HEAVY PROG

Despite the displeasure of many for this turn in the musical aesthetics of the Canadians, more digitised and aseptic of raw roughness and intricate developments that had marked their stellar works of the late 70's and early 80's, "A Show of Hands" is a very good album that reflects the recognised virtuosity of the trio and their evolution not alien to the energised and overflowing tendencies that new wave and pop brought in their 80's DNA.

To highlight especially the humorous introduction with the Three Stooges theme, prior to the contagious vitality of "Big Money" and its ending, more rounded than that of the studio version of the album "Power Windows", the impeccable execution of "Subdivisions", the emotional epic sense of the epilogues of "Marathon" and "Mission", the percussion solo of master Neil Peart in "The Rhythm Method", the luminous and crystalline guitars of Alex Lifeson in "Time Stand Still", and the bass of Geddy Lee in the extended and conclusive "Closer to The Heart", which besides being the only song of the second stage included in the published setlist of the album, is the unbeatable closing with the full band.

Additionally, a VHS version (updated in 2006 to DVD) of "A Show of Hands" was released, which in this case did include some songs from the first two stages of the band, such as "The Spirit of Radio", "Tom Sawyer" and "2112" among others.

Very good

4 stars

There also seems to have been a shortfall on the songwriting side, where Palumbo had previously carried a lot of the weight. The three tracks with compositional contributions from him actually lead off the album, and the remaining pieces feel underwhelming in comparison - and since I only really have time for Nuclear Apathy, that's a pretty bad sign.

Anekdoten is rooted in 1990, as King Edward, performing songs from King Crimson. When in 1991 Anna Sofi Dahlberg joined King Edward this inspired them to intensify their rehearsals, to write own compositions, and to rename the band into Anekdoten. Next Anekdoten released two demo-tapes under their new name, in 1991 and 1992. With the second demo things started to roll for Anekdoten, because several Skandinavian progressive rock labels showed their attention and invited Anekdoten to make a CD on their label. But the band preferred to release their debut album entitled Vemod on their own label in the Spring of 1993. The press hailed the obviously King Crimson inspired and Mellotron drenched compositions and Anekdoten started to become a hot prog band! Two years after their highly acclaimed debut Anekdoten released the successor entitled Nucleus, this album showcased the band its huge potential and was also welcomed very warmly, by the fans and the press. This review is about their third effort entitled From Within, in my opinion the band at their artistic peak. Incredible how Anekdoten shifted from an obviously King Crimson inspired band into a progrock unit with an own musical identity, with trademark Anekdoten elements: a hugh tension between the mellow and heavy and bombastic parts, embellished with fiery and howling electric guitar, an aggressive and propulsive bass, splendid drum work, an omnipresent Mellotron, and often melancolical vocals, adding dark undertones to the music.

The only obvious King Crimson inspired track on From Within is Groundbound featuring biting Fripperian guitarwork and intense Mellotron violins, in the vein of ITCOTCK.

In the titletrack and the songs Kiss Of Life and Slow Fire the climates frequently change from mellow with twanging guitars and soft Mellotron to propulsive and bombastic with fiery guitarplay, an agressive bass, majestic Mellotron eruptions and excellent drum work, very compelling music.

And I am pleasantly surprised with the variety of the songs.

Firefly : Mellow electric guitars, cello and piano.

The Sun Absolute : A simple basic rhythm, coloured with vibraphone, cello and an intense Mellotron sound.

For someone : Twanging acoustic - and electric guitars with fragile vocals and cello.

Hole : This highight contains awesome shifting moods, from a heavy wall of Mellotron and guitar to soft interludes featuring sensitive vocals, guitar and Mellotron, and delicate instrumental passages, embellished with vibraphone and Hammond organ.

After all those years I still consider this Anekdoten album as a masterpiece, it keeps on carrying me to a Swedish Progwalhalla, To Retro Prog Heaven .... and hail to The Tron!

