An Ember Still Burns to This Day

On By Pete BlumIn Uncategorized3 Comments

The large lighted sign sports the huge initials, “S. B.”  I think it stands for “Standard British” or some such thing, but what I know is that my tank is low, so I pull into the station and stop near the pumps.  Once I stop, it’s suddenly the late 1960’s, my driver’s license is still new, and I’m in an Impala, of all things.

The guy who rushes out to the pumps from the office is clean and official-looking, but has a beer gut.  He also has a beard.  “Yessir!  Fillerup?”

Still getting my bearings from the crossover, I just shut off the car and nod.

Spocksbeard-octane-200
Spock’s Beard – Octane (2005)

“Regular or high octane?”

“Octane.”  He nods again as if my reply were not strange in the least.

He takes off my gas cap, sticks the nozzle of the old-looking (even allowing for the time-shift) gas pump in, and begins pumping.

Pumping.

And it’s like another crossover, but this time its all coming from an unbelievable sound system.  I look at the dashboard and see an AM radio, pushbuttons and all.  I try the volume control, and sure enough, that’s where it’s coming from.  Except that it’s not, really.  It’s not coming from a speaker in the dash, or any speakers in the car that I can see.  It pervades both the car and my body.

“Check the oil, sir?”  In a normal tone of voice, though I can hear him well enough above the music.  I don’t think that he hears it.

“Nah, it’s OK.”

He nods and begins spritzing and wiping the windshield.

The music is what is filling the tank.  The tank?  It’s filling me, isn’t it?

A flash before my eyes…  The town I’m in is that town where I lived during my childhood and adolescence.

Yeah, it’s music.  I’m listening to music.  Wasn’t I just listening to music?  Wasn’t I just walking with my ear buds in, when suddenly I was jerked sideways into this “review”?

Review!  I forgot that’s what it was supposed to be.  It seems so much like a gas station.  I don’t think it will succeed at being a review, but I’ll at least give it a little effort.

Continue reading “An Ember Still Burns to This Day” →

Big Big Train’s English Electric (Part Two) is now available for pre-order

On By russellclarkenzIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Big Big Train’s follow-up to last year’s highly-acclaimed English Electric (Part One), will be released on the 4th of March 2013.

The aptly-titled English Electric (Part Two) is now available for pre-order. Here’s the link! http://bigbigtrain.com/main/shop/ee2

Big Big Train continues its journey across the English landscape with an album of seven new songs which tell further tales of the men and women who work on and under the land. Along the way, stories are told of the shipbuilders in Neptune’s Yard, of a machine that burned its legend across the pages of the history books, of a keeper of abbeys and a curator of butterflies, and of a second chance at love.

Personally I can’t wait to get my hands on this release!

Hold On

On By Time LordIn Progarchy2 Comments

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G.K Chesterton is the alleged source for Yes’ terrific 90125 song, “Hold On.”

Frank Weathers cites personal correspondence between Jon Anderson and a friend of his, in which Anderson attributes the song’s inspiration to this quotation:

In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn.

I searched the Internet and this quote is all over the place, attributed to Chesterton, as if writing thus in The Speaker on February 2, 1901.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Chesterton actually wrote it. There are lots of fake quotations propagated by the Internet.

And the way the “struggle for existence” phrase is placed in that sentence doesn’t sound like Chesterton to me.

I did a search through the Collected Works of Chesterton published by Ignatius Press but I have been unable to verify the quotation.

In addition, my scouring of Chesterton books via the tremendous power of Google Books yields no results.

Is there anyone out there who can cite me a published source, in order to verify this Chesterton quotation?

Until then, I will have to conclude that it is fake.

Still, this would be a marvelous case of felix culpa…

Marvelous that Anderson could read a simple fake quotation somewhere and then spin a glorious Yes song out of it.

Perhaps it would not be too much to say that Anderson had a connatural understanding of Chesterton on this one point, in somewhat the same way that Chesterton himself had an intuitive grasp of Thomas Aquinas by way of connaturality, as Marshall McLuhan has argued in his “Introduction” to Hugh Kenner’s Paradox in Chesterton:

[Chesterton] seems never to have reached any position by dialectic or doctrine, but to have enjoyed a kind of connaturality with every kind of reasonableness.

According to Weathers’ friend, Anderson apparently had this to say about his inspiration:

He told me that the song was about pressing forward into a new world—like moving from black and white into technicolor. We could either accept the end of the world, war, corruption, the extermination of mankind, or we could work toward a bright, peaceful world based on “common sense.”

He wrote—and this is why I’ve always remembered it—that “hang on” doesn’t sound as pleasing when sung as “hold on.”

Sounds connatural to me…

After all, Chesterton is the Apostle of Common Sense.

Cosmograf Lyric Sheet Up

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized1 Comment

tmlis lyric sheet sampletmlis lyric sheet sampleVery excited about the release of the new Cosmograf CD.  Robin Armstrong–aka Mr. Cosmograf, Master and Lord of Time and Chronometers–has just updated his blog.  To view it, click here.

Pre-orders begin tomorrow.

