Over at The Imaginative Conservative, I had a chance to write about one of the greatest novels of the past 100 years, The Watchmen. I realize this isn’t music related, but it is certainly prog! If you’re so interested, please check it out.
Quotes from everything in western culture from the Old Testament to William Blake to Bob Dylan litter the book, each more relevant than the last. And, the two creators of The Watchmen give not only an extensive background to their alternative 1985 but to the insights of the characters themselves. Indeed, the development of the characters in The Watchmen is as good if not far better than any modern novel by the John Updikes or the John Irvings of the world.
Review of Ayreon, THE THEATER EQUATION (Insideout, 2016; 2CD/1DVD).
Comparison: the voices on the studio album (left) and the live version (right).
Well, I should just come straight out and state it—there are few things (or perhaps no things) that I don’t love about Arjen A. Lucassen. Is there anything the man can’t do? Whether its composing, performing, recording, designing, or interacting with his legions of fans, Lucassen is the essence of idealized humanity, prog’s Philosopher King. Whether it’s Star One, solo, Guilt Machine, Ambeon, Gentle Storm, Stream of Passion, or Ayreon, I embrace everything he creates. My oldest son, Nathaniel, feels the same. And, now about a decade of students—whether at Hillsdale College, the University of Louisville, or CU-Boulder—have been introduced to Lucassen as well. I always bring in this music and proudly show the Ayreon timeline when I’m lecturing on science fiction, fantasy, and dystopian literature.
Which leads me to admit something else. Well, two somethings. When I first heard that Lucassen would be performing all of THE HUMAN EQUATION as a visual opera, I was thrilled. When I first saw the stills from the show, however, I was downright embarrassed. I thought it looked terribly cheesy. Smoke, a few vague figures, a hospital bed, and a crashed car. As soon as it came out, I purchased it, of course, but I only listened to the CDs. Astounding sound production, by the way. Indeed, my son and I have listened to the album now (both CDs) repeatedly for about 2 months. I refrained from watching the show, however, fearing that I would be sorely disappointed.
Then, for whatever reason, I finally popped the DVD in. Holy schnikees, I am SO sorry that I waited this long to watch it. Not only is the sound even better than on the CDs, but the show is absolutely riveting. Almost too many folks to count come and go on the set, and the singers do an incredible job not only in hitting their marks, but also of actually acting!
This is true opera.
I had assumed the production would be expensive and difficult, but I had no idea just how extensive, expensive, and difficult it must have been until watching this show.
So, I offer two thoughts.
First, Arjen, I’m terribly sorry I doubted you. How utterly stupid of me. You’ve never done anything without perfect excellence, so why I thought this would be different, I have no idea.
Second, for you the progarchy reader, do not fail to enjoy this prog opera as it is meant to be: watched. Get the DVD and immerse yourself. Believe me, there’s nothing better on your screen.
Thank you, Mr. Lucassen. Once again, you prove your absolute genius.
For those of you who read progarchy, you know that we often (maybe not often enough, but often) review things that are, at best, vaguely prog. We often veer into art rock and art pop. My favorite genre outside of “straight” prog is progressive pop such as PET SOUNDS, SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR, and SKYLARKING. But, I also love Thomas Dolby, early New Order, and Sixpence None the Richer.
One of my earliest loves in terms of non-Yes, non-Genesis, and non-Jethro Tull was Simple Minds. To say that in high school and my first few years of college that I was not obsessed with Jim Kerr and company would be an outright lie. I was rather obsessed. This was back in the days when the internet did not exist for the public, and I had to dig like mad to find articles in various libraries about the band. America never had the tradition of music magazines in the way that Britain did, and I would often even ask pen pals to buys articles in Europe or the UK and photocopy them for me, sending them to me in the states. Sometimes, if I found a good bookstore, I would ask them to special order British magazines. For better or worse, I have long since disposed of my Simple Minds articles, but there was a time when they were as critical to my being as were my paperback copies of The Lord of the Rings, my comic books, and my DnD manuals.
Anger and frustration spilling over into the new Tangent work.
