Reviews (all) - Progarchives.com

HAWKWIND Sonic Assassins Live 1977 (Psychedelic/Space Rock, 2026)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:54:54 EST

Review by kev rowland — While 1977 was the release of one of Hawkwind's most important albums, 'Quark, Strangeness and Charm' (which was
actually the first album of theirs I heard), it also saw the band having some issues with more line-up changes, a poor
American tour, and Calvert collapsing onstage suffering from mental issues. Hawkwind stopped touring for a while
and Calvert was recovering, so Brock's thoughts turned to having a side project for a while. He had built a relationship
with local Devon band Ark, some of whom had played with him and Calvert at the Stonehenge Free Festival the
previous year, so not why do something with them again. Brock and Calvert contacted three members of that band,
bass guitarist Harvey Bainbridge, drummer Martin Griffin and keyboard player Paul Hayles, and as Sonic Assassins
they played Queen's Hall Barnstaple on 23rd December 1977. It was recorded for posterity, and three tracks were
released in 1981 as the 'Sonic Assassins' EP, but it is only now that all still-existing recordings have been made
available. Given the importance of both Bainbridge and Griffin in the Hawklords resurrection which led back to
Hawkwind, this is a historically important recording indeed.

The sound quality is excellent, and the highlight is undoubtedly one of the finest concert performances of Robert
Calvert ever recorded. He may have been led astray at one point by announcing "Master of the Universe" when the
band instead went into a lengthy improvised piece, but Robert was more than up to the task and provided lyrics on
the spot for a number to be known as "Over The Top", which after more than seven minutes finally segued into
'MOTU'. There are early versions of "Freefall" and "Death Trap" along with classics such as "Golden Void" and "Magnu",
and at no point does this sound like anything apart from a full band which had been rehearsing and recording
together for months. It is difficult to comprehend that two musicians had asked three from another band to come and
play their music, yet that is exactly what happened.

Special credit must be given to Ben Wiseman for mixing and mastering this album from the original tapes, as I cannot
imagine that was an easy task, but the result is sonically very good indeed and thoroughly enjoyable. This is one of
those rare instances when a much sought after recording is definitely worth hearing for its music as well as just the
scarcity value, and Hawkwind fans will certainly enjoy playing this. I did.

HAWKWIND Psychedelic Selection (Psychedelic/Space Rock, 2026)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:07:07 EST

Review by kev rowland — I am not quite sure as to whether to view this as a new studio recording or a compilation, or both, as what we have
here is a combination of unheard recordings, newly reworked classics and fresh material from the current line-up, and
I am not sure exactly who plays on what. I am aware that the vibrant and upbeat "Hurry On Sundown" is the final
recording to feature Huw Lloyd- Langton, who left the band in 2002 and died from cancer in 2012, but have no
information as to where and when it was recorded.

Hawkwind as a band have probably suffered more than most from having compilations released over which they have
had no control, along with many live recordings (some of which have poor sound quality at best), so much so that
anyone who says they have a complete collection is either lying or demented, which means that there is always a
certain level of trepidation when approaching any of their albums which have been compiled. However, this is a
fascinating viewpoint into one particular style of their music, with new songs such as "Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad"
and "There Are Fairies In The Garden" happily sitting alongside reimagined versions of the likes of "The Demented
Man" and "Those Days Of The Underground". The former is one of the highlights on the album, and it is difficult to
think that the original take was on 'Warrior on the Edge of Time' which is now more than 50 years old. This still has an
acoustic guitar at its base, but feels vita and modern.

The album also includes tracks drawn from associated projects, including Dave Brock's unreleased 'Dance and Trance'
material ("Land Of Min", "Out Of Luck") and Magnus Martin's "Ocean's Spiral", but the absolute highlight is a driving
live-in-the-studio take on "PSI Power", which was originally the opening track on '25 Years On' and has long been one
of my favourites. Here it is still high energy and clearly demonstrates the current line-up is continuing to add to the
legacy, even though David Brock is now 84 years old and still shows no sign at all of slowing down either recording or
gigging. This is a set any fan of the band will thoroughly enjoy.

AIRBAG The Century of the Self (Neo-Prog, 2024)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:00:17 EST

Review by Hector Enrique — Having established themselves as one of the bands that best embody the essence of space progressive rock since the
late 2000s, Airbag continues on its path with "The Century of the Self" (2024), their sixth album, following a trajectory
similar to that of "A Day at the Beach". The album flows through the vast twilight spaces the band habitually navigates,
unconcerned with haste, enveloped in a perennial halo of melancholy conveyed by Asle Tostrup's voice and imbued
with a darker intensity befitting themes that reflect on cancel culture, fears, and human motivations.

Without, by the way, renouncing the unmistakable influences of some of the genre's leading figures, the Norwegians
stamp their own mark on compositions that unfold with remarkable consistency. This is evident in the hypnotic mid-
tempo track "Dysphoria," marked by Kristian Hultgren's piercing bass and Bj]]>�unmistakable Gilmour-esque flair- which is surely the album's standout track. They also explore territories close to
post-metal in the elaborate "Erase"; adopt structures reminiscent of Steven Wilson's Porcupine Tree or Thom Yorke's
Radiohead in the more energetic "Tyrants and Kings"; and hark back to their early days with the gentle acoustic
simplicity of "Awakening."

The album closes with "Tear It Down," a progressive elegy with subtle jazz elements that, over the course of its fifteen
minutes, the musical language Airbag has developed throughout its career: a gradual build-up of tension over
expansive, introspective instrumental layers; silences as expressive as the notes themselves; expansive keyboards;
and Riis's controlled guitar outbursts, always serving emotion rather than technical virtuosity.

Without straying from the musical direction that has defined their identity, "The Century of the Self" establishes itself
as one of Airbag's most mature and consistent works, confirming that the band continues to refine its own unique
musical language and ranks among their finest achievements.

Very good.

4 stars

YES Songs From Tsongas: 35th Anniversary Concert (DVD) (Symphonic Prog, 2005)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:03:33 EST

Review by maxsmusic — This show was to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the band. They decided to document the Massachusetts
performance and I was there. The Tsongas Arena is outside Boston, near Lowell, the birthplace of Jack Kerouac. It is
a bit fitting that they chose to record there, being beatniks themselves. Jon was in pure form and he sang with
passion. The whole band was on fire and it was wonderful. The only detriment to the show was that the arena
turned off the AC to make the background noise of the AC machines not a factor in the sound. The band got
heated and so did the audience as the weather was summer. Rick had a few technical problems and he lost his
temper but overall the show was near perfection. This is the quintessential lineup and they were firing on all
cylinders. It was a magical night in MA. I would give this show 4.5 stars for the material and the artistry.

