STENCIL FOREST: The Abyss CD
Two sides of the same band go to make up what is a quality prog-rock album of all-new studio tracks from a band whose last album was aeons ago. The first side of the band is the stuff of the prog-rock epic, with the album bookended by an eleven minute 'Lifeline Suite' and a twenty four minute title track. Taking the latter first, what you will find is a classic slice of seventies-influenced prog - keyboards dominated, with guitars providing as much a background role as a lead one, luscious harmonies, soaring mid-range vocals and a distinct mix of the pace and slow but deliberate structure of seventies Yes & Pink Floyd, the substantial, more Wakeman-esque passages of 'Close To The Edge'-era Yes, but while it's all solid and there's some superb arrangements going on here, it's never overly heavy or attacking and that's what makes it so endearing. In many ways, this is one of those warm, cozy epics of prog-rock that gives you a golden glow every time you put it on. The song is very Anderson-esque in the way that the vocals are constructed and the harmonies are arranged, but, forgetting the comparisons, there's something about this track that makes you want to listen to it - all along the way it all sounds so familiar yet also so original, something you feel you've heard before when clearly you haven't - but, in the end, it comes out as just one fantastic slice of song-writing and arranging, a must for anyone into flowing, quality seventies-oriented prog-rock. The eleven minute track that opens the album, starts with vocals and acoustic guitars, shaken percussion, as synth strings are added, and the whole thing reminded me immediately of something like 'Foxtrot'-styled Genesis with 'Turn Of The Cards-era Renaissance and hints of 'Yes Album'-era Yes, as Wakeman-esque keys and synths, soaring guitars, and a solid rhythm section deliver the instrumental goods to perfection with those mid-range vocals captivating you as the arrangement flows and drives, again, so wondrously constructed, familiar yet new and just superb.
In between these two epic tracks, we have 8 songs that average around the four minute mark and this is the other side to the band. Musically, firmly in keeping with what we've already described here and sounding more like 'Citadels'-era Starcastle but, instead of a vocal that sounded like Jon Anderson, you have a more solid, mid-upper range vocalist who still commands your attention and serves the song with quality. The harmonies, however, are still distinctly Yes-like and arranged quite superbly, while several of the songs could almost have come off the second or third Starcastle albums. The instrumentation is still firmly in the mould of classic seventies prog-rock, but without any extensive soloing, something that is more than made up for as the band play it red hot and on top of their tree.
Overall, this is a class prog-rock album with a capital "C", quality of a silver platter and something you're going to enjoy for a long time to come.
STRIDE: Imagine CD
The categorisation of "prog" and "rock" is now becoming so confusing - where does Prog-rock become prog-metal? Where does prog-metal become AOR? Then does AOR turn into prog-rock and complete the cycle? Confused? You will be! This one succeeds by being all of the above - no fools, this band!!! But, to all intents and purposes, this is a prog-metal album, but with a melodic core as the band show it can't half write a good song. That said, there's some smoking musicianship going on here too as the guitars and synths share the limelight as regards solo and lead space, although the guitars tend to make their presence more felt as there are leads, riffs, rhythms and solos all over the place, while the synths tend to have a more dynamic role. The rhythm section is fantastic - produced to perfection - sounding thunderous yet crystal clear which is exactly what you want from an album such as this. Vocally, it's superb - a lead singer who can really sing, with a seriously fine range, even more improved when the vocals become multi-tracked and these huge harmonies break out on top of the seriously flowing music. With 9 track spread over fifty minutes, it's pointless singling anything out, since there are no fillers - nothing that sounds out of place or doesn't work - and every track packs so much into it, that you'll listen to it three or four times jut to take it all in. Musically it's explosive stuff, but at the same time possessing that vital spark and feel for really addictive composition that makes it a prog-metal album which will have an undoubted appeal to both audiences alike.
21st CENTURY SCHIZOID BAND: Pictures Of A City - Live In New York DBLCD
If you're one of those people under the opinion that the King Crimson music as evidenced on the first five albums could be said to have been, in part (a)too jazzy (b)too abrasive (c)too edgy (d)too harsh (e)too loose (f)too prone to flying off at tangents (g)too busy, or any combination thereof, then this is the album for you.
