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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.
Get ready to Pre-Order the new Neal Morse Band album
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Pre-orders begin at 10am Friday Sept. 9!
You Must Be Registered at www.radiantrecords.com to receive the free downloads that will come with your pre-order! Register now so you’re ready!
(We suggest that you go to www.radiantrecords.com
now to make sure your username and password
work correctly)
The first 200 preorders of the SE or Vinyl versions will receive a 5″ 7″ exclusive framable photo of an actual lyric sheet signed by Neal Morse. And free downloads of 2 tracks from the album!
This is gonna be great!
Thanks,
The Radiant Records Team
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Radiant Records| info@radiantrecords.com |radiantrecords.com
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Two of Big Big Train’s Greatest Epics
I know, I know. There are so many songs to chose from when thinking about the greatness that is Big Big Train. I’m hoping to give a little more time to analyzing each of these majestic tracks, but for now. . . simply enjoy. The first is by Greg Spawton, the second by David Longdon.
One quick point, however, these two tracks strike me as necesssary twins. Obviously, they each deal with the sea. But, they also deal with love.
More to come. Again. . . enjoy.
Sarah Ewing, Prog Artist
I’ve been thinking alot about BBT today and going through my CD and blu-ray collection of their albums. I must admit, all of the art BBT commissions and inspires is pretty amazing (do the Brits use “pretty” as a modifier, or is this an Americanism?).
I have an original Jim Trainor hanging in my college office, after all. I’m rather taken with it.
Looking at Sarah Ewing’s cover for FOLKLORE today, I found my way to her official website. I found myself gazing in dazed amazement. What an eye and imagination she has.
If you have a few moments, treat yourself and fall head over heels into her world. It’s quite glorious. So much so that it took me a bit to come to my world. Thank you, Sarah. What a treat.
http://sarahlouiseewing.com/home.html
Congratulations to Big Big Train
We at progarchy are thrilled to know that BBT has been awarded Band of the Year and Best Live Performance by Prog Magazine. Excellent choices, all around!
And, we’ve been loving BBT for years and years! Feel free to explore our past reflections on the band.
Big Big Train – English Boy Wonders – 1997/2008 – Review by Brad Birzer
Big Big Train – English Electric: Full Power – 2013 – Review by Brad Birzer
Big Big Train – English Electric: Full Power – 2013 – Review by Bryan Morey
Big Big Train – English Electric: Full Power – 2013 – Video Review by Brad Birzer
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by Alison Henderson
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by Brad Birzer
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by Craig Breaden
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by Craig Farham
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by Erik Heter
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by Frank Urbaniak
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by Ian Greatorex
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by John Deasey
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review by Nick “Dr. Nick” Efford
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt. 2 – 2013 – Review/Open Letter to BBT by Pete Blum
Big Big Train – English Electric Pt.2 – 2013 – Review by Tad Wert
Big Big Train – Folklore – 2016 – Review by Brad Birzer
Big Big Train – Folklore (hi-res audio tracklist version) – 2016 – Review by Bryan Morey
Big Big Train – Stone and Steel – 2016 – Review by Brad Birzer
Big Big Train – The Difference Machine – 2007/2010 – Review by Brad Birzer
Big Big Train – The Underfall Yard – 2009 – Review by Brad Birzer
Big Big Train – Wassail EP – 2015 – Review by Brad Birzer
A Beginner’s Guide to Big Big Train (2012) – By Brad Birzer
Wonderful News about Iamthemorning
This, from our great friend, Brian Rocha, and Fresno Media:
 RUSSIAN PROGRESSIVE DUO IAMTHEMORNING WINS ‘ALBUM OF THE YEAR’ AT PROGRESSIVE MUSIC AWARDS
“Lighthouse” out now on Kscope
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 LONDON, U.K. – Russian progressive duo iamthemorning has won the prestigious ‘Album of the Year Award’ for its latest Kscope album release, Lighthouse. The award was presented to the band last night at Prog Magazine’s fifth annual Progressive Music Awards in London. The ceremony took place at the world famous Underglobe beneath Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
“This was definitely a night to remember,” commented vocalist Marjana Semkina upon receiving the award. “We were of course very excited about attending as it is a great chance to catch up with old friends and meet some new people – some of the finest people of Prog, I should say! And that’s it, we never even thought we’d get the award.
“The nominees in our category are all so amazing, some of them are our good friends too, and it feels generally awkward to sneak the award from them, because every single one of them deserves it. But we are of course really happy and humbled, it is such a great honor for us to actually win, and it’s so inspiring. Big thanks to our team of engineers that put all their time into this project – Marcel van Limbeek, Gianluca Capacchione and Vlad Avy, as well as people that contributed their amazing musicianship, including Gavin Harrison, Colin Edwin and Mariusz Duda, this whole thing wouldn’t be possible with all of them. We hope that more than anything it will give us a chance to actually start playing Europe properly, but for now I can’t wait to start working on the next album!”