MANDRILL Mandrill Is (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1972)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:07:28 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — After the nearly-perfect Latin-infused Jazz-Rock Fusion debut album of the previous year, the Wilson Brothers' band
continued touring and polishing their sound while also fine-tuning their vision of where they wanted to go (how their
music would evolve). Mandrill Is was released by Polydor Records one year to the date after the release of the debut
album: April 1, 1972.

1. "Ape Is High" (5:36) the immediate feel I get from the first few seconds of this song is that the band is trying to ride
on the coattails of RARE EARTH's massively popular hit from the previous year entitled, "I Just Want to Celebrate"--and
this feeling sustains itself with its whole-group choir chant-singing and JoeWalsh-like guitar strumming from rhythm
guitarist Omar Mesa (who's solo/lead work later in the song is quite good). The horns suddenly appear in the second
minute, providing accents to the vocal lines in the chorus. Kofi Cave's Hammond organ play becomes more prominent
in the third minute, culminating in a nice solo in the fourth before Omar's guitar turns standard Rock. Nice finish. I
can't help but rate this upward due to the tight arrangements and performances. (8.875/10)

2. "Cohelo" (1:45) a gentle Latin groove that is led by Ric Wilson's flute and backed by the "What's Going On"-like party
sounds and emerging "Co-HE-lo" vocals going on in the background. I love it! (5/5)

3. "Git It All" (4:30) another song that feels as if it was contrived to come from a White man's Rock perspective (which
feels somewhat false and pretentious to these musicians) as the bass line, guitar-and-organ chord and sound choices
as well as the foundational drum pattern feel so watered down for the arousal of primordial martial aggression. The
rest of the band--and especially the party choir--feel as if they're into it but there is little of the band members'
Panamanian roots coming through in this music (not even from the horn section); it all feels affected, adaptational,
and manufactured. (8.75/10)

4. "Children of the Sun" (4:57) flute and zither-like chord strokes open this awesome song, covering nearly the full first
two minutes before bursting into a flurry of dynamic Jazz-Rock. But then everything calms down after the burst into a
gentle melodic fare with soft vocals for about 90-seconds before the Afro-Cubano/Salsa horns shake everything up
with some wake-up bursts of sound--which results in the incitement of the rest of the musicians to step it up a couple
of notches. The result is some of the coolest Latin-Jazz-Rock you're likely to ever hear! But, alas! it doesn't last! The
deep vocals return (within the Salsa party music) and then come to an end very shortly thereafter. A strange but
ultimately impressive (and gutsy/ingenious) song. (9.5/10)

5. "I Refuse to Smile" (4:06) a pretty song that is styled like a combination of MARVIN GAYE's What's Going On fare and
other Motown (The Temptations) sounds. The musicianship is so impressive! (The vocals a little less so.) (8.875/10)

6. "Universal Rhythms" (3:23) a "song" that opens with a minute of typical conversation between two young children
(one older and bossier, the other younger and less experienced). It is then interrupted by the appearance of "The
Enchanting Wizard" to tell the children about the "rhythms of the Universe." Colors, dreams, truth, emotion, sound,
past, present, and tomorrow, peace. Aquarian evangelsim and nourishment.

7. "Lord of the Golden Baboon" (3:34) a jam founded in funk-rock but expanded by the array of Afro-Latin percussion
instruments and Latin melody and chord progressions and, later, punctuating accents of the horn section. Though still
a little SANTANA-inspired, the band is starting to make it their own. (9.125/10)

8. "Central Park" (4:06) sounding like it comes from an Off-Broadway hippie-consciousness-raising musical like Hair or
Godspell as well as a little of Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. The instrumental section that starts at 2:45 is so like
CHICAGO but the orchestra strings and vocal keep it anchored on the stage of musicals. As a show-tune it really works!
(9/10)

9. "Kofijahm" (3:38) the album's second composition from keyboard maestro Clause "Coffee" Cave is a true tribute to
the airy Caribbean music that celebrates its population's African roots. Now, this is a true Latin-oriented expression of
the spirit of Jazz-Rock Fusion. (9.75/10)

10. "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" (4:18) a song based on a four chord cycle of power chords that sounds as if it were
coming from a Rock 'n' Roll band like Cream, Grand Funk Railroad, or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, it is peppered with
nice/tension-relieving bridges of gentle flute and xylophone but overall its really a rocker. It's even got the wordless
female vocals to back up the aggressive lead vocalist. (8.75/10)

11. "The Sun Must Go Down" (3:25) wind, gentle and spacious guitar chords with a mellifluous male vocal singing over
the top, the song sounds, and continues to sound, like another Off-Broadway expression of mantras and
colloquialisms of the Aquarian Age's hippie-speak. It is, however, a good, solid song no matter its orientation. (9/10)

Total Time 43:18

Unfortunately, the band has chosen a more lively, live-performance-friendly WAR-like direction for its musical
direction. It's all very skillful and polished as well as being very conducive to vociferous audience participation, but it is,
to my mind and ears, no longer befitting the categorization of Jazz-Rock Fusion (but still qualifying for the Jazz-Rock
micro-genre). (I blame the loss of original bass player Bundie Cenas, being replaced by Frederick "Fudgie Kae"
Solomon, as the core reason for the change in the band's foundational sound.)

A/five stars; though not a Jazz-Rock Fusion album, this eclectic mix of styles is presented in such a well-composed and
beautifully-performed fashion that I cannot deny it its masterpiece recognition. As a whole, however, I would happily
and willingly admit Mandril Is into the micro-genre of Jazz-Rock music. I just want the band to feel more free and
compelled to express themselves more naturally--from the Afro-Cubano music of their Panamanian roots.

MANDRILL Mandrill (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1971)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 08:46:48 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — The other Brothers Wilson (not named Brian, Dennis, or Carl) come together with their supergroup of Latin Jazz-Rock
virtuosos to reveal the Mandrill sound with this, their first album--which was released by Polydor Records in April of
1971.

