— First review of this album —

European bound (The Netherlands) American ex-pats John Lee and Gerry Brown have assembled a band consisting of perhaps the very crème de la crème of Dutch musicianship--including guitar virtuosi Philip Catherine and Eef Albers and keyboardists Jasper Van't Hof and Rob Franken and even entice a couple of other seasoned American standouts in Mike Mandel and Eric Tagg to participate on a couple of songs.

A1. "Mango Sunrise" (5:17) incredible performances by all of the band members--with amazing cohesion and great melodic hooks and riffs. (9.25/10)

A2. "Breakfast of Champions" (4:03) powerful and well-performed--especially by the lead guitarist(s)--but the main theme, repeated ad nauseum, is too dull and distance-causing. (8.75/10)

A3. "Keep It Real" (5:21) acoustic guitars with electric bass and gentle drum play (mostly cymbals) opens this like the potential-energy-filled opening of LED ZEPPELIN's "Heartbreaker." Rob Franken's synth solo is the leader for the first 90 seconds but then there is a stop and resent as the band switches into a slowed-down recapitulation of the chorus theme of the same song while Eef and Philip show off their incredible skills. Gerry really fills it up as the Al Di Meola- like power choruses bridge the verse sections. Man! Are these musicians incredible! The final minute sees the band turning back to the same motif as the opening: acoustic guitars with synthesizer creating the melody over the top. (9/10)

A4. "Ethereal Cereal" (3:40) a nod to Stanley Clarke? or Larry Coryell? or The Allman Brothers? or Jean-Luc Ponty? or Ernie Isley? The speed limits are all blown away on this one as every musician in the weave is in overdrive. Wow! Did I say "wow!" yet? If only it had a little more variety in melody and dynamics. (9/10)

B1. "The Stop and Go" (3:12) another very tight, very impressive whole-band display of sophisticated complexity and virtuosity that somehow lacks enough variation and melodic hook to remain memorable. Dripping in the super funk of the time--the stuff that Herbie, Larry Young, Parliament, and Lenny White were championing. (8.875/10)

B2. "Her Celestial Body" (5:10) a slowed down, stripped-down sound palette that has great, haunting melodies and awesome bass, drumming, and keyboard performances. (9.125/10)

B3. "Pickin' the Bone" (4:00) another song with Al Di-era RTF-inspired choruses bridging some fairly smooth BOB JAMES-like Fender Rhodes-led verses. (8.875/10)

B4. "Magnum Opus" (5:09) to the races straight out of the gate with John hitting Percy Jones-level note speed, matched by Gerry's precise yet-nuanced drumming and some awesome rhtym guitar work. The ensuing electric guitar solos are out of this world with their speed, dexterity, and melodic sensibilities. If you told me that John, Gerry and company were inspired by Lenny White's "Mating Drive" for this song I would not be at all surprised. Lenny, Dougie Rauch, Ray Gomez, and Doug Rodrigues would all be clapping enthusiastically in their congratulatory approbation. (9.5/10)

B5. "Haida" (2:53) kind of an excerpt from a jam that, while impressive, really goes nowhere. (8.75/10)

Total time: 38:05

Unlike any other bands or musicians outside of the "Bitches Brew" circle of progenitors, John Lee and Gerry Brown get it: They understand fully and completely that which Jazz-Rock Fusion is all about; they unleash music that is fully in line with the fullest potential of the Jazz-Rock Fusion medium as defined by the likes of Herbie Hancock with his Headhunters, John McLaughlin with the second incarnation of his Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, and Lenny White with their Return To Forever and initial solo projects.

My one complaint with the albums on which Eef Albers and Philip Catherine team up is that I do not know which guitarist's style is which: they are both so fluid, so melodically-gifted, and both use similar sounds to project their guitar playing that I never feel certain which one is soloing at any given time.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of breath-taking whole-group performances from a band of total virtuosi. It could've been better (more melodic, more memorable hooks and transitions) but the playing is so off the charts amazing that I cannot deny this as an absolutely essential representation of peak Third Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion.

The Denver based BLOOD INCANTATION has wrested its way up to the top ranks of the world of technical death metal in the last decade through a meticulous melding approach of morphing the old school death metal magic of bands like Morbid Angel and Immolation with the retro space rock effects of 70s progressive rock, a trait that a few intrepid extreme metal pioneers like Opeth and Enslaved have been tinkering with for over two decades now. Finding itself at the right place at the right time just as the world of psychedelic death metal was poised to break through to the mainstream as the newest death metal strain to come of age, BLOOD INCANTATION was more than ready to slay the competition and declare themselves the kings of this adventurous hybridization that finds space rock cozily commingling with brutal death metal bombast laced with concepts of our suppressed history and science fiction (often proven to be science fact).

The band immediately made a splash with its 2016 debut "Starspawn" which showcased the band's meaty metal hooks and technical wizardry but it wasn't until 2019's "Hidden History Of The Human Race" that the band really unleashed its true psychedelic potential with heady concepts wrapped up in psychedelic death metal splendor. The band while always technical in nature also proved to craft a mighty fine progressive metal album and the stage was set for this new extreme metal royalty to wear the crown. Despite the seeming certainty that BLOOD INCANTATION was in it for the long run, along comes the curveball release "Timewave Zero" in 2022 which found the band dropping all traces of metal music like a hot potato and rather totally rocketed off into space with a pure space ambient and progressive electronic style that took more inspiration from Berlin School giants like Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze. Had BLOOD INCANTATION gone the way of Leprous, Opeth or Ulver and completely shifted gears midstream?

It comes as great relief (as much as i love progressive electronic music) that BLOOD INCANTATION did nothing of the sort and rather was just allowing themselves to dabble in non-metal playgrounds while recharging their batteries for the next chapter of their metal mojo jounrey. Finally in 2024 we are treated to the newest installment of the BLOOD INCANTATION universe in the form of ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE, a crafty conceptual sci-fi saga divided into two overarching 3 sections that are called tablets: "The Stargate" and "The Message." While many were wondering if BLOOD INCANTATION had abandoned metal for the world of progressive electronic on "Timewave Zero," it seems they were simply honing their chops to bedazzle their fans with an amazing fusion of their already masterful technical / progressive death metal with the more cosmic meanderings of 70s proggy space rock and Berlin School progressive electronic. Even Tangerine Dream member Thorsten Quaeschning appears for a cameo thus cementing this new development as a major leap in death metal ingenuity.

While such a collision of disparate musical worlds can result in a convoluted unconvincing disaster in the wrong hands, BLOOD INCANTATION has proven once again that this quintet of talented musicians can achieve the seemingly impossible on the same level as Opeth and Enslaved have done in the past. ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE seems to have attained the perfect balance between the detached technical brutality of death metal and the more chilled excursions into the cosmos in the form of heady space rock. While the juxtaposition of these two seems rather dubious, somehow this band forges the perfect bridges to allow the disparate genres to trade off without a hitch. While "Hidden History Of The Human Race" was greatly praised and lauded as some sort of pinnacle of the style, i personally found the album to not flow as coherently as i had imagined however on ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE the band seems to have ironed out all those peccadillos and forged a veritable masterpiece of progressive psychedelic death metal like no other. While Opeth has tackled both genres independently on different albums, BLOOD INCANTATION brings it all together in a most convincing way.

I think it goes without saying that psychedelic death metal has truly come of age and no better example exists than this latest BLOOD INCANTATION bombshell which produces a bountiful buffet of psychotropic bombast and kaleidoscopic calamity throughout ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE's six-track / 43-minute excursion into the realms of sci-fi fueled proggy death metal extraordinaire. Now if anyone told a hardened death metal fan back in the early 90s that someday a band would successfully meld the meaty metal bluster of Morbid Angel with the psychotropic expansiveness of Pink Floyd and the Berlin School scene, nobody could have imagined that such a thing was even possible but here in the calendar year 2024 BLOOD INCANTATION has taken such possibilities into the realms of plausibility with one of the most well-crated examples of psychedelic death metal to emerge. I think it goes without saying that BLOOD INCANTATION has not jumped the shark in any possible way but has only improved its unorthodox genre coalescing manyfold. For my liking there are no missteps on this one, no moments that seem out of place and even the production that links the various styles is impeccable. This is BLOOD INCANTATION's finest moment yet!

3.5 stars. I really like this period in Keneally's discography, from 2000's "Dancing" to 2004's "The Universe Will Provide". "Dog" was also released in 2004 but for me it's a step down from those two records. Still, I'd rate this as my third favourite from him after those two. Like "Dancing" we get a lot of short poppy songs with vocals, along with those avant moments, and plenty of humour of course. Mike's albums are always entertaining.

I just noticed recently that monster drummer Marco Minnemann was Keneally's drummer on his albums from the 10's. Of course it's that Bryan Beller connection, but man we get the stunt guitarist and the stunt drummer on the same album? Speaking of drummers I was surprised to see that Nick D'Virgilio was on the kit here on "Dog". I just didn't see that one coming. He is one talented drummer I'll say that. And I'm surprised also that this recording is listed under the MIKE KENEALLY BAND which I have only seen on two of his live releases.

There is one long track on here which sort of encapsulates my feeling for the whole album. Hit and miss. The over 15 minute "This Tastes Like A Hotel". Man it sure sounds like fake beats and 80's synths 4 1/2 minutes in, but then those powerful rock sections that come and go make up for that. The long guitar solo over the bass and drums is great. My least favourite is the opener "Louie". There's some light and funny tunes, and no these guys don't take themselves too seriously. And we do have some drum programming and bouzouki on that shortest track "Physics".

So another good one, and honestly anything Keneally did during the first half of the 00's needs to be heard.

Not the best album of the Stern-Combo Meissen, but not bad either. I think the most important issue here is whether you can stand (a) some soft pop elements and (b) an obviously outdated and somewhat cheesy synthesizer sound. At the time in the German Democratic Republic this sound was probably super exciting, but in the West much more interesting things were possible sound-wise already much earlier in the seventies.

That said, this is nice and very melodic music with some sophisticated (if not all too complex) composition elements and arrangements, and well played, particularly in the keyboard department. The Stern-Combo have never been sound innovators (although their use of synthesizers was exceptional for the GDR scene); the keyboarders Thomas Kurzhals and Lothar Kramer were more committed to their classical education. The 12 minutes of Vivaldi's Der Frühling could have benefitted from more contributions of the rest of the band, but Kurzhals apparently wanted to stick to the original score. They were obviously excited about their new (?) synth and this excitement went a bit overboard here, but the way this is played still makes it fun. Otherwise the melodies work well for me, and I like that they are given space to breathe, with well dosed instrumental parts, of course driven by Kurzhals. I also like the somewhat understated vocals, with polyphonic arrangements in several places, as known from their earlier albums. The album feels relaxed and laid back. It also has some variety with the lyrical and harmonically complex Was Bleibt and the somewhat more rocky and straight Der Motor between the mini epics Die Sage and Der Weite Weg, whereas Der Frühling is obviously its very own beast. Gib mir, was du geben kannst tries out a funky rhythm with mixed success.

Der Weite Weg has a hard time to be appreciated by prog fans between the much proggier albums Weißes Gold and Reise zum Mittelpunkt des Menschen. This album is more easy listening and poppy, still it has some depth and quality. 3 stars, well deserved.

— First review of this album —

Since the early 1980s the See For Miles Records has specialized in releasing long lost artifacts from the past by compiling flotsam and jetsam of both unknown and more familiar bands as well as nurturing new fledgling talented artists. In the mid-80s the label released one of its most critically acclaimed and most popular series THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP which came out as four vinyl records or three CDs. Comparable to the US Nuggets series, this one focuses on the British 60s scene with the first two editions focusing on the more obscure artists who didn't exactly burn up the singles charts during their day but nevertheless captured the spirt and zeitgeist of era in ways that equalled or surpassed the most famous bands still known today.

THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1 1966-1969 begins the series with artists who existed concurrently with the more famous bands like The Who, The Pretty Things orThe Small Faces but never found any success in terms of exposure or sales for that matter. In fact most of these artists never even had the opportunity to release a single album with only a few singles that dotted their short-lived output. Despite the obscure nature of the artists on this compilation, none of which i was familiar with before encountering this psychedelic pop gem, these artists showcase exactly how many talented acts there were in the day crafting excellently constructed psychedelic baroque pop that stood up to the best of the era.

Also falling in line with the 60s marketing trends of confusing the public, there are actually two versions of this compilation released simultaneously with slightly different titles. The vinyl LP edition only featured 20 tracks and sported a different album cover as THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP (1966-1969) while the CD edition featured 26 tracks and was released as THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1. This was the result of the limitations of vinyl which split the series into four editions whereas the longer CD format fit everything snugly into three. While most of these tracks will be completely unfamiliar, a couple of them may jump out at you including The Flies' version of "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" best known as a Monkees single as well as The Californians' version of Warren Zevon's "Follow Me."

What this compilation succeeds in is revealing a completely unknown underground of the richness of the British music scene of the 1960s and although these tracks are psychedelic pop, like experimental artists like The Beatles, many were pushing boundaries while engaging in their trippy fuzz guitar sounds and Beach Boys style harmonies. While all the artists here could ostensibly be considered pop artists, the degree to which they aimed for the singles charts varied with clear missed hits with the sunshine pop "The Muffin Man" from World Of Oz to the more etheral, less commercial sounding track "Renaissance Fair" from Human Instinct. Others such as The Californians actually sound a lot like The Monkees. Overall this is an excellent collection of lost gems that will exhilarate those who can't get enough of 60s British psychedelic pop in the vein of The Pretty Things, The Beatles or The Move. Not every track is equally compelling but none are throwaways either. The two editions of each release are different enough they should be categorized as separate releases. Only 14 tracks appear on both formats. The rest are different. Track listing of each format:

THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1 (CD) 1 Turquoise - Tales of Flossie Fillet 2 Timebox - Baked Jam Roll in Your Eye 3 The Poets - In Your Tower 4 The 23rd Turnoff - Leave Me Here 5 World of Oz - The Muffin Man 6 Ice - So Many Times 7 The End - Shades of Orange 8 Ice - Ice Man 9 Cryin' Shames - Come on Back 10 Tintern Abbey - Vacuum Cleaner 11 The Virgin Sleep - Love 12 Turquoise - Saynia 13 Toby Twirl - Romeo and Juliet 14 Amazing Friendly Apple - Magician 15 Tintern Abbey - Beeside 16 The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stonelyrics 17 The Accent - Red Sky at Night 18 Human Instinct - Renaissance Fair 19 The Cuppa T - Miss Pinkerton 20 Toby Twirl - Toffee Apple Sunday 21 Cherry Smash - Green Plant 22 The Californians - Follow Me 23 The Outer Limits - Just One More Chance 24 Les Sauterelles - Heavenly Club 25 Keith Shields - Deep Inside Your Mind 26 Al Stewart - The Elf

THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP (1966-1969) (Vinyl) A1 Turquoise - Tales of Flossie Fillett A2 The Attack - Created by Clive A3 Timebox - Baked Jam Roll in Your Eyes A4 The Poets - In Your Tower A5 The 23rd Turnoff - Leave Me Here A6 World of Oz - The Muffin Man A7 Ice - Anniversary (Of Love) A8 The End - Shades of Orange A9 Ice - Ice Man A10 The Fairytale - Run and Hide B1 Paul & Ritchie & The Cryin' Shames - Come on Back B2 Tintern Abbey - Vacuum Cleaner B3 The Virgin Sleep - Love B4 Turquoise - Saynia B5 Toby Twirl - Romeo and Juliet B6 Amazing Friendly Apple - Magician B7 Tintern Abbey Beeside B8 Fire - Father's Name Is Dad B9 The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stone B10 The Accent - Red Sky at Night

I first heard ARTI E MESTIERI's debut "Tilt" back in 2009 and was promptly blown away. I had never heard a drummer who was so over the top as Furio Chirico. Well, these days Marco Minnemann is that drummer who doesn't know when to let up, and he has nothing on Furio. "Tilt" is a five star masterpiece that combines RPI and Jazz/Fusion perfectly. Their second album is incredible as well, just a notch down. I sort of lost track of this band after that, although they kept fairly active into the eighties before going dormant until the 2000's when we got some new music and some live events.