Original keyboard player Pete Jones rejoins his bandmates after the departure of the very skillful Diego Tejeida, and immediately impacts the band's musical direction, as it seems with this record. On 'Fauna' there are seemingly no rules, everyone is allowed to go further on with the compositions' development, leading to some interesting, experimental and unconventional moments for Haken. For example, opener 'Taurus' is a heavy and excellent reminder of where the band left off their sound previously, while 'Nightingale' is a very intricate mini-opus that sees the band embrace a more minimal, yet rich approach to the song's unraveling. Track three is 'The Alphabet of Me', a great surprise on the album as on this song Haken embrace a very anthemic and almost poppy approach, a very memorable beautiful track. So far it seems like this is in a way a reformed Haken, they certainly remain themselves but the music is exquisitely fresh and inspired, and this feel has penetrated the whole release by all means.

The next two tracks are more in the realm of what for this band could be considered "traditional" progressive metal, with all the playful chops and tempo changes, whereas the excellent vocals of Ross Jennings shine through as usual. Very satisfying, playful and bombastic sound of the album so far, every song seems to be a world of its own, yet there are a few recurring elements like the frequent mention of animals, the wacky keyboard parts, or even the jazzier bits that are played quite tastefully every time they appear. 'Island in the Clouds' continues in the same vein, while 'Lovebite' allows Haken to further try on some "poppier" writing, to average results. The big 11-minute track 'Elephants Never Forget' is a true rollercoaster and exactly what one could expect from the Brits upon seeing the song's playtime - all the madness is there! 'Eyes of Ebony' closes off the album in a more tranquil manner, while it could be argued whether this track is actually necessary, or the previous one could have been a more appropriate album closer, but this doesn't really matter too much, as the entirety of 'Fauna' is excellent, the album sits very well in Haken's catalogue and helps them expand their sound in the most thrilling of ways.

ANEKDOTEN formed by Jan Erik Liljeström (bass, vocals), Nicklas Berg [aka Nicklas Barker] (guitar, Mellotron, vocals) and drummer Peter Nordins took a different approach than many of its 90s counterparts. Eschewing the blatant Pink Floyd inspired space rock, the symphonic prog excesses of Yes and Genesis or the nerdy avant-prog workouts inspired by the Belgian chamber rock scene, ANEKDOTEN looked rather back to King Crimson, specifically its "Red" album and created a heavy style of art rock that implemented a bantering Rickenbacker bass, Fripp-ian guitar angularities and a turbulent atmospheric delivery. VEMOD was the debut album and in Swedish means "sadness" or "melancholy." The album indeed delivered the perfect mix of instrumentation that offered the perfect downer vibe.

Soaked in mellotron, the album featured a veritable mix of creepy atmospheres augmented by the lugubrious cello playing of Anna Sofi Dahlberg which contrasted starkly with the heavy rock workouts of the chugging guitar, bass fuzz and percussive pummelation which in tandem delivered an oddball mix of psychedelic folk style passages with heavier prog rock that verged on drifting into extreme metal territory. Also notable was the unique tender vocal style of Jan Erik Liljeström who added that detached Thom Yorke melancholy before Radiohead latched onto the same idea. VEMOD finds the extra touches of guest Per Wiberg delivering grand piano runs as well as Pär Ekström adding the occasional flugelhorn and cornet sounds.

The opening instrumental "Karelia" sets the mood with eerie old school mellotron synth sounds that burst into the KC proto-metal "Red" dissonance which dominate the band's first two albums before drifting off more into psychedelic territories. Given the uniqueness of ANEKDOTEN's sound, the opener allows an acclimation period before the album begins its vocal dominated aspects on "The Old Man & The Sea." By this time the various complexities of the instrumental interplay had been well established and then allow the cryptic English vocals to add an entirely new dimension to the band's overall effect. Taking things much further than KC ever did with "Red," ANEKDOTEN demonstrated that KC had plenty of life left after its sole offering of that particular phase of Robert Tripp's creative output and added a 90s spin that fit in with the alternative outsider music that dominated the decade.