1. "Mandrill" (4:20) great funky, hard-drivin'-yet-groovin', SANTANA-like Jazz-Rock. The percussion work is the first
element of the music that jumps out at the listener but the organ, rhythm guitar, and horn section are the amazing as
well and the vocal injections, both solo and chant choir, are great, too. Great, highly-engaging song that definitely
qualifies for early Jazz-Rock Fusion fare. (9.25/10)

2. "Warning Blues" (4:33) bluesy piano opens this before the band falls into line as a Blues-Rock band with Deep
Swamp vocals, both lead and background harmony choir. The foundational structure, palette, and sound is okay but
the nuances offered by the individual performers definitely make it interesting. Not the most uplifting lyrics but
definitely qualifying as the Blues. (8.75/10)

3. "Symphonic Revolution" (5:22) soothing flutes and equally soothing support from cymbals, gently strummed rhythm
guitar, and sustained organ chords leads into a beautiful "Hair"/Three Dog Night-like Soul song that reminds me of
EARTH, WIND & FIRE's soulful side. Vibraphone and orchestra strings are also key components to this beautiful song.
At the same time, this is not J-R Fusion, this is purely pop-soul. (9/10)

4. "Rollin' On" (7:41) back to the SANTANA sounds and stylings, this one offers clear reminders of both "Jingo-la" and
"Evil Ways"--a little too closely to award full marks. At the end of the fourth minute the music switches into a more
loose and party-like Afro-Cubano instrumental section in which the horns and xylophone take more prominent roles
but then it switches back to the vocal motif before merging the two into a totally-immersive and mega-engaging
GOSPEL-revival-like call-and-response anthem. Brilliant! (14/15)

- "Amani Na Mapenzi Suite"
5. "Movement I" (1:50) psychedelic Big-Band/birth-like cosmic organ, cymbal and flute swirling a soup of primordial
stuff into form. (5/5)
6. "Movement II" (1:45) power Latin Rock with full-band "peace and love" chant lyrics. (4.625/5)
7. "Movement III" (2:15) an interlude of Garden of Eden-like bliss and frolicking with flute and keyboards (organ and
electric piano) performing the main melodies over the moderately-fast driving rhythm track. Suddenly at the very end
it turns tumultuous, cacophonous, and crescendos with a single chord resolution and harmonized chord from the
choir. (4.75/5)
8. "Movement IV" (6:05) hard/heavy Blues-Rock led by a powerful raspy male vocal that sounds like something from
the Judas Iscariot role in Andrew Lloyd Weber's Jesus Christ Superstar (Ben Vereen, Carl Anderson, or Ted Neely). Even
when the music thins out and becomes more primordial (being driven by Bundie Cenac's bass and Charles Padro's
drums) the vocal performance has that same viscerally-emotional impact. The movement then finishes with a couple
of minutes of instrumental Brass Rock in which a lead guitar and saxophone take turns soloing over a four chord
progression that the whole band and full choir's vocalese profess with the enthusiasm of a group thinking they are
providing the life force for an entire universe. Wow! (10/10)
9. "Movement V" (2:05) like the tribal music of an African village, a large contingent of hand drummers play their
intricate polyrhythmic tune while the village's choir chants in the background soul-felt punctuating shouts of "Love!"
and "Peace!" Amazing! Such a powerful suite! The highest marks possible! (5/5)

10. "Chutney" (3:07) opening with another gentle, melodic flute- and guitar-led motif with appropriately-channeled
support from the whole band. While I was expecting a vocal track to step into the leadership position I am surprised to
hear the Vibraphone and then flute occupy said roles--with Carlos Wilson's flute really flitting and flying ever-so
elegantly over the bass, Vibraphone, and lite drum play (mostly cymbals). Beautiful instrumental! (9.333/10)

Total Time 39:03

A/five stars; a wonderful rainbow of styles and sounds, not all of which are representative of any of the micro-genres
of Jazz-Rock Fusion, but all delivered in with an enthusiasm and level of virtuoso musicianship as to suck the listener
into it from start to finish (and not want to let us go!) Overall, I'd call this a masterpiece of Santana-like Latin-infused
Jazz-Rock Fusion.

MICHAEL NAURA Vanessa (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1975)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 06:19:56 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — Still the same "Quartett" lineup as Michael's two previous albums only with the new addition of bassoon player Klaus Thunemann. The material the became Vanessa was recorded during September of 1974 at Windrose Studios, Hamburg, Deutchland, for ECM Records and then published early in 1975 (March 1).

A1. "Salvatore" 11:38) opening with a hypnotic Chick Corea-like three-chord progression around which Eberhard Weber and Klaus Thunemann dance excitedly around on their fretless bass and bassoon, respectively while the other three remain firmly entrenched into maintaining the three-chord circle of hypnosis (though, admittedly, Jay's bass drum and occasional snare flourishes seem to cross over into active interaction with the lead dancers). Wolfgang Schl]]>�
A2. "Hills" (2:40) Wow! What an opus extraordinaire for bassist Eberhard Weber! He and Joe Nay are flying through their lines while Wolfgang and Michael offer the support of a nice cushion of harmonic and melodic regularity. (9.25/10)

A3. "Baboon" (3:17) it does sound like a lumbering, slothful old baboon! At least for the minute--before the younguns start running around creating havoc! This Joe Nay guy just keeps impressing the hell out of me (as does Eberhard). Then he joins the circus where he's remanded to boring processionals in front of the crowds. (9/10)

B1. "Vanessa" (5:55) back to Fender Rhodes and vibraphone forming the foundational sound blend and chord progressions for the others to jump on board with. At the end of the third minute of this duet the duo seem as if they might enter into a new motif but they don't, just keep it smooth and intimate, like a good-night/bed time conversation between loved ones. (8.875/10)

B2. "Listen To Me" (6:33) but then surprisingly turns into a soulful funk tune in the second minute. While Wolfgang vibraphone play and Joe Nay's drumming sound pretty white, Eberhard's bass play definitely sounds Black. The dude has such empathy, such flexible fluidity! No wonder he's one of my favorites of all-time. (9/10)

B3. "Black Pigeon" (6:50) maybe the best song on the album! The funk groove is just so engaging and everybody seems of one spirit the whole way through. Though it starts out with a curious solo by an all-alone Klaus Thunemann, his bassoon shows immediate pacification when the comforting-though spacious chords of the Fender Rhodes and vibraphone and long-held bass notes show up at the end of the first minute. The support is firm but drone like over the next minute as Klaus seems to be finding his legs, flourishing his wings as he finishes his morning preening and pectoral warm-ups. The two-minute mark, then, sees the band launching into a great motif that seems to support the now-confident pigeon into morning flight. The sights--as exhibited through the rest of the band--are quite routine and mundane but highly comfortable to the pigeon. Wolfgang's vibes take the lead over the awesome funky, long, five-chord groove. Klaus returns in the sixth minute sounding almost like a saxophone, communicating in a confident and full-spectrum display of skills while remaining centered in the key and melodies supported by the funk groove. Awesome song! (14.333/15)

Total time: 37:03

I love how original many of Michael's ideas are--and how able his collaborators are in stepping up to the responsibility of accommodating them. Also, it is remarkable how little the band leader feels a need to step into the spotlight: he leads through his incredible and unshakable support.

