MARCO MINNEMANN

In my oppinion this is the best album Marco has done so far.

Overall, this is a brilliant album that unfortunately will not receive the exposure or praise it deserves. 4.5 stars.

Mieze (2004), Marco's fifth studio album, follows an interesting run of releases, stylistically disparate from one to the next. You can see my reviews and ratings for each--as I've been slowly delving chronologically into his discography from the start--and every time I'm just hoping for another of the first two albums' caliber. I highly recommend both: The Green Mindbomb (1998) and Comfortably Homeless (2000). Unlike the "intimate production" of singer-songwriter-Marco's third, Orchids (2002), or the less-consistent Jazz Fusion album, Broken Orange (2003), those first two are balls-to-the-wall, hyper-dynamic and multi-faceted pieces of art. Despite what the credits say here, according to his official website (which also provides little in the way of crediting information generally, even to himself), Paul Gilbert actually performs guitar solos on not just one, but four of the songs. Welcomed, indeed. At over an hour, I hadn't realized how long this album was.

Praise be! On our opener, "Freedom, Money, Got No Time", we are back firmly in more or less Fusion territory [for now]. But it has a kind of... Indie Pop Rock chorus? Hard to place. The verses are rather atonal. Fun guitar solo here. Decent opener. Pop Rock continues more obviously on "Ourselves", with, I hear, Jason Falkner-esque (Jellyfish, The Grays, Beck) vocal melodies. Just really forward-driving, infectious Power Pop, and here it's gotta be one of those aforementioned Gilbert solos toward the end. I really like this. Questionable appeal to Prog fans, and yet I highly recommend it [see my note at the end of the review].

Quirky Funk Fusion, reminiscent in tone to Mike Keneally (especially harmonically), on "Katze" (from the perspective of a cat?). It goes and goes and then there's this wacky guitar solo here, too. "30th Century Fox" returns to radio-ready but obviously very well-performed Pop Rock. I feel moreso than on prior releases, Marco's vocal performances are a bit stronger throughout. I am really so curious about who his inspirations were for this musical mode, but I'm so for it. Totally on its own is the soft and personal "Defragmentation Day".

To further obscure where we're coming from on this album, "Wha Doesn't She Call Me" is like the Poppy Punk of early Fountains Of Wayne or... Sloan? No expectation from others on the site, but I really enjoyed this. "Whenever" is a return to that Jason Falkner type of thing. And again, not to confuse anyone, but Marco and Mike Keneally, as mentioned before, do have these '90s Power Pop contemporaries that are rightly inescapable and highly respected. If you can't tell, I'm really into this stuff. Even so, "Whenever" has proggy trills throughout. There's daring inside these apparently simple compositions.

Huge tonal shift occurs on "Paul's House", a soft, piano-led instrumental piece, with ambience and accompanying acoustic guitar. Continuing in the softness is the somewhat textured "What If?" It's a merp from me, dawg. Onto the next, with a bit more goin' on, we have "This Song". Sort of melody I would expect from The Posies' Ken Stringfellow or the insanely talented Spookey Ruben (two other Power Pop contemporaries): if you're into Guitar/Power Pop, one of my favorite albums is the former's Frosting on the Beater (1993), and for Spookey, check out the wild, if not unhinged, Power Pop song "These Days Are Old" and his album Bed (2001). "This Song" picks up hard with a really cool upbeat drum rhythm from Marco. Very cool. Nice melodic guitar solo here.

Keneally vibes are back on the upbeat "Passenger"! Woah! The solo here is fun! Great song! [On a song-by- song basis (to explain once and for all), since much of this, though well performed, is surely not Prog nor even proggy, if I deem a song "personally" excellent, I'm giving it a 3.5/5.0.] Glimpses of Fusion appear on the frontend of "Reflections", a Raga-rooted and psychedelic Jangle Rock number. Wow... the bass here is performed by Marco?! He's really so talented. And I mean it: so well-rounded. I think the refrain is great, but I can see how people might find the verses a bit cheesy.

Some interesting ideas on "Windows". Largely ambient and, I can't help it, harmonically back to Keneally Land. Midway through, Marco introduces raucous drums. There's some very odd effects and random sounds throughout. I'm not a fan of that, but it doesn't totally tarnish the song. But... hmmm... This vibe continues on "So Much Water". Not great haha, but at least it's better executed here to my ears... But then this solo! Woah! That came out of nowhere, but... good fit.