"Universi Paralleli" might be their final release considering this was released over 40 years after "Tilt". The guys are getting up there in age. Mind you only three original members are on this latest, plus some young guys. One of the original guys is sax player Arturo Vitale but he just plays on one track as a guest. The other two mainstays are of course our drummer Furio, plus multi-instrumentalist Gigi Venegoni who also mastered and mixed this album. It sounds amazing. Mel Collins of KING CRIMSON fame adds sax on two tracks as a guest. We get vocals in Italian on four tracks and they are okay. I can take or leave them but lean towards the latter.

So counting the vocalist we have a seven piece band here. This album comes across as a violin led, RPI/ Jazz Fusion affair. The violin dominates as much as Furio dominated on "Tilt". The symphonic output is high on this record. So yes a different flavour than what we heard from that debut from some 40 years earlier, big surprise. I don't love this album but for sure this is a four star recording. The musicianship is worth the price of admission. Check out that eleventh track where we get a 2 1/2 minute drum solo. Nice. And thanks Furio.

— First review of this album —

Barely 3 months after the release of their long-awaited return to form "Diurnal" album, Nine Stones Close keeps the prog foot on the prog pedal by launching an immediate follow-up that offers a darker, starker and heartfelt musical view on immortality, death, grief and pain. The line-up is exactly the same as on the previous adventure, yet the mood is tenebrous and sullen., with the dual keyboards of Brendan Eyre and Christiaan Bruin laying down mounds of atmosphere.

Spectral introduction on "Beach Walker", a solitary coastal stroll on the inner edges of immortality, a kaleidoscope of flashing memories, echo-laced piano renderings challenged by robust rhythmic pounding, feet in the wet sand, leaving .... traces. The lead vocals are nothing more than an urgent expulsion of uttered pain, channeled through collapsing guitar shreds, a million tiny needles penetrating the soul. "Anhedonia "is not a pretty word, a life altering perception of what once was bliss, is now agony. There was once a lyric of song by the Divinyls: "There is a fine, fine line between pleasure and pain" (pronounced 'pine" in Australian). An incomprehensible void of enjoyment, disappearance of smell, taste and touch. Only the torment of sound remains. Sonic sadness incarnate. Bewildering the senses even further, "Binary" settles into a comfortably numb groove of endless artificiality, caught in the space between reality and despair, knowing full well that it's also disease. A flashing tilt sign that never let's go, cranial overload, crashing influxes of useless and useful data, all converging in an unreal funnel of reality. Profound.

The volatile cauldron that is "The Mind" is expressed by an initial acoustic guitar reference, that flips into ravaging electric explosions, amid the twirling keyboard swirls and a lumbering bass and drum steamroller. Switching back to an exhausted piano fluttering and seemingly upcoming relaxation. The segue into the reverential "Walk Towards the Sun", a hint of hopeful salvation at the very least, perhaps buoyed by the need to focus on the road ahead, courageously fighting for some peace, sleepwalking for the sake of one's soul. The focus now shifts to the overtly electronic miasma of "Landwaster", suitably ghostly and vaporous, laden with dysrhythmic concussion. Aio's astonishing vocals are both gruesome and troubling, highly theatrical and yet musically minimalist, as if caught between two diaphanous worlds, unsure and unwilling. Very, very dark. Oh my! The title says it all:" The Moment I Stop Caring", a brief, exclusively acoustic guitar reflection on surrender. After having stopped smiling, laughing, eating and sleeping, capitulation arrives in the form of stopping to care, not out of indifference but rather of a yearning for even a short moment of survival. Why? Because the "Hole" remains, that inner expanse now left fissured and broken with a huge round void of unfathomable loss, wrapped in guilt, sorrow and begging for forgiveness. The beauty of this track is impossible to describe, and perhaps not even needed for those of us who have listened to their inner voice when their loved ones have passed, bewildered, lonely and scarred.

The epic finale comes to the altar on "Plastic Animals", a nearly 9 minutes of reflection on the past, at times even returning to infancy, scouring the memory banks for clues, vindication, acceptance and relief. Asking solitary questions and finding solitary answers, trying to decipher the meaning and validity of 'Who Am I'. A perpetual quest, of that there is no doubt. The insistent arrangement illustrates the sweeping challenges that face us all, especially emotionally, pretty much over our shoulder until our very last breath. The answer arriving then and there, in a nano second of final revelation.

As with the latest Ruby Dawn album, this is a tough but rewarding listen, with barely suppressed emotions that disturb, confound and ultimately free the inner pain that makes us all human.

5 Pilgrimages of Eternity

Today I am going to be taking a deep dive into the 30th solo album by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett entitled "The Circus and the Nightwhale." The album was released in February of 2024. Hackett has stated that the album is a concept album in various interviews. On the website hackettsongs.com, the concept is described as such:

A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, 'The Circus And The Nightwhale's' 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: "I love this album. It says the things I've been wanting to say for a very long time."

Line-up / Musicians - Steve Hackett / electric, acoustic & 12-string guitars, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass, vocals

With: - Roger King / keyboards, programming, orchestral arrangements - Amanda Lehmann / vocals (1,5,7,8,12) - Nad Sylvan / vocals & guitar (3) - Benedict Fenner / keyboards (7,9) - Rob Townsend / tenor saxophone & whistle (3,8) - John Hackett / flute (5) - Malik Mansurov / tar (8) - Jonas Reingold / bass (1,3,6,12) - Craig Blundell / drums (3,5,7,12) - Hugo Degenhardt / drums (9) - Nick D'Virgilio / drums (1) - Daniel Rawsie / voice (8) - Jorge Araujo / voice (8)

So, let's get into it!

Track 1 - People of the Smoke

The track fades in slowly with a collage of sounds including marching bands, sirens, cheering crowds, newscasts, "Are you sitting comfortably," (from the BBC show "Listen With Mother"), a train and more. Following that, a bit of orchestral music comes in. At around the 1 minute mark, Hackett's guitar comes in for the first time as the orchestral music begins to ascend. The rhythm section of Jonas Reingold and Nick D'Virgilio enter with a slammin' beat at around 1:15, followed by vocals from Hackett himself, I assume. There are nice vocal harmonies at around 1:35, followed by a KILLER guitar fill. Keep in mind that Hackett was doing pick-hand tapping on the fretboard several years prior to Van Halen's debut, and he is a master of the technique. A second verse follows. I believe that Amanda Lehmann is the one harmonizing with Hackett here. At around 2:45, the music pauses, and more sound effects come in. Instruments gradually join in, and Reingold and Hackett play some unison lines. The guitar solo comes in at around 3:20, and it's amazing. The steady beat returns at 3:40 and the solo continues. The orchestration and rhythm section compliment Hackett's dazzling guitar skills! The song ends with some more sound effects that lead to track 2.

Track 2 - These Passing Clouds

Ominous orchestral chords begin, then Hackett joins on his guitar with a tone reminiscent of Brian May. This is a moderately slow instrumental of just around a minute and a half, but played beautifully by Hackett.

Track 3 - Taking You Down

A short descending sound brings us into a mid-tempo rockin' riff with Jonas Reingold & Craig Blundell. The riff reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Young Lust," but isn't exactly the same. Nad Sylvan joins in on vocals at around the 35 second point. After the chorus, the riff returns for one round and leads to a second verse. I love the descending chorus line. After a second round we have a fantastic sax solo from Rob Townsend. Another verse follows but after the ensuing chorus, the music mostly drops out briefly, before Hackett takes a solo. At 74, Hackett plays with more ferocity than many players ⅓ his age. Great track, I just wanted more!

Track 4 - Found and Lost

This begins with classical guitar playing with synth-strings backing him up. At around 40 seconds, though, it becomes like a 1930s/40s jazzy-bluesy thing, with Hackett singing. This is another very short one at 1:50.

Track 5 - Enter the Ring

Storm sound effects start this one off, with cascading instrumental sounds leading to the harmony vocals. There is 12-string guitar, piano and various other tuned percussion instruments making a nice atmosphere with the haunting harmony vocals. At around 1:50, however, the vocals sustain and we go into a seriously Jethro Tull vibe. Steve's brother and frequent collaborator John Hackett provides the flute, but it's more than that that gives it the Tull feel. The underlying shifting meters are equally responsible when the rhythm section of Blundell & presumably Hackett himself on bass (Reingold is not credited for this one) kicks in. Hackett plays a lead at around 2:10. Quick- tempo vocal harmonies follow with Lehmann back onboard. Another brilliant guitar solo follows at 2:50. Hackett is still very much at the top of his game on the guitar. The harmonies are very Yes-like, and alternate with guitar lines. A 3-4 circus-music passage closes out the track, with Hackett on the last 10 seconds or so. Fantastic track! It goes directly into?

Track 6 - Get Me Out

Reingold and (I assume) Blundell and Hackett lay down a solid 6-8 groove here. The music lays back for the vocal parts, sung by Hackett again. Hackett has a nice singing voice that goes unrecognized. Wonderful harmonies join in. He plays a bluesy solo on this one. The meter suddenly changes at around 2:20, and Hackett goes into solo overdrive! Wow! The beat returns to 6-6 at around 2:50, but Hackett keeps on rolling! At around 3:55, the band sustains a note and the song fades over the next 20 seconds. For only 4:15, that was an action packed track!

Track 7 - Ghost Moon and Living Love

This is the longest track on the album, but at only 6:43, it's relatively short by prog-standards. In fact it's the only one over 5 minutes long. A-Capella choir style vocals fade in with a solo wordless melody by Lehmann soon joining in. A drum fill at around 43 seconds brings the band in with a moderately fast tempo, and Hackett's vocals begin. Blundell is playing a nice drum part on this. I assume Hackett is playing bass. The harmonized guitar solo follows with an interesting effect on the sound. This has an easy-going feel to it. Another guitar solo starts around 3:15; of course the playing is impeccable. This solo is extended and goes until around 4:35. At that time there is a brief vocal harmony, then what sounds like a clean electric guitar through some sort of harmonizing effect, such as what Steve Vai used in the Passion & Warfare era of the early 90s. Some nice harmony vocals sing over the top of that. Then a descending arpeggiated guitar line follows. The chord progression reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it. Great track!

Track 8 - Circo Inferno

Here is another fairly short track at only 2:30. This one begins with Asian string instruments, then a mighty beat comes in at 20 seconds. The vocals follow close behind. The beat is similar to Zeppelin's Kashmir but slightly faster. Cool series of instrumental runs hit at around 1:15. Then there is a brief drum solo (Blundell, I suppose, even though no drummer is shown on this track from my source). Then Hackett plays some lightning fast licks after the whistle blows. After a few seconds of sound effects, a wild sax solo takes over. The song fades out on the echoing harmonized words "around and around?." Amazing track, especially being so short.

Track 9 - Breakout

Another very short one at just 1:37. This begins with a rockin' riff that reminds me of Deep Purple. Hackett is jamming on this one! At around 50 seconds there are harmony high "ahh" vocals. The riffs return afterwards with hot soloing over the top. The incredible guitar continues on the next track without a pause?.

Track 10 - All at Sea Unaccompanied lead guitar with accents from the rhythm section start this short one (1:46) off. The music pauses at around 15 seconds except for some synth sounds that kind of bubble. Some quieter, more distant sounding guitar kicks are present. I believe this is supposed to be the "Nightwhale" about to swallow us!

Track 11 - Into the Nightwhale

This is a bit of a more standard length song at 4:06. It begins with ominous synth sounds fading in. They definitely conjure up images of a whale in my mind. At around 1:20, a rhythm begins to fade in. Guitar notes go on top at around 1:50. The tension resolves at around 2:20. Vocals emerge at around 2:50. This segment wouldn't sound out of place on a Tales era Yes album. There are Howe-like guitar volume swells. Then it leads to?

Track 12 - Wherever You Are

A drumbeat takes over as the final note of the previous song fades out. The band locks into a rhythm , then vocals enter. Again if this is Hackett singing, he is a fine singer indeed. There are wonderful guitar fills between vocal phrases. There are nice harmonies at 1:19 on the phrase "beyond the edge of time," then there is a brief pause and a drum fill brings the beat back for a guitar solo. At around 1:50, it sounds as if some of the music is being played in reverse.at 2:03, however, a big riff takes over until the next guitar feature, which has some mind-blowing playing. There are some more big riffs, then some Queen-like chording. The Queen vibe continues with some very Brian May style guitar orchestration that continues until around 3:15. At that time A-cappella harmony vocals enter with an effect on the voice. Then the drums kick back in and other instruments follow with a reverse-sound playing some very complex lines. Another verse comes in around 3:33, but then the song concludes with a monster drum part that fades out.

Track 13 - White Dove

A masterful classical guitar part opens this one. Or actually the whole thing is a classical guitar solo. He is playing in a tremolo-style, which I can tell you from experience is not easy to master. A beautiful piece to close out this amazing album.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

WOW! Hackett has not lost any playing abilities to age! He proves himself to be one of the finest guitarists on the planet! But not only is he a great player, but a great composer, arranger, and vocalist as well. Color me impressed! My only complaint is that some of the tunes are too short! A Strong 4.5 out of 5!

Clicked 4, but really 4.5.

Although I do consider Yes to be my all time favorite band, I haven't been very pleased with the albums they have released following Jon Anderson's departure in 2008. And it's not because I am against the idea of Yes without Anderson (I gave "Drama" a 5 Star rating), I just don't think the songs have been as strong since "Magnification" in 2001 (The last full studio album with Anderson). I did say, however, in my first review of this album, that I thought that this is the finest one since then, and called it "good but not great." So, let me give it another deep listen, and see if my opinion has changed.

The lineup of Yes on this album is:

Steve Howe- Guitars/Vocals/Album Producer Jon Davison- Lead Vocals/Acoustic Guitars Geoff Downes- Keyboards Billy Sherwood - Bass/Vocals Jay Schellen-Drums (His first album as official drummer after Alan White's passing in 2022)

Track 1 - Cut From the Stars

This was the lead-off single from the album, and I remember having a cautiously good impression of it when I first heard it. Cautiously, because I was impressed with "The Ice Bridge" from the previous album, "The Quest" in 2021, but then being let down by much of the rest of the album.

The song begins with what I'll describe as a solo synth string sound from Downes, then Schellen hits a snare fill and the band kicks in, with Sherwood laying down a nice bass line. Vocals kick in at 24 seconds. I like the instrumental accents between phrases. At 46 seconds the beat is suspended after Davison sings the title of the song. Various instrument and processed vocal sounds kind of float around then the next vocal section begins, this part has more of a call & response between the voice and instruments. Following that, there is a verse similar to the opening one. Next up is a slightly funky riff starting around 1:50 with a new vocal melody. There is a quieter section at around 2:25, then the music picks back up again. There is a Howe-led instrumental break that Downes harmonizes on keyboards. There is a bridge following at around 3:15. They get funky again following that. Howe and Downes trade riffs starting around 4:30, but it doesn't seem very inspired. This leads to the close of the song. It has its moments, but it's missing the energy I am wanting.

Track 2 - All Connected A keyboard riff starts this one off, then the band comes in at a moderately slow tempo. Howe takes the melody on his steel guitar. The rhythm changes around around 1:20 with vocal parts and staccato guitar & keys. A syncopated rhythm starts off the first verse. There is a turnaround around the 2 minute mark. Nice drumming from Schellen around 2:35. They sing "harmony" in-harmony, of course. Then there is a nice bridge section in a half-time feel. Davison sings a cappella at around 3:30, leading into a new rhythmic section. Howe is really enjoying his flanger pedal on this one. Sherwood & Schellen have a nice rhythm going here. Davison hits some high notes and Howe plays a guitar solo. At around 4:40, Howe sings a few lines with heavy effects on it, then Davison answers with the song title. They go into a 6-8 rhythm here with acoustic strumming. Howe returns to steel guitar next at 5:08, with accents from the others. The tempo slows back down following that. They sing harmony ahhs, then the tempo picks back up. Syncopated rhythms return and there is a bit more energy, but it's still not giving me the "thrust" I'm looking for. The feel changes again around 7:37. Then around 8 minutes, it slows back down with another Howe steel-solo, interspersed with licks on a six-string to close out the track. Again, it's not bad, but some of the slower parts had me fighting sleep.

