| For those who know me well, then you are aware of my love and devotion to this top notch progressive rock act. In my opinion Asgard have released four of the best prog CD I have heard in years and remain to this day on my top play list. Arkana is a great example of their incredible musical talent delivering many varied mood and tempo swings. The remarkable thing about Asgard is their similarity to both early Genesis and Fish-era Marillion without ever sounding contrived or borrowed. Their music is fresh and invigorating with many challenging musical passages to simply amaze the listener. This is the classic Asgard line up with some of the greatest progressive rock I have ever heard. Asgard are tremendous musicians and all you need to do is listen to hear their talents. Alberto Ambrosi is a dear friend of mine and also one of the great prog keyboardists around. Vocals are effortlessly handled by Kikko Grosso who has one of the all time great rock-opera vocals....simply put his talents extend beyond words... | |||
| If you love the old "Space Tripp?in" thing then Ash Ra Tempel is just the thing the Doctor ordered. Ash Ra Tempel?s 1st album is a classic in the genre of Space Rock led by guitarist Manuel Gottsching and a very young Klaus Schulze (percussion and electronics). Their 1st album really has a split personality and offers 2 very different landscapes for the listener from the chaos of the first 20 Mins epic "Amboss" (Anvil) to the tranquil "Traummaschine" (Dream Machine) which both seem to be born from the same cosmic voyage. Amboss is a heavy cosmic acid space journey which seems to draw the listener effortlessly into the wake of the Tempel. Along the way you are surrounded by Gottsching?s crazy guitar playing and Schulze?s frantic drumming and electronic smogasbourg. Track 2 (25 mins) is much less frantic and seems to by opposition draw the listener back inside the Temple but this time into a very different region. Traummaschine relies much heavier here on the electronic meditation and instead builds into a very deep and slow space climax which seems very soothing and will send you off into another dimension. Overall this is a superior reproduction and sound is very well preserved considering the age offering nice speaker separation throughout. This is a great recording to sit back and put on the old headphones. Highly Recommended . | |||
| Ragnarok's first release is an all time folk -prog classic and must be heard. Ragnarok blend elements from Meddle Era Floyd, with touches of Jethro Tull, Focus and Camel. Their first release was all instrumental and offers loads of acoustic guitar (aka. Seamus), flute and keyboards with amazing musicianship. This album has always given me a feeling of solitude for some reason and is a great piece of music to reflect on life with. This re-release is very well transfered and I am amazed at the sound clarity. Songs are not long or epic in nature but seem to instead flow with cascading perfection short piece by short piece. Many passages are slow and deeply forboding in structure conjuring memories of the most tranquil/spacey Pink Floyd. Ragnarok never get too loud and instead work on surrounding the listener with multi - layered quiet prog lanscapes to deal with. Essential stuff! | |||
| In my opinion the best of Bo Hansson's albums, and one of the all time great progressive rock instrumental recordings that still holds up on repeated listenings. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy provide the inspiration for a series of strange, other - worldly tracks that transcend their source material. Hansson's keyboard playing is quite unlike the work of such rivals as Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman, less heavy and "gothic" and more oriented toward jazz. His guitar work as is flashy and aggressive as his keyboards ("The Black Riders / Flight to the Ford" is a great showcase for both), and the backing by sax, flute, and drums creates an overall rich sonic palette. | |||
| PFM fans will love this 2 CD set featuring many of their beloved melodies for the 70's. Many songs are nicely improvised on giving a pure progressive live feel to the recordings. I love the cross section of tunes they plopped on here (21st Century Schzoid Man to Passpartu). A few tracks do show thier age a bit but do not sound tired for your ears. Many magical moments are preserved here for your enjoyment with the extended jam on "Alta Loma 5 Till 9" being perhaps my fav. Moog/Mellotron passages carry throughout the live album and make this a highly acclaimed recording. Italian prog heads will love this and need to own it. | |||
| Fans of the classic Italian Prog era will drool over this cd re-release. QVL were one of Italy?s pioneering prog acts who release 2 classic albums of which Il Tempo Della Gioia is my personal favorite. QVL blend the harmonics of PFM with the gentleness of Celeste , but rely heavier on the violin throughout and less on the mellotron. There are some absolutely brilliant musical moments which must be heard to really appreciate. Truely one of the all time greatest Italian prg masterpieces. Essential
