| Jose Cid is a pretty famous Portuguese musician who recorded one incredibly awesome progressive monster concept album in 1978. 10,000 Depois Entre Venus E Marte is a space-influenced prog album featuring a ton of vintage keybords (Moogs, piano, and Mellotron). Songs and melodies are very captivating and the overall feel is highly symphonic with lots of string synths and mellotron. The Art Sublime CD also contains a rare single released in 1977 which is also very fitting and excellent work. Lyrics are sung in native Portuguese and are quite well done. The guitar work on this album is also amazing and works well with the keyboards……….fans of spacey French symphonic rock will love this one.
| |||
| Although I must admit that some of the early synthy sounding No-Man songs were not my cup of tea, they have my ears with Heaven Taste. What is funny about this album is that being a collection of B-sides songs, I much prefer them to the A Sides. For No-Man obviously B-Sides represent a playground to experiment and have fun, to try out whims, to work out the ideas forbidden by the commercial and aesthetic demands of a full album. Anyone, like me left wary by the dance-bolstered, poppier/balladry leanings of the early No-Man albums will love the art-rock characteristics of this compilation really sounding very much like aspects of Porcupine Tree. This album really documents No-Man's dreamy, atmospherically lush side delivering an almost avant-garde sound. The album explores the deeper possibilities of Steven Wilson's genius and instrumentation while holing onto Tim Bowness’s touch of pop individuality. This album also features the lovely violin work of Ben Coleman, the keyboard work of Richard Barbieri, sax of Mick Karn and the percussion of Steve Jansen . I should also mention this album features a fine version of Nick Drake’s “Road”. Overall Heaven Taste is a visitation to the softer, dreamier, luminescent trance work from No-Man's more quietly beautiful territories and ambient shores.
| |||
| Minotaurus were an obscure 70’s band from Germany, who recorded 2 albums with only one ever being released "Fly away" . Inspired by the story of the Mintaurus living in King Minos' Labyrinth on Crete this 6 piece band deliver an album full of organ roaring progressive rock. This album although essentially a symphonic mindmelt does also blend in psych and space dimensions into their sound. Their overall sound is quite rich with a good chunk of mellotron and deep bass lines. Vocals (Peter Scheu) are sung in English and fit the music quite well. Instrumentally this band were amazing with inspiring and pompous keyboard leads, mellotron atmospheres , great guitar , bass and drum interplay. Overall sound carries allusions to Novalis, Marillion and Eloy.
| |||
| Esmerine are partially an off-shoot of Canada’s foreboding symphonic outfit "Godspeed You Black Emperor". This project minuses guitars from that equation and instead puts focus more on the percussive, cello, violin and marimba musical and tonal elements. This album is rich with some amazing mind expanding songs and a huge soundscape for you to dream to. Esmerine’s “If only a sweet surrender…” takes the neo-classical compositional work of Bruce Cawdron & Beckie Foon and brings this magnificent piece of work to life thru the talents of Chloe (violin), Efrim (Harmonium), and Thierry (Contrabass and electric bass). Musically this album fits in very well with that of Godspeed & The Silver Mount Zion catalogue with perhaps a slightly more accessible sound. If I did not know any better I would have said this was an ECM label recording ! A hauntingly beautiful album rich in character with loads of deep cello ! Also very nice CD packaging (if that matters to you!)
| |||
| Without a question the Lord Of The Rings has to be one of the most inspirational fantasy story lines of all time for progressive bands (Rick Wakeman, Bo Hansson, Par Lindh)……We can now add Mostly Autumn to the list as well. On this album, Mostly Autumn blend the lyrical themes of the LOTR storyline within these 12 magical little songs. Bryan Josh (lead guitar / vocals, Heather Findlay (vocals, guitar, brodhran, tambourine, recorder), Iain Jennings (keyboards), Liam Davidson (guitar), Angela Goldthorpe (flute, recorders, vocals) Andy Smith (bass) and Jonathan Blackmore(drums) present the music on this CD with great flare and style. Without a question Josh’s guitar is a clear standout with his Gilmour’esque passages and huge sounds. Overall a well done music adaptation of JRR’s tale with some very memorable themes and passages.
