An Interview with 3rDegree

On By Jay WatsonIn Progressive rock2 Comments
3rdegree
The band members, 3RDegree

In a perfect world I would just travel to New Jersey and buy the guys numerous “rounds” of their favorite adult beverages as we talk music.  I want everyone not just talking about this band but buying their current album, back catalog, and next release.  Full disclosure dictates that I confess: I love this band and named their 2015 album “Ones & Zeros: Vol. 1” as my favorite prog album of the year.  In that perfect world I would interview Robert & company face to face.  But second best (e-mail/cyber interview) with 3rDegree is still first degree cool!  My “fan-boy” questions (I’m JW for Jay Watson) were graciously answered by most of the band: RJP (Robert James Pashman), PK (Patrick Kliesch), GD (George Dobbs), EP (Eric Pseja), Bryan Zeigler (BZ).

By the way, every true-blue East Coast prog fan needs to know that 3rDegree is playing live in 2016:

May 5: 10th Street Live, Kenilworth, New Jersey (with Circuline and Ryche Chlanda)

May 6: Aspire Hotel, Gettysburg, PA, (RoSfest)

May 19: Drom, New York, NY (with District 97, IZZ, and Tiles)

Continue reading “An Interview with 3rDegree” →

Politics in Rock: U2 and Rush

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rock3 Comments
u2 war album cover
1983.  One of the most political rock albums of all time.  And, thank God.

I want to thank Bryan, Craig, and Nick for such a civilized discussion regarding politics and art.  I also want to thank the many commentators who joined in.

I only have a personal, autobiographical, inward-looking comment.  I grew up in an extremely anti-war, pro-Catholic, libertarian household.  I’m deeply thankful to my mom, my aunts, my maternal grandmother, and the Dominican nuns for teaching me that EVERY SINGLE HUMAN LIFE (regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, skin tone, etc.) matters.

Life is precious, and the good life is even more so.

Continue reading “Politics in Rock: U2 and Rush” →

Soundstream Sunday: “Impressions Of My Country / Foothill Patrol” by Gabor Szabo

On By Craig BreadenIn jazz rock, Progressive rock3 Comments

GaborSzabo-Nice1…the next move, after Manuel Gottsching’s E2-E4, pulls the thread of that piece’s guitar work and comes up with Gabor Szabo at his funky six-string best, in Stockholm in 1972. From the album Small World (available as a compilation with its sister album, Belsta River, as In Stockholm), “Impressions Of My Country / Foothill Patrol” is a duel with Janne Schaffer — a Swedish guitar hero known mostly for his work with Abba. In 1972 Szabo, a serious jazz cat with a penchant for interpreting pop tunes (and riding that line between elevator music and the sublime), might have been primed to explore this Hendrixian territory.  The previous year his “Gypsy Queen,” from the album Spellbinder (Impulse, 1966), had been adapted to round out Santana’s cover of “Black Magic Woman” on the album Abraxas.  That song reached number four on the charts, while Abraxas went to number one. Szabo’s approach on Small World may have been, in no small part, influenced by Santana. The usually clean tones are fuzzed out, wah-wah pedals are employed, and there is a freer, funkier feel to the proceedings. Coming from Szabo, though, it’s no surprise, and his experimentation with tone and feedback in the 60s, coupled with the use of his native eastern European melodies, helped define a psychedelic sensibility that lent itself to the jam.

Available at Amazon

Soundstream Sunday Archive

Pink Floyd’s The Wall – The Best Ever?

On By Bryan MoreyIn Progressive rock8 Comments

I go back and forth between naming The Wall the best album ever, or Genesis’ Selling
England by the Pound. They are both worthy of the title for different reasons. Selling England moves beyond the mere genre of rock and grounds itself in the western tradition. The Wall, though, tugs and pulls on our emotions while telling a timeless story. Does this make The Wall the better album?

Pink_Floyd_the_WallToday, I say it does. If you ask me tomorrow, I may tell you that Selling England by the Pound is the best ever. I’m annoying like that. The Wall has so much going on, and it all fits together so perfectly. In a way, it really is just one very long song, like Thick as a Brick. It tells a story beginning with Pink, a rock star, as a young man. It continues with his story as a rock star, living a life of debauchery and drugs, and it ends with his trial. Throughout the whole story, he gradually builds a wall around his emotions to protect himself from his pain.

We can’t all relate to having a crappy, oppressive childhood, but some can. We don’t all live like rock stars, surrounded by drugs and sex, but some do. We don’t all find ourselves standing before a judge after our wall has collapsed, but some do. We don’t all build a wall inside of us to hide from the rest of the world, but a lot of us do.