The album perfectly balances the brooding slower passages with the frenetic and even jarring brashness of the heavy prog workouts that find the guitar, bass and drums in some sort of trance inducing psychosis but the skilled musicians maintain firm control of their seemingly uncontrollable beast and demonstrate an unshakable restraint. Perhaps the most "Red" sounding of all is the "ballad" "Thoughts In Absence" which evokes that same more chilled moment of "Fallen Angel" however ANEKDOTEN crafted a much darker, even depressive take on KC's 1974 classic. The juxtaposition of the spidery guitar parts with mellotron-soaked ambience gives ANEKDOTEN a sound like no other and despite comparisons with bands like Anglagard, Magma, Ruins and others, ANEKDOTEN remains to this day a unique prog force that somehow conjured up the perfect blend of bombastic hypnosis.

ANEKDOTEN was no one trick pony with a constant evolution throughout its run through the 90s and beyond and although every album is brilliant in its own way, for my personal tastes i still find this debut to be my absolute favorite of the lot. It not only captured the spirit of the 70s greats that launched the entire prog scene but gave it all a serious upgrade in a way that was quite effective with a multitude of interesting diversions into everything from classical chamber psychedelia to post-rock like repetition. Needless to say the band mastered all the Frippian techniques of "Red" and took them to the next level and beyond. Despite all these astute analyses, the album is just a pure joy to experience from beginning to end and one of those that i never tire of.

Everything blends together impeccably and no element is so dominant that it becomes monotonous. ANEKDOTEN delivered one of the most artful blends of classic prog with a new spin on VEMOD and delivers musically exactly what the eerie cover art depicts. While considered a form of retro prog, VEMOD excelled at true originality above and beyond the influences. This is one of 90s prog's greatest moments IMHO. ANEKDOTEN would take the extremities even further on the following "Nucleus" before abandoning the harshness altogether in favor of a more psychedelic and progressive take on the style of the space rock revival of Radiohead. While those albums are interesting, to my ears VEMOD is one of the band's finest moments.

In particular, the style on this album finds them straddling the worlds of prog and the harder-edged sort of art rock (with perhaps a touch of glam rock theatricality). There's just enough bite to the harder-edged tracks that if you squint you can almost imagine them as a proto-New Wave group - which by rights should have set them up well to face coming musical changes - whilst at the same time songs like A Sea Epic show their ability to go theatrical when they want.

With a fresh approach, an original sound, a dose of wit to their songwriting, and a clutch of listenable tunes, their self- titled album has an absolute ton going for it. (Modern ears may take issue with some lyrics, but I am reasonably confident they're meant to be a little uncomfortable for the purposes of the song in question.)

As it is, it sank like a stone, winning critical acclaim from major periodicals but failing to perform commercially because their record label, Lifesong, made an absolute mess of the promotion and distribution - for instance, they ended up becoming very big in Baltimore because Baltimore was one of the few cities where Lifesong actually shipped a decent number of copies. It's an injustice on the scale of the commercial faltering of Pavlov's Dog's debut album (the result of an even sillier bit of record company politics).

"Hemispheres" is the sixth studio album of Rush and that was released in 1978. The album continues the band's explorations of their musical style and sounds and marks the peak of what I consider to be Rush's golden musical age, the years between 1976 and 1981. "Hemispheres" represents the second studio album of the band that belongs to their second musical phase. It comprises also their fifth studio album "A Farewell To Kings" released in 1977, their seventh studio album "Permanent Waves" released in 1980 and their eighth studio album "Moving Pictures" released in 1981.

