Following the jump, the reissues and compilations from this past year that:
It is 21/12, after all …
More on this lovely confected holiday at Rush Is A Band.
Makes me want to go out and splurge on Geddy Lee’s new Big Beautiful Book of Bass. Though my wallet and my hernia might regret it …
— Rick Krueger
Here are the albums of new music from 2018 that grabbed me on first or second listen, then compelled repeated plays. I’m not gonna rank them except for those that achieved Top Favorite status, which I’ll save for the very end. The others are listed alphabetically by artist. (Old school style, that is — last names first where necessary!) Links to the ones I’ve previously reviewed are embedded in the album titles. But first, a graphic tease …
King Crimson have announced three live dates in the USA for the fall of 2019:
VIP Celebration Packages (60 people per show) for Los Angeles are available at Discipline Global Mobile; Chicago & New York packages are already sold out. General ticket sales will begin soon.
Following up on this announcement (along with previous announcements of shows in London and Germany), Robert Fripp commented:
the countries being visited (although not extensively) are: Germany, UK, (likely) Holland, Poland, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, US, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. This assumes the world doesn’t get much crazier than it is already, noting that it will.
And DGM head honcho David Singleton reveals a bit more:
The exact timing of announcements for shows has to be agreed with the different promoters in different territories. We are also playing festivals, which have their own schedule. Some show-dates and contracts are still being finalized. This means that we cannot announce a full list. We do however insist that the first announcement comes from the DGMLive website, and that we have at least a week in advance to sell Celebration packages where they exist (it is not normally possible at festivals).
More tour date announcements are coming in 2019.
And yes, I ponied up for a Celebration Package in Chicago. Lord willing, I’m ready and raring to hear the Mighty Crim for the 9th time next September!
— Rick Krueger
Fifty years ago today — December 3, 1968 — NBC aired Singer Presents … Elvis.
At that point, Elvis Presley was generally considered a joke, a has-been. His pioneering rock and roll days were long behind him, his singing and acting career and earning potential shriveled by a stultifying run of half-baked movies (Girl Happy, Harum Scarum, Clambake) and equally awful soundtracks (featuring horrid novelty songs like “There’s No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car” and “He’s Your Uncle, Not Your Dad”). Presley’s manager “Colonel” Tom Parker was pushing for a holiday special where Elvis would cavort with nominally famous guest stars and sing … wait for it … twenty Christmas carols.
But Singer’s execs had something else in mind: a show centered entirely on Presley, reminding the audience of his initial, explosive impact on pop music and propelling him forward, into a fresh phase of his career. Elvis bought in, the Colonel signed off, and Steve Binder (director of the spectacular 1964 concert movie The T.A.M.I Show, featuring The Supremes, The Beach Boys, James Brown and The Rolling Stones in thrilling live performances) signed on. Which is why, on that night fifty years ago, as 42 percent of the US television audience tuned in, they locked eyes with a man on a mission:
Continue reading “If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley’s Golden Comeback”
Based on these four new albums, progressive rock is doing just fine, thank you! I’m not feeling the need for a Personal Progginess Perception scale this time around, so capsule reviews and ratings of this quartet follow the jump.
Continue reading “The State of Prog 2018: Lightning Round Reviews, November 20-30”
“Dear friends from US and Canada. Will you find time to see us in May 2019? We have a great pleasure to announce all these dates and places.
North America Wasteland Tour 2019:
See you there!”
In the 1997 movie Men in Black, Agent K (aka Tommy Lee Jones) spoke truer than he knew:
This is a fascinating little gadget. It’s gonna replace CDs soon. Guess I’ll have to buy ‘The White Album’ again.
Fast forward to the 50th anniversary Super Deluxe edition of The Beatles — my copy is #0112672, if you’re interested — my fifth purchase of the 1968 album. Following the first CD release in 1987, Agent K’s prophecy was swiftly fulfilled, with 1998’s “30th anniversary limited edition” (CD #0438243), then 2009’s mono and stereo remasters each promising better sound and a more complete listening experience. So does this new box provide anything previous versions haven’t? And does it shed any new light on the “White Album’s” ultimate stature, both in the Fabs’ catalog and in rock history ?
Continue reading “A Deeper Shade of White: Notes on “The Beatles””
Capsule reviews of what I’ve listened to since the last installment follow the jump. Albums are reviewed in descending order on my Personal Proggyness Perception (PPP) scale, scored from 0 to 10.
Continue reading “Lightning Round Reviews: November 10-19, 2018”
In case you hadn’t noticed, the last quarter of 2018 has put paid to any perceived drought of new releases & reissues. Capsule reviews of what I’ve been listening to since the first of this month follow the jump; albums are reviewed in descending order on my Personal Proggyness Perception (PPP) scale, scored from 0 to 10.
Continue reading “Lightning Round Reviews: November 1-9, 2018”
Progarchy 