VARIOUS GENRES

— First review of this album —

It is now the turn of the Famous Charisma label to benefit of its own 3-disc anthology, but unfortunately just EMI had decided for the Harvest boxset A Breath Of Fresh air, they decided to do it themselves rather than through Universal with Island, Vertigo and Decca . This means that the lovely cardboard clamshell mini-Lp formula or the latter three labels has now transformed into an ugly fatboy double jewel case of the former Harvest, thus rendering immediately less attractive the present boxset. Although coming with the lovely Mad Hatter centre label artwork on the top, the package is much less cute than a clamshell, and it is not a stoned and drunk label-founder Tony Stratton-Smith picture on the reverse that will change much. The booklet in itself is generally done with the usual great care, presenting all artist featured here, beit once or four times.

Musically speaking, this boxset is no less excellent because of the artistes signed to the label were just as interesting as for the other labels that have been "anthologized" so far, but here, the period featured is much longer, stretching until 78 (as opposed to 72 or 73 for others), and for some strange reasons some artistes have been shunned as well? I'm thinking of Atacama, a Chilean group having recorded two albums in the label's glory years, or Doggerel Bank but most likely these are not the only case of voluntary omissions, since they could've easily shortened the life spectrum and take the third disc into these oft- forgotten releases. So that's a sad occasion lost to remind us of forgotten and obscure stuff in favour of better-known artistes ? thinking of VdGG and Hamill present here three or four times each. Most (over half, anyway) of the tracks chosen are coming from then- released samplers or single version of songs instead of the album versions. One of the reasons why I buy these boxsets is that it allows for variety when I have friends over, I don't have to worry about having to change discs every two or three tunes?.. however here again, this is relatively shot, because they felt obliged to include, not one but two Monthy Python sketches, which seems a real bad "faute de gout"?. Nevermind whether you enjoy Python's humour (I don't particularly, but that's only me), but placing the dumb and repetitive Spam Song is a compilationer's beginner mistake. If you really must include such a stinker, place it in last position so you can pop the disc out.

As for the rest of the tracks, there are some small surprises: the Lindisfarne tracks chosen are much proggier than the usual roll-out-the-barrel pub folk songs, or total unknown to progheads Topo Bill, Cliff T Ward or Hot Thumb O'Riley. This is why the above-mentioned Atacama and Doggerel Bank would've fitted fine in this fairly folky ensemble. Some more surprises on the first two discs: the excellent choice of Davison's Every Which Way or Capability Brown. However the third disc stretches beyond 74 including Solsburry Hill and even including some (great) Brand X tracks and diverse Hawkwind offshoots? I dare say this difference changes from comparable boxsets time span?

This now the sixth or seventh label (depending whether Philips/Polygram is out or not and) being anthologized with probably Virgin, Neon and Dawn still to come, but I'd say that this is probably the weaker boxset so far for the all the reasons I evoked above (not just the aesthetics). So it is the first of these boxset that will not get the usual four-star rating.

I guess the previous three-discs early 70's prog label anthologies (Islands, Decca, Vertigo) sold well enough to encourage others to try out their luck. Actually the Island anthology made babies, since there is a green boxset concentrating on folk, and a yellow boxset concentrating on reggae. But up to now, all of these attractive anthologies came in cardboard clamshells with the discs coming in mini-Lp sleeves and this made comfortable and easy to use in case of travelling. But EMI decided not to use or imitate Universal, and chose to around with their own system. Soooo instead of these cardboard clamshells, we have this ugly fatboy double jewel case with these discs never holding in place, just when you thought you'd finally be rid of them fatboys. As it turns out EMI is not a quick learner since it repeated this huge mistake with the upcoming Charisma label, but let's look beyond the "attractive package", now. With an artwork playing alternative cover to an old sampler called Picnic ? Breath Of Fresh Air being used as artwork? it is also a bit of a departure since it is the first time the then-actual label logo is not being featured on the cover. No idea why too, because the yellow-and-green Ying logo is rather cool.

Harvest includes two of the highest selling-groups to come from the late-60's the Purple/pink Deep Floyd and of course they will be featured, but not abused. The first disc is out on a bad start with one of the crummiest E Broughton Band track, but the rest of the discs is more digestible, with some delightful Battered Ornaments, Piblokto (both with Pete Brown singing), Third Ear or even Bombadil, the later having recorded only one single. Of course every label has its share of misses and here Panama Limited is embarrassingly bad, other artistes are a bit out of the scope of the label, thus creating some considerable sonic diversity, sometimes a bit uncomfortable for the ears. Whenever possible, the track version chosen is a different one from the albums; and comes either from another compilation or a non-album single.