Even if we can’t relate to all or any of those things specifically, in some way, we either understand them or we have experienced something similar. That is the brilliance of The Wall. Every time we listen to it, it connects with us in some new and exciting way. Some days, we throw our fists in the air to “Another Brick in the Wall Pt.2” as a way of sticking it to the man. Other days, we close our eyes and sing along to “Comfortably Numb,” as we enjoy those fleeting moments of carefree protection within our walls.

From undertones of anti-progressive governments to emotional despair, this album has it all. Furthermore, what it means to me is likely much different than what it means to you, and it is probably different than what inspired Waters to write it in the first place (the death of his father and grandfather in the two World Wars).

That is why, today, I say The Wall is the best album ever made. It defies time and genre. It makes us ponder our own existence and whether or not we too are building emotional walls to protect ourselves. Were Pink Floyd the best musicians in the world? No, not by a longshot, but they managed to compose their music in such a way that it conveyed the emotions they were getting across in the lyrics. This album will persist long after we are gone, in part, because it connects with people at a deeper level than most music. That is why The Wall truly is the best.

Radiohead and Prince

On By Time LordIn ProgarchyLeave a comment

I think it’s awesome that Thom Yorke pulled rank on Prince and kept this on Youtube!

By the way, Prince’s best album, IMHO, is Lotusflow3r.

Steven Wilson and Prince

On By Time LordIn Progarchy1 Comment

Just as Nick Beggs told us in his interview with Progarchy.com, Steven Wilson is a huge Prince fan.

Wilson confirmed Beggs’ report when Wilson posted on Facebook on April 21:

Just 30 minutes before we went on stage in Vienna tonight I heard that Prince had died, I couldn’t believe it. It was a very tough show for me to play. The word “genius” is used a bit too often and loosely within the music world, but I think Prince was the real thing, perhaps the most naturally gifted performer of all time. I saw him play live several times, and his show at The O2 Arena in London in 2007 I would rate as the greatest concert I ever saw (Craig Blundell is agreeing with me now, he was there too).

The run of albums from Dirty Mind in 1980 through to Sign ‘O’ the Times in 1987 matches anyone in its sustained brilliance, and it was such a big part of my soundtrack as a teenager (some of you will know that The Ballad of Dorothy Parker from the latter album was on the mixtape made by my character in Hand.Cannot.Erase., which is pretty much what my mixtape would have been at that time in my life).

Tonight I made a humble attempt to sing his song Sign ‘O’ the Times, in fact just before we played David Bowie‘s Space Oddity. It’s been a while since I recorded my version so I couldn’t remember it very well, but I wanted to at least try it, it would have seemed strange to pay tribute to one unique musical genius and not the other. Farewell strange purple one, and thanks for it all.

In Mourning – Afterglow – Album Review

On By bradbirzerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Artist: In Mourning Album Title: Afterglow Label: Agonia Records Date Of Release: 20 May 2016 In Mourning is a name that that have flitted around the very edges of my consciousness for a few years now. ‘Afterglow’ however, takes the Swedish quintet out of my personal periphery and re-positions them at the very forefront of […]

https://manofmuchmetal.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/in-mourning-afterglow-album-review/

Bits and Pieces of Big Big Train

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rockLeave a comment
Big_Big_Train_band_members,_November_2014,_hi_res
Big Big Train

If you dig around a bit, you’ll find that Big Big Train has been slowly but surely releasing parts (big and small) of the new album, FOLKLORE.

The band has sent review copies out to print magazines, to British radio stations, and to a few others, but not yet to websites.

For us North American die-hard fans–just remember: STONE AND STEEL will eventually make it here, and so will FOLKLORE.  We just have to be patient and trust the band’s release and marketing strategy.

Here, below, are a few snippets available now.

***

About 13.5 minutes into this podcast, you can hear a single from the new album.

http://www.progzilla.com/podcast-francis-dunnery-radio-show-edition-012/

***
Johan Reitsma has heard the full album, reporting this on Facebook:

UPDATE – APRIL 22)

Davids voice sounds a little different at times. He still sounds very much like, well, David. But sometimes he’s a bit more gravelly. There are moments in ‘Brooklands’ where some might confuse him with Peter Gabriel. It fits the music and his storytelling on the album very well.

As David hinted in his first blog (http://bit.ly/1VpDzCT) Folkore is really all about storytelling. That’s in the lyrics, the delivery but also very much in the music. Greg wrote (http://bit.ly/1T37HxC) about how the subtext of ‘London Plane’ is the passage of time. Well, you can HEAR that. (Or maybe that’s just my imagination.) 

