, "Tangerine Dream (1996 Disky Compilation)" has six tracks. The title track of "Phaedra" would set a whole new standard for the Tangerine Dream's sound. The minimalism of their first albums was pretty much gone, as the sequenced rhythms provided the band with a rich and fat sound stuffed to the rim with mystical and delightful atmospheres. Given focus by the arpeggiated trance that drifts in and out of the mix, the track progresses through several passages including a few surprisingly melodic keyboard lines and an assortment of eerie Moog and Mellotron effects. Despite the impending chaos, the track can sounds more like a carefully composed classical work than an unrestrained piece of noise. The climax of the track comes surprisingly enough after the sequencer has stopped, and makes room for a sinister and incredibly moody part filled with Mellotron, gongs and haunting electronic sounds, building up some of the most fantastic atmospheres ever created by humans. And to add to the feel of beyond and mystery, some distant and faint sounds of children playing can be heard several seconds after the track has ended. It would become a standard track in the future of their music. "Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares" reportedly was a pure solo number of Froese. It has a line with a kind of a buzzing mysticism that consists almost entirely of grandiose washes of Mellotron, accompanied by free form of some spacey electronic sounds. The effect of this music is thoroughly hypnotic if you get involved with it, really. "Movements Of A Visionary" begins with some structureless noises. It seems to improve the voice experiments from their previous album "Atem". The rest of the track consists of a warm and comforting organ improvising around the sequenced rhythms that now was one of the band's main trademarks. It gently swings back in the direction of a hypnotic rhythm. "Sequent C'" is a brief piece for flute that closes the album in a moody way. It's a piece of ethereal and floating beauty that was recorded by Baumann's solo on the flute with some electronic alienation. It represents a very beautiful and melancholic musical vision of Tangerine Dream. "Rubycon Part 1" starts with a lot of atmospheric and mellow soundscapes performed on the Mellotron and the synthesizers. After a while the sequencers start which provide for pleasant rhythms. The frequent organ and piano parts move strongly towards the sound that Pink Floyd produced on "Meddle". It has some sounds where the mood alternates between dark and light, before it beautifully and graciously rises up toward a grandiose and haunting part with some fantastic atmospheres that in a dream take us to the ocean. It quiets down after a while, and starts to build up some tension to prepare us for the sequenced part. Together with the eerie Mellotrons, distorted piano chords and droning organs, the electronic sequenced rhythms carry you away in the same dreamlike state as "Phaedra" did. The title track of "Stratosfear" kicks off the album with grandeur and sheer elegance. It has frenzied hypnotic beauty mixed with swirling guitars and changing tempos that turns it in an awesome spacey song with a memorable melody. It opens with some relaxed and pleasant chords on guitar, which creates an atmosphere that fits the track very well, indeed. The electronic rhythms then start, introducing one of the best and most recognizable melodies that the band ever wrote.

Conclusion: "Tangerine Dream (1996 Disky Compilation)" is an excellent compilation album of Tangerine Dream. This is a compilation album that comprises tracks that belong to three of the best studio albums created by the band in the middle of the 70's. These are three works that belong of what is considered their golden era, the phase that became known as "The Virgin Years", albums released to the Virgin record label, as the name indicates. It was just missing "Ricochet", technically a live album with original music that wasn't released on any studio before. "Tangerine Dream (1996 Disky Compilation)" is a great starting point to all who aren't acquainted with the music of the band yet. Here, we can see why Tangerine Dream is a much respected progressive band and was able to create an aura that lasts till today.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

SHUMAUN nervous progressive hard rock with reminiscences of DREAM THEATER, RUSH, FATES WARNING, ALICE IN CHAINS see DEFTONES. Nervous guitars, keyboard shaping the air for prog metal with three drummers.

"The Perils of Amnesia" marks the imprint of a melodic prog metal with oriental Persian scents, all concocted with a vocal flirting with that of VANDEN PLAS; the drums set the mood. "Balance" bass forward amplifying the heaviness with a keyboard solo flirting with that of the MARILLION, the guitar solo flows like a torrent; voice growl for a micro second and the progressive space which smells like DREAM THEATER, energetic. "Opposing Mirrors" in radio edit, concise, compact, rhythmic, fits in; Thomas on sticks sets the rhythm. "Anxiety and Daydreams" for the instrumental prog metal ballad; superposition of melodic layers, nervous sounds, post rock atmosphere; a touch of sadness to leave by closing your eyes and accepting to be invaded by the guitar notes; predictable and well done all the same.

