PROG RELATED

No, LOW is the first album which really managed to show how Bowie absorbed and reflected the influence of Krautrock and Enoesque avant-garde. You hear echos of bands like Can and Neu, but thanks to Tony Visconti's hyper-clean production values, LOW ended up sounding less messy and much glossier than the best-known products from Connie Plank's German studios. Even though LOW's most inspired tunes are (in my personal view) somewhat less involving than the best material on STATION TO STATION, "HEROES" and SCARY MONSTERS, there is not a single track here which lacks interest. Songs like "Be my Wife" and "Always Crashing in the Same Car" may initially seem underwhelming, but they grow on you. "Speed of Life" and "Sound and Vision" are part of the soundtrack of many people's lives without them being aware of it. And LOW's B-side was beautiful enough to inspire Philip Glass to an entire symphony.

LOW's influence on late 1970s and early 1980s pop culture is also well-known. Nick Lowe, Joy Division and The Simple Minds were all inspired by the album, while Gary Numan made an entire career out of copying its idiom. Less familiar is the amazing connection that exists between LOW and Caravan's BETTER BY FAR. Check out my review of the latter if you want to know more about this!

It is widely said and accepted here in Brazil that the 80's were the lost decade, and that is for a big number of reasons, such as lack of economic growth, political turmoil, lost of international importance, rampant inflation, generalized public dissatisfaction with the ruling dictatorship, etc. The same thing can be said about progressive rock in the country during the said decade: with the notable exception of few underground artists, like Alpha 3, Sagrado Coração da Terra, Bacamarte and Violeta de Outono, the progressive rock scene was rather arid and lifeless, echoing the equally lacking international scene, which also had few notable exceptions, also mostly composed of underground artists.

At the turn of the 1980's decade and the redemocratization, new hopes arose in the country, both politically and economically: the dictatorship was overthrown and democracy reestablished, the economy also showed signs of recovery and was stabilized for good and there was a generalized feeling that things would all change for the better. Also, in the progressive rock world, things were getting a lot better as the 90's were approaching and this album is one fine example of that.

Recorded in late 1989 and released in 1990, (Em caso de Acidente) Quebre este Disco, is the first progressive rock release of the band Acidente, which have already released two albums of brazilian rock (which gained most of its mainstream attention, characteristics and popularity during the 80's). This album is pretty original, because it has a nice mixture of progressive rock, classical music, 50's and 60's rock and roll and brazilian rock, which is delivered in a very straightforward and tight way. That cause most songs to sound and last just right, because Paulo Malária, the keyboardist and main composer, work the musical ideas of each song in such a way that makes them have a natural and unforced length.

Grade and Final Thoughts

(Em caso de Acidente) Quebre este Disco is, generally, a very good album. The original album (tracks 1 - 14) could easily deceive those who don't know well the band or the album into believing that it is an EP, since its duration don't exceeds 28 minutes, but that short duration is one of the best features of the album, giving it a natural and unforced flow.

Most songs in this album are great, but there are some exceptions: Pactolo isn't exactly a bad song, but it is subpar when compared to the songs before and after it, so it ends up slightly braking the album's mood; Exercício 806 is by far the worst song on this album, being just plainly boring.

The songs recorded in 2000 for the Rock Symphony rerelease (the Expo Rock 2000 Supplement) are not as good as the ones in the original album, but that does not means that they are bad.

Being a very balanced album and with great songs 4 stars seem like the fairest rating here.

Fortunately, the remainder of the material was on an astonishingly high level, and even more fortunately Ryko's "Sound and Vision" edition from 1991 (for those who can still get hold of it) contains two bonus tracks which give you a new perspective on some of the studio material, viz. a live version of "Word on a Wing" which sounds far less lethargic and more urgent than the original, and a soaring live performance of the gorgeous "Stay", curiously without Earl Slick on lead guitar but with a certain Stacey Heydon fulfilling the same role. (Both bonus tracks are from a 1976 gig at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, and Yes freaks may be pleased to know Tony Kaye plays keyboards on them. Which makes me wonder: when will Bowie finally get to use Patrick Moraz?)

If we take a quick look at the four original studio tracks that can, without a shadow of a doubt, be called "strong", it immediately becomes apparent that among the many rock stars who were addicted to cocaine in the mid-1970s only someone of Bowie's intelligence could have made an album as playful, varied AND profound as this. To move from the sublime noise-rock of the 10 minute title track (with its Kabbalah-inspired lyrics) to the (doo-wop inspired!) blue-eyed soul of "Golden Years" without losing your grip on the listener is pure genius. And to follow the heavy guitar-rock of "Stay" with the most cinematic ballad of your career must be considered another masterstroke, especially when the ballad in question ("Wild is the Wind", written by Dimitri Tiompkin and Ned Washington) is only accompanied on strummed acoustic guitar, gossamer-thin electric guitar (played by the trusty Carlos Alomar), bass and drums.