What we have here is an immaculate sound quality recording of a concert in 2004 from the band featuring four guys who played in King Crimson on certain ones of the aforementioned five albums, plus a guitarist/vocalist who used to play with Hatfields/National Health keyboardist Dave Stewart in the short-lived Rapid Eye Movement. In this concert, they play tracks from the aforementioned five King Crimson albums, plus a couple of instrumentals along the way.
Where this scores is the fact that anyone wanting their early seventies Crimson to sound altogether a lot "cleaner", more relaxed, more "flowing" and generally a warmer, cosier performance, is in for a treat as the band turns out a rounded, polished and structured performance of classic King Crimson tracks including 'Court Of The Crimson King', 'Catfood', 'Epitaph' and many more. Their versions of the tracks from 'Circus' and 'Islands' are where the band really come into their own, since the angular, jazzier, more "out there" arrangements that Fripp created, have been replaced with altogether more structured slices of proggy-fusion cohesion.
Of special note are the incendiary sax work in 'Ladies Of The Road', the excellent vocals in 'Cirkus', the (all too brief) lead guitar and steaming sax work in '21st Century Schizoid Man', and, in their nod to the future, a surprisingly on-fire rendition of 'Starless' which, with its strong guitar and bass work contrasting with the smoother flowing sax, provides an altogether different take on an old gem.
Overall, then, just under two hours of Crimso classics performed with love, passion and dedication.
UMPHREY'S McGEE: Safety In Numbers CD
I listened to the opening track on this 11 track album and immediately thought "oh! - it's a a proggy Police". They've got that whole later Police sound down to a tee - the choppy rhythms, the chiming guitars, the high-register vocals - perfect. Then, instead of writing pop, they construct something a lot more "angular" as the prog-rock influence come into play and you hear the track going off at a tangent with soaring guitar work and seventies sounding Hammond, before it all drops back into choppy mode as the song portion returns, and a near seven minute track closes, having provided a lot more enjoyment than you might have imagined. Oddly enough, the next track, 'Rocker', not only does nothing of the sort but this time it's a proggy Crosby Stills & Nash with lurching rhythms and CSN-styled vocal leads and harmonies, Floydian pedal steel guitar and lush sounding acoustic guitars over a strong, slowly moving rhythm section. 'Liquid' is bouncily reflective in a more It Bites kind of way only American sounding. 'Words' has a decidedly more seventies feel to it, reminding me more of bands like Home & Quiver only with that Police-like vocal and slightly similar rhythm, but with lush harmony vocals, dynamic Floydian guitar, a distinctly Outfield slant and an arrangement that must have been so well thought out to produce such a strong sounding track, it's all quite superb over a seven minute running time. 'Nemo' reverts back to that countrified feel for the first part before taking off for the second, a mix of many a seventies guitar band such as Wishbone Ash or Gypsy to name but two. For the next six tracks we are treated to a similarly quality set of songs and guitar work, some bluesy, some jazzy, some proggy, some simply achingly beautiful. If lush sounding songs with substance, thought and exquisite arrangements are your sort of thing, then you seriously should check this lot out.
VIOLENT SILENCE: Kinetic CD
Attention prog keyboard fans!! This is a guitar-free zone. Nothing but an electric bass in sight. A quintet featuring vocalist, two keys/synth players, bassist and drummer. With tracks from two to over eighteen minutes long, it's not the album you might be expecting. If you could imagine a cross between a less choppy seventies Gentle Giant and a more rounded seventies Greenslade, you'd be close to latching onto what this album is all about - tricky time signatures with rhythms and melodies criss-crossing, solos that dive and soar, plenty of driving rhythms at one end and dynamic interludes at the other. On the eighteen minute 'Quiet Stalker' the band are really on top form as they unleash a wild ride of solid rhythms topped with sparing vocals and enough piano/organ/synth leads, fills, riffs and duels to keep even the most ardent prog-rock keyboard fan as happy as a pig in muck, as the track stretches out to excellent effect, played and arranged superbly, moving from classic prog to almost prog-classic in a heartbeat, as wave upon wave of proggy melodies and intricate yet cohesive arrangements unfold. Elsewhere, it' a similar story with songs short and mid-length. The vocalist is sort of mid-range harmonious, solo and multi-tracked, nothing that's going to knock you sideways but more than melodic and well sung to do the job required. As I said, the rhythm section ties it all down and drives it all forward with a production that really brings out both the strength and subtlety of performance. But, after all is said and done, it is the keyboardists around which the songs revolve, and to that end, with no flashy soloing or overly long workouts, this works a treat. An album that breaks the mould of many a previous keyboards-led prog album, this might seem a bit laid-back at first, but as song-oriented prog albums go, with plenty of space for instrumental play, give it a couple of listens and you'll discover its undoubted charms.
