| Nick Drake's music has become something of a mystery and is today idolized by millions around the world. In his wake we were left with 3 recordings of which Pink Moon was his last offering. Essentially Pink Moon is the seriously emotive singer songwriter with his acoustic guitar and expressive lyrics. I actually consider Pink Moon to be the compendium to Ray Harper's classic "Lifemask". The progressive flare I guess lands in his elaborate use of lyrics and exploratory themes and acoustically distills into symphonic folk rock. A very short but holistic album full of great conceptual songwriting and a very different feel. (soft but intense)
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| Montreal's Hrsta (pronounced "hursh-tah") is Mike Moya, founding member of Godspeed You Black Emperor! as well as a member of Set Fire To Flames. Instrumentally , Moya does it all with a shopping list of credits including guitar, tape loops, organ, bowed desk, melodica, organ, kazoo, and vocals. Moya is helped out by fellow musical pals Bruce Cawdron (godspeed you black emperor/set fire to flames) on drums, bowed cymbals, and idiophones; Norsola Johnson (godspeed you black emperor/molasses) on cello; Scott Chernoff (molasses) on acoustic guitar; and Fluffy Erskine (molasses) on saw, and bowed cymbals. Musically this is pure magic…somewhere in the Pink Floyd meets Radiohead school. Hrsta blend lustre-perfect hypnotic drones with layers of haunting melodies all in a psychedlia wrap. Musically these guys never really get too excited and stay pretty well in their dark foreboding melodic camp. One of the most intriguing aspects of this album are the use of vocals which really work to help find shape to this album. A great recording which is perfect for those nights when you need to veg.
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| After playing in the Italian art pop band "Showmen 2", James Senese and Franco Del Prete formed what would become one of the most intriguing and unique bands of the early 70's. Centered around a fusion rock core, Napoli Centrale's debut album convincingly combined Jazz and progressive rock. Once again this album defies simple categorization, but the music is highly exploratory and very progressive in approach. Kind of a mix of National Health with Gentle Giant , Herbie Hancock and a good dose of Weather Report. Instrumentally these guys love to groove with lots of sax, fender electric piano, bass and drums. Vocals are not central but are well done and sung in native Italian…..kind of a nice full soulful voice. I know that today their music back catalogue is in demand as folk are re-discovering this band's early creativity. I would highly recommend this album to any progressive rock fan who likes the Cantebury or jazz prog side of this genre. | |||
| In the late 60's Herbie Hancock while working with Miles Davis became absorbed and totally influenced by Davis' musical free-forms and modal challenges. In the early 70's, Hancock formed a sextet to pursue his own concepts. From 1969 on, Hancock made extensive use of the electronic keyboards, which dramatically changed not only his style but also sound. The "Mwandishi- era" of Hancock is certainly my fav and in many ways fits in the same bill as those classic 70's fusion days of Davis and Co. This classic album actually sounds like in many ways the dark fusion aspects of King Crimson with of course a stronger Jazz influence. It is actually unbelievable how Hancock evokes the inner depths of space on these recordings with careful and skillful use of electronic keyboards. If you are looking for the ultimate space jazz rock journey then please climb inside the Mwandishi capsule. Essential music and arguably the most progressive Jazz era ever recorded. | |||
| Tribute were a Swedish progressive band who recorded 2 very sweet studio albums in the mid 80's which featured GONG's Pierre Moerlen. "New Views" was their first album which features the most amazing 22 Mins epic track "New Views". This track alone makes the album well worth the price…..gentle Genesis-like 8 mins acoustic guitar intro with building symphonic keyboard passages and great melodic mid section instrumental interplay before the majestic and energized conclusion. This album is all instrumental with emphasis on the keyboards giving off a symphonic fusion world of colors and with the guitar accents really reminds me at times of Camel, Alan Parsons, ELOY and even The ENID. I must warn you that Tribute's music is very easy going and takes you along for the ride without introducing cluttered and/or unnecessary complex time signature changes or mood swings. The focus of the music is definitely pro-melody with some real grand musical moments. In other words no real surprises here and a bit along the contemporary commercial side of things which is not as this proves always a bad thing my friends. Overall a great album and one of those albums progressive music fans will be grateful for owning in their collection…..and one that Mom will love as well…… | |||