A/five stars; a masterpiece of fully-developed Jazz-Rock Fusion which exhibits a posse of fully-fledged musicians, young and old. Of the three studio albums that Michael Naura did with this core of collaborators (formerly called the "Quartett") this is my favorite.

MICHAEL NAURA Michael Naura Quartett: Rainbow Runner (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1972)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 06:14:43 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — The second studio album released by Michael and his "quartett", a year after their first (entitled "Call"), it was recorded
at Windrose-Dumont-Time, Hamburg, Deutchland, and then released by the Spiegelei record company sometime in
1972.

A1. "Sailfish" (7:04) a super cool, definitely-experimental foray into Jazz-Rock Fusion in which vibraphone, electric
piano, cymbals, and aqueous bass slowly form like a small boat making its way through softly curling waves at the
shoreline beach out into more active, turgid waters. With the wild dynamics of the song's second half, one might even
say that the little craft carrying our intrepid crew had to pass through quite some tumultuous open waters in order
reach their next safe harbor. (14/15)

A2. "Turtle Bay" (4:40) is this a concept album? Is it a single journey Michael and company are leading us through? Is
Michael, too, inspired by the "underwater" imagery that Eberhard's bass playing conjures up? The album's song titles
might suggest as much. Turtle Bay must be a pretty laid back, free-and easy place as each of the musicians feel very
loosely associated--as if they've been given shore leave with which to rest and recuperate from the arduous conditions
they had to work through on "Sailfish." Again it feels as if it is Wolfgang Schl]]>�Michael, Jay, and Eberhard more responding in support of their careful leader. (8.75/10)

A3. "Rainbow Runner" (7:30) opening with an extended solo given to Eberhard is the first time we've been given clear
access to the young bass player's talent and ideas. The other musicians begin adding their nuanced flourishes in the
second minute and then, by the end of the second minute, have gelled into a cohesive until, finally, at 2:40 they begin
offering melodies to the listener--but, interestingly, they come in overlapping waves as each individual instrument
seems to flood the sonic seascape all at the same time and almost in a random dis-/un-organized fashion. The deluge
of overlapping waves continues until 5:30, almost overwhelming the listener, before things calm down into a very
spacious and quiet section that is, for a time, led by Michael's electric piano but then transferred to Eberhard's bass
for the song's peaceful finish. Very interesting, conceptually, but not my favorite. (13.25/15)

B1. "Black Marlin" (7:42) a bit of a darker theme--and one that is more repetitive and hypnotic (especially from
Eberhard) despite the thrashing around of wave-crasher and big roller Joe Nay and frenetic vibraphone play from
Wolfgang. There is a chunk of the song in the frenetic middle in which I cannot discern the presence of Michael's
Fender Rhodes at all: it's just mesmer Weber and the drummer and vibes player exerting their wildman chaos. Michael
and Eberhard start to get sucked into the frenetic chaos in the seventh minute with the song ending with continued
wildness and some dissonance. Great performances from Wolfgang and Jay but, again, not my favorite. (13.25/15)

B2. "Watamu" (2:19) heavily reverberating Fender Rhodes chords with sparsely-applied bubbly bass notes from
Eberhard coming from both the high and low ends of the neck of his bass. Just weirdness. (4.25/5)

B3. "Wahoo" (5:35) another emanation from the darker depths of the sea of consciousness as minor chords and more
plodding and pensive chords, notes, and riffs are played from the Fender Rhodes and fretless bass. Meanwhile,
operating on a different level of the sea, Wolfgang and Jay are happily flourishing around on the surface. Interestingly,
even the sound mix has the deep, dark duo mixed into a different sector of the sonic field: it feels like the vibraphone
and drums are mixed into the back using less effects and/or filters on the tracks while the bass and Rhodes are
forward, thickly drenched in reverb and volume. Cool effects and overall effect but not your catchy earworm of a song.
(8.875/10)

B4. "Barrakuda" (4:23) in some respects this feels like a distorted mirror of the album's opening song: this time with
only Wolfgang's vibes and Michael's Rhodes working off one another as if in their own sacred universe. It's pretty and
keeps getting more and more gorgeous as it moves into the third and fourth minutes as Michael settles into two
quick-chords to support Wolfgang's soloing. Neither Jay or Eberhard make a single note in contribution to this lovely
little duet. (9.333/10)

Total time: 39:13

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of experimental Jazz-Rock Fusion.

MICHAEL NAURA Michael Naura Quartett: Call (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1971)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 06:05:44 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — German/European music legend Michael Naura is back after his bout with polyserositis--and he's picked up the Fender
Rhodes electric piano. The album was recorded in 1970 and released either late in 1970 or early in 1971.

A1. "Soledad De Murcia" (5:57) like most of the songs on this album this one starts out and continues to develop as if
it's a cover of some other familiar pop song ("Hurts so Good") with some really cool STEVE JANSEN-like drumming, but
it's not: like all of the songs on this album, this is supposedly an original composition from band leader Michael Naura.
At the same time it makes for one of the amazingly soothing/comforting songs that help make this album so dear to
me. The interplay of the four musicians is so warm and supportive--and yet creative and professional. Drummer Joe
Nay is especially impressive as is bandleader/composer Michael Naura's generosity in giving so much shine to the
other three musicians (while taking very little for himself). Yet the rich, thick vibrato of his electric piano provides all of
the comfort and support necessary for his band mates to fly. And I love how we're hearing the beginnings of Eberhard
Weber's fluid "underwater" sound coming from his bass playing. I love it! (9.75/10)

A2. "M.O.C." (3:37) upbeat and uptempo feel good danceable jazz with some great, active threads woven together
from all four musicians. This one is more impressive for its individual performances fitting so well together into one
weave without all of the nostalgic warmth of the opener. (9.125/10)

A3. "Forgotten Garden" (5:53) slow and steady, everything is spaced so far apart and yet the long-held notes
reverberating from the Rhodes, Wolfgang's vibraphone, Eberhard's tonally-fluid bass, and even Joe Nay's delicate
cymbal play. The main star, of course, is Wolfgan Schl]]>�carries me off to other worlds! Beautiful! And so serene. (9.25/10)

