Category: Progarchy

From Limelight to Looking Glass

On By Time LordIn Progarchy5 Comments

The new Dream Theater is officially out today. So let’s celebrate! This digital wonder is chock-full of mind-blowing prog virtuosity.

I’ve had it on the playlist all day (after downloading it last night, when I was first alerted that my pre-order was ready). Oh man, it is excellent.

Yet I must admit that “False Awakening Suite” sounded to me like a musical practical joke. It’s so overblown it’s hilarious. An intentionally head-fake false start? Oh well, great fun, however it was intended.

And then “The Enemy Inside” was already familiar, and much enjoyed, ever since it was first available for download back in August.

But finally, as of track three, I was irrevocably won over to this awesome album. “The Looking Glass” will thrill every Rush-loving prog soul out there. The guitar riff and faster-than-light drum fills, for example, are reminiscent of “Limelight” in the best possible way. What we have here is a tribute to musical geniuses by other musical geniuses. Simply superb…

Dude, it doesn’t get any better than this!

(Song of the Year, anyone? I will not argue with you; I simply direct you to the face-melting guitar soloing.)

Dude, it’s like “Limelight” multiplied to the power of five!

Yes, “The Looking Glass” has become an instant favorite of mine, along with “Along for the Ride.”

So… calling all Rush fans: I hereby put you on red alert. There are so many awesome shout-outs on this disc for you to get ecstatic over. (I love the invocation of the Peart Muse at the opening of “Surrender to Reason, for example.) Further, above and beyond paying stunning tribute to their masters, they are doing their own righteous thing and delivering all the prog goods you could ever ask for.

Go enjoy this solid slice of excellence, my prog metal-minded friends. You can’t go wrong with this album, especially if you were raised righteously—on Rush!

But if you need further testimony to convince you, here’s Simon Ramsey:

Closing colossus Illumination Theory is a conceptual 22 minute roller coaster delivered in five movements.  A feast of thrilling sequences hurl from the speakers one after the next before an existential narrative unfurls. After eight minutes of head-spinning riffs, the band fade out as ambient electronic soundscapes give way to a sweeping symphonic section that’s beauty and grace incarnate.

It then lifts off again as feisty soloing from Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci leads to a grandstanding climax rich in personal epiphany. It’s a telling finale that sends out a clear message — Dream Theater are a band creatively reborn, thriving in the here and now without relying on trusted formulas and past glories.

The Big Big Weekend

On By Time LordIn Progarchy2 Comments

King Alfred

The new BBT discs are out today. So let’s celebrate!

Alison Henderson reports over at PROG on her amazing BBT initiative, The Big Big Weekend. A small sample:

Strolling down to the River Itchen – another central feature of Winchester From St Giles’ Hill – and arriving at the statue of King Alfred, Greg gave an impromptu talk on why Alfred was a such great monarch. The finale, the ascent of St Giles’ Hill, proved steeper than many anticipated, but the vista from the top across the whole city was probably the tour’s defining moment.

Sounds like a fantastic weekend!

I say: let the prog pilgrimages continue!

Nice work, Alison:

Following the Big Big Weekend, Andy Poole had this to say: “This was an inspired piece of top quality derring-do by Alison to organise and host this event in Winchester, her home city and the lyrical seat of several BBT tunes. It was no surprise that the folk who joined us were thoroughly good company and keen to soak up and explore the historical and visual wealth of the city … and then enjoy a jolly good ruby!”

Greg Spawton

Inside the Great Hall

Kiss Your Fields Goodbye!

On By Time LordIn Progarchy1 Comment

This is too epic not to share.

And when you finish watching it, you can also go Rolling in the Higgs.

Along for the Ride

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Dream Theater

It looks like the full stream of the new Dream Theater that I linked to earlier is restricted to the UK.

But, hey, it is also available in the USA.

And this is the WORLD WIDE LINK: http://smarturl.it/dreamtheaterpremiere — so Canadians, for example, can click there!

And the track “Along for the Ride” can also be heard over on SoundCloud for free.

As Bill and Ted would say: It’s excellent!

Dream On

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Listen to Dream Theater

Dream Theater is about to premiere a full album stream of their new self-titled record.

