By day, I'm a father of seven and husband of one. By night, I'm an author, a biographer, and a prog rocker. Interests: Rush, progressive rock, cultural criticisms, the Rocky Mountains, individual liberty, history, hiking, and science fiction.
Progarchy’s Kevin McCormick’s latest CD, In Dulci Jubilo, is an album dedicated to Advent and Christmas. I also had the grand privilege of interviewing him at The Imaginative Conservative:
Christmas music turned out to be a perfect fit for our collaboration as father and daughter, guitarist and vocalist. It had the personal aspect that I was looking for and a collaborative component that was intriguing. I really was not sure how it would work out, but I had great confidence in Rachel’s abilities. We have a similar musical sense, so I knew we could work well together. By the time we began the recording Rachel was fifteen and really starting to blossom as a singer, but not with the heaviness that can sometimes be the soprano sound. She was at a unique moment between childhood and womanhood and I thought it would be a great time to capture that. At that point the time just seemed right for us to make the recording and I knew that my other projects could wait, whereas this one could not.
Welcome to Day 7 of my Album of the Year 2014 countdown, where I bring you a new album every day (or as close to that as I can) that has impressed me over the past 12 months. And, given the strength of 2014, there’s no let-up in the quality of the albums that I bring you.
If you’ve missed any of the past 6 days or even if you’ve missed any of the past two years’ lists, the links to all of these can be found at the bottom of this post. Please feel free to explore and enjoy!
And now, with that out of the way, let’s concentrate on the Number 14 position:
Ne Obliviscaris
‘Citadel’
Season Of Mist
Superlatives get thrown around in music reviews with gay abandon these days it seems. ‘Amazing’ this, ‘awesome’ that; to the point where the sentiment becomes diluted and then, when…
Every December 21, which is written “21/12” in much of the world, is International Rush Day in recognition of the band’s breakout piece and album, “2112.” It’s not an official day, but you never know. It might become one before long.
In recognition of the big day, here’s Rush playing 2112 in 1976, the year the album came out:
Great book, read slowly to fully enjoy it “A very in-depth conversation from Rush’s start to the present. It is not a lot to read. You probably won’t rifle through this in a single sitting, and the author will likely challenge a lot of your interpretations of many of the songs. But more than worth considering the impact on Rush lyrics far beyond Rand and Aristotle…
Let us count the ways. . . . From the University of Notre Dame Observer, April 23, 1981, pg. 11. My apologies for the quality–it’s from a microfilm machine. A review of MOVING PICTURES.
Review: Rush, R40: The Completist/OCD Set (Anthem, 2014).
Birzer Rating: 10/10
R40, Anthem Records, 2014.
I had a very good and hearty chuckle when I saw that Bestbuy and the official Rush website offered not just R40— a 10-disc set of every Rush concert DVD released over the past decade+—but actually offered a “Completist” set.
The Completist set provides not just the 10 discs, but an extra disc containing roughly another hour-plus of video.The non-Completist version already includes over two hours of never-before-seen video.But, what self-respecting Neil Peart fan or Rush fan would not be a Completist.To be a Rush fan is to be a Completist!Being OCD comes easily for us Rush fans.
So, of course, I gritted my teeth and started exploring my local Bestbuys.20 years ago, I loved Bestbuy.Now, I find it suffocating.But, it was worth it.The Bestbuy website claims that R40 Completist set can only be purchased in the stores, not through the website.Exploring a bit further, I found that the Bestbuy website won’t indicate which stores actually have the Completist edition.For more than a few moments, I’d assumed Bestbuy had already sold out of it.And, perhaps playing up on this belief, a number of editions have appeared on Ebay (and other sites) asking for double and some even triple and quadruple what the Bestbuy price is. Sheesh. Uncool, folks.
