| Dark, Foreboding prog bubbling with strong energy and rich in song writing, musical textures and atmospheres. Drachenblut marks the 5th studio work for Asgard who have been silent for well over 6 years and have re-emerged with this progressive rock beauty. For those who remember the magic of Asgard's remarkable earlier albums will simply adore this one. Although Drachenblut contains Asgard's patented deep medieval prog-like musical imagery, it also explores lots of new space. Musicianship is just exceptional with the highly inventive keyboard tapestries of Alberto Ambrosi , creative driving bass lines of Chris Bianchi d'Espinosa, the intricate and varied guitar expressions of Sergio Ghiotto (ex - Top Left Corner" and the percussive master strokes of Peter Bachmayer. New lead vocalist Ivo Gallo adds a whole new wonderful dimension to the music of Asgard and continues the romantic influences with a slightly harder delivery than his predecessor and a highly expressive voice - a perfect fit! Overall musically one can draw certain allusions to that of "Arena" and "Genesis" with loads of Hackett'esque guitar accents throughout. Without a question Drachenblut will make some noise out there and IMHO I would rank this as one of the best prog albums of 2000 so far... | |||
| Turn up the amplifier to 11 and get ready for a wonderful ride my children…. Pungent Effulgent marks yet another exceptional album full of lovely space vibes from our friends The Ozric Tentacles. "Pungent" is a wonderful mixture of "spaceness" with "ambience" all coiled up in some strange liquid atmpospheres. Once again we are treated to the creative genius of Ed Wynne on the lead guitar and Joie Hinton's rich yet ethereal keyboard work. "Pungent" stands out for me in comparison to many of their other albums offering in contrast a wider range of musical thought and sense of exploration. This is achieved without forgoing the classic Ozric sound or "Gong-like" bizarre split like personality. Truely mind blowing jams which breaks new ground...essential
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| Steve Hillage's debut solo album "Fish Rising" marks on my list as one of the truly greatest progressive rock albums of all time. Hillage has always been on the cutting edge of prog fusion guitar beginning with Arzachel , Khan, Gong and later on his solo ventures. If you have not heard "Solar Musick Suite" then you have not lived (as they say!) which features the soaring and raging psychy guitar of Hillage along with fellow cosmic travelers (incl Dave Stewart) all combining for an epic space trip of a lifetime. Every song is magical with great musical execution and creative design. Songs are given lots for room for great extended jams and mind expanding musical explorations. An essential progressive rock album.
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| Without a question, you must grab a copy of this one kids! Mind bending, mood enhancing, life changing music with loads of wicked space grooves from these Swedish cosmo'nauts. Try to imagine an evening of the Ozrics mixed with Hawkwind and the psychy late 60's west coast music scene and your not far from the truth. This album delivers tons of freaked out guitar solos layered on top of heavy keyboard laden swirling synth textured atmospheres with friendly support of the rhythm sections (drums and hand percussion…) Songs are nice and long with two tracks well over 20 mins and effortlessly explore the unique and diverse regions of your mind. Tempo changes are quite frequent and seem to nicely break up the music, preventing it from becoming too static or repetitive. Cosmic Minds At Play is clearly one of the most progressively psychedelic sound sculptures I have heard in a long long time and is simply killer brain food. | |||
| Gomorrha were one of the classic yet lesser known and referenced German progressive rock bands who recorded this excellent musical statement at their height of their short but prosperous career. "I turned to see whose voice it was" was produced by the legendary German undergound producer Conny Plank. Gomorrha delivers a cross of progressive and acid rock without ever sounding too raunchy or heavy. "I turned to see.." contains some wild and wicked extended jams which carry that heavier underground German analog keyboard driven sound. On this album Gomorrha changed to a english speaking lead vocalist (Peter Otten) who adds a highly distinctive and powerful voice to this wonderful piece of Krautrock. | |||
| After his early days with Procol Harum, guitarist Robin Trower set out on his own to record some solo guitar expressions with "Twice Removed From Yesterday" representing arguably one of his finest contributions to rock. "Twice Removed.." was Trower's debut solo album and featured Reg Isidore (Drums) and James Dewar (Vocals and Bass) who teamed up for a few of his albums over the years. Trower's music is powerful and highly creative full of his simply luscious electric guitar talents. Lovers of guitar-centric albums will love this album through and through blending elements of blues, soul and soft psychedlia. Songs are highly memorable and full of life. Completists will note that this album was produced by Procol's Matthew Fisher as well.
