Bryan’s Best of 2023

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rock3 Comments

We’ve come to the end of yet another fine year in prog. It has been an extremely difficult year for me personally and professionally, and that’s been reflected in my output here at Progarchy. I wish I had had the bandwidth to write many more reviews this year, but such is life. I currently find myself unemployed (my temporary job ended at the end of 2023 due to lack of funding) and many months in to a thus-far fruitless job search. This year’s musical output has been a soundtrack through some incredibly uncertain times. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order apart from my top three albums at the end.

soen-album-1300x1300Soen – Memorial

While not as good as their last few albums, this record has still been in frequent rotation for me. It has more quiet and orchestral moments than they typically include, but there is still a lot of their heavier crunchy prog metal riffing and signature melodies. Soen isn’t a band to be missed.

The-Final-Flight-Live-at-LOlympia-TransatlanticTransatlantic – The Final Flight, Live at L’Olympia

I’ve long preferred Transatlantic’s live work to their studio albums. Their studio albums are great, but this is a band that is best experienced live. While I’ve never seen them live in person and perhaps never will as it sounds like this could be the end for them, their live albums are always a treat. They are especially good for long car rides. I remember listening to KaLIVEoscope on a long car ride home from college back in the day, and just a few weeks ago I listened to The Final Flight during a long drive to eastern Tennessee to meet a special someone in person for the first time (at least something has gone well for me this year). The complexity of the music and the skill of the musicians keep your brain occupied on the long open roads. Transatlantic create a fourth version of their epic The Absolute Universe with this live outing, adding in a final set featuring a Whirlwind Suite, “We All Need Some Light,” and a medley from their first two records. It’s a great way to get into Transatlantic’s music for the uninitiated.

a3333831894_10Dream the Electric Sleep – American Mystic

I’ve been following Dream the Electric Sleep since 2014, and I think American Mystic is their best album. It’s more concise and more focused with subtle variety. It’s distinctly American prog, reminding me of the heavier prog of American prog bands of the 70s and 80s. Their vocal harmonies are definitely worth noting. Check out my full review at the DPRP.

bbt-ingenious-devicesBig Big Train — Ingenious Devices

While not exactly a new album, Big Big Train’s Ingenious Devices caught my attention and held onto it tightly. The band worked for years revisiting their “mankind and machine” trilogy of “East Coast Racer” (off 2013’s English Electric: Part Two), “Brooklands” (off 2016’s Folklore), and “Voyager” (off 2019’s Grand Tour). They re-recorded most of the instrumentals and added full string sections to the first two (“Voyager” was recorded with full strings). They also added a short track to bridge “East Coast Racer: with “Brooklands,” and they added a live version of “Atlantic Cable” featuring new singer Alberto Bravin. The mix is phenomenal, and it’s great to hear these songs set apart on their own. A must listen for Big Big Train fans. Check out my DPRP review.

haken-faunaHaken – Fauna

Haken’s Fauna is somewhat of a mixed bag for me. It’s a solid album throughout, but it leans a little too much on the softer side, but when it gets heavy and creative it slays. “Elephants Never Forget” is simply fantastic – one of Haken’s best songs. Check out my full review.

harmony-codexSteven Wilson – The Harmony Codex

This album grew on me slowly. At first I was mildly indifferent and then grew to like it, as opposed to my immediate and lasting distaste for The Future Bites. I think The Harmony Codex rather tactfully blends the spacey progressive elements of Wilson’s abilities with the pop edge that strongly influences his recent work. I don’t know if it was commercially successful for him, but the final product is a solid record that actually sounds more familiar. No it isn’t Hand. Cannot. Erase., but I think it’s his best solo record since then. But it isn’t for everybody, namely Progarchy’s Time Lord. Rick Krueger found more to enjoy.

Southern Empire Another World-CoverSouthern Empire – Another World

The Aussie band’s first record since 2018 finds them with a new vocalist – Shaun Holton. He has a great voice, but former vocalist Danny Lopresto’s voice is so unique and one of my favorite elements from their last album. As such it’s been hard for me to like Another World as much as I like Civilisation. With that said, it’s still a solid album with moving melodies and a stellar almost 20 minute-long track blending heavy with symphonic prog. Definitely worth checking out.

Moon Safari Himlabacken Vol. 2Moon Safari – Himlabacken Vol. 2

Finally! After wondering for ten years “whatever happened to Moon Safari,” the band returned this month with the follow up to 2013’s Himlabacken Vol. 1, an album I don’t listen to frequently but will always have a warm spot in my heart because it came out around the time I really started getting into newer progressive rock. Vol. 2 is even better than it’s predecessor, making the decade-long wait worth it. The 21-minute “Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse” is the finest long track I’ve heard this year. I’m a sucker for intelligent writing, and this song incorporates influences (and lyrics) from T. S. Eliot’s masterpiece “The Wasteland” (a poem that also inspired Genesis’ “Cinema Show”). The subtle inclusion of the melody from “London Bridge is Falling Down” throughout the song is itself a nod to part of “The Wasteland”. The song is great and a must listen. Nobody does vocal harmonies better than Moon Safari.

riverside IDE3. Riverside – ID.Entity

Riverside have yet to make a bad album. They’re all great in their own way. ID.Entity finds them taking a synthier approach to criticism of modern technosociety, and it works really well. They still get heavy when they need to, especially with Mariusz Duda’s vocals on “I’m Done With You.” It’s a solid album throughout and shouldn’t be missed. Check out my full review.

