Category: progressive rock music

Did Dave Grohl admit that Soundgarden was a far better band than Nirvana?

On By carleolsonIn progressive rock music9 Comments

The former drummer of Nirvana (#3 on my personal list of Most Overrated Rock Bands of Alltime), recently spoke with Rolling Stone magazine about Soundgarden’s album, Superunknown, released twenty years ago. Superunknown, in my completely objective opinion (ha!), is the greatest album to come out of the Nineties grunge scene in Seattle. And, frankly, it sounds as if Grohl, now frontman for Foo Fighters—a group I far, far prefer to Nirvana—seems to agree:

Superunknown is, in my book, right up there with ’90s classics such as Radiohead’s OK Computer, Jeff Buckley’s Grace and U2’s Achtung Baby. I always found Nirvana to be rather boring, just as I found Pearl Jam to be rather boring and rather pretentious (I don’t usually care for bands who try to constantly make Big Statements); it doesn’t help that I cannot stand Eddie Vetter’s weird, warbling voice. But, hey, let’s focus on the good stuff. Soundgarden is coming out with various deluxe packages of the remastered Superunknown (my copy should arrive this week), and Chris Cornell—who was good friends with Buckley—spoke recently to Radio.com about the album’s anniversary:

Cornell, I should remind readers, once said, “I was a nerdy shut-in who listened to prog-rock.” And while Soundgarden is constantly compared to Led Zeppelin, the group was more influenced by Black Sabbath, the Beatles (Cornell’s favorite group), Kraut rock, the Stooges, the Clash and other punk-ish groups.

Speaking of the hit song, “Black Hole Sun,” Grohl remarks, “It was so much more melodically sophisticated than anything any of the other bands in Seattle were doing. It was a big deal.” The same could be said for the entire album, which is, musically and lyrically, one of most eclectic and sophisticated hard rock albums ever produced. Billboard.com has a really good piece about the album that gives a track-by-track tour of the entire 70 minutes. Apparently the making of Superunknown pushed the limits of the technology involved:

Michael Beinhorn, who produced the album with the band at Seattle’s Bad Animals studio in the summer of 1993, told Billboard in 1994 of how he’d overload “tape to the point of distortion, using massive EQ, massive compression. We experimented with chains of four equalizers and four compressors in one signal chain, on one instrument. The end result is a record that is both incredibly dense and overwhelmingly present. There is a tangible sense of air being moved.”

Another interesting note, new to me: the final song, “Like Suicide,” was inspired by a dead bird. Death and mortality, of course, figure heavily in the album; there is a sense of apocalyptic foreboding that is equally chilling and compelling, in large part because the songs are so, well, singable (beware, however, trying to match Cornell’s high notes). My favorite track, “Limo Wreck,” features all sorts of weird tunings and time signatures at the service of a haunting, dirge-ish cut that swells in intensity as Cornell wails: “Under the shelf/The shelf of the sky/Two eyes, two suns/Too heavenly blinds/Swallowing rivers/Belongs to the sea/When the whole thing washes away/Don’t run to me.”

Once I’ve had a chance to listen to the remastered album, I’ll share some more thoughts.

Believe Again – new material from Yes

On By John SimmsIn progressive rock music7 Comments

A track from the forthcoming Yes album, ‘Heaven & Earth’ has appeared on Soundcloud. I think it sounds interesting, and it’s growing on me with each listen.

Find it here: https://soundcloud.com/thecheezmusic/01-believe-again-radio-rip

[UPDATE: It looks as though Yes management removed the song.  Apparently, it wasn’t supposed to be uploaded yet.–ed., Brad Birzer]

[UPDATE: Yes management has now created this page for providing audio excerpts: http://yesheavenandearth.com –ed., The Dr.]

[UPDATE: Excerpt of Believe Again and full lyrics now available at http://yesheavenandearth.com –ed., John Simms 6/13/14]

An Edwardian Trip through Hades: CAPACITOR by COSMOGRAF

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music5 Comments
Stunning album cover. A progged-out version of Dolby's GOLDEN AGE OF WIRELESS. Brilliant.
Stunning album cover by the wonderful Graeme Bell. A progged-out version of Dolby’s GOLDEN AGE OF WIRELESS. Brilliant.