The album contains examples of Rush's adherence to the progressive rock standards including the use of epic, multi movement song structures, complex rhythms and time signatures and flexible guitar solos. This is easily Rush's finest work. Four songs, which each of them rock in their own special little way and where each individual member is at his instrumental peak. "Hemispheres" is one of those albums that embody everything great about its constituent genre.

The line up on the album is Geddy Lee (lead vocals, bass guitar, Oberheim polyphonic, Mini Moog and Moog Taurus bass pedals), Alex Lifeson (electric and acoustic guitars, classical guitar, guitar synthesizer and Moog Taurus pedals) and Neil Pearl (drums, orchestral bells, bell tree, timpani, gong, cowbells, temple blocks, wind chimes and crotales).

So, "Hemispheres" has four tracks. All lyrics were written by Neil Pearl and all music was written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson except "La Villa Strangiato" which was written by Lee, Lifeson and Pearl. The first track " Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres" is divided into six parts, "Prelude", "Apollo (Bringer Of Wisdom)", "Dionysus (Bringer Of Love)", "Armageddon (The Battle Of Heart And Mind)", "Cygnus (Bringer Of Balance)" and "The Sphere (A Kind Of Dream)". It kicks off the continuation of the "Cygnus X-1" story, the part one of which was the ending to their previous studio album "A Farewell To Kings". It combines the structure and themes of a Grecian tragedy with the elements of science fiction. "Hemispheres" continues the journey of the hero from the last album, wherein the science fiction tale describes his ships journey too and the subsequent destruction by a black hole in the Cygnus constellation. Now we pick up the tail, as a fantasy, where the hero arriving formless onto a land locked in an ancient civil war. One fiction is Apollo, representing logic, and while the other is Dionysus, representing love, and one of each forming in the great conflict a hemisphere, representing modern conventions on right and left hemispheres of our brain functions. Musically, the song is also amazing with about eighteen minutes. It's a truly wonderful epic song. It has multiple time signature changes, beautiful guitar solos and Geddy Lee gives one of his greatest vocal performances in his entire musical career. This is a very solid track with its mellowed out progressive rock innovative and magnificent. The second track "Circumstances" is the shortest song on the album and compared with the others three it's merely good, despite still is a great song too. At a first glance it's a straightforward rock song, but some of Lifeson's unusual rhythm guitar plating and some superb bass playing by Lee give to it something extra and really good. The third track "The Trees" is a great track musically and lyrically. The lyrics are about a disagreement between two types of trees in a forest. Contrary to the heavy opening of "Circumstances", "The Trees" starts off very gently with acoustic guitar and Lee singing over a nice bass line. The music starts building up in volume and the final result is a great Rush's song. The fourth and last track "La Villa Strangiato" is an instrumental track, the first by Rush, and represents probably the most complex composition by them. Like "Hemispheres", "La Villa Strangiato" achieves a brilliant balance of complexity and accessibility. The melodies are highly emotive while the endless array of changes in tempo, timbre and rhythm are totally dizzying, really. The final four minutes are especially staggering. "La Villa Strangiato" finishes the album with a flurry of drums and bass. For me, this is the best instrumental of Rush. With this track Rush close this album in a perfect and irresistible way, undoubtedly.

Conclusion: Unfortunately, "Hemispheres" became the last Rush's studio album with lengthy pieces of music. In the 2010 documentary film "Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage", the band members commented that the stress of recording "Hemispheres" was a major factor in their decision to start moving away from musical suites with long format in their song writing. The change in philosophy would manifest itself in the band's next studio album, the considerably more accessible "Permanent Waves". Honestly, I deeply regret that their decision. "Hemispheres" is an album that combines perfectly well the best elements of Rush in a perfect blend. I'm talking about the power rock that featured a lot on their previous studio albums and the use of synthesizers that would increase more and more in their later studio albums. On "Hemispheres", the power rock still adventurous and strong and synthesizers add to the album a little extra, while still used sparingly. All these things make of "Hemispheres" as one of the best studio progressive rock albums ever made.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)