I came very late to Squire’s 1975 solo album, but once I really listened to it, I gained an entirely new appreciation for his musical genius: the album is melodic, soaring, sometimes surprising, often lush yet constantly energetic, and filled with monster—but always deeply musical—bass playing.

Originally released by Atlantic, Esoteric Recordings’ new deluxe edition is, well, deluxe:

The highlight of this limited edition deluxe boxed set is a stunning new 5.1 Surround Sound mix (exclusive to this set on an NTSC / Region Free DVD), along with a new stereo mix, from the original multi-track master tapes by JAKKO JAKSZYK and a new re-master of the original 1975 mix by Paschal Byrne. FISH OUT OF WATER also includes four bonus tracks of the single edits of ‘Lucky Seven’ and ‘Silently Falling’, along with both sides of the 1981 single by CHRIS SQUIRE and ALAN WHITE; ‘Run With the Fox’ and Return of the Fox (appearing on CD for the first time).

The boxed set also includes a replica 180 gram gatefold LP with poster of FISH PUT OF WATER (mastered and cut from the original tapes at Abbey Road studios), along with two seven inch singles of ‘Lucky Seven’ b/w ‘Silently Falling’ and ‘Run With the Fox’ b/w ‘Return of the Fox’, both in picture sleeves. To complete the content is a visual DVD (NTSC / Region Free) featuring the 1975 FISH OUT OF WATER promotional film featuring the songs Hold Out Your Hand and ‘You By My Side’, along with a 2006 interview with Chris Squire conducted by Jon Kirkman and a 2006 audio commentary by Chris Squire. Finally, the set also contains a 36-page book with an essay by Sid Smith featuring exclusive interviews with BILL BRUFORD, PATRICK MORAZ, GREGG JACKMAN and JAKKO JAKSZYK.

The prolific John Kelman, who has written several exceptional reviews of prog albums for AllAboutJazz.com (and who has authored liner notes for many jazz and prog albums) has a very informative review of the new set. Here’s a taste:  Continue reading “Detailed review of deluxe edition of Chris Squire’s “Fish Out Of Water”” →

This May will mark a year since Cornell took his life after a Soundgarden show in Detroit; now there is a new song from the late, legendary singer. Titled “You Never Knew My Mind,” it is the first single from a tribute album—Forever Words—to Johnny Cash. Each of the songs (other artists include Elvis Costello, Jewel, Rosanne Cash, Brad Paisley) features words from poems and lyrics by Cash set to new music. Here is Cornell’s song:

And here is video of Cornell recording the song and talking about his deep admiration for Cash.

The admiration was mutual, as Cash, in 1996, recorded a fabulous cover of Soundgarden’s powerful 1991 song “Rusty Cage”:

When I saw Cornell in concert here in Eugene, Oregon, in the summer of 2016, Cornell sang “Rusty Cage” in the same galloping, country-fied style as Cash, in homage.

The news of the death of Dolores O’Riordan, singer and songwriter for The Cranberries, is both deeply saddening and quite shocking, given that O’Riordan was just 46 years old. The band has released a statement saying:

The lead singer with the Irish band The Cranberries, was in London for a short recording session. No further details are available at this time. Family members are devastated to hear the breaking news and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.

As the statement indicates, O’Riordan was keeping busy, and a quick search of YouTube turns up a number of performances, both solo and with the band, over the past couple of years. Here is an April 2017 performance of “Linger,” one of the singles off of the band’s 1993 hit album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?: Continue reading “Dolores O’Riordan, requiescat in pace” →

I’m not sure that I’m the most non-proggy of the many esteemed Progarchist contributors, but I do tend to run a bit hot-and-cold when it comes to my prog listening. So much so, I am almost hesitant to offer up my Favorite Prog of 2017 (forthcoming!), but since it contains the all-important adjective “favorite,” I think I’m on safe ground. As usual, most of my listening this past year was in the realm of jazz and other instrumental music, but that list is also forthcoming. Between those two wide, general genres is my current list, which I think has a couple of interesting twists and turns. Here then are my Favorite Pop/Rock albums that cannot, in good conscience, be called “prog”.

• Top of the Glorious, Musical Heap: “Grace Street” by Big Wreck. Ian Thornley and Company continue to impress and dazzle in big ways, producing a sprawling but incredibly masterful collection of songs that are, as I wrote in my February review, notable for being “defiant” and “hopeful” in equal measure, reflecting the aftermath of Thornley’s divorce. This album stood out to me because, despite having nearly a full year to marinate in its musical flavors, it never became tiring or dull; on the contrary, I continue to listen to it on a regular basis. The songs are varied but cohesive; the playing is stellar; the vocals are unreal; the guitar solos are stunning. And, despite not being prog, even the most die-hard progarchist will nod in admiration at extended, complex cuts such as “A Speedy Recovery” and the instrumental “Skybunk Marché”. Recommended without reservation.

