It took me a while to get this album to sink in – I played it on and off for a few weeks before I realised this was a bit of avant garde, a bit of jazz rock and should be interpreted as such. Robin Taylor has been working under this name since 1993 and this is the 14th studio album of Taylor’s Universe.
An album that starts promising, with upbeat drums, a guitar and Minimoog taking a fast start. However, it slows down quickly and the opening track Other Meetings becomes more repetitive in nature. Repetitiveness is the issue with this album altogether, all my notes on the first 4 tracks contain that word in one form or another. This is not necessarily bad, but in this case I find it annoying – an album of a well established artist, who works together with a great set of guest musicians (I don’t know all of them, but they certainly are skilled when listening to the album) should not be boring. The fact that I feel the second track Beta X consists of a number of parts that seem to be glued together in a somewhat incoherent way doesn’t help either – but with the band being categorised as avant garde it may be that I miss the point myself.
This feeling remains throughout the first four tracks, although once you get the hang of it, it is pretty clear that the fourth track, Interrail, is an expression in sound of a railroad trip with a few stop overs.
On the sweet, soprano sax oriented Laura’s Lullaby the music comes closer to jazz instead of avantgarde prog, and more likeable to me. That continues in Für Louise, although the low, somewhat droning sound of the first 2 minutes might have been shorter. After this intro a jazzy, somewhat fun piece of, again jazzy, music with a lead role for the saxophone and Minimoog again.
Closing track Autumn River is an acquired taste, like the first 4 tracks. It consists of electric guitar and Ebowed guitar loops and doesn’t do much for me.
All in all, not an album that I will play a lot, but one that might be appealing to fans of avant garde music and more specifically Taylor’s Universe.
A few of the 740 photos I took during Rock Ittervoort. A report of the gig will follow on Background Magazine, some time next week. Photos of The Gentle Storm will also follow – later this week.
It was a rainy evening in The Heart of Amsterdam when we, with hundreds of others lined up in front of the entrance of De Melkweg for the opening show of The Gentle Storms 2015 tour. A show that was planned to start less than a week after the album The Diary was released – as a proper tour in support of an album should.
After spending some time in the rain, we got inside just after opening act Stream of Passion, started playing. A fitting choice, having one Arjen Lucassen project opening for another, also because lead singer Marcela Bovio and bass player are part of the live line up for The Gentle Storm. Pity De Melkweg proved its reputation on not having the best sound, from where we were standing (right behind the sound guy!) the sound was a bit muddy, with the lows coming in a tad too strong. Then again, maybe it’s been a bit too long since I last saw a metal band play live. Stream of Passion does look and sound like a band that have fun on stage, everybody was moving around the stage, and interacting with each other and the audience. And Marcela’s violin still adds something special to the music. A short set, but a good warm up for the main act of this evening.
Stream of Passion setlist:
A War of Our Own
The Curse
Deceiver
Street Spirit (Fade Out) (Radiohead cover)
In the End
Haunted
After rebuilding the stage, or at least replacing some keyboards and guitars, the lights on the stage were dimmed a little, and familiar sounds started playing – for those who already had heard the album. A smiling and waving Anneke van Giersbergen ran onto the stage, dressed in leather pants and jacket, and a bright red blouse – shortly followed by the rest of the band, to guide us through the first track from The Diary, Endless Sea. Of course, the Gentle tour was already done, so we were treated to the Storm version of the album here. After Endless Sea, we got The Heart of Amsterdam, but from there the band certainly chose not to play the full album sequentially, nor to stick to just the album. In the end, the whole album was of course played, but in a slightly different order (weird, for adiary). Only The Gathering‘s Eleanor interrupted the flow.
Half way, the moment everyone anticipated finally came; Arjen Lucassen coming on stage for this opening gig, which was announced by Anneke coming on stage on her own. With only an acoustic guitar she gave us her version of Wish You Were Here, and then the big, wel at least tall, man himself came on. Together, accompanied partly by Marcela and guitarist Ferry Duijssens (guitar) and Joost van den Broek (keyboards) they played the ‘gentle version’ of The Moment followed by three acoustic Ayreon covers: Comatose, Valley of the Queens and Hope. Arjen played guitar, sang and in his soft, shy voice thanked everyone and the band for their hard work and support. One of the most modest people I’ve ever seen on a stage.