Again, gritting my teeth, I started to explore the Bestbuys across the Colorado Front Range.I came very close to giving up.The young guys working at the various Colorado Bestbuys had no idea what I was asking for.Rush?Rush Limbaugh.He has concerts?Dear God, no!Even when they looked it up on the website (I assume they’re privy to one the public isn’t), they couldn’t find it.No, sorry, we don’t have that in our “media warehouse.”Will you get it in?I don’t think so.
Sigh.
How could I satisfy that perfectionist/OCD nature that has plagued me since 1967???Heck, Rush is only seven years younger than I am!
Then, after debating whether or not to try one last Bestbuy, I decided to give it a go.I was tired, disbelieving, and ready to get home.But, there was the Bestbuy, off to my left.I even had to swerve into the exit lane, as I couldn’t quite decide whether to try it or not.
After entering the store, itself overlooking I25, I looked in the music section.Nothing.I looked in movies.Nothing.
Holiday crowds swirled around me, each with that hungry desperate Holiday look, and insanely bad music blared from the store speakers.And, then, perhaps guided by a Clockwork Angel, I looked on the floor—a jumble of non-reshelved releases—ready to be stepped on.
And, lo and behold, there it was.Huge, gleaming, calling to me—the R40 completist set.I scooped it up (there were actually two copies, but I decided not to be greedy), and saw that the price was even cheaper than what the official Bestbuy price was supposed to be.I honestly don’t think these folks know what they have.And, of course, I bought a copy.
And, now, what do I think?Holy Moses.This is great stuff.Yes, of course, I already have most of what’s being offered.But, that which I don’t (or didn’t) have— is simply stunning.I’d expected DVD-size packaging.No, how could I forget?This is Rush.They don’t do anything halfway.The book is actually a full-size hardback book of the highest quality.Printing, paper, everything—a gorgeously crafted piece of art.It even smells good.
After a nice introduction by one of Rush’s chosen and favorite writers, Martin Popoff, the book presents a series of full-page concert photos.After two decades or more of just looking at CD and DVD booklets, the full-size photos just pop out of the book. A flashback to days of immense vinyl collections. I love the photos.And, they really do justice to the the three members of Rush. Geddy at Red Rocks, Alex in full working-man rock mode, and Neil as a G-Nome.Most importantly, the Rush monkey from Time Machine makes an appearance. Geddy-monkey never fails to get a laugh out of the whole Birzer family, especially Harry, age 9.And, our chosen family anthem, appropriately enough, is “The Main Monkey Business.”
After roughly fifty pages of photos, the book presents all 10 main DVDs in very high-quality cardboard.Indeed, the quality is so high, I have to be careful taking the DVDs out of their firm and tight sleeves.Very good for the long run.I was a little surprised that the bonus DVD—“Rush, R40 Completist”—had just been placed in a plain white envelope, stuck haphazardly in the book.I’ll have to pay special attention to this one so as not to lose it.Not very Rush-like, but still, overall, an excellent package and worth this one defect.
Rather than describe all of the content, I’ve scanned the content page—complete with the Completist add-ons. See below.
Is the set cheap?No.Is it of good quality?Except for the Completist DVD in the white envelope, of the highest quality.Am I sad to have paid so much for what I already (mostly) own?Absolutely not.Some of the best money I’ve ever spent.I’ll have this set, a thing of beauty until I die. Then, a little monkey Birzer will get it.
And, my final “best of” post for 2014. Let’s hope that you’re not getting too tired of these!
I’ve saved the albums that hit me the hardest—at level of mind and soul—for the last.I guess it’s somewhat goofy to have a “top eight,” but these are my top eight.These are the albums that did everything right, the ones that pulled it all together, offering real glimpses of the turning spheres.The first seven are in no particular order.I like them equally, and I think they’ve each attained the highest an album can reach but in quite different ways.
Poland’s best.
