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rushfan4

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Posted: October 06 2010 at 17:33

According to my somewhat screwy rating system on ProgFreak these are my top 200 prog albums of this current century. I can't really say how accurate it is as far as ratings or rankings, but it is I suppose a good starting point, and worth saving somewhere where I can find it later.

Edited by rushfan4 - October 06 2010 at 17:33

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Posted: February 10 2011 at 10:20

Time to dust off my old blog and add a few thoughts regarding some 2010 releases. Not sure how far I will get and how informative I will be but I am not really in review writing mode, so instead I think I will just jot down some thoughts regarding these albums as I am evaluating them for determining my top 5 or 10 albums for 2010. And who knows, maybe these thought jottings might lead to reviews.

The first album that I am listening to is arK's Wild Untamed Imaginings. arK is a neo-prog band from England that is probably best known for being a band that included ex-IQ and Jadis bassist John Jowitt. Wild Untamed Imaginings is their third album and their first release since Spiritual Physics from 1993. I am not familiar with their first two releases so cannot make a comparison, but I enjoy this album enough that I would be interested in acquiring their previous two albums if I can find them. The album consists of 11 songs ranging between 3 and 6 minutes in length. As with much music labelled as neoprogressive the music is highly accessible and easy to listen to, so it will most likely only appeal to fans of this genre of music. The album also includes another common theme of Neoprog music and that is the influence of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis and Fish-era Marillion on their sound. They are in no way clones, and they have their own unique sound, but those influences are still there in abundence.

Boudicca's Chariot is a lively heavy rocker that starts off with a Pink Floyd alarm clock and ends with the sounds of sea gulls. Just another day at the prog rock beach.

Coats of Red is a hard rock song with a guitar riff that highly reminds me of a guitar riff off of Michael Jackson's Thriller album of all things.

Flagday is the shortest track on the album and is a bit folky with a nice flutepiece within the song.

New Scientist is the longest track at just under 6 minutes. It is a slower track with a nice synth line leading the direction of the song and the use of a children's choir. Maybe a bit of a shoutout to Fantomas with the sound of "surgery" in the background with a female screaming.

Hagley is another slower rocker with flute, acoustic guitar and clean vocals.

Gaia returns to the hard rock direction with a screaming guitar to start off the track followed by some heavy synth work. It slows down at about the 3 minute mark and we get some nice flute work before the guitars take over and lead us to the end. Gaia is the first of three tracks that were included on their first album The Dreams Of Mr. Jones. I assume that these are reworked versions.

Eighth Deadly Sin starts out with NineInchNails like industrial rock drumming before the rest of the band joins in. The drum is the featured instrument early on this track, however there are some nice guitar and synth riffs after the halfway mark.

Change Pt2 is a nice hard rocker with probably the best guitar work on the album. I'm curious regarding the name as they don't appear to have released a Change Pt 1.

So You Finally Made It starts off with a Scottish feel to it and features guest musician Elena Albone playing a Hurdy Gurdy at the beginning of the song. It is a slower rocker which builds up in intensity and includes dramatic vocals which I find are featured a lot within the Neo Prog arena.

Kaleidoscope is the second song included which was also included on The Dreams Of Mr. Jones. Again, I assume that it has been re-worked for this album. There are some nice synth parts on this song.

The final track Nowhere's Ark isn't listed here on PA, so I am not sure if it is a bonus track or if it was just missed. This is the 3rd song from The Dreams Of Mr. Jones that is included on this album. A fast-paced rocker with some nice drum, guitar and synth work as well as some flute flourishes.

Overall, as I started off my thoughts this is a highly accessible album, which is easy for me to listen to and enjoy. Not a very challenging listen at all, and I suspect that it won't appeal to too many PA members, other than those like myself who are predisposed to Neoprog and arena rock music. Interestingly, even though John Jowitt is their best known member, the bass playing really stands out the least of the instruments for me. Fans of early Marillion, Arena, IQ, and Jadis might want to check this one out. I might suggest fans of Gabriel-era Genesis checking this out too, however, with a lot more caution as I know that many of you are really hard to please when it comes to Genesis influenced music.

Here is arK playing New Scientist live.

Edited by rushfan4 - February 10 2011 at 17:23

rushfan4

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Posted: February 10 2011 at 13:30

At the Edge Of Time is the 2010 release of power metal band Blind Guardian. I "discovered" Blind Guardian a number of years ago while reading an issue of Progression magazine that had an article about the metal side of prog and it talked about Blind Guardian and Symphony X as two rising stars on the prog metal team. Blind Guardian are a love 'em or hate 'em type of band. If you have heard one of their albums then you probably have a pretty good idea of what most of their albums are going to sound like and if you like that sound, then you probably love most of their albums. If you don't like that sound then they are not the band for you to search further because you are probably not going to find anything that you like from them.