Track 3 - Luminosity

As this one begins, the keyboards play an arpeggiated pattern while Howe takes the lead and Schellen plays big drum fills. I'll call the meter, once it becomes steady, a slow 6-4. At around 1 minute though, Howe plays some eighth note chords, then the beat goes into 4-4. At around 1:30, the beat changes again and they sing harmony Ahhs with the music. I like the Howe fill at 1:45. They are locking into a groove here, with a slight crescendo. The beat changes again around 2:15, then the vocals enter with Davison singing a very light, high-pitched, classical style melody. Davison does have a nice voice, indeed, but he lacks some of the fullness & grit that Anderson has. The beat kicks back just before the 3 minute mark. Excellent harmonies around 4 minutes. Davison sings the melody again, with Howe (I believe) doubling him an octave lower, and Sherwood (I think) singing a counter-melody somewhat distantly. The vocal arranging is well done here. The instrumental parts are light and airy with Downes hitting some electric piano chords here and there. Nice chord change at 5:46! But things get softer again and keyboards sustain chords while Howe plays steel guitar over it. The beat returns at 7 minutes, while Howe keeps soloing on the steel guitar. This is feeling slightly like the closing section of "Ritual" from "Tales from Topographic Oceans," but with less "oomph". The synth sounds are very much like an actual string section. It's like orchestral music with a rock drumbeat. My favorite track so far. It doesn't rock very hard, but it was musically interesting.

Track 4 - Living Out Their Dream

A shorter track at 4:47, this one starts out with an upbeat, rock riff, with nice turnarounds. It has kind of a 60s rock feel, not too heavy. The vocals are in a lower register, and this one indicates that it's a vocal duet with Howe in the credits, but I believe it's Davison's voice primarily. This one is giving me a head-bob. Nice guitar runs from Howe around 2:15. OK, that's Howe's voice following that. Howe takes a solo around 3:10. Downes plays some cool keyboard bits here and there, but I'd love a big-fat Hammond solo on this groove; it's screaming for it. The beat changes just after 4 minutes to an almost drunken 6-8 groove that closes out the track. Fun song. Again, I wish that Downes had been given an organ solo and that they kept up the groove a bit longer.

Track 5 - Mirror to the Sky

The title track is also the epic of the album at just under 14 minutes. Howe's solo opening riff has a bit of Neil Young "Ohio" feel to my ears. Piano parts join in then the band kicks in big-time at just before the 1 minute mark. NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE IT! Schellen and Sherwood get a smokin' groove going here. Howe keeps the spotlight, and there are cool proggy things happening. For the first time on the album, I feel like Schellen and Sherwood are channeling Alan White and Chris Squire energy! As every Yes fan knows, Squire was a big mentor to Sherwood for many years, and I knew he had it in him. Bravo! Now let's see if it carries into the rest of the song. This groove is giving me stink-face (yes, that's a good thing) while Howe is playing his most inspired solo on the album, thus far. Then they made me go "whoah!" at around 2:25 when Schellen gets a brief drum solo. The descending run at around 2:44 reminds me of "Mind Drive" from "Keys to Ascension." That was a GREAT Yes intro. An acoustic guitar riff takes us into the next section of the epic. Howe takes lead vocals then Davison joins in with him. The synth begins doubling the guitar melody between vocal phrases. The rhythm section kicks back in at just before 4 minutes. Howe takes another solo between verses, then Davison takes over on vocals. At around 5:20 Davison goes sky high. I believe that he is finding his OWN way of being a Yes-singer here. While his voice has a similar range to Anderson's which is helpful when singing classic Yes material live, he is finding ways to make his lighter tone work in a Yes setting. He has sung on 2 previous Yes albums and it never quite worked for me until now. The instrumental break at around 5:50 is interesting, I can't quite tell if it's all keyboards, or if there is acoustic guitar mixed in. Howe solos over the top and there are acoustic guitars in the background with the rhythm section. Nice drum fill just before 7:00 Davison returns on vocals at around 7:10 with an effect on his voice. There is a dramatic bridge when that happens. Then guitar reminiscent of the opening returns at 7:55, with the others playing various intertwining parts. Excellent harmonized vocals follow that. Howe has a nice guitar bit at 8:just before 8:30, and there are cool synth accents between. The beat slows way down at around 9:30 and Downes takes over with some synth lines with some interesting background bits. Some of this album, and this track in particular feel like what "Tales from Topographic Oceans" might have sounded like with modern technology. The acoustic melody returns at around 11:50, and the synth-string sounds join in. CORRECTION! There is actual orchestration on this. I thought the strings sounded too real to be synths. The orchestra takes over for a minute or so, then the band kicks back in at 12:45, with a middle eastern flavor. At 13:20 they start heading for a big finish! They do the "Mind Drive" style descending riff again, then there is a final big major chord to close things out. FANTASTIC TRACK! The orchestration makes me think of "Magnification," and it's on par with the songs there. I would almost hold that song up to some of the 70s classics. Best Yes track in years.

Track 6 - Circles of Time

This song closes out the main part of the album, with 3 "bonus tracks" following. Davison sings a catchy phrase: "Time circles in circles of ti-ime" a Capella to start this on out. Howe plays mellow guitar to echo the phrase, and Davison begins the verse with acoustic accompaniment. This one is kind of mellow and folky. It has a nice melody with good harmonies. It's a good song but not much for me to write about.

NOTE: The three final songs are on a separate disc in the CD version, and are called bonus tracks. Howe has explained that they are called that because they somehow didn't fit with the vibe of the rest of the album, but thought they were still worthy of release. So, even though I don't normally include "bonus tracks," in my reviews, they are truly a part of the album to begin with, so here we go.

Track 7 - Unknown Place

This one begins with a cool acoustic riff that reminds me of something Greg Lake might have played on an ELP album. They then sing wordless vocal sounds with an instrumental accent between phrases; almost like a tribal chant. At around 40 seconds they put the chant and guitar part together with a nice groove. Howe and Davison sing in duet as the first verse unfolds. The tribal groove thing happens again between verses. Howe takes the lead vocal a bit here, but he has never been the world's greatest singer (although in his prime, he might have been the world's greatest guitar player). At around 3:20, there was a taste of the Hammond organ I wanted on track 4! The tribal groove returns, but this time, Downes plays an organ countermelody over the top, before playing some nice Hammond licks. He and Howe trade off a bit, but then? COWBELL! Howe plays a very cool syncopated riff over the cowbell. The band actually stretches out instrumentally and they improv a bit; it's nice! At 5:27 though, they slow the beat down and sing some 'doot do doo" things with instrumentation in between. At 6 minutes, Howe gives a masterclass in classical guitar. The band comes in with a groove along with it and build up some instrumental parts. At 6:50 Downes plays some pipe organ. By 7:15 we are in 6-8 for a vocal section. The song ends on a sustained chord. Nice PROG!

Track 8 - One Second Is Enough

This one begins with organ parts, and then the band comes in with an upbeat groove. Howe and Davison sing in octaves again. At 1:05 there is a transitional bit, then they hit the chorus. Another verse follows. This one seems like it was meant to be a single aimed at radio play. At around 2:40, Howe plays harmonized guitar parts reminiscent of Brian May. At around 3:20, following another chorus, Howe plays a guitar solo, leading up to a closing segment. A pretty good song, but far from my favorite on the album.

Track 9 - Magic Potion

The album closer begins with a clean-electric strummed guitar pattern. The rhythm section johns in after a few seconds then Howe lays down clean lead lines that he adds harmonies to as they go along. The vocals come in using the octave thing that Howe and Davison seem to be into on this album. The rhythm section is grooving underneath while the vocals and guitar do a call and response. After an ascending vocal line, there is an instrumental bit that reminds me of the type of thing they played on "Fly From Here" in 2011. (Although only Howe and Downes remain from that line-up, as Squire and White both passed on and Benoit David was the first singer on that one, then they were re-recorded by Trevor Horn for an alternate version of the album). Howe plays a catchy lick here. This one is almost 80s style jazzy pop, with some prog touches. I like the harmonies and synth swells around 2:50. Then at just after 3:00, the beat stops and Howe plays harmony guitar parts with sustained keyboard backing. The beat returns at 3:35 with a half-time feel before the song winds-down to a close. A fun track.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

I was a bit concerned on the first few tracks that I wasn't liking it as much as I remembered. They seemed to lack energy, and felt very much like the majority of tracks on "Heaven and Earth," and "The Quest"; just too mellow and easy going to be what I want from Yes. But then, things pick-up. Track 3 is still kind of mellow, but gets more interesting, musically, for me. Track 4 rocked up a bit. But it was track 5, the title track, BLEW ME AWAY! I don't remember liking it this much the first time around. They showed me what this lineup is capable of! Track six was nice and folky, but track 7 pulled me back in. 8 was OK, but I enjoyed #9. A bit of a mixed bag, but when it's good, it's great! I'll give it a 4 out of 5 Stars!

The peak of achievement from this uber-talented band from München, Bundesrepublik Deutschland: a 94-minute of finely polished music. Just remember that there was at least another 94 minutes of excess music from these recording sessions that was left on the cutting room floor or studio shelves gathering dust until someone saw fit to dust them off and publish them on two albums, released in 1999 and 2002, respectively.

LP 1 (46:07): 1. "L.S.B." (17:37) very much like some evolved Big Band jazz--taking Don Ellis a bit further in terms of incorporating elements of avant/free jazz and electronics, but also quite a bit more reigned in in terms of the use of odd time signatures. Still, the song is quite entertaining for its multiple sax-connected multiple motifs covering a range of styles and tempos. There are a lot of elements of blues-rock at the core of a lot of this music (one can still hear the band that did Wake Up! just two years before). I really like the KINGSTON WALL-like vocal motif in the last third of the song. (31.75/35)

2. "When I'm Sleeping" (4:04) sounds like THE ROLLING STONES if they tried covering PETER HAMMILL song as well as a smooth Motown tune for the chorus and instrumental section. Hennse Hering's old-time saloon-like piano play in the background is a delight, as is Stephen Wishen's bass JAMES JAMERSON-like play and the sax work. I don't know why, but the recording of the drums is rather poor. This may be my favorite vocal performance from Moran. (9/10)

3. "Tsajama" (9:23) a great guitar and flute intro leads into an awesome motif with heavy organ and low bass notes weighing things down beneath the flute, guitars, and smoothly-drawn lines coming from the full horn section. Awesome in a Brian Auger/Eumir Deodato kind of way. Remigius Drechsler leads the way with his searing guitar play in the second and third minutes before Hennse's Hammond and the orgasmically-smooth horn section join in to double and back him. Such a great groove! In the second half of the sixth minute the horns, Hammond, and guitars back off and Moran enters in a singing capacity, using Japanese as his language. Interesting. Then he runs off into some poorly-synched scatting in the seventh minute before returning to leading the smoother, multi-channel melody in Japanese in the eighth. But then the band ramps up the pace and breadth of sound dynamics with a return of the horn section, inspiring Moran to gallop off with some more interesting horse-like vocalese scatting(?). (19/20)

4. "Black Cards" (9:38) a gentle weave of organ and electric guitar arpeggi opens this before flute, hand drums, and a second guitar join in. At the one-minute mark the bass jumps on board, ushering the band into a full blues-rock sound palette over which Moran turns back to his Mick Jagger voice for another vocal performance that reminds me of Mick singing his Slow Horses theme song. A return to the opening theme at the end of the third minute allows for a kind of 30-second reset from which they emerge with a VAN MORRISON "Moondance"-like motif over which Hennse solos on his Wurlitzer-sounding organ. This is a great, extended instrumental section with some gorgeous and dynamic flute soloing throughout. At the end we return to the blues swing theme for Moran to finish things off with his Moves Like Jagger. (18/20)

5. "Where Have You Been" (5:35) a gorgeous folk-rock song with one of Moran's most moving and melodic vocal performances. Powerful. Incredible flute solo in the "C" part: heart-wrenching. I know that Moran (and maybe his bandmates) had a very strong moral compass. We are so blessed to have the legacy of their passion and courage. (9.5/10)

Disc One earns itself a five star rating.

LP 2 (48:09): 6. "A Huchen 55" (9:19) opens with mutliple flutes winding and wending their way through a rondo weave for two minutes before giving way to a faded in psychedelic blues-rock jam (that was already in progress). Hammond organ takes the first solo over the bass, drums, and guitar support. At the three-minute mark, a panoply of horns join in, each playing their own melody line but securing their comraderie through mutually-respective pauses and breaks. The music coming from the rhythm section beneath kind of hits a "I'm a Man" pulse-and-let-off pattern as the horns continue their fascinating and almost humorous interplay. In the seventh minute, electric guitar and Hammond start to inject their own flourishes and melodic ideas. By the eighth minute the horn players are starting to tire--and eventually peter out for a full minute or more while the Hammond and sassy electric guitar share a quirky little conversation of quips and epithets. At the end of the ninth minute, then, the bluesy jazz music is fadeout (the same way it came in) replaced by the flute weave that opened the song. (18/20)

7. "Huchen 55, B" (14:32) opening with the flute weave from the previous song bleeding over, a new already-in- progress R&B jam is faded in. The James Jamerson-like bass play that drives the music is once again emitting waves of groovy Motown sound, but this soon fades out to be replaced by Moran's solo flute play. He sounds so much as if he's trying to imitate the breathy play of maestro Jean-Pierre Rampal. Jazz guitars, trumpet, Hammond, each take their turn joining in beneath Moran's increasingly-avat garde flute stylings. In the seventh minute trumpeter Jimmy Polivka tries usurping the lead from Moran, but it is not that easy: Moran is riding along on pure inspiration. So Jimmy gives up. Hennse and Remigius each take their own turns, trying to nudge Moran out, but Herr Hering only seems to get stronger--until the 9:00 mark: then he gives way, sits back and lets the music unfold without him. The band seem to rise to the occasion with a JEFFERSON AIRPLANE-like creativity: slowly, carefully, deliberately. Hennse's excited Hammond is kept at bay via repressed volume, which allows the horns to have their time. In the twelfth minute Remigius steps to the fore and lays out one awesome blues-rock solo. The band is really into the jam here: fully entrained with everyone clicking--expelling their full creative juices. Awesome! Despite its looseness and lack of plan or developmental structure, this song plays out with some infectious power. Moran's multi-flute weave is once again used to bridge this song with the next one. (27/30)

8. "Huchen 55, C" (24:18) What a jam! Wild and crazy: from Moran's lyrics and vocal performance (sounding like a reckless/uninhibited Mick Jagger channeling PETER HAMMILL through DAMO SUZUKI) to the reckless abandon with which everyone blasts and grooves out their passion. I mean, it feels as if everyone, all at once, is given the total green light to play whatever they feel inspired to play. This makes for some very creative and memorable solos--especially from the horn players (the multitude of saxes are of special note), percussionist, and Hennse's Hammond organ. Definitely Krautrock. Definitely hypnotic in a "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys"-kind of way--a sound that would also seem to indicate the use of mind altering substances. The song's final three minutes are particularly entertaining for the frenetic yet-respectful free-for-all that gradually peters out, making way for yet another reprise of Moran's multi-flute weave. (45.5/50)

Disc Two earns itself a 4.5/5 star rating.

Total Time: 94:16

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of wonderfully-creative First Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion. One can definitely trace the influences and inspirations for each song on several levels but in the end the boys have achieved a mastery of their instruments and goals, enabling them to merge admirably their Krautrock influences with the Blues-Rock and Jazz- Rock Fusion trends they've been hearing. As with every other reviewer I've read, it's too bad this band didn't stay together.

With regards to the controversy of whether or not this album (or band) deserves to belong to the Jazz-Rock Fusion sub-genre, I will only say that over the course of the band's three album evolution it has definitely flowed toward Jazz-Rock (though it has also picked up a strong Krautrock foundation as well). This is 1972! Jazz-Rock Fusion was still in it's childhood! The dominant styles and sounds were still as-yet undecided. Herbie Hancock and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin were still evolving! Rapidly! Many bands like Out Of Focus were offering up a wide range of their own personal interpretations--which is one of the most exciting and refreshing aspects of J-R F's "First Wave."