PSYCHEDELIC/SPACE-ROCK/STONER:
HAWKWIND: Weird Tapes Vol 8 CD
Forty four minutes of vintage Hawkwind music across 10 tracks that range from 1966 to the heady days of '73. The album starts with a rather superb quality rendition of 'Space Is Deep' from the '73 band, recorded live, and featuring some excellent flute and sax work from Nik Turner above the riffing, chiming guitars, space swoops, crunching bass and thunderous drums, as the song veers from a roar to a cosmic caress, the wah-wah guitar and flute end section sounding positively Krautrock and just out of something by the likes of Agitation Free or Comic Jokers, the strong but delicate bass underpinning it as the synths swoop in the distance, guitars shimmer and eight and a half minutes of brilliance is heard. 'Down On Her Knees' sounds a dead ringer for Lou Reed's seminal 'Waiting For The Man' and would not be at all out of place on an early Velvet Underground album, as a searing heat electric guitar that sounds right out of the late sixties New York scene just blazes the lead trail through a stunning six minute slice of pure Velvets-influenced heaven. From '73 comes 'Live And Let Live', a slice of mantra-like space-rock that goes round and round in waves of guitars, native sounding shaker percussion, solid bass and acres of guitar leads that weave and mould, the presence of a distant riff that sounds like it came from '67-era Soft Machine, just the icing on the four minute cake. 'Etchanatay' is similar only with flute, extra synths and fewer guitars buzzing around the mix, a snippet of an improv at just three minutes. Thereafter, we get 2 two-three minute blues tracks from what is presumably Brock's pre-Hawkwind blues band - and they're pretty standard late sixties English blues romps. Next up, in mono , from an unknown source but definitely live in '71, comes a five minute portion of 'You Know You're Only Dreaming', here titled 'Dreaming', and sounding like it came from the first BBC Radio One In Concert broadcast that they did - it's got that sort of early seventies "medium wave" broadcast qualities to it - you can hear it clearly enough but it sounds like an antique! Either way, it's prime slow-rolling Hawkwind and no mistake. Finally, from same place, comes a seven minute version of the classic 'Shouldn't Do That' with the whole band driving it forward on an, admittedly, les than perfect quality recording (as I said, "medium wave" on a squally night- tapers will know what I mean!), but any version of this space-rock gem is fine by me, as the band head off into the cosmos with all guns firing. Overall, a somewhat piecemeal album but it'll do me just fine.