I bought the 2 disc special edition of At The Edge of Time, but the second disc is just alternative versions of the songs on the main disc. Most of the songs are based on the writings of other authors.

The first song Sacred Worlds is a 9 minute power metal epic with a number of symphonic music flourishes and is one of the best songs on the album.

Tanelorn (Into The Void) is a fairly typical Blind Guardian song. Racing drums and crunching guitars with a slightly folky undertone throughout. Tanelorn is a fictional city portrayed in Michael Moorcock's fantasy novels. I am not familiar with these stories, but I am now curious as to the tie-in of the song with the stories.

Road of No Release is based on Peter S. Beagle's The Innkeeper's Song. It is somewhat typical of Blind Guardian's slower songs. Some nice interplay between the drums and guitars.

Ride Into Obsession is one of two songs based on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, for which I have bought the first few books and will be embarking on my own ride into obsession with the Wheel of Time series sometime in the hopefully near future. This is the shortest song on the album at just under 5 minutes. Again a pretty standard power metal sound with the thundering drumbeat throughout, finely placed guitar solos, and changing time signatures.

Curse My Name is based on a political writing of John Milton titled "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates". This song is done in the prog folk style that Blind Guardian is well known for. A nice slower pace with the inclusion of flute. These type songs always seem to have a Jethro Tull feel to my ears that I enjoy listening to.

Valkyries isn't based on a book, but it is based on Norse mythology. It is a slower based song with choral vocals for a chorus.

Control the Divine is based on John Milton's Paradise Lost. Another somewhat slower paced song. Some nice guitar riffs throughout, including some acoustic guitar. Steady prog metal drumbeat as well.

The next two songs War Of The Thrones and A Voice In The Dark are both based on George R.R. Martin's A Fire and Ice series. Another series that I am again sorry to say that I am not familiar with, so apparently I have a lot of reading to do. War of the Thrones is a fairly slow-paced song with strummed guitars and some symphonic interludes. A Voice In The Dark picks up the pace and follows the Blind Guardian power metal pattern.

The final song on the album proper is titled Wheel of Time, and as you might have guessed, it is also based on the Robert Jordan series. This is the second longest song on the album clocking in at just under 9 minutes. Similar to the first song, this is an epic symphonic metal song, i.e. power metal played to the accompaniment of an orchestra.

I don't think that I will discuss the songs on the second disc, as they are just alternative versions of the first disc.

If this album has accomplished anything it has provided me with what I expect to be a great source of reading material, as all of the stories that these songs are based on seem very interesting to me. I think that the lyrics are extremely important to follow along with for an album such as this. I was unable to do so with this listen, but plan on doing so shortly so as to see the effect my understanding of the lyrics have on the music. The singing is actually fairly easy to understand but as with most hard rock/metal music I don't hear all of it clearly and it will be easier to follow along with the booklet.

Sticking with my initial assessment, if you already like Blind Guardian, then most definitely check this album out. If you find that you haven't liked them in the past, then it it probably best to just pass this one by. However, if you are a fan of any of the above referenced books you might want to check out the related songs just for the heck of it to see how well their interpretations fit the books.

Check out Sacred Worlds and if you like it then definitely explore the album further.

Edited by rushfan4 - February 10 2011 at 17:10

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Posted: February 10 2011 at 14:40

Destroy All Monsters is the debut solo release for Declan Burke, the lead singer on the second Frost* album and for Darwin's Radio. When I was on Amazon.com getting the picture for the above arK album, I was told that I could get a better deal if I bought that album and this album together. They sort of got that right as both albums fall within the neoprogressive family. This album doesn't quite have as progressive of a sound as the arK album however as it is mostly about Dec Burke's voice. At times the keyboards have that 80's synth feel of neoprog, but a lot of the time this is more of a pop/crossover prog album. Of note, is that the drummer is Tim Churchman, who also played drums for arK on Wild Untamed Imaginings. The songs range from 3 1/2 minutes to 7 minutes in length.

This is only my third listen to this album and although I enjoy it quite a bit, I'm not sure how much appeal it will have in the PA community. I am pretty sure that enjoyment of this album will be severely limited to within the group of prog fans who like the commercial form of prog, and even then it might be too commercial for many of them.