The third (and so far final) entry in the Road Tapes series offers up the two sets that the Mothers performed in Minneapolis on the 5th July of 1970. There's some overlap in song selection between the two shows, but not so much as either show feels redundant - and, after all, Zappa and his bands weren't inclined to play the same song the exact same way twice.

The sound quality on this one isn't what it could be, but equally it's a rare official live release from an underserved part of Zappa's live history. Other than this and the subsequent Mothers 1970 boxed set, we only really had Chunga's Revenge to give insight into what Zappa and the gang were up to in that year; as it turns out, the answer in a live context was "trying to plot a course between the rougher and readier style of the original Mothers of Invention live and the slicker style that Zappa's music was evolving towards".

The sound quality on this is shaky enough that the rougher side of the sound wins out, but that's not an altogether terrible thing, and in some respects the odd mild fuzziness around the vocals is helpful - it helps to appreciate them as a part of the sound, rather than a source of sometimes corny or poorly dated jokes from Flo and Eddie.

For those who are familiar with the downtown New York scene of the nineties, you will not be surprised by the fusion of jazz, rock, classical music, klezmer, North American traditions such as blues, country, plus avant-garde elements that came from the sixties such as the fusion itself, but it is the head of John Zorn where the pieces take on an unprecedented form, and the influences become something else, something new. From there comes guitarist Bill Frisell, who together with Joey Baron, Wayne Horvitz and Fred Frith (the only veteran who came from Henry Cow) formed one of the most revolutionary bands, without the marketing of Brit Pop or Grunge (which has its place in my heart forever) I mean Naked City. From that period is the album by Bill Frisell and his own band, with Joey Baron on drums, Kermit Driscoll on bass and Hank Roberts on cello. Good old Bill, simple as always, sets the table for us with a complex dish, full of textures and secrets but in the simplest way in the world, without pretensions...because from the beginning we seem to be listening to contemporary classical music, with a political message, and at the same time being in the middle of the countryside, or a country town, where nothing ever happens, nap time lasts forever...and yet many things happen. The metronome seems to have stopped, and suddenly it begins to march at full speed, taking on a life of its own, this is how it feels from "Unsong heroes", where the cello and Frisell's guitar dialogue, which goes from subtlety to epic without asking permission. There is jazz, there is rock...there is the waltz!, and an aura of mystery and tension that keeps us in suspense because the mastery of this quartet gives us no respite. How can music transmit wisdom?, how can music transmit sweetness?, and it makes us feel like a "Child at Heart", one of the most exciting pieces on the album. A classic at this point that cemented the fame of this entire generation of musicians so prolific, that for us music lovers are famous in our hearts, and the first of several whose common trait is always being different, in the search for the note that may not be be correct...and precisely that is why it is.

This is the third and final studio album from MR BUNGLE released in 1999. Man have they changed, in the sense this is way more accessible sounding music, especially the vocals. Apparently "California" is a concept album about the ugly truth of living in California with disillusionment and depression rearing it's ugly heads in a land where money and technology rule. Man they have softened their sound though, but still mixing odd styles of music. Here it's surf music, doo wop, lounge music, polka metal, avant pop etc. Yes the extreme stuff is gone pretty much making this the ying to their debut which was a yang, metal driven and extreme recording.

I thought that maybe the main composer Trey Spruance was just getting tired of making this crazy music after forming SECRET CHIEFS 3, 4 years prior to "California". I mean that project has more in common with the first two MR BUNGLE albums than "California" does. Hey Timb Harris guests on here. He will be an original member of ESTRADASPHERE who released their debut the next year in 2000. Plus he would start being on SECRET CHIEF 3 records starting with "Book M' from 2001. In typical MR BUNGLE fashion almost every song is all over the place. I'm just not into this at all.

"The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" has surf music, silliness and is all over the place. "Goodbye Sober Day" is the closer and again all over the place. Slow, fast, mellow, loud. Heavy and soft with silliness. "Ars Moriendi" is all over the place and has a middle eastern vibe. Elvis could have sung "Pink Cigarette". Music box sounds and silliness on "Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy", some darkness on "The Holy Filament" but again all over the place. Not into the blasting horns and uptempo sections on "None Of Them Knew They Were Robots".

So a low 3 stars but it may beat their debut that was just too far into extreme metal for my tastes and was very abrasive including the vocals. Not my music in either case but check out "Disco Volante", now that's an avant album I like.

DON ROBERTSON may be best known for his landmark album DAWN which appeared in 1969 and cited by many as one of the very first examples of new age music. ROBERTSON was born in Denver, Colorado in 1942 and was already collecting records at the age of 6 and created his own neighborhood radio station at the age 10. Wait, whaaat???!!!!! He also did a stint in the U.S. Navy where he taught himself jazz guitar and after living in Los Angeles for a few years ended up at the University of Colorado in Boulder to study music where he met the musicologist and pianist Leonard Stein and other world ethnic musicians such as Chinese pipa player Lui Tsun-Yen and sitar player Ravi Shankar.

He then relocated to New York City and worked as a studio musician as well as performing on TV commercials and then more education at the Juilliard School of Music where he worked with Morton Feldman and another Indian classical musician Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. ROBERTSON's biggest claim was to discover the reality of two qualitative polarities of positive and negative music and that the basis of the style of 20th century classical music based in the language of musical disharmony was had a negative effective on the human condition. If that's not far out enough ROBERTSON also claimed that with his debut release DAWN that he created the very first new age music on the one hand and the first death metal on the other. Ok, i think someone was hittin' the reefer a tad too hard during those heady years of "enlightenment"!

ROBERTSON was a gifted genius in many ways though. He wrote the first American instruction manual for the Indian tabla in 1968 and even got it published. In 1969 he moved to San Francisco where he recorded DAWN, an album that mixed the sounds of raga rock with various experimental electronic sounds, nature recordings, sound collages and various vocalizations provided by ROBERTSON's wife Suzie Robertson. ROBERTSON himself was a talented multi-instrumentalist and on this album he covers the 80-string guitar-zither, organ, piano, celesta, harp, tabla, bells, claves and jaltarang. Guest musicians provide flute, tambura, harp, bass guitar, drums including hand drum, steel drum, gong, chimes, hand bells and vocals by various others.

It's a rather short album with eight tracks that barely exceed the 32-minute mark but the album showcases an interesting mix of psychedelic-to-the-max escapism, exotic journeys into foreign lands through ethnic influences ("Belief") as well as rapid fire collage effects ("When?") that offer some interesting contrast. Interspersed throughout the album are intermittent nature sounds such as bird calls mixed with sampling effects of trains and other field recordings. The begins and ends with the album's longest tracks. The title track opens and at 9 1/2 minutes long and features the most new agy sounds that clearly display that ROBERTSON indeed prognosticated many of the strands and techniques that would coalesce into the new age sounds that emerged in the 1970s. This is probably the most uplifting and "hippie dippy" sounding of the tracks. It also showcases a cool way of implanting the sounds of the zither into the context of extreme psychedelia.

The closing "Belief" is a journey through many soundscapes ranging from ethnic encounters to droning repetitive sound loops with field recording sampling. In many ways this reminds me of some of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's finest moments. It's a dark journey through many motifs but generally stabilized by a monotonous atmosphere. The middle tracks are shorter and to the point. "Why?" is a short recording of bird sounds and chaotic ambient sounds while "Contemplation" throws a curveball with a heady organ drone accompanied by energetic drumming and a few bass guitar licks. It sort of reminds me of something Silver Apples would dream up. "Where?" is another short connective track that features a sitar and chime that lasts less than a minute. "The Candle" continues the raga rock with a sitar and some chiming however this time Robertson's wife offers a poetic recital. This track reminds me of many of the poetry based electronic soundscapes COIL would eventually conjure up. "Gateless Gate" is another dark sounding track that sounds like a drum circle with many percussionists at a drug fueled party.

DAWN found a released on Quincy Jones' Limelight Label and although some of ROBERTSON's claims about the his erudite theories may sound farfetched and hard to swallow, one thing is for sure and that is that he knew how to craft a very interesting album that featured many facets of world music, psychedelia and experimental recording techniques. For anyone familiar with many of the experimental artists that followed throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s and beyond, it's obvious that many of them (COIL, Godspeed, Codona etc) most likely encountered this fascinating album that takes you on a mystical journey through various sound effects, musical scales and collection of rhythmic contributions. The album flows quite nicely with each track standing out without ever losing the overall psychedelic detachment. While lumped into the world of raga rock, this album provides much more than some blissed out guru simply noodling away on the sitar for a half an hour's time. This is brilliantly composed music that is top notch and easy to hear how the world of new age followed in its footsteps. Excellent!

An album of discarded material that was recorded during the late Müncheners' 1972 sessions that produced the Four Letter Monday Afternoon album. (The band broke up and never released any albums after 1972.

1. "That's Very Easy" (9:04) opens as a more jazzified music that feels as if it came out of the recent 1960s--like something from THE ANIMALS or ARGENT (even without any keyboards!) spiced up with Moran Neumüller's Mick Jagger singing voice. (I keep hearing Mick singing the theme song to the current Apple TV series, Slow Horses, "Strange Game," virtually every time I hear Moran sing.) Te instrumental passages are, of course, the much larger portion of the song, with a very nice pastoral jazz section in the middle over which Moran's acrobatic flute solos for quite some time before the music ramps up to some heavier pschedelic blues-rock in the seventh minute. The guitar work in this section of the song is as powerful as anything I've ever heard by Clapton or Page. I'm not sure if it's newcomer Wolfgang Göhringer or founding member Remigius Drechsler. Cool song/suite that definitely has its progginess. (18/20)

2. "X" (10:57) a song that bursts out as if from the 1960s (or a 1970s porn soundtrack). Awesome! The music blends and smooths out for the second minute in which Ingo Schmid-Neiuhaus' alto sax solos. The two-burst horn-section-led theme that opened the song then returns as if as a chorus before we return to a smoother section over which the guitars take a more prominent role: one soloing in a JOHN TROPEA-like blues-jazz fashion while the other plays gentle rhythm in support. Drummer Klaus Spöri really shines! The guitarists are also good--very creative in their solos--one doing a pretty amazing TERRY KATH solo in the eighth minute. (17.875/20)

3. "The Way I Know Her" (3:36) with its Spanish-style played acoustic guitars, this little folk pop song sounds very cute-- almost in a DONOVAN-like way. Moran's singing and flute playing are, of course, front and center in all respects of this fine little song. (8.875/10)

4. "Y" (7:51) sounds like an étude mélange getting ready for some of the other more polished/finished songs that would be released in 1972. Based around a "Take Five" kind of motif. I like the exploration of melodies as performed by the both of the guitarists and both of the saxophone players. (13.125/15)

5. "Spanish Lines" (9:11) a song whose opening could very easily be mistaken for something from THE ALLMAN BROTHERS but then with the joinder of the Spanish-styled horns and new chord sequences we have something that kind of fits the style suggested by the title. But then, quite suddenly, at the 2:00 mark the band turns down a downhill path that presents some interesting and carefully-manouevered territory in which bass and rhythm guitars and even the soloing saxophone seem quite trepidatious while the drummer is willing to take his chances by travelling at more- dangerous speeds--descending out of the high grounds to find everyone as excited and on-board as he is with the thrilling speeds, wind blowing through their hair in their open-top 1935 Mercedes-Benz 770. (17.75/20)

Total Time: 41:39

B/four stars; an excellent collection of songs that never made the grade for the band's final 1972 94-minute album but are here put on display for their worthiness. These are much more developed "finished"-sounding songs compared to the stuff on the follow-up album to this one, 2002's Rat Roads. but they do not have the blessing of the one amazing song that Rat Roads has.

The second batch of "songs" (many existing in varied states of development or as unfinished jams) gleaned from the cutting floor of 1972's sessions for their Four Letter Monday Afternoon album (the band's last). Man! This band had so much untapped potential!

1. "I'd like to be free" (7:15) strummed guitar chords open this tout seul until tenor sax joins in playing a simple variation on George Gershwin's "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess. The rest of the band gels around this theme, sprouting a very pleasant motif that gushes forward with solid momentum, thick bass and thin drums supporting Moran Neumüller's Bob-Dylan/Damo Suzuki-sounding voice singing, once again, in English but this time with less vehement social commentary, more a laid back statement of dreamy desire. The instrumental soloing in the. fourth and fifth minutes is excellent, separated by SPENDER DAVIS GROUP/BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS-like bridges. A very pleasant and melodic song that could have made many radio listeners quite happy (but would, of course, require some editing in order to fit radio time formats). (13.375/15)

2. "Table talk" (12:03) opens like a DON ELLIS song with layers of multi-instrumental stuff going on all at the same time--including what sounds like a horn section--all seeming separate but eventually falling into a merger that works really well together even thought they still sound separate. (Very difficult to explain. Think of three bands on stage at the same time--bass and drums, keyboards and guitars, and horn section--each launching into their own totally unique song, at first somewhat awkwardly but eventually, somehow, entraining with one another into a multi-layered sound that works!) One of the coolest songs I've ever heard in my life. It's like Miles' Bitches Brew only everything makes sense and sounds good! (25/25)

3. "Rat roads" (5:16) a song that starts out as another slower, more spacious variation on the Gershwin "Summertime" theme that eventually speeds up and gels into a kind of Brazil '66 "Newlywed Game" theme song. Nice but definitely feels like an extract of an unpolished, incomplete song. (8.875/10) 4. "Fallen apples" (2:18) gentle tenor sax sax accompanied by gntle arpeggiated electric guitar chords and some cymbal and brush play. Pretty, (4.5/5)

5. "Straight ahead" (4:39) organ-led but not Brian Auger's version, more like a punched-in excerpt from a long jam that was recorded and achopped up and hashed out to make several songs on these later releases. Nice palette and performances but not a proper song; just a jam. (8.875/10)

6. "Tell me what I'm thinking of" (3:58) jazz chord progressions over which Moran sings. Kind of like "Take Five" with vocals. (8.875/10)

7. "Climax" (12:47) another song of multiple streams of individual musicians working independently--as if warming up or tuning their instruments--that smooths out for the second and third minute before beginning to take shape--to turning into something cohesive--in the fourth minute. It almost becomes Steve Reichian before the trombone, rhythm guitar, saxes and keys begin to merge over drummer Klaus Spöri's "Shaft"-like cymbal play. Bassist Stephan Wiescheu carries forward the trombonist Hermann Breuer's repeated pattern as the horns seem to go their own separate ways but then goes his own way when Hermann returns to carrying his mathematic melody line again. This is when the drums finally get to break out and, with the rest of the rhythm section, present a hard-driving motif over which the horns continue to add their loose change. At the end of the ninth minute we're left with only bass and drums and two electric guitars: one jazz strum-leading while the other picks delicately from behind. A cool song that the band has pulled off here: so creative! The final 90 seconds sees the gaggle of horns almost coming together for the first time. (22.125/25) 8. "Kitchen blues" (0:59) sounds like something that was recorded back in the 1930s. (4.3333/5)

9. "Good-bue honey" (0:31) sounds like something from a live, on stage jam. The guitarist in the lead sounds as if he's trying on some Chuck Berry. (4.25/5)

Total Time: 50:57

So these are the songs that didn't make the cut to be included on the 94-minute long double album release back in 1972. Man! They had a lot of material! I find it quite interesting how founding member and Hammond organ expert Hennes Hering has been almost completely removed from the band's sound palette--here represented on only a couple of songs.

A-/five stars; an odd smattering of many outcasts from the Four Letter Monday Afternoon recording sessions now edited and released 30 years later. The mercurial album has somehow earned a masterpiece metric--based largely on the mind-blowing beauty of the album's second song. On the whole I would not call this album a masterpiece. "Table Talk," however, is, as I've said above, one of the most amazing songs I've ever had the privilege of laying witness to-- thus making the acquisition of this album as a listening experience a HIGHLY recommended experience to seek out for yourselves.