Finally, we are back into some much welcomed quirk on "Air". Super cool song. Its only real mark against it is its length (hmmm... I feel the same could be said of the album as a whole haha). I feel as though his stylistic choices on this album were very consistent, whether you love it or hate it (or just like it). And that's a mark of quality in my book (though a very minor mark). Finally finally we have "Just the Village Girl". And... I'm not sure about this intro... or this song... Country vibes?... I'll say it: bad closer. Oof.

It's mostly consistent in quality, though, as stated, very consistent in style. The degree to which this will appeal to your average Prog Fan is wanting and questionable. True Rate barely rounded up to 3.

Once again, the privilege is mine to have the first review for another from this great man's catalog, this being Marco's fourth solo studio album, Broken Orange (2003). From the get-go, I have to admit, I was hoping this was far less like what came directly before, the singer-songwriter and minimal Orchids, and more like his first two, Green Mindbomb and Comfortably Homeless. Seriously check those out (and my reviews, if it helps). And right from that very get-go here, it seems I'm in luck: morning blessed. Perhaps not intrinsically like them in style, but in virtuosity.

"Kate" opens things up with a very fresh and bright, modern rhythm from Marco and features, once again, excellent female vocals. It's Jazzy, but also weirdly has (vocally) a very Japanese feel(?) [I feel I'm regretting even having this very specific thought haha]. One of those times where I hope people understand what I'm putting out; it's an inflective, compositional sort of something. Very cool song. I think a more modern equivalent to this would be the duo Knower (drummer/composer Louis Cole and vocalist Genevieve Artadi). Around minute 3, enter an amazing piano solo! Fantastisch!

Continuing in the drum-and-piano-led Jazz is "Crack in the Muscle". A very very cool song that I swear could fit so naturally in old-school racing games or something (I played PGR2 when I was younger). I wanted to look up this pianist, because I am so impressed: Steve Hamilton, a once Berklee student had gone on to perform with Freddie Hubbard(!), Bill Bruford's Earthworks, Gary Burton(!) and is apparently currently the pianist/keyboardist for Billy Cobham's band(!) going on 9 or 10 years now! It's just great hearing Fusion being effectively fronted with acoustic piano. Excellent, excellent song; great bass solo too, if that appeals.

The affair continues on most appropriately with the bright "Friday Midi". And here we have the bass solo! This is Fabio Trentini, who had appeared on Marco's Comfortably Homeless. Just a very fine tune. Following this is probably the most quirky of the bunch thus far (and throughout), "Diddles". Very forward driving, but crazy rhythms. Also, finally, we get more of a glimpse into the guitarist: Surprise! It's Marco himself! Minimal as the guitar has been thus far, is this not a testament to this man's general well-roundedness and, why not, virtuosity?! I'm so impressed.

Vocals return on "The Beauty of One Note". Straightforward yet increasingly complex in its performance. This is juxtaposed by "Bread-Fish-Dance"...; what I find to be overly hokey compared to the sheer beauty that it follows. Some interest for sure, but I can't say I wasn't immediately turned off [I will admit, there are many times where I am indeed won over by hokey, but this wasn't quite it]. I actually quite like what I would call the main theme. Certainly picks up from the start.

Then it's back to business with "Rim", a rolling Fusion number, apparently featuring our first synth solo herein (again, apparently Marco himself). I like what's going on here. Far better to my ears is our title track, "Broken Orange". Driving Post-Bop goodness. Then, wow! Some riveting heavy Fusion, featuring Marco's best guitar performance here thus far! Very progressive. A certain highlight.

"One Little Moment" starts off low, slow and feeling. Once again featuring our vocalist, Jasmin Teutrine. Another one of those Marco moments that is showing its age (not so much that it's super dated, but that it just sounds very early-00s to my ears). What I assume to be vibes roll in for (finally?) this albums first (and only) taste of what my ears heard as 'Zappa'. But ultimately [and not contradictingly], this feels like one of those acoustic numbers you'd find on an Alt-Metal album; any fans of (early) Sevendust?

Continuing in this general vibe but (of course) more jazzy is "Nein-Too". Rollin' right along, are we? Fairly static though. Much more appealing off the bat is "Mr. Kempinski" (I'm assuming not some guy Marco ran into up in the Skook). Good song. Then is the solemn(?) "Waiting for Boys and Girls", a real softie if there ever was one. And finally, "Forgot Your Name" [It's Dan. Hey.], continuing, at first, for the first 2 minutes or so, in this same solemn vein, it's then off to the goddamn races! haha. It is mostly solemn and soft, yet the composition itself is very tasty.

