From A Page contains the complete works of the Benoît David, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Oliver Wakeman and Alan White incarnation of Yes and features four previously unreleased studio tracks plus the Live From Lyon 2009 recordings (including the Japanese only bonus track Second Initial).
Oliver Wakeman has personally overseen the preparation of the studio recordings (from 2010) which were mixed by Karl Groom and mastered by Mike Pietrini).
3CD in clamshell box with 2 16-page booklets – one including new artwork from Roger Dean and sleeve notes by Oliver Wakeman and the other being an expanded and redesigned Live In Lyon booklet.
Oliver Wakeman says, “Following Chris Squire’s passing, I felt that the new music we’d created, but not released, should be heard and not sit unfinished on a shelf. And with Steve, Alan and Benoit’s enthusiasm for the project, I am proud to know that this music will get to see the light of day and, hopefully, be enjoyed by Yes fans as a piece of previously hidden Yes history.”
CD1
Studio Recordings
1. To The Moment (6.09)
2. Words on a Page (6.18)
3. From the Turn of a Card (3.24)
4. The Gift of Love (9.52)
CD2
In The Present Live From Lyon
1. Siberian Khatru
2. I’ve Seen All Good People
3. Tempus Fugit
4. Onward
5. Astral Traveller
6. Yours Is No Disgrace
7. And You and I
8. Corkscrew (Acoustic Solo)
9. Second Initial (Acoustic Solo)
CD3
In The Present Live From Lyon
1. Owner of a Lonely Heart
2. South Side of the Sky
3. Machine Messiah
4. Heart of the Sunrise
5. Roundabout
6. Starship Trooper
Recorded in Lyon December 1st 2009
Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Oliver Wakeman, Benoit David
We will be releasing our new Blu-ray on 6th December.
The Blu-ray was recorded at our run of sold out shows at Cadogan Hall, London and features the best version of every song performed at the concerts, providing a full set-list from our 2017 shows.
The digipak includes a 20 page booklet.
There are two bonus performances and the Blu-ray features stereo and 5.1 mixes.
Region free.
Reflectors of Light (the Blu-ray companion to BBT’s 2018 Merchants of Light CD/vinyl set) is now available for pre-order from Burning Shed and The Merch Desk. The Reflectors of Light track list:
Folklore Overture
Folklore
Brave Captain
Last Train
London Plane
Meadowland
A Mead Hall in Winter
Experimental Gentlemen (Part Two)
Swan Hunter
Judas Unrepentant
The Transit of Venus Across the Sun
East Coast Racer
Telling the Bees
Victorian Brickwork
Drums and Brass
Wassail
Bonus tracks:
The Transit of Venus Across the Sun (with reprise)
Summer’s Lease (recorded live at Real World studios)
Sacramento based progressive metal project LUNAR are back with a new single from the sophomore studio album Eidolon, out on November 8th via Divebomb Records. Premiering today is animated video for “Comfort” which features guest appearance by Haken’s Richard Henshall, who laid down an enticing guitar solo. Watch the video below.
Alex Bosson, drummer and founder of LUNAR, commented:
“I’m very excited to get to debut the song ‘Comfort’ from the new album. Already, this early on, it seems to be a fan favorite. I think it has a good diversity with some aspects of pop, rock and, of course, metal and I think it turned out really well. Plus getting to have a guest solo by Rich Henshall of HAKEN is a big honor for me. The video was done by Miles Skarin of CRYSTAL SPOTLIGHT and he did such a phenomenal job! I hope everyone out there enjoys the song and the video as much as I do!”
Alex Bosson
LUNAR has been around since 2013. Bosson and guitarist/singer Ryan Erwin’s goal to create the genre-defiant music resulted in releases of a debut EP Provenance(2014) and a full-length album Theogony(2017).
In the Spring of 2018, Erwin unexpectedly passed away, but Bosson decided to continue on the project using this tragedy as an inspiration. The resulting release, Eidolon, is a concept album based around the cycle of life and death, and the stages of grief endured by those left behind.
The core line-up besides Bosson features bassist Ryan Price and singer Chandler Mogel, who previously appeared on Theogony, in addition to NovaReign’s guitarist Balmore Lemus. Eidolonalso includes guest contributions from members of Leprous, Haken, Caligula’s Horse, Fallujah, Thank You Scientist, among others.
Stream a video for “Comfort” below, and pre-order Eidolon from Bandcamp here.
Tracks: We’re Building Our Own Monument (5:58), A Way To Oppose (3:52), Living In Fear (4:54), Pilgrim In Doubt (5:33), Missing Colours (8:57), Fake (The New Kind Of Beauty) (4:36), Don’t Give Up That Dream (4:48), Cortex Labyrinthus (14:50)
Slovakia’s Iako Bei takes a unique and somewhat gutsy approach in making a rock album: they completely abandon the guitar in favor of a saxophone. Listening to Pursuits in 1ife, you’d never miss the guitar. The songs are well crafted, the bass lines provide a needed crunch, and the saxophone adds that gentle soothing touch that I’ve always appreciated in the bands that make use of the instrument.
While the band is a five-piece group comprising a saxophonist, bassist/lead singer, keyboardist, drummer, and backing vocalist, it is primarily the project of bassist and singer Roman Jakobej. The instrumental sections really stand out. The arrangements are interesting, and the saxophone really soars in these sections. Because it can be such a loud instrument, it naturally has to take more of a back seat when Roman is singing, even though it does remain present. Nevertheless, the interplay between the saxophone, bass, and drums is particularly strong during instrumental passages.
