PROG RELATED

I don't remember hearing any of these songs back in the 70's although apparently "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love" were released as singles. Honestly I will repeat myself a lot if I describe each track. Lots of piano, plenty of guitar, both upped by the vocals and silliness. "The Worst Band In The World" is a sarcastic track with the focus on the vocals and Zappa came to mind.

My least favourite song is "Hotel" for the lyrics and silliness. "Old Wise Men" isn't much better. I thought of QUEEN on "Somewhere In Hollywood" the longest track at over 6 minutes. "Baron Samedi" is a nervous sounding piece, quite jittery. Rough vocals at times. Zappa came to mind in spades on "The Sacro-Lliac" with those vocal arrangements. The closer has a country vibe to it and is a catchy vocal driven tune.

Not my music at all but I enjoyed spending time with it, a talented band. They were Neil Sedaka's backing band? Lol.

Vangelis, as a composer, was much of a free-spirit and often puzzled his fans (for example, with albuns like Soil Festivities and Invisible Connections not long after releasing the popular Chariots of Fire). Beaubourg, as a follow-up of Albedo 0.39 and Spiral certainly shocked many of the casual fans.

Avant-garde and minimalist in nature, the album is all about fragmentary melodies here and there, experiments with tones, sparse sounds and no rhythm at all. It is very experimental in the sense that it experiments with characteristics of the sound itself: heavy reverberation, stereo effects, relying heavily on the synthesizer filters and effects rather than the oscillators. There are lots of silences and pauses that are very important to the nature of the composition. Vangelis manages to fill 40 minutes of the album with a great listening experience for fans of the genre.

This is, of course, out of reach for many people, because it is simply not their genre. But for people who dig this highly experimental and avant-garde compositions in the tradition of the classical composers of the second half of the twentieth century, it is a tremendous work. And that is why it deserves a high rating, even if it is not for everyone.

One thing that amazes me on those works by Vangelis, including the celebrated elsewhere victim of some prejudice among prog fans "Chariots of Fire" is that, composing and playing almost everything, the Greek composer and musician knows exactly what should go where in every song, even with the countless possibilities that the synthesizers bring. One has to recognize that it seems to be much more complex than prog composers that compose the general flow of the songs on their main instrument and then use the talents of their bandmates to fill in the arrangemets of their own instruments.

In China, it is all there, and songs like Yin & Yang and Himalaya, that blend beautiful harmonies and soundscapes with experimental lead synth flourishes here and there make the work uniquely pleasant. Some other songs mix well the experimental aspects and the quasi-symphonic and traditional folk, like Chung Kuo. There is a good variety of compositions, some more straightforward, some more complex, and listening to the entire album is a very pleasant experience.

Of course, lots of people don't like very much Vangelis works because they are shy in the "rock" component (it is almost non-existent on this album), but it is a lot better musically than almost everything that was being done in the realms of the progressive music by 1979.

That first track is pretty good especially the instrumental sections. A fairly heavy and determined sound. The second track is not that great, kind of a pale version of the opener. The next two songs to end the suite deal with war. Both are exceptional tracks. The album cover and especially the album's title would have been so controversial in 1970. A bold move and then John Peel starts playing that third track about soldiers with such meaningful and passionate words. An anti-war track that Peel would play regularly giving this band a huge spotlight. And what a song! No doubt there were many haters for this one but the lyrics are right on. The biting words and the way he says "...you know " after certain lines just works so well. The fourth one of the suite ends with a nuclear explosion but we get some walking bass and killer guitar as well. Such a good song.

The last five tracks don't quite measure up to the last two before it but this is a fairly consistent album and there's something about each of the last five that works for me. "Garden" might be my favourite of those for the lyrics and sound. The closer "Eccentric Man..." is little heavier and a little slower and quite catchy, a highlight. 4 stars.