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Posted: February 10 2011 at 15:12

The Bad Plus are a jazz rock band that I suspect will appeal to a greater range of PA users as it is a rocking jazz album centered around the piano with excellent support from drums and bass. For those of you who know my tastes, you know I am not a very big fan of jazz. I make some acceptions, and I make a significant acception for The Bad Plus. They are currently not included on PA. I'm not really sure why. They may be too jazzy and not enough prog, but most sites describe them as prog jazz. At any rate I "discovered" them while shopping at a record store while on vacation in Chicago. They had an able titled Prog, so I had no choice but to buy it, and to top it off they did a jazzy cover of Rush's Tom Sawyer. They are probably best known for their covers of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

At any rate, Never Stop consists of 10 original tunes ranging in length from 2 and 1/2 minutes for the final song Super America to the 9 and 1/4 length People Like You. This is definitely one of my favorite albums of 2010, and would probably be in my top 5 for PA purposes if they were included on PA. A must hear for fans of jazz piano.

If you are interested in checking them out, check out the first song from the album The Radio Tower Has A Beating Heart as performed live here.

And just because I love their version of Tom Sawyer, check it out here.

Edited by rushfan4 - February 10 2011 at 16:40

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Posted: February 10 2011 at 17:00

Nymf is the fifth album from Carptree, who are a duo from Sweden consisting of Carl Westholm playing keyboards and Niclas Flinck on vocals. They have used musicians called the No Future Orchestra to play the remaining instruments on their albums. Carptree came to my attention with their 3rd album Man Made Machine, which blew me away and led me back to their self-titled debut and its follow-up Superhero.

I believe that Nymf is referring to the creature on the album cover, however, it could be about the Yankees, or as I like to call them the N.Y. Mother F******. (a shout out goes to my PA Yankee friends. haha). The album consists of 7 songs all at lengths in excess of 5 and 1/2 minutes, except for Between Extremes (Prelude) which is a short prelude into Sunrays with the longest being Dragonfly at over 8 minutes.

Sadly, this is only my second listen to Nymf, as I only recently acquired it. I would say that the Neo-prog label doesn't really apply to them anymore, and that they are more of a crossover/heavy prog band at this point. Carl Westholm is a quality keyboard player who is probably largely unknown within the prog community. There is a bit of an eerie quality to some of the songs on this album. For example, the symphonic part of Dragonfly reminds me a bit of the soundtrack music to an intense scene in a Hollywood horror flick. At any rate, I am really enjoying this second listen. A good quality album. If you are familiar with Carptree and haven't heard this album you should check it out. I'm not sure exactly why, but at times this album reminds me of Matthew Parmenter's Horror Express.

I was hoping to find Dragonfly on YouTube as it is my favorite song on the album, but no luck. But I did find the first song from the album, Kicking and Collecting, so check it out if you are interested in checking them out.

Edited by rushfan4 - February 10 2011 at 17:01

rushfan4

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Posted: November 15 2011 at 15:05

rushfan4 wrote:

I haven't posted anything in here for quite awhile. In an attempt to further enlighten myself as well as to bring additional discussions about new albums that haven't really been discussed I am creating a series of album discussion threads in hopes of bringing these albums additional attention, as well as to try and give both long and short-term PA forum members something different to talk about other than the same 6 or 7 bands that dominate the forums. Anyhow, as a central place for the various discussions I will post the links here.

Astra - The Weirding http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=59071&PN=1

The Wishing Tree - Ostara http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=59948&PID=3326358#3326358

Eureka - Shackleton's Voyage http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=60977&PID=3370008#3370008

Lobster Newberg - Actress http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=61661&PID=3400467#3400467

Knifeworld - Buried Alone: Tales of Crushing Defeat http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=62529&PID=3433550#3433550

Brother Ape - Tubulence http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63402&PID=3471283#3471283

Black Bonzo - The Guillotine Drama http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=64197&PID=3507408#3507408

Shadow Circus - Whispers and Screams http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=64762&PID=3537210#3537210

Roswell Six - Terra Incognita: Beyond The Horizon http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65438&PID=3568221#3568221

From.UZ - Seventh Story http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=66257

I hope that everyone will participate and that I am doing at least a little part to give back to the PA community.

Thanks,

Scott

Well, the urge to try this once again has struck me so check out this new discussion thread:

Fond of Tigers - Continent and Western http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=82773&PID=4349285#4349285

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Posted: November 23 2011 at 09:09

If you get a chance you can checkout my latest attempt to spur a discussion about a lesser known album here:

Leprous-Bilateral http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=82985

I've seen a few collaborators list it in their top 10 albums of 2011 so I know that there are some of you out there that can discuss this album with us.