• “Live at the OT Arena/B-Sides and Rarities” by Alter Bridge. This 3-CD set is a gift that keeps on giving, especially for the price. The third disc (b-sides, rarities) is so good, I’ve only listened to the two live discs a few times. In fact, I think it easily holds its own among the many exceptional Alter Bridge albums; the first three songs—”Breathe,” “Cruel Sun,” and “Solace”—are astonishing examples of slow-burn brilliance, with echoes of Soundgarden and Chris Cornell, both musically and lyrically. The guitar is, of course, stellar, and Myles Kennedy demonstrates again his broad range, remarkable control, and emotional vibrancy. And speaking of Kennedy, his much anticipated and long awaited solo album “Year of the Tiger” is being released on March 8, 2018; here’s the title cut: Continue reading “My Favorite Non-Prog Pop/Rock of 2017” →

Today is the birthday of Dr. Bradley Birzer, co-founder, lead editor, and driving force behind this little gem of a website. Happy Birthday, Brad!

Brad and I first met when I interviewed him about one of his many fine books (about Christopher Dawson, if I recall correctly), back in 2008. We quickly found out that we had much in common when it came to theology, philosophy, literature, and, yes, music. We began to share notes and thoughts about music, and eventually I suggested that we should consider putting together a site dedicated to any and all thoughts we had about music. The next day—the next day!—Brad sent me a link to Progarchy.com. Apparently he had stayed up most the night creating it. So when I think of Brad, these following descriptives come to mind: tireless, passionate, honest, brilliant, funny, self-effacing, joyful, and bursting with life.

I’m not sure of the exact date, but Brad created this site sometime in either late September or early October 2012. So we are now at the fifth anniversary. And anyone who pays attention to the site knows that Brad has been the heart and soul of what we do here. Thank you, Brad!

I hope Brad won’t mind, first, that I used one of his Facebook photos for this post: of the young Birzer in college thirty years ago. And, secondly, this playlist that he posted today:

Rush—Tom Sawyer
BBT-Hedgerow
World Party—Is it Like Today?
XTC—Then She Appeared
Beethoven’s 6th
Kevin McCormick—Solearas
Matt Stevens—Into the Sea
Cosmograf—The Vacuum That I Fly Through
The Tangent—The Canterbury Sequence
Echo—The Killing Moon
Flower Kings—I Am the Sun
King Bathmat—Sentinel
Mew—Snow Brigade
Marillion—Ocean Cloud
NAO—Wires
Peter Gabriel—Rhythm of the Heat
Porcupine Tree—Time Flies

Happy Birthday, Über-Progarchist!

First, let’s give proper credit to James Parker, who is a contributing editor to The Atlantic and a white man who hates prog rock: he manages to avoid, in his review of David Weigel’s book The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock, the adjective “pretentious.” Kudos. Props. Cheers. Scattered applause.

The rest of his article—that is, the entire article—is appalling, bad, and cranky (the abc’s of lousy articles), starting with the title—“The Whitest Music Ever”—and taken up a few notches with the subtitle: “Prog rock was audacious, innovative—and awful.” Perhaps Parker was trying to top Kyle Smith’s embarrassing excursion into prog criticism. If so, he succeeds in some ways, if only because he doesn’t even try to construct an argument, provide much (if any) context or contrast, or observe any basic journalistic rules governing facts, truth, and other boring minutia. It’s so pathetic, it makes a typical blog rant on about any topic sound like “The Gettysburg Address” in comparison.

Here, bullet-pointed in order to keep me from wasting too much time shoveling on this, are five glaring problems with the article:

• The word “was” in the subtitle. Just like Smith, Parker seems completely unaware of the history of prog after the late ’70s and is clueless about the steady re-birth of prog over the past 25 years or so. Everyone knows that prog experienced a serious dive in maintstream popularity; what many folks don’t admit is that prog didn’t die. You could say it went into hibernation, but there’s a real sense in which it actually fragmented or melted into the world of pop music—think Asia, Genesis, Yes (with Rabin), Alan Parson’s Project, and so forth—and then slowly began to reform throughout the Eighties, finally coalescing again in even more diverse and surprising ways in the Nineties. As Alexis Petridis observed in a 2010 article in The Guardian on the resurgence of prog:

The perceived wisdom is that it was utterly swept away by punk, but that doesn’t account for the string of British prog bands signed by major labels in the early 80s – not just Marillion, but IQ, Pendragon and Pallas – nor for the continued chart success of Yes, Rush and Genesis, although whether those bands’ 80s oeuvres could truly be considered prog is a matter of some debate…

I say “diverse” because prog in recent decades has become incredibly popular in places such as Italy, Spain, South America, and parts of Asia. Yes, it is still Euro-centric (ooh, how horrible), but it’s not about “white” as much as it’s about a certain stream of Western culture and artistic expression (ooh, that really is horrible). In sum: anyone who thinks prog died in the Seventies shouldn’t be writing about prog. Period.  Continue reading “Who knew The Atlantic could be so shallow?” →