| French progressive rock in the Marillion, IQ vein with some great instrumental work. This concept based album is centered around 2 epic length tracks which are quite well done with nice theme variations and texture changes. Vocals and lyrics are acceptable, but it is clearly the songs writing and instrumentation performance which will be the main attraction (at least it was for me). I find Yggdrasil to actually be a fairly dark album with some lovely guitar and keyboard playing. | |||
| Focus flutist Thijs Van Leer delivers some simply breathtaking musical interludes performing under the careful ear of conductor Rogier van Otterloo. Introspection includes a nice variety of traditional and modern classical numbers including the odd Van Leer self penned number. Although primarily centered around orchestration and the gentle accents of Van Leer's flute, we are sparingly treated to the soft and caressing vocals of Letty De Jong who brings a wholesome and almost euphoric quality to the music. This is a highly mellow album full of symphonic beauty and some simply gorgeous flute and orchestra moments. Highly recommended for those cold winter nights.
| |||
| Swedish symphonic-jazz outfit which plays an original keyboard driven progressive rock. Musicianship is solid here with some sweet guitar and keyboard passages. Songs are generally quite energetic and full of complex drumming. Songs are written in a complex fashion with a multiple change of tempos and themes which breaks up the symphonic sections which some may not appreciate out there, but I do find quite interesting.
| |||
| So you need to hear an intelligent , but essential hard driving meaty prog rock album ! Why not turn on Dali's Dilemma ? Somewhere out in the "Liquid Tension Experiment / Rush / Dream Theatre" school of thought comes this great act who make no mistake on their hard rock tendencies. Highly strung / energetic rock with wild guitar, heavy drumming , broad keyboards and great vocals and not sounding like many of the horrid "Prog-Metal" groups. Musical chaos is constructed through a wonderful mix of varied themes….from high tempo to soft and slow movements! Songs are well conceived and offer many tempo and sonic changes holding your attention from the get go. A blinding fast, but excellent progressive rock album.
| |||
| Scrumptious mostly instrumental work combining a strong allusion to the work of King Crimson with an edge of "Head Music". Bi Kyo Ran are a 3 member ensemble with a love for deeply involved Progressive Rock. Of immediate note is the succulent guitar playing of Kunio Suma who could easily belong to Robert Fripp's "League Of Crafty Guitarists". "Parallax" is essentially comprised of 3 tracks, one of which clocks in at around 21 minutes and is the centre piece of the album "Suite Ran". One of the great aspects to this album for me is their genius use of varied instrumentation. At select moments one recognizes deep cello, warm violins, punchy trumpet and even some lovely mellotron. This is highly detailed and expressive music which caters to those who love highly involved and deeply inventive music. | |||
| Alpha Stone: Although heavily influenced by the work "Spacemen 3" , Alpha Stone bring a more forceful guitar driven space soundscape into their music. Alpha Stone features Pete Bassman formerly of Spacemen 3 who adds his patented space imaging guitar and vocal effects throughout. Overall this album is a real "kicker" and is really a clever mix of space, ambient and head music all encapsulated in a highly addictive album. I am not so sure you would find this album categorized under "Progressive Rock" as standard protocol, but regardless if you love the 'ol space thing then Alpha Stone is right down your ally. Alpha Stone is much more subtle and relaxed than bands like the "Ozric Tentacles" and "Electric Orange", yet generally more energetic than "Spacemen 3"....Requires a bit of an acquired taste I suppose, but quite brilliant once your in... | |||
| "Emile Jacotey" was a return to their old form drawing back on their classic influences. In classic style this concept album runs like a continuous story full of harder and acoustic influences throughout. Songs are truely wonderful and full of mystical magic with some gorgeous analog keyboard runs and guitar/bass/drum interplay. In many ways this album carries very much like their debut album with perhaps less King Crimson influences. This is an excellent album full of some grand musical moments. Of course all lyrics are sung in native French and are convincingly done so with great charisma and emotion. Also some scrumptious guitar playing here.... | |||
