Author: bradbirzer

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.

Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman: KICKSTARTER

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

Hey Progarchists, a plea and an appeal.  Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman have launched a Kickstarter pledge program.

Please, please, please support them.

The campaign lasts until February, and they’ve received about 30% of what they need at this point to complete and produce the album.

For those of you who might not know, these are the two who brought us the exceptional and outstanding [headspace] albums.  These guys are genius, and they very much deserve our support.

To support this project, please go here.

 

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Some Neglected Music of 2017, Part I

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock3 Comments

By neglected, I don’t mean by the world.  I mean, by me.

In a few other posts, I have had the privilege of listing my top albums, in the order I loved them.  My 2017 list goes, from no. 10 to no. 1: Anathema, The Optimist; Bjorn Riis, Forever Comes to an End; My Tricksy Spirit; Ayreon, The Source; The Tangent, The Slow Rust of Forgotten Machinery; Cosmograf, Hay-Man Dreams; Glass Hammer, Untold Tales; Newspaperflyhunting, Wastelands; Dave Kerzner, Static; and Big Big Train, everything released in 2017!

There are, however, a number of great releases from the year that I simply did not have time to grasp fully or immerse myself in the way I think necessary to review properly.  None of this, however, should suggest–to my mind, at least–even a kind of lesser quality or second-hand citizenship in the world of Prog, or in the republican anarchy that is progarchy.

For what it’s worth, I thought each of the following extraordinary as well, and, I hope, when Kronos allows, time to embrace each in the way it deserves.

***

lifesigns cardingtonLifesigns, Cardington.  I think John Young is a treasure of a musician and composer, and I’m honored to travel this world at the same time as he.  Intelligence radiates from everything the man does, and, even better, it’s an intelligence utterly in the service of good things.  The first Lifesigns was a shock of joy to me.  This one as well, though I’ve just not had the time to dive into it.

When I listen to Lifesigns, I actually think of Young and the band as the anti-Radiohead guys.  Imagine the darkness of Radiohead and then do exactly the opposite, in terms of melody and lyrics.  And, you might arrive at Lifesigns. My favorite track on this new release is nine-plus minute “Different.”

Continue reading “Some Neglected Music of 2017, Part I” →

Steven Wilson at TIC

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock6 Comments

Yesterday, I had the grand privilege of introducing the The American Conservative audience to the joys and delights of Big Big Train.  This morning, I’ve had an equal blessing in introducing Steven Wilson to The Imaginative Conservative audience.  It’s prog week in the Birzer house!  Then again, when isn’t it prog week in the Birzer house?

For this one, I focused on Wilson’s previous album, HAND.CANNOT.ERASE and explored the Christian humanist elements within it.

A huge thanks not only to Winston Elliott and Steve Klugewicz, masterful editors of The Imaginative Conservative, but to Stephen Humphries as well.  As some of you might very well know, there is no one in the world outside of Wilson himself who knows more about Wilson than Humphries does.

To read, please click here.

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Big Big Train at TAC

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

The kind and professional folks at The American Conservative have given me some space to spread my love for all things Big Big Train.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/an-ode-to-progressive-rock/

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BBT Christmas–True and Beautiful

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

Only a week old and already a favorite in the Birzer house.  The kids are running around singing “Mer-rr-y Christmas” in full-blown David Longdon style.  What a beautiful gift to the world, capturing everything that matters about the season.

Merry Christmas by Big Big Train.

Nominate Alison Reijman and Susie Bogdanowicz–PROG

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Jerry Ewing’s PROG magazine has put a call out for nominations for this year’s READERS’ POLL.  Here’s the handy-dandy link: PROG READERS’ POLL 2017.

Make sure you follow the directions for the email: “To vote, copy the categories below and e-mail us with the subject line ‘Readers’ Poll 2017’ to prog@futurenet.com.”

I have proudly sent in my nominations, but I would like to encourage you to consider two specific folks for nomination.

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Unsung Heroes.  Alison and Martin Reijman.

First, please consider nominating our own (well, she’s her own!) Alison Reijman as the “Unsung Hero.”  I have known Alison–only through the internet and correspondence; sadly, never in person–for years now, and I can state that I know of no other person not directly employed by a record label, a PR firm, or a magazine dealing with PROG who has promoted the genre more than Alison has.  She not only loves the music and the musicians, but she, herself, is a lovely, lovely person.  She exemplifies, at least to my mind, all that is best in our strange but delightful little corner of the cultural world.  She’s brilliant, free-spirited, spontaneous, tenacious, and exceedingly generous and kind.