molybaron_somethingominous2. Molybaron – Something Ominous

This album was the unexpected musical surprise of the year for me. I liked the band’s previous album, but I wasn’t as much a fan of the lyrics. This time around, it seems western government’s tyrannical overreach during the Covid-19 debacle has made vocalist and lyricist Gary Kelly rather based. The songs are short, but that doesn’t keep this from being a prog metal funfest. Kelly’s vocal acrobatics make the album thoroughly entertaining. “Billion Dollar Shakedown” is a magnificent teardown of modern society’s incestuous elitist blend of government and big business marching in lockstep to ruin all our lives. “Breakdown” is a refreshing and real take on mental illness, and it’s been a bit of a themesong for me since it was released. The title track points out how the elites are pitting the rest of us against each other instead of against them. “Daylight Dies in Darkness” takes a spacier tone before building into heavy metal. It’s a fantastic smashmouth rock n’ roll heavy metal album. The only thing I don’t like is it’s only 38 minutes long – it’s so good I want more. Check out my review.

tesseract-war-of-being-album1. TesseracT – War Of Being

Unfortunately I never got around to reviewing this one, but I did review their concert. This is such a fantastic album – the band’s best to date. It’s also their heaviest since their debut. Singer Dan Tompkins demonstrates that he has one of the best voices in the business. One minute he can sing high like Matt Bellamy from Muse and the next he’s doing distorted vocals a la Devin Townsend. He even learned new methods of distorted vocals for this album, enabling him to create different sounds for the different characters, since this is a concept album. I’m still trying to figure out the story, but the djenty crunch is a headbangers dream. Everything about the record is great, and it easily tops my year-end list.

So there you have it. TesseracT was the only concert I went to this year, and it was a banger. I bought tickets to the upcoming Big Big Train show in March, so hopefully I’ll be able to make it to that (life is pretty crazy right now being between jobs). I didn’t read any prog books this year, but I plan on starting Geddy Lee’s “My Effin’ Life” tonight. Hopefully the new year will suck less for me, and I hope it’s a good one for you all.

Thanks so much for reading and sticking with us here at Progarchy this year, even though our output was rather thin compared to last year. Hopefully we’ll get things rolling again in 2024.

Happy New Year, and prog on!.

Best Albums of 2023 — #2: The Winery Dogs, III

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

They say the third time’s the charm. But the third album from The Winery Dogs is more than just charmed, because we have already heard undeniable magic on their first two albums. This time, however, we witness a truly jaw-dropping breakthrough.

What is worth noting here is that we have been given a solid album with ten songs that strongly lock together. They flow inexorably, as the coherent whole of what I believe will eventually be recognized as a classic album, one even better than the merely rave reviews it has already been getting. Its magnificence gets more and more impressive with each further listen.

On previous releases, I found myself picking out favorite songs. The range of the band’s material was stunning, and while all of it was impressive, there were still standout tracks that clearly rose above the rest. On the debut, for me those were: “Elevate,” “I’m No Angel,” “Not Hopeless,” and “Regret.” On Hot Streak, they were: “The Bridge,” “War Machine,” “Devil You Know,” and “The Lamb.”

But on this release, rather than pick favorite songs, I can only pick out favorite moments within the songs. Because every track is a standout, I love them all, and I cherish those detailed special moments that each one of them contain for the dedicated listener.

“Xanadu” and “Mad World” were the two pre-release singles, which led us to expect more of the same Winery Dogs virtuosity from their earlier albums. Their magical ability is to bring Richie Kotzen’s guitar and Billy Sheehan’s bass and Mike Portnoy’s drums together in astonishing acrobatic coordination, a higher realm of musical motion which only the true greats can access, like Alex and Geddy and Neil on “Free Will.”

Yet while we get more of such magic, we also get interesting new details on this album, like the startling jazz chords in “Mad World” or the unusually intriguing lyrics to “Xanadu” which shift and change even with the musical repetitions of the chorus. Kotzen’s impassioned vocals seem to be taking an accusation (living clueless in Xanadu/Malibu) and flipping the accusation around as a badge of honor to be worn, as Kotzen makes it clear he (and the band) doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.

With that declaration of independence, and with their secession from the world’s madness, The Winery Dogs then shift direction and reveal the first two tracks to have been something of a head fake. “Breakthrough” seems to me like the kind of killer radio-friendly track that a record company would demand as the first single. But, as track three, it comes as an unexpected twist after the clever “business as usual” first two tracks.

With this twist, the album launches into the upper echelons of the most classic of classic rock territory. The punchy power chords of the chorus invite air guitar participation. Both the riff and the vocal phrasings unexpectedly remind me of Saturation-era Urge Overkill, which I found to be a delightful and obscure surprise.

“Rise” astonishes with its complexity and soulfulness, as the band continues it third-album ascent, now conducting cakewalk “business as unusual.”

But it’s “Stars” that veers off into truly delightful prog territory. Sheehan supplies a steady bass pulse for Portnoy and Kotzen to go completely bonkers around. Kotzen demonstrates beyond all doubt that he is one of the greatest of all time on this track, because his guitar solo lasts for a minute and forty seconds of such insane, imaginative, and inventive sounds that it’s unbelievable. The song enfolds all this into such a satisfying and catchy groove, it marks an outstanding conclusion to a staggeringly impressive Side A.

But the album’s B-side is astonishingly equal in achievement to the A side. The kickoff, “The Vengeance,” has one of those cathartic Kotzen vocals (like “Regret” or “The Lamb”) whose emotions are equalled by the intelligence of the lyrics (which wisely affirm that it is the weak, not the strong, who need revenge).

This track illustrates well my thesis about each album track having additional small but memorable details: here, it is the helicopter-like synth-sounding pattern which leads into each chorus, and I call it “synth-sounding” because it somehow bleeds into what sounds like a guitar. It’s a truly magical transformation, and such a thrilling little detail, yet I have no idea how it is done, but it excites the listener to no end each time it is heard.