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Posted: November 13 2013 at 13:22

*cough**cough*. Blows dust off of thread and revisits it. I've not been in a reviewing mood for quite some while, so I am thinking that instead I might "jot down" some thoughts on some new releases as I listen to them for purposes of sharing said thoughts currently as well as with my future self for the occasional revisit.

Anyhow, I will start off this revamped blog with some thoughts on the second release from the Russian band Apple Pie. I was a big fan of their first release Crossroads, which was a beautiful slice of Neo Prog goodness that was right up my alley. I was quite excited when I saw that they had released a follow-up album titled The Gates of Never, and I pretty much immediately downloaded it from eMusic. They had a Neo Prog flavor with prog metal thrown in for good measure on the first album and with this one that sound is still there, but now...with the occasional growls. Angry

They actually aren't too bad and not enough to turn me off from it. Of notable interest, the keyboard player from the first release is gone and the keyboards on this album are played by none other than ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian, which leads me to think that this album might appeal to fans of his era of Dream Theater. Included on the album is the 9 minute opener The Gates of Never, the 24 minute 4-part suite Letters of a Deadman, and the 15 minute closer Strange Feeling Called Love, so this might also appeal to those who like their music of the epic length variety. It is just bass, guitar, and keyboards though, so it is probably not going to appeal to the Henry Cow and Magma set.

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Posted: November 13 2013 at 16:16

Next up we have just a guitar, a bass, and drums and a whole lot of rock on The Aristocrats second album Culture Clash. For fans of Joe Satriani type guitar rock albums, but also Return To Forever if they didn't have Chick. Consists of 9 instrumental/fusion tunes from Guthrie Govan on guitar, Bryan Beller on bass, and Marco Minneman on drums. If the names sound familiar it may be because Guthrie Govan and Marco Minnemann both most recently on Steven Wilson's Raven album.

Edited by rushfan4 - November 13 2013 at 16:17

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Posted: November 19 2013 at 15:54

As of now, my top 50 albums of 2013 according to my ratings on progfreak.com

Edited by rushfan4 - November 19 2013 at 15:55

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Posted: November 20 2013 at 09:52

Sanguine Hum's second album Weight of the World is a nice follow up to their debut album The Diving Bell from 2010. Both have a more song oriented change in direction from their previous band Antique Seeking Nuns. So far, one of my favorite albums of 2013. The kind of album to appeal to fans of the more modern symphonic/neo prog sound. This one, the Comedy of Errors' Fanfare and Fantasy, and Lifesign's self-titled debut make up a trifecta of lesser known bands within this style to compete with Big Big Train, The Flower Kings, and Spock's Beard for top symphonic/neo prog album of 2013.

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Posted: November 20 2013 at 11:25

Glad to see Fromuz at #4.........a real gem under the radar. Each album they make gets better IMHO

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Posted: November 22 2013 at 09:35

^agreed.

Great blog, Rushfan4. I just skimmed it start to finish. Because it came up on today's top sites I didn't pay attention to see that it was started in 2008. Still, an awesome and very indepth insight into your music-loving evolution. Very cool!

I, too, grew up in the Detroit area. I just had a ten-year head start on you so my musical perspectives, history, and tastes have been shaped a little differently than yours. (Ever hear of CKLW-AM? Motown? Soul and R&B? Soul Train? WABX? WRIF? Those were the stations my evenings were passed listening to. Still have a profound soft spot and love of 1970-74 Soul music. But by the time I hit puberty the album rock stations had won me over. Then we moved to Petoskey!! Confused

Thank goodness for the Nederlanders and Castle Farms' summer concerts! Anyway, came down to DTW for many a concert (never in the stadiums, though, always the smaller or outdoor venues like Royal Oak Music Theater [Jan Hammer/Al DiMeola, Rickie Lee jones, Todd Rundgren, etc.) Meadowbrook (Pat Metheny, jean-Luc Ponty, etc.) or The Fox (Neil Young, Vinxx) or some of the old dives that existed for a few years and then died [whose names escape me but where I saw U2, Nina Hagen, doves, Within Temptation).

Anyway, great posts--Got to get you into Zeuhl and more of the avant/RIO and experimental/post Rock groups, though. Try Proghma-C, Ga'an, SKE, and maudlin of The Well's Part The Second if you haven't already. And I will try Presto Ballet.

