| Electronic sophmore Jean Michel Jarre has been a household favourite here for a long time. Snooker and I used to snuggle up to the old speakers and listen to the vast space vibes of Jarre. Oxygene was his first and IMHO best work of all time (Equinox is right behind) with its 6 part journey into space. Trapped somewhere between 70's "Tangerine Dream" and Wendy Carlos' work from "A Clockwork Orange", Oxygene will take your mind clearly into another dimension. Jarre is credited with many synths including the ARP , AKS, VC3 and RMI Harmonic as well as Farfisa organ, mellotron and eminent. You just do not hear this kind of instrumental electronic music anymore and although to some may sound slighly dated this music resonates with magic for this music lover! This album is one of those that has followed me thru my life. I used to fall asleep with the headphones on listened to this album and dreaming of other worlds. Years later I still dust this one off the shelf and play it reminding me of just how vast this album is. Highly recommended album. | |||
| Before ELO were at their height of their classic electronic-symphonia era, they managed to release an experimental and highly Beatles’esque album full of lively strings (Cello, violin, string bass) aka Strawberry Fields and highly creative genre juxtaposition. This temporary line up was Jeff Lynne (Synthesizer, Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Piano, Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Vocals), Roy Wood (Guitar (Acoustic), Bass, Clarinet, Guitar, Percussion, Bassoon, Cello, Guitar (Bass), Oboe, Recorder, Vocals) Bev Bevan (Percussion, Drums, Vocals), Bill Hunt (Horn, French Horn) and Steve Woolam (Violin). I love this album with its contradicting dark deep stringed tones and yet somewhat colorful and highly imaginative music. At times I get a slight Mannheim Steamroller feel with a strong mix of the amazing Blondel. After this album was recorded Roy Wood left ELP and took his talents into the band known as Wizzard. Superbly crafted music from a early incarnation of ELO. (by the way for the record ELO’s TIME released in 1981 although not truly “Progressive” I suppose , is still one of my alltime favourite albums). | |||
| Ethos were an excellent 70’s US based 4 piece prog rock band whose second album “Open up” remains a landmark album for this music lover. Fans of classic 70’s prog will love this album with their great epic passages (a la YES) with complex syncopation (aka Spock’s Beard, Gentle Giant and King Crimson) and pastoral moments full of the glorious mellotron. In many ways they remind me musically of a cross of Fireballet and YES. Ethos were Brad Stephenson (Bass, string bass, moog bass pedals), Mark Richards (Percussion, moog drums), Michael Ponczek (mini moog, poly-moog, Hammond, organ, Rhodes piano, mellotron) and Wil Sharpe (acoustic and electric guitars). Their overall sound is full and rich with some real creative and challenging parts yet controlled and highly symphonic. A truely amazing little album that I recommed to all prog rock lovers. | |||
| Thanks to Progressive rock enthusiast Hugues Chantraine for making me aware of this musician and band some 30 years after release. Before a solo career, band leader Marc Moulin formed a Belgian band known as Placebo. The Placebo Sessions is really the reel highlights of the first 3 Placebo albums and offer some pretty wonderful electric progressive jazz-funk and funky groove music. Clearly this music was inspired by the work of Herbie Hancock and Mile Davis with Moulin’s experimental combination of jazz-funk and electronic instruments. Centred around the organ, fender Rhodes and synth work of Moulin with great instrumental augmentation of trumpet, flugelhorn, tenor and alto sax, baritone sax, bass clavinet, flute , bass, guitar and percussion makes this a full album full of exploration. Musically this album moves from jazz to hypnotic trance to funk and back again. Lovers of progressive acid jazz will need to hunt this album down. | |||
| For Japanese electronic wizard Isao Tomita he chose to record a futuristic re-interpretation of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". For many prog fans I am sure the music will be immediately recognizable with Emerson Lake and Palmer’s version likely deeply embedded in your memory. In sharp contrast to ELP though, Tomita’s focuses on a closer rendering to Mussorgsky’s original with of course a very different electronic delivery. I am not sure this album will appeal to everyone out there to be honest, but I think it’s completely fab ! Tomita recorded this amazing album with an impressive number of electronic keyboards, synths and mellotron to create his cosmic musical experience. Tomita made a number of albums over his career devoted to re-casting new shapes and sounds on classical pieces, but none finer that this album. I would characterize this album in the same school as early Jean Michel Jarre and Jon Vangelis. | |||