"That Which Turns" returns to a heavy composition and its small progressive space during an enjoyable solo break with acoustics; the hard riff and the same vocals, average. "Beyond Reflection" offers a slow marshmallow ballad on a text concerning the death of his father; dark in fact, sad but that's Life; the voices are indeed his father asking to come home; the solo gives a little color to this moment and can serve as a passage between our two worlds, the drums held by Leo. "Some Memories" relaunches the prog metal of DREAM THEATER, a riot of diverse sounds; an aggressive riff washes away our cues, making the air clean; it's Marco who hits, the bass on MAIDEN; the variation launches a more energetic guitar solo you can't; it's modern, the voice can slow down a bit, the very catchy melody which rounds out the violence. "Porcelain Trees" as an epic piece, a velvety keyboard at the start brings the most musically; high-pitched, growl voice intensifying his lyrics about injustices; a stage with the jerky rhythm that gets carried away and the drums that channel; calm and energetic, meandering on melodic metal that lacks the nerve of prog blood. Origin on ProfilProg. (3.5)

New Deep Purple is irresistible for old metal heads and the line up of the big 5 is a wonderful treat. They are back on their 23rd studio album; Ian Gillan on vocals, Roger Glover on bass, Ian Paice on drums, Don Airey on keyboards, and Simon McBride on guitars. The progenitors of classic metal are in their Twilight years but can still rock with the best of them. And they have the genius of Bob Ezrin in album production. What can go wrong? Not much but don't expect another In Rock, Machine Head or Perfect Strangers. Instead prepare for an excellent album that's all killer. No filler.

They burst out the gate with the melodious Show Me, followed by cool riffing on A Bit on the Side. Gillan is in fine vocal form and the music rocks hard with touches of prog, mainly from the keyboard wizardry of Airey. The lead breaks on this are freakish with incredible speed fretwork and that melody is infectious.

Sharp Shooter has a sporadic rhythm and locks into a steady pace with great vocals.

Portable Door has a fast tempo and Gillan gives it everything accompanied by glorious organ and guitar motifs. I like the melody and the Hammond organ sounds. Another dynamic lead break enhances the enjoyment.

Old-Fangled Thing has a tremendous lead solo, lashings of organ and a quirky jazzy feel. I like that musical interlude too.

If I Were You is a power ballad that has a melancholy feel.

Pictures of You has a riff that reminds me of Alice Coopers Devils Food. I like Gillans vocals here and it's got an infectious melody.

I'm Saying Nothin' has quirky lyrics about keeping dark secrets to the grave, perhaps autobiographical. Again it has a great melody, cool guitars and keyboards trading off in style.

Lazy Sod is another song about being too lazy to get outta bed, remember Lazy, and it's got a great riff and rhythm. The lead break is killer from McBride. Aireys keyboard attack is masterful; a wonderful track on the album.

Now You're Talkin' opens with slide guitar and then it motorvates along with sizzling energy.

No Money to Burn has a 70s classic rock feel. The riff is blistering and Gillan powerfully sings about having no cash to waste. It sounds a bit like Wishing Well in the mid section. The lead break is scorching and again Airey hammers that keyboard with speed and precision.

I'll Catch You is a slow bluesy track that holds an emotional edge with Gillan reflecting about feeling broken and dreaming about a girl beyond his reach. "My bags are ready, My keys are in the car. Anytime you want to jump, I'll Catch you in my arms" is a line that jars me on each listen. This is a superb track.

Bleeding Obvious closes the album with fret melting guitar riffs and high string bends layered over. The guitars are frenetic along with Paice and Glovers rhythm section. It ends in a paroxysm of speed picking and fast tempo drumming.

At the end of this new Album I can't help but think how much they achieved with this. After so many years in the business, it is incredible they can still generate music of this calibre. The album grows on you and I am in awe of the musicianship and how Gillans vocals resonate. There's a lot of passion poured into this and if it's their last album they have gone out in a blaze of glory.

Stormbringer is a very lacklustre effort from the Deep Purple legends. It just lacks the passion and power of their previous releases. Apart from the wonderful title track it lacks energy and is not really hard rock overall. There's no prog and it's forgettable. The band were in turmoil and it is little wonder with Coverdale in a sombre mood and Blackmore being ready to jump ship for Rainbow. Although his guitar is proficient on tracks such as The Gypsy, High Ball Shooter and Hold On, and there's some tasty keyboards on offer, there is a lot that was discarded. The heavy rock and killer riffs are overall absent.