What can one say about Poland’s greatest, Newspaperflyhunting?Craig Breaden has already explained—in perfect detail—why this is a perfect album.From atmospherics to piercingly intelligent lyrics to mood swinging melodies, these Eastern Europeans have created what is certainly one of the most innovating and interesting albums of the last few decades.The album, ICEBERG SOUL, has much in common with early 1990’s American psychedelic revival, and there’s a real Mazzy Star and Opal feel to much of the music.But, whereas Mazzy Star was really good, Newspaperflyhunting is simply excellent.Droning, walls of sound, haunting guitar lines—this album has it all.
Two guys named Dave.
Salander, a new band from England, has blown me away as much as Newspaperflyhunting, and the two bands have much in common.Slander is only two guys, each named Dave, but you’d never know it listening to the music.Much as Cailyn plays every single thing on her album, the two Daves do the same.Their two albums this year, CRASH COURSE FOR DESSERT and STENDEC, are really one album, a journey through the wonders and terrors of the world, seen and unseen.The two Daves move effortlessly from one style of music to another, but they always hold it all together with what can only be described as a Salander sound.These two albums provide a journey that you hope never ends.
The end result of Americans, Brits, and Dutch working together: pure goodness.
Armed with some new producers and engineers and a barrel full of confidence, the Anglo-Dutch-American band, Fractal Mirror, has proven the worth of community and friendship a million times over with GARDEN OF GHOSTS, a landmark album.As mentioned previously, there’s a lot of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets in this album.But, whereas those 1980’s bands felt as though they had one cool trick, Fractal Mirror is the real deal.GARDEN OF GHOSTS is mind-bogglingly good—stunning in every way—and we are so blessed to be catching them at the beginning of their journey.Certainly, it’s Gothic in tone, but it’s always soaring and light and dark and maddening and enlightening and loving. . . .It’s also quite defiant, and, at times, the lyrics make Neil Peart look like a softy.
Sowing some seeds of love.
I think the first album by the Tin Spirits one of my all-time favorite albums.It would certainly be in my top ten all-time albums.In particular, the song “Broken” is a masterpiece, a progged-out Allman Brothers kind of song.I eagerly awaited SCORCH, and I’ve not been disappointed.This is guitar prog, pop prog, rock prog—however one might label it, it’s just amazingly good.The four guys in the band obviously really like one another, and their friendship comes out in a myriad of ways in the music.The best song on Scorch, “Summer Now,” might very well be the best song of the year.As with Flying Colors, the Tin Spirits should be playing on every single album-rock radio across North America.The contrast between the two bands?Where Flying Colors might cross the line and go “over the top,” the Tin Spirits go for taste, class, and a dignified restraint.
American demi-god Zee behind the wheel.
Not to be too jingoistic, but one of the best aspects of 2014 has been the emergence of a number of North American prog bands.I’ve already mentioned several over the last few posts.The very best of the American prog bands, though, is Fire Garden.Holy Schnikees these guys are good.Scratch that.These guys are amazing!They clearly love Dream Theater, but they’re also 20x better than Dream Theater.Just as the Tin Spirits goes for dignified restraint, so does Fire Garden.Rather than play 30 notes in a millisecond, master musician and lyricist Zee Baig goes for just the necessary ones, the ones most needed for creativity and beauty.Again, that dignified restraint, when employed properly, can be such a beautiful thing.As I noted with Threshold and Haken, I don’t generally gravitate toward the heavier stuff.With Fire Garden, I happily embrace it.Of course, their heaviness is more Rush than Metallica. But, again, everything is perfect.I’ve focused on the band’s ubercoolleader, Zee, but everyone is in top form here.Zee pulls it all together.
So much greater than a muppet.