This three-disc boxset is not ant better or worse than the previous ones in terms on contents, but the package (the fatboy double JC) it comes in is certainly unworthy of the label's heritage. But then again, this is the third compilation of the label after the single disc Showdown and the full-size 5-disc boxset of 99. Your choice on this one.

...WOWIE ZOWIE!

This is where it all started, this album was my first official Prog purchase, at age 16 my world of live music involved visiting murky smoke-filled pubs with my mates digging many dubious and now long forgotten unsigned bands, until one week I had German Measles and missed the best one, namely Genesis, upon one of their rare visits within my little beat, my mates were ecstatic about Gabriel and Co, ...and many other music fans as history will tell !

Realising I missed a good band I consoled myself with this album, "In the Beginning" being the most exciting track here, though containing an eclectic collection of groups under an odd title, a confusing definition of Progressive Music by today's standards, but in those days anything a little bit out of the mainstream was labelled Progressive.

John Mayall I knew from a year or two before during my Blues period, an excellent track from his "Bare Wires" album, a highly recommended album by any standards, the Moody Blues "Nights..." must be the most well known track on the album, so well known it was considered mainstream, and East of Eden were well known for their folky hit "Jig a Jig", but nice to hear some of their other material on here. Other bands such as Savoy Brown are an odd selection on here as they were unashamedly Blues, and the James Cameron Quartet sounded like a Jazz group.

My copy of Wowie Zowie was never played in its entirety more than once, the track I kept playing was Genesis for many weeks until it found its way back into the used store racks, as there were other avenues to explore. I eventually tracked down a copy of "Genesis to Revelation" but was disappointed with it having sampled the delights of their next three albums by then, but looking back Wowie Zowie was the spark that got me onto the Prog trail, then a 'B' road, then a highway and onto an expressway....not an essential album but Decca's "World" series threw up some excellent music on a budget, and are a good introduction to many genres.

Unlike the previous progressive box-sets I reviewed (not the Nuggets compilations that were Garage rock though), this little "baby" is not based on a record label and this might just be its strength, but somehow it fails to capitalize on this strength (the multi-label freedom) to the fullest. Compared to the Vertigo, the island, the Decca-Deram and the Harvest box-set, this one starts in 67 to end relatively later. If you already own the other four, you will be likely to not need this one so much because there will be some overlapping, but this was probably already the case already with those sets and your albums collection

As I said above, the multi-label possibilities are not fully exploited, but for understandable royalty/author's rights reasons, some managers and record companies not always being philanthropic (to say the least ;-), anyway who needs Zep, Beatles and Purple tracks on such a box-set if it is going to raise the price by over 50%. Among the interest of this compilation are a few tracks that are borderline progressive inclusions, including B Auger & The Trinity, Humble Pie and Kinks and a few more. The object I believe followed by this to give us a good explanation on how mid-60's rock evolved into full-blown prog by the early 70's and that goal is fully achieved in these track selection, even if no-one will ever fully agree with the actual choices that were operated.

Among the notable tracks worthy of note to the collectors is a Sam Gopal track (Lemmy's very first group), Heavy Jelly, Marsipulami just to name a few. But the pure progressive content of this compilation is certainly a more diluted one than a ll of the single label ones, but the enjoyment is the same: You can put those on when you have a party and no-one will be annoyed by the bombardment of a full album from say a rather guests not liking your RIO tastes.

What one must realize is that all of these box-sets are only for the progheads being able to afford these rather non-essential (this is debatable, though) compilations or make the investment (this was the cheapest I paid for those box-sets) just for a few rare and not-easy- to-find tracks, however beautiful may they be.

Can't recommend this enough. The beauty of it is its depth of coverage, with many different bands bringing out great examples of how "prog" back in the early mists of time (let's say 1972 or so) could mean many different definitions, certainly more than it does these days. I particularly enjoy how blues influences are not wiped clean away at this point and offer yet another genre for progressive musicians to explore (especially the criminally underrated Patto). One step further than the blues and you get some excellent fusion as well, notably Ian Carr's "Nucleus."