After this intermezzo, a one off, as far as we know now, The Gentle Storm continued with two more tracks from The Diary and a number of tracks from other bands and projects Anneke was or is involved in : Ayreon, The Gathering, Agua de Annique and The Devin Townsend Project. They closed the (long!) evening with a great version of Shore of India.
The sound during The Gentle Storm was quite good, surprisingly after what I noted earlier. Somehow, the sound engineer managed to get rid of the low drones that mudded Stream of Passion. From the same place we were before, we could now hear all the instruments and really enjoy the contribution of the individual musicians. Merel Bechtold playing a 7-string guitar as if she was born with it, bass and guitar duo Ferry Duijssens and Johan van Stratum, drummer Ed Warby, and keyboardist Joost van den Broek were the perfect companions for the voice of Anneke van Giersbergen and Marcela Bovio. The over 40 instruments used on The Diary were not included in the show of course, which made it all sound slightly heavier and a little bit more metal than the album, but for this live setting that was actually a good thing. A great show, for a very nice album, and played by a great band. Glad I get to see them again tonight – at Rock Ittervoort.
The Gentle Storm setlist:
Endless Sea
The Heart of Amsterdam
Brightest Light
The Storm
Eyes of Michiel
Eléanor (The Gathering)
New Horizons
Wish You Were Here (Acoustic, Pink Floyd)
The Moment (Acoustic, with Arjen Anthony Lucassen)
Comatose (Acoustic, Ayreon, with Arjen Anthony Lucassen)
Valley of the Queens (Acoustic, Ayreon, with Arjen Anthony Lucassen)
Day Seven: Hope (Acoustic, Ayreon, with Arjen Anthony Lucassen)
Anneke van Giesbergen and Arjen Lucassen have cooperated a lot the last 15 years. This years, they release another project together, The Gentle Storm, with an album called The Diary and an accompanying tour – of which I witnessed the opening gig yesterday evening at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. A very nice album (review pending) and a wonderful gig – which for the occasion also featured a short acoustic set with maestro Arjen Lucassen himself, who won’t be joining the full tour. Gig report will follow this weekend, and tomorrow evening I will see them again during Rock Ittervoort, together with Arena and Sylvium. Enjoy, like I always enjoy Anneke’s wonderful voice….
A bit of a surprising track of the day – this one by Harvest. I had to take a pick from the 11 tracks on their latest album, Northern Winds, and this was the only one they put online themselves. The opening track, just vocals and piano – but it is an opening that will hopefully make you want to hear more of this Spanish band, from my favourite city Barcelona. Enjoy, like I enjoyed tapas in Barcelona a few times….
Jukka Tolonen is one of the most interesting jazz rock and fusion guitarists I’ve come across the past few years. Being active in various bands, but mainly under his own name since 1969, he brings a nice mix of guitar sounds and is not afraid to put a bit of humour in his productions (his 1980 album Just Those Boys contains a track that is called “Fart”-ington Blues, and it starts with….? Exactly!). This track of the day is dedicated to a great guitarist, who seems to have become less active recently (his web site is no longer online). Enjoy… like the relieve you feel after degassing….
Guy Manning has been around for quite a while in the prog scene. The band that wears his name has been around since 1997, and although he announced it to quit in 2012, another album, Akoustik #2 was released in November 2014 under that same name.
Next to his own band, Manning has been a member of Parallel or 90 Degrees (PO90) and The Tangent and is now a member of United Progressive Fraternity, headed by Mark ‘Truey’ Trueack, who released a very interesting album end 2014 as well.
Akoustik #2, as the title already indicates, is an acoustic album, containing 12 tracks, of which 9 are re-arranged from existing Manning material. I am not familiar with all Mannings albums, so I did not even attempt to do a comparison between the originals and the acoustic versions. Instead, I enjoyed listening to an album that is definitely suitable for a quiet evening with a bottle of wine. Not a typical progressive rock album, but rather a folky, sometimes jazzy album performed by 10 musicians taking their time to get things right.