Significantly weaker in its second half, Broken Orange is a fine album featuring, at times, really excellent material by [always] very excellent musicians. Not as strong nor as interesting as his first two: can't recommend them enough.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0

And once again, as already witnessed on his first and second albums, I hear ZAPPA in the bones, but really mostly on the opener, one of the few clear highlights, "Fields Of Orchids". It's hard to explain, but a lot of it is this free Jazz Fusion at play (again, in them bones). Free to be what it wants to be. "Fields...", for instance, feels like a latter-day KING CRIMSON tune, too. Very nice. Rhythmically steady and a clear melody (I mean, the guitar tone will be very familiar, too).

Even when the goods don't feel 100% "delivered", it's still satisfyingly performed and produced (noticeably for a good half the tracks, anyways). Weaker tracks to my ears like "Bleeding" and "Don't Care" still have something to offer. The former track actually, toward the end, reminded me of PORCUPINE TREE. So, to clarify, I can say here and now, not even leaving the frontend of the album, this is a lot less satisfying to me when compared to The Green Mindbomb (1998) or Comfortably Homeless (2000).

Really, I think this was all purposeful [in editing this, I know this to be true]. It's a different focus. And really, if you've heard those albums, we already know that Marco is coming from a bunch of different directions stylistically. It's exciting, because you really won't know what you get until you're in it--regardless of whatever this album was supposed to be, I'm still a damn fan of Marco! According to his website ""ORCHIDS" is a very intimate production. It's all about authentic, true relationships and the music runs on pure feelings." It's more singer-songwriter in nature and he admits also "It is not complex virtuos[sic] technique".

"Fall" is another low-go track. Lyrically very personal and feeling. Some tasty lickage, but limited staying power. This continues on and the middle section, to my ears, is generally just really weak. Not a whole lot going on here.

The next time I perked up was with the female-vox-led, very pretty "Scheme 2". Such a delight after all that came before, to be honest. It has seemed that whenever he's had women take lead vocals (on this and the past releases), other elements of the songs can shine. I suppose that makes sense. Unfortunately, to me, this wasn't repeated. "Un-bear" showed promise, and perhaps it could be for fans of Chris Cornell or something. "Minefield"'s middle section was a fun listen, but it is just one of those situations where it can't just save the song with a wave of the hand. Certainly any strengths throughout the album couldn't have saved the whole.

I have nothing further to say. Just listen to his first two albums, at least (instead).

"Kondome" is like YouTuber David DOCKERY 10-15 years before... Playing drums (and occasional other instruments) to the cadence of spoken (female) German. It sounds pretty natural, really. It is cool when people bring out the sing-songy nature of the human (speaking) voice. Seriously, if you've never heard "A Wild Hare" by Ron JARZOMBEK's SPASTIC INK (1997), read up on it first and (I would most recommend) look(ing) it up on YouTube (it "aurally recreates a scene from Bambi, even down to the dialogue, which is wordlessly mimicked by the guitar."--one upload of the track shows the actual scene as the music plays on top--Talk about next level!).

What I can say is that ZAPPA-isms continue strong on this release starting with the second track, "Papers". At times, this track gets very weird. Just compositional choices that you don't hear too often. Even in the wildest of Progressive Rock. Perhaps disorienting, but incredibly, undeniably fascinating.

And from "Papers" to the next, "Unlaw", the disparate styles somehow go together like bread and butter (see also the closer, as bonus track, "Overloaded", for this next vibe I'll describe). Hard to describe what is going on here. Maybe Psychedelic Soul? Some Funk elements? It rocks, and yet is so cool and collected. And at the same time, very well performed (a common theme in Minnemann's work). Excellent, really. Are we shocked? ["Look at all the t*tties"?! Lol! I mean, with that line, it can now (appropriately?) also be said this track is pretty sexy, admittedly haha.]

Moving along, ZAPPA-isms (T2, T4, T5, T7, T9, T14) stride naturally alongside Space Rock (most reminiscent to me of OZRIC TENTACLES; T4, T11, T13, T14); "Eclectic," super innovative Fusion (T5, T7, T9); R&B/Soul (T3, T10, T13); and the avant-garde (T1, T6, T10, T14).

