Rick’s Quick Takes: What a (Buncha) Concept(s)!

On By kruekuttIn art rock, Big Big Train, hard rock, Insideout Music, jazz, Neal Morse, progressive rockLeave a comment

I might be stretching this a bit, but I’d say that, whether it’s an album that tells a story or a collection that marks an anniversary or achievement (or maybe some do both), every one of the releases below has a concept behind it. Your mileage may vary, but keep that thought in mind as you read on. (Note: listening links are included in each album’s title listing; purchase links are included at the end of each review.)

Big Big Train, Woodcut: Nothing but kudos for BBT’s first rock opera from this corner! As I’ve said elsewhere, this band’s chemistry is a big part of why Woodcut is so strong, engrossing in a way that feels natural and organic. So many highlights here: The precise, tough group riffs of “The Artist” and “Albion Press,” accented with Greg Spawton’s distinctive bass licks and chiming 12-string guitar; “The Sharpest Blade’s”folk/metal mash-up, with Clare Lindley and Alberto Bravin working as lyrical and vocal foils to explore darker mental states; Nick D’Virgilio’s tour de force “Warp and Weft”, featuring herky-jerky guitar licks, spot-on a cappella backup vocals, and a soulful NDV lead. The entire album flows – especially from “Light Without Heat” through “Last Stand”, a finale that holds its own alongside any genre classic you could name. It’s all there: expansive musical themes, inspired solo work (especially from Oskar Holldorff and Rikard Sjoblom), gripping instrumental development in “Cut and Run” to set up the cathartic final anthem “Counting Stars”, with Bravin’s vocals soaring above it all. To sum up my reaction to Woodcut, the first time I heard it, I was definitely impressed; now, on repeat listens, it genuinely moves me. In other words, it does for me what Big Big Train’s music has consistently done for nearly ten years now. (Buy from The Band Wagon USA – and definitely pick up Andy Stuart’s book on the making and meaning of the album; it’s the closest you’ll get to the super-deluxe liner notes Passengers like me crave!)

Neal Morse Band (NMB), L.I.F.T: Whatever your take on the title acronym, Neal Morse and his compatriots (complete with Mike Portnoy parachuting in from Dream Theater’s drum throne) know how to whip up an epic. The structure may not be much different from previous efforts (though the first track is titled “Beginning” instead of “Overture”for a change) but there are plenty of musical twists and turns as L.I.F.T.’s everyman protagonist journeys from despair to delight via divine intervention. We get the heartland rock thrust of “Fully Alive”; the hard and heavy “Hurt People” with Eric Gillette contributing monstrous guitar and vocals; the multi-part altar call “Reaching”, featuring fabulous harmonizing and a collective shred over Bill Hubauer’s braying synth fanfares; the U2ish echofest “Carry You Again” propelled by Morse’s voice of God and Randy George’s fleet bass work. And wonders of wonders, “Love All Along” is a climactic conversion power ballad with a spine, effortlessly weaving in core lyrics and themes as Morse, Gillette and Hubauer take the whole thing higher multiple times! Great material, great playing; immediately qualifying for my year-end Favorites list, this is the best NMB has sounded since The Similitude of a Dream. (Buy from Radiant Records.)

Squeeze, Trixies: Fifty years on, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook recover a lost past. Imagine a pair of working-class teenage Brit musicians, fallen head over heels for slice-of-life vignettes in the throes of the glam/prog/pub rock scrum of 1974. What else could they come up with but an concept album about the habitues of a sleazy, mobbed up members-only nightclub? Fleshed out from recently recovered original demos, this is vintage Squeeze in every sense; Difford’s clever yet plainspoken lyrics and Tillbrook’s sinuous, conversational melodies were already in place, even on influence-heavy tunes like the Bowie-adjacent “The Place We Call Mars”. These evocative sketches of characters (sympathetic or otherwise) whose lives revolve around Trixies (a stage, a haven, a gas, the place to be, ” Hell on Earth”, depending on who’s talking) pre-echo future classics like “Tempted” and “Hourglass”; the pin sharp current lineup of Squeeze, led by producer/bassist Owen Biddle, expertly weave convincing cabaret (“What More Can I Say”, “Good Riddance”) and stomping rock (“Why Don’t You”, “The Jaguars”) around their leaders’ smooth and salty vocals to craft a seamless whole. With this plus another entire album of new songs already in the can, the Lennon & McCartney of the 1980s seem primed to wow both waiting fans and unsuspecting listeners once again. (Buy from Rough Trade.)

Miles Davis, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965: When Columbia recorded seven sets of Miles and his “Second Great Quintet” over two nights in a Chicago club, then tossed the tapes in a vault for twentysome years, did they realize they were sitting on a Rosetta Stone of modern jazz? That’s how these shockingly creative performances were greeted when they finally emerged, and it’s why this fresh reissue (an instant Favorite) is so welcome. Recovering from illness, Davis started the stand playing spaces as much as notes, then coming alive as he realized bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams’ commitment to new heights of rhythmic gamesmanship, stretching the beat to the breaking point and swinging all the while. Taking their cues, Herbie Hancock switched between single note bop lines and elliptical chording that clouded the harmony instead of clarifying it; all this proved catnip for Miles (constantly drilling through to the abstract essence of the melody) and saxophonist Wayne Shorter (getting gone from the start, launching fragments suggesting multiple keys and rhythms that coalesced into something strange yet true). It’s safe to say that the Plugged Nickel crowd had never heard blues (“Walkin'”), jazz standards (“Round Midnight”), ballads (“My Funny Valentine”, “Autumn Leaves”) and Davis’ signature tunes (“Milestones”, So What”) rendered in this fashion: floating and furious, following the multitonal trails blazed by Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane to break open fresh facets of already classic material. The third time (of at least five) Davis changed jazz, a key to so much great music that followed in his footsteps. (Buy from the Miles Davis 100 webstore.)

