Taken by surprise today with this happy news from Spock’s Beard:

The Oblivion Particle

Spock’s Beard’s 12th studio album set for release August 21, 2015 on InsideOut Music.

01. Tides of Time (7:45)
02. Minion (6:53)
03. Hell’s Not Enough (6:23)
04. Bennett Built a Time Machine (6:52)
05. Get Out While You Can (4:55)
06. A Better Way To Fly (8:57)
07. The Center Line (7:05)
08. To Be Free Again (10:24)
09. Disappear (6:36)

10. Iron Man (special edition bonus track)

From the InsideOut Music press release:

2015 finds Spock’s Beard returning with The Oblivion Particle, scheduled for release August 21st on InsideOut Music. The band’s twelfth studio album sees them drawing from their core essence while stretching out into some exciting new territory.

According to bassist Dave Meros, it’s not a matter of how much the album recalls past Spock’s material, but how much it differs. “I think the opening track ‘Tides of Time’ is classic Spock’s in terms of arrangement and style, but everything else is fairly different. That said, the whole album is still within the parameters of what people expect to hear from us.”

Among the nine new songs are “To Be Free Again,” a dramatic, cinematic epic; “Bennett Built a Time Machine,” a quirky adventure tale about time travel; “Hell’s Not Enough” with its fiery emotive plateaus and “Get Out While You Can,” a more straight ahead yet no less impactful powerhouse.

The Oblivion Particle finds the band answering the needs of their creations by utilizing the considerable versatility of each member. In addition to Ted Leonard’s soaring vocals and Dave Meros’ distinctive bass, Alan Morse adds autoharp, banjolele, electric sitar and mandolin to his array of instruments, drummer Jimmy Keegan takes over lead vocals on “Bennett Built a Time Machine” and Ryo expands his arsenal of keyboard sounds throughout the album. In addition, virtuoso Kansas violinist David Ragsdale lends his touch to the album’s majestic closer, “Disappear.”

As with the previous album Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep, The Oblivion Particle was recorded at The Mouse House and produced by Rich Mouser, Alan Morse and John Boegehold, a band collaborator of many years.

Ultimately, The Oblivion Particle has all the trademarks of a classic “grower,” with a considerable depth that continues to unfold after many listens. This proves Spock’s Beard to be an amazingly compelling band some 20+ years after their formation, and one that continues to be a leader in the prog rock field, just as they have always been…

Their previous album, Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep, was one of the best of 2013, and also one of Spock’s Beard’s best albums ever.

So, I am really looking forward to The Oblivion Particle!

Metal Mondays: Tyr — “Cemetery Gates” (check out this awesome Pantera cover!)

Not bad. Makes me think of Fleetwood Mac… combined with what sounds a like a visit from Phil Collins at 3:52…

Buy it at http://mantravega.bandcamp.com

Fiona Grey has a new song coming out July 22. Here’s a taste of her talent, a great song from back in 2013:

Like that? Then I think you’re gonna like this too.

Where’s the red Prog circle in the new Apple Music?

Perhaps Prog is not a genre but transcends all genres…

Download the three-song EP or watch the new video for Dave Kerzner’s “The Lie” (from the modern prog masterpiece New World) right over here.

I would embed the video here, but it is currently unlisted, so please use the link above.

This is one of the best songs on an entirely brilliant album.

Shakira should pay tribute to Chris Squire too. I wonder what her favorite Yes song is?

Neal Morse over at The Prog Report:

“A lot of songs changed my life.  I’ve been shaped by music all along.  I guess if I had to pick one, I’d pick Heart of the Sunrise, in reverence to our dear departed Chris Squire.  Heart of the Sunrise was a big, big life changer for me.”

Neal goes on to explain the first time he saw Yes in concert.  “I saw them open for Black Sabbath when Fragile had just come out and that was my moment.  That was my big ‘Woah!’  I didnt know this was possible.  I didn’t know you could have classical music side by side like that with pop and rock music and everything else.  Then the next year I saw them on the Close to the Edge tour.  That was right after Bruford, so I got to see them with Bruford the very first time.”

Please support this awesome band by buying the EP!

