GUITAR MUSIC/GREAT GUITARISTS:
ERIC JOHNSON: Bloom CD
In the world of instrumental rock guitar, there are simply so many around that are OK, it takes something special to rise above all that and announce its arrival in a blaze of glory. Well, this does exactly that, and you know why? - composition! The guy's always shown he can play a mean guitar - hell, he's one of the best "unknowns" of all time - but few of his albums have ever achieved that status of "classic" - until now!
Across 19 compositions, a few songs and mostly instrumentals , this musician and composer shows he's got what it takes to produce an album of tracks that is wholly free of cliché and predictability, boredom and bombast, instead coming up with an album that oozes quality from start to finish. It's not "rock" in the metal sense and it's certainly not "jazz-rock" at all, but it's vibrant, melodic, soars, flies, drives and, above all, rocks. His rendition of Dylan's 'My Back Pages', as dull as dishwater in most hands, here comes alive in a hail of steaming guitar, organ backdrop, superb vocals and driving rhythm section, to create a cover that so eclipses the original, and any other version to date, it's hard to believe it's not his anyway. From track to track the guitar work is simply stunning and it's a credit to the composer and players that this album carries with it the strength, empetus and red hot ensemble work, with a production that puts the final sheen on an already faultless slice of guitar-dominated instrumental magnificence. Eclipsing anything put out by the great Jeff Beck, this is not only the finest guitar -based album of its kind that you'll hear this year, it's surely up there as one of the all-time classics. Yes, it is THAT good and you should buy it NOW!!
FRANCIS MONKMAN: Jam CD
Now this album will astound you - trust me!! With Monkman playing just electric guitar, fellow Curved Air bassist and drummer plus second lead guitarist, it's an all instrumental series of jam sessions, edited down from five hours of tapes, to provide one absolutely storming album of dual-guitar jamming that comes across as a mix of vintage seventies Ash Ra Tempel mixed with the jamming spirit and, to a degree, style of artists such as Hendrix & Quicksilver Messenger Service. But, throughout its length, the one thing that comes across is the sheer excitement, energy and playing genius that these musicians exercised in a jamming situation, the creative process worthy of any of the more well known guitar jamming bands that came out of the seventies Krautrock boom. A track such as the eight minute 'Baghdad/Return To Calvary' being THE most obvious mix of the Krautrock and USA West Coast guitar jamming styles and, for a slice of more introspective music, utterly riveting as you could almost imagine it being an outtake from the legendary first two Cosmic Jokers albums, only then for the quartet to go on to the eight minutes of 'Sol Y Sombra' and tear your head apart with some of the most spectacular, sizzling psychedelic electric guitar duelling that you'll hear, here a mix of psych and Krautrock that blows you away. Across 8 incendiary tracks, this is twin electric guitar jamming that inhabits all the best facets of what made the seventies guitar bands so timeless, and has to be one of THE great "unknown" albums of the last 15 years - anyone into red hot electric guitar work that take from psych, Krautrock and West Coast, just HAS to own this album - you won't be disappointed.
PROG-ROCK:
ACUITY: Skyward CD
If you're into the sort of prog-rock that doesn't know if it wants to be seventies or nineties but ends up being of such superb quality, you don't actually care - then you'll get SUCH a buzz out of this album. With one fiery instrumental full of guitar fire opening the album, it then moves into a four minute song that's full of twists ad turns and latent power, before hurtling headlong into three epic tracks that last fourteen, twenty one and seventeen minutes respectively, and these are where this album goes from good to great with no effort whatsoever. With mid-range lead vocal, through multi-tracked harmonies, extensive use of mellotrons (you'll die for the mellotrons in the fourteen minute 'Transcendence'), searing and soaring guitar leads, long instrumental breaks, electro-acoustic passages, huge-sounding expansive soundscapes of guitars and synths, even these having mellotrons added to them, flowing arrangements that have you completely transfixed and a trio of truly awesome compositions, you get the distinct impression that, whether you're into Yes or Spocks Beard, or both, or any point in between, you'll just fall over yourself wondering how on earth this album could have passed you by - and the best part is - it didn't!! It's brand new and it's tremendous. Inventive but with purpose and direction, superbly arranged, choc full of mellotrons, gorgeous harmony and lead vocals, red hot guitar work, keys a-plenty from seventies sounding synths and organ and every aspect that makes a first class, structured, high-flying, melodic, complex and quite awesomely composed, arranged and produced prog album, this is epic prog on an epic scale - you'd be wise to check this out - trust me!!