Bill Evans Trio, Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings: If 1960s Miles was about freer, rougher expressionism, Evans (previously the pianist on Davis’ essential Kind of Blue) pursued the opposite affect – a harmonically refined, classically-tinged impressionism – throughout his painfully self-sabotaging career. But in the end, these proved diametric approaches in pursuit of the same goal: near-telepathic sensitivity within the small jazz group, leading to a unity founded in diversity of utterance. Evans’ first trio (with the phenomenally gifted Scott LaFaro on bass and the delicately grooving Paul Motian on drums) took this “conversation of equals” approach to astonishing heights before LaFaro’s tragic accidental death, mere days after their definitive recording live at New York City’s Village Vanguard; but the trio’s two studio albums Portrait in Jazz and Explorations are only micromillimeters below that exalted benchmark. Haunted Heart collects every take from those studio sessions, an embarrassment of musical riches. Through numerous, remarkably varied runthroughs and masters, Evans, LaFaro and Motian lovingly probe the essence of each tune; the quiet fire of ballads “When I Fall in Love” and “How Deep Is the Ocean” proves as engrossing as the restrained yet unmistakable drive of Evans’ “Peri’s Scope” and Miles’ “Nardis”, giving the lie to later critics who equated Evans’ ethos with shallow, unswinging lounge music. Evans has probably been the single most influential pianist in jazz from his heyday right up to the present, and this delectable collection shows why. (Buy from Craft Recordings.)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Bold As Love: This new 4-CD/BluRay set prompted a my first deep dive into Hendrix’s music in a long time. I came away unable to pick a clear favorite of the Experience studio albums; they’re all equally mind blowing in the best sense, as Jimi, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell melded the blues, psychedelia and soul into something utterly primal, yet progressive in every sense of the word. So bringing 1967’s Axis: Bold As Love’s mono and stereo mixes together with an Atmos version, session outtakes, live tracks and the occasional media promo appearance is as good a way as any to get a handle on Hendrix’s unique, eclectic genius. What the wild stereo panning and goofy humor of intro “EXP”, the breathtaking funk groove of “Wait Till Tomorrow”, the aching warmth of “Little Wing” and “One Rainy Wish” and the trippy fuzz of “If 6 Was 9” have in common is mind and heart in communion, longing and exultation running side by side, each informing and nourishing the other. And as with all of Hendrix’s work, this album proves yet again how utterly essential the man was in the development of the electric guitar; almost every track features an innovative lick that David Gilmour, Steve Howe or Robert Fripp took, ran with and made their own on some of my (and probably your) favorite albums. Rock lovers simply cannot go wrong listening to this. (Buy from the Hendrix webstore.)

No-Man, Loveblows & Lovecries (30th Anniversary); Scatter (Lost Not Lost Volume 2, 1991-1997): All the material on this double-disc Loveblows & Lovecries was also on 2024’s Housekeeping box, but for those who missed it (as well as hardcore fans of Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson – guilty!), it’s good to have No-Man’s debut album and its offshoots in one compact edition. With violinist Ben Coleman as equal contributor, Bowness and Wilson faced the challenge of balancing their muse’s promptings with the market-focused demands of label One Little Indian; the result is a seductive blend of artistic ambition (whether channeled into wicked dance grooves or lush, demonstrative ballads) and stoically-sung emotional torment. But Scatter is the fresh revelation here! These offcuts often go against the grain of the album projects they hail from; the gorgeous melancholy of “All the Reasons” proved as unsuitable to the extravagant mayhem of Wild Opera as the warped industrial jazz of “Gothgirl Killer” and “Samaritan Snare” to Returning Jesus‘ minimalist calm. Then there are the Flowermouth outtakes”Hard Shoulder” and “Coming Through Slaughter”, with King Crimson mainmen Robert Fripp and Mel Collins providing the necessary instrumental wigouts. Scatter is a surprisingly unified collection, a year-end Favorite in waiting, and perhaps the perfect introduction to No-Man’s special blend of quiet and chaos. (Buy from Burning Shed.)

Yes, Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition): Decades after the backlash surrounding its release, Topographic Oceans remains a double album easily vilified, but not lightly dismissed. Yes was committed to going over the top here; the journey from the extended song-form of “The Revealing Science of God” through the primal skronk of “The Remembering” and the multidirectional meanderings of “The Ancient” to the focused finale “Ritual” made few concessions to immediate comprehensibility and none to commerciality. In retrospect, it was a genuinely brave move, with Jon Anderson and Steve Howe leading the charge to the outer limits, Chris Squire and Alan White following gamely in their wake, and Rick Wakeman wondering what to do with himself as Yes’ tight arrangements gave way to spacious improvisation. In some ways, the three live concerts contained in this 15-disc LP/CD/BluRay box are the best showcase of Topographic’s full potential; even Wakeman rips it up on the Moog during Manchester’s version of “The Remembering”, while Howe consistently goes wild, his daring guitar arabesques setting off Anderson’s mystical hippie word salad to perfection. As always, Steven Wilson’s fresh remixes buff up every musical destination and detour to maximum clarity; plus there are instrumental-only versions, freshly discovered working tracks, and the usual plethora of extras. Probably the ultimate version of what remains Yes’ proggiest, grandest gesture. (Buy from Rhino.)

— Rick Krueger

U2 — American Obituary

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

This is entirely unexpected and so incredible. U2 has released a surprise EP with some of their best music in decades. The single, “American Obituary,” is a rousing anthem that instantly ranks right up there with their best. Wow! Don’t miss out on this. If you thought perhaps America is lost, U2 reminds you of the hidden power of good — which evil can never vanquish.

[Intro]

You have the right to remain silent

Or not…

[Verse 1]

God above a mother’s love

A guiding hand to pick you up

To crush her like a coffee cup

Why?

Crossing guard or yellow bus

Our children teach us who to trust

The worst can’t kill what’s best in us

But they can try

America will rise

Against the people of the lie

[Chorus]

I love you more

Than hate loves war

I love you more

Than hate loves war

War, war

[Post Chorus]

(War, war)

(We love you more)

(War, war)

(Than hate loves war)

[Verse 2]

Renee Good born to die free

American mother of three

Seventh day January

A bullet for еach child, you see

The color of her eyе

930 Minneapolis

To desecrate domestic bliss

Three bullets blast, three babies kissed

Renee, the domestic terrorist???

