A familyman (spouse and three kids) from the West Coast of Sweden. Social worker by profession, now finding myself working with families with small children under 4 years of age within the child-psychiatric framework. Music lover, birdwatcher, kayaker, hiker, moderately social, chorister (tenor), ale drinker...
Earlier today I searched YouTube for some suitable music to post on Sally Collyer’s Facebook timeline since it’s her birthday and all. What would be more suitable than a nice piece of footage from a Tangent gig, I thought! 🙂 And really perfect it would be if I could find a clip from the gig I attended, the one in my old hometown Kungsbacka, south of Gothenburg, Sweden. Imagine my joy when I actually found these two clips from the absolutely fantastic Monday evening, when The Tangent and Karmakanic joined forces for the last time on the short but intense tour they were out on in the last week of May and beginning of June. They started out with two gigs in Sweden, continued with three shows in Germany and The Netherlands and played, what first was meant to be the end of the tour, for an apparently ecstatic audience at Celebr8.3 in London. But, alas, the festival gig wasn’t the last, so they actually flew back to Sweden again to finish the tour at Kungsbacka Teater! Which, naturally, I’m so very happy they did! And so, watching the clips this morning made me again feel the happiness to be here, now, in this very time, being able to enjoy all the wonderful music being played by fantastic bands like The Tangent and Karmakanic. And soon, oh soon it’s time for the highly anticipated gathering of friends, also known as Big Big Train Live at King’s Hall, which probably will be The Pinnacle of my life as a music lover. 🙂
Danny Manners, uprightbassplayer and keyboardist extraordinaire, is stating this as of today:
TUE 30 SEP, 10:40 – The dust settles…
We are pretty much sold out for the August 14th & 15th gigs.
An additional matinée performance on Sunday 16th August is likely: we’re in the process of deciding. Assuming we go for it, it would still be a couple of weeks before tickets went on sale. They would be available to everyone, not just this group.
A Big Big thank you from the band for your enthusiasm, and for the willingness of many people to travel long distances to see us. We had better be good after this…
Once again, apologies for the slightly chaotic way tickets became available. (King’s Place are not a regular rock venue and hence not really set up to handle pre-sales/restricted sales.) Luckily, their policy of not making balcony seats available until the stalls are filled, which might be rather annoying in itself, ensured that there were still some tickets available for people who only checked FB at the appointed hour on Monday morning.
The important thing is that the vast majority of tickets went to members of this group.
Looking forward to meeting many of you next August….
Big Big Train
Being a Passenger means you probably are a member of the evergrowing Big Big Train facebookgroup. Among all interesting subjects being discussed there we have now also learned how to bake bread the proper way! Read Jon Collin’s blog about Big Big Bread! Enjoy!
I’m stoked! On Saturday 1st March fine Swedish proggers A.C.T are doing their comeback at Musikens Hus Goes Progressive! New record coming up in the beginning of March as well!
Not very many live clips around but this one from KB in Malmö is great!
Wow! Not only did Big Big Train perform the classic hat trick at last night’s CRS Awards! The fabulous Moon Safari from Skelleftå, Sweden, were also heralded with the awards for “Best Overseas Band” and “Best Live CRS Gig”!! So well deserved! Big Big Hooray!!!
…nevertheless I have done my homework and now will present my list of the best albums from this absolutely fantastic year of prog! 🙂 I mean 2012 and 2013 have been excellent years both of them but 2013 has been special. I think we can agree on that even though our personal lists may differ a bit. Not to be spoiling too much, but the number one was a no-brainer really, but then it was extremely hard to distinguish between albums 2 to 6. These are five albums that actually can interchange their positions depending on what kind of day it is for me. 🙂 This is how it all ended up today at least. So off we go!
10. Camelias Garden – You Have A Chance
Lovely debut album by this Italian band. Folky prog a bit in the vein of Harmonium.
9. Spock’s Beard – Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep
Well, who would have thought that my favourite SB-album would be the one without both Neal and Nick? But so it is!
8. Haken – The Mountain
Rawk’n’rawl and some real quirkiness in a fine mix! Will always remember sitting in Mr Ian Greatorex’s listening room with high end stereo equipment, giving this a first listen…with a Big Big Beer in my hand.
