Category: progressive rock

Neal Morse Inner Circle Goes TOTALLY Digital. NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock10 Comments
Screen Shot 2017-05-24 at 11.42.19 AM
Not cool.

Over the last several weeks, Neal Morse has announced that his venerable INNER CIRCLE club is going exclusively digital.

To state that this infuriates me would be going way too far.  To state that I’m unhappy, however, would not be an exaggeration.

Not only have I been a proud INNER CIRCLE member for years, but I’ve also got my own Neal Morse display in my office–in all of its tangible (yes, TANGIBLE) and technicolor glory.

Do I want downloads?  No.  I don’t want downloads from Neal Morse or from Glass Hammer or from The Tangent or from Riverside or from NAO or from Big Big Train.

As far as I’m concerned, sadly, Neal Morse’s INNER CIRCLE is done.  Whatever it was (and, it was brilliant), it’s over.

I’m so tired of the world moving toward nothing but digital.  We (or, at least I) love prog because everything is so well done–the lyrics, the music, the playing, and the art.  I want an album or a CD or a DVD or a blu-ray.  A down load is just not cheap, but, frankly, tacky.

Mr. Morse, please, please, please reconsider this.

IMG_2085
Very cool.

 

IMG_2083
My Neal Morse Shrine.  Very, very cool.

 

Is Prog Really Still Prog?

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock10 Comments

J.C. Harris posted this in the comments, and I thought it was too interesting to leave it there.  Thanks, J.C.–BB

Samey. I honestly can’t tell one of these ‘new prog’ bands from the other. And I have tried. What originally drew me to progressive rock almost 50 years ago now was the -originality- of the best groups. Each band had a truly distinctive voice. And on almost every album, the groups were really -trying- to incorporate new instruments, cultures, chord structures, rhythms, techniques, etc.; -anything- to widen the variety. -That- was the essence of ‘progressive’. How far things have fallen.

The only response people have to the above critique seems to be, “Man you’re -old-.” Which doesn’t address the point. Whenever I hear almost any new (cough) ‘progressive’ group it makes me wonder, “Are bands like this -really- the best we can manage in 2017?”

IOW: this will sound naive, but back when I was 15, I thought that progressive rock would -grow- just like jazz and classical and other serious art forms. And that the ‘prog’ records of -today- would feature even -better- playing, more outrageous compositions and even more imaginative stories. And mostly? That hasn’t happened.

Should We Remember Big Country?

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment
big-country-east-of-eden-mercury
Perhaps the band’s best song.

Big Country is one of those bands that still gets me rather excited, even after three decades.  That excitement, however, leads to joy as well as to disappointment.  For me, all of the first album, THE CROSSING, eight of the ten tracks of STEELTOWN, and two of the ten tracks of THE SEER are perfect.  Yes, perfect rock songs.  The rest are not just “meh,” but actually kind of bad.

Your thoughts?  Am I being unfair to the rest of Big Country’s output?

Continue reading “Should We Remember Big Country?” →

Chris Cornell Lives On…

On By Connor MullinIn progressive rock3 Comments

I stumbled across this video today. It appears at least one member of the Cornell family is capable of carrying on Chris’ legacy – Toni has some pipes like her father!

Seasons, Jimi Hendrix, and the Virgin: Jammin’ in the Kingdom with Chris Cornell

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

And I’m lost, behind
The words I’ll never find
And I’m left behind
As seasons roll on by

Thus far, 2017 has been a rather amazing year when it comes to rock and prog.  PROG magazine is back and better than ever.  Thank the Good Lord for Jerry Ewing.

The music releases–already and forthcoming–this year are nothing less than stunning.  Big Big Train has released the finest of the band’s career, and The Tangent’s new release has yet to come.  Steven Wilson is coming out with a progressive pop album, and newspaperflyhunting and Bjorn Riis have, as with BBT, released the best thing either’s written and done, thus far in their respective careers.  There’s a new Anathema that is pretty good, and Steve Hogarth seems, at the moment, unstoppable with Marillion as well as with Isildur’s Bane.

Now I want to fly above the storm
But you can’t grow feathers in the rain
And the naked floor is cold as hell
This naked floor reminds me
Oh the naked floor reminds me

As I type this (having just returned from a conference on libertarian thought in 1840’s France), I have just received in the mail two grand packages.  The first I opened is Steven Wilson’s remix of Jethro Tull’s SONGS FROM THE WOODS.  The second is Aryeon’s signed five-disk ear-book, THE SOURCE.  Honestly, I’m not sure how to react with anything that would be regarded as decorous.  I’m a 13-year old boy, at the moment, just having had my first listen of MOVING PICTURES.

Holy schnikees.

Continue reading “Seasons, Jimi Hendrix, and the Virgin: Jammin’ in the Kingdom with Chris Cornell” →

Synopsis: Schooltree “Heterotopia” @schooltree

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

So far, we have covered Act I and the beginning of Act II in our synopsis of Schooltree’s magnificent Heterotopia. Stay tuned for more to come…

Act II, Part 1 — Synopsis: Schooltree “Heterotopia” @schooltree

On By Time LordIn progressive rock1 Comment

As I said in my review of Schooltree’s fantastic concept album Heterotopia, at the beginning of Act II of this amazing prog opera, there is an LP’s side worth of immediately accessible, instant rock and roll classics.

The power and sophistication of these songs is jaw-dropping, so I thought I would devote this current post to them alone, as I resume the synopsis of the prog opera’s storyline.

I also include the last track of Act I, Specter Lyfe, on my playlist of the five classic tracks on the album that became my first-listen favorites. Here are the other four, which kick off the storyline of Act II:

Suzi encounters three shadows who taunt her for her ghostly “condition.” We’ve seen how this story ends, they prophesize, and you’re already dead, just like the rest of your kind. (Dead Girl)

Metanoia reaches out to Suzi after this altercation and teaches her the power of the strange – throughout your experience you will encounter strangeness, you yourself will become strange, but don’t be afraid – form is illusory, lines can be broken down and shaped by your will. Use the strange to adapt yourself and the world around you. (Turning into the Strange)

As Suzi moves through this world and tries to adapt, she begins to realize she’s spent her life overcome, in a cycle of unwitting self-destruction. She’s been a sort of ghost all along, but feels more uncertain and insubstantial than ever now (for obvious reasons). She feels unsure whether it’s her life as a human or her life as a ghost that’s the “reality.” Metanoia offers some perspective on this – all these things that make being a ghost hard are also what make it extraordinary. You are alone, but that makes you singular; you can’t touch anything but you can move through walls; the lines of reality are broken so nothing confines you. This is what will enable you on your quest: the power of the ghost. For a moment Suzi sees clearly the path before her. (Edge Annihilate, Power of the Ghost)

What shall be left of us?

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Don’t miss the fine interview with Greg Spawton (GS) and David Longdon (DL) over at Stereo Embers.

Here’s a snippet, wherein they muse on the themes of the “Grimspound” title track:

DL: So much of today’s world is based in the digital realm that it is intriguing to think about what will be left of our times as hard archaeology. If that connection to the digital realm is somehow lost due to whatever will befall our species in the future, I don’t think that much physical matter will remain to tell our story. Impermanence is a concern. That is what this song is about.

GS: My background is in archaeology and history and it is interesting that many of our activities these days are ephemeral. Information is so easily shared and yet deeper knowledge and understanding doesn’t necessarily follow. One of the core themes on the album is a call for a return to the Enlightenment tradition. We seem to be getting slightly adrift from the humanist values which gave birth to modern society.

Well, as you may know, enlightened people do leave behind vinyl…