Continue reading “Nominate Alison Reijman and Susie Bogdanowicz–PROG” →

2017: The Year of Big Big Train

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock4 Comments

Hello Progarchists!  I’m back. . . though a little later than I had meant to be.

For those two of you (ha) who you have been waiting eagerly to know my favorite album of 2017, I give you not one album.  Oh no, not one. . . but two albums and two EPs: Grimspound; Second Brightest Star; London Song; and the Merry Christmas EP.

All by one band, of course.  And not just any band, but an extraordinary band.  The best prog band in the world (tied with Glass Hammer, at least to my ears and soul), the band that reveals every.single.thing.that.is.good.in.prog, Big Big Train.

Grimspound 2017
Best album of 2017, 1.1, Grimspound.  Art by Sarah Ewing.

Greg, David, Dave, Nick, Rachel, Rikard, Andy, Danny, and, that 9th BBTer, Rob—congratulations.  Whatever other hells happened in the world in 2017, 2017 will always be, to me, the “Year of Big Big Train.”  You overwhelmed us not with quantity, but with quality.  And, dare I say it: with love.

Continue reading “2017: The Year of Big Big Train” →

SNOW by Spock’s Beard: Two Stories

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Snow LIVE
From Radiant Records.

As I am sure is true for all of us, albums I love and cherish and listen to, repeatedly, carry with them fond personal memories.  For better or worse, almost every single Neal Morse album and Spock’s Beard album comes with a story, and usually more than one.  As I’ve mentioned on progarchy before, I’ll never forget the release of the first Spock’s Beard album, THE LIGHT.  Being a prog fan since as far back as I can remember, I had no idea about the arrival of neo-Prog in England, and I had to content myself in the early 1990s with jam bands such as Phish and jam pop bands such as the Dave Matthews Band to satisfy my not so easily satisfied prog desires.  I had purchased so many CDs and had had so many discussions with the manager of Tracks in Bloomington, Indiana, that she remained on the lookout for me.  Anything that even remotely smacked of prog, she let me know.  She rather gleefully handed me a copy of THE LIGHT when it first came out.  To say I was thrilled would be an understatement.  I was just plain elated, inserting that cd in the tray, putting on my Sennheizers, and falling into prog bliss, attempting to follow all the nuances of the album and to figure out all of the lyrics.  I mean really, who is the catfish man?

And, why did this guy with such a great voice have to cuss so much?

Continue reading “SNOW by Spock’s Beard: Two Stories” →

Album Review: Rush – A Farewell to Kings 40th Anniversary — Drew’s Reviews

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Everyone’s favorite Drew reviews the Rush reissue of A FAREWELL TO KINGS at his own excellent website.

Kevin McCormick will be writing something similar for progarchy very, very soon!  To read Kevin’s original review, click here.  It remains, to this day, one of progarchy’s most highly read pieces.  And, for good reason.


So sad, the Rush fan. Getting the band back together nowhere in sight, instead relegated to album anniversary issues as time doesn’t stand still. It’s all we have to look forward to anymore now that retirement seems reality as nary a peep on the home front of anything forth pending. Make that anything new. […]

via Album Review: Rush – A Farewell to Kings 40th Anniversary — Drew’s Reviews

Spock’s Beard SNOW LIVE Deluxe Edition

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Snow LIVEAfter what seemed like an eternity (yes, even at age 50, patience is not one of my virtues), my copy of the deluxe edition of SNOW LIVE by Spock’s Beard arrived this afternoon.  And, the wait was more than worth it.  This thing is just loaded to the max with goodness and beauty.  Lots of truth as well.  2 CDs, 2 DVDs, and 2 Blu-ray disks.  Additionally, the set comes with a certificate of authenticity.  My authentic number is 1,887 out of 2,000, in case you were wondering.  And, you were wondering, right?  There are also a number of elongated postcards of the band members and a poster.

The best part of it all, though, is the book.  The size of a traditional album, the SNOW LIVE book is a thing of glory at 50 pages.  Full of liner notes and photos, I found myself quite taken with what Radiant Records has produced.  I’ve only begun to explore this all, but I’m thrilled to have it.  This is some of the best packaging I’ve seen, and I hope other bands take notice.

I really like, for example, the Rush boxset of 2112, but I think I like this open book format the best.  As sturdy as the Rush 2112 box is, I’m always a bit afraid it will get crushed.  Not so with the SNOW LIVE deluxe packaging.  It just feels solid.  As solid as it is beautiful.

Thank you, Radiant!  And, thank you, Amy Pippin at Radiant Records for doing the hard work of processing all of the orders and getting these shipped out.