What you can’t kill, can’t die

America will rise

Against the people of the lie

I love you more

Than hate loves war

I love you more

Than hate loves war

War, war

[Post Chorus]

(War, war)

(We love you more)

(War, war)

(Than hate loves war)

[Bridge]

I am not mad at you, Lord

You’re the reason I was there

Could you stop a heart from breaking

By having it not care?

Could you stop a bullet in midair?

[Verse 3]

The power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power

The power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power

The power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power

[Verse 4]

In the streets with children playing

In the churches where they’re praying

School teachers are explaining

America, America

The power of the people!

[Outro]

We love you more (we say, we say) than hate loves war

I love you more (I say, I say) than hate loves war

Rick’s Quick Takes: Box Set Backlog, Part I

On By kruekuttIn art rock, folk music, glam rock, hard rock, Rock and Roll, singer-songwriterLeave a comment

(Note: artist/title listings link to available Spotify playlists.)

The Beatles, Anthology Collection. George Harrison himself pronounced the original Anthology a bunch of “barrel scrapings” – to which a Beatlemaniac like me could only respond, “Hand me that wooden spoon, would you?” Even back in the 1990s, I enjoyed volume 1 for its scruffy early demos and thrilling on-air performances (before the screaming took over), volume 2 for its glimpses of the Fabs blossoming as recording artists (along with, to be fair, some genuinely dreadful clunkers), and volume 3 for the astonishing homestretch of John, Paul & George’s songwriting that fueled The White Album, Abbey Road and Let It Be. The new Anthology 4 functions as a sped-up reprise of its three big brothers: rougher takes of early classic tunes, shot off in the studio like kids’ fireworks, dominate disc 1, while disc 2 excavates further surprises from the final years: you’ll never hear a more incandescent minute of rock than the proto-speed metal jam on Elvis’ “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”! Recent Beatles boxes have seemed more a product of duty than delight on Apple’s part – is their deal with The Disney Channel cramping their style? – and Anthology Collection doesn’t really up their game. But there’s still moment after moment of pure joy here, not least the fresh reworkings of the Threetles’ “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” right alongside McCartney & Starr’s elegiac “Now and Then”. So now then, can we pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease have that deluxe version of Rubber Soul?

David Bowie, I Can’t Give Everything Away [2001-2016]. Thanks to Cedric Hendrix (the man behind the marvelous blog Cirdec Songs) for flagging this one after I missed it last fall. By the 21st century, Bowie had powered through so many personae – Warholian theatre kid, rock/funk chamelon, hermetic avant-gardist, ravenous fame-chaser; now, it seemed, he had just decided to be himself. His Oughties albums Heathen and Reality, spooky and sleek in turn, were fabulously creative; their supporting tours showcased a Bowie at ease with his entire legacy, backed by an all-star musical entourage. Yet 2013’s The Next Day shook things up again, the music leaning into dark shadows and jagged edges, Bowie posing furious riddles of aging and mortality, veiling the answers in enigma and paradox. Then, one last leap forward: Blackstar, released mere days before Bowie’s death from cancer, a tense, soulful mix of fusion, hip-hop, pop, even a skosh of prog – the singer cutting his vocals live on the studio floor as a fresh quartet of New York jazzers pushed him hard all the way. Plenty of extras from the era here, along with enlightening liner notes and mouthwatering design work on the 13-disc box itself, but the revelation here is Bowie’s final, sustained artistic peak. Through all the changes fueled by his voracious brain, capacious heart, unmistakable croon and impeccable musical skills, the man never stopped reaching for the perfect moment; it’s simply spectacular how often he nails it in this set.

Bob Dylan, Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series Vol. 18, 1958-1963. Whether at Midwestern college parties or in Greenwich Village clubs, the young Bobby Zimmerman hit American folk music like a thunderbolt, making an almighty racket with guitar, harmonica, and that annoying yet oddly compelling voice. This eight-disc set, riding the success of Oscar-nominated biopic A Complete Unknown, showcases both Dylan’s raw ambition and his prodigious artistic growth during his early years; clawing his way to headline gigs and a major-label record deal, drawing inspiration from blues and British folk traditions as his distinctive style takes shape, swept up in the Civil Rights Movement, he resists easy definition all the while. It all culminates in a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert that lays out Dylan’s achievement in full: there’s wickedly gleeful humor (“Talkin’ World War III Blues”, onstage banter aplenty); earnest protest both dated (“With God on Our Side”, “When the Ship Comes In”) and timeless (“Blowin’ in the Wind”, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, “Masters of War”); stark ballads of loneliness, injustice and vengeance (“Boots of Spanish Leather”, “Seven Curses”, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”); even a breathtaking paean to the sheer beauty of existence (“Lay Down Your Weary Tune”). Dylan’s reactions to JFK’s assassination and The Beatles’ ascent — moving into pure poetic sound and imagery, bringing it all back home to the rock’n’roll he grew up with by “going electric” — were still ahead, but this collection ably demonstrates both his game-changing impact on the folk subculture and how rapidly he grew beyond it.

Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition. Consciously or not, Springsteen traveled Dylan’s path in reverse in the early 1980s. Hot off a triumphant international tour fronting the E Street Band (complete with hit single), The Boss went to ground, recording hushed, minimal home demos that expressed an outsider’s alienation, marinated in American dreams gone sour. These songs lay bare the haunted hearts of hapless, nihilistic outlaws (the title track, “Johnny 99”), family members at unending odds (“Highway Patrolman”, “My Father’s House”), immobilized victims of unspoken hopes (“Mansion on the Hill,” “Reason to Believe”). The new five-disc box ponies up on revealing extras, with additional solo demos (many of which wound up on future Springsteen releases in vastly different form) and wild, punkish full-band studio takes (the howling versions of “Downbound Train” and “Born in the USA” have to be heard to be believed). But, as unpacked in Warren Zanes’ fine 2023 book Deliver Me from Nowhere (the basis for the recent biopic), Nebraska itself resisted ornamentation. Whether in the fresh remaster of its original cassette form or in the BluRay of a 2025 solo performance, Bruce delivers everything these songs need and no more: a lonesome voice, mesmerizingly spare guitar, a few distant instrumental accents, and eerie slapback echo. Another game-changer — the sound of a dark, hallucinatory past, crawling up from underground to claim the singer’s soul.