Frenetic tempos abound on Lady Double Dealer, and they dabble in funk rock on You Can't Do it Right, but it is not worth repeated spins as a total album. Having heard the earlier releases it is hard not to compare those classics of rock to what we have here. Even the albums of recent years are better than this effort.

Stormbringer has had a 35th Anniversary release since, remastered and with quadrophonic versions of each track, and a bunch of remixes, but it is difficult to enjoy Deep Purple when they seem to be going for a new sound, when we love them the way they are as a band brimming with dynamic energy, with killer riffs and innovative lyrics.

The metamorphosis and maturation of Stereolab is complete! The vocal weaves! The acoustic guitar strums! The drumming and sophisticated rhythm constructs! The flamboyant bass play! The horns! The Motown rhythm guitar play! And they've even constructed two epic length songs! And, of course, the ever-present Farfisa and social-political messages of Lætitia Sadler.

1. "Brakhage" (5:13) a clear demonstration of the maturization that has occured within the band's compositions, production, and levels of instrumental mastery. (9/10)

2. "Miss Modular" (4:29) it's like four or five songs going on in one--all at the same time: quirky keyboard offerings, funky groove from the rhythm section, catchy acoustic guitar strum-fest, funky-futuristc horn arrangement, and then two separate vocal lines! Amazing! (10/10)

3. "The Flower Called Nowhere" (4:55) the spacey opening turns full-French soundtrack before strumming acoustic guitars and Farfisa keys bounce together with the drums and gorgeous, sophisticated multi-layered vocals permeate this masterpiece. (10/10)

4. "Diagonals" (5:15) a bit of a trip hoppy, acid jazz sound and beat open this one as horns and xylophone add to the rhythm track. The bass almost feels on its own!--until the rhythm guitars/Farfisa come in. Lætitia enters, singing in French, before Mary's multivoiced background vocals work into the weave with their own lyrics accenting and off- setting those of Ms. Sadler. Brilliant construct if lacking a bit of accessibility due to the sophistication of the weave, low-engaging melodies, and lyrics in a foreign language. (8.75/10)

5. "Prisoner of Mars" (4:03) Tom-tom play, percussives, sustained organ chords, and wonderful bass line provide the foundation for Lætitia to sing two of the most gorgeous melody lines in the Stereolab repertoire--the first in English, the second in French. Amazing! Brilliant! (10/10)

6. "Rainbo Conversation" (4:46) probably the most accessible, catchiest earworm of a song on this album full of catchy, brain-haunting melodies and rhythms. Even has a section for impassioned instrumentals and some amazing drumming! (10/10) As proggy of a song as you can get ? until ?

7. "Refractions in the Plastic Pulse" (17:32) like a slow stroll through an endless French park: Versailles, Bois de Bologne, Fontainbleau, Chambord, Les Vosges--take your pick--it's gorgeous, peaceful, soul-recharging. The first shift occurs at 3:28 when everything tightens up and is slowly squeezed down a drain until it comes out the other side at 4:35 as an upbeat trip-hoppy jaunt--perhaps on a horse or in an ATV. The lyric remains the same, just speeded up and embellished with other layers differently. In the eighth minute a radio-telegraph-sounding high trail of sound enters while the other tracks fade away, leaving a very spacey display of heavily effected synth burbble-waves to provide the new foundation for Lætitia and Mary's wonderful weaves--now clear, front and center from the former and murky-background from the latter (still in French. Gorgeous!). The synth play is very Pink Floyd/Richard Wright-ish. At the end of the twelfth minute we enter another transitional passage in which some very electro-computer-pop percussive noises are generated and sequenced for the new foundation. Berlin School (TD, Klause Schulze)-like down to the synth sounds chosen to carry the new chord sequence. At 14:15, full bass n drums rhythm section enters and violin-like synth in the lead while Farfisa bounces slowly from measure to measure, chord to chord, while L & M rejoin, returning to their original lyric in a slowed down, violin- mirrored, medium-paced fashion to the song's end. This final section is my favorite. (31/35)

8. "Parsec" (5:34) a straight on TripHop jam that sounds like it came straight off of EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL's Walking Wounded. Awesome! (9.25/10)

9. "Ticker-Tape of the Unconscious" (4:46) a very cool, very French soundtrack sounding groove in which the lyrics of the lead vocal are tucked within the music by a muting effect--this while the supporting "background vocal" track is clear, open, and in the fore! Ingenious! (9.5/10)

10. "Contronatura" (9:04) another Frenchified acid jazz sounding construct over which both Mary and Lætitia sing their separate tracks in dreamy/sexy voices. Great bass play that must have been an inspiration for Norwegian duo KOOP. From 4:00 to 5:40 the rhythm tracks drop away leaving only the squirts and spurts from the computer keyboard, but then the song recommences with a totally pop-rock groove and smoothed out paired vocal track--all the while the computer keyboard continues to spit out all kinds of sounds in line with the "this is the future" lyric the girls are singing. Brilliant! (18/20)

The key difference from the previous year's excellent Emperor Tomato Ketchup and this offering is the band's mastery of disciplined multi-layering--both in vocals and in their foundational instrumental/sound weaves.