A4. "Take Us Down To The River" (3:58) a saturated sound palette that will eventually become derided for its posh
hippy associations, I can't help but think of this as fresh and refreshing even now, 55+ years after the Fender Rhodes,
electric bass, and vibraphone made their way into jazz and pop music. A little cheesy, yes, but still forward-thinking for
its time. (8.875/10)

B1. "Why Is Mary So Nervous?" (5:28) an interesting song for the two different rhythm speeds the band moves back
and forth between; it really does convey the kind of inconsistency that denotes nervousness. Nice drum solo from Joe
in the fourth minute. Overall I think it a little odd, even weird, but definitely interesting--and well-performed with the
final minute being the best of it. (9/10)

B2. "Don't Stop" (4:56) this one feels like a hard bop/blues-rock cover of a classic tune. Both Joe and Eberhard really
shine on this one despite Michael and Wolfgang's command of the spotlight. (8.875/10)

B3. "Miriam" (11:05) dreamy, impressionistic, mostly vibraphone, Fender Rhodes, and bass interplay that, I have to say
it, sounds a lot like some of the background music I used to hear on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood back in the day--which
is meant as no disrespect to the great jazz pianist Johnny Costa that Fred Rogers employed as music director for his
show. My comment is only meant to note from where my feeling of "familiarity" comes. There are some nice solos
given (and taken) by Eberhard (in the eighth and ninth minutes) as well as to Joe--plus the shut-down at the nine-
minute mark to finish is really cool. (17.5/20)

B4. "Call" (5:03) like most of the songs on this album this one starts out and continues to develop as if it's a cover of
some other familiar pop song, but it's not: like all of the songs on this album, this is supposedly an original
composition from band leader Michael Naura--and it may just be the best, most cohesive whole-band collaboration on
the album. Wolfgang Schl]]>�Eberhard and Joe seem so relaxed into the groove: it's as if they're all totally entrained to the groove. (9.125/10)

Total time: 39:00

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of wonderful Rhodes-and-vibe-driven Jazz-Rock Fusion.

HORACEE ARNOLD Tales of the Exonerated Flea (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1974)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 05:55:33 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — Released by Columbia Records in April of 1974, this work of jazz veteran drummer Horace Arnold comes "out of the
blue" with a similar mind-blowing effect to that of Hermann Szobel's work from a year later. Wow! And what a lineup!

A1. "Puppett Of The Seasons" (4:31) great weave of dynamic instruments all coordinated and infused with a
Mahavishnu-like spirit, coming at us with polyphonic voices like flutes, synths and basses leading the way over the
thick-with-percussion rhythm palette. Jan Hammer, Art Webb, and the guitarists are equally engaged, equally invested
in presenting their components of the polyrhythmic weave, with Jan getting the first true "solo" late in the song--at the
end of the third minute! Very cool! Sounds like a preview of 1981's "Discipline" from King Crimson's masterful
Discipline album. (9.25/10)

A2. "Sing Nightjar" (11:09) Ralph Towner's soloing electrified 12-string guitar opens this before bass, drums, and flute
enter. Marimba and other percussion instruments take a turn in the third minute while Horacee and Art Webb
accompany them. The song is tight, never boring or monotonous, always presenting multiple tracks of dynamic
activity even if/when one musician might be in the spotlight--and that percussion team is so amazing the way they
keep feeding off each other, always pushing to give something more, to reach for a higher output.
It's so weird to hear a fusion song in which the soloists are less interesting than the action on display by the
rhythmatists! But this is the case here for all but Art Webb: I cannot recall ever hearing a flutist pushing that hard,
displaying that kind of virtuosity, at every moment they're on. (18.875/20)

A3. "Benz'l' Windows" (6:57) The Ba-Benz'l' tribe of Central Africa are famous for their dense, complicated,
improvised polyphonic communal singing. The multiple voices are certainly felt in the opening of this song but then
things simplify a bit for the second motif in which Art Webb's flute solos. At 2:30 everything stops for the band to reset
into an odd-timed funk pattern over which Sonny Fortune takes a turn as the soloist with his soprano sax. The
percussionists around Horacee take liberty with time and melody as the drums and basses stay in straight time and
Sonny and Jan Hammer continue weaving in and around them all. After learning what the title referred to, I must
admit to being a little surprised at the minimal use of polyrhythms and polyphonics. There is, however, a great peak in
the final minute with both Sonny and, later, Jan hitting sustained crescendo notes while the rest of the band ramp up
their volumes. (13.875/15)

B1. "Tales Of The Exonerated Flea" (3:45) this one has the sound and feel of a CHICK COREA/RETURN TO FOREVER
song as the bass, keys, and flutes all keep tightly adhered to a complex staccato and syncopated melody for the
opening 1:20 before Art, Jan, and one of the bassists break free to express a little more individualistically over the solid
rhythm track (in which Horacee drives hard). The melodies, again, are quite akin to those used by Chick, RTF, and
Mahavishnu, but still accessible. (9.25/10)

B2. "Delicate Evasions" (4:28) a loose, spacious, and considerably more Oriental folk-like percussion weave (one that
reminds me of Mickey Hart's Planet Drum albums in the 1990s) of tablas, marimbas, "jungle" percussion instruments,
low, rhythmic horn toots, high piccolo flights, and hypnotic odd time signature bass lines, all woven together in a
pleasant, hypnotic dream weave with very few soloists. Mesmerizing and fascinating. (9.25/10)

B3. "Chinnereth II" (8:06) I'm not sure if Horace meant for this song to refer the ancient "Sea of Gallilee" or there is a
completely other significance to its title, but here we get a fairly straight-forward though-thickly woven Deodato-like
motif within and over which John Abercrombie's searing electric guitar wails away. Meanwhile the basses, rhythm
guitar, horns, electric piano, and percussionists all contribute extravagantly if loosely to the underlying cool groove.
Sonny Fortune's soprano sax takes the second solo over the rich groove but when at the six-minute mark it becomes
Jan's turn, the motif expressed by the rhythmatists shifts radically: into something more staccato and frenetic
(controlled chaos) while Jan and then Art solo, at first separately and then trying to play the same melody lines
together (but failing to really ever synch up). Still, another cool composition with great foundational weaves. (13.75/15)