The Who, Who Are You: Super Deluxe Edition. Caught between mid-1970s megastar doldrums and the first onslaught of Britpunk, Pete Townshend once again turned angst into art, a drunken night out in the company of selected Sex Pistols furnishing the lyrical core of his hypnotic title epic. Rallying his bandmates proved Townshend’s main challenge; a debauched Keith Moon had to be threatened with the sack to serve up even flashes of his former brilliance. And then Moon died. The sad circumstances have always colored the reception of Who Are You, but in retrospect it’s a fine album; nobody prays for transcendence as furiously as Townshend, and nobody dances all over life’s problems like The Who. Roger Daltrey defiantly confesses Townshend’s sins and perplexities on “New Song”, “Sister Disco” and “Music Must Change”; John Entwistle undercuts any heavy vibes with his blackly humorous “Trick of the Light”, “905” and “Had Enough” (the latter fiercely declaimed by Daltrey); and new mixes by – who else – Steven Wilson finally level the sonic score, bringing Pete’s blazing power chords right up front with the burbling synth beds and string sections. Demos and sessions, a drums-favoring alternate mix by Glyn Johns, chaotic rehearsals, a ferocious final show with Moon (filmed for classic rockdoc The Kids Are Alright) and a fiery double-disc sampling from the US tour that introduced Kenney Jones on drums are included in the eight-disc box, too.

— Rick Krueger

Big Big Train’s Alberto Bravin: the 2026 Progarchy Interview!

On By kruekuttIn Big Big Train, Insideout Music, progressive rockLeave a comment

Two years on from our first chat, Alberto Bravin of Big Big Train joins us again to bring us the inside scoop on the superb new BBT album Woodcut, released February 6th on Sony’s InsideOut label. (Woodcut is available for preorder on CD, CD/BluRay combo and vinyl from The Band Wagon USA and Burning Shed. Andy Stuart’s companion book Woodcut: The Making and the Meaning from Greg Spawton’s Kingmaker Publishing is also available.)

For Woodcut, Alberto was in on the genesis of the album concept and composed a substantial chunk of the material; in the studio, he sang lead vocals, played guitar and keys, and produced the whole thing – so he has plenty to share about its creation! A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows the video.

So, first of all, congratulations on Woodcut. I’ve been able to listen to it and I’m really impressed and moved by it. It’s a powerful album.

Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.

You’re welcome. So, what was the original spark for its concept?

So, it was really random. Because we never talk about doing a concept seriously. Like, sitting down and saying, “Okay, we’re doing a concept album now.” We’ve never done it. So, me and Greg, we were on tour. We were in Oslo at the [Edvard] Munch Museum.

Okay.

And it was just me and Greg. I mean, we wake up early. We like to have a walk in the early morning. So, we went there and it’s an incredible place. Really, really nice. And everybody knows Munch for “The Scream.” That it’s his most famous painting. But I didn’t know, he actually made a lot of woodcuts.

So, we were there and there was a part of the museum about these woodcuts. And I know what a woodcut is. But I didn’t know that in English you call it woodcut. I knew the Italian word, but not the English word. So, as soon as I’ve seen the name woodcut, I just looked at Greg. And Greg looked at me and we said, “Oh, this is the title of a concept album!”[Laughs]

So, that moment was the actual spark of the concept. And we had no music, no story, no lyrics, nothing; it was just the title. And we started to work from there. [Laughs]

So, once you had that brain spark, how did the rest of the band react? And how did you go about fleshing out what would come from just that word association?

So, as I said, we were on tour. We were like on the bus together. And I think that night or maybe the day after, we just thought about it, me and Greg. And we said, “I think this is a good pitch to tell them what it could be about.” At the beginning, the idea was to write a story about Munch. That was the first idea. “Oh, he has an interesting story; it could be interesting.”

But then we wanted to have a little bit more freedom on the story. So, we kind of invented our own artist there. But we had this idea of a struggling artist. And it could have been something a little bit more magical. And the idea was to have kind of a dark album. But with the Big Big Train stamp on it.

So, we just told the other guys! Like a stream of words and stuff. And everybody was, “oh, this is great! Let’s do it!” And from there, everybody was aware of this. And everybody wrote some ideas or some songs or some melodies and stuff, and put it on a Dropbox folder. And then we started from there. We started from the music, actually. The lyrics came later.

Okay. And I know that happens a lot in the rock and roll field. You get the music and then you get the lyrics to go with it.

Yeah.

It’s also interesting to me, because certainly in Big Big Train’s history, there’s been this sense of craftsmanship. Of creativity. You see that in the lyrics. You see that in the sort of artisan, bespoke way the band has been run for such a long time. But it’s interesting that you decided to go in a slightly darker direction with it. That’s not necessarily what people have come to expect. Which I suppose is one reason to do it!

No, absolutely. I mean, if it’s easy, [laughs] I don’t like it. I want to do, every time, something different. And the approach was really different from The Likes of Us, the previous album, where we had some songs that were already there. And we kind of went for the Big Big Train way. Everything sounded, apart from the singer of course, like Big Big Train.

I think this time – this is just the photo of the band now. So there was nothing like a thought or something that we sat down and said, “Oh, we have to do this.” It was just so easy! We just wrote those songs and I put them together. And it just sounds like us now.

Well, yes. A couple of things pop in my head. First of all, I’ve seen you guys live twice with you in the lead. And both times I’ve noticed, wow, these guys really like each other and really like playing with each other. That vibe is constantly coming off the stage.

Oh, yeah.