AJALON: On The Threshold Of Eternity CD
It starts semi-promisingly with an instrumental that is really quite fiery with some seriously hot guitar soloing over a thunderous rhythm section and expansive string synth backdrops but then this guy comes in playing the Irish whistle and suddenly we've gone all twee and celtic, not what you want when you've got a perfectly good solid rock instrumental blazing away, but it's only four minutes so it's no so bad. Then it's straight into the first song, 'The Promised Land' with slightly accented vocals in English that are what you'd call "mid-range" and recall REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin more than anything, backed by synths and acoustic guitars, but then the band starts up and it's a whole different story as the vocal harmonies gather, the mix of AOR, Celtic prog and anthemic delivery, all rise up to provide this huge-sounding song that's positively inspirational, a hybrid of prog and AOR that's split down the middle, with an incredible production, immense arrangements and a song that has the hairs standing up on the back of your neck. This then is the story of the album - with its sword and sorcery and religious lyrical images and tales (you can see why Rick Wakeman & Neal Morse play on this album) - as songs pour out of the speakers in a sort of religious prog answer to REO Speedwagon with more synths. Providing you can get past the lyrics and beliefs then it's a pretty excellent album.
AMBER LIGHT: Stranger & Strangers CDEP
Three four minute songs and a fourteen minute instrumental in a territory that resembles 'Sky Moves Sideways' era Porcupine Tree as much as anything, with solid but high-flying arrangements, light and airy vocals, sumptuous vocal harmonies, fluid electric guitar work, a good full sound courtesy of an excellent production and songs that spiral upwards with that same effect as when you first heard the Porcies. The only quibble is that the songs are slightly less "warm" than the early Porcies but the vocals and playing are outstanding, sometimes echoing current Coldplay (only happier) alongside PT. The instrumental shows off the band's magic to perfection with some soaring lead guitar work throughout much of it. All in all, a band with big things ahead of them.
ANGLAGARD: Epilog CD
You listen to the first five minutes of this album and, in classic early seventies terms, you've already heard Genesis, ELP, King Crimson, Camel and Gentle Giant . Yes, it's that rare delight - a seventies sounding prog-rock album that blows you away every time you hear it. From symphonic riches to angular rhythms, sinuous flute to rich mellotrons,. stirring organ to searing guitars, and a sympathetic rhythm section, this is at the same time, beautiful yet substantial. It's melodic yet it's complex, dynamic to a tee as delicately chiming and flowing passages are interspersed between stirring electric guitar dueling and soloing, although the arsenal of organ, mellotron and keys receive as much instrumental space as the guitars. Compositionally, it's a mix of flowing and complex, but always with that familiar seventies sounding structure. Between symphonic and prog-rock lies a classic hinterland, and this is it -mellotron fans will have a field day with this.
ANTHONY CURTIS: Book Of The Key CD
If you were to take the best, most dynamic, most powerful and most engaging mid-song instrumental excursions and improvisations of the classic seventies King Crimson, add to it the most explosive instrumental work of vintage early seventies Mahavishnu Orchestra, add to all that, more than a touch of "Zeuhl" music from the most powerful French quarters and wrap it all up in a modern production that creates a staggering clarity of sound, then you have this album. Instrumental, including Tony Levin on bass, Mike Keneally on Fender Rhodes and Jeff Gauthier on violin and Lewis Pragasam on drums, this is one album that is going to tear the roof off - and the icing on the cake is lead musician, composer and electric guitarist Anthony Curtis who turns in a searing sea of explosive lead guitar work that can't fail to take your breath away. To say this music is monumental would be absolutely spot on. With three epics between ten and twenty-three minutes, plus a clutch of tracks around the four minute mark, what you have here is seventy three amazing minutes of music that will undoubtedly appeal to all fans of the aforementioned bands, and an album that steams, storms and sizzles.
