Tag: Big Big Train

Sounding the Bardic Depths

On By kruekuttIn progressive rock3 Comments

Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, ‘What? You too? I thought I was the only one.’ … It is when two such persons discover one another, when, whether with immense difficulties and semi-articulate fumblings or with what would seem to us amazing and elliptical speed, they share their vision – it is then that Friendship is born.

— C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

The Bardic Depths is a rare creation; the method of its making embodies what it portrays.  It’s a distinctive take on the concept album, sparked from ongoing collaboration by two devoted lovers of progressive rock, with stellar contributions from some of the music’s current leading lights.   (Oh, and fleeting spoken-word cameos from others, including yours truly — so yeah, objectivity is out the window here.)

Lyricist Brad Birzer and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Dave Bandana have been self-releasing enjoyable albums for a few years now,  launching impressionist volleys of lyrical prose (usually in a dystopian sci-fi framework) via arching, chantlike melodies, poised atop appealingly thick ambient pads and amiably chugging pop grooves.  When Birzer pitched the life, times and friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as an album concept, Bandana loved it — but as the music took shape, he realized that contributors who could kick things up a level were needed for the album to take wing.

Enter the Passengers — that astonishingly amiable Facebook group of fans brought together by their love of Big Big Train.  Having seen BBT live (and made numerous musical friends in the process), Bandana modestly reached out for help.  And, as the video below reveals, one thing led to another:

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Big Big Train Release “Passengers Club” and Announce North America Live Dates

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rock1 Comment

Big Big Train have just announced a new members-only club called the Passengers Club. From the band:

Membership of the Passengers Club will give listeners a chance to get behind the scenes in the world of Big Big Train. Club members will be able to hear early demos from the writing and recording stages of our studio releases and demos of songs that got lost along the way, including some tracks from an abandoned concept album that we were working on a few years ago. There will be films of us backstage, recording in the studio, and during rehearsals and soundchecks. There will also be exclusive photo galleries, blog posts, Facebook Q and As, and other good things.

Membership of the Passengers Club costs £30 for one year, or £50 for two years.

Full details of how to sign up, what is on offer, and our reasons for starting the Passengers Club can be found at https://thepassengersclub.com.

They also announced some live dates for the United States and Canada:

• Saturday 9 May – Rosfest, Opera House, Sarasota, Florida, USA (festival headline show)
• Monday 11 May – Opera House, Toronto, Canada *
• Tuesday 12 May – Corona Theatre, Montreal, Canada *
• Wednesday 13 May – Théâtre de la Cité Universitaire, Quebec City, Canada *
• Sunday 17 May – Brook Arts Center, Bound Brook, New Jersey, USA *
• Saturday 23rd May – Sweetwater Performance Pavilion, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA **
• Thursday 16 July – Friars, Aylesbury, UK ***
• Saturday 18 July – Ramblin’ Man Festival, Kent, UK (festival headline show)
• Monday 20 July – Stadstheater, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands **
• Tuesday 21 July – Lichtburg, Essen, Germany **
• Thursday 23 July – Konzerthaus, Karlsruhe, Germany **
• Friday 24th July – Phenomenon, Fontaneto D’Agogna, Milan, Italy **

* Supported by IZZ
** Supported by Robert Berry’s 3.2
*** Supported by Lazuli

All shows will feature the full 12-piece BBT live band.

Progarchy’s co-founder and former editor, Brad Birzer, and Progarchist Tad Wert have released an ebook about Big Big Train called Big Big Train: A Dream of the West. Yours truly and Progarchist Alison Reijman contributed chapters. Get it at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Train-Dream-West-ebook/dp/B084QF79GK/ref=zg_bs_156354011_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5NSMTTWKFH5CJZT8NDBV.

The Bardic Depths

On By kruekuttIn progressive rockLeave a comment

From Robin Armstrong’s Gravity Dream Records:

‘The Bardic Depths’ is an all new progressive rock project formed from the writing team of multi-instrumentalist, Dave Bandana with lyrics and concept from Bradley Birzer, plus contributions from Peter Jones (Camel/ Tiger Moth Tales) – Saxophone/ Vocals, Tim Gehrt ( Streets/ Steve Walsh) – Drums, Gareth Cole (Tom Slatter/ Fractal Mirror) – Guitar and Robin Armstrong (Cosmograf) – Keyboards/ Guitar/ Bass, amongst a host of other amazing musicians from the progressive rock community around the world.