Yesterday I wrote that Folklore might be Big Big Train’s best work to date. While I wrote it, I thought maybe it’s a little early for such a big conclusion. Today I think, although it indeed was early, it’s the right conclusion.
APRIL 21)The crow has landed! Folklore. We all know Big Big Train’s music needs a little time to sink in and to unfold and bloom completely. That’s why I will review the album ten times. Or, better, I will take ten days to complete this review. I will write about my first impression today and will update this tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow after tomorrow. Etc. Up to ten updates. (Today: 1/10)I’ve heard the album twice and I can say two things: BBT is proggier than ever on Folklore. And (dare I say it?) poppier. I mean that in a positive way, I keep humming those melodies. They are very (!) catchy at times. “Telling the beeeeees.”I don’t want to be too enthusiastic yet (i have nine review-days to go wink emoticonWho knows, maybe i’ll get bored with this music on day three.) But I’m afraid I have to tell you that Folklore is BBT’s best album to date! More tomorrow. http://youtu.be/U8MzlCvQqn8

Digital Ayreon

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rockLeave a comment
Go to the Ayreon streaming releases page
Mascot Label Group is proud to announce the signing of Ayreon, the highly acclaimed project from singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist / record producer Arjen Lucassen. The Ayreon catalog, comprising seven studio albums, will be re-released on various digital platforms on April 22nd.

Ayreon is in a class of its own. You might call Lucassen’s Ayreon studio albums “rock operas.” Or, to be more precise, you may prefer a description like, “ambitious studio projects combining progressive rock, metal, and folk over intricate storylines, brought to life by countless famous guest singers from all over the world.” But no matter how you categorize it, the Ayreon album collection offers highly creative rock music with a quality in composition and production rarely heard in the last twenty years. The Final Experiment was Ayreon’s first album, released in the Netherlands in 1995 by start-up label Transmission Records. It set the tone for the project, with intricate sci-fi/fantasy storytelling and timeless progressive rock featuring a line-up of world class vocalists and musicians, including Barry Hay (Golden Earring), Jan-Chris de Koeijer (Gorefest), and Kingdom Come’s Lenny Wolf.

The follow-up, Actual Fantasy (1996), turned out to be a relatively modest production, but the phenomenal reception of these first Ayreon albums exposed Lucassen to world-famous singers and instrumentalists like Fish (Marillion), Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Devin Townsend, James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Neal Morse (Flying Colors, Spock’s Beard), Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil), John Wetton (King Crimson, Asia), Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth, Bloodbath), Ty Tabor (King’s X, The Jelly Jam), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Michael Romeo and Russell Allen (Symphony X), Steve Hackett (Genesis), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Alice Cooper), Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), and Rick Wakeman (Yes). Besides Lucassen himself, virtuoso drummer Ed Warby (Gorefest, Hail of Bullets, The 11th Hour) is the only other constant member of Ayreon.

Into The Electric Castle was released to critical acclaim in 1998, and the album went on to sell over 100.000 copies. The twin albums Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer and Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator (2000) proved that Lucassen was not afraid to take Ayreon to yet another level of larger-than-life creativity. With The Human Equation (2004), Lucassen turned away from his earlier sci-fi themes to explore the realm of human emotions. The Human Equation was adapted for stage and performed in 2015 by a cast that included almost everybody from the original album. In 2007, Arjen returned to the sci-fi concept and linked all of the previous Ayreon albums together, musically as well as lyrically, on 01011001. The album features no less than 17 vocalists.

Arjen Lucassen and Mascot Label Group CEO Ed van Zijl go back twenty years. Ed was doing business out of his one-man office when Arjen showed up on his doorstep, with Ayreon’s debut album The Final Experiment in hand. They didn’t ink a deal that day, but both parties are extremely pleased to say that as of 2016, Music Theories Recordings (part of Mascot Label Group) is Ayreon’s new home.

Ayreon studio albums on Music Theories Recordings:
The Final Experiment 
Actual Fantasy 
Into the Electric Castle 
Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer 
Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator 
The Human Equation 
01011001 
Download or stream The Final Experiment
The Final Experiment
Download or stream The Universal Migrator
The Universal Migrator
Download or stream Actual Fantasy Revisited
Actual Fantasy Revisited
Download or stream The Human Equation
The Human Equation
Download or stream Timeline
Timeline
Download or stream Into The Electric Castle
Into The Electric Castle
Download or stream 01011001
01011001

Prog and the Death of Prince

On By Time LordIn Progarchy1 Comment

The word is out that Prince is dead at the age of 57.

What does Prince have to do with prog?

Listen to the Progarchy.com interview with Nick Beggs from February 26 to hear part of the answer to that question…