As if that were not enough, “The Vengeance” also has more Urge Overkill overtones, with those little “ooh ooh ooh” background vocals that remind me of the musical positivity of “Positive Bleeding.”

“Pharaoh” levels the listener with a heavy riff that knows just when to hold back and also just when to smash, all while Portnoy builds pyramids with massive slabs of pounding drums.

And then there’s no respite, as the following track, “Gaslight,” delivers a musical imitation of a gaslighting assault of craziness. Its boogie blitz comes charging out of the gate with more notes per second than the human mind can possibly count. All you can do is try and shake your tail feather to keep up.

Perfectly timed for breath-catching, “Lorelei” is a slow, bluesy 6/8 waltz. It’s the type of song that would function for a lesser band as a filler cool-down track at album’s end. But for The Winery Dogs, this become merely the penultimate track, and yet another one that they use to confound listener expectations.

Sometimes nothing is more boring than a blues guitar solo, but Kotzen convinces us that we have not heard it all before, as he plays his solo lines with such feeling that we find ourselves amazed. Not only that, when he sings on the chorus, he soulfully adopts such unusual phrasing that I am reminded of Steve Perry 80s Journey. The song unexpectedly wormholes me on a journey into a magic world of nostalgic teenage school dance waltzes.

The epic final track, “The Red Wine,” begins by seeming to deliver on the promise of the album opener’s Rush-word: “Xanadu.” For the first eighteen seconds, “The Red Wine” sounds like classic Rush. I did a double-take the first time I heard those bars, and had to look again at the song name, which for those moments I thought was actually: “The Red Star.”

But after those opening flourishes, “The Red Wine” makes an abrupt stage-left turn and turns into a funky and groovy dance-along track, replete with a sing-along “party time” chorus. We even get a verse imagining senior citizens playing air guitar with their canes, as the whole world falls under the spell of The Winery Dogs’ live music.

Happily, the track ends back in Rush mode, as the camera pans up (or so I imagine) from the outside dance party, up past the patio lanterns, and then ascends into the stars as the band turns again into the Rush of the opening half-minute. We get a mellow cosmic cool-down to end the album, as the band invokes the atmospherics, yes you guessed it, of Rush’s classic “Xanadu” mood. Billy’s bass is the last one sucked into the Cygnus X-1 black hole, but it beams back a cosmic echo, advising you to buy this album and find your way to the Dogs’ dance party.

Confounding the cynics, Kotzen and Sheehan and Portnoy are clearly not just a super-group of super noodlers. With this album, they demonstrate they are one of the greatest bands to have ever rocked the Earth. With III, they leave their paw print in the pavement, preserved for all time, in the pantheon of the Rock of Fame.

Best Albums of 2023 — #1: Crown Lands, Fearless

On By Time LordIn progressive rock2 Comments

The Album of the Year for 2023 is, in my opinion, the masterpiece Fearless from the mighty Crown Lands: the incredible musicians Cody Bowles and Kevin Comeau.

No other album in my collection has received more repeated listens this year than this one. I alerted you to the lead track, “Starlifter,” back in February. Then, with the release of the whole album in March, it has been in heavy rotation in the succeeding months.

Despite the many top contenders for Prog Album of 2023 that have issued forth since then, the indisputable proof that Crown Lands must be awarded the top prize for 2023 is the Deluxe edition of Fearless that was made available in June.

Added to the nine tracks that comprise the Fearless album, the Deluxe edition adds eight instrumental versions. That means you can do Crown Lands karaoke, or practice playing the musical parts on your own instruments, etc. And the number of instrumental tracks added is eight, because the album track “Penny” is already a guitar instrumental in the tradition of prog palate cleansers like Steve Howe’s “Mood for a Day” or “The Clap.”

Not only that, the Deluxe edition adds seven live versions of tracks from the studio version of Fearless. And it’s seven, not nine, since the album tracks “Context” and “Right Way Back” date back to 2021, and we’ve already witnessed live audio and video versions of those songs in the intervening months.

The Deluxe edition live versions of the Fearless tracks are nothing short of amazing. Usually bands sound worse live than on record. But with Crown Lands, we get versions of the studio tracks that sound even heavier and even more energetic than the carefully produced prog perfection originals.

Somehow, Crown Lands manages to capture on the Deluxe edition live recordings a special energy that they obviously have when they play live. Kevin’s riffs are even darker and more menacing, and the synth sounds punch and crackle with tactile gusto. Cody’s singing is impassionate and immediate, hitting all the high notes and even adding extra sentiment in the heat of the moment. The drum fills are astonishing, as they fly from speaker to speaker and you feel like you are standing behind the kit next to Cody as he kicks out the songs with enhanced verve. Kevin’s guitar solos and bass lines induce ecstasy, which is symbolized by all those bonus fretboard dive-bombing finger slides and power chord zoom blasts.

Fearless (Deluxe): You have to hear it to believe it, and you won’t be able to pick a favorite version of the album—live or studio—since they each have their own special charms. Perhaps all that the listener can do after hearing Fearless (Deluxe) is to pronounce the winner of Album of the Year for 2023 in the same way that as I do. Unquestionably, the crown has to be awarded to the invincibly fearless and unstoppable Crown Lands.

Rick’s Quick Takes – The Autumn Report

On By kruekuttIn Big Big Train, Insideout Music, progressive rockLeave a comment

As you can see in the photo above, I’ve drawn a full house of fresh music by artists well known in the Rockin’ Republic of Prog for this hand. (As well as a world-famous joker from another deck.) Unless otherwise noted, title links are to Bandcamp or Spotify for streaming. Where streaming links don’t include them, separate links with purchase options follow each review.