"Made In Heaven" is the fifteenth studio album of Queen and was released in 1995, four years after the dead of Freddie Mercury. This is the last album from the band to feature vocals from him when he was alive. However, after Freddie Mercury's dead in 1991, the remaining members of Queen have worked with previously recorded vocals and piano parts that Freddie recorded before he passed away, along with newly recorded lyrics by the remaining band's members, to create another new studio album. It included two songs, with a new musical arrangement of Freddie Mercury's solo album, "Mr. Bad Guy" and "I Was Born To Love You", and "Made In Heaven". The song "My Life Has Been Saved" has a version launched in 1989, the compact with the song "Scandal" released on their thirteenth studio album "The Miracle".

Prior to its release, some critics thought Queen were cashing in. Instead, Queen wrote the perfect final chapter to an amazing career. Some fans were disappointed in the 80's and some new fans were introduced in the 80's. Still, "Made in Heaven" is an album that won't disappoint, whether you're a fan of the 70's hard rock or the 80's pop rock, indeed.

"Made In Heaven" has officially, eleven tracks. The first track "It's A Beautiful Day" written by Queen and Freddie Mercury is a nice song, where the vocals and piano sounds beautifully. This is a good song to introduce the album. The second track "Made In Heaven" written by Freddie Mercury was originally from his solo album "Mr. Bad Guy". This is a version which was given a special treatment to sounds more like a Queen's song. I think this is a better version than the original. The third track "Let Me Live" written by Queen is a rock ballad that features vocals from Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor. It was completed after Freddie Mercury's dead. It's a good song that sounds to the early Queen's sound. The fourth track "Mother Love" written by Freddie Mercury and Brian May was the final song co-written by both, and was also Freddie Mercury's last vocal performance. It's a good and beautiful song with sad and depressing lyrics that notice that he knew perfectly well that he was going to die soon. The fifth track "My Life Has Been Saved" written by Queen and John Deacon is, in my humble opinion, one of the weakest songs on the album. However, it remains a good and enjoyable song to hear. The sixth track "I Was Born To Love You" written by Freddie Mercury, was another song originally recorded for his solo album "Mr. Bad Guy". After he passed away, the band remixed it and added instrumentation, turning it into a fast rock song. This is a good and nice song to hear. The seventh track "Heaven For Everyone" written by Roger Taylor is a beautiful and sentimental track. Despite be a song taken from Roger Taylor's album "The Cross", this version sounds as a Queen's song. The eighth track "Too Much Love Will Kill You" written by Brian May, Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers is one of the highlights on the album. It was initially made for "The Miracle", but it was never released. Later, Brian May recorded it for his debut solo album "Back To The Light". This is a nice song that I like very much. The ninth track "You Don't Fool Me" written by Queen was one of the last songs to be recorded for the album. It isn't a very good song. It sounds too much to funky and disco and has nothing to do with the Queen's sound. It's a bit dated in our days. The tenth track "A Winter's Tale" written by Queen and Freddie Mercury is a beautiful song. It was the last song composed solely by Freddie Mercury and was recorded two weeks before his dead. The eleventh track "It's A Beautiful Day (Reprise)", as its name says is the reprise of the first song. It's a better version than the first one. It has new and different musical arrangements and a heavier rock piece of music at the end of it.

The CD also features two tracks that aren't presented on the data shed of the album. The twelfth track "Yeah" is an excerpt from "It's a Beautiful Day (Reprise)", where Freddie Mercury shouts "Yeah" that has no more than 4 seconds. The thirteenth track is a light track, where hardly we can hear anything because is recorded too much low. Its name was never mentioned, but some says is called "Mystique". It symbolizes the passing of Freddie Mercury to the Paradise.