Listen to the full record before it’s out!

Find their twelfth studio record over at PROG:

Dream Theater Tracklist

01. False Awakening Suite
I. Sleep Paralysis
II. Night Terrors
III. Lucid Dream
02. The Enemy Inside
03. The Looking Glass
04. Enigma Machine
05. The Bigger Picture
06. Behind The Veil
07. Surrender To Reason
08. Along For The Ride
09. Illumination Theory
I. Paradoxe de la Lumière Noire
II. Live, Die, Kill
III. The Embracing Circle
IV. The Pursuit of Truth
V. Surrender, Trust & Passion

Make Some Noise with Big Big Train

On By Time LordIn Progarchy4 Comments

make-some-noise

Have you heard the Big news?

And check out the blog post by Greg Spawton.

I am fascinated that the song order has been changed.

Disc One:

1. Make Some Noise (4.22)
2. The First Rebreather (8.31)
3. Uncle Jack (3.49)
4. Swan Hunter (6.20)
5. Seen Better Days (7.37)
6. Edgelands (1.26)
7. Summoned By Bells (9.16)
8. Upton Heath (5.39)
9. A Boy in Darkness (8.03)
10. Hedgerow (8.54)

Disc Two:

1. Judas Unrepentant (7.17)
2. Worked Out (7.30)
3. Winchester From St Giles’ Hill (7.17)
4. The Lovers (5.32)
5. Leopards (3.54)
6. Keeper of Abbeys (6.59)
7. The Permanent Way (8.16)
8. East Coast Racer (15.44)
9. Curator of Butterflies (8.45)

Surely this is a new development in the history of prog.

Bands are now comfortable messing with the track order of their masterpieces — because it is the age of digital downloads?

I am curious about whether it works or not. I am skeptical about the placing of “East Coast Racer”, for example.

But, listening is believing. So I look forward to digesting this, the final form of a masterpiece…

You can buy from The Merch Desk or try and get one of the sold-out signed copies from Burning Shed.

The Red Priest Rides Again

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Vivaldi

I highly recommend this recording (available from DG) by Daniel Hope, an amazing reconception of the most famous work by “the red priest”:

Today the “Four Seasons,” with more than 1,000 available recordings, are not just rediscovered—they are being reimagined. Astor Piazzolla, Uri Caine, Philip Glass and others have all created their own versions. In Spring 2012, I received an enigmatic call from the British composer Max Richter, who said he wanted to “recompose” the “Four Seasons” for me. His problem, he explained, was not with the music, but how we have treated it. We are subjected to it in supermarkets, elevators or when a caller puts you on hold. Like many of us, he was deeply fond of the “Seasons” but felt a degree of irritation at the music’s ubiquity. He told me that because Vivaldi’s music is made up of regular patterns, it has affinities with the seriality of contemporary postminimalism, one style in which he composes. Therefore, he said, the moment seemed ideal to reimagine a new way of hearing it.

I had always shied away from recording Vivaldi’s original. There are simply too many other versions already out there. But Mr. Richter’s reworking meant listening again to what is constantly new in a piece we think we are hearing when, really, we just blank it out. The album, “Recomposed By Max Richter: Four Seasons,” was released late last year. With his old warhorse refitted for the 21st century, the inimitable red priest rides again.

Over at The Imaginative Conservative, you can also find more recommended recordings of “the red priest” for your listening pleasure.

Given what Richter and Hope have done, don’t you think it’s time for someone to do a prog presentation of music by “the red priest”?

It could be epic!

One Hundred, or Thereabout…

On By chuckhicksIn Progarchy, progressive rock music, Uncategorized5 Comments

A list of favorites?101 faves

Ignoring blues, bluegrass, and alt.country (though some of my picks will leak in that direction).  My favorite albums in a roughly prog or prog-friendly orbit.  Explanatory notes as needed.  And no Beatles.

Aereogramme — Sleep and Release.  Scottish prog metal with screaming blue Pict faces.

Alan Parsons Project — I Robot

Alice in Chains — Jar of Flies

The Allman Brothers Band.  Berry Oakley, arms outstretched in the niche.

Anthony Phillips — The Geese and the Ghost

Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk.  Where would rock be without these?

