I have already shared with you my Top Ten Prog Albums of 2014, but today I would like to share the last half of my Top Ten Rock Albums of 2014 list. Yesterday I shared the first half of the list.
The last five albums on my Top Ten Rock Albums of 2014 list (continuing in alphabetical order) are:
The new album from Weezer was a great surprise with its solid return to the form of their classic first album. There’s even a musical apology, “Back to the Shack,” with an exhortation to rock out “like it’s ’94” and to “turn off those stupid singing shows.” And it even has a prog-length, three-part closing epic track, “The Futurescope Trilogy,” with references to the poetry of T.S. Eliot and Homer!
Within Temptation also gave us a totally fun album, and I recommend the deluxe edition that has bonus tracks consisting of a bunch of terrific covers that are better than the originals. On the album itself, my favorite track is “Covered By Roses,” which quotes bits from the end of John Keats’ “Ode on Melancholy“:
She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine;
His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
I also ended up liking the new Jack White album much more than I expected too, in no small part because of really great songs like “Entitlement.” It’s the most fun I have had with his music since The White Stripes.
The Tea Party also released a brilliant album (The Ocean at the End) that is solid from start to finish. It has what is arguably the guitar solo of the year on its title track (“The Ocean at the End”), which is stunningly effective in the full musical context of the entire song. The title track is then followed by the last song on the album (“Into the Unknown”) which is a full-on prog experience of a Brian Eno-style soundscape. With it, we musically arrive at the ocean at the end!
Smashing Pumpkins also surprised us with a fantastic album that has simultaneously a fresh and a classic sound. The songs are all great, so don’t miss this one either.
That’s it! You now have my Top 20 — a balanced blend of the very best of prog and rock from 2014. By the way, I make no claim to omniscience, so take this simply as the best of what I myself had the opportunity to hear this year. I very much enjoy reading your own “best of” lists and learning about new music from you which either escaped my ears or that I didn’t give enough of a fair chance to. I look forward to discovering, in the beginning of 2015, any albums that you recommend from 2014 that I can add to the upper echelon of my prog archives.
Review of Bjorn Riis, LULLABIES IN A CAR CRASH (Karisma Records, 2014). 52 minutes. Six songs: A New Day; Stay Calm; Disappear; Out of Reach; The Chase; Lullaby in a Car Crash.
From Karisma Records.
Without a doubt, my favorite Porcupine Tree song is “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here.” If you could take the best of that 12 minute song—its moodiness, its psychedelic atmosphere, its thundering bass and guitar, its surrealism—and expand it to 52 minutes in length, you’d have Riis’s solo album, LULLABIES IN A CAR CRASH.
Of course, you might also find yourself with a slightly less depressing version of Pink Floyd’s ANIMALS or THE FINAL CUT or a less religious and more nordic version of Talk Talk’s SPIRIT OF EDEN.
Whatever you’d have, you’d be listening to and holding something of intensity, struggle, and beauty. LULLABIES couldn’t be any moodier, frankly. In fact, if you’re feeling the holiday blues at all, don’t come near this album. If, however, you’re in a good state of mind, in a darkened room, wearing your state-of-the-art headphones, and sipping a vodka-tonic, then you’re a blessed listener. It won’t get better than this.
Indeed, this is the perfect early 1980s album, the type of album that you could (and probably will, even if you’re now in your 40s) listen to again and again and again, trying to immerse yourself in the very Riis-Hollis-Waters-Wilson atmosphere: thick, claustrophobic, and all-pervasive.
Bjorn Riis, having entered the Norse pantheon of prog deities.
No one can avoid comparing Riis’s work here or with Airbag to Floyd and PT. Yet, there’s something distinctively Riis-ian, too. This is no mere cover band. By no means. In large part, Riis brings three critical things to each of his albums: 1) a haunting vocal style; 2) the uncanny ability to allow his music to flow, organically, as did Mark Hollis; and 3) an outrageously fine sense of audiophilia.
Of course, has there been a misfire from any Scandinavian prog release since Roine Stolt’s mind-bogglingly good THE FLOWER KING? Not that I know of.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 140,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.
Dream Theater have shown, with their latest live album, Breaking the Fourth Wall, that they are the kings of progressive metal. This album, recorded live at the Boston Opera House on March 25, 2014, brilliantly embraces all aspects of the band’s incredible career. I purchased the Blu-ray version of the show, mainly because I am completely enamored by their latest studio album, Dream Theater. Breaking the Fourth Wall goes further beyond their last album.