| Seriously forgotten Finnish progsters offering delicately crafted songs in a beautiful mix of Scandanavian & 70's English styles. Wigwam are an astonishing band really with some unbelievable gut wrenching instrumental interplay. Keyboards carry a nice deep and mystical analog effect which is layered over with some lovely clean sounding yet complex guitar, bass and drum interplay. "Nuclear Nightclub" is a simply breathtaking album full of loads of nice rich textures and enough progressive aspects to make you never put this album away. At times the album sways slightly into the psychedelic experience with some Canterbury leanings as well. Fabulous ….. | |||
| Without a question Tantra's "Misterios e Maravilhas" is a classic and rightfully considered by this progressive rock fan as one of those albums which you must own if you are a lover of 70's Prog rock. Songs are truly wonderfully written and performed with the greatest of precision and emotion. Instrumentation is full with heavy analog keyboard/piano flavours and dreamy - chocolate layered symphonic landscapes, guitars both acoustic and electric and just dripping with expression and cloud soaring aspects. Bass and Drum interplay is just too clever with some lovely supportive runs and even a spotlight on a fantastic percussion/drum interlude. Stunning and highly emotional music. | |||
| Fragments Of Light is a real hummer as rests somewhere in the psych - prog zone delivering a wonderful symphonic 40 minute journey. All songs carry a heavy 70's analog keyboard via the talents of underground Italian prog legend Franco Falsini. This jem has been kindly restored and digitally mastered by Mellow Records from the original Polydor tapes. Overall this album is quite mellow in delivery, but does contain some choice e-guitar solos and wonderful space keyboard phrasing. Songs carry a very warm feel to them thanks to the analog synths and are very well constructed with some nice variations and complex yet smooth interludes. | |||
| With a nice folky-prog twist "Bursting At The Seams" is a wonderful collection of songs with a honest pure and simply approach. Of course along the way we are treated to some lovely instrumentation and musicainship. One of my favourite all time Strawb tracks "Down By The Sea" is featured on this album with its lovely mellotron backdrop. This album also offers a nive variety of moods ranging from more straight foreward folk tracks to darker more thought provoking songs. | |||
| The early Crimson albums have always been a personal fav of fine and "In The Wake Of Poseidon" is a wonderful journey. Oft criticized album consider by pundits a mirror of their debut album, in contrast for me, Poseidon sparkles with original character full of some breathtaking King Crimson musical moments. To this day "Cadence And Cascade" remains one of the most emotional and nostalgic songs of all time for me. Title track "In The Wake Of Poseidon" is one of my all time favorite tracks from King Crimson of all time....loads of mellotron and some grand musical escapades. With the mystical lyrics of Pete Sinfield, Poseidon will fill your ears with a nice range of musical idea, textures and full instrumentation. If you don't already have this beauty on CD then I would suggest the HDCD 30th Anniversary version to max on the sound repro. | |||
| 7 Piece Polish act who use an original array of fabulous instrumentation with convincing authority. Hard to peg this one down to be honest as it crosses many progressive rock lines but certainly Floyd, Saga, Camel, ELOY and Omega come to mind. RSC blends dual keyboard atmospheres with wild e-guitar bass and drum interplay creating a fairly modern prog sound. (not neo though…more classic 70's influenced). Instrumentation includes some wild trumpet (fans of Miles Davis' rock influenced Jazz/rock will love this) , Violin (ttaces of Jean Luc Ponty'ish influences). The lead singer although sings in Polish, he does have a nice voice and is quite pleasant to listen to really. Opening track is an epic and blends some great jazz and rock elements which carries throughout making this a highly original and attractive album all the way through. RSC get into some pretty intense jams on this album and is really a solid workout.