B4. "Euroaquilo Silence" (5:44) a wonderful drumming expos' over which Jan Hammer and, to a lesser degree, John
Abercrombie lay out some incredible space sounds with their respective electronic instruments. Definitely a deep
exploration of all that Jazz-Rock Fusion was trying to exploit and uncover. (9/10)

Time total: 44:40

Horacee has brought together an absolutely top-of-the-mountain list of musicians for this album--musicians who
know how to shine in short bursts while helping to elevate the complexity and of the entire weave at all times: there is
no slouching at any point on any of these songs: the guys are all working, creating, pushing for more for themselves
and more for the whole. Quite a display of masterful musicianship and, giving drummer and bandleader Horacee
Arnold his due, top of the heap compositions. (Horacee has really grown as a composer in the year since Tribe was put
together and released.) I've never heard a flute player as intrepid and constantly dynamic as Art Webb, a percussion
team as alive as Horacee, Dave Johnson, Dom Um Romao, and David Friedman are. Many of the reviews I've been able
to find of this album call this "one of the most fascinating, soulful, and truly successful albums of the entire genre" and
"a lost masterpiece." Though I do not detect the presence of the credited guitar and horn virtuosi on every song, every
song presents rich fusion weaves and sounds that should not be missed.

A/five stars; a masterpiece of Jazz-Rock Fusion that I am so grateful to have been revealed to me. I mean, who's ever
heard of Horacee Arnold? But I'm here to tell you: EVERYBODY should!

ACHE Bl� Som Altid (Symphonic Prog, 1977)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:30:01 EST

Review by UMUR — "Bl]]>�act Ache. The album was released through the KMF label in 1977. As of now (July 2026) the album has
not seen a reissue, and therefore only the original vinyl and cassette tape versions from 1977
exist. "Bl]]>�have been a couple of lineup changes since the last album as lead vocalist Stig Kreutzfeldt has left
(he would soon form the commercially successful Rugsted/Kreutzfeldt pop/rock band) and founding
member and keyboard player Peter Mellin has also jumped ship. Kreutzfeldt has not been replaced as
Ache already had two lead vocalists in the lineup and Johnnie Gellett therefore just stepped up and
performed all lead vocals on "Bl]]>�CV J]]>��
Stylistically "Bl]]>�as Ache introduced on "Pictures From Cyclus 7". Funk, jazz-rock, folk, and progressive rock elements
are combined with a few more mainstream leaning AOR elements, although "Bl]]>�mentioned leaning less in that direction and more in a progressive rock direction. The most
significant change since the last album is that Ache have now opted to sing in their native language
instead of performing English language lyrics and it works really well for them. I]]>�reminded of Atlas' "Bl]]>�but there are some similarities which make me think of that album.

Upon conclusion "Bl]]>�one of the best quality Danish language progressive rock albums from the 1970s. It]]>�varied, and well performed by a unit of skilled musicians. The songwriting is intriguing and
engaging, and the icing on the cake is the organic, detailed, and well sounding production job. A
high quality release through and through. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

HORACEE ARNOLD Tales of the Exonerated Flea (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1974)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:12:56 EST

Review by Progfan97402 — This is the biggest mystery in the world of fusion. Why wasn't this album huge, up there with something like
Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire or Return to Forever's Romantic Warrior? It's on a major label, Columbia
Records, and big-name players are on it. Could it be that Horacee Arnold never played with Miles Davis? Could it
be that his previous album Tribe was decent, but nothing that would blow you away? This should be a total winner.
On his second (and final) solo album Tales of the Exonerated Flea he had some big-name players on this album
such as Jan Hammer, Rick Laird, John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, Dom Um Romao, David Earle Johnson, and
many more and what a big leap this album is over Tribe. The music takes a more aggressive Mahavishnu-like
approach, no doubt helped by the presence of Jan Hammer and Rick Laird, but unlike Mahavishnu there's no
violin, but in its place is flute and sax, so imagine an album with the aggressiveness of Mahavishnu Orchestra with
elements of Return to Forever and Weather Report. Jan Hammer really shines here with some of his finest synth
playing I have heard anywhere, aggressive and in your face. Every one of these tracks are a winner with no bad
tracks, but there are some surprises as well. Such as "Euroaquilo Silence" which takes of a more avant garde
approach with Jan Hammer giving out some of the trippiest sounds coming out of his synth, with lots of drumming
from Horacee himself. I never heard Jan playing synths like that in anything I've heard with him involved, not even
Mahavishnu itself. Some African and Latin percussion are to be found, which is hardly surprising given who was
involved, particularly Dom Um Romao, but this isn't Latin fusion like mid '70s Santana or a lot of what Al Di Meola
or Chick Corea has done. Also, Horacee has a rather unique drum set, here he has a floor tom, a snare, two
cymbals, and small timpani (but with standard tom drum head installed to be played with standard drumsticks
instead of timpani mallets). There is no bass drum, but it's not needed when he has up to two percussionists
helping out. His playing tends to emphasize his two cymbals; there are no hi-hats either. This album so blows me
away, it's unbelievable. I remembered Andy Edwards going on about Hermann Szobel's album from 1976, and he
has a right to, it's amazing, but for me, it's Horacee Arnold's Tales of the Exonerated Flea, by far the greatest
obscure fusion album I have ever heard and it didn't deserve to be like that. In fact, there are plenty of obscure
European fusion albums to get more attention than this album, and those European albums are often obscure
because of lack of label promotion (especially if it were a private or small-label pressing), cultural biases (such as
there's no way German, French, or Italian fusion can be as good as American fusion is the common attitude, which
is not true) and lack of widespread availability (Passport albums being the major exception). The fact this album
was on Columbia and was quickly forgotten boggles my mind. This was the label that helped pioneer fusion.
Perhaps the reason this languished in obscurity was the market was overflooded with fusion albums of all sorts by
1974, so it was likely ignored thinking it was some sort of second-rate knockoff. It's not at all. If you are looking for
a truly great fusion album this is the one to get, it deserves to be a classic!

PLANTOID Terrapath (Eclectic Prog, 2024)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:27:59 EST

Review by Fercandio46 — With a lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums, plus lead vocals from Chloe Coyne, this Brighton band, Plantoid,
could easily be mistaken for a heavily distorted alternative project. Yet, their strength lies in subtlety and the
gradual building of atmosphere, an effect that lingers precisely because of that slow-burn approach. There is a rock
element... but also a sophisticated quality bordering on electronica and ambient music that reminds me of Saint
Etienne, until they lean into their rock side, where the dual-guitar setup truly makes sense, masterfully weaving
together the song's concept. It's a strong start. And it gets even better.

