PROG RELATED

The opening track "Good Morning Judge" is not very special, but the following three ? "The Things We Do for Love" (the wonderful hit single, a classic), "Marriage Bureau Rendezvous" and "People in Love" ? are all pure gold. "Modern Man Blues" is very different, more rocking, less harmonious, but its rhythmic changes stay within the limits of good taste. The lyrics of "Honeymoon With B Troop" turn annoying now and then but the music is very good. It is followed by a hilarious piece called "I Bought a Flat Guitar Tutor", a more ordinary (but still good) number titled "You've Got a Cold", and finally the magnum opus of the album, "Feel the Benefit" which sure is overlengthy, but sounds good enough to carry the listener through all the way.

Despite not having heard each of those so far, I am very sure that Deceptive Bends is one of he best 10cc albums in my opinion. The quality of the music on this album is very high. Recommended for everyone who likes Breakfast in America, A New World Record, or Band on the Run. It also helps if you like "I'm Not in Love." Stay away if you are looking for a '70s British Mothers of Invention album. At this point that band no longer existed. If you play this you will feel the benefits. 5.0

Are there any problems with this collection? Well, I guess you could claim that 'TVC15' goes on for a little too long (though it features a splendid little bass solo by George Murray) and the same probably goes for 'The Jean Genie', the final number... (And if I have to be perfectly honest, I should add I could never stand 'Rebel Rebel'.) But let's be grateful for what we've got! Was Bowie still in the throes of addiction when this was recorded? If so, you just can't tell; he sounds like a man who's fully in his element.

Though the sound will please most of older Queen fans, I think the material is weaker than on the previous 2 albums because of unusually high amount of filler. No denying the band was having fun but almost all of the 4- mark compositions were OK in the album's context but can't stand on their own (Party, Khashoggis ship, Scandal, My baby does me, Hang on there). These have their moments but ultimately feel either undeveloped or are overall not memorable. On the other end of the spectrum, we're faced with 3 incredibly strong compositions, crown jewels. "The miracle" has a fantastic melody, soothing chorus, moments of tension. Guitar solo is delicate and melancholic at the same time. The semi-hard-rock outro is ingeniously arranged if not very inventively played by May.

"I want it all" is another gem, a direct punched rocker. The studio version contains additional very 80's riffing. The mid section starting with the vocal tandem of May/Mercury invites into hard-rocking and then heavy metal territory. If you search of an anthem on this album, this is it.

The last standout is "Breakthrough", though more conventional in its composition, the muscular rhythm and Mercury section take the spotlight. Pay attention to the bass solo followed by the traditional guitar work.

Further tracks worth noting is the dance-friendly "The Invisible man" and the slightly epic "Was it all worth it" with sparse progressive elements in the structure and rhythmic parts. The most ambitious track, could be considered a premature "Innuendo".

Queen did an excellent job by tackling multiple (and some new) styles on this record. Not all exercises had a winning formula but fortunately, there are a couple of excellent tracks.

David Gilmour is ultimately the only one of Gilmour's studio releases that I find particularly satisfying, not because it adheres more closely to 70's hard rock orthodoxy but because it offers what is easily Gilmour's strongest set of melodies. "There's No Way out of Here" and "I Can't Breathe Anymore" are vocal-based pieces that nicely anticipate the bands more song-based approach of The Wall, while "It's Deafinitely" (the proggiest thing here) is an engaging instrumental whose guitar/synth interplay favorably recalls Steve Hackett's solo work of the same period. In fact, there isn't a single track here that I'd label as sub-par, even if dreamier cuts like "Mihalis" and "Short and Sweet" merely float by without leaving much of an impression.

A very good release that every Pink Floyd fan should look to acquire. Fans of classic hard rock who were never particularly keen on Floyd's spacey progressive style may also be interested in this record as a relatively accessible entry point into the band's greater corpus of work. 4.5

Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen announced a couple of months ago that she will be releasing a new album entitled 'La vie, la mort, l'amour', a collection of quite personal songs she wrote after her parents' passing, finding inspiration from the ones she loves, in a surely not-so-easy mourning period. However, that full-length album will be divided in three parts, three different EPs in which she will be dropping some of the songs, being 'La vie' the first one, already released in February 2025.