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| Killer Swedish progressive rock with loads of wonderful instrumentation and bushels of mellotron. Sinkadus in many ways actually remind me of Anglagard at times with uniquely shaped song structures and outbursts of deep melodies. This is rich music with some grand song writing and nice deep harmonic structures throughout. Sinkadus are highly talented musicians who deliver some great emotion in thier music. I love the combination of mellotron and flute they combine throughout this album. Vocals are rather sparse, but are well done (sung in Swedish) and explore some great vocal harmonies. "Aurum Nostrum" is esentially 4 nice long songs with many parts throughout. When Sinkadus let it all out together they sound simply amazing and I love the deep enchanting sounds they create. Highly recommended album with full sound.
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| How many times can you brush your teeth in one night? Melting Euphoria's "Beyond The Maybe Machine" is another huge installment in their quest of creating that all important euphoric space psychedelic wall of sound. This is truely stunning music which I have treasured since the first day I heard these space prog heads. Try to imagine some highly tripped out space atmospheres (Guitars, keyboards) juxtaposed against a surreal backdrop (sound effects, vocal and larynx laden) and surrounded by tasty bass and percussion rhythm methods and your getting close to their formula. In many ways I guess you can sort of draw a parallel to a combo of the Ozric Tentacles and Tangerine Dream but these guys really do have their own style of music. This is highly creative music which pushes all boundaries explored even further and in many ways creates delicate glass-like atmospheres of densely artificial yet radiant light. Essential and well worth your hard earned dollars...
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| So you've tuned into the space channel of your mind and you've found a rather interesting place to spend a bit of time called Udu Wudu. Magma's Udu Wudu is a cult prog classic and in honor delivers some attractively wild ethereal musical moments. This album showcases their darker side with grand thumping bass grooves , Christian Vander's percussive skills and Magma's authentically original language known as Kobaian. Udu Wudu contains 6 pieces of music with their signature epic track De Futura which clocks in at around 18 Mins. Overall a dark and grotesque album yet wonderfully progressive and highly original. Without a question, Magma get the old Alien- Space - culture thing going and at times as a listener you find yourself being transported into this unique world of Magma. Overall a splendid album with some grand epic prog moments…an album to treasure. | |||
| Cosmically dreamy ensemble combining experimental classical space influences with that 70's underground German psychedelia. Dreamlab was Mythos' 2nd album, from 1975, and was originally released on Cosmic Couriers. Dreamlab is somewhere between Yath Sidra and Ash Ra Temple with some ethnic percussion carrying a earthy feel throughout. Vocals are in English but are not used all that often (and that is a good thing) as the strength of this music is clearly in the instrumentation. I treat this album as a classic and regard it highly as a tremendous piece of work. Moog and Mellotrons also help create those lush analog atmospheres which when combined with the array of hand drums and electric guitar accents will put you into a permanent Dreamlab
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| Without a question "Bridge Of Sighs" is one of my the all time classic rock guitar lovers special. This is Trower at his best displaying his incredible and varied guitar talents in some of rock's more tasty moments. Title track remains to this day one of my most beloved tracks with sound effects and brilliant guitar phrasing reminiscent of Pink Floyd with a drop of Foreigner's first classic album. Once again Robin is joined by Reg Isidore (drums) and James Dewar (Vocals, bass). | |||
| 2 CD's full of the Flowerkings live...what else can you ask for! CD 1 was recorded at various shows across North America including Prog'est 98 at the D'Auteuil in Quebec City while CD2 is from their tour of Japan in 1999. Considering the various sources you might think that the recording would be patchy , but this is not the case. Songs covered include a nice cross section of previous album material including a real treat in thier coverage of Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway". Songs are very well recorded and capture the real energy and musical magic that surrounds the Flowerkings. | |||