District 97, Stay For The Ending: Another great leap forward for the prog pride of Oak Park, Illinois, D97’s fifth studio album is a shoo-in for my year-end list of favorites. It bursts at the seams with the good stuff – Jim Tashjian’s massive guitar thrash, Andrew Laurence’s neck-snapping synth licks and harmonies, Tim Seisser’s buoyant, bubbling bass work and Jonathan Schang’s exuberant off-center drum grooves. As always, singer Leslie Hunt hits every musical curveball out of the park, her energy and sophistication driving home one breathtaking melodic hook after another. Once the stylish, thrilling title track ropes you in, the eccentric fusion workout “Many New Things”, the Crimsonesque riff-go-round of “Crossover”, the galloping social comment of “Divided We Fall” and the stutter-stepped “Deck Is Stacked” will keep you on the edge of your seat. Can’t recommend this highly enough.

Glass Hammer, Arise: How does ace GH conceptualist Steve Babb follow up on his surprisingly heavy Skallagrim fantasy trilogy? With an even heavier sci-fi concept album, of course! As Babb’s AI-enhanced android protagonist heads for the stars, the spacey invention comes fast and furious; the propulsive kick of “Wolf 339”, droning industrial ballad “Lost” and blues cruise “Proxima Centauri B” all build to a shattering, sludgy apocalypse on the title track. Throughout, multi-instrumentalist Babb and his colleagues (including fellow GH founder Fred Schendel on one track) pile on the dramatic tension, while Hannah Pryor’s vocals vividly trace the turmoil of an intelligence lost in the cosmos – only to be confronted with Someone greater than it bargained for. Dare we hope for a sequel? Order from Glass Hammer’s website.

Dave Kerzner, Heart Land Mines, Vol. 1: After a troika of albums exploring distant worlds in the extended fashion prog fans so love, Kerzner brings it all back home. No, it’s not an original concept: boy meets, loves and loses girl, then drives across country to forget girl while writing songs about the whole mess. But it all happened to Dave back in the 1990s, including the songwriting – which gives this project (the first in a series based on his “songs from the attic”) a real edge and vibrancy. In terms of the music, think less Pink Floyd and Genesis, more Beatles, Steely Dan and Alan Parsons: sturdily constructed, left-field pop, chock full of emotion and color. From the cynical shuffles “Dreaming in LA” and “Dirty Girl” to the heartbreak ballad “Worlds Apart” and beyond, Kerzner gives this music his all, his singing more expressive than ever, his arranging and production even more vivid and intense. With tasty touches galore from his world-class backing band (Fernando Perdomo, Matt Dorsey and Derek Cintron) and special guests, Kerzner has hit my year-end favorites list yet again; on the surface, the first installment of Heart Land Mines (more volumes are promised) might seem less ambitious than New World, Static and The Traveller, but it’s every bit as compelling and delightful. Order various editions from Bandcamp.

David Longdon, Wild River: Music by a younger man than we came to know during Longdon’s time with Big Big Train, his 2004 solo debut reveals both an eclectic sensibility and the level of aspiration you’d expect from a singer ballsy enough to audition for Genesis as Phil Collins’ replacement. The basic vibe is folk-inflected, artsy singer-songwriter, focused on acoustic guitar and fiddle (with a pinch of Pete Townshend’s aggression on the opener “Always”, “Mandy” and “Vertigo”), but even then, Longdon’s range extended to the title song’s R&B shout-out and the darker turns of “This House” and “Joely”. And as the Floydish “Falling Down to Earth” (complete with Mellotron) gives way to the extended metaphor of the finale “On to the Headland,” we hear the sensibility that emerged to tell Greg Spawton’s tales of Old Albion for The Underfall Yard and the English Electric sequence, then seek fresh destinations for Big Big Train before his untimely death. This pristine reissue, remastered by Rob Aubrey, includes a bonus live album with previously unreleased material Order from Burning Shed or The Band Wagon USA.

The Rolling Stones, Hackney Diamonds: You might have heard something about this one; “those British bad boys” (as Bob Dylan referred to them when I heard him in concert last month) are back in the saddle, hedonistic and petulant as ever. Slashing their way across producer Andrew Watt’s dry, tight soundstage, Keith Richards and Ron Wood whip up vigorous, punchy riffs by the dozen (though there’s little room for their classic guitar weave). Meanwhile, Mick Jagger strikes every vocal pose in his repertoire and then some, shouting and moaning what are quite possibly the filthiest lyrics he’s ever written. The whole thing rocks hard, and there’s genuine magic afoot when Bill Wyman and the late Charlie Watts crank up the rhythm on “Live By the Sword”. But ironically, the best moments here come during the collaborations — Paul McCartney powering “Bite My Head Off” with an immense fuzzed bass lick, “Lady Gaga” channeling the early 1970s with Jagger during the gospel-soaked “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”. A respectable showing for the Stones and a fun listen for fans — but how of many of these songs, as cool as they sound, will make the setlist for next year’s inevitable tour? Order from … well, just about everywhere.