Prog purists won't be disappointed by excellent tracks from Cressida, Gentle Giant, Gracious!, Jade Warrior (worth purchasing simply for the "oriental" brilliance of "Borne on the Solar Wind" - one of those rare tracks that will get any serious music fan loving prog) and Greece's Aphrodite's Child. The other side of the spectrum finds classic bands as varied as early Black Sabbath and Rod Stewart's defnitive version of "Handbags and Gladrags", which some will recognize as the basis of the theme to the UK's "The Office."

Of the many tribute CDs I own, this is possibly the best.

Why? The musician's here do not, for the most part, try to recreate the original songs, but interpret them into their own styles. This despite the fact that at least three of the musicians here (Robert Berry with 3, Marc Bonilla with The Keith Emerson Band and Boys Club, and Glenn Hughes with Boys Club) have toured with Emerson, and know his arrangements well. Except for Knife Edge which only has a few rhythmic changes, and Tarkus which has been edited down to a much too short version, the songs all sound copletely reworked.

The standout tracks to me are Toccata, which seems to retain only a few melodic bits from the original while retaining and perhaps expanding it's wild feel, and A Time And A Place with Martin Barre and Doane Perry from Jethro Tull and James LaBrie from Dream Theater helping to make this a heavy prog masterpiece.

Criticisms, well, Robert Berry's changed lyrics for Karn Evil 9 sound awkward, and the mixed up lyrics to The Sheriff make no sense. And poor Tarkus.

This is the most original tribute to Genesis I have ever heard. All the tracks sound different and yet remain similar and respectful to the original. I believe this is a dream come true. The Lamb has cradled and rocked both my childhood and teenagehood. And this tribute gives a good reason to listen to this fantastic album once again and re-discover it. "The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging" really stands out but there are no weak tracks. Even the "fillers" have become interesting tracks to listen to. So if you've loved The Lamb than you'll love this tribute. And if you've never heard of this mythical album then you'll need to buy both the original and this tribute. This tribute is definitely a must have for progressive rock lovers.

— First review of this album —

The original MUSEA team idea was far from modest: to make a CD in which the 7 greatest early 90's bands from 7 different countries had all titles composed especially for "Seven Days of a Life" concept: the cycle of the journey through Life. The result is GREAT ! I'm trying to understand why this is the 1st review of this 1993 must have CD. Maybe because it's various artists disc, and generally those efforts don't work, but "Seven days of a life" is a flamboyant of sophisticated prog and the compositions were made only to it!

In "Seven days..." the diversity of moods is remarkable, as keep your interest throughout the run time. I deeply thank MUSEA to promote a much more elaborated prog - read mainly symphonic - during early 90's when the Neo prog was in force. Only later, principally in Sweden, prog bands took the 70's models for inspiration ( The first F. K. is from 1995).

So this is not a simple compilation CD as all tracks were unpublished. According to liner notes, because of long delay to gather all material, only SAGRADO was allowed to include the track in their 3rd album. Years before, at the vinyl era, MUSEA made the ENCHANTEMENT album that only had unreleased tracks by French bands (quite worth too). I will focus my rate only in each "Seven days of a Life" tracks (they are from 7 different bands, of course), NOT the bands previous work.

KERRS PINK - "Monday" 4,5 stars. Excellent own melodic moods, vocals, organ, keyboards and guitar; the Norway folk section brings great freshness. No sensation of I've heard this before; HALLOWEEN - "Tuesday" 3,5 stars. This title is in the vein of a sympho- trash-horror movie, not alike a soundtrack; the mood and line up is the same of "Laz" (****,1989 - hey, to me "Laz" album is underrated at PA in October/2009, why ?!). Halloween from France sounds its own with the violin and spectacular and weird ideas and vocals;

ROUSSEAU - "Wednesday" 4,5 stars. Simply one of the best compositions (instrumental) I heard by this German band and I know the 2 previous albums, you can compare Rousseau a bit with Camel; - NORTH STAR, 3 stars, from USA, a more direct prog, great song in Genesis vein, it rocks ; - VERMILION SANDS 3,5 stars. Representing Japan this beautiful song reminds acoustic Genesis meeting Renaissance, great female vocals.