I am relatively new to Dream Theater, being introduced to the band by their latest album. I am still sifting through their back catalogue, and I am certainly enjoying it. It seems that many long-time Dream Theater fans disliked their latest album, and I’m not really sure why. Yeah, Mike Portnoy isn’t a part of the band anymore, but Mike Mangini is a more than capable drummer who brings his own heavier style to their music. For those that say the new album is missing soul or heart, just read the lyrics. It is probably the most personal and spiritual album that the band has ever made. Do I miss Portnoy? Yes and no. I have become a massive Mike Portnoy fan in the past year, and he has been making some incredible music outside of Dream Theater – music that probably wouldn’t have been made had he still been a member of DT.
Alright, enough of my defense of Dream Theater. Their music can stand as a defense.
Act 1 of the album begins with a rocking rendition of the grammy nominated “The Enemy Inside.” We then bounce back to music from Black Clouds and Silver Linings,Falling Into Infinity, A Dramatic Turn of Events, and Dream Theater. While it is all awesome, especially enjoyable are “The Looking Glass,” “Trial of Tears,” and “Enigma Machine” (instrumental). The first two songs have clear Rush influences, with “The Looking Glass” sounding like a Rush arena rock song such as “Spirit of the Radio,” and “Trial of Tears” beginning and ending like “Xanadu.” As usual, the musicianship is in top form, and the concert gets off to a rousing start.
Act 2 begins with several songs off of 1994’s Awake album. It was really nice to hear the band play the older music, and it was interesting to hear the differences in drumming styles throughout the concert. Mangini Dream Theater is definitely heavier (in a Bonham way) than Portnoy Dream Theater. It isn’t particularly noticeable until music from across their catalogue is played together at once. The Act ends with the emergence of the Berklee College of Music Orchestra and Choir to aid in “Illumination Theory.” Wow! I’m often skeptical of orchestras and rock bands, but this combination was perfect. The melding of the band with the choir and the orchestra creates a full and beautiful sound.
The Encore consists of portions of Scenes from a Memory, on which the orchestra and choir continue to aid. I found this choice of music for the encore interesting, considering the tour was for their latest album. At the end of the show, you are left wondering if you saw a tour for Dream Theater, or DT playing some of their favorite overlooked music from the years. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering how good the show sounded as a whole.
I think my favorite part of this show is Jordan Rudess. He clearly loves what he is doing, and he is a true wizard on the keyboards. At some points, I wish he had been playing a Steinway because it would have sounded so much better and much more epic. For me, what truly distinguishes a good band from a great one is their keyboardist. What do Genesis, Yes, ELP, Queen, Muse, and Dream Theater all have in common? A pianist who can play anything from Brahms to hard metal and do it with such virtuosity as to make the most elitist music connoisseurs stand in awe.
Particularly nice is the quality of James LaBrie’s vocals. He sounds good at this show. Either he was in fantastic form, or they did a bit of adjusting in the studio… or both. Either way, it makes for a great show to watch. Whether or not he actually hit those high notes live doesn’t really matter to me since I am watching the Blu-ray, and I paid to see a great show.
My disappointment with this live show comes not from the musicianship, but from the production and mixing. Overall, the mixing is pretty good, especially for the drums. The drums sound great with surround sound – so great that you almost feel like you are sitting in the middle of the drum set. The biggest annoyance is John Myung’s bass is far too low in the mix. On the album, Dream Theater, his bass is front and center, but here he often seems to blend into the background. The overall sound still has a heavy bass feel from the combination of Myung’s bass and Mangini’s bass drums. James LaBrie’s vocals are also too low in the mix, which can make it difficult to understand what he is saying sometimes. Annoyingly, the crowd is up too high in the mix at some points, especially early on in the show.
Further disappointment comes during the middle of the Awake set, in which the editor felt it necessary to play some weird, indiscernible background image over the footage of the musicians. It makes it so that you can’t clearly see the musicians, and it pulls you out of the music. It is needlessly distracting. Other than that, the rest of the show has beautiful HD footage, from many different camera angles. What I especially like is the footage doesn’t jump around every 1/2 second (like on ACDC’s Live at River Platte concert). They give enough time to each shot before moving on. Unfortunately, John Myung is not shown nearly enough in the footage, which I don’t understand at all. Everybody else is shown quite a bit, with John Petrucci shown a lot, but not enough of Myung.
I also wish the entire Dream Theater album had been played, especially “The Bigger Picture,” my favorite song from the album. For me, an inclusion of those songs would have pushed this show over the top.
My disappointments with Breaking the Fourth Wall are rather minor, and they should not keep anyone from purchasing this album. It is probably the best live music DVD/Blu-ray/cd released this year. The music consists of a wide array of pieces from across the Dream Theater collection, and the package itself includes a nice booklet detailing everyone involved in the production of the show and tour. Dream Theater continues to show why they are the leaders of progressive metal and have been for over 20 years.
