PROG RELATED

This album kicked off heavy metal for real. Iron Butterfly, Cream, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and many others had done huge pioneering work in the years before, but still, something was missing in their hard rock. Despite all the screams and howls, and even with the aggressive playing and huge power chords, it all lacked one defining ingredient: Satan!

Here the horned root of all evil is not only present in the lyrics but also conjured up by the music. The way how to invoke Lucifer is as simple as it is effective: 1. wear the cross upside down, 2. use words such as Satan, evil, doom or devil at least once in every track, and 3. use the tritone as extensively as possible. Simply put, the tritone is a dissonant interval that sounds evil. They already knew it in the middle-ages. It was nicknamed 'Diabolus in Musica' and it was generally avoided till the late romanticists got their hands on it and used it to create darker and more menacing music. The title track is the perfect example of it.

By going in such occult directions, Sabbath openly distanced themselves from the prevailing hippie culture and guess what? It was an instant success and it reshaped the history of rock, or at least a huge part of the rock culture. Every track on this album surges with power and pours out sinister atmosphere. In fact, even the indulgent guitar solo in the lengthy Warning can't spoil the larger than life feel of the album. This is the defining album of heavy metal and probably one of the best in that category ever. Essential to every discography.

After a trio of rather weak albums released during the first half of the 90's, Magnum took a long break from recording. Following an eight year period of silence, Magnum released Breath Of Life early in the new millennium. This period away from the studio was probably just what the band needed to reassemble their powers and this album is clearly their best since Wings Of Heaven from 1988. It does not have standout tracks like Days Of No Trust, Wild Swan and Don't Wake The Lion from that album but Breath Of Life is a more consistent album overall. Like the 80's and 90's Magnum albums this too is melodic (Hard) Rock with only occasional and slight progressive tendencies. The style can perhaps be compared to Asia in the 90's.

The most important thing in melodic Rock is the melodies and this is where their 90's albums were lacking in my opinion. On Breath Of Life we finally have a set of strong melodic songs with some powerful choruses. And, most importantly, these songs take a while to sink in and are all the better for it. I don't like choruses that stick to you like bubblegum and are impossible to get rid of even long after you have grown tired of them. The lyrics are also better than on most previous albums with no obvious cringe worthy passages. There is not even one song with the word 'love' in the title this time! Another appealing aspect of the album is that there is a nice balance between ballads and rockers.

The distinctive vocals of Bob Catley is a large part of what makes the typical Magnum sound and his voice is as strong as it ever was here. We also have the usual good guitar work and a strong backing of keyboards, bass and drums. The whole band sound much more inspired here than they had done for a long time. As I said, the progressive aspects are present in the band's sound here but you have to look for it in the details; some short instrumental parts, some discrete twists and quirks in the songs, etc. This album requires several listens and it has a clear tendency to grown (on me anyway). Give this more than one listen.

Breath Of Life is one of Magnum's better albums, at least for a very long time. Surely this is not everyone's cup of tea, but for many Prog fans this can probably be enjoyable!

Smile was the name of the pre-Queen band that Brian May and Roger Taylor had together with Tim Staffell. This band never released an album back in the days but they did record these songs that were released many years later. There are different versions of these songs around and some versions have Freddie Mercury on vocals. But these particular versions with Tim Staffell, Brian May and Roger Taylor on vocals are clearly the best versions (the best version I have heard anyway). I must say that these songs are surprisingly good even if the sound quality is far from perfect.

This release has eight tracks in total, two of which are "bonus" tracks. These bonus tracks are best ignored, however, as they have strangely nothing to do with Smile. These two tracks, which are versions of the same song, are by someone named Eddie Howell with only minor contributions by Brian May and Freddie Mercury. It is hard to understand the reasoning behind putting these songs on this album.

Now on to the proper features of this release. What we have here are six good songs that foreshadow the style that Queen would develop for their debut album. One of the songs here, Doin' Alright, would later be part of that debut album - in a newly recorded version with Freddie Mercury on vocals, of course. The evolution of that particular song gives us strong hints of what could have happened to the other songs here. But these other songs are good in their own right. The style involved here is rooted in the sounds of late 60's/early 70's (Hard) Rock and Psychadelia, it could perhaps be characterised as Proto-Prog, or, at least, as Proto-Queen. There is, however, not much of the extravagant sound experimentations, virtuoso guitar play and operatic harmony vocals of Queen II and A Night At The Opera. But this was, of course, several years before that. These early songs are a bit more down to earth but with strong melodies. Influences probably include The Beatles, The Who, early Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Having this said, these early songs include some clear signs of what would become Brian May's signature guitar sound and Blag even includes a section that reminds of what would later become Brighton Rock several years later.

