PROG-ROCK:
PINK FLOYD, KING CRIMSON and more As performed by…………
LES CLAYPOOL'S FROG BRIGADE: Live Frogs Set CD
The companion album to the one below (wave "hi", everybody!!!) sees this new outfit play the first of a two-part set in San Fransisco, USA on three nights in 2000. A mix of rock, prog-rock, fusion and intensity, there's clearly been a lot of listening to King Crimson through the ages, going on here, as evidenced by the way they steam through a near fifteen minute version of Crimso's 'Thela Hun Ginjeet' as the opening track. From there on, five further tracks between six and twelve minutes, continue this sense of musical adventure as the band drive forward in a blistering mix of guitars, synths, organ, pounding electric bass and solid drum work, culminating in a twelve minute rendition of Pink Floyd's 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' done to perfection, and serving as a taster for what is to follow if you buy the second set on the second CD.
PINK FLOYD'S 'ANIMALS' ALBUM As performed by…………
LES CLAYPOOL'S FROG BRIGADE: Live Frogs Set 2 CD
Who? What? Huh? Allow me to explain. This guy - Claypool - plays in Primus - who? Well, if you don't know then right now, you don't need to - and he's decided to revisit his Floydian youth by getting his band to play the whole of the legendary Pink Floyd album, 'Animals', as the second part of one of their concerts. So, that's what this CD is - and it's superb. With a sixteen minute 'Dogs' as the first main track (after the intro), they stay faithful to the sound and arrangements of the original but, with a sound quality and production that's first rate, the whole thing sounds so much fresher and more vibrant as a line-up featuring two lead guitars, really give it the treatment, and to hear the dual guitar leads on this piece is a joy. Atmospherically, they've got it spot on, with some excellent keyboards work, while the rhythm section are every bit as tasty and solid as the original. Yet, as a fresh sounding rendition of a classic track, you've got to give it the time of day and play the thing, 'coz it steams ahead of the original in terms of longevity from now onwards. 'Pigs (Three Different Ones)' weighs in at just short of twelve minutes. After the introduction, with upfront bass and chiming guitar, the band just roar into life as the song surges forth, to stunning effect, a performance that is truly incendiary, the guitar work in the mid-section break flying to the heavens. At eleven minutes, 'Sheep' features yet more storming electric bass work before the band goes supernova and roars ahead with the devil on their tails, delivering one fierce sounding performance that features great vocals, great collective playing and some breathtaking synth-bass dueling in the mid-section. Ending as it began with the acoustic strains of 'Pigs On The Wing', it's a fantastic album, far from pointless and one that you decidedly will play - often!!
EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER: Live CD
Once again, as with this series, no sleeve-notes so not a clue where and when this was recorded but it's a sixty minute concert and the quality is superb. Things get off to a cracking start with a roaring eight minute run-through of 'Fanfare For The Common Man' which leads into the even more roaring 'Peter Gunn Theme' only to pan out into a gorgeous and spirited five minute 'Paino Improvisation' and finally a near three minute 'Enemy God' - nearly twenty minutes into the album and so far, not a vocal in sight. That changes for the next track as things simmer down for four minutes of Lake delicacy in the form of 'C'est La Vie'. Then they up the anti with thirteen minutes of 'Pirates', just the band - no orchestral crap - and it's quite superb. Following this there's a sprightly 'Maple Leaf Rag' which serves as the perfect precursor for 'Hoe Down' then a right mix of things as 'Tiger In A Spotlight' leads into a one minute drum solo which turns into 'Lucky Man'. More delicacy with the two songs that close the album, sandwiched by another piano improvisation, and that's the lot - one thoroughly excellent ELP concert.
FLOWER KINGS: Official Bootleg CD
An audience recording of a concert in the USA in 2002 and you can see why the band released it on their own label as an "official bootleg", because the band have been captured on an inspired night, by a recording that, in terms of combining atmosphere and clarity and quality, knocks the socks off many a mixing desk recording. The album opens with a forty-seven minute performance of 'Garden Of Dreams', a track where the group, this time just a quintet of dual lead guitars, rhythm section and keyboards, really let fly, with tender and anthemic vocals sitting alongside every classic prog ensemble jamming and soloing passage that you can imagine. Seriously hot stuff. The six and a half minute 'In The Eyes Of The World' that follows, is every bit as good, the vocals taking a decided Wetton-tinge, while the band surge ahead as one, with some superb seventies swirling organ work right upfront. A couple of short tracks lead into the finale - a thirteen minute of 'I Am The Sun' where the band absolutely cooks.