| Now I must tell you that every now and then a real doozie hits my stereo where both my cat and I are literally flattened in our tracks. Cauldron's "The Sanctuary Suite" bubbles over with plenty of psychy progressive moments with heavy (fuzzy) guitar solos, grand spacey keyboard atmospheres, sitar laden moments..all cleverly interwoven. Cauldron is a 2 man show comprised of 2 lads from Sweden's "The Spacious Minds", Jens (Keyboardist) and Arne who contributes the lovely guitar, bass and sitar. "The Sanctuary Suite" is made up of 4 very different yet interrelated songs covering a nice range of moods and atmospheres. But be warned my children, this album will almost certainly drive your friends and family members (including your parental units) away from your residence.. or at least your stereo receiver. I love the wall of sound these guys create and the wide range of instrumentation and clever songs make this album absolutely indispensable in ones collection. | |||
| Christmas is not really the most dynamic name for a progressive rock outfit I will admit but wait until you sink your teeth into this gem from the early '70's. Heritage is a wild combination of heavy 70's prog rock with some folky / psychy interludes. Led by a young yet highly talented lead guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, Bob Bryden (also in Reign Ghost) Heritage offers a nice range of musical forms. At times you would swear this was removed from the late 60's West Coast music scene with the "beach-psych sounds". In comparison, Heritage is overall slighly less psychy than their 1974 classic "Lies To Live By" and offers a more folk-rock based sound. The fine folks at Unidisc have done a wonderful job in restoring and re-recording this classic album. A great little folkie-progressive gem…. | |||
| Although it is often difficult to write and record a follow-up to a classic debut release, but I would suggest that Sinkadus have outdone all expectations here with Cirkus. Like "Aurum Nostrum", Cirkus delivers that deliciously punchy yet intensely mellotron driven headphone experience. Cirkus is made up of 5 long songs which are of the highest calibre in every way...Musicianship is superb, songs are well crafted and the recording is fabulous..what else could you ask for? Sinkadus are for those fans of Anglagard | |||
| Yet another simply 'bong-tastic' spacey-psych release from these mind warping your men from Sweden. Like all Spacious Mind releases, "Organic Mind Solution" explores the depths of space with heavy droned and yet wailing guitar solos layered on top of some glorious keyboard/synth atmospheres. OMS get into some of TSM's most enduring and yet provocatively mind expanding grooves yet. In many ways this is my personal favourite album of theirs revealing my deep love for this spaciously dogmatic and yet poignant music. Far too clever for society.
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| In an attempt to not overuse the word Classic, I must site "Par Les Fils De Mandrin" as a 70's French prog classic and one of their most enduring albums of all time for me. 5th release from Ange successfully revisiting their classic Ange style throughout with dramatic intensity. "Par Les Fils De Mandrin explores a nice wide range of musical aspects from folk-inspired as found in the epic tracks "Hymne à la Vie" to the classic-Ange-sounding track "Au Cafè du Colibri" which could have been lifted off their debut album years earlier. A truely wonderful concept album full of beauty with the real accent of classic Ange.... | |||
| Sometimes pop, psychedelia and prog just mesh together with perfection as it did on "Pet Sounds" and "Sgt Peppers" and in this case The Zombies. "Odessey & Oracle" musically personifies a certain warm "Englishness" in character and contains some of the most wonderfully memorable tracks of all time. The Zombies employ a liberal amount of mellotron which adds a great warmth throughout the album. Rod Argent also adds some tasty little "Procol'ish" hammond organ accents as well. The Zombies are somewhere musically between The Beach Boys, Procol Harum and The Beatles, while sustaining and developing a very unique sound and identity. IMHO one of the stellar aspects of this album rests in the beautiful and captivating vocals of Colin Blunstone who later sings with The Alan Parsons Project. A simply stunning album right through. | |||
| Porcupine Tree front man Steve Wilson continues his convincing pursuit of worldly musical aspirations in Base Communion II. To begin with, let me dispel of any notion that this music in any shape or form acknowledges that of Porcupine Tree. This limited edition 2 CD set explores the surreal soundscapes of quiet life and delivers thought provoking yet contemplative ambient music. In many ways this album reminds me of Robert Fripp's fine soundscape music he explored in the late 90's and in fact appears on a lovely 10 min track on the bonus CD. Wilson delves into a wonderful array of instrumentation including the Japanese Harp, acoustic / electric guitar, keyboards, and captures some simply stunning surreal sound effects and painted atmospheres. Without a question this is quiet chamber mind music which is great when you need that all important big chill out session with your headphones. Songs are generally quite long and explore some wonderful sonic textures easily and convincingly transporting the listener into other worlds…..For those who are looking for some real clever ambient music will likely die for this one | |||