Atomic Opera — For Madmen Only

Be Bop Deluxe — Life in the Air Age.  The curious case of the three-sided album.

Black Eyed Sceva — Way Before the Flood.  Intelligent, proggy Christian emo/ math rock.

Black Eyed Sceva — 5 Years, 50,000 Miles Davis.  “Beware when you read ‘Letters from the Earth…'”

Boards of Canada — Tomorrow’s Harvest.  To have been in the desert Southwest for the live listening party.

Buffalo Springfield Again.  Long version of “Bluebird,” please.

The Byrds — Fifth Dimension

The Choir — Free Flying Soul.  Another smart, Christian masterpiece.

Crack the Sky — Safety in Numbers.  “Something’s wrong from the moon, my friends…”

Daryl Hall — Sacred Songs

Dead Confederate — Sugar.  DC is a Southern neo-grunge band.  But if Dmitri Shostakovich had ever tried his hand at writing a four minute rock bombast, the title tack to this album is close to what it would have sounded like.

The Decemberists — The Hazards of Love.  Hipsters closer to prog than they realize.

Deftones — Saturday Night Wrist

Dixie Dregs — What If

Dixie Dregs — Night of the Living Dregs

Dixie Dregs — Dregs of the Earth (the trifecta)

Dogs of Peace — Speak.  A brilliant one-off by Jimmie Lee Sloas and Gordon Kennedy.  May we have another, please?

Echolyn — As the World.

Electric Light Orchestra — Eldorado

Emerson, Lake & Palmer — Pictures at an Exhibition.  The Lyceum Theatre rendering (1970, DVD) is better, in my opinion.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer — Trilogy

Brian Eno — Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks.  Gorgeous music for the documentary, For All Mankind.

Explosions in the Sky — The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place

Faith No More — The Real Thing

Flaming Lips — Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Fleet Foxes.  Okay, I’m starting to veer…

Genesis — Trespass.  My favorite in their storied collection, leaving us wondering what might have been had Ant remained in the band.

Genesis — Foxtrot.  The end of the age, in 9/8 time.

Gov’t Mule — Life Before Insanity

Hall & Oates — Abandoned Luncheonette.  Blue-eyed soul was never this artsy.

Hall & Oates — War Babies.  Todd Rundgren was never this blue-eyed soul.

Helmet — Meantime

Incubus — Morning View

Jane’s Addiction — Ritual de lo Habitual

Jeff Buckley — Mystery White Boy

Jennanykind — Mythic. The scary South, a la O’Connor.

Jethro Tull — This Was

Jethro Tull — Thick as a Brick

Jimi Hendrix Experience — Are You Experienced?

John Fahey — America.  Prog folk if there ever was.

Johnny Q. Public — Extra Ordinary

Juliana Hatfield — Only Everything

Kansas.  When they were lean and hungry for barbecue and potato salad.

Kansas — Masque.  “The Pinnacle” was their pinnacle.

King Crimson — Larks Tongue in Aspic

King Crimson — Red

King’s X — Gretchen Goes to Nebraska

King’s X — Dogman.  One of the most played records in my collection.

Kraftwerk — Autobahn.  Analog over digital any day of the week.

Led Zeppelin — II

Led Zeppelin — Houses of the Holy

Living Colour — Vivid

Model Engine — The Lean Years’ Tradition (BES re-incarnated)

The Moles — Instinct.  “Raymond, have you seen the Red Queen?”

The Monkees — HEAD.  Never apologize for loving the Pre-Fab Four.

The Moody Blues — On the Threshold of a Dream.  Sending out “In the Beginning” to the NSA.

My Bloody Valentine — Loveless

My Morning Jacket — At Dawn

My Morning Jacket — It Still Moves

Neil Young — Harvest

Neil Young — Tonight’s the Night

Ortodoksinen Kamarikuroro — Divine Liturgy.  From Finland, the most breath-taking Orthodox Church chant I’ve ever heard.

Pelican — City of Echoes

PFM — Jet Lag

The Pink Floyd — The Piper at The Gates of Dawn

Pink Floyd — Wish You Were Here

The Police — Zenyatta Mondatta

The Police — Synchronicity

Proto-Kaw — Early Recordings from Kansas (1971-73).  Therefore, proto-Kansas.