Drew Fisher
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rushfan4

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Posted: November 22 2013 at 10:04

Cool. Thank you for taking the time to skim through it. I am familiar with just about all of those items. My parents used to listen to CKLW in the car all of the time. I don't remember WABX, but WRIF is still alive and kickin'. I used to listen to it a lot more back in the day, but it is one of the few radio stations that I still listen to from time to time.

I was on vacation at Boyne Mountain a few weeks ago, and spent the one day in Petoskey checking out the lake and the stores in the downtown area. It is a nice little town.

Thank you for the suggestions. maudlin of the well's Part the Second is good. I like that one. I'm not too big on their other stuff that I have heard though. I downloaded that Ga'an album but I haven't listened to it yet. I recently listened to Weidorje for the first time, and quite enjoyed that...so I guess that that is a step in the right direction.

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Posted: November 22 2013 at 10:14

timothy leary wrote:

Glad to see Fromuz at #4.........a real gem under the radar. Each album they make gets better IMHO

I need to give that one another listen soon so that I can jot my thoughts down on it. I quite like their instrumental style on their previous albums. I find this one interesting since it is an instrumental concept album telling a story sort of like classical music of yore. Quite an interesting approach.

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Posted: November 27 2013 at 13:40

Ayreon's Theory Of Everything comes with the classic Ayreon sound. I still need to sit down with the booklet and read along to the music, but I am enjoying the music and the parts of the story I can make out while casually listening. My biggest complaint on this album is that he has decided to make it into 42 separate songs rather than one long song or 9 ten minute songs. Not one of the songs is more than 4 minutes long with most of them under 2 minutes long. Listening to the album on my CD player causes 41 unnecessary pauses with some of them occurring mid-word within the lyrics. I really don't know what he was trying to do here. Not sure if he is trying to make people pay $42 on iTunes in order to purchase every song on the album? At any rate, I like the sound, but I guess I am not thrilled with the production/presentation of it. I will have to update my opinion once I have a chance to sit down with the booklet and listen to it.

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Posted: November 29 2013 at 09:57

Hi,

I've always said that time never was when music was not progressive, and that it is a matter of our own enlightenment, and appreciation for things that are different, and sometimes a bit more pointed and meaningfull than most twerk'ing!

For me, this probably started in Brazil, when radio and the music I was hearing was so different than anything in Portugal, and in that country, specially our house, things were very classical, academic and specially insulated from the outside world! Higher class well educated folks in Europe are like that! When we went to Brazil, dad basically took a massive step to become a bona fide writer, and that puts us in a shack in the state of Sao Paolo, and of course, that puts you in touch with the "street" and "people", something that the family did not like and had aversions to. Dad, was too worried about his writing and literary works, to give a darn about that but he was in a position that prevented him from doing politics and make comments on it, so he stayed away from it for the most part.

So you land in Brazil, in 1959, and then you end up witnessing things like the coup later, and then the very impressive array of music and arts that were against the coup, and exploded. From Maria Betania, to many others and all of a sudden Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the like, it all became a symbol for something that people did not have.

And the music was totally different!

Form me, as I stated before, progressive, has always been tied to life and living and it's artistic side. Most of the work is not just a song in my mind and in many cases they are the most important works composed in the last 70 years! While there are some nice things in a lot of pop music, in the end, I'm not sure that most of it as as valuable or important but creating a line of definition for it, is tough, and I don't want to argue where Brown Sugar or Sympathy for the Devil belong! But one of those songs is meaningless to me!

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Posted: December 04 2013 at 12:01

Currently listening to Turkish band Nemrud's second album Ritual. It is a really enjoyable psychedelic prog album. To a certain extent it brings to mind the sound of Pink Floyd, and more recently, Astra. It is a short album at just over half an hour and consists of 4 tracks; the highlight being the 18 minute long title track, which ends the album. I think that if you found Astra's The Weirding and The Black Chord to your liking, you should give Ritual a listen.

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Posted: December 04 2013 at 14:33

French band Nemo are one of those bands whose sound has a great appeal to me. Barbares was one of my top 5 albums in 2009 and Revolution was a top 10 album in 2011. I have just listened to Le ver Dans Le Fruit for the first time and I think that it too will be a strong contender for one of my top spots. I have only recently acquired downloads of Si parts 1 and 2, and really enjoyed these as well. My only negative with all of these albums is that I do not speak French. Non-English singing tends to be a problem for me. It falls under the "it's me...not you" thing that we hear from girls/women that we like who don't want to go out with us. I have found that this language issue doesn't really bother me as much as it once did, but it is still a problem for me. That said, this is still an excellent album, and I suppose that it may be best that I don't know what they are singing about.