| |||
| Recorded live at the Fillmore West, San Francisco, California on April 10, 1970, BLACK BEAUTY is the initial and defining album from, what is affectionately referred to as Miles’ “electric years”. This double live album documents Miles Davis' pursuit of electric fusion built out of blues, rock, free jazz, and post-modern musical thought. The mood is one of controlled chaos, with each soloist in top form, and group interplay at a near-ESP level. The tracks morph naturally into one another with well-placed phrases from Miles cueing the players' transitions. This music is sometimes beautiful and sublime and sometimes provocative or even intentionally atonal and harsh. This stellar band, features Chick Corea and Dave Holland on electric piano and bass respectively, play churning groove-dominated music to what must have been a fairly puzzled audience. Steve Grossman (Soprano sax), Jack Dejohnette (drums) and Airto Moreira (percussion) round out the band. For although the music has rock-orientated grooves and electric instruments it also features the extended solos and chromatic abstract tendencies of Miles and his sidemen. Though the audiences in this hallowed rock venue may have been nonplussed, this record in retrospect can be seen to document one of Miles' finest groups of this period. Their energy and creativity are amazing and the music is truly exploratory and breaking new musical territory Here Davis' group is making full use of electric instruments and exploring the bounds of music without throwing the audience a lot of melodic lifelines to hold on to. | |||
| I have followed this band since the early days of "Ignis Fatuus" and have always been amazed at their depth and musical prowess. With line-up changes found on every album it is no wonder that every album also really carries its on flavour. Sacrament line up is Brynjar Dambo (keyboards, glockenspiel) Aage Moltke Schou (drums, percussion, glockenspiel) Sylvia Erichsen (vocals) Johannes Sæbøe (bass) Jacob Holm-Lupo (electric, acoustic, & classical guitars, vocals, keyboards, bass) Ketil Vestrum Einarsen(flutes, recorders, melodica, keyboards) with guests Simen Haugberg (oboe) and Øystein Vesaas (vocals). One of the key characteristics of White Willow albums is the care by which they are recorded with lots of natual tones (oboes, mellotrons, deep gutteral bass) and flawless production which when combined with thier wealth of instrumentation make this a magical and highly original musical listening experience. Sacrament really moves the listener from tranquil soundscapes to faster tempoed interludes. Sound production is deep and rich with great speaker seperation. Overall this is an essential album IMHO to have in your collection and lovers of Anglagaard, Sinkadus will be right at home.
| |||
| The early work of Popol Vuh are all excellent albums with "Coeur De Verre" (Heart of Glass) standing out as my personal favorite. This is pure genuis instrumental raga-rock led by composer and keyboardist Florian Fricke who has written and arranged some pretty trippy songs. He is joined with the tight guitar work of Daniel Fichelscherm (who also doubles as the albums pecussionist) the flute of Mattias Tippelskirch and for this album the fine sitar work of Al Gromer. The end result is something like Tangerine Dream meets Ravi Shankar with this album's otherworldly world space music feel. I actually believe this album was the soundtrack from a Werner Herzog film. One of my alltime favourite space track is "Huter Der Schwellem" which blends hypnotic sitar with great synth and guitar work to create a plastercine-like wall of sound. The other songs are also stunning and the overall album really runs like one continuous piece of music. Musically "Coeur De Verre" delivers an instrumental heaven of space sounds and ragarock, with Fichelscher's hypnotizing guitar, Fricke's rhythmically stunning piano, and crashing percussion, all performed in a meditative, sacred-minded atmosphere of higher other worldly musical consciousness. Real healthy brain food | |||
| So did Santana dabble in progressive rock too ? Well I guess the closest he came was on the inspirational album “Oneness” where he recorded a real stonker with his patented great guitar and a more spiritual album full of wonderful deep atmospheres and 15 tracks of varied conceptual songs. This Carlos Santana solo album, was released when Santana was involved with guru Sri Chinmoy and carries a real spiritual feel throughout. Oneness: Silver Dreams-Golden Reality contains the excellent trademark guitar work of Santana (there are eleven instrumentals) and in sharp contrast to the musical approach Santana what become known for and in search of deeper musical meaning Santana recorded this latin-fusion masterpiece. On this album Santana’s musical ideals had more opportunity for development with this album being less commercial than he released in previous years. After a few great tracks Santana plops in a Nat King Cole-like piece “Silver Dreams Golden Smiles”, a traditional pop ballad sung by Carlos’ father-in-law Saunders King which really throws the listener for a loop but stands out as a classic piece. Of course this is followed up a keyboard guitar rock stinging piece “Oneness” which may stand out as one of his most progressive pieces ever. This mostly instrumental album contains both studio tracks and live recordings from Osaka, Japan and also includes a cover of Chico Hamilton’s “Jim Jeannie” . What is addictive about this album is the vast different musical styles that Oneness has to offer..pop, funk, rock ballads, fusion and even yes even some allusion to Prog Rock ! | |||