MOSTLY AUTUMN: Storms Over Still Waters CD
Brand new studio album and, from the evidence of the opening track, I definitely think that they've been well overdoing the Pink Floyd tribute stuff - the guy sounds like Waters, the electric slide guitarist sounds like Gilmour while the track overall is more like classic prog with female vocal counterpointing the male - a steaming way to start. Not sure if it's good or bad, but the second track, 'Broken Glass', although pretty well at the same pace, sounds quite different, here a more sort of AOR brew of prog with a certain ballad-y touch too, while a huge anthemic arrangement gives it the necessary prog feel on what is a quite addictive song, the more you hear it. There are eleven tracks in fifty-five minutes and most of them performed at quite a strong pace so you get the feel that here is a band with a lot to prove, a determination that they are going to storm into your heart and head rather than just sidle up quietly - you almost get the feel that something's annoyed them. 'Ghost In Dreamland' features another stirring, strident arrangement with this horizon-stretching production as the sonic soup of guitars, synths, piano, bass, drums and female-male vocals delivers yet another sizzling anthem at a pace that many prog bands wouldn't dream of going near, but it works and it's stunning. 'Heart Life' finally gives us respite in the form of an acoustic intro with gorgeous female vocal on a song that builds, in classic anthem fashion, into an electric epic that, although only five minutes long, has that huge sounding feel to it. The four minute 'The End Of The World' is like the band doing the whole of 'Supper's Ready' in four minutes flat - it's got certain qualities to it that recall everything that made the vintage track such a legend - but passing in the blink of an eye - a great track, nevertheless. 'Black Rain' guitar-riffs its way into being with stirring organ work, the dual vocals soaring to the skies as a track ensues that wouldn't have been out of place as part of Spock's Beard's 'Kindness Of Strangers' album, as the rhythm section thunders and a searing electric guitar solo takes off like a rocket, mid-song. Five further tracks, including 2 eight minute songs, take all these qualities and climbs higher and higher with every track, synths, keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and dual vocals scoring hit after hit after hit. It's an album of anthems, a sea of strong songs and strident arrangements that really hit home as a truly faultless example of perfectly delivered prog-rock distilled to its very essence.
NIL: Novo Sub Sole CD
On many a prog CD, you'll find THE epic - the twnty minute track that builds and flows, twists and turns, soars and flies and generally just blows you away on a wave of strength and dynamics. Well, here's a new thing - how about a twenty minute prog epic that chills you out, makes you float, provides a serene atmosphere and becomes something you can hear every time you want some great prog-rock, but just want something that bit more laid-back, yet still solidly prog. On this album, you'll find that right from the start as a soothing female vocal and a piece dominated by the use of flowing synths and keyboards ensues, a twenty minute ride through gorgeousness yet retaining its prog-rock identity throughout. A fuirther similar track of shorter length follows before they lose the vocalist (who hasn't exactly had a lot to do up to now anyway) and embark on an instrumental set of tracks that increase the power, up the guitar quotient and go into a much more rock-based proggy brew, still with synths, melotrons and keyboards filling out the overall sound, as the rhythm section ably supports the lead work. The fifth track, 'Abandon' brings back the vocals butt his time increases the strength and creates a track that really drives, with some fantastic combined lead work from the guitars, synths, keys and mellotron. The album ends almost as it began, only this time with just six minutes of chilled-out prog and wordless female vocal, drawing a most original album to a reflective and quite emotive close.
NO-MAN: Flowermouth CD
This band revolves around the core duo of Tim Bowness who sings and writes the lyrics, and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson who plays all the instruments and writes all the music, or arranges it, or whatever.
They are clearly influenced heavily by King Crimson's 'Islands' album and pretty well anything put out by Peter Hammill, as much of their output sounds in a similar vein, albeit to hugely varying degrees.