MONSTER MAGNET: Tab + Bonus Track CD
In the sleevenotes to this reissue, the band state that at the time of its recording in the early nineties, they were listening to a diet of seventies Amon Duul II, Hawkwind & Alice Cooper alongside eighties instrumental guitar gods Skulflower - and you can tell. The album opens with the thirty two minute title track and it's a mesmerizing acid-rock mantra of a piece, largely instrumental save the odd few vocal intonations down in the mix, with some seriously head-bending, swirling, high-flying lead guitars and phased, fuzzed and effects-laden guitar backdrops, slowly flowing, deliberate rhythms and all manner of psychedelic effects to produce a seriously far-out slice of acid-drenched jamming that is just awesome as you turn it up and let it take over your brain. I would presume that they've segued the next two tracks, '25' and 'Longhair' into one another to create a twelve minute track, since on my copy it lists five tracks on the sleeve but only four turn up when you put the CD in the player. Either way, in comparison to the previous track, the pace increases substantially as this slice of space-rock propulsion roars out of the speakers, before the whole thing turns into an electrifying, high-intensity slice of acid-rock instrumental workout, as the guitar work just flies and drives throughout with smoking lead work, cascading effects and solid, driving drumming all producing a hurricane of space-rock proportions to the eight minute point whereupon the squall ceases to be replaced by a passage that is pure early Amon Duul II as that then blossoms out into the similar sounding main body of the instrumental, once again, huge-sounding fuzz bass and solid drums, underpinning the absolutely fantastic guitars riffs and rhythms, solos and leads that ring out above the propulsive rhythm section, to breathtaking effect. 'Lord 13' is a short, four minute, song that is somewhat early Velvet Underground-meets-early Amon Duul II and is just superb in this context, one you wish that could have gone on longer. This reissue ends with a previously unreleased live version of Spine Of God', the title and track on what would be their next studio album, but here starting with anguished vocal above solid bass and electric guitar effects that gently but solidly chug for a minute or so before the drums crash in, the bass pounds while lead guitarist and vocalist Dave Wyndorf launch into the song. But this all slows as the track twists and turns on a seriously head-bending space-rock trip that has as much in common with something like acid-head Tim Leary' 'Seven Up' album, as it does with the likes of Hawkwind, Fairies, Velvets & Duul with which, musically, this has a lot in common. The sound quality is not perfect but in this context sounds just perfect as the band roar through the song on a seven minute trip to blow your mind.
MONSTER MAGNET: Spine Of God + Bonus Track CD
From '91, an album of real songs and the real first steps to space/stoner-rock stardom on a nine plus bonus tenth track album featuring over forty minutes of mind-sizzling psychedelic rock. The opening track sets the scene - phased drums introducing a deliberately dirty sea of sludge bass and fuzz guitar as the whole thing is joined by wordless vocal harmonies and a searing electric guitar lead as the song portion begins, vocals lightly echoed, and the band proceed solidly and slowly along a head-trip of electric acid-riddled psychedelia that immediately takes hold and runs through your veins as a life-force of its own making, the huge tidal wave of squalling guitars and rock-solid bass booming out to excellent effect, as a shade under four minutes of grungy space-rock soars into the skies, with a red-hot but brief guitar solo towards the end providing the icing on the cake. 'Medicine' really rocks as this head-frazzling cauldron of electric intensity drives forward on acres of guitar leads and riffs, solid lurching rhythm section including one awesome fuzz bass as the vocals cross the spectrum with ease, once again, a musical maelstrom of heady proportions. Nod Scene' slows things down and starts off sounding more like 'Interstellar Overdrive' style Pink Floyd before a monster stoner-like guitar riff enters, disappears, then a ringing guitar backdrop is provided as the song part unfolds, again, a brief appearance leading to more crushing riffing and guitar soloing before it's back to the song, then back to another dense sea of howling instrumentation before sitting on a brooding song part, then back to a variation on the instrumental parts and so on, ending in this huge sounding squall of fuzzed, wah-wahed and solid played electric lead guitars. The title track would make Hendrix envious, as this immense hurricane of guitar squall races though to your head, the lead guitars doing all manner of sound effects as the track continues, a smokin' psychedelic gun of a track with guitars that does the damage so superbly. Further tracks carry on the flavour, sound and intensity of what's gone before while the album ends with two versions of 'Ozium', the first starting slowly enough but gradually building with a guitar lead that's right out of 'Warm Jets'-esque Eno, as the song slowly travels in similar fashion like a heady psychedelic first album-era Eno. Oddly enough, the second version - here a demo and the bonus track - is actually way more powerful than the finished article a massive bass teams with wah-wah guitars and rock solid drumming, the vocal soaring overhead as the song flies into a guitar solo that storms through your head as the whole thing rolls inexorably along. Overall, an album that breaks the mould and sounds every bit as stunning as it did way back.
THE OTHER WINDOW: The Other Window CD
Unashamed, direct, straight down the line, cast iron, rock solid, bona-fide space-rock - if you're a fan of the style, you can't fail with this.