Conclusion: I can see some parallelism between "Made In Heaven" and "An American Prayer" of The Doors, despite being two completely different musical proposals. As many of you know, both albums were released with some material recorded by both artists before their dead, and were released by the remaining members of both bands, after they died. Relatively to "Made In Heaven", and musically speaking, we are in presence of a great album, with songs like "Made In Heaven", "I Was Born To Love You", "Heaven For Everyone" and "Too Much Love Will Kill You", which did our delights, while we drove our cars and listened the car radio, instead of having to listen some kind of pop music without any kind of quality and imagination. So, "Made In Heaven" probably should be rated with 4 stars. However, I have a problem in doing that. In the first place, its music hasn't any kind of progressivity and we are on a progressive site. In the second place, I rated "Queen", "Sheer Heart Attack", "A Day At The Races" and "Innuendo" with 4 stars. Thus, it would be unfair to give the same rating to it too. So, the right thing to do is to rate "Made In Heaven" with 3 solid stars, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

I'm not sure that many folks will like this ... because, in many ways this is poetry at its best ... this is not a bunch of songs. More like a bunch of little stories, and I have a feeling that these are very much ad-libbed ... and many times I wonder ... how did he come up with that? No one can explain his feeling when he tells his stories, and the music accompanying this is unreal ... do not look to listen to this as if it was just a bunch of songs ... let's say that there is no song here ... just Robin and a few friends ... doing something that many of us think is crazy, and wonder how they came up with all that.

In the middle of all this, are a bunch of pieces that are phenomenal, and I had to listen to the album more than once to be able to feel comfortable with the whole thing, because it is so different as to just about be really difficult to say something. But there are some gems in here, that are too special to be left behind.

The Iron Stone, Political Lies are probably the two pieces that you will remember the most, although I find it difficult to even remember his words ... somehow I hear the story and follow it, but it's as if the words are melded with the story in such a way, that it makes it difficult for us to concentrate on just one thing that we are used to do ... thinking of the lyrics, and all of a sudden, the rest of the piece disappears ... it's as if the music is so elusive and special as to keep us in the story ... not the words, and here, how Robin does it in each and every piece is so special and by far such an individuality that makes this different, and special ... it might even be considered "prog-related" but if we take how this disdains the standard format for anything, this blows the style/definition to smithereens. I'm not sure I even want to say something about each piece, as I thought that listening to it, is going to be such an experience, and so different for many of us, as to make it tough to review something, or say something that in so many ways is so far and beyond words ... in the end, it is almost like "Verses at Elsmere" ... just a flow of feelings and words, and the music ... goodness the music ... makes you wonder how someone even considered doing this ... but it was obvious that some courageous folks took the chance and the work by Ale Moller, Mat Maneri and Barre Phillips is so incredible all the way through ... in what is one special album from an artist, that has so many albums that are so far and away from our ideas of what music, song, or poetry is ... there is a mastery about it, that is unbelievable. And all you can say is ... thanks Robin ... very neat and far out ... very neat and far out.

The festive spirit is present from the start with the extroverted "Party" and "Khashoggi's Ship", where the lively melodies are dominated by Brian May's powerful guitar riffs and Mercury's energy on vocals, a spirit that is maintained in the galloping and groundbreaking "Breakthru" with its operatic reminiscence and John Deacon's bass leading the melody.

The more serious and reflective vein comes with the hard-rocking "I Want It All", one of the band's last anthems with May again in the lead role, the conciliatory "The Miracle", the album's eponymous title track and its conscious anti-war pronouncement, and the denouncing "Scandal" and its critique of the sensationalism of the gossip press with May on keyboards, a heartfelt and brief guitar solo and Deacon's persistent bass lines.

And if "Rain Must Fall" as well as "My Baby Does Me" are failed expressions that don't seem to make much sense in the overall context of the album (the bonus tracks on the CD release, "Hang on in There" and May's solo on the instrumental "Chinese Torture" would have fit much better), the imposing, at times orchestrated and at times raspingly brilliant forcefulness of the superb "Was It All Worth It" with a confessional and heartbreaking Mercury, brings the album to a stupendous close.