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| For those who do not know Echolyn's music let me try to entice you by reviewing one of my favourites "Suffocating The Bloom". Blend the comlex song strucutues of Gentle Giant with Happy The Man's syncopation and you are not far off of Echolyn. This cd is full of surprises and hidden magical musical passages that will surely please all prog heads. "Suffocating" delivers classic Echolyn with major tempo and mood swings offering a variety of short and long tracks throughout. Songs mostly tie together encapsulating another mind twisting concept album. There is not a moment wasted here as the listener is forced into active listening being challenged by the solid musical workout (better than Jane Fonda!!!). This music will hold your attention and probably require many listens before it is totally internalized and interpreted by your brain. This is an essential prog recording to adorn your collection. This is a highly treasured recording by Echolyn heads and is considered by many to be their best release. | |||
| For those who dig major swings in tempo and heavy jazz-like (aka Gentle Giant) structures and syncopation throughout their music will love A Triggering Myth. This 2 man outfit performs music to be categorized somewhere in the classical-jazz-prog school of thought. I have always loved this CD especially the 21 minute MYTHS which I think would convert all prog heads to ATM fans. ATM rely very heavily on keyboards, but add a nice variety of others (trumpets, oboe, guitar, drums). Songs are very well crafted and musicanship as you would expect is very high (some incredible keyboard and guitar work). This is precision prog which has a very warm feel to it throughout full of surprises and complexity. | |||
| For years I have been a big Galahad fan fiinding these guys to be one of the most originals of the neo-prog movement. Following Ghosts is a real charmer and will please all prog heads I am sure. Every song here is well crafted and offers very solid musicanship. Galahad never get to "synthy" sounding and this time around build in 2 epic trancks (over 12 mins long). Lead singer Stuart Nicholson sounds his best yet and I still think he would have also have been a nice addition to Marillion (not that Hogarth isnt!). This is the best neo-prog I have heard in a while and I would strongly recommend this CD to fans of Progressive Rock. | |||
| Bill Laswell supporters may be a little shocked after hearing this tranquil masterpiece. Now talk about a musical dichotomy in going from the heavy groove - trailblazing guitar driven music of PRAXIS to an almost New-age landscaped musical direction. Buckethead delivers none of his famous schizophrenic guitar like images but instead focuses on creating serene hynoptic-almost like atmospheres which are supported by a cast of "Laswellian" musicians. I knew before picking this one up that it was a real departure from the Buckethead of PRAXIS,but I had heard too many good things to pass it up. This is one of those real sweet recordings which have some great grooves and atmospheres. I have been hooked on this CD big time and love many of the tracks. The more you listen to his quiet guitar at play the more you hear his technical capabilities. It is really a great listen and has really surpassed my expectations. I would recommend this CD to anyone who wants a real departure in their progressive rock collection and is willing to mix funk , new age and progressive rock. | |||
| Yet another Conny Plank recording/engineering project from the early '70's. Jane were krautrock at its finest mixing heavy guitar and organ soaked passages with the "great vocals" of Bernd Pulst. This is certainly heavy German prog which may not appeal to all prog rock fans. I love the dark grooves they get into and the underground feeling the cd delivers. Acid guitar permeates throughout the album in an almost "Hendrixy" fashion. This album is less symphonic than other Jane releases and one is quite a solid workout. I happen to love this album and the deep the dark depth Jane reaches...this is classic Krautrock. | |||
| Recorded live in Montreal at their last concert on the 1984 tour. Here we are treated to an awesomely recorded live show which contains many of their classic tracks. The CD also captures some of the audience dialogue which I find rather amusing and helps give a nice live feel to the music. Songs are also extended slighly and some improvisation (which they were so famous for live) is added. I love the version of RED on this cd and think it is the best they ever performed!. It is simply worth the price of admission for this song alone. Cim heads will need to own this live cd package. CD packaging is also quite excellent and the booklet contains lots of goodies for late night reading. | |||