| |||
| Well the mighty FlowerKings have done it yet again with another excellent release blending all those "FK" influences we have come to love…great e-guitar playing, heavy keyboard laden runs (including mellotron and church organ ….my favorite!), grooving bass and drum rolls and fine lyrics and vocal harmonies. Like all FL albums Space Revolver exudes that positive energy that Roine tries so hard to capture on every album. As you would expect from Roine all songs are well written and carry some great melodies and choruses always allowing enough space to create the song and extend where necessary instrumentally. An album full of color and warm moods with a great little "Space Revolver" theme repeating throughout in clever / different ways. | |||
| Post Drugi nacin yugo-prog band who deliver an awesome hard progressive sound meshing dual guitars, keyboards, flute, acoustic guitar with dark yet dramatic vocals. Ismet Kurtovic (Flute, guitars) and Ualil Mekik (Guitars, vocals) once again team up combining their love of complex yet harder rock influenced music. Nepocin actually reminds me quite a bit of the 70's Italian prog scene with the dual electric guitars frenzied yet beautiful styled flute, heavier vocals and loads of symphonic keyboards. To my amazement this band actually remind me of a mashination of Jethro Tull and Italy's Semiramis. Overall songs are quite melodic offering some excellent musicianship and tempo/mood swings. | |||
| For many years now I have treasured the music and voice of John Wetton (Asia, King Crimson, Solo…) . When I heard that he toured with Quidam and do so with half of Jadis as his band support (Martin Orford (Keys) and Steve Christy (Drums)) I had to have it ! Nomansland is an excellent live album with some brilliant musicianship...something wonderful clicked obviously during this live recording....Liner notes suggest that it was the true historical classical theatre they were graced in performing in that evening which escalated their performance beyond even their imaginations. Songs include a nice cross section of Wetton's past inclduing Sole Survivor (Asia), Easy Money , Book Of Saturday, Starless and The Night Watch (King Crimson), Rendezvous 602 (U.K.) with the remainder comprised of work from his solo albums. Standout number for me is clearly "Bygosh" which is an excelletn classical acoustic guitar solo which slowly churns into a rather kicking version of Crimson's Easy Money (Everyone I have played this for has run out and bought the album). John had David Kilminster join him on guitar on this tour who is an extremely talented musician. Overall a great live CD with some great clear live sounds and great song interpretations...... | |||
| Subtitled as chamber instrumental ensemble, Summer In Town blend all the right aspects for me here......Without a question the first 18 mins of this album is perhaps the best I have heard in some time...Absolutely breath taking symphonic prog which reminds me very much of Steve Hackett and early Genesis (minus the voices). The fine folks at Music Boheme have released some great little lost prog gems from Russia and plan to release more (thank you). Vocals are very much in the back and do come across very much as church angelic voices which enrich the overall album for me. Instruments include keyboards, guitar , flute, bass and drums which play fluidly in a very tight manner. Third track took a bit longer to grow on me and is certainly more of a chamber-like song than the first but now it is just as addictive as the first 2 numbers for me. Music Boheme can be reached at Music Boheme Homepage | |||
| Without a question "Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening" would rank as one of my all time favourite experimental jazz rock albums of all time. Imagine Miles Davis jamming with The Soft Machine and you probably have the best description I could come up with to represent this amazing album. This album is a true audio dichotomy blending Tippett's stellar jazz piano with the frenzied sax of Elton Dean, the sharp sounding coronet of Marc Charig and the trombone of Nick Evans. Drumming is handled by Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt and a host of other excellent musicians are also noted for their contributions. Songs are wild and frenzied and certainly if you are looking for a real complex pick me up kind of album then this is most certainly for you. Instrumentation is complete and wonderfully complex with some highly original time and atmospheric changes. Tippett's music is given lots of room to unfold and build into some pretty thought provoking music. | |||
| This young Estonian electronic musical composer's classic album emoting worldly transcedental sounds very reminiscent of Klaus Schulze and Jon Vangelis. Title track "Breath" is a 4 part symphonic masterpiece with some deep organ and electronica fuzed with atmospheric spaciness. Grunberg's music sounds sculptured and multi layered with some carefully crafted songs. Having written music as a professional composer for theatrical performances and films in his past certainly is evident in his solo electronic work. Without a question his music is rich and ever moving with loads of exploratory sounds and deep space interludes. His music is essentially a true expression of his love for combining electronic and traditional instruments. | |||