EZRA WINSTON 4 stars. Here the powerful Italy. I'm not sure "Saturday" captures the full complex diversity of such grandiose band, but of course, this is a neat sample. I'm absolute fan of their 2 previous 1988 and 1990, albums; - SAGRADO from Brazil, my land, 3 stars. The last "Sunday" is very symphonic with great violins, English speakers may complain of accents, anyway SAGRADO sounds absolutely their own, main influence comes from Minas Gerais Brazilian state melodic music melted with prog, so very original. You may consider few rock energy, more symphonic, and song or a bit new age oriented music alternating bombastic with romantic. But this track suffers a bit of sameness, it could be shorter. Circa 1988 I watched a SAGRADO show which demonstrated how incredible and better a band can be on stage rather than on a record.

Looking to "Seven days of a Life" cover you may think: inside there's kind of Santa Claus celebration music ;-). With the back draw you get the whole idea. Oh ! Don't get deceived, this is as in MUSEA catalog words : "a magnificent land/soundscape of FLAMBOYANT progressive music" - Symphonic of course. Remind we are in 1993 a time when sophisticated prog was trying to reborn- ANGLAGARD "hybris" is from 1992. So it's musically and historically a very important effort by MUSEA team. In early 90's SI music label from Holland was promoting NEO PROG, but they failed, and MUSEA label exist from 80's begining till nowadays -2009.

A mix of cows and birds, I would say.

Some of the stuff here is not what I would call prog rock. The Kinks, Small Faces and Humble Pie is as much progressive rock as I am a cat. But some of the tracks fits the bill well. Soft Machine and ELP is well represented. So is The Nice. Of the three CDs, they should had scrapped some songs and released it as a double CD just to call it a prog rock sampler. The inclusion of Fruupp, Gryphon, Comus and Marsupilami gets both thumbs up from me.

This title has been and will probably still be sold very cheap on both Amazon and Ebay in the future. Some may fall for it and they get good value for that price. But for hardcore prog rock fans like most of us, this sampler is as interesting as a wet towel. In other words; if you have a relative who you want to give a nice present which is cheap and looks impressive; give them either the BEST PROG ROCK ALBUM IN THE WORLD... EVER sampler or this one. it is a good Christmas present idea. They may even like the music. For prog rockers with good taste; this is one sampler best avoided.

2 stars

Two bands who sound Camel/Genesis inspired

"Rock Scene" is the unfortunately unimaginative title given to this rarity from the late 1970s. What we have here is an album shared by two different Italian symphonic bands, one called La Statale 17 (Side one) and the other called Emphasis (Side two). The extremely rare item (the vinyl fetches huge cake among collectors) was released in 1978 on a small label called Contrapunkt Records. Mellow Records reissued the title on CD in 1994.

La Statale 17 played an instrumental blend of symphonic with a jazzy snap to the electric lead guitar, comparable to bands like Camel and Gotic, though nowhere near the quality level of either group. The guitarist Carlo Girardello was accomplished and laid out some pretty furious runs over a decent rhythm section and soft layers of string synthesizer, giving the tracks a contrast of soft and aggressive. The leadoff "La piramide del potere" offers a gorgeous piano introduction and a lush string synth bed of clouds. "La Sfinge" is an odd number with both jazzy guitar leads and some spacey layered guitar parts early on, the keys also following this exchange to nice effect. "Miracolo" features some equally intense and lovely guitar leads, the sound being fairly clean and smooth. There are some great bass lines here as well jousting with the guitar. These kinds of jams are pretty much the selling point of La Statale 17, there isn't a lot else in terms of variety over the 4 tracks, but what's there is surely worthwhile.

Emphasis drops the jazzy lead guitar for a more Genesis clone style symphonic, also reminiscent of the German band Rousseau and the Italian band Mellonta Tauta. There are some English language vocals on these tracks although they are not exactly Gabriel level. The four songs are not bad but not particularly exciting either. Lots of billowy keyboard atmospheres with another pretty decent rhythm section, as with Statale I do enjoy the bass guitar here. Guitarist Peter Bozzetta reminds me a bit of Nick Barrett with his tempered, tasteful melodies. The mood is very dreamy and serene for the most part, with occasional fiery leads. The lovely and short "Voice of Nature" is a memorable instrumental closer with classical guitar and sensitive bass over the synths.

While absolutely not essential this sampler may prove enjoyable to fans of Camel and Genesis style groups, looking for interpretations of these prog giants by other groups who never made it big, but certainly had passion for the prog they enjoyed. The Mellow cd booklet offers no band information or lyrics, just a single page insert. 5/10