| I have had this sweet collection in my stack for a few years now and enjoy the voyage each time. This sampler contains some exceptional "head -music" with bands such as Porcupine Tree, Omnia Opera and Mandragora. When I bought this a few years ago it was very well priced! This cd package opened the door for me in terms of discovering many of Delerium's delights. Most of the music is heavily psychedelic influenced and ranges from sounds of the 70's to the 90's. Music traits include hypnotic passages and spacey trip like landscapes...this is a great CD package to put on Sunday mornings to have with your crumpets and tea....... | |||
| For those who love romantic cascading Italian prog with a touch of folk influence will have to own this recording. Adriano Monteduro blend the softer aspects of PFM with the likeness of Le Orme, but do not clone. For the most part this is an authentic acoustic journey with Adriano playing mostly acoustic guitars throughout. Keyboards help heavily landscape this recording and are all supported by the soft and captivating vocals of Enrique Topel. This is beautiful Italian prog and is one of my all time favorites. | |||
| Grotesquely underrated masterpiece from King Crimson which in my opinion takes the best elements from their previous 2 albums mixing the lyrical style of "Poseidon", and the orchestration and improv found on "Lizard". I have always been amazed at Islands profound musical extentions and emphasis on experimentation with its extended compositions. Critics harsh opinins on Islands seem to be mostly focused on the poor and inadequate lead singing of Boz Burrel (Bad Company). In contrast my opinion is that Boz is more than adequate and offers a nice change from Mr. Wetton and actually gives Islands a different feel and identity than previous albums. Islands emphasizes its creators brilliance (Robert Fripp & Peter Sinfield) who were a very creative and "progressive" duo as demonstrated here. King Crimson here rely heavily on classical instrumentation without ever getting too dominant. Guest musicians bring a nice musical influence with Piano, vocal soprano, oboe, Cornet and string bass. This album also shows Fripp's Mellotron playing at it's best, along with his arrangement and composition skills. The standout for me is Fripp's use of the Mellotron (not to mention the 'ol guitar work). All in all this is a great recording and for me stands out as a great contribution to the wonderful world of progressive rock. | |||
| Museo Rosenbach's Zarathustra is without a question one of my all time fav Ital-prog albums...and why not. Zarathustra is a Nietzsche'ian influenced album surrounded by loads of excellent guitar and keyboard work. Museo Rosenbach blend organ (hammond and farfisa) with Mellotron overdosed passages. The guitar , bass and drum work on the album is also very well done. Vocals are strong and sung of course in Italian. If you are lucky enough to pick up the CD remastered version in Vinyl -like gatefold from Italy's BMG label you will be amazed with the sound and packaging. This is very powerful progressive rock and is essential in your collection. | |||
| Although not the most publically adored PFM recording, it does remain on my frequent play list. "Passpartù" is overall much less symphonc that their earlier masterpieces (lyrics by pop songwriter Gianfranco Manfredi), but does still offer some radical listening enjoyment. "Passpartù" is heavily rooted in the Jazz/European league but does still retain the classic PFM sound. Highlight for me is the symphonic track "Se Fossi Cosa" which does very much sound like classic PFM. During the recording of "Passpartù" PFM were going though some personnel changes adding here many non-PFM traditional instruments like the sax, congas, cello, triangle etc......no wonder the album has very different feel to it. After this album Lanzetti would leave the group to pursue a solo career, while enter the formation the violinist Lucio Fabbri. I find "Passpartù" to be a very fun and upbeat album with some very creative musical passages and it is unfortunate that others have turned up their noses so quickly at this album.......a great discovery really. | |||
| A solid classical progressive rock band with solid musicianship. Quidam blend sweet vocals, seering flutes and complex drums with great guitar/bass interplay. Sny Aniolow reaches out into all directions and certainly does not sound very neo-proggy as synths are used to create lush soundscapes and not lead the tunes. I have rather enjoyed this CD and recommend it to all progressive lovers. | |||