| Now here is a great album full of originality and excellent musicianship featuring the organ/mellotron/harpsichord of Greenslade’s Dave Lawson. This is in fact what I consider the cousin compendium album to Samurai (which I also love and have reviewed a few years past) and although does carry some similar musical vibes also tends to be a bit longer in song length and darker in contrast. Hard to exactly peg this charmer down but definitely in the Gentle Giant, EGG, Canterbury school of prog-jazz rock. This is actually the 3rd album by this band but the previous albums did not have Lawson on them and were much different in character in shape and not up to the same league as “I Spider”. Instrumentally ‘I Spider’ is full of great keyboard work with great gobs of sax and vibraphone. I highly recommend this album to those who love Canterbury genre and are looking for something a little bit different. | |||
| Lands End first album has stuck in my mind since the day I picked up this little gem. Although I will admit that this album suffers a bit from weak production quality and studio editing, it leaves it mark for this music lover in terms of performance. Lands End draw on the symphonic tendencies of Pendragon with the Lyrics of Mona Falls and blends in the musical prowess of IQ and Marillion. Line up includes Mark Lavallee on drums, Jeff McFarland on vocals, Fred Hunter on bass and keyboards and Francisco Neto on guitars. I guess this is what would be classified Neo-Prog by those who look for classification. The end result is a magical album full of 4 creative and original sounding epic tracks that work very well. Although later albums by Lands End are clearly more polished I think 'PCH' was their most creative and oroginal outing. | |||
| Since 1995 I have been haunted by the musical beauty of this Norwegian bands music and since their debut masterpiece have not stopped producing albums of the highest calibre. Without a question, White Willow have quietly risen to become one of my personal favourite Prog bands of the 90’s and ‘00’s. “Storm Season” definitely builds on this musical lore as a dark album full of brooding symphonic expressions and skilful instrumentation. This album showcases once again the soulful vocals of Sylvia Erichsen which works in great contrast against the darker background soundscape White Willow generate. Musically this band have it all with heavy symphonic keyboard work of Lars Fredrik Froislie (piano, mellotron, Hammond B3, Rhodes, Wurlitzer), standout bass lines (Marthe Berger Walthinsen), great guitar (Jacob Holm-Lupo) and (Johannes Saeboe), accurate drumming (Aage Moltke Schou) and a number of additional excellent musicians. A foreboding and highly emotional listen which will definitely need to be in your collection. Highly recommended album. | |||
| “Schwingungen” is Ash Ra’s powerful follow up to their debut album which still remains to this day one of the true space classic for this music lover. 2 big differences here on “Schwingungen” with the departure of Klaus Schulze as well as the introduction of vocals marks this album in different light than their debut album. Having said that, this album is nothing short of amazing with some pretty spaced out interludes and long epic tracks to totally blow your mind. The overall sound on “Schwingungen” is very Meddle era “Pink Floyd” with some great hypnotic work and analog space rock movements. With heavy doses of space hymns and the inspiring guitar work of Manuel Göttsching, this album will clearly take your mind and ears into the outer zone. The album is essentially made up of 3 long tracks with the first two tracks featuring the psychedelically-eerie-like vocals of John L. The full line up was Manuel Göttsching (guitar), Hartmut Enke (bass), Wolfgang Mueller (drums), & guest: John L (vocals, jew harp, percusssion), Matthias Wehler (alto sax) and Uli Popp (bongos). I love the frenzied guitar rantings and the mix of the west coast like rhythm sections taking a somewhat R&B foundation. Overall a great album. | |||
| Arachnoid were a short lived 70’s band whose debut album marked another excellent example of French dark progressive rock. Arachnoid were obviously heavily influenced by the music of King Crimson as well as that of Pulsar, Shylock and Ange. The end result is one of my favourite albums from 70’s France Prog and IMOH is a masterpiece. Musically this band were excellent with tons of vintage keyboards via the 2 keyboards in the band (Pierre Kuti, Francois Faugieres playing Farfisa organ, mellotron, piano, Fender electric and Korg synths). The vocals are well done and very aggressive and resonate for me in a similar vein to that of Ange’s Christian DeCamps. The clear King Crimson comparison comes totally from their sound and musical transitions which echo with a dark yet symphonic flavours. Lead guitarist Nicolas Popowski also adds his Fripp –like fret work throughout the album. Overall a fantastic album and one I would suggest any fans of bands like Shylock and Pulsar will definitely love this work. Highly recommended. | |||