| Ege Bamyasi is one of my personal favorite industrial-psyche beat albums of all time, delivering droned out dreamy cosmic tunes of the highest calibre. One listen and you will be hooked my friends to the infectious grooves that they get into on this album. In particular Jaki Liebezeit's percussive strokes stand out in positive light with a never ending array of ethnic beats. One of my all time favorite Can tunes "Pinch" opens up this album with stunning mix of ethnic beats and cosmic progressive space rock. "Ege Bamyasi" is slightly less bizarre in approach than some of their other recordings, yet still contains all of their patented freaked out attitude. In many ways I get a strong Pink Floyd/ Amon Duul feeling throughout this album depending on whether we are of course in a cosmic moment or fuzzed spaced out jam. Once again in classic Can style we are treated to a royal mix of musical tones and colors throughout. Ege Bamyasi is a treasured album in my collection and seems to be the perfect Sunday morning musical treat. | |||
| Take Spock's Beard, The FlowerKings, Marillion and add the drum clinic of Mike Portnoy (Dream Theatre) all together and you have Transatlantic. SMPT:E is a superb album full of energy and creativity with some smashing musical moments. They even pull off Procol Harum's classic "In Held (Twas) In I" from "Shine On Brightly" which has always been one of my fav's...of course nothing can replace the original, but these lads do a great rendition. Roine Stolt adds some lovely guitar and mellotron work which always make my heart go giggy-up. Mike Portnoy's drums are excellent as you would expect and sounds superb against Trewavas' comanding bass lines. Neal Morse as always brings some tremendous energy and quality to the album. Opening track is a 30 min epic "All Of The Above" which covers a wide spectrum and is a great way to kick off the album.
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| Without a question "Erpland" would be perhaps in my opinion the mighty Ozrics greatest moment of all. Erpland resonates with sheer world brilliance and offers a wonderfully complete album full of space induced -Eastern musical ideologies. Like all Ozric albums, the lads get into some pretty heavy mind blowing jams with heavy emphasis on electronics and guitar /bass driven grooves. "Erpland" offers a wonderful mix of space fusion and softer more atmospheric parts carrying still a strong improvisational aspect to their music...brilliant stuff
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| Electronic symphonia of the highest magnitude requiring your amplifiers to be turned up to 11! Eno Moebius Roedeilus are an offshoot of "Cluster" adding the talents of Brian Eno to their spacey richness. Essentially a mostly instrumental keyboard driven space exploration with some grand melodies and themes. This album was engineered and recorded in Conny Plank's studio so you know it going be interesting. Fans of electronica will drool over this album from start to finish and in my opinion is one of my top electronic albums to emerge from the 70's. Holger Czukay (Can) also adds some bass grooves on one of the album's standout tracks "Tzima N'arki". Although this is an electronic album I find the sounds very warm and very "un-digital" sounding. Superb music.. | |||
| " I had a dream to try to combine Western and Indian music into a new form, a music which has no particular name but is melodious and touching and which combines the most modern electronic devices with the old traditional instrument..the Sitar!." writes Ananda Shankar (son of Ravi) back in 1970. Like his father, Ananda was classically trained in India and is a master of the sitar. Drawing on his combined knowledge and Ragas of passion, Ananda's debut album is an outstanding juxtaposition of musical genres...Psychedelia, Progressive Rock, Chamber Music, India Accents and even Pop influences. On this album Ananda re-interprets "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire" which may sound a bit cheesey at first glace, but one listen and you will be hooked! Ananda's sitar is combined with electric bass, Drums, tabla, guitar, moog synths and a host of analog keyboards providing the listener with a great range of musical forms. Overall this album is just too cool and you won't believe some of Ananda's sitar incredible fingering speed. Standout track is the 7 minute "Sagar (The Ocean)" which highlites a mezmorizing Tabla, Sitar and drum solo of the highest order. An essential album of eclectic world progressive rock. | |||