Their name is Scandinavian (rhymes with “bacon”) but the band is actually English and based in London.

This is some of the best prog ever.

I can’t wait to hear the next studio album from this band, which has been performing at their peak ever since The Mountain.

Steven Wilson posts on Facebook:

My buddy from no-man, Tim Bowness, releases his fantastic new album Stupid Things That Mean the World on 17th July, a follow up to last year’s Abandoned Dancehall Dreams. I mixed and played a little on that one, but although I’m not directly involved in the new album, Tim has recorded a song for it that we wrote and demoed for No-Man 20 years ago! At that time the song was called Best Boy Electric, but the final finished album track has been retitled Sing to Me. … You can hear our original demo fragment from 1994 on the bonus CD that comes with initial copies of the album.

Pre-order for the July 17 release from Burning Shed:

CD 1 – Stupid Things That Mean The World

1. The Great Electric Teenage Dream 3.58
2. Sing To Me 5.46
3. Where You’ve Always Been 4.07
4. Stupid Things That Mean The World 3.05
5. Know That You Were Loved 6.44
6. Press Reset 3.54
7. All These Escapes 3.06
8. Everything You’re Not 3.40
9. Everything But You 1.12
10. Soft William 1.40
11. At The End Of The Holiday 4.58

CD 2 – Stupid Things That Meant The World

1. Stupid Things That Mean The World (alternate) (Nick Magnus mix) 3.09
2. Best Boy Electric (Sing To Me) (1994 No-Man demo) (Steven Wilson mix) 1.58
3. Know That You Were Loved (alternate, David Rhodes ‘electric version’) (Stephen Bennett mix) 6.29
4. I Still Miss You (Stupid Things That Mean The World, UXB ‘Ambient’ Mix) 6.13

Dave Kerzner tells the story on Facebook:

I have a fun story to tell you, especially if you’re a Rush fan. On June 19th, for the first time ever, Rush performed the song “Losing It” live in Toronto (with special guest, the brilliant Ben Mink on violin). Here it is:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXq2KbiW7sc Now, let me tell you some cool events leading up to it that may possibly have had something to do with this happening. I can’t say for certain, but, it seems to have started with a feature Prog Magazine did where they asked various artists what their favorite Rush song is and why. They asked me and I chose the song “Losing It” from Signals because it’s a lesser known track (almost forgotten) yet one of their most beautiful songs lyrically and musically. Here’s the feature Prog did with me on that: https://www.teamrock.com/…/2…/rush-song-of-the-day-losing-it

Then, I sent Ben Mink an email about it just showing my appreciation for him and the song… and apparently so did others including a fellow named Darren who alerted me to this recent live event where somehow both Ben and Rush decided to perform this early 80s song for the first time (they didn’t even perform this song for the Signals tour!) This is a song most Rush fans probably thought would never be played live ever. I certainly didn’t.

This is also apparently their last big tour! Through doing Neil Peart Drums, I’ve become friends with the A&R man at their label, Anthem, and I even shared the Prog article with him (he may have shared it with the band too for all I know). The interesting thing to me is that all of those things ended up being a bit of petitioning that actually worked!!!! The responses to the idea of “wouldn’t it be great if they played ‘Losing It’ live?” were really positive on the net when it was brought up. What’s even better is that these shows in Toronto were apparently filmed for a DVD! This song wasn’t a single. It wasn’t from their biggest album. But, it’s a gem! So, at the last minute on their last tour somehow through either sheer chance or a bit of strong intention and will from myself and others who wanted this to happen… it did! Thanks Jerry Ewing and Prog Mag for your awesome publication that ignites such things as this! I was honored to be asked to participate in the article and now I’m even happier at just the thought that it *might* have contributed to them actually playing it!

By the way, I’m covering this song with David Longdon of Big Big Train for my special Rush tribute album that I’ve been producing. I did ask Ben if he wanted to play on it, but, as we can see he had another idea which is even bigger! You can hear some of the snippets of the Rush covers we’ve done so far with guys like Rik Emmett of Triumph and more on my Sonic Elements Sound Cloud if you’re a modern day warrior…http://www.soundcloud.com/sonicelements