| Breaking Barriers was Tribute's second release and continued their exploration into commercial symphonic progressive space rock. This album has stronger electric guitar presence and a couple of vocal tracks, but manages to sustain their positive musical explorations. The vocal harmonies are truly majestic with compelling voices used throughout. The great thing about this album is that they did not try to carbon copy the first and really gave way to some new leanings and genuine progression to follow thru on. On this album Tribute also dig more into the world music envelope with an African ditty (featuring Amadu Jarr on the African percussion) and a Scotish Celtic influenced track. Overall a great album full of excellent musicianship and expressive positive song writing. | |||
| Now this is a totally amazing box set...imagine following Steve Hackett and his band of merry men as they trek thru the 70's , 80's and 90's!. This box set contains 3 of Steve's personal most memorable shows. The first 2 CD's are devoted to a complete show from 1978 at Hammersmith Odeon drawing on material from Spectral Mornings, Please Don't Touch , Voyage Of The Acolyte and even some small Genesis ditties. Overall the recording is quite sweet considering the age of the archive and was nicely preserved in its entirity, complete with all cheering and encores...basically untouched in its beautiful entirity. Next step is the dark ages of the 80's with an absolute ripper of an evening in Rome Italy. This 3rd CD draws more from Defector and Cured with drumming by Marillion's Ian Mosely. Once again Steve's guitar and band sound stunning...My only negative comment is the lack lustre recording on this 80's show..although not badly recorded it does sound slighly less full than the other CD's....The 4th CD is from London's Grand Theatre in 1993 featuring the music and tour of Guitar Noir (which I was able to see in Toronto a few years back now!). This is a superbly well recorded live show which captures some of Steve's most wonderful guitar playing and singing you will hear. Being a huge Hackett fan, I also picked up the 5th CD (not offered in the box set) which also covers 2 shows from the 70's (Steve's favourite excepts). Overall a great box set and it also comes with a little book full of wonderful pictures and nive penmanship of our artist in question...ladies and gentlemen ...Steve Hackett..... | |||
| Progressively dark and foreboding, Porcupine Tree's "Metonia" easily takes the listener into deep space where we encounter a strange new vastness of instrumental wizardry and improvised jams. "Metonia" is essentially several unused improvisational jams from the "Signify" album which up until now have been unavailable to us. Although a series of studio experiments, this album provides a real meaty excursion into the the musical genius of Steve Wilson and company. Songs vary in length and we are treated to a few 4 mins tracks and couple of epics as well. For those who love the space jam thing will need to have this album without hesitation. Most of the songs follow a similar format in C. Maitland and C. Edwin establishing the flow while Wilson and Barbieri overlay some stunning guitar and keyboard atmospheres. Of course a few Spinal Tap moments are tossed in for good luck including a very funny final track where we are joined by the band at some restaurant in Italy where the menu selection is in question...I love the sticker on the outside of the album which tells us to "file this album under self-indulgent". Overall a brilliant album with some very creative moments. | |||
| You know, one thing you can never really have enough of is the music of Frank Zappa..of course he is an acquired taste. "Over-nite Sensation" marks Frank's 7th official recording, and followed his classic album "Hot Rats". "Over-nite" is a wonderful album with some incredible instrumentation and complex song writing. Time signatures and moods are chopped up throughout working in vintage Zappa style. Jean Luc Ponty adds his distinctive violin aspects to the music while the "Mothers" fill in the rest and of yes of course loads of Zappa's crazed lyrics and excellent screaming guitar solos. This album really marked for Frank his first in a series of rock-jazz-horn-reed based albums and really helped set the stage for his later released. A great album | |||
| Another excellent album full of their existential Morricone-esque soundscapes and tonal hypnotic themes. Godspeed work in completely their own musical space where we hear desolate guitar twang, echoey dobro slide, sweetly mournful violin and cello, and an astonishingly patient rhythm section. F# A# [Infinity] is essentially 3 wild and long tracks with a full barrage of musical allusions captuing that temporal nebula we all stive to find in music (we do don't we ?). Even some nice bagpipes for my wife ! essential | |||