Cosmograf’s CAPACITOR is everything a rock album should be.  And, I do mean EVERYTHING.  EVERY.  SINGLE. THING.  It is wholesome, fractured, creepy, uplifting, contemplative, mythic, existentialist, moving, intense, wired, dramatic, contemplative, Stoic, mystifying, weird, satisfying, honed, nuanced, dark, and light.

 

The Meaning of It All

If I could capture the album in one sentence, comparing it to other forms of art, I would and will put it this way: CAPACITOR is an Edwardian journey into the Hades of the Ancient Greeks but emerging in BIOSHOCK.

Then, think about the artists involved.  Andy Tillison plays keyboards on it.  Matt Stevens plays guitar on it.  Nick Beggs and Colin Edwin play bass on it. NVD plays all of the drums. Our modern master of sound, Rob Aubrey, the Phill Brown of our day, engineered it.

[Correction: from Rob Aubrey.  My apologies for getting the credits and terms mixed up.  “Hi All, Actually I didn’t ENGINEER it as such…. I recorded the Drums with NDV and then everything else was Produced and Engineered by Robin… He Mixed the album at home and I was here in an advisory role, just giving a hand when he ran into problems or I felt things needed more work. Robin and I mastered the album together just a few Months ago on my studio system here (Pro Tools) using all of his original sessions so Robin could make adjustments to the overall dynamic and “tweak” individual sounds if necessary. I cannot take credit for much as Robin really is the genius here!”]

Then, of course, there’s the artist supreme, the writer, director, and producer of it all, Robin Armstrong. English wit, critic, musician, lyricist, father, husband, entrepreneur, and demigod of chronometry, Armstrong is one of the most interesting persons of our day and age. He’s already proven everything an artist should in his previous albums, especially in The Man Left in Space.

Armstrong is a driven man, and it’s impossible to think of him without thinking not only of perfectionism, but also of his insatiable desire to perfect a thing even more so. In terms of constitution, he is probably incapable of doing otherwise. We all benefit from his unrelenting drive.

On the latest album, CAPACITOR, Armstrong explores the Edwardian fascination with spiritualism, giving us not “steam punk” but what should be called “vacuum tube punk,” something quite different from that of either H.G. Wells or Bruce Sterling.

The statement “energy cannot be created or destroyed” appears in print, in word, and in song multiple times on CAPACITOR. If this is true, Armstrong asks through his characters and story, where does our energy—our soul—go after the body fails us? We are everywhere and in every time, he notes, surrounded by the ghosts of the dead. Even if we don’t personally believe in an afterlife, we see “what they left with us.”

Ghosts appear frequently on the album, as does a vaudevillian preacher and a spiritual medium. In the end, though, especially by the final two tracks, Armstrong is critiquing the rise and predominance of “the machine,” any gadget that mechanizes us, makes us less than human, and distracts or captures our very soul and very essence, thus diminishing our humanity.

The person, it seems, can never be fully an individual without body and soul, not in war with one another, but in healthy tension.

 

The Meaning of It All, Continued

Musically, CAPACITOR immerses us into perfection itself. See above for the musicians Armstrong has brought together. He’s obviously a creator of community and a leavenor of talent. He’s also within the prog tradition, with musical passages inspired by, indirectly, Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd, Big Big Train, and The Tangent and, directly, The Beatles. Indeed, one of the most rousing moments musically comes in “The Reaper’s Song,” a song that, in large part, pays homage to THE MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR by the Beatles (1967).

The white car. Original photography by Dan Armstrong. Booklet art by Robin Armstrong.
The white car. Original photography by Dan Armstrong. Booklet art by Robin Armstrong.

Sitting in a station, waiting for a train to come

Frighten all the people, standing on the platform

Trying not to push them over

Trains are gonna crush them

Stupid little people

Stupid little people

Another track, “White Car,” has absolutely nothing to do with the unfinished fragment of the Yes song from DRAMA (1980). Yes’s song will have to continue in my soul as an unresolved enigma until the end of time.