GTR: Roundabout - Live CD
No sleeve notes but at least we know where it was recorded when the lead vocalist says "hello Los Angeles" at the beginning. What follows is a superb concert full of proggy-aor originals plus a couple of Hackett tracks, a cover of Genesis' 'I Know What I Like' and a steaming eight and a half minutes of Yes's 'Roundabout'. All in all, one spirited performance from a prog supergroup that never hung around long, but left a legacy that's every bit as good as this indicates.
STEVE HOWE: Homebrew 3 CD
A collection of 21 tracks over an hour's running time that form a collection of instrumentals and songs which are all essentially demos or works in progress -the embryonic versions of tracks that would later be embellished in whatever ways, to feature on albums by the man himself, plus GTR, AWBH & Yes. The result is a set of Howe-composed and performed pieces that, mostly, work as listening pleasure in their own right. OK, so the drum machine backing gets wearisome on occasion, but for most of the time, you don't really notice it, as the guitars do the talking, occasionally embellished with synths or vocals or both. Much of the time the tracks are enjoyable with textures and, above all, melodies, that carry the way. It's more of a fan's album than anything and not the place to start if you want prime Steve Howe, but as an album for that, it is more than enjoyable.
LIQUID SCARLET: Liquid Scarlet CD
Heavily influenced by early (and we're talking EARLY) King Crimson, there are more mellotrons to the second on the opening track than you'd have thought possible, as the five minute number unfolds with some flowing and high-flying guitar work, over tight and mid-paced compositions, full of touches that take it off at a tangent as it all drives on, the vocals perfectly clear and right upfront, becoming altogether more multi-layered and anthemic as the second track appears. There's a definite seventies feel in there, but the actual compositions are distinctly of the present, with huge-sounding arrangements full of dynamic and delicious flowing complexity, the second song owing more to the present style of prog than the first. From there it's into the eight and a half minutes of 'Citta Nuova' that comes across as still the KC influences courtesy of some very Fripp-esque guitar but then mixes that up with PFM-style synth soloing, more mellotrons as backdrop and solid, driving rhythms, with electric bass well to the fore, and as a building track of splendid dynamic qualities, it really hooks you. Five other tracks between five and eight minutes are very much guitar-led in the same way that era Crimso was and as the album progresses you sail more into the mid-seventies era line-up style of things than you'd have thought earlier, the guitar work ranging from relaxed to aggressive, as more influences show up along the way (for example Focus on the mid-song passage of 'Molok'), and overall, it's a very strong album that mixes songs and instrumental work with the two great flavours of past and present, and comes out smiling.
NEAL MORSE: S/T CD
Holy Surprise, Batman!! Look - I'll make no secret of it - I expected this album to be rubbish!! Why? Well we'll come to that in a minute - but in theory, this album shouldn't have worked. You see, and let's deal with this head on, Morse has got religion - big time!! Previous works have made no secret of this - and lyrically things were beginning to get bogged down - hell, I was brought up a Roman Catholic and, even though thoroughly lapsed, am still qualified to say that I know when religion is beating me over the head with a blunt object - and that's what I hated about his last album. So, this one, with titles like 'The Temple Of The Living God', "Sweet Elation" and 'Inside His Presence' not only made me fear the worst, but expect the worst.
So, you can imagine my surprise when, by track 2 I'm grinning like an idiot saying "this shouldn't work - but it does", by track three when I'm saying "this is sensational", by track 4 when I'm acclaiming it in the same way I acclaimed 'Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' and by track 5 when I'm saying "sorry, but this is genius".