An insight into the new Tangent project, given a spring 2017 release date, has been launched, showing the next progression in The Tangent’s journey.
Rising Nationalism and Empirical rhetoric with flag beating patriotism are at the forefront of a major political upheaval in the UK with the recent decision to ‘Brexit’ from Europe – and now these are the subject of the latest release from The Tangent – ‘A Few Steps Down The Wrong Road’.
Songwriter Andy Tillison has shaped these events into a spikey, snarly, progressive epic which deals with the recent events with all the very best of his political song writing prowess.. pulling no punches. What we have here is 19 minutes of political storytelling, mixing familiar flavours of The Tangent and Po90 and a dose of Tillison’s own punk roots.
What Tillison does do effectively is take the rhetoric of the times , twists it and spits it out angrily in mock reiteration – “It’s all ours” and “why can’t we fly the flag?”
With an impressive cast of Tangent regulars the sound is polished and hard-edged with superb performances all round. The weight and might of Reingold’s bass coupled with the blistering guitar from Machin provide the meat on the bones of this track with Theo Travis providing both screaming sax and delicate flute layering. Perhaps most impressive is the return to form for Tillison who has not long recovered from a serious heart condition. Sounding better than ever, he delivers with passion, like a man reborn. There is no doubt that this is the sound of a new Tangent, and an exciting proposition it is…
To grab a first listen – check out the band’s new video
Hi everyone. I’m thrilled to announce one of the newest crop of Progressive Rock bands has released their second album ‘Counterpoint.’Not only that but they’ve also been well deservedly nominated as one of the Rising Prog Stars in the new band Limelight Award over the past 12 months in the prestious PROG Magazine. How cool is that!And so pleased for you and your fans.
GOOD LUCK, CIRCULINE!
If you had read my previous article and interview in PROGARCHY on Circuline’s first album then you know who the members are.
Since then there has been a small lineup change, and as you will find out they have bought on board not only one guitarist but for the album they featured SEVEN guitarists! But more on that below. I’m also pleased to announce that Andrew allowed us to share on here their TRACK BY TRACK notes on their recordings of the new album. This gives us a unique look in to the mindset of these musicians and where they were on any given day while creating these tracks and recording them.
Do you remember that scene in the original Star Wars movie where Luke is watching nightfall on Tatooine and we see two suns sinking beyond the horizon… Well, scientists not that long ago in their search of the Heavens came across a similar phenomenon 200 light years away which they like to call a circumbinary planet — a planet orbiting two stars. These scientists obviously are not into Prog Rock because we could have told them they should have searched a lot closer to home and discovered two stars orbiting us who have recently put out an album called “Invention Of Knowledge.”
To those of you who own Kanye West albums, Anderson/Stolt are Jon Anderson (ex-Yes, ABWH, APB, ARW and other assorted projects) and Roine Stolt (Kaipa, The Flower Kings, Transatalantic, Agents Of Mercy and equally other assorted projects), and thanks to a little boat ride out to sea they’ve hung out together over many thousand miles apart to create a real gem of a Prog album. Oh, did I mention it is a PROG album? Welcome back, Jon. You’ve been sorely missed.
Crashride is a debut album made by French Canadians Jean-Sébastien Côté (composer, sound designer) and François Therriault (guitarist, composer), and has different musicians contributing on several tracks. The sleeve looks very interesting, it reminds me of a microscopic cluster of plant cells. The music itself is mostly instrumental. It is dreamy progressive and electronic music, with lovely ambient and soundscape moments, which I find very beautiful. Twelve tracks that are between three and six minutes long, which sound very good. Keyboards/synthesizers, guitars, bass, Chapman stick and v-drums are mostly presented. Frédérike Bédard provides vocals on some of the songs. This is a tough album to review track by track, because the instruments you hear are often merged together perfectly, making it one gamut of musicality. Continue reading “Crashride – Crashride (2015) — Grendel HeadQuarters”→
Not only that but they’ve also been well deservedly nominated as one of the Rising Prog Stars in the new band Limelight Award over the past 12 months in the prestious PROG Magazine. How cool is that!And so pleased for you and your fans.
