Blue Öyster Cult had hit it big with 1976’s Agents Of Fortune but they were starting to sound like they were going through the motions by the time of 1979’s Mirrors. The slick Tom Werman production and generic songwriting displays little of the band’s usual esoteric adventurousness. The pastiche Moon Crazy should never have seen […]
via Blue Öyster Cult – Mirrors (Review) — HEAVY METAL OVERLOAD
LaserCD has been designated the official store for the North American release of Riverside’s forthcoming album, WASTELAND. Thank you, LaserCD!
To order (and read the excellent editorial writeup), go here:
https://www.lasercd.com/cd/wasteland-import-mediabook-preorder
Taking us back to the years of Stranger Things. . . this looks wonderful. From Clint Weiler, MVD Media:
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The Us Festival: 1982 The Us Generation
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The authorized story of the 1982 Us Festival with remastered live performances from
The Police, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Santana, The Cars, The B-52s, and more
Coming to Blu-ray / DVD on August 10th
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The Us Generation: The Making Of the 1982 Us Festival is an in-depth look at one of the most influential music festivals of all time. The Us Generation is from award winning filmmaker and rockumentarian Glenn Aveni, who is also the film’s director. Co-Directed by Jay Cederholm and Produced by Bruce Gibb & Rich Schmig, the film blends rare concert footage and insightful interviews with both organizers and performers.
The film tells the story of the groundbreaking 1982 Us Festival–an epic three-day event featuring an eclectic and unprecedented lineup boasting some of the biggest names in music, performing live in front of over one million people at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, CA. The Us Festival was the brainchild of Apple visionary Steve Wozniak, who wanted to create something that was a true celebration of Americana, cultivating positive vibes and building a deep sense of community through the power of technology and music.
Highlights include performances by chart-topping superstars, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, alt-rock trio The Police, blues rock heroes Fleetwood Mac, guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana, retro-chic favorites The B-52s, and new wave icons The Cars; as well as archived appearances by Johnny & Joey Ramone, Carlos Santana, Sting, Ric Ocasek, Danny Elfman, and Fred Schneider; plus exclusive sit-downs with festival founder Steve Wozniak, Mick Fleetwood, Eddie Money, Marky Ramone, Kate Pierson, Stewart Copeland, and Mickey Hart, among others.
The film is produced by Icon Television Music, Inc., Plum Media, and in association with Us Festival original founders Unuson Corporation.
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Today is the birthday of one of the handful of the pantheon of Anglo-Saxon demigod guitarists: Matt Stevens, he of solo and Fierce and the Dead fame. Thank you, Matt–for your artistry and generosity. Each make this world more than a bit better!
Tom keeps releasing his old recordings and video diaries. Here’s no. 3.
A 3CD/1Blu-Ray set featuring over three and a half hours of material performed during King Crimson’s five night residency at Teatro Metropolitan, Mexico City in July 2017 plus audio extras.
The Blu-Ray contains over two hours of multi-camera HD recorded footage, audio soundtrack in 24/48 LPCM, hi-res stereo and 5.1 DTS HD-MA (with ‘picture off’ mode allowing the music to be heard independently in lossless audio).
Mixed by Bill Rieflin from multi-track recordings and presented in two mini-vinyl style gatefold packs with booklet – including photos by Tony Levin and sleeve notes – enclosed in an outer slipcase.
A comprehensive overview of a band at the peak of its performing ability.
Pre-order for 28th September release.
This week, I had the great and grand pleasure of speaking with Tom Woods and Roie Avin about the state of progressive rock music. As you all should know, Tom Woods is an absolute genius–especially on all matters political, cultural, and economic. That’s his razor-sharp logic side. But, he’s also a romantic and a huge prog fan.
Roie Avin, as you all should know as well, is the founder of one of the best prog sites on the web, Prog Report, and the author of one of the best books ever written about rock or prog, Essential Modern Progressive Rock.
If you don’t own it, you must.
Ok, so a bit of bias here. Tom is one of my three or four closest friends, and, though, Roie and I have never met, I have been following him rather closely for the past five years. The three of us, I think, had a blast. So, here’s hoping you do as well.
https://tomwoods.com/bonus-ep-1204-without-this-music-your-life-is-worse/
Yesterday, I posted an editorial about 2018 being a moment of prog “selah”–as we all take a collective breath. If anything, 2018 thus far has been defined not by its studio albums, but by its live albums. I listed three: Glass Hammer’s Mostly Live in Italy; Marillion’s All One Tonight, and Big Big Train’s Merchants of Light. Very stupidly–and quite by oversight–I forgot to mention a critical fourth live release, Ayreon Universe.
Here’s my review of Ayreon Universe: https://progarchy.com/2018/07/01/ayreon-opera-prog-totally-and-utterly-over-the-top/
With all of my apologies, Arjen! As I noted in the previous review, you are THE MASTER!
He’s back. Video no. 2, this one from August 1, 1983. Again, I can only suspect that Tom lives very, very close to Hawkins, Indiana.
2018 is now a month past its halfway mark, and the year is somewhere in its middle age, and it will only continue to age until that fateful day, December 31, inevitably comes.
From the perspective of progressive rock, it’s been a solid year, but not an outstanding year–at least in terms of studio releases. Certainly, those released–from The Fierce and the Dead to Gazpacho to the Kalman Filter to Galahad to 3RDegree–have been excellent, to be sure. But, they’ve been few, especially compared to the re-releases and re-mastered and re-packaged.
Perhaps, 2018, in the end, will prove to be a moment of all of us catching our collective breath. Maybe what the Old Testament called “Selah,” pause.
Progarchy 