| Planet P is basically the post apocalyptic songwriting and performing talents of Tony Carey (former keyboardist of Rainbow). To be honest although I have always loved the music Planet P, I never really considered it for the website but thanks to Miles MacMillan for suggesting this album for inclusion. “Planet P” for those who are not familiar released 2 keyboard centric outerworldly pop concept albums in the 80’s with pretty well all instrumentation by Carey. Pink World was a double vinyl concept album and explored a less pop influenced side than did the debut album. The story this time involves a post-Apocalyptic world based on a young boy (Artie) who drinks some contaminated water and develops some sort of mental powers from which he builds a shield to combat the fallout and gathers people behind it. Eventually he becomes a savior to these people and this power ends up corrupting him. Musically this album is bang on with some great songwriting and expressive vocals with heavy emphasis on keyboards. Although I am quite fine with the use synthetic drums on an album they must be well done for me (as they are here) but I highlight this in the event that others don’t feel the same way. IMHO this is an excellent album full of some well crafted songwriting and performances. | |||
| “Privat” may not be everyone cup of tree , but does represent a highly unique and well crafted album bubbling over with excellent ethnic percussion. Mani Neumeier was and is the drummer for one of the the 70’s Germany most original Krautrock bands “Guru Guru”. Believe it or not “Privat” is 18 tracks of Ethnic-tinged tribal percussions, chanting, some loops, screwy programming and eclectic solo percussion pieces. Although an entire album full of drumming may not hit the top of your musical needs but Neumeier’s music is so enthralling that you will be mezmorized. The listener is provided a wide variety of styles and approaches throughout. There are also some experimental moments in which he mixes in found sounds, voice, and sequential patterns. Ghanaian drums are used on one track, for a tribalistic air, backed by finger cymbals, something that would of course never happen in the indigenous environment of these instruments. Another unorthodox method was his way of using steel drums to simulate a Balinese gamelan effect. I love his percussion solos utilizing a vast array of tympanic devices emphasizing bells, cymbals, rainstick, and bird sounds. Mani's drum kit has a unique and identifiable character which he exploits magnificently: with a plethora of tuned tom-toms and bells and you can almost hum the melodies he seems to be implying once he is let loose upon the skins. An album like "Privat" is every drummer's dream. While the audience for such is diminutive, most of the material is quite appealing and non-experts can still find plenty in here to sink their ears into. | |||
| Broken into a group of short studio pieces and four extended live jams, LIVE EVIL finds Miles Davis going further into the depths of space and into the uncharted musical darkness of jazz-rock. The album consists of four spacey- floating studio tracks (Little Church, Gemini/Double Image, Nem Um Talvez, and Selim) interspersed with four long live awesome pieces from a concert at the Cellar Door in Washington D.C. on December 19, 1970. In the studio, Miles took simple tone ballads and immersed them in the electrified air that he'd been addressing since “In a silent way”. The live pieces are yet another monster all their own. Augmented by John McLaughlin's Hendrixian guitar runs and bolstered by Michael Henderson's funky bass pops, these are blues-tinged tickets to an electric, improvisational nirvana. With room to stretch out in any direction, each soloist develops fluidly within the ensemble. Jack DeJohnette and Airto Moreira hold down the backbeat while Keith Jarrett fills in the down-tempo breaks. But it is Miles who incite this music to the frenzied state throughout this album. Wayne Shorter; Gary Bartz; John McLaughlin; Chick Corea; Keith Jarrett; Herbie Hancock; Joe Zawinul; Steve Grossman and Miles Davis…what else could you ask for kids! "Live-Evil" is a truly amazing, beautiful album which alternates between long, funky jams, and eerie tone poems. It is probably the greatest live fusion album ever recorded. | |||
| Dillinger was formed by Canadian brothers Jacques and Robert Harrison in the early 70's who released this short little tasty prog album self titled in 1974 originally released on Daffodil Records. Although short in duration this little album pacts some great musicianship across four songs featuring a 17 minute suite called "Live & Return" and a cover version of Spirit's "Nature's Way". Dillinger's sound on this debut album is very unique reminding me of a cross of Soft Machine with Nektar. Dillinger's debut album is vocal rich with all members being credited in this department. Paul Cockburn's electric guitar work is excellent and mixes well with Terry Bramhall's bass work and the percussive strokes of Robert Harrison. Driving all of this is the powerful organ drones of Jacques Harrison who also adds some lovely sax and flute arrangements. For the the standout track is the 17 mins epic Live & Return which gives the band a chance to explore some vintage prog regions. Overall an excellent bit of Canadian progressive rock. | |||