And the other thing that I noticed when I was listening to Woodcut, I mean, it doesn’t have one extended track. The whole thing has that sense of organic growth, of heading for a destination.

Yeah.

And my question was going to be, did that fall into place? Was it a lot of hard work to get there? Or was it kind of both of the above?

It was a crazy amount of work. I mean, we had this folder with a lot of songs, songs and melodies, ideas and stuff.

From day one, I had the idea of, “If we’re doing a concept album. It’s going to be a proper concept album, like one hour of music. No stop. You cannot skip it. [Laughs] You have to listen to it.” So, yeah, the idea was that. Like a flow, like everything had to be linked and everything like this one song when it’s going to go into the other.

And so I put all the ideas and all the songs and all the melodies in a Logic project, like the DAW [digital audio workstation] that I use to do production and mixing and stuff. I had everything just laid down. And so from there, I tried to put them together like a Tetris thing. And I was like a crazy, crazy guy. I just cut it and pasted it and changed the keys and pitch. It was like a crazy, crazy moment. But I had the idea of this stream of music.

And whenever I was listening, I was hearing a strong theme or a line – of course, I didn’t invent something. It is the progressive thing – you have a theme, you repeat it. So I tried to do that as much as possible, find the way to put everything [in]. All the themes are repeating during the album. And one time it’s the trumpet; one time it’s the vocals; one time it’s guitar and everything put together.

So I remember I was working. I mean, I worked, more of one month just to have the initial idea of something. Because I wanted to present to the guys that – what I had in mind. Maybe it was a mistake! OK, I throw away one month of my life! But I wanted to. And so everybody was saying, “what is Alberto doing? Where’s the music?” They were waiting for me to just send a file to listen to!

And then I did actually. And everybody was really happy! Of course, we changed stuff; we changed it in the pre-production. But then when we went to the studio to record the album, we changed it again! We changed the set list; one song was completely written in the studio. We’re playing with these guys, it’s like this. We can do it! So it’s good.

Yeah. Before we go on into the recording process, just a little bit, you mentioned you were kind of following the classic concept album/rock opera model. It starts here; it goes to there. And I know Greg has mentioned in the publicity [Genesis’] The Lamb [Lies Down on Broadway] and [Yes’ Tales from]Topographic Oceans as the two [of the most] famous or infamous prog albums out there. Can you think of any models from prog history that maybe influenced you or even any that you tried to avoid?

[Laughs] I think so. I mean, I’m a huge fan of Transatlantic! And [The] Whirlwind is one of my favorite albums of all time. So that was that was one of – the ideas where, “oh, OK, they’re repeating this.” I mean, I love Neal [Morse]. He became like, well, not a friend; I know him, I sang with him and I was just a fan and I’m still a fan. But now knowing him, it was magical. I’m a huge, huge fan. So I love that.

But actually, I also listened to The Incident by Porcupine Tree. That’s a little bit more metal thing. But for the ideas, sometimes you can take the ideas.

And actually, I always go back to The Beatles and the Abbey Road medley. Sometimes always something where I have to refresh my ears. So I listen to that. “Oh, they did this in ‘69. I can do something in 2026! So let me try to do something.”

Exactly. All those really resonate with me: Transatlantic was kind of my gateway drug back into prog after some time away. And Abbey Road I’ve loved since I was a kid.

Yeah! And of course, Genesis, of course Yes. There are a lot of incredible concept albums. But yeah, those were “just go in there, just in the background, just to have a listen and to get inspired.”

Well, you learn from the masters, it’s true.

Absolutely, yes, of course.

So I wanted to play kind of a lightning round game with you. And this can be maybe talking about your time in the studio, especially, but also about the rest of the development process. I wanted to ask you your perspective on what each of your bandmates kind of brought to Woodcut that’s special.

[More after the jump . . .]

Continue reading “Big Big Train’s Alberto Bravin: the 2026 Progarchy Interview!” →

Time Lord’s 2025 Favourite Albums

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

THE TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2025:

1 Sloan, Based on the Best Seller

2 Wolf Alice, The Clearing

3 Lady Beast, The Inner Alchemist

4 Testament, Para Bellum 

5 Neal Morse, Never Been Down This Road

6 Garbage, Let All that We Imagine be the Light

7 The Darkness, Dreams on Toast 

8 Sanhedrin, Heat Lightning

9 Haim, I quit

10 Brass Camel, Camel

kruekutt’s 2025 Favorites

On By kruekuttIn art rock, avant-garde, classical, Discipline, folk music, Haken, hard rock, Insideout Music, jazz, jazz rock, Pink Floyd, pop, progressive metal, progressive rock, Rock and Roll, singer-songwriterLeave a comment

It’s been a good year for music! So good it demanded a slightly different format this time around. You can read my original reviews of my 40 or so favorites from 2025 at the article links that precede each listicle. Listings include the types of release as laid out below, with Top Favorite listings in bold italics (as well as pictured above)!

  • New Releases:
    • New Albums
    • Live Albums (audio and video)
    • Christmas Albums
  • Back Catalog:
    • Reissues
    • Box Sets (minimum of 3 CDs)
    • Discoveries (unheard until 2025)
    • Rediscoveries (heard before, forgotten, loved again in 2025)
  • New Music Books

Clean-Up on Aisle 24 (January)

  • Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, Virgins, Vagabonds and Misfits – discovery from 2024
  • Wilco, Hot Sun Cool Shroud – discovery from 2024

Gotta Lotta Live If You Want It (February)

  • Steve Hackett, Metamorpheus – reissue from 2024
  • Soft Machine, Drop – reissue from 2024
  • Soft Machine, Floating World Live – reissue from 2024

Box Set Report, Q1 (March)

  • Sonic Elements, IT: A 50th Anniversary Celebration of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis – new album
  • Wilco, A Ghost Is Born Deluxe Edition – box set
  • Yes, Close to the Edge Super Deluxe Edition – box set

Phil Keaggy: The Progarchy Interview (April)

  • Phil Keaggy & Sunday’s Child – rediscovery from 1988 – Top Favorite Rediscovery!
  • Phil Keaggy & Malcolm Guite, Strings & Sonnets – discovery from 2024

Lightning Round Reviews (April)

  • Black Country New Road, Forever Howlong – new album
  • Andy Summers & Robert Fripp, The Complete Recordings 1981-1984 – box set
  • Imminent Sonic Destruction, Floodgate – new album
  • Sons of Ra, Standard Deviation – new album

May Quick Takes

  • Haken, Liveforms – live album & video
  • Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs – Top Favorite New Music Book!