Radiohead — The Bends

Radiohead — Kid A.  Leading rats and children out of town.

Rick Wakeman — The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable

Rush — A Farewell to Kings

Rush — Permanent Waves

Rush — Moving Pictures (the hat-trick)

Sebastian Hardie — Four Moments.  Prog from down under.

Slowdive — Blue Day (compilation)

Soundgarden — SuperUnknown

Steve Hackett — Voyage of the Acolyte

Sun Kil Moon — Ghosts of the Great Highway

Supertramp — Crime of the Century.  You’re bloody well right.

Syd Barrett — The Madcap Laughs

Synergy — Semi-Conductor.  Compilation of Larry Fast’s electronic realizations.

Talk Talk — Spirit of Eden

This Will Destroy You.  Post-rock paradise set by the mighty Rio Grande.

Todd Rundgren — A Wizard, A True Star.  Without Hall & Oates.

Tomita — The Planets.  Electronic realization of Holst’s orchestral suite.

Tool — Ænima

Velour 100 — Fall Sounds.  Shoe-gazing density from Ypsilanti.

Velour 100 — Songs From the Rainwater. 

Wilco — Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.  Mossad makes a cameo.

Yes — The Yes Album

Yes — Tales From Topographic Oceans.  Yes, it’s too long, but “The Revealing Science of God” is worth the whole album.

Beauty I’d Always Missed: Days of Future Passed

On By chuckhicksIn 2013, Progarchy, progressive rock music3 Comments

My dad served on the merit badge review board for our local Scout troop. I’ll never forget the night he complained to me about one of my fellow Scouts who waTheMoodyBlues-album-daysoffuturepasseds trying to pass the requirements for the music merit badge, which included so many hours listening to and writing about classical music. “You know what he told me?” asked my agitated father.

“’I’ve listened to the Moody Blues and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.’ And I told him, ‘Young man, that ain’t classical music.’”

I was filled with embarrassment, both for my dad and my buddy. I knew where they were each coming from, and knew nothing I would say could bridge the generation gap. But I did tell my friend that the London Festival Orchestra on a pop album and ELP’s blistering cover of Pictures at an Exhibition were no substitutes (in Scouting) for the real thing, i.e. original arrangements.

The London Festival Orchestra’s appearance on Days of Future Passed was more a novelty than an innovation. Band legend has it that Deram Records wanted the Moodies to cover Dvořák’s 9th Symphony. That story is disputed. If true (and acted upon), the Moody Blues would have pre-empted “Rondo” and Pictures. Either way, Days of Future Passed (1967), while not a prog album in the strict sense, opened up possibilities that energized the emerging prog scene.

Technically this is a psychedelic pop record adorned with orchestral cinemascapes. Apart from the opening and closing motif (drawn from the chorus of “Nights in White Satin”) the symphonic sections seem almost thematically disconnected from the band’s songs themselves. In fact, the listener can detect a difference in the audio quality of the rock songs. It has the feel of two different musical works mashed together. To the mind’s eye this is visually a day in the life of any city, punctuated by trippy music videos.

The most memorable songs here are Justin Hayward’s “Tuesday Afternoon” and Ray Thomas’ marvelous, pulsating gem, “Twilight Time.” John Lodge’s “Time to Get Away” underscores the latent pastoral psyche of Britain, unbound by place or time (though the Tiny Tim-like falsettos are my least favorite moments). And then there is Graeme Edge’s poetry, introduced here with great effect by Mike Pinder’s reading – a voice befitting a medieval bard, looking down on the city’s humdrum routine with both an ethereal sagacity and sympathetic proximity.

Being worked out here were elements that would fall seamlessly into place with On the Threshold of a Dream (1969). Regardless of whether the Dvořák story is true or not, the band realized the mythic proportions that orchestral sensibility could bring to their music. More importantly, they learned to master the arrangements themselves and temper the elements into cohesive statements.

It would be a stretch in my mind to herald Days of Future Passed as the prototypical prog album.  But it put the Moody Blues on a trajectory to inspire the first generation prog artists, waiting in the wings to unleash beauty worth not missing.