It is too - all of the above. Let's deal with the lyrics - they are filled with religious imagery but don't ever once (well, maybe once for about twenty seconds in track 6 and a tad wince-inducing in track 9 for about a minute or so, if I'm being honest with you) make you feel like you're listening to a religious album - the writing is absolutely brilliant - Morse has finally achieved the impossible - a Christian album that you can enjoy no matter what or who you believe in. In fact the lyrics reminded me a lot of the sort of story-telling state that Gabriel used in the immortal 'Lamb' album. Then those lyrics form songs - the songs are sensational, Morse's vocal performance being one of the finest voices in prog-rock today and there isn't one moment on this album where you don't appreciate the sound, dynamics and sheer inspiration of his solo, multi-tracked and harmony vocals. Then the music - oh yes, the music - just INCREDIBLE!!! The album runs continuously throughout so that you feel like, and indeed you ARE, listening to a single piece that moves through many changes and movements throughout its twelve-part make-up. Prog-rock? Oh yes - this is a prog-rock album and no mistake - but it's powerful - boy is it powerful - with some seriously head-bending work from an arsenal of synths, keyboards, mellotrons, organ, electric guitars, bass, drums and acoustic guitars - and epic? Jeez, is it epic!! When the massed choirs come in on track seven you're in a maelstrom of swirling prog and taken to heaven at the same time, then, in a moment of absolute song-writing genius, it all drops down to vocal and acoustic guitar to provide an almost 'Pigs On The Wing' style outro that turns into track 8 as if by magic as the song just sails into the next part with warmth and passion, the thing billowing out into a Floyd-like mix of prog and AOR. But the album sizzles, roars and burns too - with some guitar and synths work to have you enraptured throughout - and guest artists that include members of Dream Theater (Rudess, Portnoy) plus guitarists Steve Hackett, Roine Stolt & Alan Morse. Anthemic on an epic scale, arrangements to die for and songs that, 98% of the time, have you hooked in their lyrical, story-telling flavour, this is a remarkable album - and to think I thought I'd hate it!!! Just goes to show………..you gotta have an open mind for this job!!!
NEKTAR: Magic Is A Child - Remaster+Bonus Tracks CD
With original member Roye Albrighton having just left, new guitarist/vocalist Dave Nelson on board and synth musician Larry "Synergy" Fast still around, the band set out to record an album that was deliberately a lot more condensed and commercial than anything they'd done before, and on that level, this is a success. Compare it to what is widely regarded as the cream of the Nektar albums gone by, and it's not so much poorer as simply not the same. Gone are the stretched out instrumental passages, gone are the space-rock tendencies, in are lashings of harmony vocals, an altogether soft-rock-prog style of arrangements and songs that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Yes album. Solos are kept to an economical level, with passages that you'd describe as "tasty" more than red-hot, while the vocals are generally well produced to sound harmonious and full of layers. As a kind of concept album, it's delivered quite dramatically and actually pre-dates a lot of very similar sounding "Euro-prog" that came pouring from the mainland, many years later. If you're into the more song-based albums by many a modern Euro-prog band, then this will come as surprise as you never thought you'd like a Nektar album, especially one with twenty minutes of bonus tracks (of which one previously unreleased track features King Crimson's Bob Fripp on guitar).
NEKTAR: Always CD Single
Four tracker from Germany that features two tracks from the new studio album 'Evolution' plus two tracks exclusive to this single release, which are 'Telephone' and 'Angel' recorded live in the studio in June 2004. The lead track strats as a ballad but then the group explode into life and it all take off in a quite anthemic way for three and a half minutes, while really IS a ballad, a powerful one for all that, but a ballad nevertheless. 'Telephone' is also a ballad, more like a Greg Lake style of track than anything with strummed acoustic guitars and odd hints of bass and keyboards, while 'Angel' starts reflective then becomes a ……errrrr…..ballad, with slowly crunchy drums, deep lilting bass and chiming acoustic and electric guitars, the impassioned vocals also present, the sound filled with a backdrop of ringing electric piano-like synths. If you like the song-based, slower, more human side of this band, then this one's for you.