A/five stars; a masterpiece of progressive rock music and one of the most refined pop-oriented Math Rock albums with vocals ever made. In my humble opinion, this is one of the all-time great albums of music; it sits at #4 on my own personal list of 600 Favorite Albums of All-time having stood firm within the Top 5 since it came into my life around Y2K.

STEREOLAB sneakily entered the indie 90s not by releasing an album that shouted its arrival but rather by releasing its material incrementally throughout 1991 with two EPs and a single. While the band would find critical acclaim throughout the decade with its hypno-trance indietronica that mixed Neu! inspired motorik Krautrock grooves with fuzzy psychedelic guitar work, bouncy bass grooves and Laetitia Sadler's French child-like chanson vocal contributions, the band would continue to deliver an onslaught of new material throughout its career with a never-ending series of albums, EPs and singles. Add to that a veritable collection of compilation releases that all started with this first one called SWITCH ON, a play on the "Switched On Bach" albums by Wendy Carlos.

SWITCHED ON would actually become a recurring theme with the band releasing a total of five of them to date and then compilations of multiple editions! How's that for marketing genius? This first edition though simply compiled the band's first two EPs "Super 45" and "Super-Electric" along with its single titled "Stunning Debut Album" which featured the two tracks "Doubt" and "Changer." The material released in 1991 was a tad bit different than what came after even though at its essence STEREOLAB had found its calling early on and hit the ground running with its classic style from the get go. The main differences on this compilation are subtle such as the greater emphasis on acid rock guitar fuzz and a bit more amateurish mixes that don't quite offer as much of the electronic wizardry that the band would become known for.

These are minor quibbles of course and subject to personal taste. For all intents and purposes STEREOLAB's entire canon never deviated from the basic formula laid down on these earliest recordings and only offered slightly off variations. For my liking i actually find these earliest recordings as interesting and endearing as anything that came after whereas the band's most classic and beloved albums like "Emperor Tomato Ketchup" don't quite seem to scratch that itch so to speak. Whatever the case, STEREOLAB proved to be a one of a kind act from its earliest origins and then simply offered slightly different takes on its established stylistic approach. The year 1992 was also prolific with not only this first compilation appearing but the band's first full-length album "Peng" as well as another slew of non-album singles that would end up on future editions of the SWITCHED ON series.

This is probably one reserved for the hardcore fans who can't get enough of STEREOLAB and want to take the deep dive into the band's origins. It will neither disappoint or ecstatically thrill as it's not significantly different from the band's status quo that they would make a career out of. This compilation also provided a means of acquiring the earliest releases that only found a home on vinyl as a way to acquire these release on CD but the comp was also available and vinyl and unlike the releases that appeared separately has been reissued numerous times on various labels including the remastered update on the 2018 rerelease on Duophonic Records. Overall this is a fine debut from one of indie pop's most interesting and distinct groups to hit the London scene in the 1990s and one that still evokes a nice uplifting warmth in stark contrast to some of the more dissonant and darker versions of indie rock that emerged around the same time.

Back in 1976 Manuel Gottsching the guitarist for ASH RA TEMPEL, along with Michael Hoenig the keyboardist for AGITATION FREE had been practicing together for a few weeks getting ready for their tour of France. This music that would become "Early Water" apparently was the last thing they recorded together before hearing that the tour had been cancelled, so into the vaults it went. It wasn't until 1995 that Gottsching re-discovers this music and promptly sends it to Hoenig who at this time was working at a studio in L.A. Hoenig cleaned it up and remastered it, releasing it that same year of 1995.

We get one long 48 minute piece of electronics where the sequencers rule. Berlin school for sure with Gottsching adding guitar over top at times. He also adds farsisa organ, synths and tape echo. Hoenig hits us with a variety of keyboards, and both are credited with being the composers. The music changes slightly throughout, but honestly this is repetitive and hypnotic to say the least. It moves along fairly quickly for the most part, with again slight changes in that tempo. It works as background music for sure, but man I love driving with this type of music playing. The soundtrack to the scenery up here.