While the instrumental backbone of Smile would remain in Queen, we have here also some organ in addition to acoustic and electric guitars, strong bass lines, drums and piano. While Brian sings lead on Polar Bear, the lead vocals are primarily by Tim Staffell. Staffell is a very different type of vocalist compared to Freddie Mercury, but both Brian and Roger do backing vocals and this fact gives these songs a distinct Queen feeling.

No serious Queen fan should miss out on these pre-Queen songs!

Looking from now ( and when listening that CD with improved sound), music is melodic, energetic and very simple. I still like vocal and acoustic piano in few places, and some melodies still sounds nostalgic for me. But nothing really good about music - you will hardly find any prog there. Let say, their golden hits dated bad.

Only good thing there is they still sound better than in their new albums ( of 21 century). Vocal and melodies of old songs are still attractive in moments.

Generally, can't see why someone could be interested in that album. For heavy fans only.

No experiments, no changes, nothing that can attract attention. From the good side is still quite energetic and melodic pop-rock, and you can't feel how old they are.

Don't know, what for this album was recorded (ok, everyone needs some money to pay bills), but in the beginning of XXI century it hardly will attract someone.

With the kraut-drone Bogus Man and the lyrical epic In Every Dream Home A Heartache, the album lists two great performances that excel the studio counterparts. Viva! Is an excellent entry point into the more challenging period of this highly influential band.

In my review of Triumph's self-titled debut album I tried to sort out some of the confusion concerning all the different versions of that and the present album in existence. As I said there, some versions of the debut album features some tracks from this second album mixed in with some of those from the first. Some versions of that "mixed" album are called In The Beginning and yet others are called Rock 'N' Roll Machine (that's right, the same title as the present album but with only partial overlap in terms of tracks!). The point of compiling tracks from the first two albums like this was probably to make songs from the debut album more widely available outside the band's native Canada. From a Prog point of view this was something of a lost opportunity, however, as some of the more progressive tracks from Triumph's first two albums were left off it. Had they put both Blinding Light Show/Moonchild from the debut as well as the three part The City from this second album on the same disc, they would have diminished any need for all but the completionists to get hold of the two original albums.

While I have had the In The Beginning album for years, I only recently searched out the two original albums as they are listed here on Prog Archives. Since I already had In The Beginning, I previously knew the songs Takes Time, Bringing It On Home, Rocky Mountain Way and Rock 'N' Roll Machine and as I commented on these songs in my review of the debut album, I will concentrate on the other tracks here. Little Texas Shaker is bluesy hard rocker that vocally reminds me of Captain Beyond's debut album (with ex-Deep Purple singer Rod Evans). But it is a rather mundane song, I'm afraid, with cheesy lyrics including the phrase "shake your money maker"! Part one of New York City Streets is a rather funky number with some Jazz influences. The female backing vocals going "down in New York" are hard to tolerate! Part two is a more conventional Triumph hard Rock number.

The centrepiece of the album, and the only good reason for the Prog fan to invest in this album, is the nine and a half minute, three part The City. While not as great and memorable as Blinding Light Show/Moonchild, this is still a great song with flashy Flamenco style guitar play and King Crimson-esque Mellotron. For those who know me, you know that I have a very soft spot for Flamenco style guitars in a Rock setting. Once again Triumph here prove to us that they can make really good progressive music when they want to. Sadly they preferred to concentrate on trite Hard Rock and Rock 'N' Roll numbers for most of their career.

As I said, only completionists need all the different versions of Triumph's first two albums. But The City makes this album worth while.

There seem to be a number of different versions of Triumph's debut album some of which include tracks from their second album. Some versions are simply called Triumph, while others are called In The Beginning and yet others Rock 'N' Roll Machine. The version I have is not identical with any album listed here but has several of the same tracks as this album. It starts with Takes Time which is a rather straightforward party hard rocker. It continues with Bringing It On Home which features acoustic verses and a hard rocking chorus and some nice riffs and solos. Rocky Mountain Way is, I think a cover song, and it is not too interesting as it is a rather straightforward Blues rocker.