“The album is about friendship and its ability to get us through anything including war, with the concept centering on the literary friendship formed between J.R.R Tolkien and C. S Lewis between 1931 and 1949. “ says the Lanzarote based band leader Dave Bandana.

Friendship also provided the catalyst to enable such a wide cast of musicians to come together for the record, largely from the community provided by the Big Big Train Group on Facebook. The resulting album is an immersive combination of ethereal soundscape with Floydian undertones, and Talk Talk progressive pop sensibilities.

The Bardic Depths is available to pre-order now from Gravity Dream on CD or in an extremely limited CD/T-shirt bundle.  It’s also available on CD from Burning Shed, who provide the tracklist:

1. The Trenches
2. Biting Coals
3. Depths of TIme
i) The Instant
ii)The Flicker
iii) The Moment
4. Depths of Imagination
5. Depths of Soul
6. The End
7. Legacies

And of course, there’s an album teaser on YouTube:

— Rick Krueger

Bryan’s Best of 2019

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rock2 Comments

Here we are at the end of another year. As you’re probably well aware, 2019 has been the latest in a string of great years for progressive rock and metal. Overall it didn’t blow me away like other years have (a few particular albums did however), but I think that’s more because of how my year has gone. I finished up grad school in the spring, and I spent the entire year job-searching before finally starting a new job at the beginning of this month. A couple of important people in my life died this year as well, so overall it has been a year full of challenges. My ability to properly soak in all the great music that has been released understandably suffered. But nevertheless, I found much to enjoy this year, and the following are some of my favorites. They are in no particular order except for my top three down at the bottom of this list.

Rise Twain – Rise Twain

The first album by Philadelphia-area duo Rise Twain is a stellar example of what popular music should be. Brett Kull and J. D. Beck are excellent songwriters and equally talented musicians. They combine the simplicity of a good song with the more technical aspects of prog. While it may be hard to call this a “prog” album, it certainly has many varied influences that make this a solid showing. Check out my review and interview with Brett Kull here: https://progarchy.com/2019/08/30/a-conversation-with-brett-kull-of-rise-twain/

Soen – Lotus

This is a magnificent album. Beautifully heavy, as any metal album should be, it retains an ability to move int0 peaceful contemplative spaces. When this album rocks, it rocks hard, and it keeps an upbeat tone that so many metal albums often lose. “Lotus” delivers musically, lyrically, and vocally. Check out Time Lord’s review here: https://progarchy.com/2019/01/09/album-preview-soen-lotus-soenmusic/

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kruekutt’s 2019 Favorites: New Music

On By kruekuttIn progressive rock1 Comment

Here are the albums of new music from 2019 that grabbed me on first listen, then compelled repeated plays. I’m not gonna rank them except for my Top Favorite status, which I’ll save for the very end. The others are listed alphabetically by artist. (Old school style, that is — last names first where necessary!) Links to previous reviews or purchase sites are embedded in the album titles.  But first, a graphic tease …

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Big Big Train News: Live Video & More …

On By kruekuttIn progressive rock1 Comment

Straight from the horse’s mouth …

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)

Nellie Pitts’ Merch Desk also has plenty of swag from Big Big Train’s just-completed UK tour (signed tour posters, programmes, t-shirts, turntable slip mats, beanies and bamboo fans) too!

— Rick Krueger

Going All the Way Back With @bigbigtrain

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rock2 Comments

The title of this post is more dramatic than it should be, but I randomly decided to listen to Big Big Train’s first album, Goodbye to the Age of Steam, this afternoon. Early Big Big Train gets very little press these days, yet this album is quite good. There are obvious differences between the Big Big Train of the early 1990s and the Big Big Train of 2019, yet there are still similarities. Spawton’s writing style is instantly familiar, with his lyrics as good as they’ve ever been. The gentle piano moments certainly remain in today’s version of the band, and the guitar work has similarities, even with different musicians. Yes, this album is a bit more synth heavy in places, but that seems to be more of a Neo-prog influence from the 1980s than anything else. The vocal harmonies on “Blow the House Down” are exceptional, reminding me very much of Moon Safari. I’d love it if the band incorporated more of that.

