The opening lyrics of this track killed me: “I feel like I’ve been doing this for a million years. Every note has been played before and in this exact order, too…”
Nothing to add to that, this track from the new Beardfish album +4626-COMFORTZONE – is a more than deserved track of the day.
House Of Prog runs a nice internet radio channel, with live shows throughout the week. On one of these shows, Prog Doctor Marty Dorfman did an interview with Peter Jones (alias Tiger Moth Tales), a blind multi instrumentalist from the UK. During the interview, he played all of Jones’ debut album Cocoon, released in December 2014. An album to be checked anyone how loves music rooted in symphonic prog, with a modern touch. This track, Tigers in the Butter, is a good example of what can be found on this album. A full album review will follow in the coming weeks – after the mail man decides to put it in my mailbox for a more detailed listen.
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Minstrel’s Ghost is a project headed by vocalist Blake Carpenter, who also sings in Voice of the Enslaved and performs as a guest vocalist in Corvus Stone. On the album The Road to Avalon he is accompanied by Colin Tench (Corvus Stone) on guitar, Marco Chiappini (Oceans 5) on keyboards, Troy James Martin on bass (LeeAnn Savage) and Zoltan Czorsz Jr (ex Flower Kings) on drums. Today I was listening to this album while driving to work, and the track Camelot made me want to push the throttle, and somehow Marco’s keyboards and Colin’s guitar made me whistle. So, here goes…
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An oldie as track of the day today. Steve Hackett needs no introduction, I’m sure. When I first heard his solo album Wild Orchids in 2008, this song found a spot in the back of my head and never left. A weird mix of Dire Straits, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and perhaps even vocal influences of Leonard Cohen make this Bob Dylan cover really enjoyable, just like the rest of that album. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfNYprKVXKI
Corvus Stone is one of my favourite bands of the past couple of years. A melodic, progressive rock project with members from all over the world, that plays whatever they feel like. Even if the influences vary from Renaissance chamber music, via jazz to Deep Purple, the unique sound of the band, characterised by the keyboards of Pasi Koivu and the guitar tunes of Colin Tench can always be recognised.
This track, of the album Corvus Stone II, is a perfect example of the potential of this band, of which the members and guest singers have never been all in the same location at the same time.
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Silhouette is a Dutch Neo-prog band, that has been around for a few years now. Their latest album Beyond the Seventh Wave, released in november 2014 is well received. The music of Silhouette is driven by the keyboards of Erik Laan, but he leaves enough room for the great guitar work of Brian de Graeve and Daniel van der Weijde.
This track, the instrumental Escape from the album shows what this band is capable of.
Cailyn Lloyd is a American guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. She released an album called 4 Pieces in 2012, on which she bridged progressive rock and classical music. On her 2015 release Voyager, she has created an instrumental progressive rock concept based on the Voyager program and the composition The Planets by compose Gustav Holst. An amazing musical flight through space, brilliantly illustrated by this track, Jupiter.
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According to Hábitat’s web site, this album is supposed to be a move towards the ‘sound of gothic’. I am not sure what they mean by that, and after listening to the album a number of times, I still don’t know. The opening of the first track, Las Gárgolas, and later on also on Mujer- Medusa, seem to announce a portion of symphonic rock, headed by massive keyboard sounds, but after a 30 second opening both tracks move away from that into mellow, repetitive tunes, that never seem really able to grab me. Aldo Pinelli’s slightly emotionless way of singing is only a partial cause of that.
Las Hadas Negras lacks a keyboard intro as described, but does lay down a dark mood that fits the title. Unfortunately, the track is very repetitive and ends very abruptly, leaving the listener with the feeling that it never really started. Something similar applies to Las Runas, which only really becomes interesting after 6 out of 7 minutes.
After the chaotic and incoherent Tema para los Campos Exhaustos and Las Masas de Aqua (again repetitive, although sometimes also bringing to mind the work of ex-Grobschnitt drummer Eroc from the early 1980s) the album gets better. El Hombre con Navidad en Sus Labios is not very complicated but the acoustic guitar intro is complemented nicely by an electric guitar, played by Gonzalo Albarracín. That same guitar, accompanied by a driving bass and keyboards flows into Passaje a la Ciudad con Runas, which brings a three minute solid symphonic rock intro, followed by a more laid back piano and vocal section. Albarracín comes in on guitar again, but the track never goes back to the power of the intro (and maybe it shouldn’t).
Closing of with the title track Utensilios Y Artilugios, which is a very nicely executed melodic track, with good guitar and keyboard work, I am left with very mixed feelings. Hábitat is clearly capable of playing good music, and both musicians do know how to play their instruments, but overall the album is very unbalanced and often close to boring. The percussion/drum track Ajr doesn’t really add to that, even if it shows what drummer Sambrizzi is capable of.
NOTE: This article is outdated – see here for the final program of NoTP.
Tonight I bought my 3 day ticket for Night of the Prog festival at Loreley Amfitheater in Germany. I’ve been wanting to see that place ever since I saw the video of Marillion Live at Loreley. Being a Fish-era Marillion fan, what better year to pick than the year that Fish will be there, apparently doing a live performance of the full Misplaced Childhood album?
That, and a line up that includes Camel, Pendragon, Beardfish, Kaipa (DaCapo) and Haken, it’s going to be a perfect prog weekend.
I’ll be at the camp site and all three festival days – let me know if you’re going as well, it’s always fun to meet new people (or go to a concert with people you know from the past).
United Progressive Fraternity is the successor to the Australian band Unitopia. The band, plays music that can be classified as modern classic progressive rock, with influences from amongst other Yes. The first album of the band, Fall in love with the World deals with the way man treats planet earth. Today’s track of the day is The Water, from that album, with Jon Anderson on additional vocals.