On this album, they are joined on most tracks by King Crimson's Robert Fripp on electric guitar, skysaw guitar, Frippertronics, plus guest appearances from fellow Crimsonite Mel Collins on sax and flute, fellow Porcer Chris Maitland on bass, drums and percussion, Ben Coleman on violin on most tracks, Lisa Gerard on vocals on one track and that's the main line-up details. The albums opens with a ten minute slow-paced ballad that kind of wanders along on a sea of synths and keyboards, embellished on occasion by sax, violin, trumpet and a guitar solo that's typically Fripp, while Bowness is right upfront, crooning the lyrics, and the whole thing is actually quite a mix of classical, jazz and prog, very dreamy and atmospheric, breathy vocals and pastoral arrangements, full of feeling and a good opener, perhaps a promise of the riches to come. So, when it ends and you're suddenly plunged into the funky 'You Grow More Beautiful' it's quite a jarring effect, but the chunky rhythms and string synths back the light and airy vocals as the whole thing chugs along with Wilson's guitar to the foreground, wah-wah'ing away merrily as the chufgging continues and the song unwinds. The six minute 'Animal Ghost' returns to the feel and style of the first track only with a funkier bass and an electro-percussive rhythm that sounds like it came out of Phil Collins' 'In The Air Tonight', with a flute solo giving an extra pastoral touch as the briefest of lead guitar solos from Fripp puts the icing on the cake, and still Bowness croons away. The rest of the album carries on in a similar vein, with chunky tracks and more strung-out ballads, exotic arrangements that are a mix of classical , jazz and electronic, and the constant presence of Bowness' upfront vocal.
NO-MAN: Heaven Taste CD
A tale of two halves. The first four tracks and twenty minutes are songs featuring Tim Bowness on vocals, and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson on instruments, with Ben Coleman guesting on violin on the first two tracks. Musically, they have a kind of brooding yet uplifting quality to them, the rhythmic strength of 'Babyship Blue' giving it a very Porcupine Tree style feel, as multi-tracked vocals, sky guitar and a vast string-like electronic and violin backdrop create a magical spell, bouncing and shimmering. The other half of the story is a twenty-three minute instrumental played by Wilson, with the old Japan trio of Jansen/Barbieri/Karn reunited and between them, they turn in an instrumental track that is simply splendid, sometimes atmospheric, sometimes classical sounding, sometimes more New-Age, others more electronic, but mostly progressive in a much more wholesome manner, rhythmic throughout a lot of it adding to the strength but losing none of the charm, as synths, keyboards, drums, percussion, strings and more synths weave some strident and emotive musical spells, in some ways a bit like classic Jade Warrior but without the guitar leads.
NO-MAN: Housewives Hooked On Heroin CD Single£6.99
A five tracker featuring twenty one minutes of songs. The title track starts as an angst-ridden ballad, then sails into a sea of chunky beats, as the vocals weave assorted treated and untreated paths through an arrangement that changes shape more times than you'd imagine in four and a half minutes - no choruses, but quite an addictive beat and a fairly full sounding arrangement once Wilson's guitars are added to the driving nature of the piece. The three minute 'Hit The Ceiling' is essentially hushed vocals, driving, cyclical, almost techno rhythms, a sampled female operatic voice and a distant whining guitar. Then comes a six minute remix of the first track courtesy of electronic pioneer Scanner which saves the day by practically burying the vocals in an ocean of fizzing guitars, chunky electro-percussive beats and assorted electronic backdrops, the best thing on the EP, for sure. The three minute 'Urban Disco' is more like decelerated U2 only gloomier, although Wilson's guitars do provide the odd moment of intensity. The near four minutes of 'Where I'm Calling From' ride on a heartbeat rhythm, strummed acoustic guitars, distant keys and guitars as Bowness' mournful voice wrings out angst-ridden lyrics at a relatively slow pace.