One of the occasional faults of Frank Zappa's music is that he could very occasionally come across as talking down to the audience somewhat. Not so on this Canadian concert from the original Mothers of Invention (circa Uncle Meat), in which a pleasant vibe exists, the audience clearly open to Zappa's more challenging experiments and Edgar Varese tributes and Zappa and the Mothers rising to the occasion. The end result is a compelling concert which, weighing in at a shade under 90 minutes, manages the trick of simultaneously capturing a lot of different sides of the Mothers' work whilst at the same time not being burdensome in length.

Lars Hollmer was the keyboardist and accordion player for SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA and it's various incarnations. Lars had a nice solo career releasing ten studio albums, four in the eighties, two in the nineties, and four in the 00's. Plus he had this project called LOOPING HOME ORCHESTRA. He released one studio album in 1987 under this name, along with a followup live recording that I'm reviewing now. This was released in 1993 and consists of songs from three different countries they were on tour at. Germany, Sweden and Canada. The shows were performed between October 1992 and May 1993.

This has a different lineup than the studio release other than Ollie Sundin who is back on keyboards and percussion. This is a six piece with Lars playing keyboards and accordion, we get the guitarist and bass player from SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA(Eino Haapala and Lars Krantz), Jean Derome on flute, baryton and sax, and finally Fred Frith on guitar and violin. I was surprised with the Canadian connections as they played in Victoriaville, Quebec and this is released on the Victo label out of this city. The Victo label lists in the liner notes some 33 cds they had released including ones by Zeena Parkins, Lindsay Cooper, Fred Frith, NON CREDO, Keith Tippett and so on. Impressive!

So we get 15 tracks worth over 63 minutes. Eight tracks from the German concerts, two from Sweden, and five from Quebec. I have a top four including "Quickstep" from the Uppsala concert. Dissonant sax and it's humerous as a fast paced rhythm section kicks in. Some flute here as well before the accordion leads. It turns chaotic and avant before that impressive guitar solo around 4 minutes. Also "Parallell Angostura" makes that four. This one is from Canada and is a powerful violin driven piece. My favourite is "Ett Tungt Ok" from Germany. Again, I love the violin and again, it's powerful but darker as well. "Plinga" from Germany rounds out my top four. Piano leads early and it's uptempo but there's so much going on. The last couple of minutes are avant and very impressive.

I would highly recommend Lars' final solo album before his passing from 2008 called "Viandra'. It has Michel Berckmans adding bassoon and Lars himself playing harmonium, it is a dark record. Also this live recording is something I highly recommend as well when it comes to music from Hollmer, other than SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA of course. I like that Fred Frith(HENRY COW) and Michel Berckmans(UNIVERS ZERO) and other members of the original five RIO bands still had relationships long after that first RIO concert they were all at in 1978.

The sophomore studio album from these talented München-based musicians. The line-up is unchanged; the influences are not.

1. "What Can a Poor Boy Do" (5:52) URIAH HEEP-like Hammond organ-led music over which Moran Neumüller gives an acerbic Damo Suzuki-style vocal performance. Moran's sax and Hennes Hering's organ have turns soloing and amping up the angst of the song in the sedcond and third minutes before bass and guitar take a turn "conversing" over Klaus Spöri's delicate cymbal play. The song continues to play out with alternating, sometimes brief and conversant blues- rock soloing for the duration of the song to its odd/cutesy end. Oh, no! Is the band stepping down: settling for lower, more radio-friendly styles and standards? That would be such a shame--especially after their amazing debut album from the year before. (8.6667/10) 2. "It's Your Life" (4:31) folk-sounding picked acoustic-guitar-based music that sounds just like British Prog Folk bands SPIROGYRA and/or COMUS. No drums, electric bass, organ, flute, and second or third acoustic guitar tracks accompany Moran's Martin Cockerham-like voice. (8.875/10)

3. "Whispering" (13:34) very sparse organ and cave-immersed whisper-spoken vocal open this one before the full band takes over at the end of the first minute. There's a little jazziness in this due to weave of the wah-wah-ed guitar, organ, and tenor saxophone--but they're all playing such simplistic melodies within the two-chord weave. Really disappointing. More like spiritless, automaton play of the "Dark, darker" final song of the Wake Up! album (the only disappointing song on that album). As the horns and organ support Remingius Drechsler's extended electric guitar solo throughout the fifth, sixth, and seventh minutes the listener achieves a numbed state of hypnosis due to the droning repetition of the rhythm-keepers. Sax takes over the lead in the eighth minute while the others drone CAN- like underneath. (25.75/30)

4. "Blue Sunday Morning" (8:20) swirling Hammond organ played over plodding dreary, leaden drone-like Krautrock supports Moran's Mick Jagger-in-a-heroine-stupor spoken vocal. In the sixth minute the bass, organ, and drums begin to ramp up their intensity while Moran's vocal becomes more insistent, but then the unique sound of a "Stylophone" (like an early version of a Casiotone) begins an extended solo--which sounds like George Harrison singing along with one of his electric guitar solos from the same period. The music beneath takes on an outro jam in the vein of URIAH HEEP or TRAFFIC as the music plays on and out--fading out over a period of 25 seconds. (17.5/20)

5. "Fly Bird Fly" (5:09) flute soloing with less mellifluous flow, more jumping around in a staccato fashion, as picked guitar supports before the full band joins in with a bluesy-jazz motif that sounds a lot like something by VAN MORRISON from the same period. Mick Jagger vocals are followed by some nice swirling organ and clear-toned electric guitar solos. (8.66667/10)

6. "Television Program" (11:45) I knew it was only time before Moran could suppress one of his long, impassioned social justice speeches. The music in support is solid and tightly performed but, once again, too drone-metronomic with another two-chord motif spanning the first seven minutes. A quiet passage in the eighth minute precedes a more potent VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR/SEVEN IMPALE-like two-chord saxophone-led motif that takes us out for the final three-plus minutes of the album. (21.875/25)

Total Time: 49:11

I'd call this album quite a step down from the focused energy of their debut; it's as if they had fallen under the spell of the CAN-like pioneers of rhythmic drone music that we call and associate with the term "Krautrock." I have not, however, fallen under this same spell--occasionally a song evokes that "Kosmische" feeling in me, but, for the most part, no.

B-/3.5 stars; not the album to start your introduction to this immensely-talented band; this is very much a disappointment when compared to the band's debut but even moreso when placed alongside the three albums of recorded material that came after (all of which came from the recording sessions that turned out the band's third and final album, 1972's Four Letter Monday Afternoon). I recommend that you skip this one and go right to the excellent Four Letter Monday Afternoon, Not Too Late, or Rat Roads.

The second album by GARYBALDI proved to be a completely different beast than the debut "Nuda" which showcased bandleader and guitarist Bambi Fossatti's extraordinary ability to mimic Jimi Hendrix and crafting prog tracks to build around the rock hero worshipping. ASTROLABIO which appeared in 1973 showcased what happens when band members disagree about which direction to take a band and in the case of GARYBALDI resulted in bassist Angelo Traverso parting ways and being replaced by Sandro Serra and while original keyboardist Lio Marchi still participated on ASTROLABIO but went uncredited and was no longer an "official" member of the band. Despite all the trauma and drama of band disagreements, GARYBALDI was extremely active on the live circuit playing at all the important Italian festivals as well as opening for bigger bands like the Bee Gees, Santana, Uriah Heep and Van Der Graaf Generator.

ASTROLABIO continued the friction between Fossatti who was more interested in the rock side of things and drummer Maurizio Cassinnellli who was more interested in the classical meets pop hooks route. This second album is a temporary truce between the two styles before the band splintered for good thus breaking GARYBALDI up despite a recent score on the Fonit Cetrra label which hosted Osanna, Alusa Fallax, Raccamondata Ricevuta Ritorno, New Trolls and many other key players in the Italian prog scene of the early 70s. ASTROLABIO features two very distinct tracks that have little resemblance to one another but both over 20 minutes long and swallowing up an entire side of the original vinyl LP pressing. While the first side swallower "Madre Di Cose Perdute" features GARYBALDI on full prog mode with less emphasis on Hendrix style heavy psych, the second side "Sette?" was presented as a lengthy in studio band jam which revived Fossatti's Hendrix worship in full regalia.

"Made Di Cose Perdute" starts out unexpectedly with gurgling synthesized noises and abstract guitar harmonics slowly percolating into some sort of form as if an abstract Krautrock sound was slowly morphing into a more bluesy space rock aesthetic of Pink Floyd. After a couple minutes of warming up though the musical style takes form as a more traditional Italian prog act with romantic Italian lyrics in a slow plodding space rock format with a Floydian bass line cradling Fossatti's bluesy guitar licks and a pacifying atmospheric backdrop. There are some haunting backing vocals that sort of emulate moments of "The Dark Side Of The Moon" as well. Had Fossatti traded in his Hendrix worship for England's most famous space rockers? At first it seems so but around the 7-minute mark the style jumps back into a more symphonic style of Italian prog with some bluesy guitar gusto. This is the type of track you keep expecting to evolve into something grand given the 20-minute playing time but it never really takes off into an epic prog journey but rather recycles the same licks and motifs ad nauseam until you are left feeling woefully unsatisfied.

The second track "Sette?" is even less satisfying as it was basically an in studio jam session that featured some friends and family who added some audience participation type sounds but basically this is another Hendrix worship sermon with bluesy heavy psych motifs fortified with Fossatti's guitar wizardry along with moments of contrast which allowed some classical keyboard runs to sneak in as well as other styles trying to cast their light through the dominant stature of Fossatti's overpowering guitar prowess. It's a decent track but sounds more like a series of improvisations that early hard rock 70s bands like Deep Purple would unleash in a live setting to distinguish their live performances from the studio tracks. While fine in a live setting it seemed like a big fumble to include this as half the album. Perhaps a decent bonus tracks on future reissues but as the main album? It doesn't offer enough meat and potatoes to give you that satiated feeling and when coupled with the underwhelming performances of the first track it's clear GARYBALDI was not firing on all pistons at this stage.

For whatever reasons this band which was clearly talented beyond belief and had the chops to craft some of the top notch Italian prog of the era seemed to squander every opportunity with substandard decisions that made lopsided albums. On "Nuda" the opening tracks were way too close to the original Hendrix material with The Experience and although the album was redeemed by a spectacular prog closer on the second side, the album would've been much better had the entire album embarked on the same journey. On ASTROLABIO these faulty fumbles are even more pronounced with a rather middle of the road first side followed by a rather head scratching incongruent second track. It's not a bad album by any means but seems to lack any focus or direction that brings it to the top ranks of Italian prog. It seems the band members were too busy butting heads to focus on coalescing their talents into a vibrant expression of unique Italian prog. I actually prefer the debut album to this one but it is a unique nook of the Italian prog scene that no other band followed. And to be honest i actually like the Gleemen album better than both GARYBALDI albums!

We are truly in the magical area of prog reunifications, many after decades of near or total silence, and certainly not limited to the mega artists. In the case of the folk-RPI fusion of FAVERAVOLA, work began on this 2nd album not long after the brilliant "Contea dei Cento Castagni" from 2006, but various misfortunes intervened, and the project was shelved for many years. Luckily, between 2010 and 2014, we were treated to three previously unreleased tracks from various artists compilations that were every bit the equal of their prior work, but since then, not a peep, until this year!

"Castrum Zumellarum" recounts the legend of a still standing castle in Italy's northeast, and the sadly fraught relationship between a knight and a townswoman. Yes, another fairy tale from FAVERAVOLA. As always, the Hammond organ is omnipresent, with hearty arrangements on violin, flutes, other keyboards, and acoustic and electric guitars rounding out the romantic atmosphere as only a select few can achieve, with most of those being from Italy. At least half the original members are back for this spirited affair, that recalls LE ORME, ANGELO BRANDUARDI, OLOFERNE, IL CASTELLO DI ATLANTE, NUOVA ERA and many others from other lands but saves most of its nostalgic hit for those who have despaired of ever hearing from them again.

I haven't mentioned the vocals but, although Franco Violo is not here anymore, Alessandro Secchi carries on without a hiccup; I would have guessed he was the same singer. While the first album did include female vocals, here Bianca Luna sings lead on "Atleta", offering more effective diversification, if not name recognition, than ALDO TAGLIAPIETRA's overlong narration on the weakest track on "Contea...". On the longest cut, it took me a while, but the primary melody seems, er, borrowed from KERRS PINK's "Linger a BIt Longer". If I have a criticism, it's that some of the magic of "Contea.." was in the concise and distinct shorter tracks, vs the somewhat more brocaded and yet paradoxically similar longer cuts here, much as has happened over the years with IL CASTELLO DI ATLANTE whom I love to this day but whose first album will always remain a favorite.

This was absolutely worth the wait and then some. While fans of the grittier less melodic prog forms might balk, if you love the Hammond and its place in the glorious history of rock and prog rock, I'd say it's worth crossing the moat, where the folk and RPI audience will already be waiting for you within.

This album proves that their debut was not a one-off success. Bull Angus were a highly skilled, colorful rock band, which presented high quality Heavy Prog on their first album, and continued in Rock 'n Roll/Prog Folk/Heavy Prog fashion on the second one. Every member sounds great on his organ(s), and the singer is pretty good for a band of relatively small caliber.

I would expect prog fans to like this album more than the previous, as it is much more experimental. It's strange to me that their debut is considered that much better based on it's rating, and I would say they are almost equal.

Bull Angus must have been victims of circumstances, as their music is much bigger than their fame. Both their albums are on my wishlist on Discogs since I found out about them through Progarchives, and I will proudly own them sooner or later.

This album has no weak points, I wasn't blown away by any song, but wouldn't skip any of them too. An even album of high quality, well deserved to be in the lower tier of the 4 stars spectrum.

The debut from this München-based band, Wake Up! is an album of psychedelic blues-rock music in the vein of The Rolling Stones, Cream, or even early Jethro Tull.

1. "See how a white negro flies" (5:48) a song that opens announcing clearly that the band is firmly entrenched in blues rock sound palettes of the previous two years. Flutes and organ add some spice over the top of the insistent motif. Vocalist Moran Neumüller sings in a haunting voice similar to other psychedelic blues rock icons of the late 1960s. Remigius Drechsler's distorted lead electric guitar solos in the fourth minute. Again, this could come straight out of anything that CREAM or BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD had been doing in the previous two years. Though derivative, it is a very solid example of late 1960s psychedelic blues-based rock 'n' roll. (8.875/10) 2. "God saved the queen, cried Jesus" (7:28) the Mick Jagger-like vocals and provocative lyrics give this early Jethro-Tull- like song some teeth. With the much softer, delicate instrumental passage in the fourth minute, with its Ian MacDonald-like extended flute solo, serves notice of the band's prog aspirations. This is then followed by a heavier section over which Moran's flute continues to be the main soloist. Singing and guitar soloing follows before the JTULL- like finish. Pretty remarkable song! (13.5/15) 3. "Hey John" (9:35) opens with a pensive bass, guitar, a cymbal note-by-note interplay overwhich Moran's flute sings mellifluously. When the full band kicks into full dynamics it is with a very familiar LED ZEPPELIN-like descending four- chord progression. Things spread out again for the entrance of Moran's Mick Jagger-like vocal, delivered in a kind of Robert Plant style. In fact, the whole song feels like a replication/variation of Zep's "Heartbreaker." Nicely done extended tribute (though Remigius is not Jimmy Page and drummer Klaus Spöri is no John Bonham). I really like Hennes Hering's unusual Hammond solo in the middle. Also, I'd like to commend the clean, clear sound gleaned from Stefan Wisheu's electric bass: it's very important to the overall "mature" and "professional" sound of the album. (17.75/20)

4. "No name" (3:06) opening with Moran's a cappella voice, almost whisper-sung, before the band bursts into a heavy blues rock motif with flute, theatric vocals, Hammond, and electric guitar each adding their distinctive flourishes. I love the cute little upper register guitar garnishes over the bass and Hammond in the instrumental mid-section. Kind of cool! (9/10)

5. "World's end" (9:55) a fairly simple chord structure presents this anthemic feeling--as if the band is truly expressing their thoughts, concern, and confusion over the state of the world's social-political scene (the Cold War tensions and the misguided expeditions of the American military [Vietnam]). There is quite a feeling of Krautrock solidarity in the hypnotic commitment to such strict rhythmic foundations in this one--at least up until the quite passage that serves as a reset and reconfirmation of the overall insistence to the song's and then ends up surprising us by starting a new motif for the 45 seconds of the song. Trippy! And powerful. Definitely a great representation of the angst of 1970. (18.5/20)

6. "Dark, darker" (11:37) Moran's vocal is mixed quite uniquely for this song: as if in an isolated, separated chamber. The music is remarkably simple and almost emotion-lessly mathematical in its rhythmic foundations, giving the musicians the feeling that they're "dialing it in" i.e. not fully invested. Even in the circular three-chord instrumental jam supporting the frantic flute solo in the song's middle third feels too rote (especially in the bass, guitar, and organ play). Then there is a pause that allows a reset, which sees the band filling the final three minutes of the song with some militaristic pulse-running before everything ends with some crashing instruments and musicians (whose fatigue is well-captured on tape during the final minute of recording: "Are we done?" and "Ughhh!" being expelled as the musicians shut down, unplug and put away their instruments. Weird and sadly anti-climactic song. (17.25/20)

Total Time: 47:29

With four unusually-long songs crammed into this 47 and a half minute long album, one can only guess at the band's full intentions. What I love most about the songs on this album is the clear "team" approach to song construction and performance on display with each: no one musician/artist is really trying to grab the spotlight; everybody seems fully supportive of the effort to present fully-developed and fully-integrated songs.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of angst-filled compositions that feel so precisely representative of the zeitgeist of the times. If it weren't for the weakness of the final "song of exhaustion" this would probably qualify as a masterpiece.