Tiger Moth Tales, The Turning Of The World: When Pete Jones stepped back a bit from the keyboard and picked up his acoustic guitar, this more straightforward sequel to 2020’s chamber-prog opus The Whispering of the World was the attractive result. The man’s got a lot on his mind – “revolution, changing technology, life-altering events” – and he doesn’t hold back with his opinions. At his best, Jones’ direct, sensitive reflections on the passing scene cut to the heart, especially on the epic allegory of “The Snail, the Horse and the River” and “We’ll Remember”, an affecting tribute to David Longdon. And if upbeat inspirational songs about life such as “Pass It On” and “Make a Good Sound” lean a bit toward limpid jazz-funk, they quickly pick up energy every time Jones picks up his saxophone and melodica for expressive fills or soaring solo choruses. A change of pace from his recent seasonal albums, it’s always good to hear from a man who truly believes “It’s So Wonderful to Be Alive” — and isn’t shy about reminding us of it! (There’s also a bonus disc available, The Whispering Suite, with outtakes and live versions bridging TMT’s two “World” albums and 2022’s A Song of Spring.)

— Rick Krueger

Steve Hackett Live at the Pabst Theater (11/03): A Brief Review

On By Connor MullinIn progressive rockLeave a comment

What else need be said about Steve Hackett on the pages of Progarchy? The man’s well deserved reputation as a stellar and innovative guitarist precedes him, and I do not believe I can add much to the praises already heaped upon him. But I did finally have the good fortune to see him perform last night in downtown Milwaukee’s historic Pabst Theater,* so I thought I would give a brief recap and share a few thoughts:

The first half of the show featured several classic pieces from Hackett’s solo work, including “Ace of Wands,” “A Tower Struck Down,” “Camino Royale,” and (my personal favorite) the concluding instrumental section of the epic “Shadow of the Hierophant.” The veteran guitarist’s deft hands needed no warming up: he was electric from the first note. His supporting cast (the usual – Sylvan, King, Townsend, Reingold, and Blundell) was also superb, and I especially enjoyed Jonas Reingold’s funky bass solo in the middle of “Camino Royale.”

Set Two was dedicated to Foxtrot. As soon as Roger King opened with the haunting Mellotron notes of “Watcher of the Skies,” the audience knew it was in for a brilliant second half. Nad Sylvan’s caped figure and glowing red eyes, hearkening back to the theatrical performances of Peter Gabriel, next appeared on a heightened platform in between the drums and keyboards. But Sylvan is far more than a quirky accessory: his vocals were on point the whole night. The following tracks, although arguably lesser known, were nonetheless played with as much gusto as all the others. And then came the beautiful “Horizons,” the classically-inspired piece I consider “the calm before the storm.”

As soon as “Horizons” concluded, an excitable chap shouted, “I wonder what you’re going to play next!” And as we all laughed, he was answered with the opening words of “Supper’s Ready,” the twenty-three minute long epic concerning good and evil. The band, fittingly, delivered what was an epic performance. I am grateful to have been in attendance.

Hackett is clearly still going strong at 73. His website features an extensive list of tour dates for 2024, so keep your eyes peeled and ears open for an opportunity to see him work his magic on stage. Here’s to many more years of Steve Hackett!

*A brief and embarrassing disclaimer: I left at the end of “Supper’s Ready” and so failed to hear both “Firth of Fifth” and “Los Endos.” I am currently sick with a cold and I also hate crowds, but I am still kicking myself for leaving when I did. Mea culpa. Please forgive this hasty Progarchist!

Single Review: The Beatles, Now and Then

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Are we mad? What is Progarchy doing? Who would foolishly dare to review a new single from the Beatles?

Thanks to the miracles of artificial intelligence, John’s vocal track was able to be isolated and separated from his piano accompaniment. Then Paul and Ringo were able to finish what they started with George back in 1995: a complete Beatles rendition of John’s song idea.

It’s wonderful stuff, and let the following observations suffice for our review. The Beatles have always been a prog band. They were the first rock and roll embodiment of the prog spirit, taking the genre to progress beyond rock’s apotheosis in Elvis and his predecessors. The progression of the Beatles is evident by contrasting the Red Album with the Blue Album: there are no limits to the rock genre beyond imagination.

Therefore the genre evolved beyond singles to albums. And it is the album that is the playground of prog music. Beyond a mere single, prog needs at least 30 to 40 minutes in order to embody its imaginative ideals. Thus, the Beatles perfected the rock album with progressive influences on Rubber Soul and Revolver, both replete with innovative strings and tech-savvy sound effects.

Finally, they invented the prog album with Sgt. Pepper’s, the White Album, and Abbey Road. Side two of Abbey Road became the mission statement for every prog rock artist ever after. And now the Beatles are first to deploy AI to consolidate their definitive prog rock immortality.

Hence we state quite clearly: now and then, it is prog that rules. Call it “progarchy,” if you will. But the Beatles, as ever, now and then, show us the way. Excelsior!

Concert Review: TesseracT Live in St. Louis, 10/21/23

On By Bryan MoreyIn Heavy metal, progressive metal, progressive rockLeave a comment

TesseracT, Live at the Red Flag, St. Louis, MO, October 21, 2023
Opening acts: Alluvial and Intervals
TesseracT Setlist: Natural Disaster, Echoes, Of Mind – Nocturne, Dystopia, King, War of Being, Smile, The Arrow, Legion, The Grey, Juno
Encore: Concealing Fate Part 1: Acceptance, Concealing Fate Part 2: Deception

Hot off the heels of the release of their best album to date, TesseracT lit up St. Louis last night – quite literally. You’d be hard-pressed to find a band with a more interesting and atmospheric lighting setup. Between the strobes and the many light bars set up along the stage, the band creates a unique stage vibe with their light show. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I’m a toddler TesseracT fan, having really only dug into them with the release of the brilliant livestream turned live album PORTALS in 2021. I’ve been aware of them since at least 2015 with the release of live album Odyssey. I would always give their records a chance, but at the time I didn’t really get it. I suppose the combination of my maturing tastes and the release of PORTALS perfectly coincided, and TesseracT have since become one of my favorite bands. I was very excited for the release of their latest album, War of Being (yes, I need to review it). With tickets pretty affordable, even for premium balcony seats at a small venue, I decided this show was not to be missed.