NO-MAN: Wild Opera CD
The opener is mostly instrumental and a really strong track with a symphonic-jazzy feel to it, while most of the rest of the album are songs founded on beds of what you'd probably call more ambient-lounge styled rhythms and arrangements, with slowly chunky electro-percussive rhythms, synth backdrops and guitar textures, embellished with solos from guitars, keyboards and sax, as the voice of Bowness sings in styles ranging from light and airy, through intense to impassioned. It's pretty well for the most part an ambient album of three to four minute songs, and in that respect, chugs along with plenty of instrumental subtleties along the way.
NO-MAN: Dry Cleaning Ray CD
Probably the most vocal album of the lot, with very few examples where the instrumentation is allowed to roam freely. Much of it continues the ambient dub feel so prevalent of the previous album and EP, only here even more so and at least injects the songs with some guts and underlying power, making them a lot easier to digest. A positively avant-garde slice of shredding Muslimgauze standing next to an instrumental that's the best thing on the album, provides an interesting interlude, before it's back on the industrial dub trail and a song that sounds seriously industrial in the form of the static-filled, slow-motion intensity of 'Evelyn'. The final track is the nine minute 'Sicknote' that starts as a ballad with vocals and keys, then roams into realms of distant squalling guitars then it's back to cool, strummed jazzy electric and acoustic guitars backed by distant synths and tinkling percussion as Bowness' hushed vocal enters and the track begins to wander yet again, all textural and soundscaping, nearly all instrumental and certainly an interesting finale.
NO-MAN: Carolina Skeletons CD Single
Just Bowness & Wilson on four tracks and twenty minutes of songs, which open with the title track that's predominantly a ballad with drawn-out vocals backed by slowly Pink Floyd-esque rhythms and lilting piano. The three minute 'Something Falls' is a brooding, atmospheric song with acoustic guitars and shimmering electric guitar, distant string synth, occasional piano droplets and undulating bass, backing the airy, crooning vocals. The near eight minute 'Close Your Eyes' is a bit Peter Gabriel, a bit Porcupine Tree and a lot U2, features mellotron to the fore, along with gorgeous pools of synths and guitars, and even Bowness' mournful voice can't ruin what is the best song they've probably ever recorded, even better when this fades and you find the end track is a piano-led instrumental of extreme beauty, albeit just under three minutes, but decidedly the best eleven minutes of No-Man that you'll hear.
NO-MAN: Returning Jesus CD
The duo of Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson and Samuel Smiles' Tim Bowness start the New Year off with a brand new album featuring twelve songs that are by and large a combination of moody, introspective, romantic, jazzy, ethereal, beautiful and lush, with emotive, sometimes almost subdued Marc Almond-style, vocals, and a largely synths/string synths-backed setting above which assorted guitars and instrumental layers shine out, to great effect it has to be admitted, with percussion and drums providing a solid backing. Sometimes it sounds a bit like mid-seventies Floyd, particularly track three which could have been any of the more normal songs off something such as 'Obscured By Clouds'.
NO-MAN: All That You Are CD Single
Five tracks in twenty minutes with guest musicians in the form of Colin Edwards, Steve Jansen & Theo Travis. The lead and title track is an angst-ridden ballad that is more anthemic thanks to an arrangement that includes organ, mellotron and solid, albeit slow, rhythmic backing, and even though the lyrics are horribly full of syrup, the track pans out pretty decently. The three minute 'Until Tomorrow' is just bizarre - ballad-like vocal and banjo for two minutes - nothing else - until an electric guitar makes the briefest of appearances then it's back to the voice and the banjo - make of this what you will. After this, the solid and chunky beats that start the five minute 'Chelsea Cap' come as blessed relief, then Bowness' light and airy vocal appears as the song slowly chugs away, adding organ backdrop, before suddenly exploding into classic Porcupine Tree territory as the arrangement becomes more full-sounding and the solo vocal become multi-tracked to much better effect. With a flute lead acting as icing on the cake, it's a more pastoral kind of Porcies style and pretty decent stuff. The four minute 'Darkroom' comes across more like a more higher register Peter Hammill with eerily delivered lyrics and an instrumental backing to match. Finally, the three minutes of 'Until Tomorrow' effectively cuts up the earlier version in a sea of distant echoes and static, easily even more pointless than the first version. An EP that shares rubbish and excellence with no middle ground.