This album is as old as I am, and while I can act like a grumpy old man at times, this album still sounds remarkably fresh. The current iteration of the band has toyed with live re-workings of pre-Longdon songs, such as “Wind Distorted Pioneers” on Stone and Steel and “Summer’s Lease” (off of The Difference Machine) on 2018’s Swan Hunter EP. It was interesting to hear the current version of the band put their own spin on the music, as opposed to creating a verbatim recreation. And so in 2019, the 25th year since the release of Goodbye to the Age of Steam, I would be interested in hearing the band re-visit some of these songs, perhaps in a live setting or a live-in-studio setting.

These are good songs, and they sound great on the original album. Since the band is firing on all cylinders these days, it would be a treat to hear them interpret this music, especially since only one member remains from the 1994 line-up. Imagine what Rachel Hall could add with her violin and her beautiful voice. Think of the brilliant guitar solos Dave Gregory could bring to the table. David Longdon could bring an entirely different sound to these pieces, allowing us to hear them in a whole new light.

Do I think the band will actually do this? Not really. They have so much material from the current version of the band, and they and the fans are much more familiar with those songs. It may not make financial sense for them to spend the time and money to re-visit these early songs, but maybe we will get a couple more re-recorded and re-interpreted over the next few years. Whether the band chooses to celebrate the anniversary of this release or not, it is definitely worth listening to again. Even if it isn’t quite as good as their output over the last decade, it is still a solid album by any prog standards.

Big Big Train, Grand Tour

On By kruekuttIn progressive rock3 Comments

What prog rock does is to free artists from some of the limitations of pop, rock and folk music whilst incorporating their best elements e.g. memorable melodies or story-telling.  The sweet spot is where high-quality songwriting and interesting music collide.

— Greg Spawton, “What is Prog?” (from Big Big Train’s 2017 concert program)

A sweet collision indeed.  On the new album Grand Tour, the members of Big Big Train extend and refine their sonic vocabulary, and broaden their topical reach from the seminal Albion cycle (The Underfall Yard, English Electric, Folklore, Grimspound and various offshoots) to explore a wider, sometimes wilder world.  As fans have come to expect, it’s both instantly appealing and bracingly challenging — richly melodic, spikily rhythmic music, continually reaching toward symphonic scope; words that reflect on, rejoice in and ruminate about the wonders of the past and present, this time breaking out beyond Britain to Europe and to farther shores.

Admittedly, Grand Tour starts more tentatively than some previous albums: setting the scene and foreshadowing what’s in store, “Novum Organum” (the first of drummer Nick D’Virgilio’s composing credits, with bassist Greg Spawton) is a gently hypnotic prologue for patterned percussion and keyboards.  It eases us out of the dock into the harbor, with David Longdon sounding the album’s themes at low tide, setting sail “for science and for art.”

But before we can drift off, Longdon’s “Alive” slams in — a rocking kick-off that urges listeners to “Find your wings/Dare to fly/Find your feet/Then run for dear life”.  Straightforward rock with a lighter, contrapuntal bridge, it’s a powerful, limber groove with lots of nifty textural touches (backing vocals at the octave, poppy handclaps, Spawton’s bass pedals under the driving rhythm, Danny Manners’ defining Mellotron riff and in-your-face synth solo, spiffy keyboard and guitar filigree at unexpected moments).  And Longdon is having the time of his life, reveling in the new day to seize and the beauty awaiting him.  He’s raring to go — and the invitation to come along is irresistible.

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A Big Big Interview …

On By kruekuttIn progressive rockLeave a comment

“Big Big Train’s David Longdon and Greg Spawton and BBT artist Sarah Louise Ewing in conversation with Nick Shilton of Prog Magazine. Filmed at the Royal Astronomical Society, London in 2019.”  Topics covered: the new album Grand Tour, live shows, artwork and much more.  90 minutes!

 

— Rick Krueger

 

Big Big Train — “Alive”

On By kruekuttIn progressive rock1 Comment

The first single from the forthcoming Big Big Train album “Grand Tour” is now online.  My impressions follow the jump:

 

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