 

A Masterpiece

It goes without stating (though, I will state it anyway!), the last several years have been not only amazing when it comes to rock, but they have also been, probably, the best years in the history of progressive rock.

2014 has been no different.

Please, however, don’t think of Cosmograf’s CAPACITOR as merely another Cosmograf release or as merely another prog rock release.

Of course, there is no such thing as “just another Cosmograf release,” though we might become a bit jaded when it comes to another “prog rock release.” There’s so much coming out at the moment, it would be understandable—if not forgivable—to take the historic moment for granted. Even with the somewhat overwhelming number of music cds appearing over the last several years, CAPACITOR is truly something special and, dare I use a word overused and misused for its sappiness, precious.

From my way of thinking, CAPACITOR is the best cd of 2014 and one of the best prog rock releases of all time. It is, at least this year, the one for all others to surpass. I very much look forward to those who embrace the challenge.

 

To pre-order for the June 2, 2014, release, please go here.

Progarchist and quasi-Kiwi Russell Clarke receives his copy and is quite elated.
Progarchist and quasi-Kiwi Russell Clarke receives his copy and is quite elated.

The Bunnymen’s METEORITES Streaming Now

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock musicLeave a comment

echo-and-the-bunnymen-meteoritesFor some one of my age (46), it’s very hard not to trap Echo and the Bunnymen in the best memories of my youth.

From 1980 to 1984, the band produced four classic albums in a row, the best of which was HEAVEN UP HERE.  Their self-titled album of 1987 was ok, but nothing spectacular.  In 1990, with a new singer, Echo released an album that has stood the test of time rather well.  Though it’s simply not Echo and the Bunnymen, REVERBERATION is a really catchy pop-rock album with a lot of neo-psychadelia.  REVERBERATION, still, is better than anything else Echo has released post-OCEAN RAIN.

In 1997, Echo reformed with Ian McCulloch once again taking lead vocals.  Everything Echo has produced since 1997 has been unsatisfying, an Echo of an Echo with momentary flashes of brilliance.

The new album, METEORITES, slated to come out in four days, is good but not astounding.  Maybe this is simply my fault, my failure to appreciate all that is currently Echo.  I very much want the Echo of my youth–angry, hard edged, nasty, lush, claustrophobic, and angular.

METERORITES is, as I just noted, good but not astounding.  It’s a safe and nice return to the late 1980s without causing any problems and without taking any serious chances.  What saddens me, though, is that the album is on the edge of astounding.  A different producer, a different engineer, a different some one (as Rush has down with their last several albums) might have made METEORITES spectacular.

As McCulloch has recently said, METEORITES is a concept album.  And, so it seems to be.  There’s a lot of discussion of religion, especially historical religion.  I’m just not sure what it all means.  Still, Echo was always best when combining elements of hard rock and prog with pop sensibilities.

McCulloch’s voice is excellent and the same can be said of Sargeant’s guitar work.  But, again, it’s all so safe.  The bass and the drums are bland, and, thus, an essential part of Echo seems missing.

The Guardian is streaming the entire album, and you can judge for yourself before buying it.  After listening, I’ve decided not to purchase it.  I know I would only listen to it a few times, but then I would forget about it, relegating it to mere un-accessed space on my hard drive.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/19/echo-and-the-bunnymen-meteorites-exclusive-album-stream

If you’re looking for the best of Echo, you must return to the band’s past: CROCODILES (1980); HEAVEN UP HERE (1981); PORCUPINE (1983); and OCEAN RAIN (1984).  These four albums rank as four of the best in the rock era.  Additionally, as Pete Blum has recently argued, the best modern Echo is to be found in Sergeant and Patterson’s prog band, Poltergeist.

20 Looks at The Lamb, 12: On the Air

On By Pete BlumIn progressive rock musicLeave a comment

Air has long been understood as elementary, as an element, like earth, fire, or water. It’s what I breathe. Sometimes it’s all I need (and to love you).  It is closely tied to sky, to light, to height, to the heavens, to wind, to breath and to life.  I’m told that Hebrew for ‘spirit’ is also wind and breath.  Tied to wind, then?  To Spirit (to God?)  And “to air” (the verb) is to “put out there.”  Where?  On the air.