The guitars hint at a flamenco vibe that another guitar deepens with a heavy edge, before the vocals shift back to
indie electronica... there is also a touch of the White Stripes' spirit, though psychedelia permeates the sound.
"Pressure" stands out for its unconventional arrangements, which genuinely enhance that peculiar atmosphere,
while the guitars round it all out with a sense of controlled savagery. It's a great way to keep things moving. And it
gets even better still.

"Modulator" starts off disco, then shifts into rock-disco, bordering on a fusion that eventually becomes
psychedelically immersive. Stereolab drifts aimlessly while Plantoid settles its spores on the earth, only to take flight
again... it gets even better, though, as a jazz improvisation takes hold, the kind that makes time stand still.
"Dog's Life" features arrangements that give it a progressive feel... yet it embodies the perfect fusion of a
psychedelic progressive jazz record. It takes on a spacey atmosphere; the bass kicks in, and the guitar evokes Black
Sabbath, Gong, and Hawkwind, but there is also room for more laid-back moods, featuring melodies that are
equally strange and captivating. And it gets even better.

Chloe's vocals achieve the harmonic quality of the female singers in S]]>�to carry the song's entire emotional weight on her own. This is evident in tracks like "Only When I'm Thinking" and
"Wander Wonder."

Starting with a jazz-infused sound, they shift into psychedelic and Eastern-influenced territory, fusing the two,
before pivoting to funk and returning to rock. They brush against jazz-rock and space rock before circling back to
progressive rock, making eclecticism their natural style; this is reminiscent of the Australian band King Gizzard & the
Lizard Wizard, particularly on the track "Insomniac (Don't Worry)", albeit with a more restrained, organized, and
structured approach. Yet, while the Australians thrive on chaos, turning it into a virtue, the English band Plantoid
draws upon order as a foundation for freely experimenting with genres, eras, and moods, focusing especially on
the textures created by their interplay.

And it keeps getting better. The surprises don't stop, as "G.Y. Drift" is a high-groove funk-rock track that never lets
up; it showcases virtuosity, yet is driven by genuine ideas and emotion, drawing the listener right in. Distance... and
closeness. Music hangs in the air, yet sometimes it can take solid form.

The pods have already taken root in the earth, reminiscent of the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the 1978
version, naturally), and Plantoid, with its delicate magic (beautifully affirmed in the closing track, "Softly Speaking"),
has planted a seed that holds the promise of what's to come... Plantoid is among us.

QUANTUM FANTAY Oneironauts (Psychedelic/Space Rock, 2024)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:27:51 EST

Review by Fercandio46 — The fusion of electronica, psychedelia, and rock within the realm of progressive rock has yielded great results in the
past, from Gong to Ozric Tentacles, and the Belgian band Quantum Fantay continues to refine this blend. With subtle
variations from one album to the next, they create something unique each time, culminating in their ninth release,
Oneironauts. Their guitarist, Tom Tee, is reminiscent of Steve Hillage at times, no small feat, while keyboardist Pete
Mush employs synthesizers in a psychedelic style akin to Miquette Giraudy, or alternatively in a symphonic vein;
combined with the flute, this creates a diverse range of moods that even touch upon dub, albeit with an ever-present
space-rock atmosphere in Flight into Hive Mind.

Layers overlap in "Wakening," ultimately creating a complex web of sounds reminiscent of Klaus Schulze, over which
the guitar is then played. "Mnomic Induction of Lucid Dream" brings to mind the Alan Parsons Project; the backing
tracks provide the ideal foundation for synthesizer improvisation. This dynamic is intensified in "Upwards and
Onwards," which is more aggressive: here, the drums and guitar lay the groundwork for a freely improvised Eastern-
style melody that eventually shifts into a distinctly progressive, metal-infused sound once the guitar fully joins in.
Oneironautics combines the best of an electronic band with the best of a rock group; you can hear the bass and
drums, while sequencers orbit the soundscape like drones hovering overhead, monitoring the timing. The blend of
elements is well-balanced, with the guitar and synthesizers occasionally engaging in a musical duel.
In "Scurdy Flurdy," one is reminded of Rick Wakeman's improvisational style, while the flute, set against highly active
drumming, ties everything together.

The real strength lies in the sense of cyclical unity... when executed well, both electronic and rock music create the
impression that, as melodies give way to improvisation, the track could go on forever, restarting just when it seemed
to have ended. That is precisely what happens here.

Solora's playful spirit brings us a guitar sound that has evolved into something reminiscent of Allan Holdsworth, a
particularly fitting choice in this context. Orchid Borealis serves as the ideal vehicle for unleashing symphonic
ambitions; here, Vangelis meets Gong, allowing this Belgian band to execute a "fusion of fusion", much like the way
alchemy transformed from an empirical practice into an exact science, all while honoring the past that gave it birth.

GUERCIA Guercia Figura Goffa (Rock Progressivo Italiano, 1982)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:25:08 EST

Review by Finnforest — Hidden Gem from Unexpected Year

Guercia are a band that hailed from the Ravenna area. They began in 1971 and existed in RPI's first
wave of classic bands, but they didn't actually get to release their album until years later in
1982. As such, this ends up being a somewhat unique-sounding album for its time of release at the
end of the first wave. Presumably the band had been working on these numbers for years in the live
setting. They certainly feel like '70s progressive rock at most times, yet they also display a bit
of the exterior glimmer absorbed in the late '70s and early '80s, the band members surely having
heard the sounds coming from London and New York in the period of the songs' gestation. Of course,
that is speculation on my part.

The unconventional nature of the album's material yields a truly effervescent listening experience.
We are treated to a cocktail of swirled symphonic progressive, jazz fusion, Italian pop, and some
strain of almost indie rock energy. (Being tongue in cheek, think RPI band meets Average White Band
meets early Joe Jackson.) And while they clearly originate from a basis of progressive rock---in
interviews, they mention all of the usual suspects of British and Italian prog---they nonetheless have
their own sound with a certain amount of almost rebellious divergence from other bands. There's a
great balance of guitar and keyboards with a tight rhythm section and plenty of spirited jamming
that could also be described as playful. These guys were not just musician colleagues; they were
mates as well. The production is quite good and the album has a great sonic punch that I loved.

"Le Orme, they influenced the way we structured our songs. We really liked Area, Banco, and PFM,
while our key singer-songwriter reference was Claudio Rocchi."