MIKE OLDFIELD: Light & Shade LTD DBL CD
Fresh from the adrenaline-rousing emotional euphoria caused from reviewing the latest CD by sonic overload merchants Marble Sheep - stick with me, there is a point to this - and someone says "here, can you review the new Oldfield album". So, you approach it thinking "lord, this is going to be boring after THAT" - but guess what - yeh, rite - even a hard-edged metalhead can be seduced by the delights of one of Mike's melodies. So, if that's the case, then imagine what the rest of you are going to feel - for this is an album of great beauty, one that achieves lofty emotional heights of its own in the best traditions of what makes an Oldfield instrumental album so special and timeless. Disc one is the "light" album - which means that you find an almost "classical-meets-symphonic-meets-pastoral-meets-prog" style of music, with copious use of keyboards allied to a range of acoustic and electric guitars, programmed rhythms from electronic to ethnic, plus occasional wordless vocals. The effect evokes the best instrumental parts of 'QE2' and the title track of 'Platinum' with hints of 'Ommadawn' - acres of melodies that stretch out before you, full of warmth and human touch, tunes that make you feel safe and comfortable while at the same time possessing enough strength to keep you hooked and enough variation to see you through to the end. Light it may be - but substantial and cohesive, it is too.
Disc 2 is the "shade" album - again forty-five minutes and 9 tracks - and here you realize that the better title for this album may well have been "Fragility & Strength" - for if disc one was "fragile" then this is "strength" - as we continue to hear a maze of melodies as before, but here they are driven along by much more solid and flowing rhythmic foundations, with greater use of textural layers and deep bass depths adding to the darker feel, but all the time, remaining expansive and melodic. Altogether more contemporary sounding, and less overtly symphonic, this is the disc that moves your body as well as your mind, as the tunes ride a sea of addictive rhythms to exquisite effect, no one track sounding the same as the last, so you feel you're listening to a real album and not just a set of similar sounding tracks. The beauty behind the melodies remains true, with some soaring guitar work used more sparingly than on the first disc, but when it comes, the effect is spellbinding as on the inspirational 'Tears Of An Angel', contrasting with a track such as 'Romance' which would give most melodic trance acts more than a run for their money, as the rampaging rhythms catch fire, under soaring, typically Oldfield, electric guitar heaven. But for the most part this is a disc that concentrates on the synths and keyboards for the main melodic expanses, driven by surging rhythms that keep it all flying.
PALLAS: The Dreams Of Men CD
Dramatic - Exciting - Powerful - Passionate - all words that describe the overall contents of this new, truly epic, seventy-three minute studio album. But there's another word too - Quality!! You won't have heard a better album from this band - for sure. They've mixed prog, rock and symphonic in a manner that is quite breathtaking, so that what you hear ends up being both familiar and yet refreshingly new.
The album opens with the near ten minute 'Bringer Of Dreams', a symphonic intro leading into a soaring lead guitar line that sails above the string sounds to just around two and a half minutes when - blat!! - in comes the band - and how!! This huge surge of synths, guitars, bass and drums positively sizzles then dies as the vocal comes in over violin-like backdrop for just a few seconds until the band re-enter, the vocal goes more anthemic with multi-tracked and lone voice. and the track lifts off dramatically. It' an epic by any other name and powerful, too, managing to attain the right balance between blowing your head off and caressing your soul as searing lead synths and guitars ride the waves of solid crunching rhythmic foundations - as explosive a slice of prog-rock as you'll find - but then that dies away to reveal a hushed passage that slowly fades before the band and vocals erupt once more, this time taking you right out there on jet-propelled prog-rock thunder. The seven minute 'Warriors' begins with a surging guitar riff that's straight out of the old Armageddon album as the band thunders in and a soaring lead guitar takes off over the crunchy rhythms and expansive synth backdrop. Then the vocals enter as the song surges forward, again pure prog, but powerful with it, a much more warming experience than the way the Americans do it. The chorus takes off and the production is sensational - as it is throughout - to provide a massive-sounding panorama of synths, guitars, bass and drums. Once again, the pace and dynamics of the song changes as it goes, moving from symphonic bliss to all-out attack, and always with a solid, purposeful and direct approach, as this huge sounding maelstrom that is the band in full proggy flight, has you completely caught up in its spell. The seven and a half minute 'Ghostdancers' starts all symphonic with strings leading onto vocal additions, before the band enters and the song begins, this time a song that is absolutely anthemic, telling a tale to have you transfixed, with a multi-tracked sea of harmonies soaring in fine vocal fashion above this infinite and powerful backing from the synths, guitars and rhythm section before a lead guitar suddenly take off and the hairs on the back of your neck start to rise. But then the song gathers even more harmonic, vocal strength, gathers intensity and emotion and just lifts off like nothing else around, truly inspirational and an absolute classic of proggy-AOR like few others could hope to achieve, with sizzling Floyd-like guitar soloing as icing on the cake. The eleven and a half minute 'Too Close To The Sun' is yet another epic track, this time featuring the synths much more in a lead role, either upfront or alongside some steaming electric guitar soloing as another impassioned, powerful, seriously brilliant slice of immaculately composed and arranged prog-rock brew, explodes and soothes as the action twists and turns, the lyrics and vocal totally commanding your attention as the song charts its path. The way it's structured - power leading into softness leading into soaring energy leading into softeness then back into power - puts you in mind of some of the great prog-rock epics of the past, and while this album could not be said to be a "seventies sounding" prog album, it reflects three decades of the best quality prog-rock in an original manner that is just astounding. Five further tracks, from four to near twelve minutes long, are all of this quality and the result is a simply jaw-dropping slice of mostly powerful, always human, prog-rock passion, warmth and intensity.