| Classic 70's progressive rock reminding me quite a bit of Camel at times with some succulent instrumental breakouts and lovely 70's warbled sounds. Music is soft and yet quite dynamic with some great musicianship. Songs are all rather short (4 min range'ish) but do still seem to satisfy the listener without sounding to abrupt in conclusion. Although albums contains dual guitarists, Lotus still remains a heavily symphonic album with some choice guitar stabs and solos throughout. Still freaks me out a bit that such a great album is not commented on more often ..IMHO a great album
| |||
| Wallenstein were one of the forefathers of Germany's Krautrock scene and who managed to release a number of great early albums with Blitzkrieg drawing 1st blood from me, but years later re-discovering the beauty of Mother Universe. Wallenstein were led by the analog keyboard wizardy of Jurgen Dollase (Organ, mellotron and clavinet) and the percussive talents of Harald Grosskopf. Contrary to the majority of reviews I have read over the years about Mother Universe, I dig the vocalist to a large degree and think he fits the music perfectly. Mother Universe is a wonderful space prog album with a nice cross section of influences including folk and acid space rock. Instrumentally this album houses some of Wallenstein's best works IMHO and title track "Mother Universe" is a pure delight every time I plop it over the ol' speakers. Mother Universe delivers some lovely guitar jams with some great drum, bass and keyboard interplay. Granted a bit Quirky but I love it……. | |||
| Serious ethereal world psych music with magical ethnic - tinged eastern influenced instrumentation. The Holy River Family Band are an offshoot of one of my personal favorite bands "The Spacious Mind" with dual band member Jens Unosson. "Welcome To Riverhouse" contains some excellent percussion with rich electronic space vibes and interweaving acid-laced guitar aspects. Unlike their mesmerizing debut album, this album contains vocalization with all 3 members contributing and sounding quite psychy. For those who love hand percussion and varied percussive sounds will drool over the selection that Mathias Barder uses throughout this album …including tabla, bongo, congas and Moroccan clay drums. Interwoven within this wall of percussive sounds rests Unosson's space keyboard atmospheres and Arne Jonasson's tripped out strings (6 & 12 string electric guitars, saz, sitar, cumbuz, violin, acoustic guitars, hurdy gurdy , recorder and e-bow!.). Considering all the wild instrumentation and psych influences the songs are quite melodic and are given load of room to explore and develop sonically. A simply stunning 2 CD set which will appeal to anyone who loves a good psych/space music….Get the lava lamp warmed up kids! | |||
| After the breakup of Spektakel, Ede Schicke and Heinz Frohling continued their progressive musical adventures by adding synth wizard Gerd Fuhrs and managed to release a few fantastic pieces of German art rock between 1976 and 1978. "The Collected Works" digitally re-released by The Laser's Edge manages to capture their early 3 albums originally released on Brain Records starting in 1976. As in the past these sweet snippets of 70's German prog have been brought back to life with great musical clarity and warmth. SFF were a symphonic act and the fine re-mastering accentuates the mellotron and analog keyboard work. The magic of this music clearly rests in the instrumental passages and creative elements they were exploring. Klaus Meyer (Scorpions) makes a surprise vocal appearance on the album which I guess is no surprise since all 3 albums were produced by of the Scorpions fame. The CD package also includes a couple of live tracks from a Brain Music Festival which adds some nice unreleased to this package. | |||
| Without a question Guru Guru were one of Germany's all time freakiest acid progressive rock bands to have existed. If you are looking for a relaxing album to chill out to then Hinten is definitely not the thing you should be looking for…Listening to Hinten is sure way to raise your blood pressure with Guru Guru's patented acid laced -fuzzed out guitar solos and space interludes. For those who could lean of the heavier side of Agitation Free will definitely love Guru Guru's Hinten which very much reminds me of Hendrix if he had enjoyed space travel. | |||
| A fews years back IQ released what I would consider one of the top progressive albums of the 90's with Subterranea and finally we all have the chance to hear it re-created live on this tasty little 2 CD set. Although the concert is totally designed to re-portrays the studio album we are treated to nice variations associated with live performances. Peter Nicholls voice is mesmerizing as always with his incredibly emotive yet child-like voice and poignant lyrics. Instrumentally this is 100% pure IQ sounding simply immaculate with lovely guitar fluctuations, jabbing and accentuated bass lines, killer keyboard work and some lively drum and percussive work. Couple of huge moments with the live saxophone solo on "Capricorn" , the gentle and self-reflexive ripples of "Speak My Name" and the explosive "Narrow Margin" leading the way.
| |||