JOHN PERRY: Sunset Wading CD
Whoever said prog-rock bassists shouldn't make solo albums, had obviously never heard this fine offering from the ex-Caravan musician that came out in the mid seventies. With contributions from the likes of Michael Giles (King Crimson), Morris Pert (Brand X), Rupert Hine, fellow Caravan member, Geoffrey Richardson and more, this is an album of songs and instrumentals that manages to take us on a journey through seventies semi-symphonic prog with light fusion-y touches, and glimpses of things such as Caravan, Jade Warrior, Mike Oldfield, PFM and more, along the way. Overall, it's substantial, full of dynamics and delicacies, ranging from pastoral to electrifying, and just a gorgeous thirty-nine minutes of music.
PINEAPPLE THIEF: 4 Stories Down EP CDEP
With one non-album track, one exclusive mix and two album tracks, this is one for both the committed fan and for the listener wanting to dip their toes in the healing waters that is Pineapple Thief for the first time.
The first two tracks are taken from the brilliant '10 Stories Down' album, 'Clapham' being one of those huge-sounding ballads so beloved of 'Four Chords' style Porcupine Tree, only here with mellotrons and synths dominating the mix as opposed to guitars that take up the more textural role. 'Wretched Soul' is the more raw of the two, with a treated vocal, garage-y drums and chunky rhythms, only to wander into a ballad vocal with light guitar backing only then to storm into a hugely riffing sea of guitars as a track ensues that could well be absolutely vintage sounding Porcupine Tree down to a tee - just phenomenal.
'The Ground Floor' is the exclusive track, at five minutes long, and, again, exhibits all the finest qualities of mid-period Porcies with sensational Wilson-styled lead vocal and harmonies, a massive sound from synths and guitars and rhythm section that's so perfectly produced and arranged, and a mid-section instrumental passage that snarls and growls to perfection before the song once again takes off to the skies and beyond. The final track is a new seven minute mix of 'Subside', originally from the 'Variations….' album, and if you thought what you'd just heard was good, then this will have you wide-eyed and heady, as the track opens with the slowly rising song portion of the piece before the instrumental lengthy section kicks in and the whole thing just climbs higher and higher, intensity on intensity as this massively anthemic slice of multi-layered instrumental magic soars into the heavens majestically with a lead guitar solo at the end that is studied yet positively spectacular as the synths gather and the song finally comes down to earth. As twenty one minutes of magic, it's faultless.
RING OF MYTH: Weeds CD
The promo blurb that comes with this sates that "this CD will please fans of the old Yes, Genesis and Rush". Well, I'm one of those, and it didn't please me. Across the first couple of tracks alone, you will spot influences that abound from the music of all three of the aforementioned groups - yes, even Rush in the instrumental parts - along with a brave attempt on Yes style harmonies, and similar sudden changes in direction as the songs progress, the second track in particular trying, seemingly desperately, to sound like old seventies balladic Yes, even to the extent of the lead singer doing his best Jon Anderson impression, as typically early Yes arrangements surround. But the long and short of it is that they can create the sounds - but they just don't have the strength of material - the songs are so forgettable and it's only the playing from the band that really provides the album's only high spots. Take a track such as the five minute 'Drone' where the "sons of Starcastle" tag is really earned and deserved, only here the sonic soup is pure Yes, as the instrumental end section rages and burns, electric guitar notes flying out of the speakers - but memorable? I don't think so. As to the eleven minute 'Blue Stem', it just doesn't gel at all - the vocalist attempting to further the Yes comparisons when clearly he can't cut it, while the band are still thinking they ARE Yes without realizing you've got to have the strength of composition to get it right. Moments of glory do occur at odd intervals, but this merely adds to the frustration that this band is caught between a cover it can't sustain and originality that would sink it like a stone.