| Now here is an album you simply must hear…..Paatos’ Kallocain is an impressive piece of Scandinavian – progressive music with a blend of multi – genres all culminating into one of my favourite albums of 2004. In many ways Paatos actually reminds a bit of Finalnd’s “White Willow” with aspects of Sigur Ros, Portishead, Anekdoten, Landberk and Anglagaard tossed in. Behind their veil of pastel soundscapes and ambient-like musical tones rests a rich yet dark and slightly aggressive wall of music, which always stays in control. The mood of the album ebbs and flows and although is a quieter album overall, does have some dynamic interlude bursts. Instrumentally this band have it all with excellent musicianship and they carry a very tight, yet relaxed feel. Lead vocalist Petronella Nettermalm’s voice is rich and slightly raw a fits the music to perfection without sounding dominant or obtrusive. She has that certain quality that I just love and think her vocal personality really come thru with a spark. Kallocain was mixed by Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree. A scrumptious album that you will need to hunt down. | |||
| Trettioariga Kriget (translated as Thirty Years War) debut album is amongst the best Sweden prog rock bands and albums of the 70’s. Their first album offers a heavy dose of dramatic, heavy guitar centric progressive rock with some psychedelic leanings all culminating into a sound all of their own. Although keyboards are present, they take on a minor role really and fill in some quiet spacey backgrounds. The bass and guitar interplay are the feature of this album as they get into some great complex performances. If I had to create a comparison I might offer a combo of Anglagard and Anekdoten with dashes of Il Balletto di Bronzo and YES. The vocals are fine and are seem to fit the music quite well. The songs features here are very written and offer a nice mix of complex yet tight detail that I find very interesting without getting into over ‘noodling-about’. Overall this is quite a fine little album and one that I play over the years quite a lot. | |||
| “Four Letter Monday’ was the third album by “Out Of Focus” and in sharp contrast to their previous two, expanded to an 11-piece group, adding an extra guitarist as well as a full brass section. This double album features the 2 side long epic track Huchen 55 (parts a, b and c) which is an amazing track and worth the admission alone. The rest of the album plays out covering quite a range (at times I hear early Chicago and sounds of Blood Sweat & Tears). This wild album really hits all the right buttons for me and covers quite a nice large geography…from psychedelic moods to all out krautrock instrumental excursions to Canterbury jazz rock to dark minimalism. The band sound very progressive and this is a highly experimental album full of great guitar, drum , bass and organ with a wild mix of brass thrown in. This album is somewhere in the Soft Machine-Nucleus-Caravan-Colloseum school of prog rock, but stands out for me as a great album. | |||
| The story of Transsylvania Phoenix, or, more commonly, just Phoenix, is one very much rooted in the censorship days of the communist regime. Phoenix eked their way thru these major challenges to become one of Romania’s most prominent underground rock bands of the decade. To survive under this regime musically and uniquely Phoenix mixed the cultural and ancient Romanian folk themes and disguised with prog rock characteristics (kind of like LOS JAIVAS the of Romanians). “Cei ce-ne – au dat nume” (Those Who Gave Us the Name) is truly a great album with some fantastic guitar work, great bass drum interplay and great vocals. This album is a mix of folk, beat and rock elements all cased in an early progressive rock wrap. The songs are highly inspired and this albums contains some very memorable songs. Once again when they into a groove it is all out and way too cool. | |||
| PROGDAY 98 is a magical 2 CD set spanning many of the artists who performed at Storybook Farm Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the summer of '98. All tracks flow quite well together and although a compilation of such does not sound like one. These bands were well recorded and mic'd and the overall sound is nice and raw without overdubs or produced feel. Bass lines and drumming is well seperated and sound quite clear and clean. Bands featured include Connecticut's Crucible and Soundscape, Pennsylvania's band Alaska, Swedish proggers Par Lindh Project and The Flower Kings as well as Discipline and Italy's A Piedi Nudi who are featured here with a 40 Mins suite of tracks which for me is the highlight. A great compilation of music from a great festival. | |||
| CERAFIM are an awesome Canadian AOR progressive rock band who have released a number of excellent albums with 1995’s “Sides Of A Different Kind” stealing the limelight for this music lover. Musically CERAFIM blend the music styles of Saga, STYX, Kansas, Asia and IQ all mixed together in an unique act. CERAFIM are a 5 piece band with high skills and musical sensitivities (Marcello Ciurleo - drums, percussion, and vocals, John D’Addona –guitar/vocals, Rick Kazmirchuk- keyboards/vocals, Jeff Morrison - lead vocals and Gabe Petho “Warwick” – basses/vocals) . CERAFIM’s songs are powerful with strong chords and great rhythms and each song showcases a slightly different side of this band (thus perhaps the album’s fitting title !). Without a question this is just a great band and I heartedly recommend this album to all fans of Saga! You can order this CD directly from the band by contacting their website at www.cerafim.com | |||