"The Miracle", which didn't have a promotional tour due to the singer's illness, even though initially it was argued that he was tired and fed up with the album-tour cycle, was probably the best work of the English band in the 80's.

3/3.5 stars

The band didn't waste any time taking their sound to new heights with their sophomore full-length RADIATOR which emerged in the summer of 1997 to great fanfare although the band was a little too experimental and weird for the Britpop crowds and a little too poppy hooky for the casual alt rockers who were totally craving the unabashed guitar fuzz. But somehow SUPER FURRY ANIMALS captured a new niche of their own making, one that was in that eerie in between zone where all styles of 90s music seemingly met in the dark but didn't tell the family. The results were not only interesting but fascinating and for lovers of art rock and progressive pop, RADIATOR was a real treat indeed.

Alternating mind-blowing electronic experiments with fully fueled Britpop accessibility, SUPER FURRY ANIMALS reminded of many artists but sounded like no other. While comparisons to The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, The Beach Boys and even Blur have been made, the band funneled all those diverse ingredients into a cauldron of its own making and boiled them down into a cohesive mishmash of masterful art pop bar none. RADIATOR begins with the eerie electronic intro of "Furryvision" which makes you think you might have popped in a Tangerine Dream album but the Britpop flavors with raucous guitar grooves quickly take you into the world of more contemporary alternative rock (a la Blur) of the 90s and then the band delivers a series of diverse tracks that feature blistering rock workouts accompanied by stellar space rock and psychedelic effects.

Certain tracks remind me of Spacehog, such as the intelligently designed "Demons" (one of the many top 40 hits and a personal fave!) which featured grungy guitar hooks, references to David Bowie glam rock and even adopts those famous Canterbury Scene keyboard sounds made popular by Soft Machine's Richard Sinclair. The production is one of the top notch elements on RADIATOR as well as the attention to details. "Demons" for example features not just the usual guitar, bass, drums and keys layout but also features a subtle banjo accompaniment as well as strings and a trumpet! Not to mention Beach Boys inspired harmonies which adds layers of ear worm catchiness.

Another standout is "She's Got Spies" which begins innocently enough as what sounds like a ballad before breaking into a Weezer inspired sizzling slice of pop punk before drifting off again into glacial neo-psychedleia that offers bloops, bleeps and sputtering synthesized sounds that offer strange contrapuntal sound effects. The band excelled at these off-kilter contrasts. While the music is catchy and the compositions are cleverly designed, the band also proved to be excellent at writing lyrics. The tongue in cheek "Hermann Loves Pauline" may sound like a party grunge stomper but narrates a fictitious account of the parents of Albert Einstein with references to Marie Curie and Ernesto Guevara. This was another top 40 hit.

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS achieved an even greater success on RADIATOR with no less than four top 40 hits on the British charts and rave reviews for its innovative approach of melding Britpop with nerdy electronic effects, progressive elements and various strains of alternative rock including grunge, pop punk, indie rock and even a bit of shoegaze. While this band often gets lumped into the world of progressive rock for its innovative approach, for those seeking prog musical workouts don't even enter these grounds. This is Britpop plus plus plus. Think Spacehog only with more interesting dynamics as well as much better songwriting. RADIATOR is a compelling listen from beginning to end and was the album that propelled SUPER FURRY ANIMALS onto the world's stage. The band would continue on for the next decade as Wales' most interesting band. This is an excellent experimental indie pop rock album!

But this album is not merely the last time Tibet (plus allies) and Pearce would collaborate so successfully and harmoniously on a musical project - it's also Cashmore's change to sign as a composer and multi-instrumentalist, and he certainly does that, offering in the album what amounts to an early blueprint of the sort of softer, gentler influences he would bring into the Current 93 sound (coming to the fore particularly on Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre). By itself, it is achingly beautiful; set next to Thunder Perfect Mind and But What Ends..., and it's the final piece of a puzzle revealing the absolute best the apocalyptic folk scene has to offer.