7. Lifesigns – Lifesigns
After feeling it was a bit “meh” to start with this lush album has grown and grown. Some really beautiful songs here!
6. The Tangent – Le Sacre du Travail
Mr Andy Tillison’s magnum opus to date! Greatness! And with Gavin on drums and Jonas on bass, what can possibly go wrong?
5. Cosmograf – The Man Left In Space
Superb album by Robin Armstrong’s brainchild, comsograf! It’s one of those you just have to listen to from beginning to end totally undisturbed.
4. Moon Safari – Himlabacken Vol. 1
I can’t resist this band’s music! It always makes me so very happy and warm inside! Lovely peeps in the band as well!
3. The Flower Kings – Desolation Rose
Best TFK album since Space Revolver I dare say. So glad they’re back and sounding so fresch and on their toes again!
2. Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing
What can I say? It’s a gorgeous album!
1. Big Big Train – English Electric: Full Power
Well, nobody’s probably really surprised about this being my number one of 2013. 😀 It’s a stunner and will be for many years to come! It’s the best album of any genre for me this year. Without competition.
So…that’s it folks. Outside my list of Top 10 you can find some that are very fine albums and would have made any Top 10 from any other year before 2012. Vienna Circle – Silhouette Moon, Days Between Stations – In Extremis, Johannes Luley – Tales From The Sheepfather’s Grove and Shinebacks fine album Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed (added 20130103) are examples of albums bubbling just beneath position number 10. Then we find albums that I haven’t found the time, motivation or curiousness to listen to more than very casually at the best. Riverside, Airbag, Fish, Nemo, Maschine etc are among those bands or artists that I haven’t given proper attention as of yet.
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year everyone!
PS. Best prog-related and most fun and interesting experience of the year: Big Big Weekend 14-15 September in Winchester and Southampton!
This is from the show A Tribute To The Last Waltz at Folkparken Skellefteå Saturday 23th November! I think it’s the third time Petter has been involved in this show! Man, can he sing or what?!
The Flower Kings are throwing a Christmas Progparty in Gothenburg!! At least one Progarchist is going to be there!! 😀 There is a party in Stockholm as well, the day before the Gothenburg ballyhoo! Ho ho ho!
So the new Moon Safari album has been out for a while! Their music really has a special place in my heart! They hail from the same town (Skellefteå) where my significant other and mother of my three children comes from. The music is easily recognizable but yet again the boys are presenting some new ingredients to the tasty stew that is prog Moon Safari-style! A little quirkier in places and also some heavier guitar riffs (Barfly). Since I’m a sometimes rather embarrassing fanboy I’ve got problems finding anything not to like here. Perhaps that Lover’s End was a bit more consistent but then again, Himlabacken Vol. 1 is also an album filled to the brim with beautiful melodies and of course their trademark, breathtaking vocal harmonies written by maestro Simon Åkesson. The theme of the album is about growing up. Not that it is a conceptual approach on the subject at all but more of a red thread that the lyrics refer to in different ways. It’s nicely done. A fine example is from the song Diamonds.
My uncle on my father’s side’s a farmer, he is old now but smiles just the same, spent his life working way over yonder, in the fields among the rocks and the clay / He says: ”Tell me what more is a diamond, son, than a stone in the blind man’s hand, if you’d see what I see then you too could be king with a kingdom in hand”
The title of the album refers to the small hilltop where the, then small boys and now young men in the band, went bobsleighing down in winter. A small hilltop stretching up into to the sky…a Heaven Hill.
I have seen this band perform four times now and they just get better. Last time was Friday night 13th September together with fellow Progarchist, Mr Ian Greatorex at House of Progression at the music pub The Peel (“a rather grotty place”, according to Mr G) in London. Once again I was absolutely blown away by their performance and how they nail all the intricate harmonies live is beyond me. The band was on fire and I have never seen them better. The band stated in an update on their FB-timeline that the audience at The Peel was the loudest on their European Tour so far….no surprise with a roaring viking in the crowd. What happened during the rest of that magic weekend you can see in the video footage by another Progarchist and dear friend, Russel Clarke, here.
Progarchy 