The translation of progressive rock to an acoustic setting, combined with the somewhat typical voice of Guy Manning himself makes that in many places this album reminds of Jethro Tull albums, for example in the chorus of one of the new tracks, The Saturday Picture Show. In fact, re-reading my notes, this also holds for the other two new tracks, Moorlands Skies and Yesterday’s Hero. Instrumentally, all three are great tracks. The Saturday Picture Show contains nice acoustic guitar and mandolin interplay, while Moorland Skies contains very tasty fretless bass work.
Apart from these three, the older tracks, taken and re-arranged from Manning albums released between 1999 and 2009, are an interesting mix of styles and feels.
Where Songs from the Bilston House and Icarus & Me are folky rock songs, Joshua Logan is a more full blown folk song, with an Irish folk feel to it.
Blue Girl is suitable for a late night dance in a jazz club, with a beautiful saxophone solo and it’s 1950s, early 1960s feel. It forms a nice trio with the melancholic Flight 19 and A Strange Place.
The closing track Winter is dark, and for sure wintery – if I had had a say in it, I would’ve ended the album with the next to last track, Ships instead, to leave the listener with a happier feeling after playing the album. Both are well executed, but the Ships is more up tempo, and brings a more optimistic feel. For me it’s the best track on the album. The opening reminds of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, and mixes that with Jethro Tull, folk and jazz influences – topped with a beautiful saxophone solo.
All in all, this album is a fun listen, with very nice acoustic arrangements of originally electric song. It’s hard to qualify it as progressive rock in that sense, progressive folk may be a better fit. But, with that in mind, certainly worthwhile listening – for Manning as well as Jethro Tull fans.
Looks like my weekend in Germany in July won’t get any better. This week Lesoir and Neal Morse (with Mike Portnoy) were added to complete the program. Times were shuffled a bit again – but here’s the program. Let the good times roll come July, what a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a festival!
Friday, 17.07.2015 Get In appr. 13.00 h
13.30 h LESOIR
15.00 h BEARDFISH
16.30 h ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN PRESENTS THE GENTLE STORM
18.20 h PENDRAGON
20.30 h NEAL MORSE & BAND (incl. Mike Portnoy)
23.00 h CAMEL
Saturday 18. Juli 2015 Get In appr. 11.30 h
12.00 h LUNA KISS
13.30 h IO EARTH
15.00 h SYLVAN
16.45 h LAZULI
18.30 h THE ENID
20.30 h RIVERSIDE
23.00 h FISH – 30th Anniversary Misplaced Childhood Show
Sunday 19. Juli 2015 Get In appr. 11.30 h
12.00 h SPECIAL PROVIDENCE
13.30 h KAIPA DACAPO
15.00 h HAKEN
16.30 h STEVE ROTHERY BAND
18.15 h PAIN OF SALVATION
20.30 h STEVE HACKETT plays for the last time “GENESIS REVISITED”
I tried a few times now to take good pictures during live gigs. It’s hard, but I’m getting better at it. Main challenge: capture the right moments, while not using flash.
These were made last weekend, during a show of Italian prog band The Watch. I’m happy with the results, although I would’ve preferred a darker background on the drummer and bass player to match the other foto’s. My goal was to get exactly this atmosphere – dark background and profiles of the musicians, showing them either fully focussed, happy, or both.
My current gear: Nikon D3200 (simple, effective even if a bit slow sometimes) and a Nikon 70-200mm F.2.8 VR objective.
On this mid March Monday, the new track of the day is for Steam Theory, a project started by multi-instrumentalist (they grow on trees these day) Jason Denkevitz. He’s composed, recorded and released the album Asunder by himself, and has now found the right people to make this into a full blown band, that performs live. The title track of the album is a good sample of what Jason means by progressive rock/fusion music – so enjoy Asunder. Enjoy it like I enjoyed finding out through pictures on the band web site that Jason performs sitting down on a chair, just like Robert Fripp…