“On the Air” is one of my favorite Peter Gabriel songs (from Peter Gabriel 2, aka “Scratch”).  Wondering how next to look at The Lamb, I remembered it today, and then found myself thinking about air, aware of the air.  I hope that I can air my awareness.  “I’m putting the aerial up.”

scratchEveryone I meet on the street
Acts as if I wasn’t there,
But they’re all going to know who I am
‘Cos I can go out on the air.

The air is atmosphere that hangs around me without ever announcing its presence, except by way either of what’s in it, or of how it changes.  The air, for Rael, is often thick with content and change.  Broadway is a place where “there’s always magic in the air.”  But when the Lamb lies down there, it “brings a stillness to the air.”

Caryl Chessman (1921-1960)
Caryl Chessman (1921-1960)

Air is the non-solid.  When the wall of death appears, it is “something solid forming in the air”  Rael waits for impact, not standing, but “hovering like a fly.”  Hovering in the air.

Caryl Chessman [controversially capital criminal] sniffs the air.

Two golden globes float into the room And a blaze of white light fills the air.

[Rael] writes Death off as an illusion, but notices a thick musky scent hanging in the air.

As the brothers talk themselves through their new predicament, a big black raven flies into the cave, swoops down, grabs Rael’s tube right out of his hands and carries it up into the air in his beak.

The air is foreboding.  It is where there is foreshadowing of change, and where there is change.  But perhaps, more subtly, the air is where there is ascent, and perhaps some kind of liberation.  If that is so, it must be a liberation that is indifferent to death, if not opposed to it.  In “The Light Dies Down on Broadway,” a skylight appears in the rock, through which Rael can see and hear New York City (“my home”), a window through which he may presumably step back.  But is that step “back” an escape, or is it just a step into another dream?  We really already know the answer if we’re paying attention.  Rael’s perspective, as he makes the decision to stay and save John, is from outside the window, from above the skylight.  The decision amounts to a recognition that he is now “in the open air.”

Think about how this is not a matter of leaving anything “up in the air” as we often say.  Not in the air in that bad sense, anyway.

lambcoverdetailAnd what is it that is here being put on the air?  When Gabriel sings about going out on the air, “they” are going to know who he is.  “They,” who acted as if he wasn’t there.  Does Rael know who he is, in the end?  Do I know who he is?  Do I know who I am?

Ah, here is an unexpected knot that may be worth trying to untangle:  I want others to know who I am, and I put myself out on the air.  Do I want to know who I am, or is it more important somehow to know where I am.  Where I am could be on the air, or in the air, or maybe where I am just is what is meant by “air.”  I go out on the air here, and by implication boast that I understand the “who” and “where” of which I’m writing.  In the words of the Cowardly Lion in the film, The Wizard of Oz, I try to convey “that soitin air of savoir faire.”  I broadcast myself, I’d like to think.  Or….  Is my self, by its very nature, a broadcast?

Think about David Foster Wallace’s commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005, where he famously urged the graduating fish to keep reminding themselves:  “This is water.”  “This is water.”

But we could change it to: “This is air.”  “This is air.”

Or, if the air is what I am in, then maybe none of this is really a matter or knowing, of savoir.  Think about that (but hopefully in a way that’s not too much like wanting to know) and then listen again.

<—- Previous Look     Prologue     Next Look —->

Big Big Train: Preparation for Real World

On By russellclarkenzIn progressive rock music1 Comment

Some of you may have detected that a few of us Progarchists have, shall I say, a smidgen of rabid adoration for a British beat combo calling themselves Big Big Train.

BBT (for that acronym is how they are known to us!) are preparing for a live recording at Real World Studios in August of this year, and the chaps have just started posting videos of their preparations.

If you have heard BBT’s music you’ll certainly know how complex and multi-layered it can be, which is a potential challenge to bring to the stage, so it’s going to be fascinating to see how they’re going about it.

The first video sees Danny Manners and Andy Poole talk about how their keyboard rehearsals are going.