I’m almost afraid to mention John Bassett.I’ve praised the that English stocking cap-wearing bard so many times, folks might start to wonder if I have some bizarre motive or some mancrush.Trust me, I’m married and have six kids.Yet, I do really love Bassett—just not in THAT way.Bassett’s music, through Kingbathmat, appeared in my life just a few years ago, but I can’t imagine my love of prog or music without him now, even as I look back to four decades of music obsession.Bassett’s first solo album, Uneßarth, is a psychedelic folk album, the kind of album that Storm Corrosion should have been.Somehow, Bassett’s actual voice (vocals) have a guitar-like quality.It’s bizarre.Beautifully and wondrously bizarre.And, despite his own self-deprecating remarks about merely being a “muppet”, Bassett is one of our best cultural critics.Of course, I love Animal, and there is a slight resemblance.Equally interesting, Bassett went the Matt Stevens/Fierce and the Dead route with his second album of 2014, a vocal-less progressive metal affair called Arcade Messiah.Each reveals a fascinating side to this very fascinating artist.What would I love to see—Bassett to bring these two styles together in Kingbathmat, writing a full-blown prog epic, unapologetic and unrelentingly so.
Taste defined.
Once again, here comes the bro-mance.Sorry, Sally!I love your man, too.Just in very different ways than do you.I’m not sure Andy Tillison is capable of a misstep.Not only has he been one of the two or three most important musicians of what he’s insightfully called “Third Wave Prog,” he’s now becoming one of the two or three most important musicians in what I’ve attempted—admittedly, not very successfully—“Fourth Wave Prog.”His only release this year (what a funny thing to type) is under the name, cleverly, The Andy Tillison Multiplex.The album: ELECTRONIC SINFONIA 2.Just as Cailyn has brought classical music back into the world of prog, Andy is bringing jazz and jazz fusion back into prog.This album is beyond stunning.It is the very essence of taste itself.Every note, every line, every segue is just astounding.Tillison is a perfectionist, and it shows on and in all that he does.Thank you, Mr. Diskdrive.Rage on.
The best album of 2014 and a masterpiece for decades to come.
And, so I come to my favorite album of 2014.It took a while for me to get here, and if you fine progarchist reader are still with me, bless you.God has granted you immense patience.Though, as I’ve noted, this has been one of the best years ever in prog—and I’ve loved everything I’ve mentioned in the previous posts—I’ve loved this the most: Cosmograf’s CAPACITOR.Made by master of chronometry, Robin Armstrong, CAPACITOR is the perfect album.To those of you who write and produce instrumental music, thank you.And, please accept my apologies.I love what you do, but, not being trained in music, I don’t always get what you’re doing, even if I love it.For me, prog has been centrally about the lyrics and the story telling, with the music augmenting the two.I love the Word and the words.And, that brings me to CAPACITOR, a story that has everything.It’s a mix of science fiction and the occult, a play on religious revivals and scientific fetishes of a century ago.It’s not steam punk, it’s seance punk!And, what a story.Simply put, it’s the best sci-fi story of 2014.Part Arthur Conan Doyle, part Ray Bradbury, it’s purely Robin Armstrong.And, as we all know, Robin is not only a perfectionist, he’s an aural genius.He knows exactly how to mix word and note.This album is so good, it, almost by itself, redefines the entire genre.This is an album to match CLOSE TO THE EDGE, SPIRIT OF EDEN, and, much more recently, ENGLISH ELECTRIC and LE SACRE DU TRAVAIL.
N.B. Please forgive any typos. I have a three-year old princess acting rather grumpy as she deals with the flu. Lots of distractions in the Birzer household.
In a world of true justice, Flying Colors would be blaring from every car stereo tuned to album rock radio across North America. Not only does SECOND NATURE have the single best album cover of the year, but the album is absolutely riveting. It’s not quite prog, though, as with the best of AOR, it contains great prog elements. Everything fits perfectly here. The lyrics are solid, the vocals are superior. The final two songs—Peaceful Harbor and Cosmic Symphony (sort of a gospel prog)—alone are worth the entire album. But, the entire album is, thankfully, worth the entire album. For me, every time I listen to this album, I’m transported back to 1985. This would have sounded great next to Power Windows. And, unquestionably, Peaceful Harbor would easily outdo almost any contemporary worship song should churches look for some good new music.