| Fantastic UK psychedelic pop progressive act who really took the Sgt. Pepper's aura to another dimension. Restless Night was originally issued on the Penny Farthing label in 1970 and is a wonderful album full of 70's era - Beatle'esque themes and musical feelings. Octopus blend superb fuzz guitar and organ work all wrapped up with some great lead vocals. Someone once described this album as being "So dangerously post-Sgt. Pepper's that it approaches solo McCartneyism". This magical little album has been re-issued by "See for Miles" on CD with extra tracks off of their singles (also has been re-mastered). This album also does carry some very unique musical moments and is not in anyway a 100% carbon copy of the Beatles, but realistically does come from the same genre…….the parallels are there. The best tune IMHO on the album is the last one "Tide" which is also the longest (5:40) as it allows the instruments to really expand out a bit and gives a bit of symphonia to this psychedelic folk/prog masterpiece. IMHO this is an essential album and the extra tracks are worth the price alone…….October's Restless Night is a materpiece….. | |||
| Ikarus were Germany's pioneers of progressive jazz-rock fusion whose one album Ikarus is treasured amongst music fans world wide. Thanks to the folks at Second Battle you and I can now enjoy this classic album. This band blend the heavy musical molasses of King Crimson with the organ led rock fusion sounds of fellow German bands Virus and Out Of Focus…and toss in just a pinch of Soft Machine. The album consists of four long tracks with emphasis on guitar and organ interplay, but the use of flute, saxophone and clarinet adds more color to their compositions. Third track "The Raven" opens up with a very much pro Zappa'esque introduction before retiring into the land of organ -space rock. Band was comprised of Jochen Petersen (guitar, sax, flute, clarinet, vocals), Wulf Dichter Struntz (organ, piano), Manfred Schulz (guitar, vocals), Wolfgang Kracht (bass, vocals), Lorenz Kohler (vocals) and Bernd Schroder (drums, percussion). Complete with mellotron, space excursions and long tracks this album will certainly please your ears. | |||
| Being a big jazz-rock fusion fan , it is very hard for me not to put in reviews of some of my personal favs……. Mysterious Traveller is one of those albums was was the fourth recording by the grandfathers of jazz-rock Fusion. Mysterious Traveller is a magical blend of funk, fusion, jazz and rock all in one enormous recording. On this album Zawinul and Co. opted for a more electronic sound than on their earlier recordings and actually paved for the way for their classic fusion roots in many ways. The newly re-mastered version brings a whole new sound dimension to this album with some pretty tasty grooves. At the heart of this recording lies the genuis of Joe Zawinul (Keyboards) and Wayne Shorter (sax) who wrote and performed on this album some of the most amazing songs you have ever heard. | |||
| Attention all abstract jazz-rock -space-funk fans! The re-issue of Herbie Hancock's overlooked 1973 gem, Sextant is an essential musical experience in psychic space and a vertigo vibes. This album is a psychedelic lovers best friend with tons of psychy moods and a continious full out jam session sounding very reminiscent of the craft work of Miles Davis. In fact Herbie was working with Miles during these days and one can really can hear that "Agartha" influence throughout this album. This was Herbie's final album with his "Mwandishi" band a really closes off this section in his musical career into the outer atmospheres of space-jazz,....very progressive my friends....and yes even a ton of mellotron! Within the first few seconds in the synthesizer's eerie pulse sets the tone for the darkly resonating track "Rain Dance" and continues until the final cresendo of the 20 Min "Hornets". This music is twenty-five years old but sounds like it was recorded by some of today's leading electronica artists. An essential recording and one that will absolutely blow you away.... | |||
| Go out and get this album immediately…."do not pass go….do not collect $200.00"……Formula 3 were one of Italy's first and most popular psychedelic prog rock band of its time. Dies Irae their first album is greatly overshadowed by their later releases (which were also very good), but let me say that you must start with this album. This band was stacked with talent with Alberto Radius (guitars, vocals) who would later form "Il Volo", Lucio Battisti (keyboards)….Battisti was then (and still is) one of the biggest pop stars in Italy, a singer/composer whose success was founded on his long-time collaboration with lyricist simply named Mogol with drums by Toni Cicco. Musically these guys are somewhere in the Deep Purple school with heavy emphasis on guitar and keyboard interplay. In the end they combined to write and record perhaps my favourite Italian Psych rock album of all time. This album also includes one rockin version of "The Four Tops" classic "Walk Away Renee" which bleed with deep tones keyboards and Hendrix-like guitar psychy freakouts. Can't say enough about this album….unbelievable stuff…… | |||