I've listened to the new album by ViaMedia several times now, and these are my impressions so far.

The duo Dimmestøl/Dale are not afraid to challenge the listener, both musically and lyrically. This is advanced and complex music that demands a lot (and this is coming from someone who loves Dream Theater). It's spiced with beautiful vocal harmonies, lovely chords, and lots of delightful synth and fretless bass.

Press your AirPods firmly into your ears, lean back in your comfy chair, and close your eyes. Only then does such music get the element it needs to express itself and reach the listener. And most importantly; LISTEN. Not with your ears, but with your senses and body. Let the music pass through your ears and deep into your brain, that's where the magic happens!

My favorite so far is "Aphrodite," if I must highlight one. Not because it's so much better than the others, but it has a beautiful chromatic part (maybe not the correct musical terminology) where it sings, among other things, "We flutter like the leaves" and the subsequent modulation of the same section. Here, Tore shines with both singing and guitar playing. Beautiful. The instrumental favorite is "Dust" (there's really only one instrumental on the album?). This works well as a "Thank you for now, see you again" song.

ViaMedia; well-crafted, beautifully produced and played, lovely songs. If I can wish for something for the next album, it would be to tone down the complexity a bit and cultivate the harmonics more. Well, I'm a sucker for pompous, melodic music.

Thank you for the music!

It's a beautiful brutal mix of death metal with 70's space/psychodelic rock, in a way that reminds me of the Opeth death metal-era but with a more chaotic approach regarding composition and structure. (although it could have more cohesion)

The Stargate pt II has a collab with Tangerine Dream and it delivers greatly. The atmosphere honestly is fantastic and IMO it's the main strength of the album. The guitar work is beautiful, with lots of trademark sounds you would expect from a 70's space rock act (delays, reverbs, distortion, etc) but allied with the expected (but great) brutal death metal riffage.

The mix is also very good, without going for the usual loudness approach which makes the experience much more pleasant listening with headphones. As excepted, a lot of great growling vocals (and some clean too) but it has a nice spacey reverb which creates a cool effect and doesn't tire your ears after 40 min.

4.5/5

Brian Eno spent a lot of time in Germany in 1976 and 1977, making music with David Bowie but also hanging out with Roedelius and Moebius otherwise known as CLUSTER. Eno was a big fan of HARMONIA and so even though they had already disbanded they got back together to create one last studio album with Eno. HARMONIA by the way consisted of the CLUSTER duo plus Michael Rother from NEU!. That was in1976. The next year in 1977 CLUSTER and Eno once again hook up in the studio without Rother this time and create this album I'm reviewing today.

This was recorded at Conny Plank's studio in June of 1977. Then lastly we get "After The Heat", another CLUSTER/Eno collaboration released in 1978. While the HARMONIA recording is my favourite of the three, that final one is right there too. I really like that one a lot. This record from 1977 is special though. I always enjoyed putting it on, and the mood it created kept me coming back. Very uniform sounding. Lots of piano. More ambient than electronic that's for sure.

The two tracks that do stand out from the rest are "One" where we get Dutch keyboardist and sitar player Okko Bekker adding sitar and this one is experimental. We also get electronic veteran Asmus Tietchens adding electronics on that one. "Die Bunge" is different as well, sounding like an early HARMONIA track. Of course that opener has Holger Czukay adding bass. This is such a beautiful fabric of sounds. That second track is a nice blend of krautrock and ambient as sounds echo. Sounds like mournful strings on that third track. "Selange" is great for that determined sound. Percussion here as well, as synths help out. The closer is melancholic with piano and atmosphere.

This is all instrumental and quite relaxed. I like the mood it creates. A low 4 stars.

OOIOO are an all-female band from Japan led by multi-instrumentalist Yoshimi P-We. She is also the drummer for THE BOREDOMS and a couple of members from that band guest on this record. P-We guested on a FLAMING LIPS record, and another one of the guests on here is Sean Lennon of all people adding vocals. This is their third album from 2000 and as the bio here for them says about this, is that it mixes krautrock, free jazz and ethnic sounds with that quirky Japanese style.

I find it a mixed bag. Interesting how it starts and ends with that mournful trumpet, like a Remembrance Day ceremony. Highlight for me is "Grow Sound Tree". There is so much going on here and it's powerful later on. Love the vocal melodies too. My favourite. I also like the space rock vibe on "Ki No Roku Ressha" and the bass on "I'm A Song". "Fossil" is good too. There's just not enough here to warrant the 4 stars in my world.

I honestly think I am spoiled for their albums after hearing their "Taiga" record from 2006. That one is unique with all the drummers on it, with beats coming and going at will. I was blown away by that album. This one not so much.

Led by the flamboyant and Italian doppelgänger of Mr Jimi Hendrix, the band GARYBALDI was the next phase of Gleemen which formed in 1965 and recorded one album with the lineup of Bambi Fossatti (guitars, vocals), Angelo Traverso ( bass), Maurizio Cassinelli (drums, vocals) and Lio Marchi (keyboards. With all members sticking around for the official transition into GARYBALDI, the band evolved its 60s heavy psych sound with prog leanings to a fully fueled and functional heavy progressive rock style which found the band opening for many major acts of the early 70s in Italy such as the Bee Gees, Santana, Uriah Heep and Van Der Graaf Generator and also was one of the few bands to find interest outside of Italy in countries like Germany, Switzerland and Japan.

This new and improved band that had graduated from a mere heavy psych outfit to bonafide prog band and released two albums with the first NUDA coming out in 1972 which featured one of the most striking album cover foldouts of the entire Italian prog scene. The three panel fold out featured a lovely gigantic naked woman in the jungle with animals like elephants, rhinos, monkeys, big cats and crocodiles using her as their playground! Musically GARYBALDI continued the basic sound established by Gleemen which featured Bambi Fosatti's heavy reliance on Jimi Hendrix inspired guitar performances only with more complex compositions including the side long "Moretto da Brescia" that features three suites. Despite Fossati stealing the show with his guitar tribute to Hendrix, the album features a strong band effort with impressive keyboard performances as well.

The album gets a bad rap for being TOO Hendrix-ish in style and if you judge the album by the first three tracks then you'd be totally spot on as "Maya Desnuda," "Decomposizione, Preludio e Pace" and "26 Febbraio 1700" sound like something off of "Electric Ladyland" and could even be considered plagiarism at times however i look at this more as a tribute to Hendrix done tastefully and with creative input from the band. Starting with the fourth track "Moretto da Brescia" the album sounds more like heavier Italian prog than The Jimi Hendrix Experience however Fossatti never abandons the guitar playing influence as it's woven into the framework of the more progged out second half of the album. This fourth track in some ways sounds like the perfect mixing of Hendrix's guitar playing within a more Italian heavy prog sound such as from Il Revescio Della Medaglia's early albums or similarly the first Procession album. This track is where the more ambitious keyboards are let off their leash as a warm up for the side long closing multi-suite.

"Moretto da Brescia" clocks in at nearly 21 minutes and features the three parts "Goffredo," "Il Giardino Dei Re" and "Dolce Come Sei Tu." Here the Hendrix influences are almost absent and the band sounds like a more traditional Italian symphonic prog band with strong melodic hooks teased out of classical musical interpretations and more romantic vocals. Likewise the use of keyboards dominates as do the many twists and turns that offer a true journey into a sprawling prog behemoth. Even Fossatti's guitar playing which is still prominent at times takes on a more Italian prog sound. This track is quite impressive and ranks up there with the best of the Italian prog bands and actually too bad that GARYBALDI didn't create the A-side to match. Despite the massive prog upgrade the band neither lost its flair for heavy rock nor psychedelic trippiness at times. Likewise despite the classical domination as far this three-part closer goes, GARYBALDI keeps the bluesy rock rumbling as well as adding some improvised jamming moments.

This one is a mixed bag for many with many alienated by the too-close-for-comfort Hendrix references as well as the lopsided nature of the two sides of the album that are very different. In fact they sound like a different band in many ways. This is probably a 3.5 star album for its blatant Hendrix worship but i can't help but love it anyway as Fossatti simply nailed the Hendrix style and took it to the next level. Sure i wish the first couple of tracks were more compositional distinct but overall i actually love the heck outa this album and it's boldness to take Italian prog into a very unique direction. The band however proved unstable and although GARYBALDI would release a second album titled "Astrolabio," only Fossatti and drummer Maurizio Cassinelli would return only as a trio instead of a four piece. Great album despite the overt Hendrix worship. 4 stars

GLEEMAN was the first stomping grounds for the band Garybaldi which formed in Geneva, Italy in 1965 by Pier Nicolò "Bambi" Fossati. As GLEEMAN the early version of the band was a typical 60s beat band playing covers of rock bands like The Rolling Stones however it didn't take long at all for Fossati to discover the late great Jimi Hendrix who single handedly inspired him to up his game and jump into the world of heavier psychedelic rock with more complexities. Along with Lio Marchi (organ, piano), Maurizio Cassinelli (drums), Angelo Traverso (bass) and Marco Zoccheddu (guitar) the band released its sole eponymously titled album which showcased Fossati's feisty Hendrix inspired guitar playing that allowed the GLEEMEN / Garybaldi sound to stand out in the early years of Italian prog.

While not quite a crazy complex prog act yet, GLEEMEN were pioneers of Italian progressive pop and crafted some excellent songs on its ten track album that featured Fossati's wild and eccentric Hendrix inspired guitar playing as well as some excellent keyboard and organ performances by Lio Marchi which weren't quite Keith Emerson but much more virtuosic than the average heavy psych band of the era. Bordering on hard rock and hinting at the prog path that Garybaldi would embark on for two albums, GLEEMEN mastered the art of crafting catchy pop infused songs that added the extra edge of excellent instrumental interplay and top notch musicians who were ready for the more complex world of prog but just hadn't gotten there yet.

The album featured that 1970 transition sound where the worlds of 60s beat and heavy psych were morphing into progressive rock and hard rock. GLEEMEN somehow skirted the very middle stages where all those styles intersected. The catchy tunes begin right off the bat with the opening "Farfalle Senza Pois" which features a period Hammond organ and some vocal harmonies before jumping into a feisty funk guitar riffing session accompanied by some excellent 60s psychedelic organ playing sounding like a mix of The Doors and perhaps Shocking Blue! Fossati wastes no time demonstrating his virtuoso guitar playing skills that are clearly out of the Hendrix playbook but with a personality and style all their own. In fact he sort of reminds me of the style Uli Roth would adopt on the Scorpions' first hard rock phase.

The album delivers some excellent harder rock performances but also knows when to turn up the psych with a nice trippy second track "Shilaila dea dell'amore" adding a lysergic touch. Here Fossati demonstrates his ability to adapt his guitar playing to just about any style. The use of echo effects and a solid groovy bass and percussive offers the perfect heavy psych sound of the era made all the better by Fossati's equally impressive vocal style that delivers that romantic Italian language delivery system yet given a bit of a rougher edge to fit the heavier aspects of the album. Tracks like "Spirit" provide the perfect platform to showcase the Hendrix guitar style as well as some of the coolest organ performances in the world of heavy psych. Fossati also shows his ability to sing at a rapid pace and almost sounds like he's ready to rap and roll! The longest track "Chi Sei Tu, Uomo" is a near 7-minute bluesy rocker sounding something like Led Zeppelin's first album but a bit more energetic. The track also features some excellent drum solos.

"Un'amico" features a bouncy even danceable groove that finds the dueling guitar and keyboards that sounds like a Beatles pop song played with Doors-like keys and Hendrix-like guitars. The organ parts get down and dirty on this one. Very cool! The tracks "Bha-tha-hella," "Clakson" and "Dei O Confusione" deliver more of the same with different flavors but once again generate the perfect mix of heavy psych, blues rock, early Italian prog and sunshine pop! The last two tracks are very different with "Induzione Part 1 & 2" more in classical mode with the opening keyboards but then morphs into a guitar riffing heavy psych frenzy with clever song shifts from verse to chorus. The band members were excellent composers. The closing "Divertimento" takes a completely opposite approach and provides the proper meltdown to end the album with an avant-garde performance of improvised soundscapes that are rather nebulous and devoid of melody.

While not quite a prog band yet, GLEEMEN did feature a nice group of excellent musicians who performed surprisingly well and best of all the songs on this one are all instantly catchy and showcased a true creative genius of mixing and melding 60s influences and putting them into the context of Italian progressive pop. The band would continue with this basic formula as Garybaldi but would take it all into a more sophisticated progressive arena. While prog purists may find this album a bit too mainstream for their tastes, for anyone who loves some very well performed beat-inspired 60s pop mixed with the harder heavy psych elements of the 60s rockers, especially Hendrix then you will love this. These guys did an excellent job reinterpreting the classic sounds of the 60s and putting them into an Italian rock context. Add to that i absolutely love the album cover art as its one of the most satisfying and trippy representations of the entire psych era. This album is excellent!

Voivod Rush

Angel Rat, Voivod's sixth album, stands out as one of their most unique and challenging works. Released in 1991, Angel Rat is a significant album in Voivod's catalog. The record didn't have the immediate impact fans or the band's.

This album marks a shift in Voivod's sound, moving away from their punk-thrash roots into a more laid-back, melodic, and progressive direction. Produced by Terry Brown, known for his work with Rush, Angel Rat takes on a more rock-oriented and atmospheric feel, blending complex time signatures and unusual chords with Snake's melodic vocals. The sound is both catchy and strange, making it hard to fit into any particular genre?too weird for the mainstream and not heavy enough for metal fans at the time.

Tracks like "Panorama" and "Clouds in My House" show off this new style, with a mix of rock riffs and psychedelic lyrics. Guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour explores jazzy chords, while bassist Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault delivers some standout moments, his bass lines reminiscent of Geddy Lee. Drummer Michel Langevin's artwork for the album adds to the eerie, distinct atmosphere Voivod is known for.

Angel Rat is an underrated gem, It's an album that took years for people to fully appreciate, with songs like "The Prow" and "Panorama" still part of Voivod's live set today.

Angel Rat got its name from a combination of the band's fascination with strange, surreal imagery and their shift in musical direction. Voivod often embraced abstract and otherworldly concepts, and the title reflects this. The "angel" could symbolize something ethereal or delicate, while the "rat" might represent something gritty or grounded, creating a contrast that mirrors the album's blend of melodic and progressive sounds with their trademark dissonance.