PINEAPPLE THIEF: 10 Stories Down CD
It's funny how the world turns……..about three albums ago, I was astonished at how much this group sounded like Porcupine Tree - and commented accordingly. Of course, they couldn't ever have been as good as Porcupine Tree - well, not until now, anyway!! With ten songs, including a fifteen minute epic closer, a production larger than the Eiffel Tower and a set of songs that's guaranteed to amaze and delight, THIS is everything that the latest PT album should have been. This is that excellent amalgam of song-writing, arranging, playing, singing and overall delivery at its peak - and it's solidly prog-rock too. Every song, from mellotron-soaked ballads to out and out stormers with more blazing synths, guitars, and rhythm section work than you can poke a pig with, is performed to perfection, the mix of lead vocal and vocal harmonies just mouth-watering in their execution, while the depth of the arrangements becomes almost orchestral at times as mellotrons, keys and acoustic guitars lead the way over the rhythmic core of the song. Then you've got to mention the sheer originality of the compositions - even daring where a track such as the five minute 'Wretched Soil' is concerned with its twists and turns and totally unique sounding mix of guitars and rhythm section, all of which soars into this amazing sonic soup of vocals, guitars, synths, harmonies and more as the whole track just ignites and leaves you breathless - a moment that you won't forget in a hurry and will want to relive for a long time to come. Then you get the seven minute 'The World I Always Dreamed Of' which starts gloriously with soaring harmonies, warm lead vocals, a song that touches your very soul and an arrangement that wreaks of pure class with its mix of synths, mellotrons, keys, acoustic and electric guitars, chugging deep bass and solid drum work, all combining on a song that simply can't fail to move even the hardest and heaviest of hearts into a state of total euphoria. It's just makes you feel so good. Across a set of tracks, none of which you can fault in any way whatsoever, the album ends with the near sixteen minute 'Light Up Your Eyes' which simply becomes an anthem that builds and builds and builds, a trademark being that the sound is just one huge wedge of instruments rather than any obvious soloing, and even dares to end on a quiet acoustic note. You simply can't argue with an album as good as this.
RPWL: Start The Fire DBLCD
You never quibbled when Pink Floyd brought out a live album - you didn't bat an eyelid when Porcupine Tree brought out a live album. Why? Because you KNEW the quality of what you'd get in terms of production, performance and song-writing. Well, add another name to that illustrious company - for this is up there with them and then some!
On CD1 you'll find RPWL originals, plus a five minute cover of Genesis' 'Not One Of Us', and it's an hour of supreme enjoyment. Opening with the ten minute 'Sleep' it begins all song-based with good vocals from lead singer Yogi Lang before stretching out on a glorious proggy groove as the instrumental work rings out in a hail of classic Floyd/Porcies proportions only more intense, as the vocal re-enters and the song just lifts the roof off - a stunning start to any album. The surge of the five minute 'Start The Fire' carries you along in its wake with this huge sound that you'd never thought to hear in a live setting a the band really lets go with some searing guitar, synths and organ work, on a song that is just so passionate and powerful, almost Beatles-esque in quality terms, and positively anthemic at the same time. 'Who Do You Think You Are' follows in similar vein only slightly slower, while the six minute 'Day On My Pillow' is a slow builder song that smoulders, sizzles and finally catches fire in a blaze of guitars, organ and mellotron finale. Then comes the German hit 'Roses' with guest vocalist, ex-Genesis Ray Wilson with all performers delivering an impassioned near seven minute version of the song that is truly anthemic and uplifting, again a mighty and expansive sound simply enhancing the awesome slice of song-writing, with the synths inparticular sounding positively panoramic as the song climbs higher and higher, finally erupting with a searing guitar lead that puts the icing on the cake. After that, Wilson delivers the cover of the Genesis track 'Not About Us' starting solo with just vocal and acoustic guitar, before the band enters and the gloriously uplifting song stirs the soul. Four further and equally consistent RPWL originals follow, from four to near nine minutes and every bit as good as what's gone before, to round off the first CD in exquisite fashion.