Here, she has shared the first four songs of that upcoming album, and as I expected, we can find here personal and intimate lyrics with strong and touching music that can move anyone, of course, the power of her voice is always a lethal tool. 'La vie' features four tracks that make a total time of 18 minutes.

The first one is a beauty named 'One More Nanosecond', gives me chills, because I think we all have been there, wishing to spend more time with our loved ones, dying to give everything to see them again, and keeping our precious memories. Anneke has an impressive sensitivity to transmit emotions with her voice, we know that since her times at The Gathering, and though time has passed, her voice and her power remain intact. Here she offers a kind of alternative pop rock song, with a catchy sound and a chorus we all might learn and sing. Of course, there is an explosion in this song where all the emotions are spread by the artist and taken by us, the listeners. Love this song.

'When I Die' starts with some programmed drums that reminded me of a popular Phil Collins' song haha, but well, here she openly speaks about death and what happens when you are gone, or at least what you imagine it will happen. It is common that we find moments of introspection when a person we love transcends, and in some cases, moments of creativity and inspiration. This is a nice song that has a soft sound, calm and melancholic for the first three minutes, then it explodes and becomes a bit heavier, the rock element is more evident and, of course, her voice and all the emotions are spread.

Art is love, and we are made of love, Anneke is not an exception and a clear example of it is 'More than a Thousand Words', a pop song that comes from the bottom of her heart and that speaks about how well we know our people, that we are capable of knowing how they are by looking at their eyes, nothing more. Besides the "normal" instruments, here we can also find violin and winds, which made the experience richer.

The last track of this EP is 'Heal me', and I love it because in a mourning period it is normal to feel trapped in darkness, and normal to look for help in order to feel better. Yeah, death, just like life, has a seesaw of emotions and we must embrace them, then, relief will find us sooner than later.

Anneke and her voice will always touch me, and I am grateful for that. Now, let's wait for the upcoming bunch of songs, the upcoming EP.

The first really eclectic almost ingenious track is a short "The Fairy Fellers Master-Stroke" with incredibly rich vocals, songwriting surprises and a masterful melody reminding me of classical music and it could have been connected to the following "Nevermore".

The flagship on this album is depicted in the "March of the black queen". It used to be my favourite album track but in the course of years I think it is not as creative as some other tracks here because it merely combines typical Queen licks like melodic guitar soloing, bombastic moments and crescendos. Either you've heard them before or you'll hear them on following Queen albums recycled (Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen etc.). Despite that, it can be considered the first Queen mini-opera.

The last tracks are of average quality but won't bite you.

"Great king rat" has a march-like rhythm, quite a basic fundamental melody. The track is quite long and dominated by the guitar which plays quite refreshing licks. Mercury shows off his compositional skills, ornate singing and piano support on"My fairy king" which hints at their majestic mid 70's period. Taylor has provided his highly-pitched vocal well suitable for heavy metal however it's with "Liar" where his drumming becomes remarkable, I like his hi-hat work and sound here. Besides, he applies quite various beats throughout this lengthy song greatly supported by raw sounding May's guitar. "The night comes down" is a curious subdued guitar starting track which first sounds like an instrumental jam. The track is superbly constructed, one of its motives could classify it as the first potential Queen anthem.

Taylor unleashes his power on his penned "Modern times rock'n'roll" that could compete with any heavy metal output back then in terms of intensity. His vocal is distinguishable and yet emotional. Considering its lack of good melody, it still remains arguably the least memorable track here. The generic "Son and daughter" fares slightly better. I like guitar effects and vocal harmonies better than the generic riff motive.

"Jesus" is noteworthy for its lyrics, walking bridge and guitar madness in the second half of the song.

Overall this is a great rocking debut with a potential for more diversity and very little to be found for proggers.

The album does an about face and features live performances of the next 7 songs, which is a treat as the acoustic Fairport was always more impressive live and the following songs are all the better for it. Excellently recorded and mixed, the standout songs are old throwbacks "Crazy Man Michael", "The Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter", another nod back to the early days with a great version of "Genesis Hall" (The Richard Thompson penned classic), and a wonderful version of Ralph McTell's "The Hiring Fair".

It would be another ten years before the band would produce albums as good as Jewel In The Crown and Old. New. Borrowed. Blue., but at least Fairport Convention left us two exceptional albums to hold us until then.