Voivod: A Máster Class In Progression

I started listening to Voivod in 1988 after a friend suggested them. The first album I heard was Killing Technology. I was impressed by their futuristic, apocalyptic, and claustrophobic style, but I couldn't connect with the music, which was a mix of punk and technical thrash metal with bleak, futuristic lyrics. Then Nothingface came out, and I finally felt their style matched the music's atmosphere.

Nothingface moves further from their cyberpunk/thrash roots and embraces progressive rock more than ever. It pushes the boundaries of metal in a way that's innovative and bold. Voivod dares to experiment, redefining what progressive metal can be. The album is cleaner and more clinical than their earlier work, which some may find off- putting, but the clarity lets each instrument stand out.

The rhythm section, led by Away on drums and Blacky on bass, is tight but plays with a jazz-like fluidity. Piggy's guitar work is outstanding, lighter, and dreamier, giving the album an airier feel that contrasts with the heavier tones of earlier releases. Songs like "The Unknown Knows" show how they blend hard rock with progressive influences while keeping that signature Voivod weirdness.

Their cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine" is both faithful and modern, fitting perfectly with the album's spacey and futuristic vibe. Voivod amplifies the psychedelic feel of the original, making it a standout moment in the album.

The clean production, intricate song structures, and the band's technical skill reveal a more sophisticated side of Voivod. Nothingface stands out not just in their discography but in the progressive metal genre. Though it may have confused some fans at first, it shows Voivod's creative vision and their constant reinvention.

— First review of this album —

John Greenwood first came to my notice when I read a post by Sean Timms of Southen Empire and Unitopia fame that said and I am paraphrasing here, that John's first album 'Dark Blue' was one of the best albums that he had produced. I soon found out that John had become the new guitarist for Unitopia. I found 'Dark Blue' on Bandcamp and also saw a quote from Steve Hackett endorsing this album. One doesn't need more convincing than that. I purchased the download and listening to it, I absorbed its musical richness into my ears. John Greenwood had won me and I then purchased the CD (I prefer the physical medium).

Coming into the present is his second solo album 'The Boy'. A simple title and yet invites curiosity, what is the story of this boy?

John progresses to this concept album that follows the dreams and aspirations of this boy character. Our main character lives on a dying farm due to climate change. In the distance the boy can see rockets launching into space igniting his imagination and desire to be an astronaut.

John has created this story and album that I find reminiscent of 'Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds' or even an Ayreon album. Mark Addy, actor from 'The Full Monty' and 'Game of Thrones', brings an elegant and calm speaking voice as a narrator to the story.

John has relayed to me that the story is semi-autobiographical in the terms of themes that are surrounded by the sci-fi narrative to create further interest. "It's all about choices we make, the sacrifices we seemingly happily make, and regrets, sometimes that take a lifetime to emerge."

The album is broken into six tracks and has gathered an array of talented musicians including of course, Sean Timms with Steve Unruh (Samurai of Prog and Resistor) and legendary drummer Simon Phillips (Toto, Judas Priest, Protocol and Robert Reed). Also joining is a small orchestra that brings a full orchestral sound and cinematic aura. John's electric guitar blends with the orchestra in a fulfilling introduction giving the taste of what is to follow.

The orchestra truly plays a large part inviting the listener on this journey. John matches the orchestra with a calm and determined tone on the guitar while Sean adds synthesizer to give the sci-fi feel of space and dreams. Wonderful acoustic guitar and flute enriches and permeates complimenting the music to its fullest. John also sings the character of The Boy with conviction and belief. Emma Bartsch completes roles of the 'Girl' and the 'mother'.

The drama increases within the story as the lead character is now an adult and accepted into the space program to become an astronaut that is tearing him away from the farm and his family. The music equals the drama with sensitivity swelling to a heartfelt manner bearing the direction of the eventual rocket launch carrying the main character. This aspect highlights the conflict between his desire for space travel and the love of his home and family. I won't detail where the story ends for this project. What I will infer is that I hope there will be another chapter to follow.

John could have made this a full on guitar based album however he sees the bigger picture and incorporates all musical elements to the fore to serve his vision. His musical talent is in full display and to be admired. The writing in both story and music is first class. Beyond this he also musically arranged the whole album. Choosing the instruments for the particular points in the story is made during the writing and recording. John expressed this to me with an example, "I usually start with a melody line instrument (like flute) then write for its family (oboe, clarinet and bassoon). When the oboe player came to record , she brought a cor anglais and I asked her to replace the clarinet line at the beginning of The idea of Space." He continued, "Then I put down strings starting with an instrument I think should carry a lead line (usually cello or 1st violin). I then fill in the family from bass, through cello, viola, 2nd and finally 1st violin. Then I put in the brass starting with French Horn."

John has also brought in family members showcasing their talents including his daughter, Emma Bartsch as lead vocalist and what a rich, crystal clear voice she has, also is his son Sam eloquently playing the grand piano in track five, "The Broken Heart of the Great Machine".

I found this album exciting and outstanding. It works in both a narrative and a musical event. It gives you the feeling of when reading a good book that you don't want to finish.

I urge any fan of prog rock to purchase this musical gem or any music fan for that matter.

Patrick Moraz is an accomplished keyboard player and masterful piano player who is not afraid to break conventions. On his first solo piano album, he ranges from classical inspired pieces to modern virtuoso playing.

You could imagine some if it being playing in a prog-rock set up, such as the first composition which is very dynamic and exploratory. It is one of the strongest tracks on the album.

What follows is a laid-back ear-pleasing piece, in a more conventional manner but it has its level of dynamics in the middle. Moraz confirms high level of imagination as there is enough change in playing

"Kaaru" is perhaps the most known Moraz' composition with a strong melody, whereas "Talisman" is charged with energy similar to "Festival" which is technically perhaps the most complex piece with furious right-handed runs accompanied by a boogie type of left hand.

The rest of the album is more reflective and accessible, finding the melodic "Best year of our lives" included here again. The last minute the album is ruined by the repeated kind of sound (probably not coming from a piano).

Otherwise, a solid album by a skilled and inspired piano player. 3.5 stars

On their third album, Katatonia didn't leave any stone unturned despite staying largely within the same atmospheric feeling. Slight change was in the loss of epiqueness, romantism despite the morbid, depressive and heavy feeling kept in tact. One of the greatest decisions made was inviting Opeth's mastermind to contribute vocals to cut the most brutal album vocally. The second great decision was to how two guitars are combined, creating heavy but also mournful feeling. Guitar are masterful and essential in creating the level of bleakness on this record. Two points of criticism, non-essential ones to me: intentionally simple 4/4 beat drumming on the first three heavy tracks. Directly linked to this is the level of repetition which is unlucky from the music perspective but I can understand it for that kind of mood - doom metal bands often use slow repetitive patterns, the same goes for post- rock. I divide the album into three track categories - straightforward gothic/death represented by the first and second track. "Day" is an excellent light weight 90's alternative rock track, fragile yet well constructed. Warmer than anything else on the album, obviously. The third, most voluminous category are tracks 4-6. "Rainroom" starts as a straightforward gotic number but turns into a more slow doom number. The deceivingly mellow repetitive part is alternated by a death/doom ominous motive which then replaced by a straightforward chilling death metal. "12" is a fantastic doom number with great guitar tandem riffing on a different octave. The slow death metal quite Opeth- like motive follows and then very quiet section with clean guitar comes. Another great doom metal riff kicks in before a mellow motive repetition. What comes out of the blue is the last very powerful and evil misanthropic doom riff greatly propelled by the deamonic Akerfeldt to the deepest depths of misery. Astonishing atmospheric moment. "Endtime" has a similar structure to "12" just that it starts with what is the final section of the previous track - quiet instrumental guitar intro which then develops into a similarly sounding doom moment. The melody is simple yet devastating. Vocals are brutal and seem to be duplicated in their loudest part "Here is my darkness". This is Katatonia at their most influential stage setting the scene for further doom/death metal acts to follow. Katatonia would never leave the feeling of sadness yet this was their last matching to brutality. I recommend acquiring this album with the EP "Sounds of decay" which contains 3 similarly designed tracks with Akerfeldt on vocals.

One of my Gong favourite albums is perhaps their warmest and most peaceful album of the 70's. We hear highly sophisticated jazz-rock with the traditionally advanced rhythms, percussion. The cozy layer is introduced with vibraphones and marimbas. The master guitar by Holdsworth appears on a few tracks, less prevalent than on "Gazeuse!" but still evident. The first track is quite different from the rest of album, it's a slow rocking piece with a groove and subtle vibraphone textures. "Golden dilemma" paves way for the rest of the polished but not sleepy album. You can hear sunny moods as well as more dramatic melodies ("Sleepy"). Fantastic bass and drum playing can surely take a moment or two on their own, when no keyboard instruments are in place and guitar is getting ready for the next spotlight. "Soli" is a tour-de-force for Holdsworth guitar closely followed by extremely pleasant vibraphones and steady drums with effective fills. Beautiful moment to be captured in. Another curiosity is the violin addition to the otherwise loos and not so inventive "Boring". The last track reminds me of the Bill Bruford solo albums with Holdsworth soloing and tonality, just a way different drumming ;-) This is an excellent album for its year, 1978, where prog was in the decline phase.

After the last studio album with Allen in 1974, we're graced with two live albums from 1977. This one is far more superior to "Floating anarchy" because it goes back to the studio output of the strong years 1972-1974, it contains saxophone/flute and less of anarchy, obviously ;). On the other hand, Live etc. is yet another live album from 1977 that is more representative of band's live output because its tracks were recorded between 1973-1975. The last good reason to take it is its length at 75 minutes with 3 compositions over 10 minutes and plenty of stretched playing. As you would expect, guitar playing is more audible than on the studio albums. The live energy is infectious, especially in the second half with energetic pieces like "Sprinkling of clouds". The sound quality corresponds to its date, the bass and keyboards aren't always fully audible. Excellent addition to fans of 70's space rock.

The last classic Gong album with Daevid Allen is also the best one. All ingredients clicked well together, not too many excesses, overall thorough focus on music and exceptional playing by no fewer than 10 musicians.

The first three short tracks are breezy, trippy and by the time we get to the fourth one, the tension before the storm is rising. However, psychedelic vocals and percussion bring peace. You can hear moog and percussion getting more grip before drums start into a somewhat fusion and guitar effects led by saxophone. The track is furious and full of dynamic shifts. Kudos to the drummer for using frequent fills and guitar/saxophone being on the edge of things. "A sprinkling of clouds" is musically less interesting, also less intense but I consider it quite influential at the same time because it brings psychedelic keyboards to the forefront and turns into a great hallucination energy noise. The last two tracks are Gong crowning achievements, long but dreamy excursions into psychadelic space rock with dominant saxophone and bass. Excellent relaxing atmosphere with rising chords with masterful saxophone playing. The last track could indeed blow ya mind. I don't praise using vocals here, on the other hand, there are very good dynamic changes and experimentation. This track marks the last Gong track with some Canterbury influence.

Further Gong albums of the 70's enter a more jazzy territory and I like them to the same level as the three albums of the trilogy.

This album finds the band incorporating significant space rock elements (keyboards, guitar), continuing with jazz/psychedelic saxophone and perfecting the rhythm section with hypnotic yet sophisticated bass and drumming. Singing rounds up instruments by joining the atmospherical spheres and quirky jazzy jams. Guitar playing by Hillage steps out of the shadow from the previous album. Not only is its sound raw and still somehow subdued at the same time, it is actually quite varied for a Canterbury band. World music, namely Indian, is recognized in more psychedelic tracks like "Prostitute Poem" or the vocals at the end of the first track. It fits the hypnotic atmosphere well. "Selene" may be the first band ballad but what a trippy sleepy feeling it has. "Oily way" is a great prog rock workout, yet one of the most accessible Gong songs. The good thing about this album is the absence of weak tracks if I omit the one-minute interludes. It is a captivating listening from the start until the end.

The first of the 3 invisible part albums is a sophisticated and yet more accessible and less raw effort than Camembert. We hear new talented musicians like Steve Hillage for the first time, though not so much evidenced here, he would be an excellent addition to guitar. Then we finally have a dedicated keyboardist, Francis Moze, even though he's handling bass, too. The sound is quite balanced, no instruments overshadowing the rest but I want to highlight the power of the rhythm section. The combination of bass and drums is already forming the trademark Gong sound. This rhythmic enthusiasm is particularly noteworthy with more monotonous sections of long tracks where the main melody remains repetitive and instruments like piano/saxophone play improvisation ("Flying teapot"). This track is an example of a psychedelic jazz-tinged jam which focuses more on atmosphere than compositional complexity. On the contrary, former pop flirtations are represented by shorter tracks like "The pot head pixies"). "Zero the hero" is a Canterbury trip with relaxed saxophone, muscular percussion and typical Canterbury alternation between two chords. To sum it up, while I don't think that this album is an essential Canterbury/psychedelic rock experience, it ranks among the best Gong albums and the first one that firmly established Gong's typical sound of the first half of the 70's.

The second Gong album is more experimental and at the same time, quite a messy affair. My explanation is that the band wanted to try different directions such as Canterbury, avantgarde and psychedelic rock, recording an album and then figuring out what works best for them. Vocals may be an acquired taste ranging from female wailing to a non-melodic stoned male vocal. The good thing is that they are not too strongly positioned in the mix. I hear the rhythm section and excellent saxophone more distinctly. "You can't kill me" is to me the first good band attempt at psychedelized Canterbury output whereas "Mister Long Shanks" showcases the band's meditative side that would resurface on other albums, too, although in shorter tracks. Another highlight is "Fohat digs holes in space" with a heavy Canterbury influence and silliness. We've got an energetic guitar solo, more than fitting saxophone lines and less mess than previously. I consider this album as a fine start of their influential discography.

Kamil Konieczniak of Klucze, Poland suffered the same fate that many gifted musicians who crave the more complex arenas of the musical world find themselves experiencing. Coming from a small city he found it impossible to attract any band members to play music with so ended up doing what many have undertaken in the 21st century given all the snazzy new technologies popping up and that would be to become the entire band and play all the instruments alone! And that's exactly how MOONRISE was born. Mother necessity strikes again. Konieczniak developed his musical skills at a young age and showcases his amazing ability to tackle al the instruments in his debut neo-prog release THE LIGHTS OF A DISTANT BAY which showcased not only his multi-instrumental talents and virtuoso keyboard skills but also in how gifted he was in crafting catchy complex compositions that captured the essence of bands like Marillion, Camel and the spaciest sounds of Porcupine Tree and rolled them into one.

This album of eight tracks that runs a cool dreamy 53 minutes of playing time features Konieczniak as a one man band although Łukasz Gałęziowski was recruited to handle the vocal performances which are sung entirely in the English language. Much of the album though is dedicated to lengthy instrumental passages that showcase the neo-prog trademarks of heavy atmospheric melodic prog with Hackett inspired guitar sweeps, gentle bass thumping and percussive drive with the occasional bursts of metal power chord heft. Considering this album was completely played, recorded and engineered by Konieczniak alone it's amazing because it really does sound like a "real" full band even down to the electronic drumming which doesn't sound canned. Apparently this guy spent a lot of time crafting this album and paid attention to every tiny detail which is reflected in the high caliber quality of the album's easy on the ears flowing from beginning to end without any dull moments.

"The Island" starts the album off and sets the tone for a dreamy and very polished melodic prog sequence that sounds a lot like a more sophisticated version of dream pop with cozy atmospheres and a feel good mood setting that is followed by the album's lengthiest track "Help Me I Can't Help Myself." This track introduces Konieczniak's excellent keyboard talents with a lengthy piano opening and then a series of classically inspired procession into proggier territory. A bit of guitar heft is added on "In The Labyrinth Of The Dream" bringing some of the heavier moments of Porcupine Tree to mind as well as the track "Antidotum (Soothing Song)" which also gives a wink and a nod to Mr Steven Wilson. "Full Moon" on the other hand drifts off into pure bliss with a dreamy ambient sequence that slowly slinks and swirls its way through three minutes plus of lush atmospheric elegance. The following "Memories" delivers a nice piano performance with more ambient backing. The title track closes the album with an 8 1/2 minute playing time. This track is basically a ballad in an AOR type of cheesiness but works well and features a nice guitar solo.