| Vangelis' Mythodea: Music for the Nasa Mission/2001 Mars Odyssey is indeed a classical music odyssey in its vision, sound and presentation and represents a very vintage sounding Vangelis. I bought the DVD of this live performance recorded at the Olympian Temple of Zeus in Athens so I was quite familiar with this piece of music already but found the studio work on this CD also different in sound and shape. I have been a big lover of the synth masters and have always considered Vangelis to be one of the real masters of the genre. Mythodea is a symphonic Opera and very, very visual, with its huge soundscape actually making one feel like they are floating in space…maybe even travelling to Mars. Along with Vangelis at the keyboards, sopranos Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, a 120-voice operatic choir, The London Metropolitan Orchestra, and a battery of twenty percussionists fill this recording to the brim ! Hate to say it but I love this album big time and think it is one of the best pieces I have heard in a great number of years. | |||
| “So Fellini Dance your dance” emotes Derek Dick aka Fish on his 2001 release written in memory and in concept of the imagination of abstract Italian film director Federico Fellini. This is another excellent album written by the ex-Marillion lead singer who has a number of solid albums in his discography. Along with Fish’s poignant lyrics and vocal strains he is joined by a great band of musicians as usual (John Wesley – guitars, John Young – Keyboards, Steve Vantis – bass and Dave “Squeeky” Stewart on the drums). In classic Fish style this album ranges from dark progressive strokes to lighter more colourful semi-pop influenced songs. Fellini provides narration throughout this concept album with short in between song dialogues providing a real mystical feeling as one makes their way thru this album. Tiki 4 will definitely make you hit the repeat button on your CD player as it is just a simply killer track bringing back memories of songs like Credo Goldfish & Clowns for me. A truly remarkable album full of some excellent song writing and musicianship…..So Fellini ! | |||
| "The Ghost Of Autumn" is the second release by the US prog rock trio Scapeland Wish whose first album "Reason" back in 2000 simply gave me shivers as I listened. Boy can these guys write, play and sing ! "The Ghost Of Autumn" is a magical album full of dynamic musicianship, postive energy and creative song writing. Scapeland Wish are Josh Ramirez (Vocals and drums), Mike Stiskal (Drums, guitars and backing vocals) and Kevin Forsberg (Guitars). Musically hard to exactly peg down but with their balanced focus on both progressive and rock tendencies end up delivering a mesh of Rush, STYX, Echolyn, Camel , Dixie Dregs and Kansas all in one! For those love great vocals will simply kills for this album as Ramirez's voice is clear and powerful and blends to perfection with the band. Guitar and bass work is also superb with some excellent soloing and interplay throughout. "The Willow Song" would have to be one of the best tracks I have heard in a long time by any band with its deeply emotional delivery, deep toned sounds, Gilmour'esque guitar solos, interesting timing , captivating gentle vocals/harmonies all surrounded by a fantastic themed song. You can order direct from the band at "www.scapelandwish.com" | |||
| DMST are a 6 Piece chamber space rock band from Canada who have certainly have my ear in this release. Goodbye Enemy Airships is a wonderfully expressive album full of heavy exploratory progressive tendencies embodying a certain spiciness and otherworldly feel throughout. They also employ a wide range of sound effects inter-disbursed throughout their music giving the listener an added dimension to synthesize. Hard to peg this album down but kind of lands somewhere between Talk Talk's "Laughing Stock", Miles Davis and "Godspeed You Black Emperor". Tempo and atmosphere shift are quite extreme and they travel from fantastically light interludes to those of heavy bombardment. This is a great all instrumental album worthly of being in everyone's collection. | |||
| . The pioneering "concept" album Ogden's Nut Gone Flake is a recognised ground-breaker and pre-dated Pete Townshend's Tommy by a year. With their roots deeply entrenched in the elasticity of R & B, the Small Faces quickly reoriented their sound with Ogdens....a foray into the psychedelic jungle of 1968 and an album IMHO comparable to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and S.F. Sorrow. The story line that unfolds over 40 mins is a fairy tale about a mirthful chap called Happiness Stan who is searching for the lost half of the moon. Pink Floyd years later would fill the the answer with the Dark Side Of The Moon of course. For Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones this was their defining moment and recorded a masterpiece with Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. | |||