Some compare it to TANGERINE DREAM's "Ricochet", Michael Hoenig's "Departure From The Northern Wasteland", or some of Gottsching's solo stuff like "Inventions For The Electric Guitar" or "E2-E4", his band ASHRA is another example. As daunting as it would seem at 48 minutes, each time I played this I was always into it. There's more going on than it might seem, and I always prefer my electronics with guitar and organ like here on "Early Water". Yes I'll say it, this music flows beautifully and consistently throughout. A solid 4 stars without a doubt.

Any music...well ok maybe not classical...can suffer from 'orchestration', either a side gig session for serious dot followers or re-created on the best keyboard tech the times could offer Keep referring back to this.

I actually like the vibe this album promised in parts but......see above. I usually prefer my JRF to have an edge and attack although sometimes a Steely Dan laid back but still compos feel can work. Throw in a Caravan 'influence' and you could be onto something. The opening track nods to the indigenous people of Australia for whom the bands name Rock is a sacred place. There is a tribal feel coupled with some JR chops and a breathy sax that you could imagine Pink Floyd employing. You are almost in SAHBs Faith Healer territory in parts too. So far, so fair enough. Unfortunately A Place To Go really isn't. Yes a lot of 'non prog but still rock and definitely not pop' albums had this blues based ...with 'clever' jazz nods for kudos...semi ballad...but they didn't ruin an ok song with lashings of an orchestra. Shame...but it happens/ed. Catchanemu goes back to tribal mixed with a more funky JR feel and while the two parts don't exactly gel, it is an improvement on what came before it. Song For Darwin has a more experimental electronica start and morphs into a JR attack and you think...ok lads am with you...then it suddenly goes all 'yacht rock' for no discernable reason. Can a poor man have a Steely Dan? If they did it would sound like this. Even a poor mans 10CC. I bet Darwin as he grooved along to the late 60's/early 70's period of great music would have been shocked to hear it evolve into this... Angel In Disguise could be a Gil Scott Heron song in the opening bars...but the orchestra must have finished their coffee break and were given something to do. If only they had gone to the pub instead. To be fair I hear a bit of early post Focus Jan Akkerman in here (nope the guitar player isn't that good) then a sudden 'hey guys I have a funky fast riff thing can we put it in here from left field' is waved on through....the annoying thing is this is the best part...until someone reminds the orchestra they haven't fulfilled their session obligations. Oh purleeze! The final track goes all Average White Band...with the Average part doing all the heavy lifting.

You really shouldn't touch this with a 10ft Jacaranda.

Decent enough CD single, let's see what we have here? 'Wherever I May Roam' is a great song. Heavy, grooving, with a nice tasty riff and some big vocals, singing about life on the road, or whatever typical nonsense you'd imagine a metal band singing about in 1991. There's no denying it though, it's a great song.

Then there's a live version of 'Fade to Black', which, again, great song, although this could easily be one of the thousands of other live recorded versions of this track and I wouldn't know the difference. And a demo of the title track, despite the very rough sound, it's a nice touch, although listening to James Hetfield 'na na na' his way through the song is humorous for a one-off listen, but once is enough, thank you.

Overall, can't really complain. It's a harmless enough CD for collectors, but music fans today generally don't really care for CD singles, do they? So yeah, one for the collectors.

The band's sophomore album sees tremendous growth and expansion of recording techniques and musical ideas. Was this album the signal of the actual birth of progressive rock music?

1." Let There Be More Light" (5:38) opens with a guitar and bass riff that must have been an inspiration and model for Grand Funk Railroad's iconic song "I'm You Captain (Closer to Home)," but then the instruments fill out with organ and drums, both slowly panning across the sonic field in opposite directions until 1:25 when the music thins out and settles into a CREAM-like blues rock pattern over which some two different and unusual vocal approaches alternate, on with multiple voice whispers and soft accompaniment, the other with background and very aggressive organ-led rock bombast. A long guitar solo occupies the fifth minute with one standard guitar soloing up front (constantly panning around) and another freak-out guitar squealing away in the back left. Interesting song that definitely goes beyond the usual psychedelia of the day. (9/10)

2. "Remember a Day" (4:33) an interesting song for its many familiar riffs and parts that have been masterfully synthesized into something totally new and fresh. Piano and guitar play together while Richard Wright occupies the mercurial lead vocal spot with a gentle, breathy style. Syd's slide guitar is all over the place, but then, Richard's Colin Blunstone-like vocal is sliding all over the wide sonic field. The use of really odd minor chords within a context of more standard pentatonic blues is really fresh--giving the song a kind of classical music feel. Quite ingenious songwriting and production. (9.25/10)

3. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (5:28) this is perhaps the only song from the Syd Barrett-era of Pink Floyd that I've actually ever really liked. I love how well-recorded Richard Wright's vibes and keys are. (9/10)

4. "Corporal Clegg" (4:12) with this heavier song the band seems to be reaching back into THE BEATLES' repertoire for inspiration "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," "Yellow Submarine"), but, as usual, the band doctor it up with plenty of inventive sound engineering and stylistic juxtapositions. The song is very theatric, using multiple voices in stage-like character performance roles. The use of kazoos and marching band drums at the end are so Sgt. Pepper/"Yellow Submarine." I don't dislike it but it loses its novelty in the face of all that the Beatles had done before. (8.5/10)

5. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (11:57) timpani and other percussive noise thingies populate the sound feel behind a macabre soundscape of organ, brass, Mellotron, and effects for the first four minutes of this one, giving the listener the feeling of being either in an amusement park's "house of horrors" or else a Loony Toons-imagined version of other planets. Around the four-minute mark cacophonous butt-sitting piano play and militaristic drumming are embellished by plenty of fly-by guitar squeals, screams, and crashes. Storm thunder interrupts the song around 7:15 allowing a kind of reset/start-over as organ, timpani, and percussives begin to repopulate the soundscape over the next minute. Progressing sustained organ chords then dominate--almost solo--for the next 90 seconds before other incidentals begin returning to the field's background. At 10:15, choral vocal "ahhs" and Mellotron join in, amplifying the organ's chord progression, multiplying as the song continues right up to the end. I can definitely see where Mike Oldfield got some of his inspiration for his first two or three albums. Quite a remarkable expansion of what is possible with musical expression! (23/25)

6. "See-Saw" (4:36) to go into this dreamy, French-sounding psychedelic pop song (something that must have inspired the founders of STEREOLAB immensely) is quite a ballsy move. Piano, jazz bass and drums, with Mellotron strings. Brilliant! This happens to be Richard Wright's second turn on lead vocals and I must say he's very effective over and within the controlled chaos going around him in the sonic field. What a delightful, fun, and truly beautiful song! (What killer chord sequences!) Not the most innovative music or song but it hits all of my pleasure buttons (including the incorporation of a little The Soft Machine's self-deprecating humour). (9.6667/10)

7. "Jugband Blues" (2:59) were the Beatles playing jugband music when they did some of their silliest, most "drunken" psychedelic songs? The "la-la-la" infinite choir and village square oompah band is brilliant. And then Syd returns with a solo-with-acoustic guitar verse. (8.6667/10)

Total Time 39:23

This is definitely the proggiest album I've heard from 1968--maybe the only one that could/would qualify as a true progressive rock album (as opposed to proto-prog or prog-related).

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of early progressive rock music that deserves major credit and kudos as a major innovator in the possiblities of both multi-track recording and song expression.

Norwegian proggers SOT are Skjalg Reithaug, guitars, Lars Andreas Haug, tuba, and Arild Nybord, drums, perform a quirky brand of jazz fusion with a distinct RIO feel and smatterings of manic time sigs and jerky spasmodic rhythms. The orgiastic music follows odd time signatures with jazz fusion and Avant textures.

Tracks such as Monster Master have erratic rhythms and are driven by everchanging drum patterns. The augmentation of the ominous but playful tuba by Lars Andreas Haug differentiates the band from anything you have heard as its rare to hear tuba intertwined with guitars and proggy keyboards.

Mann med Yacht is a great track with scorching lead guitar and the tuba blasting over a frenetic rhythm. The oddball vocals are a welcome addition, as previous albums were enhanced by vocals, often madcap and nonsensical. This album us virtually devoid of vocals.

Rolig Orken is a bizarre track with low, low woodwind and estranged guitar rhythms. It's a slow burner that builds to a sparse desolate sound of delayed guitar trading off with tuba.

Barals Grav closes with a twisted time sig and staccato blasts of melodious guitar and tuba. The rhythms are disjointed and jarring to the ear. This is how I like SOT, when they are inventive and daring. They have a dynamic energy that is bold and ultimately infectious.

The band had a scorching debut, Kind of Saltz, followed by the impressive Redwings Nest. Those 2 albums are still better examples of what this band can produce, however this latest entry is a solid effort that captivates the listener with sheer innovation. SOT are at their best when they go full tilt into manic arhythmic dissonance and bizarre vocals. However this mostly instrumental album is more subdued and not so off kilter for me apart from the mentioned tracks. But for its audacity to utilise unusual musical ideas and instruments, SOT are still a band worthy of our attention.