For a one-man band Konieczniak does a remarkable job as MOONRISE on his debut THE LIGHTS OF A DISTANT BAY. While the percussion does seem limited in retrospect, given that this is such a dreamy ambient album where sweeping atmospheres dominate the soundscapes it's really not the main focus. All in all this is a well performed, well produced and instantly enjoyable slice of millennial neo-prog. While Konieczniak doesn't exactly craft anything particularly original here, the compositions are so carefully crafted and the exuberant passion so vibrant that many fans of neo-prog can't help but to succumb to it. While not a top dog in that particular nook of the prog universe, MOONRISE's debut is an interesting slice of Polish prog in the vein of Collage, Millenium, Quidam or Albion. There is definitely a slightly unique sound that the Polish neo-proggers exhibit with a sensual style that treads lightly on the senses where every cadence and motif are suavely decorated with urbane elegance and creative continuity.

Cynic's seminal 1993 technical prog metal album Focus is one of the few albums that defines its genre while transcending it at the same time. So, when this remixed edition was released in 2023, it was an essential purchase for me. Or was it?

With founding members Sean Reinert on drums and Sean Malone on bass now sadly deceased, the Cynic legacy is totally in the hands of vocalist, guitarist and composer Paul Masvidal. So, this remix, for better or worse, is purely his vision. The first thing noticeable with lead off track "Veil Of Maya" is the change of tones and volume of the twin guitars of Masvidal and Jason Gobel. They are as not as loud and powerful, but are cleaned up so there's more detail in both of their playing. Reinert's excellent drum work is more to the fore with a heavier bottom to his manic double bass drumming, as well as more clarity to his cymbal work. Malone's bass seems more or less unaffected. Masaval's vocoder treated vocals are more prominent and clearer as are Tony Teegarden's growly vocals. And here's where the song loses balance in the mix as both were fighting to be heard among the aggressive and almost crushing guitars found in the original mix, which made the song so enjoyable. This is heavy metal after all, and this style of mixing is prevalent in all the album's songs. Even guest vocalist Sonia Otey's brief backing vocals on the later verses on "Veil Of Maya" is mixed down to a ghost like accompaniment to Masvidal's robotic vocals. Interestingly, she's more prominent in her brief panning vocal on the follow up track "Celestial Voyage", which suffers from the same anemic guitar mix down as "Veil Of Maya". Only two songs suffer less from the new mix, "Textures" and "How Could I", but they are not improvements over the original song mixes, just acceptable.

The best I can say about Refocus is that it's like looking at a blueprint for an impressive building or looking at the model used for a sculpture or painting. You see the all the elements that were assembled for such a fine work, but you're not looking at the finished whole. 3 stars.

"Pieces from a Broken Star", the stimulating title for the first album of the Cielo Drive project led by Oscar Sanfiz, draws on many of the best discoveries that emerged in the experimental consciousness of the past 20th century.

It combines motoric-driven kraut improvisations and cosmic, noise-inducing passages that induce trance and wink at the territories explored by early Neu, with captivating industrial experimental movements of Psych TV and the neo-tribalism of SPK's "Zamia Lehmani" that flow with a captivating sense of abstraction.

The pieces of this imploded broken star have wandered through space divided into 9 cosmic fragments that converge and finally recompose themselves in "Star", a brilliant and vibrant 12-minute development that floats at first to gradually impose a magnetic, almost narcotic ostinato, before falling into a spaced-out and hypnotically metronomic extension.

Uncompromising, innovative, experimental, and as well-executed as it is narratively structured, Cielo Drive's "Pieces from a Broken Star" embraces synchronicity and chance alike to capture the moment in these snapshots of industrial upheaval, brooding ambient post-rock, and psychedelic motorik.

Wrapped in an exhilarating cover, this is some of the boldest, most insolent, and most refreshing stuff I've heard lately.

The Tangent is an interesting musical entity, whether it be for the variety of influences of their sound, including a bit of classic 70s progressive rock, a bit of Canterbury Scene, occasional disco bits, and all on the premise that they are especially partial to jazz, fusion, and even lounge music, or for the complexity their compositions, or for the fact that one never really knows what exactly to expect from them. On top of that, the band is known for an impressive roster of members, ultimately becoming quite a fluid entity that openly accepts the particularities brought in by the various musicians that have been associated with it. And finally, there is the voice of Andy Tillison, not a trained vocalist but able to give the music a very idiosyncratic quality, that I am personally quite fond of.

The second album by the band pretty much expands the musical ventures of their debut, significant for the length of the multi-section compositions and the very jazzy and melodic approach towards progressive rock, or at least, The Tangent's rendition of it. This 2004 release is once again incredibly energetic, yet reflective at the same time, as Tillison has never been shy of political or social commentary. The opening track 'The Winning Game' has to be among the darker pieces released by the band, including some great interplay between Roine Stolt and Andy Tillison, preserved throughout the entirety of the album. The following two tracks are more upbeat, drawing upon a wider variety of sounds that range from lounge jazz, as it was previously mentioned, to folk and classic rock. It nevertheless becomes obvious that the album lacks in originality, especially compared to the band's debut from a year before. There are several moments on these very tracks, despite being the shorter ones on the album, which are either too derivative, or a bit outdated. The final two tracks are once again multi-part epics, quite moody and vibrant at the same time, going through various intriguing instrumental passages. All of a sudden one realizes that the music of The Tangent can be quite a difficult listen as well, and while it might be engaging and pleasing, it can easily shift to being tiring, and even self-indulgent. I believe this is generally why 'The World That We Drive Through' is a difficult follow-up to the otherwise quite promising first record; it has a good balance between prog memorabilia and actually fascinating and adventurous musical passages.

3.5 stars. CONVENTUM were a Chamber music/Folk band out of Quebec who released two studio albums during the second half of the seventies. This is their second and final release from 1979. They are down to a four piece as the poet and one of the three acoustic guitarists has left. Down to one guest as well, who plays flute on that second track. Now compare that lineup to the 15 musicians/singers that were on their debut. Stripped down for sure plus the music is more serious. More academic, as this comes across as a much more mature work, but not better in my opinion.

They would play their final concert at Laval University in Quebec City in January of 1980. Meanwhile Chris Cutler in England finds a copy of their debut and contacts the band about being on the RER Record label he was running, but they had no copies left to sell. So Chris did the next best thing and released one of their songs on the "The Recommended Sampler 1982". I have that one and it's track five on the second disc called "Commerce Nostalgique" the last track written by Duchesne under the name CONVENTUM. It's a bonus track on my edition here.

I do like that there's a uniform sound to this album but it lacks the fire and adventure of the debut. "Le Reel Des Elections" is the under 3 minute opener that sounds like a jig, very catchy with violin leading. The flute is on that second track "Ateliers I & V" which is quite sparse sounding, lots of acoustic guitar. "Choregraphie Lunaire" opens with experimental sounds, no melody until the acoustic guitar arrives around a minute, violin too. My favourite part on the whole album is that sound after 7 minutes.

We actually get some drums on "La Belle Apparence" and it's uptempo and short at over 2 minutes. Mandolin on this one as well. The violin puts on a show on "Fanfare". "Trois Petits Pas" is very classical sounding. Some clapping on "Le Reel A Mains", very folky with fast paced violin. The closer has male vocals to open and close it, and it's the longest piece at over 10 minutes.

A good album that is maybe more chamber than folk but it certainly has both. I'll stick with their debut, an album that was love at first listen. This is an impressive work, but not nearly as entertaining.

One of the early bands to jump on to the Krautrock scene, the Berlin based MURPHY BLEND didn't go the kosmische route that fellow countrymen Amon Duul II and Can embarked upon but rather took the heavier bluesy rock road into the world of organ dominated hard rock much like other early Kraut acts like Birth Control, Jane and Orange Peel. The band formed in 1969 and created a sound that was based around founder and keyboardist extraordinaire Wolf-Rüdiger Uhlig and supposedly named after a Beckett novel called "Murphy" however other claims that the name came from a tobacco brand also permeate the internet! The band's lineup was of a typical prog rock band with Wolfgang Rumler (guitar), Andreas Scholz (bass - he later played with Blackwater Park) and Achim Schmidt (drums) and together this BLEND released a sole album titled FIRST LOSS however it seems like half the databases claim it was released in 1970 and the others cite 1971.

Whatever the case this was indeed one of those transitional albums that was certainly recorded in 1970 when the heavy psych and psychedelic rock 60s was picking up steam and transmogrifying into hard rock and progressive rock and in the case of this band both. Not too dissimilar what Deep Purple and Atomic Rooster were cranking out in jolly ole England about the same time, MURPHY BLEND was much more progressive with lots of classically inspired organ performances amidst the bluesy hard rock chord crunchiness. Uhlig was basically the German doppelgänger for Jon Lord and the rest of the band had the chops to keep up with his demanding style of playing with special mention to drummer Achim Schmidt who delivered some serious chops for the beginning of the 1970s. The album featured seven tracks however it's really only six since the closing track "Happiness" is only three seconds long!

While not terribly original even for 1970, MURPHY BLEND nevertheless crafted some memorable compositors with stellar performances that allowed the bluesy hard rock to showcase Uhlig's virtuosic keyboard antics in a proto-prog fashion that sounded fairly normal for most of the album but with moments of proggy excursions into more complex or unexpected territories. While the album sounds dated to my ears that's a good thing because i actually love this short period from 1969-71 when bands were in full experimental mode without shedding all the traits of the 1960s. MURPHY BLEND is the perfect mix of the heavy psych 60s with the harder edged 70s along with some prog twists and turns as well as some of the best Hammond organ playing you could ask for from the era. While primarily based in blues rock MURPHY BLEND knew how to incorporate other influences into its mix with the most bold expressions occurring in the album's lengthiest piece, the title track.

Perhaps the earliest Kraut band to combine hard rock, blues and classical music, MURPHY BLEND was also one of Germany's best to crank out this style and FIRST LOSS is on par with Birth Control's finest moment, the excellent album "Hoodoo Man." The band's lyrics were in English but the vocals featured that giveaway German accent but it's all very well done and fits in with the music quite well. The tracks all differ from each other to make this an interesting listen from beginning to end and a must for any Heavy Kraut lovers who really get off on organ excesses. Unfortunately for unknown reasons the band broke up after its only album however Uhlig would go on to form Hanuman which morphed into Lied Des Teufels. This is a great album with some very innovative moments especially in the keyboard department. The band's use of non-blues songwriting techniques gave it a somewhat distinct identity beneath the surface of a typical organ based hard rock band. A nice early German gem that transverse the worlds of early hard rock, early prog and blues rock.

The magic is back!

This is a superb album, up with their best work (Tab, Recycled and Remember). I stopped following them after Magic is a Child. I discovered them mid-seventies but i had always found their albums very uneven (...Sounds Like This (tracks that didn't make their first few albums perhaps?), Down To Earth (got this around 2015 after reading a review that lauded it) and Magic Is a Child.) being the worst i had come across.

I stumbled across this accidently and was totally blown away by how good it was. Look Through Me is probably the weakest track but its not awful. And there is a diverse array of style from the strightforward rock of I'm On Fire, to pure prog Love Is/The Other Side (which is clearly for the late Roye Albrighton) and ballads (Look Through Me). Most of the tracks also feature outstanding solos.

The Good Boat

I usually don't write reviews of Phish because it's not a prog band, but I love them, and this one is different. Over the years, I've noticed some bad vibes around this record. I've been a fan of Phish for about 30 years, and fortunately, this is not Rift, Joy, or Ghost. Forget about it. This isn't a new band anymore; this is four mature guys still being Phish. Big Boat is one of the good Phish studio records?not the best, but an interesting effort. It's much better than Fuego, on the right side of Joy, with much more sense and order than Round Room. It's "different"?an experimental, progressive kind of album, yet it still carries that signature Phish energy that keeps fans coming back.

Big Boat isn't seen as a full-on conceptual record, but it does have some thematic cohesion. The songs often explore introspective themes like loss, reflection, and growth, especially in tracks like "Miss You," "Running Out of Time," and "Petrichor." The album reflects the band's maturity, showing how Phish has evolved over time. This gives it a loose concept centered around life's journey and experiences. The songwriting feels more introspective, as if the band is reflecting on where they've been and where they're heading. The playful moments are still there, but the music feels deeper, perhaps more connected to their experiences as a long-standing band.

I love when Phish tries something new, and that's what Big Boat is. It's not a new style, just good prog music from an old band sounding fresh. It's proof that Phish can evolve without losing their essence.

Isis, Last Dance?

Isis an American post-metal band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1997 by guitarist and vocalist Aaron Turner, bassist Jeff Caxide, vocalist and electronic instrumentalist Chris Mereschuk and drummer Aaron Harris. With roots in hardcore punk and doom metal, the band borrowed from and helped to evolve the post-metal sound pioneered by bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh. The structure of Wavering Radiant is clever, splitting its seven tracks into two halves, separated by an instrumental bridge. This choice isn't arbitrary; the album gains momentum as it progresses, with the second half pushing forward in a way that elevates the entire experience, with its crushing dynamics and intricate layering. Isis sound, starting with subtlety but swelling into something much larger.

Side A

1. Hall of the Dead: Opening with a blend of crushing riffs and atmospheric passages, balancing between Isis' signature heaviness and more. Aaron Turner's vocals come in with a raw, guttural intensity. Adam Jones from Tool adds his signature guitar work here, lending a slight dissonance that enhances the atmosphere.

2. Ghost Key: is a standout for its dynamic range. The heaviest moments on the album. The buildup is methodical, and the eventual release of energy feels well-earned.

3. Hand of the Host: This track is quintessential later-era Isis, with its sprawling structure and focus on atmosphere, with Turner's haunting vocal delivery. Adam Jones contributes to this track, adding subtle layers that bring a certain.

4. Wavering Radiant (instrumental): The title track serves as an instrumental interlude, providing a moment of reflection before the album dives into its second half. It is atmospheric and meditative.

The second half of the record, though, might be where Isis truly shines. The narrative is almost like storytelling through music, which feels unique to this period in Isis' catalog.

Side B

5. Stone to Wake a Serpent: charges in with an urgent intensity. The song's structure is narrative, taking the listener on a journey through rising tension and ominous melodies.

6. 20 Minutes / 40 Years: Perhaps the most emotionally resonant track on the album, "20 Minutes / 40 Years". It's a track that evolves naturally, building layer upon layer until it reaches an explosive peak.

7. Threshold of Transformation: The album closes on an epic note with "Threshold of Transformation." The song encapsulates everything that Isis has become over the years?heavy, atmospheric, and emotionally charged. leaving the listener on a high note and solidifying Wavering Radiant as a monumental release in the band's discography.

Wavering Radiant balances that rough emotion with a refined, almost deliberate purpose. The songs feel alive, as if each note, riff, and lyric has been meticulously placed to serve the greater whole. Adam Jones from tool contribution adding another dimension to their sound, this is Isis dynamic, and evolving and it leaves me hoping that, despite this being their final album, we haven't truly heard the last from them.

"Saga" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by Canadian progressive rock act Saga. The album was released through Polydor Records in April 1978. Saga formed in 1977 after the demise of Canadian rock group Fludd. Three of the five members of Saga's lineup came from Fludd.

Stylistically Saga play what today sounds like a very time-typical late 70s/early 80s progressive rock style. It's technically well performed and the tracks feature intriguing details, but lack the structural complexity of many of the early- to mid-70s progressive rock releases, although this debut album certainly is among the most progressive oriented Saga releases. The choice of synths/keyboards, the hard rock edge, and the occasionally AOR (an even new wave) oriented direction of the music are also time-typical features. Lead vocalist/keyboardist Michael Sadler is a skilled singer and his trained singing style suits the music well, although I sometimes wish he would relax a bit.

The album features a clear, detailed, and professional sounding production job, and it's overall a very well produced release. Upon conclusion "Saga" is a good quality late 70s progressive rock release and it should appeal to fans of late 70s/contemporary Genesis, Kansas, Eloy, UK, and other artists in that vein (fans of 80s neo-progressive acts like Pallas and IQ should find lots to appreciate here too). A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.