The latest in an occasional series about the wild woolly world of rock’s double albums. Todd Rundgren has got to be one of rock history’s great chameleons. He’s gone from a paisley pop wunderkind as leader of the Nazz in the late Sixties, to a sensitive piano balladeer to a guitar-slinging metalloid, prog rocker and […]
via Make Mine a Double #5: Todd Rundgren’s Something/Anything (1972) — Reel and Rock
My favorite Rush album has been, at least going back to April 1984, Grace Under Pressure. I realize that among Rush fans and among prog fans, this might serve as a contentious choice. My praise of GUP is not in any way meant to denigrate any other Rush albums. Frankly, I love them all. Rush has offered us an outrageous wealth of blessings, and I won’t even pretend objectivity.
I love Rush. I love Grace Under Pressure.
I still remember opening Grace Under Pressure for the first time. Gently knifing the cellophane so as not to crease the cardboard, slowly pulling out the vinyl wrapped in a paper sleeve, the hues of gray, pink, blue, and granite and that egg caught in a vicegrip, the distinctive smell of a brand new album. . . . the crackle as the needle hit . . . .
I was sixteen.
Ayreon Universe (Blu Ray) – Ayreon Introduction… Well Arjen Lucassen is back with another new release only this time it’s a live concert and not a new album. I have to say this is quite a spectacular show that the guy as put on and arranged with Joost van den Broek. It must of took […]
I will admit, I find it rather hard to believe that this song is already fifteen years old. Stunning. For an all-too-brief moment, Oceansize was it. The ultimate prog, space rock, space prog (labels!!!) band in the world. Combining psychedelic and often nonsensical lyrics with heavy rock and atmosphere cords and walls of sound, Oceansize seemed far far removed from its namesake–the song of by the utterly bizarre Jane’s Addiction.
Oceansize jumped into the music without trepidation. Nothing from the band felt forced or contrived, though the lyrics and the music shouldn’t have worked most of the time. But, it always did.
Continue reading ““Massive Bereavement” by Oceansize (Second Spring #8)”
If you’re part of the Grand Rapids Symphony and Chorus, here’s how:
“We submitted a proposal, and Carnegie got interested in us,” [music director Marcelo] Lehninger said. “There was one specific program in the season that they really enjoyed, and they had a date available, and we could go there the week after we performed the programming in Grand Rapids. So, it was just all the stars aligning,” he laughed. “We said ‘you know what, let’s go now.’”
So a week from tomorrow, I’ll be on a plane for New York City, one of nearly 250 instrumentalists and singers making the pilgrimage. We settle in Thursday, rehearse Friday morning, let it rip on April 20th at 8 pm, then head back home on Saturday — hopefully basking in the satisfaction of a job well done!
(And yes, everybody’s practicing, practicing, practicing these days.)
Vikrit is a progressive metal band from India influenced by variety of different styles. The band has been together for over seven years, but earlier this year they put out their debut EP The King in Exile.
It could easily be said that Vikrit plays progressive metal with elements of heavy metal/hard rock and extreme take on the prog metal genre, and fans of likes such Lam of God, Pantera, Periphery, Mastodon, and Opeth are apt to find something familiar in their sound. Tracks generally consist of simple dominating metal chord patterns with more complex underlying melodies. Instead of focusing on technical musicianship, each track of The King in Exile attempts to evoke a certain mood or feeling – and it does this quite well. Most tracks revolve around a central musical theme, but they manage to repeat themselves without feeling repetitive. Though the music is never too heavy or too relaxed, it still manages to span a wide range of musical styles, with tracks that are equal parts dark, calm, angry and passionate. It is vibrant with emotional quality, and the music is very refined – The King in Exile certainly has a high production quality, and the members of Vikrit know how to complement each other well.
That is, in fact, the album’s greatest strength. The music and the vocals suit each other very well, and combine to create the emotional experience that is the album’s best quality.
Ultimately, The King in Exile is very well made for what it is. While those who prefer more complex melodies won’t find it enthralling, it is clear that Vikrit’s members are quite talented, and the simple nature of the music is more of a stylistic choice than an indicator of poor musicianship. The King in Exile left quite a good impression on me. It is subdued but expressive, with little technicality but a lot of feeling.
The King in Exile is available from iTunes.
I’m honestly not sure what I could write about this song that I’ve not already written here and elsewhere. I first encountered McLachlan back in 1993 when her stunning (to this day, one of my favorite albums) FUMBLING TOWARD ECSTACY revealed just how professional and innovative “alternative” music could be. If there’s an artist who puts her (or him) self more into the music than did the younger McLachlan, I have yet to encounter that artist.
I remember telling some women friends of mine that I had discovered McLachlan, only to find that the really cool women in graduate school already knew McLachlan from her first two albums–which, I was informed, were far superior to this third one. Admittedly, after purchasing TOUCH (1989) and SOLACE (1991), I had to agree that they were excellent. They still weren’t FUMBLING.
Continue reading “Second Spring #7: “Fear” by Sarah McLachlan”
Taking the name of the song from lyrics by Pink Floyd, Pure Reason Revolution offered some of the best existentialist-electronica prog of the first decade of the 21st century with the fourth track–“Bright Ambassadors of Morning”–from their first and finest studio album, THE DARK THIRD. The entire album is nothing if not a masterpiece, a blistering and loving whole, a deep and abiding well of creativity.
Not until nearly six minutes into the album does a human voice even appear, letting the listener know that this album is a work of art, not an attempt at popular cash-making.
The album itself deals with the dream state of human existence–the one third of our lives in which we allow the sandman to invade and Morpheus to rule.
TimeLord emailed me over the weekend, and we “talked” nothing but Pure Reason Revolution. Since receiving the first email from my favorite progarchist Canadian philosopher, I’ve not listened to much else. Three days later, and it seems critical to make this track my sixth Second Spring.
Continue reading “Second Spring #6: “Bright Ambassadors of Morning” by Pure Reason Revolution”
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So, Pain of Salvation makes a grand return to their metal roots — album does manage to pack more than adequate amounts of dissonance and melody. ‘The Beatles’ like undercurrents still remain intact. In short, along with caustic riffs and coarse vocals, we get more than subtle glimpses of blues rock — vividly expressed through the same old characteristic Pain of Salvation torment.
Drums run a tad out of phase with hardcore punk like riffs — effortlessly blending into those matching vocal screams — add those precise temporal switches and the rare combination of aggression with progressive metal harmony is complete.
Heavy and mellow – discordant and melodic – In the Passing Light of Day integrates not just sonic contradictions, but emotions uncomfortably fragile for heavy metal – “You’re watching me slowly slip away, Like the passing light of day, Watching our colors turning grey, Like the passing light of day”
Rated 5/5 – for that unparalleled experience.
Image Attribution:
By Selbymay [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons
Progarchy 