It’s very, very cool 🙂

Steve Perry Finally Returns to Stage

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rock musicLeave a comment

Well, folks, it finally happened. One of the all time greatest voices in rock has returned to the stage, for one of the first times since the mid 90s. No, Steve Perry has not released a new album and he is not on tour (unfortunately). He did, however, join the Eels on stage at a concert, in St. Paul, Minnesota, last night to sing one of their songs, along with “Open Arms” and “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin.” Lyndsey Parker of Yahoo writes,

Steve Perry, one of the most elusive frontmen in rock, hasn’t performed with Journey since 1991, or performed solo concerts since 1995. But don’t stop believin’, Perry fans. The rock icon finally returned to the stage Sunday night… to join indie-rock band the Eels at the 1,000-capacity Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn.

Perry showed up at first to sing the Eels’ 2000 cult hit “It’s a Motherf—er,” his voice instantly recognizable and sounding surprisingly strong considering his well-publicized health problems (ongoing arthritis, hip-replacement surgery in 1998, two melanoma-removal surgeries in 2013). Joked Eels leader Mark Everett upon hearing the Fitzgerald audience’s thunderous response: “They don’t applaud like that for me! I guess I gotta disappear for 25 years!”

Considering everything Steve Perry has been through over the past 20 or so years (hip problems, Journey problems, losing his girlfriend to cancer), his voice was rather good. Time has obviously aged it, but he sounds as if he could finally be ready to make an album and possibly do a tour. I certainly hope so.

Check out the video of him at the concert. The audio quality is poor as the video was taken with a cell phone, but it is fairly close up. And a warning about the first song he sings, it is called “It’s a Motherf***er,” so there is some profanity in it. He starts singing “Open Arms” around four minutes.

The Best Prog Bands You’ve Never Heard Of (Part Nine): Gotic

On By Connor MullinIn progressive rock music3 Comments

goticfront

The ninth band featured in this series hails from the land of monstrous windmills, otherwise known as Spain.  Gotic, the brainchild of Catalonian flautist Jep Nuix, released one album, the instrumental Escenes, in 1977.  Escenes benefits from a wonderful mix of keys and flute, which drive all of the songs.  The pastoral cover of the album reminds me of the fantasy landscapes of Roger Dean.  The album is not very long: there are seven songs, all of which but one are under 6 minutes in length.  There are four that I find especially pleasing to the ear:

Imprompt 1: the second song is up-tempo compared to most of the other pieces, with solid, fast paced drumming and a brief guitar solo.

La Revolucio: the fourth song is probably the heaviest piece (the songs are no heavier than any of Camel’s works) with solid bass throughout and, about halfway through, a brief fife and drum duet.

I tu que ho vienes tot tan facil: the sixth song and probably the best; features acoustic guitar, more fantastic flute work, and even some synth.

Historia d’Una Gota d’Agua: the final song on the album and also the longest (about 10 minutes in length); opens with beautiful classical guitar and flute which, combined with piano, make this song a relaxing listen.

Escenes is most certainly worth a listen, especially if you enjoy softer prog with a jazz feel to it. You won’t regret it.

Here is La Revolucio:

Tempering Jingoism: Neil Peart’s Territories

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music2 Comments

Though I’m certainly no pacifist, and I rather love and owe allegiance to the American republic of the founding period, I can’t help but think of Peart’s lyrics when it comes to the beating of drums on Memorial Day weekend.

We see so many tribes overrun and undermined
While their invaders dream of lands they’ve left behind
Better people…better food…and better beer…
Why move around the world when Eden was so near?
The bosses get talking so tough
And if that wasn’t evil enough
We get the drunken and passionate pride
Of the citizens along for the ride

They shoot without shame
In the name of a piece of dirt
For a change of accent
Or the color of your shirt
Better the pride that resides
In a citizen of the world
Than the pride that divides
When a colorful rag is unfurled

Amen, Neil.  It’s one thing to honor those who have given their very lives for us, it’s quite another to use those same sacrifices for nationalistic, egotistical, and nefarious agendas.

Cowbell FTW

On By Time LordIn progressive rock music1 Comment

Don’t miss the Will Ferrell and Chad Smith Drum-Off.

Watch the video first (below) or read the spoiler-laden chronicle.