The iconic band's debut album. The question being asked here is: Can a record label mold a group of musicians with very heavy inclinations into a radio-friendly pop band?

1. "And the Address" (4:38) an instrumental jam in which the band shows off its musicianship and stylistic preferences, here within a heavy rock chord progression. The sound engineering (recording clarity) is weak yet the instruments can be heard and distinguished. There is definitely something in the way the musicians play (and add subtle flourishes here and there) that makes me think of full-blown 1970s prog. (8.875/10)

2. "Hush" (4:24) the band's first hit has a familiar 1960s feel to it with an Elvis-like vocal performance with its renowned "nah, nah-nah nah" line. The musicians' tightness is notable: they're all so tightly in the pocket. (9.125/10)

3. "One More Rainy Day" (3:40) multi-tracked lead vocals and b vox during the choruses gives this rather simple song a very pop orientation. At the same time, each of the instrumentalists is adding their own fill nuances, convincing me that they are really skilled musicians. (8.875/10)

4. "Prelude: Happiness / I'm So Glad" (7:19) a fairly simple and almost-monotonous song (especially, but only, the lyrics/vocals) on which the band try to produce something anthemic. (13/15)

5. "Mandrake Root" (6:09) an HENDRIX-style sound and structure gives the band members ample opportunity to show that they have chops--especially Ian Paice. (9.33333/10)

6. "Help" (6:01) here the band displays more of their independent vision with a totally unique take on The Beatles classic hit--sounding as if they're playing in the sacristy of an Aquarian Age church. (8.75/10)

7. "Love Help Me" (3:49) the band (or producers/record company) trying to fit a heavy rock band into a contemporary pop song. Sorry, but the band's proclivity for heavy slash-and-burn outweighs any sunny pop intentions. (8.75/10)

8. "Hey Joe" (7:33) opening with a motif that is very much like Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit," we get an extended instrumental intro (almost two-and-a-half minutes with some very nice organ soloing from Jon Lord) before there is a sudden transition into the classic Hendrix version of "Hey Joe" at 2:25. Rod Evans vocal performance here is my favorite on the album and the others do a remarkable job of taking The Experience's masterful version even further. (14/15)

Total Time 43:33

Despite relying on covers and imitation, Deep Purple proves that they have chops and they have vision.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece in which some highly-creative and -skilled musicians try to conform to the expectation of fitting their expansive vision and style into the clothing of some very simple rock compositions. The band shows that it can work but that they really need different clothes--ones of their own design and imagination.

As Smoke is Driven Away is Compassionizer's 20 minute EP with Serghei Liubcenco on guitar, bass, doira, drums, Leonid Perevalov on bass clarinet, Ivan Rozmainsky on keyboards, kalimba, vibraphone and AndRey Stefinoff on clarinets, with Lyudmila Poletaeva on Viola. This Russian musical Avant group generate a decidedly tranquil soundscape that has dark RIO textures due to the dissonance of woodwind competing over the melodies.

The percussion that comes in has a tribal quality as though war was brewing beneath the peaceful atmospherics. It gets threatening and ethereal at 14 minutes in, with a repeated motif that ascends and becomes entrancing.

The music is brooding, ominous and occasionally sounds like The Residents in a baroque mood. The bass clarinet and other woodwind instruments lend a classical soundscape and the viola strings complement these melancholy nuances.

This is a compelling piece of music that moves in many directions captivating the ear. It is worth taking a listen to this Compassionizer multi movement suite.

"IIII - The Album of Labour" is the fourth full-length studio album by Swedish doom metal act Veni Domine. The album was released by Rivel Records in August 2004. It´s the successor to "Spiritual Wasteland" from 1998 and it features one lineup change since the predecessor as keyboard player Mattias Cederlund has been replaced by Mats Lidbrandt. The material on the album was long in the making and writing for the album began as far back as 1997 and the recordings started in the fall of 2000. I´m not sure if the album title is meant to reflect how much work the band had to put into the making of the album, or if it´s just coincidental, but the fact is, it´s an album which took a long time to write, record, and release.