| The mid 70's era Van Der Graaf is my personal favourite and "World Record" is a clear mark of genuis from this dark progressive rock band. "World Record" is the third in the trilogy of 1975/1976 "come-back" VDGG albums (following both "Godbluff" and "Still Life") and still contains the classic line-up of Hammill-Banton-Evans-Jackson. Again this album is full of dark and deep melodies as told thru the slightly clogged vocals of Peter Hammill. The centerpiece of the album is the epic Meurglys III (The Songwriter's Guild) which stands today as stil one of my most beloved VDGG tracks. All tracks are great and I think Hammill's vocals are likely at his best here with even some electric guitar playing !. Some of the melodies on this album are the best they have recorded including the emotional track "Wondering" which concludes this album. I guess at 52 Mins and for vinyl this was a longer play ....and well worth it.....as I said a mark of genius. | |||
| I admittedly do not know a lot about the band or the history of the unrecorded UK band YAK, but the keyboard based interpretations of this lost music as performed by their founder and keyboardist Martin Morgan is highly convincing. Performed all from Morgan’s keyboards this music is an instrumental odyssey into the work of the music of YAK. In many ways the music on this CD reminds me of Canada’s Ken Baird (of course without the vocals) with his host of keyboards and keen sense of melodicism. Obviously YAK were highly influenced by the music of Genesis with many of their musical mannerisms running thru their music. It was really a darn shame that the original band did not make an official recording as I am sure it would to this day be regarded as perhaps the one that got away. Martin Morgan's keyboard work and sounds are fantastic and IMHO is a great CD to listen and in so way sounds like a CASIO concerto (like many do !). For CD order info and/or contact info please contact Martin directly at www.yaksongs.com. | |||
| “Irrlicht” was really German electronic wizard Klaus Schulze’s first solo album and IMHO one of his best. With his strong desire to continue post “Ash Ra” musical electronic experiments, Schulze recorded this amazing space album full of imagination and cosmic tones. Remarkably not featuring any synthesizers, but recorded all on electronic organs, oscillators and electronic devices, Schulze delivers one of the warmest yet freshest albums from his discography. The result is a strong otherworldly album featuring some pretty trippy and fascinating and very cosmic sounds which ebb and flow in front of Schulze’s gloomy and distorted soundscapes. There are not any irritating electronic pulses or repetitive beats, just pure electronic moods and themes making this album truly a haunting and hypnotic experience. Another great headphone experience album. If you love electronic music then this one is an essential part of a well balanced breakfast ! | |||
| Following his re-visitation of Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures At An Exhibition’, Tomita next turned his creative talents in a cosmic interpretation of Holst’s “The Planets”. I guess at the time of release there was quite a ruckus from Gustav Holst's family who felt this work was that of a poor man’s copy and a gross manhandling of their father's great composition. 'The Planets' was actually taken off of market by court order and the RCA (record company) withdrew copies from record stores. Despite all this IMHO, 'The Planets' is arguably Tomita's most complete work and is a fantastic voyage into the cosmos. I have always loved Tomita’s introductory musical scenario with the listener being strapped aboard a spaceship, waiting to blast off and with the countdown complete being launched into a 11 mins re-interpretation of Mars (The Bringer Of War). As usual Tomita draws on a large arsenal of vintage electronic keyboards and devices to reveal his musical vision. The end result is a true excursion into space with some wonderful sounding electronic soundscapes and musical passages. | |||
| 'Nightingales and Bombers' was a follow up to the musical trilogy of both 'Solar Fire' and 'The Good Earth' and a grand conclusion to this progressive work. 'Nightingales and Bombers' again showcases some standout musical contributions and great song writing. In typical Mann style, this album contains 2 cover version (Springsteen’s “Spirits In The Night” and Joan Armatrading’s “Visionary Mountains”. I love the musical rhythm combo of Colin Pattenden (bass) and Chris Slade (drums) while Mr. Mann (keyboards) and Mick Rogers (guitars, vocals) elaborate with instrumental creativity and proficiency. This album contains some pretty awesome sounding deep analog keyboard work and great guitar gamming. Overall one of my personal favourite albums by classic era Mann. | |||
| Another stunning Flower Kings album to come from the gang out at the Cosmic Lodge. I will admit that I am a big fan of these guys and think that they are still one of the premiere prog bands going around. I really think folks are way way too critical and have unrealistic expectations on TFK’s which I don’t share the same opinion generally speaking. Opening track “Love Supreme” is a 20 mins epic beauty with some fantastic song writing and musicianship bubbling over. On Adam & Eve the regular cast of musicians are present with the addition of a new vocalist Daniel Glidenlow (Pain of Salvation) who brings a new look and feel (and sound dimension) to the band. As you might expect the music is ever changing and flowing with symphonic grandeur and positive colour throughout. Stolt’s guitar playing is excellent as is Bodin’s keyboard work offering some fantastic musical excursions. Overall a very strong album from the Flower Kings and an album I am playing the heck out of these days. | |||
