Album Review: Big Big Train, “Grimspound”

The reviews are coming on nicely!

Proglodytes

I first heard of Big Big Train when listening to a sampler CD that came with my prescription to Prog Magazine.  The song was “Judas Unrepentant” off of the soon to be released album, English Electric.  I was listening to it in my car and thought it sounded a fun song — I could tell that there was some story going although I couldn’t quite follow the details.  All I knew for sure I that somebody was charged with “conspiracy to defraaaaaaaud!”  The track was compelling enough that I played it again.  Then I played it again and had my friend in the passenger seat start writing down the lyrics.  We listened to it over and over until we had the words down, and by that point could sing along with the full song and I had decided that it was one of the better songs I had heard…

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Christmas greetings from Big Big Train!

Greg Spawton,  David Longdon, Andy Poole and all the others in Big Big Train posted this on X-mas eve. ☺

Christmas Message from Big Big Train

We wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all Merry Christmas and to thank you for your continued support for the band over the last year. It goes without saying (but it can't be said enough) that we wouldn't be able to release music and videos and play gigs without the support of listeners across the world who take the trouble to spend some time with our music. Every time a listener buys a CD or an LP or a download or a concert ticket or some merchandise or streams our music it generates income which helps to pay our bills and enables the band to continue. And your support in spreading the word by talking about us to others and mentioning us on forums and reviewing our releases on Amazon and other sites helps us to grow. So thank you from all of us for what you do.

As you may have gathered, we have been extremely busy in the last few weeks finishing a new album which will be released in April next year. We will be working over Christmas to get things completed in time for mixing in January. The album started as an EP, then, as we found we had written a lot of new songs, we thought we'd make a companion album to Folklore, and then it grew still further into something which stands entirely on its own as a new studio album but which also (we hope) will act as a kind of summary of all that we have tried to achieve since we released The Underfall Yard in 2009.

After the release of the album in April, we will start preparing for our biggest gigs yet which will take place at Cadogan Hall in London in late September and early October. We also hope to be able to announce some news during next year of our first shows in mainland Europe and in the States which, if things go to plan, will take place in 2018.

So, hopefully, there will be a busy and productive time ahead for us in the next couple of years. This is important as, if we have learnt anything at all over recent months it is to be busy and active in music as much as we can whilst things are going well (to make hay whilst the sun shines.) And it is true to say that too often recently there have been cloudy skies over the rock music world. Whether it has been the untimely deaths of some of the greatest and most influential artists or the loss of some of the best and most important music magazines, things have not been good. We do hope that 2017 will prove to be a less difficult year than 2016.

Merry Christmas

Andy, Danny, Dave, David, Greg, Nick, Rachel and Rikard.
Big Big Train

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bigbigtrain/permalink/10154339693163668/

Big Big Train, ‘Folklore’

Proglodytes

Big Big Train was founded around 1990 and existed primarily as the studio project of Greg Spawton and Andy Pool until 2009, at which point they largely stabilized a band lineup (‘stabilize’ being a relative term).  Starting with their sixth album, The Underfall Yard, they began to enjoy some acclaim in the progressive rock community.  In 2012, they released the first part of a double album, English Electric Part I, which was followed a year later by English Electric Part II.  This move was not only super-proggy, but smart, as it also encouraged extra sales for the second album.

With EE parts I and II, BBT set themselves an incredibly high standard. The music and lyrics on both albums were superb and they combined melody and complexity to a degree that few bands have been able to do.  Because of this, expectations were high for their latest…

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Honourable mention: Big Big Train – Folklore (2016)

A shortish but very fine review!!

Grendel HeadQuarters

Oh my, where to start? Well, I have to admit, I never heard of the band Big Big Train before, until I listened to Stacy Doller’s Prog Britannia show (which used to be on Progrock.com, and now on Progzilla Radio). I really liked the songs that I heard, so I started to do some research. I thought it was a pretty new band, but I found out that the band exists for quite a while! I also just started to work for Background Magazine back in the early summer of 2015. I got my first batch of albums, and it included the Wassail EP of Big Big Train. I was very impressed by that EP, especially because of the title track Wassail (you can read the review of that EP here).

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Big Big Train’s Love Letters to the Proletariat: Interview with Greg Spawton

This is a very good interview from another WordPress prog blog, called Proglodytes! Read and enjoy!

 

Big Big Train has been enjoying some well deserved success lately. Starting with their acclaimed release The Underfall Yard in 2009, Big Big Train has only enjoyed more and more positive reception.…

Source: Big Big Train’s Love Letters to the Proletariat: Interview with Greg Spawton

Big Big Train no 1 in Event Of The Year category in Prog Mag’s Readers’ Poll 2016

It’s with great delight I read in the latest issue of Prog Magazine that the wonderful social get together that was the The Big Big Gigs at Kings Place in London August 14-16 has been chosen No 1 Event Of The Year in the Readers’ Poll 2016! The grateful comment from the band is so significant of what this wonderful band is all about. Love! 🙂 As you also can see the band’s drummer Nick D’Virgilio was number 2 in the Drummer category just behind the monumental Marco Minnemann. (Thanks to Greg’s daughter Ellie for the picture which I nicked from her Facebook timeline.)

BBT Event of the year 2016

An appreciation of PHIL COLLINS: You’re not worthy

Make Your Own Taste

2642616by Allister Thompson

I retired from blogging about music in July of 2015, after many years of frequent posting. My fingers and brain were tired. However, I am coming out of retirement for this one special post, one which I feel compelled to write. Anyone with an ethical bone in his or her body knows that we have entered a really weird cultural period, dominated by the Internet’s insidious role in life, every fool’s newfound outlet to spew whatever crap he or she wants, no matter how idiotic or hurtful. Cyberbullying, cyberracism, cybersexism, hey, call whoever whatever names you like. No one can stop it. One thing making the rounds this week was some jerk’s petition to demand Phil Collins not make a comeback to music. While this is not on the same level as insulting people’s race or sexual orientation, it still says something about the catty, superficial nature…

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