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.

Pre-Order New Steven Wilson

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

Just about two hours ago, the pre-orders for the new Steven Wilson album, TO THE BONE, began.  The release comes in four versions, with the deluxe box set being limited in number.

To pre-order from Steven Wilson’s official store, go here: https://store.universalmusic.com/stevenwilson/*/*/To-The-Bone-Box-Set/5IVP0000000

Below is the first video from the album.  According to the official write up, Talk Talk’s THE COLOUR OF SPRING and Tears for Fears’ SEEDS OF LOVE serve as two of the three inspirations for the album, labeled as “progressive pop.”  The third is Peter Gabriel’s SO.

Latest Tillison/Tangent News

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cropped-img_00021.jpg

Posted by Andy Tillison an hour ago:

So at long last there will be a chance to see the much vaunted album sleeve tomorrow – Mark Buckingham‘s art for this sleeve is absolutely stellar. The dropbox for pre-preorders will be updated with some new excerpts from the album and we’ll have something for everyone to hear whether they have ordered or not. Shortly after that we’ll hope to get regular pre-orders going. I’ll be around this page tomorrow from 2.00 pm UK time and be up for any questions etc from that time onwards…. Hope to catch some of you tomorrow!

2017 might very well go down as the greatest year for prog, ever.  Very excited.

NAO’s THE THIRD DAY

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NAO, THE THIRD DAY (Kscope/Snapper, 2014).  Tracks: Great Plains II; Elsewhere; August; A Nice Little Place; Penrose; Do Something Useful; Wires; Pines of Eden; Dust; When to Stop.

NAO TTD cover art
Not sure if The Third Day is related to Genesis, but it is epic.

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.  The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.–GENESIS, Chapter 1

Though NAO’s Sam Healy is not religious in the least, there might be something culturally reflective here.  I have no idea, frankly.  But, I’m sure I’m not the only who imagined the Jewish creation story when reading the title of NAO’s third album.

Whatever the origin of the title, I was actually prompted to re-reveiw the album because of listening to the NAO compilation, LIBRARY STRIKES THE LIBRARY TWICE.  Listening to  the three tracks on that “best of,” taken from THE THIRD DAY, and listening to them out of context gave me an entirely new perspective on the 2014 album.

Continue reading “NAO’s THE THIRD DAY” →

No Luggage Allowed–Andy Tillison/The Tangent

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment
The Tangent no 7
The Tangent’s masterpiece, THE RITE OF WORK (2013)

Though perhaps not totally polite, I will admit my shock that this album isn’t discussed more among serious proggers.  To my mind, prog really doesn’t get any better or more innovative than this.  Though The Tangent is always extraordinary, this is The Tangent at its absolute best: weird; twisty; intelligent; cutting; affirming; angular; and organic.

My favorite part of the album, part VII of the third movement, “Afternoon Malaise”:

I shear the bolt, he turns the screw
We all have our part, and there’s one for you
And we’re all alone, yet surrounded by peers
Try to make our mark as we work off the years … crawling, marching

And we keep our homes if we pay our tax
I ask myself, “Just who struck that deal and just how far back?”
And some work for fortunes, some work for a dime
And some work for pensions, and some just do their time
And some of ’em build empires and some bring them down
Some work for recognition, ain’t we all just the clowns?

‘Cos you can’t take it with you
There’s no luggage allowed
No you can’t take it with you
No matter how rich or proud
Your kids will sell it off on Ebay
For God’s sake don’t waste their time
‘Cos you can’t take it with you
You can leave just a little bit behind

Burning Shed Updates Rather Seriously

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

A note from Burning Shed came this morning.  It looks like the site is rather seriously upgrading.  Frankly, I’ve found the current website excellent, and the service even more so.  Nice, however, to see the company getting better and better.

It’s our 16th birthday and we’re making a big change to celebrate.

Our new website is going live today and even though it might look quite similar to the old website it has lots of features which we hope will make life better for you (and for us!).

You will be able to:

* Create an account – save your name / address detail. For security reasons we won’t store your PayPal or credit card information.

* Everyone who creates an account will get a free, exclusive, download (more details to come)

* View your order history, check your order status and any tracking information

* Create a ‘Wish List’

* Gift Vouchers – send them to friends and family (or ask them to send one to you!)

* New shipping methods – choose either post or courier

* See recommendations for similar or related albums

* An expanded catalogue with advanced browse and search functions, including format and tags

Please note that any order you have placed on the old website is still active and will be shipped, but will not appear (for now) on your account in the new system

We might take longer to answer emails and ship orders over the next few days while we make sure everything is working properly.

Please bear with us over the next few days while we make sure everything is working properly.

 

Good luck and see you on the other side…

Massive SAND/Sam Healy Sale

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Sam-Healy-header
Sadly, not everyone is born a handsome Irish man.  Then, again, some are.  Sam Healy.

One of my all-time favorite musicians, Sam Healy (North Atlantic Oscillation), has his second SAND album, the extraordinary A SLEEPER, JUST AWAKE on sale for $9 (cd and download) or $6 (download).

Definitely worth taking advantage of.  SAND’s A SLEEPER, JUST AWAKE was certainly one of my top three albums of 2016.  Healy understands sound as well as anyone in the scene today (or yesterday).

https://www.musicglue.com/sandtheband

Rush, SNAKES AND ARROWS–Happy 10th Birthday!

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock4 Comments
snakes-and-arrows-cover-s
First appeared May 1, 2007.

Snakes and Arrows, Rush’s 18th studio album, came out on May 1, 2007.  It was the last Rush album to be distributed by Atlantic, but the first to be produced by Nick Raskulinecz.  Snake and Arrows was profoundly progressive, but it was also one of Rush’s blues-iest album, almost certainly influenced by their EP, Feedback, a 30th anniversary tribute to the bands the three members loved in the 1960s.  And yet, even the blues on the album is mischievous, an inversion or twisting of blues, propelling the flow into more classical progressive directions.

The album also sees the return of Peart, the cultural critic and observer.  The first track, “Far Cry,” begins with the harrowing “Pariah dogs and wandering madmen,” a commentary about the evil in society and those who would sell their own souls and become evil to destroy the other evil.  Each, tellingly, is a fundamentalist, “speaking in tongues.”  The track begins, musically, with a psychedelic blues feel.  This was not the world we thought we would inherit, Peart laments.

It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit

It’s a far cry from the way we thought we’d share it

You can almost feel the current flowing

You can almost see the circuits blowing

Even when we feel we might actually make something right, the world spins and we find ourselves rolled over.

Continue reading “Rush, SNAKES AND ARROWS–Happy 10th Birthday!” →

10 Years Old: FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET, Porcupine Tree

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

Ten years ago this month, Porcupine Tree released its magnum opus, FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET.  I’m sure that many of you in the progarchy community would respectfully (or otherwise) disagree with my belief that this was PT’s finest moment.  Is it really the magnum opus of the band?

foabp
PT, FOABP, 2007

Or, maybe to put it differently, is it the finest moment of Steven Wilson, version 1.0?

Well, this might be the subject of a much longer post. . . .  But, for now, let’s stick with FEAR.

Though much heavier than the albums prior to IN ABSENTIA, FEAR has everything that a prog fan would want.  The lyrics are top notch, the album is a concept, and the playing is flawless and immaculate.

Continue reading “10 Years Old: FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET, Porcupine Tree” →