Even though there is no electric guitar present, the different effects used on the bass guitar create a really unique sound that fills in for the guitar at points, particularly on “Missing Colours.” The piano work on that song also adds a nice touch. Even though the saxophone largely replaces the guitar throughout the album, the bass shines on this song. This track is particularly melancholic, and the bass contributes to that. When the saxophone finally comes in, it compounds that feeling. It really draws everything together.
Lyrically, the band fits in with many European bands’ recent call to action regarding the direction western societies are headed. This is more Marillion’s Fear than Andy Tillison’s “A Few Steps Down the Wrong Road.” The opening track acts as a call for all of us to wake up and see what our society has become. The band sees arrogance, selfishness, and greed as driving forces of destruction. Indeed, the band precisely identify our society’s main ills in the lyric “Flames of lust and flames of greed” in the opening song.
Overall I hear no glaring weaknesses in this project. It is a solid album that takes a unique approach at rock music. Definitely check this group out. The band excel musically and lyrically, and the songs are well-crafted.
Thank you to Roine Stolt for talking today with Progarchy.com on the Progarchy Podcast.
The Flower Kings return next month with Waiting for Miracles, a magnificent album that we have had a chance to listen to and that we highly recommend to all prog lovers.
Listen below to our interview with Roine Stolt, wherein we discuss Transatlantic, The Sea Within, and the new album from The Flower Kings.
In honor of the recently released film Ad Astra (the best film of 2019, in my humble opinion), here is Jon Opstad’s hauntingly beautiful Ignis: IV. Enjoy.
Madonna certainly isn’t an artist that you would think of when it comes to metal music, yet many metalheads tend to cover the pop goddess’ songs. One of the recent additions to that camp is a Finnish metal band Memoremains who have covered “Sorry,” a song from Madonna’s 2005 album “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”
The group fronted by singer Johanna Ahonen answered our questions about their beginnings in music, the new single, and more.
Let’s start from your early music beginnings. How did your musical career begin? When did you start playing? Which groups have been your favorites? Please tell us something more about your early life.
Johanna: I think that I’ve been singing always, at least, as long as I remember. Singing has been a natural way for me to express my thoughts and feelings. I have performed ever since I was a child, mostly by myself and singing cover songs. Memoremains is the first actual band in which I’m involved. I always wanted to sing in a band and make own music so I can honestly say that Memoremains is the best thing that has happened to me!
Mikko: I’ve done songs for as long as I can remember. I have thousands of demos in my stock over many years. Music has been a part of my life for a really long time. I took my first contact with the piano sometime between the ages of 4 and 5 and drums and other rock instruments came along at around the age of 10.
Photo: Riku-Pekka Lappalainen
How did you go about starting Memoremains? Who was the most influential when the band started its musical journey?
Mikko: It’s really hard to determine who did what, because our band is really democratic. However, I had written the first songs of Memoremains before the band was born, so in a way it is possible to think that this is where our band was born. Eemeli and Aapo came along as old musician acquaintances. We found Johanna through an online announcement, just as we found Aleksi. Soon we were playing together and releasing our first song ‘We’re Not Alone.’
How would you describe Memoremains’ music on your own?
Our music is a combination of pop melodies, metal riffs and groovy disco beats. We’ve mixed together elements of different genres and created an own recognizable sound from them.
The new single is a cover of Madonna’s hit “Sorry.” How did you come to an idea to cover this song?
Mikko: Oh, it’s such a great song from the Queen of Pop. Unfortunately it has been forgotten from the general public during these years and we wanted to bring it back to life but in our style. Hopefully, people will find the song and listening to it takes them back to the last decade.
How difficult was it for you to shape this song and make it different than the original? Obviously, originally it is a pop song and you combine these elements with metal, but what would you say is the thing that separates your version from the original?
Mikko: It’s been a fun and creative job that we’ve been excited about. The first step was to internalize the song as our own, that is, to have it feel like our own song. Only through this can a functional cover be obtained. Once the song was thought to be our own, it was easy and fun to work with. But, strictly speaking, our version is faster, more energetic and heavier. However, we have retained the original song’s epic melodies.
What is the most important thing for the structure of your songs? Is it a riff, a melody line, vocal arrangement?
It really depends on which of those elements the song is created from. ‘Ballerina’ was born simply because it sounded like a good name for a song. “Time Is Running Out” was born from the melody of the chorus, and other parts of the song were built around it. In the end, though, the most important element of our music is addictive melodies and engaging rhythms. That’s where our sound comes from.
Recommend us some good metal acts coming from your area.
Mikko: There are so many great bands coming from Finland. We made a European tour together with Resolution 13 which is an alternative metal band from Helsinki. We’ve also been following Escalane, a band from middle-Finland, and their story. I need to bring up also a very original band, Awake Again, from Turku. On our tours abroad we have met many really awesome bands like Austrian Ardenite.
Photo: Markus Soini
Are you also involved in any other projects or bands beside Memoremains?
Mikko: I play drums in a finnish language metal band called Riesa. The band name means like “ nuisance” or “annoyance”. Go and check it out!
Aleksi: I made own project with drummer Teemu Koski last year called “i Helvete”. It released two long songs and right now I am writing new ones. It is much darker and heavier than Memoremains. I also play bass in one another, unknown band.
So, what comes next for Memoremains?
We strive to make everything that happens even bigger. The goal is to make every release and tour bigger than the last one and there will also be more festivals.
Iako Bei, Pursuits in 1ife, 2018, 
Progarchy 