In addition to the ‘Album of the Year Award,’ iamthemorning has also revealed the official music video to its track, “Libretto Horror,” taken from Lighthouse, on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gFMg2vvLCKw. A live performance of the song from St. Petersburg, Russia’s Aleksandrinksy Theater can also be viewed at https://youtu.be/iLPM8EH767Y.
Lighthouse released via Kscope earlier in 2016, following up the band’s 2014 album Belighted and was described by Prog Magazine as “life affirming, beautiful, heavenly – a monumental album.”
As with Belighted, the engineering and mixing on Lighthouse is handled by Marcel van Limbeek (Tori Amos) and self-produced by Gleb and Marjana. The album also features guest musicians Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson) on drums, Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree) on bass and additional vocals on the album’s title track by Mariusz Duda (Lunatic Soul, Riverside).
Lighthouse is a rich and eclectic album with echoes of classical music, the Canterbury scene, northern folk, jazz and electronic sounds. Featuring a story of the progression of mental illness, the album takes the listener through the stages with the story’s central character, her attempts to fight it, and temporal remission leading to a final breakdown. Lyrically, the works and lives of Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath inspire the album.
Recorded across London, Moscow & St Petersburg, the core instrument of the band, the grand piano, was recorded in Mosfilm Studios Moscow, one of the largest and oldest studios in Russia. Founded in 1920, Mosfilm is renowned for recording orchestras for soundtracks for the most famous Soviet-era films, including works by Tarkovsky and Eisenstein.
The album artwork for Lighthouse was created by watercolor artist Constantine Nagishkin who the band has previously collaborated with before.
Lighthouse is available digitally now on iTunes at:
http://smarturl.it/LIGHTHOUSE_DIGITAL and on CD, LP (with MP3 download code) through the Kscope webstore at: www.kscopemusic.com/store.
 1. I Came Before the Water (pt. I)
2. Too Many Years
3. Clear Clearer
4. Sleeping Pills
5. Libretto Horror
6. Lighthouse (feat. Mariusz Duda)
7. Harmony
8. Matches
9. Belighted
10. Chalk and Coal
11. I Came Before the Water (pt. II)
12. Post Scriptum
Stay tuned for more information on iamthemorning and Lighthouse, out now on Kscope.
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iamthemorning is:
Marjana Semkina – vocals
Gleb Kolyadin – grand piano, keyboards
iamthemorning online:
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Freakishly Huge Sale at RADIANT
STARTING NOW: Radiant’s Pre-Labor Day 3-Day Sale through Wednesday, 8/31!
BIG savings on:
Transatlantic – Kaleidoscope
Neal Morse – Songs from November
Neal Morse – Momentum
Neal Morse – LIVE Momentum
Transatlantic – Whirld Tour 2010
Transatlantic – More Never is Enough
Spock’s Beard – Don’t Try This at Home
Order within the next three days for your chance to win a surprise gift!
(Recipients of surprise gifts will be chosen at random. If you are picked, the gift will be included with your order.)
PLUS: All orders over $60 receive a 15% discount!
(Discount automatically deducted at checkout – no code required.)
It’s a Far Cry: The Genius of Rush, Snakes, and Arrows
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 “It’s a Far Cry: The Genius of Rush, Snakes, and Arrows”
VALKYRIE: A Supreme Achievement
VALKYRIE is an astounding achievement by any measure. It’s not only the best album of 2016, but it’s one of the best albums of the rock era, a relentless drive toward poetic and tonal excellence. Glass Hammer is a band that never stops challenging itself, and it never fails to succeed.
This is, by far, Glass Hammer’s best album. Amazingly so! In fact, it’s the perfect, but more intense, sibling of LEX REX, INCONSOLABLE SECRET, and PERILOUS.
MAGNIFICATION: Anderson’s Final Yes Album, 2001
Yes, MAGNIFICATION (Beyond, 2001).
I was only age 33 when Magnification first came into the world. Now, fifteen years later, as I approach age 49, I find myself marveling that this was the last Yes album released with Jon Anderson’s vocals. I’m by no means a Yes purist, but I certainly think of Anderson as synonymous with Yes. Regardless. . . how well has this album held up?
One of the great problems with mixing rock and classical music is the actual choice of traditionally classical instruments employed. When it comes to the staples of rock—bass, drums, and guitar—certain classical instruments work extremely well in accompaniment. Others, not at all, or rarely so. Generally—at least to my untrained ear—deep strings and woodwinds work best with the traditional instruments of rock.
Continue reading “MAGNIFICATION: Anderson’s Final Yes Album, 2001”
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