Quirk that will appeal to ZAPPA fans, GENTLE GIANT fans and, I don't know, Jacob COLLIER fans alike (for Collier, a far better example is out there, I'm sure, but it's just not coming to me)! Some elements call to mind to me PINK FLOYD (see the pastoral "Arpeggio 2"; "Train Check" had the bleating of sheep, and, of course, Animals immediately sprung to mind).

All of this to say, it is absolutely remarkable how an album of this caliber, by an artist supposedly so widely beloved as Marco Minnemann, is only now, not only being reviewed (my pleasure, btw) but being rated at all! An album this good, being rated/reviewed for the first time on this site, and the site is nearly as old as this album! Just amazing to me. It's certainly not perfect, but boy, is it a treat! [Yet another Marco release that I wish I could justify a 5-star rating, just so people will pay attention to it.] Don't hesitate.

Personal Tracks of Note: T2, T3, T6, T8, T9, T13, T14

As I described the opener, "Streets," on my Instagram story mini-review (yes, this is genuinely something I regularly do), it's as if ZAPPA, HOLDSWORTH, and latter-day GONG (Pierre MOERLEN'S, to be exact) had a big ol' Prog baby. But that's not all! Although we very clearly have the Fusion elements from all these listed artists in the bones of this music, we also have avant-garde, Varésque moments, like the most sinister "Class." This is also an example of what I can only assume is MINNEMANN doing "the Zappa thing" (see literally anything Frank did in the early-80s till the end of his life with the Synclavier). Dance Me This, anyone? The Green Mindbomb heavily features this vibe throughout.

And to really show the various colors and flavors on this album and touched on by Minnemann & Co. (he and a bunch of fellow Germans with whom I can't help but be most impressed), "Class" is followed by "Success", a bizarre combination of... what I can only describe as Grindcore, Industrial and... I don't know how to explain it... R&B? Is it John ZORN? BUNGLE? Certainly too early to be inspired by ESTRADASPHERE... It's weird as hell, but it works! Throughout the album there are these beautiful female vocals, and on this track this is wonderfully featured. Very soulful. Very well performed. I don't know if what I'm hearing, too, is also some avant-garde, experimental take on Nu Metal. It's very intense. And, to repeat myself in some way, very impressive.

The variety is of course reminiscent of Frank, but also of Minnemann's most excellent contemporary MIKE KENEALLY. A high compliment from me. I think what I need to make clear is that I'm kicking myself for not digging into Marco sooner. I'm a Prog fan from the age of The ARISTOCRATS, a band that wouldn't see the light of day until their formation 13 years later in 2011. If you like them, ZAPPA, KENEALLY, GONG, HOLDSWORTH and specifically THORENDAL'S Sol Niger Within, then waste no time.

Best I can do with a True Rate is 4.25/5.00, so... is that not worth mentioning?

So like almost all double albums we get hits and misses in fact I find disc one ends badly with those last four tunes. Love the opener though called "Sandstorm" for it's heaviness. Vocals in this one and it becomes fairly uplifting 3 minutes in. Check out Satriani after 2 minutes on "The Healer". "Thunderstorm" is cool with the piano and crashing drums. Violin and some great drumming on "Sculpters" Not into "A Random Place" at all but along with the opener my other favourite track from disc one is "Gold Digger". I like the atmosphere and melancholy. Disc two opens with a car starting in "Horsepower". Satriani impresses here. Not into "3 Ghosts In A Saloon" but the short next one "Homicide" is cool. Dark and experimental actually. Yikes on "Lady In White" and "Broken Part" but "What Can I Hide?" makes up for them and this is part of my top three songs along with the two from disc one.

So some great sounding tracks along with some songs that really are not my thing. Very much a mixed bag for sure.

This generally sounds like a rock quartet, with additional keyboards and effects used sparingly, yet they mix and blend sounds so that while the bass may be incredibly heavy and Squire-like on one number it can be much further in the distance at others. As they are crossing so many musical boundaries it can be hard to pin down individual influences, but there are times when they provide vocal harmonies so much like City Boy that I find it hard to believe they have not been listening to albums like 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire'. They shuffle at times, dabble with melodic hard rock at others, always with a very American slant and is always massively accessible. McStine is a strong singer with a very pleasant voice, and his basswork in particular is also incredibly impressive as he locks with Minnemann on complex rhythms to provide solid foundations so that the guitar actually does not have to do much apart from provide emphasis.

This is an incredibly polished album which can easily be enjoyed the first time it is played, and is one to look out for.