June Quick Takes

  • Louise Patricia Crane, Netherworld – discovery from 2024
  • Markus Reuter with Fabio Trentini and Asaf Sirkis, Truce ❤ – new album

Summer’s End

  • Dave Bainbridge,
    • On the Edge (Of What Could Be) – Top Favorite New Album! (tie with Brad Mehldau below)
    • Veil of Gossamer – discovery from 2004
    • Celestial Fire – discovery from 2014
    • Celestial Fire Live in the UK – live album; discovery from 2017
  • Bioscope, Gento – new album
  • Discipline, Breadcrumbs – new album

Q4 Quick Takes

  • David Gilmour,
    • The Luck and Strange Tour – live album
    • Live at the Circus Maximus – live video – Top Favorite Live Album! (tie with Snarky Puppy below)
  • Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here 50 – multiple formats – Top Favorite Reissue!
  • Ring Van Möbius, Firebrand – new album
  • Kate Rusby, Christmas Is Merry – live album – Top Favorite Christmas Album!
  • Sigur Ros, Takk – remastered reissue
  • The Zombies, Odessey and Oracle (Mono Remaster) – reissue

Classical & Jazz

  • Brad Mehldau, Ride into the Sun – Top Favorite New Album! (tie with Dave Bainbridge above)
    • Elliott Smith
      • Either/Or – discovery from 1997
      • XO – discovery from 1998 – Top Favorite Discovery!
  • Snarky Puppy
    • Sylva (with Metropole Orkest) – remastered reissued live album
    • We Like It Here – remastered reissue
    • Somni (with Metropole Orkest) – Top Favorite Live Album! (tie with David Gilmour above; audio & video)
  • Tenebrae, A Prayer for Deliverance – live album
  • Tortoise, Touch – new album

And Shockingly Unreviewed Until Now:

  • BEAT, Neon Heat Disease/Strange Spaghetti – live album. Read my concert review from 2024 here.
  • Nick Drake, The Making of Five Leaves Left – Top Favorite Box Set! An utter original who died far too young, Drake’s wistful, sturdy, thoroughly unique British folk-rock gradually rose from turn-of-the-1970s obscurity to be embraced by aficionados worldwide. While his three albums (and another disc of studio leftovers) speak for themselves, this lovely box traces his progress over two formative years, from impromptu dorm-room recordings through a breathtaking audition and simpatico sessions (especially those with double bass magician Danny Thompson and master orchestrator Robert Kirby) to the uncluttered, spacious beauty of his debut. If Drake needs any advocacy beyond the sheer communicative power of his songs, here’s all the evidence you need; and as a bonus, long-time fans will find treasures they may not have known they were missing.

— Rick Krueger

Rick’s Quick Takes for Q4!

On By kruekuttIn art rock, avant-garde, Big Big Train, hard rock, Insideout Music, Pink Floyd, pop, progressive metal, progressive rock, psychedelic rockLeave a comment

No haikus this time, I promise! However, I am going to try and make up for my recent radio silence by covering a lot of ground at a fast and furious pace. Listening links will be available in the title listings. Buckle up . . .

Completely new & noteworthy releases have seemed few and far between the last few months — although I’ve not yet heard the new Neal Morse album Time Lord has so fulsomely praised. My hands-down favorite (easily making my year-end shortlist) has to be Firebrand, the farewell album from Norwegian keyboard trio Ring Van Möbius. On three extended tracks, Thor Erik Helgesen delivers more frenzied organ riffs and howling modular synthesizer licks per minute than we’ve heard since the glory days of Emerson, Lake & Palmer — plus thoroughly unhinged singing of Dag Olav Husås’ trippy lyrics to boot! With Havard Rasmussen’s growling bass and Husås’ throbbing percussion driving the album to multiple shattering climaxes, Firebrand is a demented psychedlic journey to the outer limits of angular, aggressive prog — and all the more gripping on account of it! Meanwhile Tony Levin, Markus Reuter and Pat Mastoletto are back as Stick Men for a 5-track EP of new material, Brutal. This one packs a serious, King Crimson-adjacent punch; the title track, “Bash Machine” and “Pulp” all live up to their names, leaping out of the speakers with heady abandon, precision instrumental riffery, and dense blocks of hardcore sound. More, please! And whatever the debate over the merits of Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film One Battle After Another, Jonny Greenwood provides yet another arresting soundtrack for the director; this time around, Greenwood foregrounds jagged piano over his exquisitely modernist orchestral textures (as well as the occasional gnarly reminder of his trademark guitar sounds in Radiohead and The Smile).

On the other hand, there’s a motherlode of excellent live albums out this quarter! Big Big Train score yet again with Are We Nearly There Yet?, as Alberto Bravin, Greg Spawton and their band of equals blitz through 2024’s fabulous The Likes of Us on disc 1, then gloriously reaffirm BBT back-catalog highlights and rarities on disc 2. District 97 has buffed up and expanded their stellar 2013 collaboration with John Wetton, One More Red Night: Live in Chicago, doubling the disc’s playing time with the Wetton/Leslie Hunt duet “The Perfect Young Man” and D97’s debut album epic “Mindscan”. Reunited with Mike Portnoy, Dream Theater’s 3-CD, 2-BluRay Quarantieme: Live a Paris is an unbeatable 40th-anniversary souvenir; from the crunchy, complex metal of “Metropolis” and Scenes from a Memory through phone-waving power ballads like “Hollow Years” and “The Spirit Carries On” to full-on prog suites “Stream of Consciousness” and “Octavarium”, the entire band operates at a new peak. And, while mashing up a new production of Hamlet with songs from Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Thom Yorke decided the group’s concert takes on the material deserved their own release. Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009) is a banger well worth fans’ time; Radiohead is at their most feral here, squeezing fresh juice from the album’s fuzzed-up, squelchy snapshots of cultural unease with a tightened-up yet wilder sound.