Stylistically Veni Domine still sounds like a combination of the melodic and epic doom metal of Candlemass and the melodic and semi-progressive heavy/power metal of Queensrÿche. It´s impossible not to think of Geoff Tate when you hear Fredrik Ohlsson sing. His voice and delivery are very similar to Tate´s work with Queensrÿche, but Veni Domine are generally a much more heavy and doomy band, so they are by no means a Queensrÿche clone. Heavy power chord riffs and equally heavy drums, complimented by atmospheric keyboards, and the occasional lead guitar line or solo. You´ll notice right away how well playing Veni Domine are. These are high level musicians and Ohlsson is a worldclass singer.

While the material is well composed, the slow pace still means that the album sometimes feels at little long as it features eleven tracks and a total playing time of 56:38 minutes. More varied tempos and moods (this is epic and melancholic all the way through) could maybe have provided the album with the needed diversity. Every song on the album is a high quality composition, so there´s nothing wrong with the individual tracks. It´s the overall package of the album, which ends up a bit one-dimensional. "IIII - The Album of Labour" features a detailed, professional, and well sounding production job, so other than the feeling that most tracks use just about the same elements and therefore become a little formulaic, this is a good quality doom metal release from Veni Domine. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

4.5 stars. REVE GENERAL was the vision of Guigou Chenevier, one of the most talented drummers I know. I first became aware of him when I explored the original five RIO bands, and ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN out of France was his band. They were such a quirky, off-kilter unit, and Guigou was so important to their sound and an amazing player. I would catch back up with him on his VOLOPUK project that began in the 90's and ended with that final studio record in 2003.

REVE GENERAL consists of three former VOLOPUK members plus all of that four piece band called METAMORPHOSIS. They were based in Austria and featured two guitarists, cello and violin. They ran the same sort of time span as VOLOPUK, beginning in the late nineties and releasing their final studio album in 2006. So REVE GENERAL is a seven piece band with a drummer, 2 violinists, 2 cello players and 2 guitarists. This is heavy chamber music. Guigou himself refers to this music as "rock chamber" or "contaminated chamber music".

This is live music. They never released a studio album but have played a few gigs including three consecutive nights in November, in France in 2014. The just under an hour of music here is taken from those shows. By the way of the seven musicians 2 are from Austria, 2 from Czech Republic, and 1 from Japan, France and Turkey. This was mastered by Udi Koomran and sounds great. It kind of reminds me of RATIONAL DIET's "At Work", just how powerful and intense this gets with the strings.

One of the highlights has to be that very french sounding song with male vocals called "Si Tu Viux". Just a pleasure. The instrumental that follows "5/4" is even better. Another highlight is that opener "Nejak" with the way it builds until violins are slicing madly. Some nice contrasts on this one as well as male and female vocals. So intense late, like it's ready to blow. "War" sounds great to start with drums only but then we get a lot of depth and how good is this after a minute! Some spacey moments too later. Man every track has something to offer including that fifth one with the long title.

The only bass on here is on "Winesoup Cowboys" where the VOLOPUK cello player obliges. And it makes me wish there was more. Some powerful stuff on this one and they repeat themes. "Dunaj" might be my favourite track. So powerful with depth and intensity. Yeah I'm a broken record here. "Paralyse" is another heavy tune with male vocals too. "Vodka Express" ends with some train whistles but before that we take a ride that is very adventerous as well as serene. Check out the post rock vibe before 3 1/2 minutes with those guitars. More female vocals on the closer plus an explosion of sound before 4 minutes, but some good contrasts throughout.

I'm more impressed with this now than when I spent time with it several years ago. I'm bumping this up.

Massimo Pieretti's debut album A New Beginning is an eclectic prog opera with a plethora of guest artists from a pot- pourri of Italian musicians and vocalists. The intriguing storyline is about holding onto family values, discarding political principles to embrace freedom and the attempt to understand the behaviours of others in order that the world can be a better place.

There are so many styles of music on offer here but the album really shines on the vocals, female vocals are welcome to break it up too, and the musicianship is excellent especially those electric guitar passages and keyboards.

Highlights are Is It That Girl Right?, Out of This World, Family and Business and all sections of A New Beginning, Looking for the Best and The Only Way You Can Be. I like how the tracks are short so you can lock onto the melodies easily. The lead guitar is phenomenal on tracks such as The Only Way You Can Be where it soars and the gentle playing on the beautiful I Hope You Will Always Be Here with Me, accompanied by lovely female vocals. The democratic political rally sound Byte from Chaplin's The Great Dictator was a fascinating choice satirising the political landscape which happens to be in tumult in USA now; a coincidence to hear it today for me but amusing nonetheless.

This is an album worth hunting down online, bandcamp has it though unfortunately not yet on Spotify. In any case seek this one out as it is emotionally charged and a powerful uplifting listening experience.