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PLASTIC SOUP

PBII

Neo-Prog


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PBII Plastic Soup album cover
3.87 | 55 ratings | 4 reviews | 18% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 2010

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Book of Changes (8:33)
2. In the Arms of a Gemini (7:02)
3. Ladrillo (2:18)
4. Loneliness (8:42)
5. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (12:49)
6. Criticize the Critics (6:08)
7. It's Your Life (4:44)
8. Fata Morgana (3:57)
9. Living by the Dice (8:39)
10. Cradle to Cradle (6:21)

Total Time 69:13

Line-up / Musicians

- Michel van Wassem / keyboards, vocals
- Ronald Brautigam / guitars
- Tom van der Meulen / drums
- Harry den Hartog / bass

Thanks to windhawk for the addition
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PBII Plastic Soup ratings distribution


3.87
(55 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(18%)
18%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(47%)
47%
Good, but non-essential (27%)
27%
Collectors/fans only (5%)
5%
Poor. Only for completionists (2%)
2%

PBII Plastic Soup reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Windhawk
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Plastic Soup is the convincing debut effort by the seasoned musicians that make up PBII, a direct continuation of veteran Dutch act Plackband.

Their style of choice is probably best described as Neo-Progressive, but as many other artists exploring this sound in later years their musical canvas covers a somewhat broader territory than what some might associate this genre with. Lush, atmospheric symphonic backdrops and dreamy guitar soloing are central parts of the compositions explored, but spiced with hard and at times driving riffs, energetic soloing as well as mellower passages of a more ambient inspired nature. At times there's also room for textures with more of a psychedelic and space-oriented origin.

With the bass guitar given a prominent place in the mix and arrangements that at times remind of Golden Earring, blended with an overall style somewhere in between later day IQ and Porcupine Tree, PBII explore a contemporary variety of the neo progressive subset of the progressive rock universe, and deliver an overall solid effort on this occasion. A well made and well performed debut album overall.

Review by kev rowland
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Reviewer
4 stars Michel van Wassem (keyboards, vocals), Ronald Brautigam (guitars) and Tom van der Meulen (drums) are all well-known within the progressive scene for being founder members of the mighty Plackband, a highly regarded Dutch group who sadly never reached their full potential. Here they are back together (hence the band name), and they have been joined by Harry den Hartog on bass. It is strange to think that the core of this band started playing together in the Seventies, as this has much more in common with the neo prog scene of the early Nineties, than what was around twenty years earlier. Musically this is an incredibly powerful piece of work, with great performances from all four. Ronald's guitar style is incredibly reminiscent of Alan Morse, and "In The Arms Of A Gemini", in particular, contains some Spock's Beard moments, but there are also strong elements of Galahad and Pendragon as well as more American melodic stylings. This is strong stuff, with some crunching guitars, great over the top keyboard, and a dynamic rhythm section. Harry sometimes provides gentle fretless bass as a counterpoint, while others it is a fretted plectrum-led attack that gives the music a totally different feel.

The vocals for the most part have a slightly harsh edge, they haven't been smoothed out too much, and that is totally in feeling with this concept album, as this is a call to arms about the state of our environment, and what we are doing to our seas. The term "plastic soup" refers to the way that carrier bags react when they are in the sea. Dutch minister Jacqueline Cramer said "I think it's great PBII chose plastic soup as a topic on their new album! The more people know about it, the better!". The longest song, at nearly thirteen minutes, is the title cut and contains the thought provoking lyrics "It's plastic soup, it chokes the oceans, while all of mankind fails, will we ever hear again, the singing of the whales."

Musically and lyrically this is a wonderful piece of work that anyone into melodic or neo prog will get a great deal from. Well worth investigating

Latest members reviews

4 stars Dutch symphonic rock formation Plackband made wonderful early Genesis inspired symphonic rock in the late Seventies and early Eighties. After they had disbanded in 1982, Plackband decided to reunite in 2000 and released the CD's The Lost Tapes (2000) and After The Battle (2002). But in 2008 the ... (read more)

Report this review (#1915664) | Posted by TenYearsAfter | Thursday, April 19, 2018 | Review Permanlink

4 stars One night I was listening to a prog rock radio station in internet, and suddenly I heard a song which sounded really good to me, really neo prog sound. I checked the name and was expecting the name SATELLITE or PETER PAN on screen but it wasn't like that, what I saw was PB II. Unknown to me, ... (read more)

Report this review (#1029605) | Posted by Memo_anathemo | Thursday, September 5, 2013 | Review Permanlink

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