I hadn’t been to a show at the Red Flag before. It’s essentially a rectangular-shaped club with the stage on one of the long sides and a balcony on the back side and the left-hand short side. I got there early and was able to get a spot just to the left of the sound booth. I generally dislike these club-type shows because you have to stand for 4 hours, but the balcony had seats and a rail with a little table, so it was a super chill spot to watch the show, and the view was absolutely perfect.

The venue is in St. Louis’ midtown next to Saint Louis University. As such I figured there would be more options for food. Nope. The only two restaurants near the venue had stated closing times of 7pm on a Saturday, which is beyond lame, but even lamer was they were both closed by 6:15 because they sold out of food. So if you ever come to the Red Flag for food, don’t come hungry. Clearly I should have planned better, but come on. You expect food to be available near a concert venue on a weekend.

The guy behind me in line had a Soen shirt on, and after I had a run-in with a praying mantis that dropped onto me from the tree above, I struck up a conversation with him. Turns out he was from Chile in the US temporarily on business and had driven down from Milwaukee primarily to see Intervals, one of his favorite bands for a long time but that he had never had a chance to see. He also had a balcony ticket, so we hung out for the rest of the night chatting about prog and metal. It was great to meet you, Sebastion. I told him I always meet somebody cool at these prog concerts, and he commented about how chill prog and metal fans tend to be. I saw this in action when part of the crowd turned into a mosh pit multiple times during the night and every time someone fell down, the others in the pit immediately picked them up and made sure they were ok.

I was unfamiliar with both Alluvial and Intervals, but both put on solid performances. Alluvial could be described as more death metal, and as such I didn’t understand a single word of the vocals. But the band played heavy and tight and brought a solid energy to the room.

Intervals really surprised me. They are an all-instrumental melodic progressive metal band with some djent influences. They reminded me a lot of Polyphia. They played a blend of their old and new music, and even that reflected the changes Polyphia has made, with the older music being heavier and the newer far more technical. Intervals is the brainchild of lead guitarist Aaron Marshall, who can really shred. Sadly they had some tech issues multiple times. At one point, their entire sound went dead, so the drummer used it as a chance for an impromptu drum solo. Then during another song Marshall’s amp went dead. There wasn’t much he could do while his techs worked to fix it, so he played his solo anyways even though nobody could hear it. Despite the setbacks, they put on a solid show and are definitely worth checking out.

The stage was cleared for TesseracT, leaving them with a clean workspace, much appreciated I’m sure by the barefoot Amos Williams (bass). The stage setup featured a lineup of vertical light bars behind the band and several light boxes at the sides of the stage and around the drum kit. These were used to great effect throughout the set, along with the overhead lights and the smoke machine. Despite being a small stage, the clean layout and lighting made it seem much bigger.

The band jumped right into it with the first two tracks off their latest album, both of which are heavy and full of energy. These songs gave vocalist Dan Tompkins a great opportunity to show the range of his voice and the heavier edge that the new album has compared to their last few records.

Despite playing for only about one hour 15 minutes, the band played songs from every album, and every one was expertly performed and equally well received by the excited crowd. The band even got my lazy butt out of my balcony seat. The setlist on this tour includes “The Smile” and “The Arrow” played back-to-back for the first time. Those songs close off 2018’s Sonder, and they sounded fantastic live. That album also was well represented at the show with “King” and “Juno” getting played.

Some bands have musicians that stand out with flamboyant and virtuosic performances, but TesseracT’s members work together to create a wall of sound. The technicality is on full display when you watch the fingers of lead guitarist Acle Kahney, rhythm guitarist James Monteith (who looks like he’s 7 feet tall), and bassist Amos Williams. But they aren’t particularly showy about it – they let the music speak for itself. Williams is probably the most mobile of the band aside from Tompkins. Jay Postones is also a machine on the drums.

Due to the wall of sound style of production TesseracT uses, the band uses sequencers to fill out the background of their sound. The result is their live shows sound very similar to their albums, which is a win in my book.

The vocals are also heavily layered on the records, and you can hear those backing tracks in the live show too, which gives Tompkins some wiggle room if he isn’t feeling a particular note on a particular night. He easily has one of the best voices in the business. His range is impressive, and he has added new styles of distorted vocals on both the new album and in the live show. That was most pronounced on the tracks from the new album. My favorite is “Legion,” which I think may be my favorite TesseracT song overall. The performance certainly grabs your attention on the record, and it was equally impressive live. He hit some very high notes on that song, and the distorted vocals on the track are some of his best.

His banter with the crowd was also solid, giving him a firm command of the stage and the crowd. He mentioned the long five-year gap between albums, promising that it wouldn’t take that long for them to make a new album. He also hinted at a return to the US and St. Louis next year for another tour.

The light show certainly adds to TesseracT’s overall stage presence. If you’ve watched PORTALS or seen them live, you know what I’m talking about. The lighting often makes the band stand out as silhouettes, which furthers the idea of TesseracT’s sound coming from the whole rather than any one player. It can make it a little difficult to see clearly at times, but the total result is an impressive headbanging affair.

My only complaint would have to be with the length of the setlist. I definitely wanted more. Sure, it was a long night with two opening bands, but I really wanted to hear more from TesseracT. I was surprised to see how many people left after the band walked offstage after “Juno.” They gave it a minute or two before coming back on for an extremely heavy closer of “Concealing Fate” Parts 1 and 2. Even though it may have been short, it was a solid set. Every song was stellar, and the band played their heavier moments. With a longer set, I would expect some more extended atmospherics from the band, as we saw on PORTALS.