CD2 begins with a near twelve minute rendition of 'World Through My Eyes', a slow burner that builds via some swirling and high-flying lead work from the synths and organ, the guitar playing a more background rhythmic role as the song gradually becomes more intense and powerful as it goes, then at the five minute point it subsides to ballad proportions before chiming guitar enters over rumbling bass and tumbling drums to ring out as the song ensues, eventually resulting in this awesome lead guitar solo as the band flies headlong into the sun, a blaze of prog heaven and gloriously expansive music. Then it's into the Pink Floyd trilogy as we hear a six minute, band-played cover of the immortal Syd Barrett's 'Opel' a song that really works in this arrangement and makes you think you'd like to see an album of prog bands playing Barrett solo songs if this staggeringly good arrangement is anything to go by, the song sounding more Floyd-like than ever before. Then it's into real Floyd territory as you get a fifteen minute cover of 'Cymbaline' and the even more staggering part is that it's a better performance than any recorded Pink Floyd version of the song, with a massively extended instrumental break that is simply of classic Pink Floyd proportions, with guitars, synth and organ alongside the solid rhythm section, throughout the song. After this it's a rendition of 'Welcome To The Machine' and at seven minute long, once again, actually performed and arranged better than any version I've heard by the Floyd themselves, here so much more intense with a massive sound, superb playing from the synths in particular and the band as a whole, and just one sensational version that will have you in absolute awe of what this band is all about. The live album ends with a four minute 'I Don't Know' followed by an eleven minute totally uplifting, anthemic and epic prog version of 'Hole In The Sky' that ends things on a hugely expansive, solid sounding, passionate and powerful, smoking musical cauldron that is everything that this band is all about - and simply stunning.
But that's not the end of the CD - oh no! - as a bonus, there is a previously unreleased studio track in the form of the near thirteen minute 'New Stars Are Born', a song that is altogether much slower, more brooding but no less majestic compared to what you've just experienced, as the extended instrumental break features some stunning, dynamic and almost eerie ensemble work after the solid vocal performance, eventually blasting out on the most amazing guitar lead set above passionate clouds of synths and rhythms that are pure early Floyd as the song slowly fades to a distant end.
Overall, you simply can't fault this album - as perfect as a live prog-rock album gets.
SWEDISH FAMILY: Vintage Prog CD
It is too!! Recorded relatively recently, it nevertheless has been arranged, played and produced to sound just like a seventies instrumental prog album - and on that count, they've succeeded by the shovel load. If you did a blindfold test on the opening track you'd swear it was Focus. The same thing on track two reveals a cross between Camel & Kebnekaise, while track three returns to Focus whereas track four mirrors Solution with an added accordion player for exotic Parisien effect. Track five goes nowhere - but only a few minutes it has to be said - while track six returns to Focus - I think you get the drift by now. Fun it is, pointless, it probably is, well done it certainly is, enjoyable for sure and repeat playable - well, like any "tribute" album, be it to a band or a genre, that's open to debate - just on the side of "yes", I'd say.
RICK WAKEMAN: Live CD
No details provided about where or when this was recorded but it's with the English Rock Ensemble, which obviously includes a horn section, and the quality is excellent. The album provides twenty minutes taken from the 'Journey' album, 3 tracks and nearly thirty minutes from the 'Six Wives' album, plus a couple of others. Thus, the majority of the album is instrumental, with all the major soloists getting a look-in, and with its clearly enhanced line-up, it's quite a mix of prog, jazz and rock, certainly a lot more substantial than many of his recordings that I've heard, and at this price, one of the better live albums he's released.