Still, two live particular live releases stood out for me. David Gilmour’s 2024 tour set, available as audio from throughout (The Luck and Strange Concerts) or breathtaking video of a single show (Live at the Circus Maximus), is sleek and spectacular in equal measure, the subdued melancholy and sublimated anger of his solo albums and late Pink Floyd interlaced with the familiar flavors of selected Floyd classics. One of the best things about this set is that it isn’t all Gilmour’s baby: Greg Phillinganes ably fills the keyboard and vocal roles of Richard Wright on “Time”; daughter Romany visibly steals the Rome audience’s heart with her lead vocal on “Between Two Points”; backing vocalists Louise Campbell and The Webb Sisters light up a fresh take on “The Great Gig in the Sky” plus recent solo songs “The Piper’s Call” and “A Boat Lies Waiting”. But Gilmour is still the star, never disappointing on the standards, raising chills with his singing and solos every bit as much on “A Great Day for Freedom” and “High Hopes” as on “Wish You Were Here” and “Comfortably Numb”, his young backing band keeping up all the while. Unmissable, and a unquestioned 2025 Favorite, especially the video version.

Plus, just this past week I discovered my holiday album of the year! Yorkshire songstress Kate Rusby, “the nightingale of Barnsleydale”, has made eight Christmas albums in the last two decades; her latest, Christmas Is Merry, is a live compilation from recent December tours that celebrates the season with the joy and awe it deserves. From whimsical takes on Tin Pan alley chestnuts (“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”) to rumbustious traditional carols (“Hark Hark”, “Sunny Bank”) to off-center originals (“Glorious”), all backed by a trad folk band and brass, Rusby is guaranteed to raise a smile. And when she switches to her intimate croon for the foreboding “The Moon Shines Bright” and a hushed “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, I dare you not to be moved. An immediate 2025 Favorite; you really need to hear this.

There have been first-rate reissues aplenty as well. My Favorites have been: The Zombies’ long-neglected Summer of Love classic Odessey and Oracle remastered in mono, with Colin Blunstone’s sublime vocals and Rod Argent’s classically tinged organ propelling an impressively mature song suite; the 20th anniversary remaster of Sigur Ros’ Takk — a delightfully imaginative, massively symphonic highlight of the Icelandic post-rockers’ output; and Pink Floyd’s 50th anniversary edition of their elegiac masterpiece Wish You Were Here (especially the BluRay release, which includes a complete 1975 show suitably exhumed from its original bootleg by Steven Wilson).

And there are lots more reissues worth a listen: the 1983 debut from Detroit pop-proggers Art in America (they had a harp player — yes, a giant harp, one with all those strings) along with their unreleased second album Rise; Steve Hackett’s album-length acoustic collaboration with Shakespeare and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; fresh Steven Wilson remixes in stereo, surround and Atmos of King Crimson’s transitional albums In the Wake of Poseidon (Robert Fripp and Peter Sinfield carrying on from the innovative debut with a rotating cast of characters) and Lizard (free jazz meets post-Wagnerian romanticism; quite the magnificent mess); Nick d’Virgilio and Mark Hornby’s long-unavailable, polystylistic Rewiring Genesis: A Tribute to The Lamb Lies On Broadway (with full orchestra on “In the Cage” a Dixieland “Counting Out Time”, sneaky Jethro Tull quotes tucked in the fadeout of “The Waiting Room”, etc.)

Lastly, while the music industry’s annual fourth-quarter release glut means that my box set backlog is worse than ever, I can wholeheartedly recommend the super-deluxe version of the original The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; while the set’s Atmos mix has been controversial, its straight-up stereo remaster gives the music an absorbing clarity that fills in the blanks of Peter Gabriel’s opaque storyline, and a live bootleg from Genesis’ contemporaneous tour (with vocals mostly overdubbed by Gabriel 20 years later) is equally, winningly surreal. Finally, the 20-disc Peter Hammill: The Charisma and Virgin Recordings, 1971-1986 isn’t for the faint of heart — but given Hammill’s track record with Van der Graaf Generator, hardcore enthusiasts like me knew that anyway. Boundless existential musings set to music of structural, timbral and histrionic extremes — nearly 200 tracks, with 1975’s proto-punk album Nadir’s Big Chance and 1977’s dark, devastating break-up song cycle Over standing out. Hammill (who opened for Genesis during parts of The Lamb tour) may be strong meat, but he never gives less than his all.

— Rick Krueger

Album Review: Neal Morse — Never Been Down This Road

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Wow. This is an unexpectedly impactful album from Neal Morse. You never know what you’re in for with any of his new projects, but this one has surprised me with its unusually profound emotional immediacy.

Right out of the gate, “Leavin’ California” delights the listener with an autobiographical reflection from Neal. He delivers it in a piano-laden style that reminds us of Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s big hit, “The Way It Is.” However, we get here something even deeper than Bruce Hornsby’s observations about an uncaring jerk who tells a hard-luck case to “get a job.” Instead, Neal himself sings from the POV of the down and out. He tells his own story about getting fired and being miserable. This epic and encouraging tale is alone worth the price of admission. 

But the whole album continues with music of the highest caliber. The next song, “New Man,” tells a fictional tale that is no less moving than Neal’s own—no doubt because its composite image is based on a variety of true-life stories. Here, Neal quite effectively takes us down the road to redemption, guiding us to a thrilling musical catharsis where we can exclaim along with him, “God bless the new man.”