A dark Narnia.
Largely unsung in the press, Mike Kershaw offers a rare noir beauty, a kind of moody deepness rare in almost all popular art, on 2014’s major release, ICE AGE. Kershaw’s music reminds me quite a bit of another profound prog act, Fractal Mirror. Each looks to the Bauhaus of the early 80s, progging it up, making it relevant in the modern age. Kershaw offers us a rather dark Narnia.
Cailyn is pure class.
One of America’s greatest gems is Cailyn Lloyd, though too few Americans know of her. In every way, Cailyn is a wonder. She arranges and writes her own music, plays all of her own instruments, and records and engineers her albums. Her specialty—bringing classical music and blues (think Stevie Ray Vaughn)—to the rock world. Reading this, you might first think of ELP. And, there’s a connection. But, whereas ELP was always “over the top,” Cailyn is as tasteful as tasteful can be. Her latest release, VOYAGER, is a must own for any lover of music, whatever the genre.
Motherland. Nothing to do with Natalie Merchant, however.
America’s newest and coolest immigrant, Simon Godfrey, has taken up residence in the City of Brotherly Love. For whatever reason, though, Philadelphia seems to have made him even more English, especially in his unrelenting wit. Godfrey’s latest, MOTHERLAND, is more in the “singer-songwriter” camp than prog, but it matters not. His voice drips with conviction, and this very warm album will enliven the soul of any listener. The best song of a great album is “The Inaccurate Man.”
Renaissance inspired?
America is doing quite well in 2014. Everyone’s favorite Kerry Kompost (FB name) is back with Heliopolis and the new album, CITY OF THE SUN, a stunning work of art that has taken several years to make. And, the time was well worth it. Of all prog releases this year, this is one of the two or three most unapologetically prog in the traditional sense. Quite heavy and eccentric, it builds and builds throughout the album, taking the listener on a psychedelic ride. Mix Black Sabbath, The Doors, and King Crimson, and you start to get a sense of what Heliopolis is. Whether Heliopolis takes its name—band and/or album title—from the famous Renaissance poem of the same name or not, I’m not sure. But, I do know that these guys have delivered something well worth adoring.
No, it’s not a Smith’s album.
Nothing Matt Stevens does is unimportant in our world. His vocal-less music carries more voice and speaks more humanely than almost anything else in the music world. The man loves his guitar, and he love beauty, and he loves harmony. LUCID takes Matt’s voice a step further. He’s also had a King Crimson/Leo Kottke strain to him, but this album is even more Matt than Matt. It’s so incredible that no words I could employ right now could do justice to it. And, speaking of justice, Matt has received some huge accolades. But, he deserves so many more.
A masterful EP.
Who would have thought an EP would make it into a best of list? Well, Galahad already has. Now, it’s Haken’s turn. Unlike Galahad, though, Haken gives us three brand new songs with RESTORATION. I have to thank my great Facebook friend, Richard Thresh, for first introducing me to Haken. Chris Morrissey has already reviewed the EP here at progarchy, and I agree with every word. So, no need for me to blather more.
The sequel to MARCH OF PROGRESS.
Finally, for part III of my best of, the band that Richard and I were discussing when he brought up Haken: Threshold. I really, really like these guys, though I’m generally not quite as metal as all of what’s to be found on their latest album, FOR THE JOURNEY. It’s as dark in its metal as MARCH OF PROGRESS was driving. There’s a lot in common between the two albums, especially thematically. Each deals with the fragility of life and social stability. The two albums seem to me to be two sides of the same thing, much in the way that it’s rather natural to listen to HEMISPHERES after listening to FAREWELL TO KINGS. If you like prog metal, it doesn’t get better than Threshold or Haken.
Progarchy’s Kevin McCormick’s latest CD, In Dulci Jubilo, is an album dedicated to Advent and Christmas. I also had the grand privilege of interviewing him at The Imaginative Conservative:
Progarchy 