Ayreon: A Dutch Progger in King Arthur’s Court

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized4 Comments

ayreonthefinalexperimencr9I often joke with my students that I can still remember the days when listening to progressive rock and watching Dr. Who could get a kid beaten up.  Yes, 1981.  I remember it well.  Seventh grade at Liberty Junior High in Hutchinson, Kansas.  Yet, it’s now 2013, and I’m still listening to Rush and watching Dr. Who.  Obviously, I survived the bullies

But, I can get even nerdier.  Much nerdier.  I was also a huge Dungeons and Dragons guy.  Yes, 1981.  I remember it well.  Yet, it’s now 2013, and I’m still playing DnD.  Now, with my kids.

My love of all things progressive (music; not politics!), science fiction, and fantasy have come together quite nicely in a number of direct ways: Rush, Roswell Six, Rush again, Ayreon, more Rush, Cosmograf, Glass Hammer, The Tangent, Rush, Kansas, Star One, Spock’s Beard, and even more Rush.

Surprisingly, though, only a few rock bands have really explored the Arthurian legends.  Those artists that have–such as Rick Wakeman and Gary Hughes–have gone all out, making nothing less than elaborate rock operas.  While Wakeman’s Arthur seems rather French, Hughes’s remains very Celtic.

The French legends, generally centering on the love affair of Lancelot and Gwenivere, usually reflect the medieval notions of courtship as inherited from the Moors.  The Celtic legends are almost always more mystical, suggesting strong relations between the Celtic gods (a twilight) and the Christian God.  Famously, one Celtic god, Bran the Blessed, even went so far as to sacrifice himself so that the Christian God could reign supreme.  How often does this happen in pagan myth?

Continue reading “Ayreon: A Dutch Progger in King Arthur’s Court” →

East Coast Racer

On By Dr NickIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Mallard steam train

In the run-up to the March release of Big Big Train’s hotly-anticipated English Electric Pt 2, Greg Spawton is delighting us once more with insights into the origins of each track on the album.

Check out the BBT blog for more on opening track East Coast Racer – the story of Mallard, legendary holder of the world speed record for steam trains.

In Concert: Rush, Clockwork Angels. A masterpiece.

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized3 Comments

CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 95[This was originally posted in September at TIC.  A huge thanks to my friend, Winston Elliott, for his constant support of my loves–even when he doesn’t “get” them.]

It’s been more than a bit of a Rush extravaganza for the last several months even in the mainstream media.

The band is on tour right now, playing in venues as massive as they have for over thirty-five years.  Drummer Neil Peart turned 60 last week.  Relatively rare in progressive rock history, a novel has appeared this month that intentionally complements and further explores the world introduced in an album.  That album, “Clockwork Angels,” has justly received rave reviews, and the most prestigious magazine in the business, PROG, awarded Rush with “album of the year” earlier this month.  Last May, the Canadian Council of the Arts awarded the three members of Rush with its highest honors, including a medal and $25,000 a piece.

Never shy about technological advances, Rush released an app with exclusive content on it this week.

By any measure, Rush is at the top of the profession, having created more “gold records” than only two other rock acts in the history of rock music, despite being mocked or ignored by Rolling Stone (until recently) and the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” in Cleveland as “terminally unhip.”   They have sold over 40 million albums, and their fans are some of the most loyal in existence.

Rush is made up of three confident artists, having played together for a little under four decades, the closest of comrades, the most spirited of adventurers. Continue reading “In Concert: Rush, Clockwork Angels. A masterpiece.” →

Urban Jungle

On By Time LordIn ProgarchyLeave a comment

paper-house.bandcamp.com

British Columbia band Paper House has released a preview of their forthcoming second EP, Whistles and Missiles (Feb 1, 2013): namely, track #2, “Urban Jungle.”

It’s nice retro rock that you may find refreshing. Their prog rock-flavoured first EP is available over at Bandcamp.

But if you are interested in the theological reasoning behind the statement “all dogs go to heaven,” you’ll want to download Paper House’s hilarious country rock track, “Lucky (In Memoriam).”

And you can also download their track “Movie B.S. Theme,” which makes for a nice one-minute palate cleanser between the lengthier hyper-epic prog tracks on your playlists.

Thieves’ Kitchen’s new album releases Jan 29, now available for pre-order

On By russellclarkenzIn 2013, Progarchy1 Comment

On 29 January Thieves’ Kitchen release their new album, “One for Sorrow, Two for Joy.”

It’s now available for pre-order. More information at the link below.

On “One for Sorrow, Two for Joy”, the band are joined by Paul Mallyon (Drums – Sanguine Hum), Brad Waissman (Bass – Sanguine Hum), and Anna Holmgren (Flute – Anglagard) to provide a thrilling journey into a musical landscape rooted in a progressive heritage, but not limited by it. Fans of The Water Road will hear a continuity of their instantly recognisable sound, but from a band still moving forward, still exploring.

Recorded and mixed by Rob Aubrey at Aubitt studios (IQ, Big Big Train, Spock’s Beard), “One for Sorrow, Two for Joy” is a crystalline document of a band surfing the extremes of dynamics across a mosaic of shifting themes to provide an organic and engaging listening experience.

http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9765a966a943631101e12f74b&id=7b6c2dc271