| Collectors of this fine German progressive band will need to invest to have this 2 CD package which is not a "All My Best Of" so don't panic. This 2 CD package is really a documentary on Grobschnitt and is a collaboration of unreleased Grobschnitt songs and version many of which are live. Highlight for me is the completely different verion of Solar Music (37 mins long!!) which is quite awesome and does not compromise their live masterpiece. Also an incredible version of Space Rider Live in which Eroc and Lupo's brilliance are displayed. The Grobschnitt Story is well packaged with a nifty little book full of pictures for you to share with your friends and family. Songs are well recorded and although the tracks are all over the map it plays well from start to finish. If you understand German you will get more out of the interview sessions (a few short ones scattered throughout) but for the most part this is Grobschnitt in the raw. After listening to these live cuts one can not be anything but amazed at Grobschnitt's pure energy and incredible musicansdhip on stage. Highly recommended to all Grobschnitt fans and not a bad place to start for those who are not familiar with them. | |||
| Usually tribute bands/albums do not do a lot for me (although I do own a few!), but Tales From Yesterday is well worth the journey. This is a collection of modern Prog acts recreating the memorable music of YES. Highlight for me is easily the Steve Howe/Annie Haslam version of Turn Of The Century which is overwhelmingly beautiful and haunting. It is worth the price of admission alone!!. Robert Berry does an excellent new version of Roundabout which is really a different interpretation of the original. Other acts contributing to this release are Steve Morse, Megellan, World Trade, Cairo, Enchant and Peter Banks to name some of the better known bands. This is not essential prog, but is a well done collection of Yes' music and if you can get it reasonably priced it is worth the purshase. | |||
| Loud, choppy, punchy and very tasty all the way 'round. For those who love The Liquid Tension Experiment and Spock's Beard will drool over Platypus. Platypus is Rod Morgenstein on Drums (Dixie Dregs), Ty Tabor on Guitars & Vocals (King X), Derek Sherinian on Keyboards (Dream Theatre) and John Myung on Bass (Dream Theatre). Platypus is driving somewhere between the Progressive and Classic Rock genre without ever sounding "Prog-metallish" or overcooked. The Music is very well composed and offers both soft and loud moments with many wild, wicked and complex guitar breakouts , drumming frenzies and keyboard runs. In many ways this has a strong affinity to the music of the Dixie Dregs with perhaps a harder edge. Platypus is enormous, bold and true sounding offering some incredible and tenacious musical interludes.
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| August marks the debut release for this Canadian keyboard talent, delivering some real sweet captivating symphonic prog. Baird is a highly skilled multi instrumentalist who plays a very mature and sophisticated music through and through. August opens with a highly memorable symphonic prelude which is richly and delicately permeated with acoustic guitar, flute and lush keyboards. Vocals are handled by Susan Fraser who brings a rich fullness to Barid's music. August is actually very atmospheric and would make the perfect addition to your Lava Lamp and jade plant. August's instrumental inventory includes acoustic piano, synths, classical guitar, steelstring guitar, penny whistle, recorder, trumpet, drums and percussion. Lovers of symphonic electronic progressive rock will deeply love this album which blends elements of Vangelis, Rick Wakeman, Tangerine Dream, Mike Oldfield and CODA. August is beautiful music that must be heard to be really appreciated…………. | |||
| Several years ago I was introduced to Radiohead's debut album and thought they were excellent. OK Computer marks a big bold step for Radiohead blending all of the right elements into a magnificent work of art. Ok Computer draws on elements from Pink Floyd to Porcupine Tree to U2 all wrapped in a 90's psychedelia. Songs are all well written and offer some real memorable melodies and extended spacey interludes. At times the vocals are kindly distorted, the instruments warped and juxtaposed with sound effects giving the listener a wild contrast of sounds to interpret. Songs are generally very melodic and slow with some nice loud breaks in the mood to keep you on our toes. Radiohead are a very talented band which offer some great guitar, bass, keyboard and percussion throughout. Ok Computer marks Radiohead's most creative and sophisticated piece of work to date and is a real winner…..This is a must have album and is highly recommended to those who love a bit space in their lives. Around the edges this album is similar stylistically to Porcupine Tree. | |||
| For those who do not know Procol's music may I suggest this is a great place to begin. Procol's first album is what I would consider a masterpiece containing some of their best tracks. As you would expect this album is full of grand keyboard work , wicked guitar , excellent song writing and those famous quirky little lyrics. Procol Harum's music always has managed to bring out a high degree of nostalgia in my heart and they have managed to write some of the most memorable songs of all time. This is an essential recording and I would recommend it to all those out who need some classic prog music. For the Procol completists out there, you can find this CD re-mastered with loads of bonus tracks. | |||