STATIONTOSTATION was a winner. Bowie used all the strongest elements from his previous album (YOUNG AMERICANS), including his newly-gained penchant for crooning, and he already seemed well on the way to carrying out the sonic experiments of his Berlin trilogy. All he now needed was a new producer (well, actually an old one would do!) and a new career in a new town.

I'm glad Iron Maiden can still rock out as many of the shorter songs like ''The Wicker Man'' and ''The Fallen Angel'' can attest to. There are a few longer tracks that veer in the prog direction; all I can say is that they're decent prog compositions at best, but they run too long for me and suffer from hokey concepts. ''The Nomad'' is the best of these outfits IMO. There are even a few songs here like the title track and ''Ghost of the Navigator'' that don't do anything for me at all.

Bottom line: this is very good hard rock with only a few hints of prog rock. All musicians play well here and Bruce Dickinson can still hit the high notes just fine, but in the scope of progressive rock, this is somewhat marginal.

Last words: I like ''Out of the Silent Planet'' and ''Blood Brothers'' here as well.

Album opener Mr Wilson rates with the best of Cale's ballads on the beautiful but ironically titled Vintage Violence. From there the rest of side one slowly descends in quality till we get to Rolleroll, an annoying dirge that has Cale shouting the title phrase constantly towards the end backed by 'gospel vocals'.

Side two likewise opens with the best when John's cover of Heartbreak Hotel comes crawling out of the darkness. Comfortable as a beautiful balladeer and a proto-punker, Hotel has Cale pre-dating post-punk gothic rock with this dark droning deconstructionist version of the Presley classic that features futuristic 'scary' synthesizer textures from Brian Eno. Hotel is nice stuff, great dark humor and way ahead of it's time. Ski Patrol, which follows, has John back to his pleasant artsy pastoral mellow rock mode. I'm not the Loving Kind is nice, but the chorus comes on a little too heavy. The last two songs on side two end the side on a bad note, particularly the narrative on The Jeweller.

I guess you could call this a typical mid-70s album by John Cale, some good stuff, and some not so good.

If there's one album which confirms my suspicion that Cale can't be much of a composer, it's WORDS FOR THE DYING. (Now don't get upset, I know Cale is a superb ROCKER!) When this was first released, it was hailed in the rock press (not in the classical music press) as a masterpiece worthy of Brahms or Benjamin Britten. Well, let me disabuse you: there are no tunes here worth speaking of, the orchestra sounds chaotic and uninspired, and worst of all Cale (who can be such an amazingly sensitive vocalist) gives the impression he does not even understand the Dylan Thomas poems he has chosen to set to music. No, this is clearly a dud of the same magnitude as Deep Purple's CONCERTO FOR ROCK GROUP AND ORCHESTRA, and unfortunately there aren't even any Ritchie Blackmore solos to tempt you. The two brief "Songs Without Words" (i.e. piano solo pieces) Cale has attached to his suite are also devoid of interest. Only "The Soul of Carmen Miranda" (a simple electronic pop song, featuring Eno on synth) is Cale at his near-best.

Kilroy Was Here was not one of their best works, to say the least, and the band was facing internal struggles that ultimately caused its break up after this tour. But you won´t notice that watching they blasting away many of their hits in front of an audience. Ok, the Kilroy tunes are more suited for a broadway music play than to a rock album, but I have to admit they worked far better live than on record. Besides, the majority of the songs here are from their previous effords. It is a pity that some of the live album´s tunes did not make it to the DVD. Still, they could put up a stunning 13 song perfomance.

Styx proves themselves to be great entertainers and the excellent musicians you expect them to be after so many years on the road. I can even swallow their KIlroy characters during the album´s numbers (at least it was a novelty then and it is good fun after all). Their vocal hamonies are very well done and most of the tunes are better than their studio counterparts.

Unfortunatly the video images are not improved from the VHS version. What you got here seems to be simply the transfer of the images to DVD without any kind of restoration. Not bad at all, but could be a better.The sound on the other hand is crystal clear and was definitly remastered (with options to 2.0 or 5.1 formats).

The DVD bonus is really a treat for fans: it includes all of their videos done up until then (12 in total).

Conclusion: I can´t really say this is the definitive classic Styx DVD we all wanted to see. I wish they had released something recorded live earlier in their long career. But still they pulled off a great show even at their final moments together. The classic line up really had something magical going on. And with the addition of their video collection Caught In The Act becomes a must have for any Styx fan.

Such an amazing band!

I'm in love with Iron Maiden now for 10 years, it al started when I was eleven years old. I saw the band live once, during the tour to promote this dvd. This was the best show I've ever seen and might see in my live.

On this super-complete dvd we've got lot's of interesting Iron Maiden material, covering the first four albums and some footage of the band before the first album.

