For regular progarchy citizens, please forgive this unusual post. As some of you might know, the founding editors of progarchy are also each deeply immersed in the world of the Liberal Arts, the greats of Western Civilization, and liberal education. It’s what we do when we’re not progging out. Promoting liberal education by day, prog by night.
Every once in while the world of antiquity and the world of progressive music meet and harmonize. Here is one such example. Two weeks ago, I had the incredible privilege of seeing Dr. Eva Brann, tutor at St. John’s College, Annapolis, and widely regarded as the foremost proponent of liberal education in the world. No exaggeration.
But, of course, how could I think of Odysseus and not think of my favorite The Reasoning song, a song I’ve listened to at least weekly since it came out? “A Musing Dream.”
So, a huge salute to Homer, to Eva Brann, and to the Cohens for advancing so much beauty, truth, and goodness.
In order to meet the challenge of listing my own Top Ten Prog Albums EVER, I imposed upon myself an additional requirement over and above the ones Brad specified.
Each album on the list, I insist, must contain at least one song that is over ten minutes long.
And so, given that sonnet-like constraint, here is my list:
★★★★★
Big Big Train — The Underfall Yard (H/T: “The Underfall Yard” [22:54] and “Victorian Brickwork” [12:33])
Kate Bush — Hounds of Love (H/T: “The Ninth Wave” [= Side Two of the LP, clocking in at 27 minutes])
Haken — The Mountain (H/T: “Pareidolia” [10:51] and “Falling Back to Earth” [11:51])
King Crimson — Red(H/T: “Starless” [12:26])
Rush — A Farewell to Kings (H/T: “Xanadu” [11:12] and “Cygnus X-1” [10:26])
Sound of Contact — Dimensionaut(H/T: “Möbius Slip” [19:36])
Transatlantic — The Whirlwind (H/T: The entire album is one song 78 minutes long! Or take “Dancing With Eternal Grace” [12:04])
Yes — Fragile (H/T: “Heart of the Sunrise” [11:33])
★★★★★
If I were allowed doubles then maybe I would substitute Yes’ Close to the Edge for the Haken and Big Big Train’s Far Skies Deep Time for the Sound of Contact.
But can I instead invent a new challenge?
How about the “Top Ten Rush Albums EVER”, ranked not alphabetically but in order of preference?
Jules Evans in a recent post — “Is pop music bad for your soul?” (June 25, 2014) — has some interesting observations. For example:
For ordinary people, pop music was our equivalent of Jacob’s Ladder. It was our way to climb up and see beyond our lives, to connect with the deeper and darker emotions which the shiny world of capitalism did not allow us to express during the week. Our way to express our loneliness and longing for togetherness, our way to express our hope for a better world. Pop music, not classical music, kept spirituality alive in the dry decades of the 20th century, and (to quote Dylan) it ‘got repaid with scorn’.
Many of you might know (and you should!) Brian Watson from his excellent reviews over at the Dutch Progressive Rock Page. He also, happily, reviews for us. Indeed, he’s an extraordinary progarchist. A man of law and order, he’s also a man of high writing and artistic talents. He’s also a genuinely great and interesting guy (guy is Kansan for “real person”). So glad he created this for us. To check out Brian’s other works, check out his Facebook page, Plan A Art.
Progarchist and quasi-Kiwi Russell Clarke receives his copy and is quite elated.
Mastereditor Jerry Ewing has asked all good people to list their ten favorite prog albums of all time and submit them to PROG by July 4. Jerry, I assume is thinking about the American founding. Ha. Well, probably not.
So, all time? Back to Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys? Without giving any real thought to the parameters, I jotted down my favorite albums. I followed only three rules: no duplication of bands; listing them in alphabetical order; and writing down what immediately came to my mind.
So, please consider this tentative at best. And, of course, subject to revision.
Today I bring you the third instalment of my half-way round-up of some of the best albums released so far in 2014. So far, this year has been a strong one with a number of albums catching my attention and garnering positive reviews where applicable.
If you missed parts 1 and 2, they can be accessed via the following links:
Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to read that this album features in this list. I absolutely adored ‘Weather Systems’ and it finished at the summit of my ‘Best of 2012’ top 20. Clearly, based on the quality of the follow-up, ‘distant satellites’, Anathema didn’t feel any pressure. Instead, they have matched the brilliance…
Review: Jason Rubenstein, NEW METAL FROM OLD BOXES (Tone Cluster, 2014).
So. You’ve been a progger since the 1970s, you’re musically trained, and and you’ve enjoyed a solid if now former career as a software engineer with several major companies. What do you do? You write a brilliant, stunning, majestic soundtrack to your life, especially if you live in glorious San Francisco.
I exaggerate a bit, but not much. This, essentially, is the background to music maestro Jason Rubenstein. He has just released a rather stunning album, New Metal from Old Boxes (Tone Cluster, 2014; mixed by Niko Bolas and mastered by Ron McMaster). While many Americans and other citizens of western civilization might simply desire new wine from old bottles, those of us who live in the republic of progarchy can rejoice heartily. We can have our wine and our Rubenstein!
From the first listen, I was hooked. This is a mesmerizing album best described as cinematic. While dark and brooding (just look at Rubenstein’s photo—the guy is the perfect Hollywood dark hero), the music is always playful and mischievous, never coming anywhere near the dread of dull.
Almost effortlessly, Rubenstein employs classical jazz, noir jazz, prog, metal, classical, and jazz fusion. If I had to label it, I’d called it “Cinematic metal prog.” At times, it’s downright frantic, always extravagant, but never campy or over-the-top. While this is certainly Rubenstein’s creation, he is never shy about borrowing styles from those he clearly admires. I hears lots of The Tangent, ELP, King Crimson, Cosmograf, Cailyn, Tool, Dead Can Dance, and even Wang Chung (only from their spectacular To Live and Die in LA soundtrack)
Alex Lifeson? Harrison Ford? No. Jason Rubenstein.
Rubenstein credits himself with keyboards, synths, samplers, computers, programming, and angry noises. In terms of sound quality, this album is perfection itself. Pardon me for employing such a Catholic term, but its production is immaculate. Even the packaging is a work of art. Like the music, it is dark, brooding, and industrial. Intricate pipes and strings, smelting of iron, nail heads (in a V’ger pattern), more strings, more pipes, and, then, rather profoundly, a GQ-Rubenstein, looking every bit the Hollywood action hero.
Admittedly, looking over my review, I’m tempted to fear that I have given the impression this is just a hodge podge of musical ideas. Please note, that nothing could be further from the truth. This is the soundtrack of your best day.
To visit Jason Rubenstein’s beautifully designed website, go here.
It was just the other day that Greg Spawton posted the latest fly-on-the-wall snippets of Big Big Train’s vocal rehearsals for their upcoming and eagerly-anticipated (slight understatement there) DVD recording in Peter Gabriel’s Real Worls Studios on the band’s Facebook page.
I’d just got over the excitement when – lo and behold, there’s another update, this time from the massively-talented multi-instrumentalist and BBT drummer – Nick D’Virgilio.