Overall I had a blast seeing TesseracT, as well as their openers Alluvial and Intervals. This was the first concert I’ve been to this year, and it didn’t disappoint. If you get a chance to see them on this tour, don’t miss it. The prices are reasonable, and the performance is stellar. They’re touring the western US and then the southern states over the next few weeks before traveling back to Europe for some shows in early 2014 and then a tour leg in Asia and Australia.

You can find upcoming tour dates at TesseracT’s website: https://www.tesseractband.co.uk

In Concert, October 14, 2023: Bob Dylan’s Imperial Progress

On By kruekuttIn americana, blues, folk rock, Rock and Roll, vernacular musicLeave a comment

I get into trouble and I hit the wall
No place to turn – no place at all
I pick a number between one and two
And I ask myself what would Julius Caesar do?

Bob Dylan, “My Own Version of You”

Shortly after Bob Dylan barked out those couplets to the audience at Grand Rapids’ DeVos Performance Hall, he answered his rhetorical question with another recent tune: “I prayed to the cross and I kissed the girls and I crossed the Rubicon”. So it was no surprise that, on a night where the 82-year-old icon genially lorded it over his band and a capacity crowd, another historical JC crept into the setlist too . . .

But let’s rewind. Hitting the stage in a black sequined suit and white hat, Dylan planted himself behind a baby grand piano and promptly dispelled any expectations of a by-the-numbers night of bygone hits. The opener was recognizable as the 1970s deep track “Watching the River Flow” — but only just. Words were stretched out, scrunched together and slurred, melodies recast on the very edge of speech, the original flowing folk song juiced up by jumpin’ R&B from the backup quintet. To top it off, Dylan took all the solos — ranging from inspired rhythmic riffs to maddeningly repeated three-note licks (the kind you played in grade-school piano duets) that occasionally locked in with the band’s chords. The message was clear: “I’m doing whatever I want with these songs tonight. Keep up.”

To their credit, Dylan’s crew did just that, with style to spare. Whether on electric or stand-up bass, long-time musical director Tony Garnier’s pulse was always squarely in the pocket; guitarists Bob Britt and Doug Lancio’s sturdy strumming kept the songs plowing forward, even when their boss pulled back on the melodies and rhythms. With the vehicle in motion, utility player Donnie Herron piled on the colorful trim — floating pedal steel guitar, countrified fiddle, sprightly mandolin. And drummer Jesse Pentecost, the newest band member, gave it all a kick in the pants, changing and chopping the grooves of every tune from Dylan’s latest album of new material, Rough and Rowdy Ways. Nothing was straight off the record: slow blues spread out into shuffles; crawling ballads shifted up a gear to more fluid tempos; the whimsical meditation “Key West (Philosopher Pirate)” turned into film noir, darkening on a dime during an ominous, reharmonized refrain. If details got lost in the roar of the journey, it proved an exhilarating ride. (And Dylan was digging it — late in the set, he introduced the band members by name, which apparently only happens when he’s in a good mood.)

Dylan proved equally daring on a relatively obscure selection of vintage tunes, taking the reinventions of this year’s live-in-studio Shadow Kingdom even farther. “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” careened from free-tempo intro to Little Richard stomper (complete with Jerry Lee Lewis piano glisses) to a hard-braked burlesque finale. “To Be Alone With You” got the full honky-tonk treatment, courtesy of Pentecost’s loping backbeat and Herron’s cry-in-your-beer filigree. Given the nature of the night, the biggest surprise wasn’t that Dylan’s fundamentalist calling card “Gotta Serve Somebody” cropped up as a rockabilly-flavored rhumba; it was that the only cover of the set, Chuck Berry’s “Nadine”, was played and sung absolutely straight (and garnered as much applause as anything else)!

Though I’ve gotta say the biggest kick for me was the relaxed finale: “Every Grain of Sand”, one of Dylan’s numerous farewells to whoever or whatever threatened to cramp his style over the decades. A final fruit of his evangelizing years, it proved a graceful closer for the evening, a benediction of sorts on the rapt audience, complete with Bob’s only harmonica solo of the night after the final lyrics:

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.

At which point, Bob Dylan carefully hobbled to center stage, stood there bathed in applause, smiled, and — the very embodiment of Boomer noblesse oblige — took leave of the 2,000 mere mortals before him, off to future stops on his latest imperial progress.

— Rick Krueger

Setlist:

  • Watching the River Flow
  • Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)
  • I Contain Multitudes
  • False Prophet
  • When I Paint My Masterpiece
  • Black Rider
  • My Own Version of You
  • I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
  • Crossing the Rubicon
  • To Be Alone with You
  • Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
  • Gotta Serve Somebody
  • I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
  • Nadine
  • Mother of Muses
  • Goodbye Jimmy Reed
  • Every Grain of Sand

Rick’s Quick Takes: The (Belated) September Report

On By kruekuttIn Ambient, art rock, avant-garde, electronic, Insideout Music, Kscope, progressive rockLeave a comment

Unless otherwise noted, title links are typically to Spotify or Bandcamp for streaming, with a purchase link following the review.