With 4 tracks between eight and sixteen minutes, plus a couple of driving four minute songs, this is one superbly written, arranged and produced space-rock/acid-rock gem. The long tracks have lots of instrumental space with tons of scorching guitar leads above rock solid, pumping bass, superbly recorded drums and the vast canvas of sound courtesy of the early Hawkwind-like space synth fills, swoops and backdrops. Something of a missing link between Litmus and Ozrics, this is extended space-rock at a premium, as the whole band just play their a blinding performance on tracks that are way more substantial and structured than mere studio jam sessions, the sort of tracks that you'll play and play and play.
It's not one of those albums that has you thinking of Hawkwind every few minutes, but they are an undeniable influence. In addition to that thought, you have the red hot guitar work plus some astonishing electric bass action worthy of classic seventies Amon Duul II, again, another influence in there too. The sixteen minute 'Beyond Science Fiction' opens the album on one propulsive wave of cyclonic space-rock with guitar work throughout that will have you in cosmic rock heaven as the mostly instrumental track, builds, drives, takes off and goes into orbit. The eleven minute 'Time Is An Ocean' is equally fine but slightly less storm-force, while the eight minutes of 'Nebula" are slower still, and truly out of this world, with some gorgeous, fluid, flowing, expressive, heart-felt guitar soloing above the cruising and solid rhythm section as the keyboardist delivers synth choirs to put the icing on the cake, on what is a spellbinding piece of instrumental heaven, again, the bass work and drums perfectly recorded as the track just soars continuously over its running time. The album ends on nearly ten minutes of 'The Illusion Of Wisdom', starting with swirling space synths, distant guitar, tinkling percussion and a deep bass drone as the whole thing starts to lift. Then you hear this fantastic dirty, grungy electric bass as drums crunch in, the guitar fires up on staccato riffs and then the whole band fire up and launch the track with rocket-like intensity as this stunning concoction of driving space-rock takes to the skies, with some incendiary electric guitar work leading the way. The song portion begins, the mellotron-like choirs are added and suddenly you're plunged into '74-era Hawkwind with an absolute vengeance as this sensational piece of playing and arranging just drives onwards and upwards to breathtaking degree, this huge sound taking up an immense amount of the airwaves and filling your head with rock - space-rock. The vocals have a distinct Nash The Slash feel to them as the track reminds you a bit of a space-rock answer to something off his remarkable 'Children Of The Night' CD, in many ways a marriage of Hakwkwind & Nash The Slash that noone's dared come close to trying before, wittingly or otherwise, but here just remarkable. For the final couple of minutes the pace, but not the strength, decelerates, and around eight and a half minutes, the bass just makes you jaw-dropped as it comes right upfront to join this electrifying, echoed, fuzz-guitar lead and the effect is mesmerizing as the whole space-rock machine fires up one last time before crashing to earth in a blazing fireball of sound - stunning!! In addition to all this, the 2 four minute songs are every bit as essential to the album's flow, each a driving, wild-rocking slice of space-rock that are so addictive, they could almost be singles, so heavy and forceful, so substantial and just fantastic songs.
So, if you want something to light up your space-rock life and be a thing of great wonderment that you'll enjoy for ages to come, you can't go wrong with this tasty little morcel.
V/A:This Is Space 4CDSET
Over 4 hours for just £13.90!!!!!!! Must be full of rubbish, you'd think. But, far from it, this is a fantastic
package featuring the double CD 'Space Daze', the single CD 'Space Daze 2000' and a bonus fourth full-length electronic music CD. Of the 3 main CD's you get a stack of incredible tracks from Hawkwind (Wind Of Change'), Kraftwerk ('Spacelab'), The Orb ('Blue Room)', Helios Creed, Gong ('Other Side Of The Sky'), Delerium, Ozric Tentacles ('Sploosh'), Spiral Realms, Eno ('Here Come The Warm Jets'), Pressurehed, Amon Duul II, Nik Turner ('Slo Blo/God Rock' - live), Tangerine Dream ('Movements Of A Visionary'), Anubian Lights ('Anubian Light Destiny'), Klaus Schulze ('Wahnfried 1883'), Melting Euphoria, Zero Gravity, Fripp And Eno ('Wind On Water'), Dilate, Sky Cries Mary, William Orbit and more in the fields of space music, cosmic music, space rock, inst psych, Krautrock and head-music.