Then there is the two part Street Fighter and Street Fighter (Reprise), the latter of which is an acoustic song with a strong vocal performance and the first a fast tempo Hard Rock song. The next number is the party rocker 24 Hours A Day which might have the cheesiest chorus ever created. But the verses are musically and vocally strong. And then there is the almost nine minutes long Blinding Light Show/Moonchild which alone makes this album worthwhile (regardless of which version we're talking about as long as it features this song). Triumph is not a great band and also not a progressive band, but they surely have their moments and this song is their very finest and most progressive moment. It features a very strong vocal melody, symphonic keyboards in higher quantity than on any other Triumph song, great electric and acoustic guitar parts, some choir and several changes in sound and tempo throughout. It is a truly excellent song! To think that this brilliant song would rub shoulders with such pedestrian Rock 'N' Roll numbers as 24 Hours A Day and the album closer Rock 'N' Roll Machine is hard to believe.

One thing is for sure, Triumph could make great music when they put their minds to it. They are great musicians with a certain charm to their sound. Sadly, they wanted to focus mainly on rather straightforward Rock numbers. There are certainly some less than good moments here (and that seems to be so regardless of which version you find), there are though a few good moments and one excellent song that almost make up for that, but not quite still. Therefore I will rate this with two strong stars. It is not Triumph's best album overall, but it does feature their best song. The song is highly recommended, but as album considered this is not for everybody.

Oh dear, it must be ages since I have laughed so much when listening to a record. This is so bad that it becomes irresistible. For starters, each song challenges all the others at bearing the cheesiest possible verses in rock history. But still, when they fire off into the chorus it gets even worse then it already was. I can't help it, it's too much, I simply double up at every refrain here. It's so blatantly commercial and tasteless that it's jaw-dropping.

I remember I used to like a few tunes from this album though. Time Again was one of them and it still kind of works. Also Wildest Dreams and Cutting it Fine aren't totally without merit. Overstated as this whole affair may be, you can't blame them for not sounding enthusiastic. Of course, it is a rather disturbing thought how such musicians could be excited about this stuff ... Makes you wonder if these guys had any self-scrutiny at all.

So, I had a good laugh and I've more or less enjoyed 3 tracks. That would normally be 2 stars. But really, that would put all my other 2-stars to shame.

In a twisted sort of way I would dare to call this essential. Not because it is any good but because it should be a mandatory listen for each prog-head to remind us how things got so terribly wrong.

As I have said in some of my previous reviews on Journey albums, it is probably universally agreed that, at some point in time, Journey sold out and left their progressive aspirations behind completely and ventured wholly into commercial areas of music. The real purists (probably those who lean towards Jazz-Rock/Fusion) argue that only the debut album is really kosher from a Prog perspective and some slightly more tolerant listeners might say that the three first albums are ok, but after that they draw the line. Other Prog fans (those who prefer the harder rocking and more melodious sides of Prog) would perhaps rather favour albums like Infinity and perhaps even Departure and maybe Frontiers. Personally, I belong to the second group, holding up Infinity as my favourite Journey album. On that album, the band maintained some of their progressive aspects and great guitar work, while combining it with good song writing and the excellent and distinctive lead vocals of Steve Perry. But after Infinity, the band embarked on a "journey" that would eventually lead them to the trite and radio friendly music that can be found on Raised On Radio. The previous Frontiers was a good album, but this album is where I draw the line. Even the lacklustre Evolution and Escape albums (that I also rated with one star) have their moments, but Raised On Radio is consistently poor.

I don't really feel the need to comment on individual tracks this time as the songs here sound pretty much the same. The song lengths all lie in the three to five minutes range and are based on vocals, keyboards and guitars. As usual the vocals and guitars are very good, and there are a few passages where keyboards are in the foreground, but this time this is just not enough to save this album from the lowest possible rating. Needless to say, there is nothing progressive about this album whatsoever. The song writing is generic and dull and there is not even one good song here. The production is overly polished and aimed at radio play.

One of Journey's worst albums, only for completionists.