| The debut album by Germany’s Mythos is a pure unadulterated classic space-prog album draped over 5 lush tracks. There are truly many cosmic charms to this space bracelet with some wild nubulas , space vibes and jams. Vocals are slightly distorted when used and somewhat modulated giving the listen a real outer worldly space feel. Mythos are clearly lost somewhere in the Cosmic Jokers / Ash Ra Temple camp with dreamy dreamy psych/folk/prog landscapes. Mythos manage to create some pretty heavenly space atmospheres with some fantastic synthesizer, flute, spacey guitar and mellotron work throughout. For me this album ranks as a complete album and one of my personal favs from the space-prog category. A definite piece of creative vinyl. | |||
| Phoenix were one of the great Romanian rock bands that struggled thru the era of the Russian art censorship and this little gem remained very much hidden for far too long. On "Mugur de Fluier", Phoenix abandoned their beat influences and instead turned to more traditional Romanian folk-like music as their source of influence. Mugur de fluier (Flute Bud) is a concept album with a cool beat theme that runs thoughout the album. This album may be the furthest of their 3 early 70's albums from progressive rock but carries some fantastic and highly original sounds and characteristics. The album is really a mix of Romanian folk and progressive rock offering a highly captivating and original sound for this music lover. | |||
| “Dopo L’infinito” ("After the Infinite") was the 2nd release from Florence’s Nuova Era who recorded a real stinger here. This classic album contains 2 side long suites offering complex music with dynamic and constantly shifting themes, ideas and time signatures. I would suggest that any lover of 70’s Ital-prog would greatly adore this album. IMHO this album holds up very well next to the Italian 70's classics. Both epic tracks are killer with great keyboards, emotional guitar work, and vocals that are excellent. In his book "The Return Of Italian Pop” Paolo Barotto rightfully describes Nuova Era as “the best group of the new Italian progressive scene”. Imagine the symphonic beauty of Il Paese Dei Balocchi combined with the musical prowess of classic Le Orme and the aggressiveness of Museo Rosenbach’s Zarathustra and you have Nuova Era. | |||
| Adrian Belew used his third release to demonstrate his love and talent for avant-garde guitar work. “Desire” is an album of instrumental guitar and percussion work and in many ways carries a strong devotion to the creativity and insaneness of Frank Zappa. In sharp contrast to his boisterous work with King Crimson or his well known tuneful solo work, this album instead cleverly experiments with guitar shapes and sound in ways not heard before. Desire contains a few of my fav Belew tracks like Laughing Man, Z, and The Portrait Of Margaret all of which are granted unorthodox but still full of craft and genius. | |||
| Cyborg was Klaus Schulze's second album and represents a clear musical companion to "Irrlicht". Cyborg is a double album set with 4 side long epic tracks full of some of the most fantastic space mind drifts and droning elements all assembled from his electronic organs, oscillators and orchestral recordings. Again this album is a fantastic headphone album and may actually 'scare the dickens' out of you is you dim the lights as well. From an early 70's electonics perspective , this album is a must and contains some of Schulze's most compelling synth work. The music on Cyborg is quite dark and resonates with a certain nostaligic tone throughout. This is also his first solo album to contain synthesizer on it and does so with beauty and ease. I guess I will say that this is pretty much a classic for lovers of 70's electronica. | |||
| For many people Van Morrison's departure marked the end of the band “Them” or at least their knowledge of THEM. But the truth is after Van left the band they released 2 of my most beloved psychedelic albums with “Now-and them” being the album in review. Ken McDowell took over the role as lead vocalist and the band were reincarnated in a psychedelic/R&B genre showing elements of Beatles, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd and even the Electric Prunes. By the time "Them" recorded their 1968 albums they were living in the US and were obviously heavily influenced by the emerging psychedlic movement. One of my fav tracks by Them is from this album with "Dirty Old Man (at the age of sixteen). The band line up on was Jim Armstrong (guitar), Alan Henderson (bass), Ray Elliott (Piano , sax), Ken McDowell (Vocals) and John Wilson (Drums). An absolutely stunning album and a real treasure from an overlooked short era of THEM. | |||
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