The Early Days documentary. This 90 minutes of documentary that shows the prehistoric times of Iron Maiden. All former band members are discussed, the reason line-up changed, the circumstances they were in, who the material came to be, etc. This way we learn that there was an Iron Maiden that only had Steve Harris playing in it of all the current members. Interviews with the now unknown former members (1976-1979) are done in nice settings and it's nice to hear their stories. Steve Harris reflects on a lot of subjects and early member Dave Murray is also to be seen in some interviews. The old footage and photo's are nice for Iron Maiden fans. This documentary also shows a short making of of the first four albums and the line-up changes that occurred during that period. This dvd is a real threat for fans and it's fun to watch for people who are new to the band. The process of the creation of such an important band is interesting and fun to watch.

LIVE AT THE RAINBOW, Filmed at The Rainbow, London, December 1980 This is pure gold! This set shows Iron Maiden playing seven songs from their first two albums, though Killers wasn't record yet. This particular part of dvd is mega-essential because of the wild performance of lead singer Paul di'Anno. There isn't any better footage of the band in this phase of the band! Iron Maiden plays very motivated, the songs are great and the people enthusiastic. They were so good in their early days! As I said, essential for both fans and people who like the metal/hard rock genre.

BEAST OVER HAMMERSMITH, Filmed at Hammersmith Odeon, London, March 1982 One of the early shows Iron Maiden performed during the time Bruce Dickinson had joined the band and The Number of the Beast came to be. Iron Maiden plays unbelievably motivated and this can be seen as the one of the highlights of Iron Maiden's and vocalist Bruce Dickinson's career! Most tracks are from The Number of the Beast and the material is fresh! It's also nice the band included the important b-side Total Eclipse in their set. Essential metal footage.

LIVE AT DORTMUND, Filmed at Rock and Pop Festival, Dortmunde, Westenfalle, Germany, 1983 This concert was recorded during the Piece of Mind tour. Most songs originate from this album. Though the footage is almost as good as the Beast over Hammersmith from 1982, it's lacks some of it's bombastic enthusiastic power of Hammersmith. Still this is a very interesting show and fans will appreciate this very much!

EXTRA'S The first five clips of Iron Maiden and some top of the pops performances are nice, but they are less hard to find then the gigs on dvd one. Still a great bonus to complete the release.

LIVE AT THE RUSKIN, Home Video filmed at The Ruskin Arms, 1980 This is home video footage of the band in an early stage. This might only appeal to hard-core Iron Maiden fans for it's historical value.

Conclusion. This is the meaning of completeness! This is everything I could ever ask for, concerning the theme of this dvd. Five stars without doubt, rated as prog-related - not prog. Every fan should own this and others might be surprised on how energetic and complete this release is.

The first track, 'For Truth' starts off slowly and gradually gathers pace over the first 3 minutes, acting as a nice build up using the synthesiser until 3 minutes 40 seconds where the guitar comes in, as crisp and as pure as ever. The track lasts for 12 minutes and is a great start to the album. Carlton once again shows off his ability and talent of creating longer tracks while conveying a relative simplicity to the listener which have that added depth to give the more a tentative listener a challenging listen. This makes the album's longevity longer which in turn makes it more appealing. What I mean by this is that it appears that the songs are easy to listen to on the surface. But when you really look into all the layers of the music and think that every instrument is played by Carlton himself. Makes everything all the more impressive.

Track 2., 'One possible dream' is another 10 minute plus track and shows how good a guitarist Marc is. Every pluck is so powerful and well thought out. It shows an artist who has gone way past just knowing just 3 chords; but someone who knows every fret and chord like the back of his hand.

Track 3 goes back to synthesiser land while 'Caught into the Fourth wall, the fifth track starts off as an eerie affair with a xylophone sound with a synthesiser backdrop. The xylophone type beats continue right the way through the song and when the electric guitar comes in at around the 4 minutes 30 seconds mark it is like a storm has passed over and not caused any damage. People are returning to their normal lives as the music has certain tranquillity about it at this point.

'Mind fire', the sixth track, picks up the pace and continues the electric guitar theme from the last track. At the two minute mark and even more powerful guitar sound comes in and repeats the same riff for a minute until the mood the song takes a dramatic shift from light to dark, going through a quiet acoustic jungle, as if any loud sound will wake up the dangers that are roaming the dense jungle.

The album finishes with a flourish. 'Reason or Die', explodes into life halfway through the track with some fine electric guitar work. It is if throughout the album there is a battle between light and dark, good against evil - Reason or Die. In this case it's like good prevails and overcomes evil. It is an excellent way to finish what is a well thought out and well constructed album.

Overall Carlton manages to not only sustain the high standard of work set by his previous albums but exceed it. The different approach he took to write and develop the album has kept things interesting not only for him but the listener too and has created something magical and timeless.