The Flower Kings, Look At You Now: The Stolt brothers — Michael on bass, Roine on almost everything else — vocalist Hasse Fröberg and drummer Mirko DeMaio crank up that progressive-psychedelic roundabout, and what comes out the chute is yet another spellbinding album-length suite. Snippets from the past and fresh in-studio invention lock together seamlessly; from the merry-go-round kickoff “Beginners Eyes” and the Beatleish “Hollow Men” through renaissance pastoral “The Queen” and blues-edged workout “Scars”, to the closing workout (cinema showoff vamp “Father Sky” into bolero build “Day for Peace” into the closing title epic), TFK don’t miss a trick, evoking vintage Yes and Genesis while always leaning into their own unique, up-to-the-minute spin. This is easily the equal of recent double-disc standouts 2020’s Waiting for America and last year’s By Royal Decree, on track to be one of my favorites at the end of the year. Order from Burning Shed here.

Steve Hackett, Foxtrot at Fifty + Hackett Highlights – Live in Brighton: Yep, this is Hackett’s eighth live album since he made “Genesis Revisited” a regular feature of his live set and rejuvenated his international touring career. But doggone it if he doesn’t make this latest set make worth our while yet again! Leading off with a refreshed solo repertoire (blending in vintage throwbacks “A Tower Struck Down” and “Camino Royale”) that provides new showcases for his talented band (Rob Townsend and Roger King’s wind/keys duet on “Ace of Wands”, Jonas Reingold’s fleet-fingered solo spot “Basic Instincts”), Hackett proceeds to blow out Brighton’s doors with an inspired romp through Genesis’ 1972 breakout album. Especially noteworthy: singer Nad Sylvan, at his personal best on “The Devil’s Cathedral”, “Watcher of the Skies” and a taut, compelling “Supper’s Ready” — well, really all through the night. I thought I might have actually seen Hackett enough (four times!) in the last decade, but this release has me eager to catch this show when he returns to the States next spring. Order from Burning Shed here.

Bruce Soord, Luminescence: Just a songwriter and his gear (plus the occasional electronica and orchestral seasonings); on break from The Pineapple Thief, Soord descends into the postmodern maelstrom, in search of an evasive inner tranquility. A placid, brooding first half of string swells (“Dear Life”), slinky acoustic funk (“Lie Flat”) and pensive melodic sketches (“So Simple”) gathers momentum, only to hit a stalled-out sense of desolation (“Instant Flash of Light”, “Stranded Here”) — which gives Soord’s concluding pleas for human connection (“Read to Me” and “Find Peace”) a vulnerability that chills to the bone, even as it cracks open all the feels. Spacious, shimmering and seductive (kudos to Soord and mastering engineer/TPT bandmate Steve Kitch), Luminescence’s stoic gaze into the heart of darkness packs a serious emotional depth charge. Order from Burning Shed here.

The Who, Who’s Next / Life House (Super Deluxe Edition): Who’s Next is an album that changed my life, and over the decades, it’s developed a reputation as one of rock’s finest moments. But Pete Townshend remains haunted by his original, unrealized post-Tommy concept of The Life House — a gathering place for the outcasts of a nightmarish virtual reality, with rock music as the saving sacrament of a splintered counterculture. Thus, this behemoth box: two discs of impeccable Townshend demos; three discs of session outtakes and singles; two complete, ferocious live sets; and an immaculate spatial audio remix of the final product by (of course) Steven Wilson. Even with exhaustive liner notes and a graphic novel version included, the Life House storyline simply refuses to cohere. But listening to The Who as they wrestle with the throughline, then pitch it away and just slam into “Baba O’Riley”, “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, you hear the fragments of one man’s overweening ambition transmuted into a furious, majestic rush of sheer hard rock glory. Order from The Who online store.

Wilco, Cousin: 2022’s Cruel Country (my top favorite album of last year) interrupted Wilco’s work on this excursion back into art-pop, made with Welsh multi-instrumentalist/co-producer Cate Le Bon as sidekick. Here Jeff Tweedy’s elusive, folky reflections are splattered with spectral atmospherics and thick blobs of tonal texture; workouts like technicolor opener “Infinite Surprise”, the sunnily chaotic title track and the Wild West gallop of “Meant to Be” sit side by side with morose elegy “Ten Dead”, baroque/dance crosscut “A Bowl And A Pudding” and the compelling meander “Pittsburgh”. The proceedings here lean a bit to the downtempo side, but it’s great to hear Tweedy and his merry crew of cutting-edge players revisit the experimental approach of their Yankee Hotel Foxtrot/A Ghost Is Born era, with the gains of the decades since then thoroughly integrated. Few American bands offer such solid work on such a consistent basis. Order from Wilco’s online store.

Steven Wilson, The Harmony Codex: On which Wilson decides not to pay homage to one particular musical style, bringing his magpie/studio boffin tendencies fully to the fore. Digging into the resources of vintage synthesizers, SW leans on mood more than movement, warming up the temperature from the glacial electronics of The Future Bites a bit, spinning trippy webs of sound braced with a percussive snap. As he flicks through a dizzying array of genres, there are plenty of hypnotic moments (the 1970s spiritual jazz/fusion of “Inclination” and “Invisible Tightrope”, pop nugget “What Life Brings”, imaginary Bond theme “Rock Bottom” with Ninet Tayeb, the langorous switched-on Bach/spoken-word melodrama of the title track), but it can also feel like Wilson is channel-surfing for its own sake; the focus of his best work is only intermittently there, and shorter tracks sometimes peter out instead of paying off. Still, as far and wide as The Harmony Codex wanders, there’s lots to catch the ear as it rambles, and it’s already rewarded repeated listens for me; Wilson remains an artist well worth checking out and reacting to. (So, yeah, Time Lord and I have very different opinions here. And, in line with de gustibus non est disputantum, I’m down with that.) Order from Burning Shed here. (BTW, thanks to the Burning Shed crew & the Royal Mail for getting my copy across the pond to my mailbox in 6 days!)

— Rick Krueger