The prog dog – Snickers. She thoroughly enjoyed Breaking the Fourth Wall from the comfort of my lap. Metal puts her right to sleep.
Thank you to Dave Kerzner for letting Progarchy know what the correct track order is on the forthcoming 2-CD Deluxe Edition release of New World. Apparently an incorrect track order listing was posted earlier on to the Burning Shed site (it was an email accident and no fault of theirs) but it has since been corrected. The correct track order is up at eSoundz.com. So, for the record, here is the correct track order on the Deluxe Edition, in case anybody got confused:
CD 1:
Stranded (Part 1-5)
Part 1- Isolation
Part 2 – Delirium
Part 3 – March Of The Machines
Part 4 – Source Sublime
Part 5 – The Darkness
Into The Sun
The Lie
The Traveler
Secret
Reflection
Under Control
Premonition Suite
Part 1 – Premonition
Part 2 – Resilience I
Part 3 – Subtle Signs Of Life
Part 4 – Altered State
Part 5 – Illuminessence
In The Garden
The Way Out
Recurring Dream
CD 2:
Biodome
Crossing Of Fates
Theta
My Old Friend
Ocean Of Stars
Solitude
Nothing
Erased
Realign
Nexus
New World
Redemption (Stranded Part 6-10)
Part 6 – The Oasis
Part 7 – Resilience II
Part 8 – High On The Dunes
Part 9 – Mirage Of The Machines
Part 10 – To The Light
Readers of this blog will know that I get skeptical when artists monkey with the integrity of previously established track ordering, so I am pleased to see that Dave is simply expanding New World and not scrambling what is already a masterpiece in the Standard Edition.
Dave also kindly pointed out that I was going around telling people that Stranded was one of the best albums of the year, whereas the real title of the album is New World.
How embarrassing! I feel like I just bumped into David Gilmour and then told him I was unsure whether he or Roger was the Mr. Floyd! (“By the way, which one’s…?”)
Calling all Progarchists: You can listen to a preview of “Premonition Suite” here and pre-order the Deluxe Edition here.
I have already shared with you my Top Ten Prog Albums of 2014, but today I would like to share the first half of my Top Ten Rock Albums of 2014 list.
These are ten additional albums that I think are a part of the cream of the crop of 2014, but they would probably not be counted by the Progarchists here as prog music.
They do exemplify, however, really great rock and roll. I listened to them a lot in 2014, and so I heartily recommend them to you, along with my regular Top Ten Prog list already shared.
The first five albums on my additional Top Ten Rock Albums of 2014 list (in alphabetical order) are:
Note that side four of the Sloan album has a track that is 17:49 long, so there is an argument that could be made that this is a prog album. But due to the album’s other three (excellent) power pop sides, I place it on my rock list. Besides, the Top Ten Prog is already maxed out at 10 and chock full of excellence! But please, do check out the new Sloan album.
Tune in tomorrow for the last half of my Top Ten Rock Albums of 2014 list as I give you five more (in alphabetical order).
Here’s a sneak peek at what the Deluxe Edition of my album New World sounds like. In this special expanded version of the album, it has been enhanced with both an elaborate dramatic “live concert” feel and lush cinematic atmosphere. The Deluxe Edition also includes 5 additional vocal songs and the entire double CD set contains over 140 minutes of new music.
This teaser is an edited sampler taken from the 9+ minute “Premonition Suite”, a 5-part instrumental that reprises songs from the standard edition of New World such as “Stranded parts 5 and 7” and more. It features Francis Dunnery on lead guitar who co-wrote the first two instrumental parts of “Premonition Suite.”
Don’t let the title–which has to be one of the worst titles in book publishing history–fool you. RUSH FAQ is an excellent book.
It’s not just one of the best books on Rush I’ve ever read (and I’ve pretty much read them all), it’s, simply put, a great book. Insightful, factual, captivating. Mobley can write like no one’s business. He’s a huge Rush fan, but he allows this aspect to become playful part of the book. I’m always a huge fan of good writing–whether it’s Dante or about the latest software upgrade for the Mac. This is excellent writing. And, frankly, it’s the equivalent in the book world of what BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE is in the movie world.
Why the title of the book? Not a clue. I ordered this assuming it would be a reference book, and I had almost no hope that I would enjoy it. What a happy shock I got when the UPS man delivered it. RUSH FAQ is so far from a reference book. . . it’s a great series of coherent essays. Love it.
I’ll write a real review soon. But, for now, order the book and enjoy.
The book: Max Mobley, RUSH FAQ: ALL THAT’S LEFT TO KNOW (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 2014.)