“Reach Deep and Grab It All,” with its perfect hook and killer horns, shifts gears from the consummate storytelling of the first two tracks into a dazzling display of hitmaker songwriting. Neal shows the same ability on the penultimate track, “The Heart Always Knows,” which combines a catchy chorus with the rollicking good time of a barn-burning stomper. He even throws in a perfect-fit sax solo on that penultimate track, as well as on the album’s closing track, “Breathe the Air.” That lush finale, along with two other tracks, succeeds in presenting the listener with an unusually intimate mode of prayer that displays a fully naked emotional honesty: “Open Up Again” and “The Most Important Person.”

The album thus has a unique mix of singer-songwriter mini-hits, short stories, and humble prayers. But “Never Been Down This Road” is the impressive title track that adds something further—a prog dimension—to the album’s many-sided gifts. “Never Been Down This Road” has lyrics infused with a mystical poetry that seals the whole album as another upper-echelon, Dylan-level achievement by Neal Morse. So, drink in and enjoy this whole beautiful album. It’s a satisfying and deeply moving artistic achievement.

Cardiacs’ “LSD” is now on Bandcamp

On By russellclarkenzIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Lots of ink has been spilt on Cardiacs over the decades. While I personally love their prog pop/punk sensibilities, others don’t have a good word to say about them. Life’s rich tapestry, etc. They are the quintessential Marmite Band.

If you are of my persuasion, you may be delighted to know that their new long player – titled LSD, is now available on Bandcamp.

It’s a remarkable album considering Tim Smith (blessed be His name), the main creative force behind the band, died in 2020 after a long, debilitating illness. The record had a difficult birth, given the state of the available material, and when I first heard about it I thought that it was going to be a mere tribute album. How wrong was I? This actually feels 100% a Cardiacs record – Tim’s fingerprints are all over it. His friends, colleagues and fans have done him absolute glorious justice.

Cardiacs albums defy review, so I won’t go there. If you like them, go buy it. If you hate them, pass by without comment. If you’ve never heard of them, give them a try.

Verdict: Worthy Of Laudation.

Steven Wilson In Concert: The Overview, Present and Past

On By kruekuttIn electronic, progressive metal, progressive rockLeave a comment

“How many of you came here by mistake tonight?  Wives, girlfriends, best friends, and so on?  I know what you’re thinking — ‘we’ve been here ninety minutes and he’s played four [expletive deleted] songs!’”

— Steven Wilson, September 19, 2025

To which the mostly – though not exclusively – male fans who brought those wives, girlfriends, best friends and so on to The Fillmore Detroit (btw, thanks for renaming the venerable State Theater so it’s just another franchise, Live Nation) would probably reply: “Yeah, but how about those four songs?!?”

As usual on this tour, Steven Wilson and his band kicked off with the entirety of his new concept album, The Overview, with hi-rez video projections and surround audio to match. While my critique of Wilson’s latest music holds — I found it compositionally thin, too derivative of his influences, annoyingly reductive in its materialist message — the scope of the visuals fused with the propulsion of Nick Beggs on basses and Craig Blundell on drums supplied the depth and drive my at-home listening has lacked. And when Randy McStine launched into a scorching guitar lament on “Objects Outlive Us: The Heat Death of the Universe”, or when Adam Holzman and his synthesizer skittered across galaxies on “The Overview: Infinity Measured in Moments” — well, the Chestertonian sense of wonder I’d been longing for was there in the moment, embodied if unprofessed.

Confirming Wilson’s current fascination with the creative template of vintage electronic music, he and Holzman opened the second set with a creepy synth duet on The Future Bites’ “King Ghost”. But then came the moment the numerous folks in Rush t-shirts had been awaiting – an no-holds-barred take on “Home Invasion/Regret #9” from 2015’s neo-prog masterwork Hand.Cannot.Erase. Everything veteran cosmic rockers love about this album was there: blazing guitar riffs, biting Rhodes chords from Holzman, earthy funk grooves from Beggs and Blundell, solo space aplenty for Holzman and McStine, and lyrics spat out by Wilson, as on target in their bleak portrait of online life as they were a decade ago:

Download sex and download God
Download the funds to meet the cost
Download a dream home and a wife
Download the ocean and the sky

Download love and download war
Download the shit you didn’t want
Download the things that make you mad
Download the life you wish you had

Another day of life has passed me by
But I have lost all faith in what’s outside
The awning of the stars across the sky
And the wreckage of the night

From that point, Wilson and the band didn’t miss a trick; as they trawled his back catalog, the crowd stayed with them through every twist and turn. And admittedly, there was something for everyone in this setlist: the soft pop of “What Life Brings” (which, Wilson pointed out, never got traction on TikTok due to its minute-long guitar solo); Beggs’ jaw-dropping Stick feature on The Harmony Codex closer “Staircase”; a take on the vintage Porcupine Tree tarantella “Dislocated Day”, stretched out by Wilson bringing Blundell’s volume lower . . . and lower . . . and lower; “Pariah”, To The Bone’s vocal duet that proved effective even with a prerecorded Ninet Tayib; extended cinematic workout “Impossible Tightrope”; the metal-injected melancholy of “Harmony Korine”; and brutal, thrashy set-closer “Vermillioncore”. As encores, the multi-part epic “Ancestral” and the mournfully uplifting title track of The Raven That Refused To Sing put a satisfying button on the night.

If Steven Wilson remains unapologetic about his consistently contrarian musical moves, his current live concerts embrace a certain realism; repeated stabs at channeling modern pop toward progressive ends (especially on The Future Bites) didn’t necessarily expand his core audience, while the recent Porcupine Tree reunion seems to have brought younger generations of rock and metal fans into the fold. Projecting a new-found comfort with cult status (as he cracked after a labored joke about tariffs, “I’m not famous enough to be extradited”), Wilson and his killer band are delivering the virtuoso goods present and past on this tour, and the delighted Detroit crowd — a pleasant surprise for a grateful Wilson, given that it was his first solo stop there — ate it up. Whether you believe Wilson peaked ten years ago, hold on to hope that his best is yet to come, or even wind up at his concert by mistake, I think you’ll find something to your liking at this generous three-hour show. (Remaining US and world tour dates are here.)

— Rick Krueger