| In the early 70's Franco Battiato released a couple of real gems with Fetus arguably achieving his most creative piece of work….a 30 minute concept rock album dedicated to Aldous Huxley. Musically this short album covers a lot of ground with standout keyboard work (synth & piano) helping to deliver a heavy symphonic orchestral feel throughout the album. The music is really as haunting as the cover art and feels like an Italian tribute to 2001 a space odyssey. The last minute of "Meccanica" brilliantly juxtaposes Johan Sebastian Bach with the actual taped monologue of the Apollo 11 mission as they speak to the President Of The United States. | |||
| Lucio Battisti was and still is one of Italy's most beloved pop culture figures. As a singer songwriter, he managed in the 1970's to write and record of couple fo real dandies with "Umanamente Uomo : Il Sogno" representing one of these. This album is a great symphonic album with some luscious passages and Ital-prog elements. As always Battisti is co-credited with a guy named Mogol for the lyrics and the drumming features Formula 3's Tony Cicco. Musically this album actually reminds me of Italy's "La Bottega Dell'arte" Battisti blends orchestral symphonia with delicate melodies and his unique musical flare. Overall a very soft album which evokes a very warm feeling throughout.
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| Here is one of those "Blow Your Lips Off" progressive rock gems. Pangee are a Canadian 5 piece instrumental progressive rock outfit which play in the territory of King Crimson and Anekdoten. Monster progressive jams which combine amazing bass/keyboard interplay in a heavy mellotron filled environment. Drums are nice and complex and really fit this music to perfection. Guitars playing is very sophisticated and at times remind me of the fret work of Mr. Fripp. Hymnemonde is essentially 3 long epic tracks which are given lots of space to develop many truely progressive moments. This is one CD which must be in all prog lovers collection and yet is not really all that well known for some reason. | |||
| Now I must admit that I am still recovering from how amazing this recording is??..I was amazed when a kind friend of mine introduced me to The Smell Of Incense, but after owning and having had repeated listens I am hooked. All Mimsy Were The Borogoves is very hard to peg down but I would chalk it up somewhere between Art Rock and Psychedelic. SOI blend acid laced guitars with very psychedelic sounding voices and landscapes "in the most delightful way" This highly polished and professional band create some of the most psychedelic landscapes I have heard and their wide use of instruments inject different flavors throughout. Sound reproduction is superb ,but I do understand that this album is in supply shortage which is a crime. Highlight for me is their very trippy rendition of Pink Floyd?s Interstellar Overdrive which in contrast to tribute bands offers a much more expansive view of this tune than perhaps even Floyd observed (of course the Floyd version is a classic!). The SOI are essentially a 5 piece ensemble who truly love the psychedelic sounds of the 60's and seem to give new birth to it. This is a very delicate and highly addictive recording which for me has been a real find. Highly recommended. | |||
| Tai Phong released 2 sensational progressive rock albums in the mid 70's Windows and their debut release. Tai Phong blend the classic prog sounds of YES with a touch of Pink Floyd. Lead singer Khanh has a higher vocal pitch than Jon Anderson and he is not afraid to let it rip! This band houses some amazing musicianship and song writing capabilities. Japan release contains a few extra singles and unreleased tracks which are also great tunes. Great progressive rock
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| Essere O Non Essere (To Be Or Not To Be) is the second fantastic release from Italy's Il Volo (The Flight). In the same spirit as their debut album, Essere delivers intriquite instrumentation with the highest calibre musicians. Essere is a little quieter that their first album and offers some scrumptious acoustic guitar / symphonic keyboard interplay. Il Volo blend elements of PFM and Le Orme with the magic of Banco creating some very addictive songs. Si-Wan has done a great job in transferring this digitally onto CD with enhanced sound reproduction. What makes this album such magic is the carefully tinted delicate guitar/bass/drum interplay in combination with heavy symphonic analog keyboards. Il Volo is appeal to all fans of Italian prog rock and is in my opinion a real classic deserving a place in your collection. | |||
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