With Dave Kerzner’s sonic marvel, New World, I today finish sharing with you my Top Ten Prog Albums of 2014. It’s been an incredible year for music, as the best of 2014 began with the release of the new Transatlantic, and then ended with this prog masterpiece from Dave Kerzner.
Tracks 1 and 11 on their own (“Stranded” [Parts 1-5: “Isolation,” “Delirium,” “March of the Machines,” “Source Sublime,” and “The Darkness”] and “Redemption” [“Stranded” Parts 6-10: “The Oasis,” “Resilience,” “High on the Dunes,” “Mirage of the Machines,” and “To the Light”]) would have been enough to make this a two-song Top Ten album, as together they comprise a 28-minute, ten-movement top-flight prog journey. But instead the two tracks are epic bookends to a concept album that tells a story with nine other amazing tracks between the bookends.
There are a number of great influences that can be heard on this album. It’s like Dave asked himself, “What could I do to make a prog lover smile from ear to ear?” and then went ahead and did it, with detail after detail. Dave is his own man, and transcends all his great influences, while simultaneously paying homage to them. You will begin listening to this album and be amazed that it sounds like a side three of Dark Side of the Moon, where in an alternate universe Genesis showed up and combined with Pink Floyd to rock further into the beyond. And no wonder: Steve Hackett actually shows up to provide wonderful guitar work on Parts 3, 9, and 10 of the epic “Stranded” bookend tracks.
Dave himself is able to sound somewhat like David Gilmour and his vocals on this album establish him as major force in prog. But even above and beyond his vocal charisma is the fact that he is now the Keyboard King of Prog, which he shows on this album with its incredible array of keyboard colors and textures. One of my favorite moments (on an album chock full of them) occurs in the song “The Lie” where, after Fernando Perdomo dazzles us with a virtuoso guitar solo, Dave comes in unexpectedly with a cool 80s synth sound and makes us smile from ear to ear. If I collected keyboards like Dave, I am sure I could identify the synth model that generates this distinctive retro sound, but the important thing is that it shows you what kind of guy Dave is and what he is up to on this album. Namely, every moment is obviously him saying to himself, “What would be awesome here…?” and “Hey, let’s try this… oh yeah!! That’s it!!! Hahaha!!!!” It is uncanny how Dave has a magic ability to surprise and excite us with his new sonic soundscapes and yet at the same time reference what is familiar to us from the history of prog. It is this “genius blend,” of the familiar old, blended with the articulation of the visionary new, that distinguishes this album. How many albums can you think of that pull this off, where they sound completely and astonishingly new, and yet feel familiar and comfortable, like an old friend? Dave does it!
The album is nicely paced between tracks that are bridges in the storytelling and that reward repeated listens because they reveal their subtle charms more slowly, and those tracks that arrest your attention immediately with their prima facie brilliance. I call these latter tracks the “event songs,” because their arrival instantly declares an undeniable excellence that is immediately convincing and appealing to even the general listener. For me, these “event songs” are all the odd numbered tracks, since they immediately show themselves to be instant classics accessible to all: i.e., in addition to the opening and closing bookends, we have “The Lie,” “Crossing of Fates,” “Ocean of Stars,” and “Nothing” that are undeniably rare events in the history of rock: unforgettably great songs channelled by perfect musicianship. The only exception to my “odd numbered track” rule is “My Old Friend,” which is obviously also an “event song,” (don’t believe me? I defy you not to think of Pink Floyd as Dave sings, “Hello…”); but that’s okay, it gets to be a special exception because it is the central track in the sequence, as 6 comes in the middle of 1 and 11, and it is obviously a totally epic prog guy move to have three “event tracks” positioned in the centre of your album: “Crossing of Fates,” “My Old Friend,” and “Ocean of Stars.”
Perhaps you might wish to quibble with my favorite tracks on this album; my favorites may be all the odd-numbered ones (because during the even-numbered ones I am always anticipating what is coming next), but no doubt you might have your own particular favorites. After all, who can deny the greatness of a track like “Into the Sun,” especially at the spine-tingling moment where Dave sings, “Brace yourself for impact”? This is a brilliant album and surely we can all agree to call it an “event album” — in its entirety.
With its arrival this year, we have witnessed what it is like to be present at the creation and dissemination of a seminal moment in prog. Don’t miss downloading this album this year and getting in early on what is destined to become a classic album for the ages. Nick D’Virgilio on drums is perfectly teamed up with Dave and Fernando, and I hope we will hear much more from this astonishing trio (and their parade of prog guest stars — be sure to read the jaw-dropping album credits!) in 2015. I can already predict that the Deluxe Edition of New World will be a highlight of next year.
Progarchy 