"Guercia figura goffa" won me over straightaway with songwriting dynamics and melodic
sophistication. "N" is a quirky rock number that would have fit comfortably on a mid-to-late '70s
Badfinger album. The shorter 3-4 minute tracks offer up differing Italian pop variations while the
four longer tracks (in the 5-8 minute range) provide most of the prog-friendly creative vibe.
"Tigna" has outrageous workups of piano, percussion, and wailing lead guitar. "Non sono pi]]>�vocabolario" has a lovely dreaminess to the intro. "Viaggio" is the final standout. Glamorous and
mysterious, the opening features a Jaco Pastorius style bass sound mingling with piano for a while.
It expands with plaintive wordless vocals and adventurous, spacious fusion jamming that has a psych
element too. Really luxurious listening on headphones with a special beverage. Guercia, if you see
this, bravo!

While this may be an album and band destined for obscurity outside Italy, it is a gem that is well
worth your time to investigate. You can hear it on Mellow's Bandcamp page or find a CD copy. It
comes with some great bonus material from the earlier '70s that was not on the vinyl and sounds more
like "old school prog" even if the production is not as good. Four stars may be a bit bullish, but
three feels too low for something with such unexpected depth and fun. Here they've made a great and
interesting rock album in a year when the music industry was difficult to say the least. These guys
have continued playing music separately, and they have even reunited for gigs in recent times. Last,
in an interview, they mention another CD of "new" original material that was released in the '90s,
something besides the Mellow reissue. If it exists, I can find no trace of it. There are a few
tracks on YouTube that purport to be from this other CD, but I've not found the actual release or
any published specs or details about it.

SLEEP TOKEN Take Me Back to Eden (Post Rock/Math rock, 2023)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:57:13 EST

Review by MysticKing — First, sorry for the long review. If you're only interested in the album review in the strict sense, go to the section
between the lines I created with "=" signs.

Unfortunately, ProgArchives nowadays is not as active as it used to be. This is reflected in the lack of reviews for
Sleep Token, one of the most explorative bands of these times for sure, and they have also received quite a bit of
mainstream attention, from popular channels like Rick Beato and Drumeo, as well as strong Spotify numbers. So, I
wanted to write this review, and it's going to be only my second review.

A little bit about me and Sleep Token: I am a huge '70s prog fan, but I also like classic rock and metal. I'm a big fan of
King Crimson, Genesis, Deep Purple, Camel, Pink Floyd, and more recently (in the last 5 years or so), I've also
become a big Opeth and Porcupine Tree fan. Sleep Token is nothing like these bands, so a friend whose music taste
I trust (because he was also an Opeth fan) introduced me to Sleep Token in late 2025.

I don't know if they are metal or if they are progressive. But they are certainly very explorative, innovative, and
eclectic. I have never heard anything similar. They, to some extent, sound like nu metal bands (especially Deftones),
Britpop bands like Coldplay, and use odd heavy passages like a djent band. I would describe them as an explorative
pop band that happens to sound heavy and complex. They also have some hip-hop influence going on, which I
hated in the beginning (and I'm still not a big fan of it). But this kind of extreme fusion of genres seems to be
popular in the metal scene nowadays, and the people who listen to them are mostly metalheads. This makes a case
for them being considered a metal band, so I want to coin this style as "post-alternative metal." It's alternative and
definitely has connections to nu metal, but it's post that era.

====================================================================================

Anyway, finally starting the actual review, I think the album is too long for my taste. (I'm used to 45-minute albums
from the '70s.) Given the weirdness, complexity, and heaviness, it's hard to stay attentive for this long. In general,
this album has some really beautiful melodies, some emotionally powerful high points, some tasty drumming (I
used to think it was overdone but changed my view on this), brilliant lyrics that seem to be connected to the
aftermath of a toxic love story (I hate the "worship" lore, though), but unfortunately also some hip-hop-like beats
and, at times, very heavily processed vocals that again seem to resemble hip hop.

One of the standouts for me is "Chokehold." The burst of music and tasty djenty drumming that weirdly does not
interfere with the emotional heaviness of the moment in the "you've got me in a chokehold" part is brilliant.
Another standout is "Vore," which is a more conventional extreme prog metal track. I like Vessel's death growls,
which sound like he's in a completely hopeless, torturous state. I also like the beautiful clean vocal melodies here.
"Ascensionism" is a double-edged sword for me. I dislike the trappy parts, but the piano melody and the breakdown
in the "you make me wish I could disappear" section are absolutely amazing. "Are You Really Okay?" is hit or miss
for most fans. I really like it, though. The soothing guitar melody combined with the lyrics really replicates the
feeling of caring for somebody while being unable to stop them from hurting themselves. Also, the slow buildup is
really smart here, and such a slow track helps the listener to catch their breath for a while.

I have to admit I really like the hip-hoppy parts of "The Apparition." The line "Why are you never here?" makes an
excellent gateway to the heavy breakdown of the song. It is my guilty pleasure. I think this is actually a brilliant
example of, in my opinion, Sleep Token's best songwriting skill. They transition into heavy breakdowns very wisely.
Sometimes one vocal melody leads to it, sometimes something else, but when the wall of sound hits you, it rarely
feels out of place or mistimed. "Take Me Back to Eden" has a similar quality. Vessel repeats the words "take me
back to Eden" twice, and then the breakdown comes. I like the higher-pitched backing vocals there, and the
evolution of the song in general is very interesting. Compositionally, this is perhaps their most progressive effort.

Unfortunately, I think "DYWTYLM" is indeed cringe and bad.

======================================================================================

I'll give this a 4 because it's nowhere near some of the great prog efforts from the '70s. But I have to say they're
really doing a good job for this decade. I think it's more interesting than Steven Wilson's solo efforts (except Hand.
Cannot. Erase., which was released 10 years ago), Opeth's last album, or any other modern super-fancy prog band
that seems to follow the recipe of stitching random riffs and transitions together until they fill 15 minutes. Here, I
want to quote Mikael ]]>�
"To be honest, I don't know if I care about whether we're progressive. Because I don't know what it means
anymore. Before, it was easier to define a progressive band because they were mixing styles and stuff like that. But
now progressive means fast guitar solos, weird time signatures; it has become a sound and maybe not so much
about progression. I think progressive music, especially in rock and metal, has become a little regressive."

One clear thing is that Sleep Token is not one of these regressive bands that is progressive in sound. And I am
extremely bored of prog bands whose progressiveness solely comes from fast guitar solos, long songs, and weird
time signatures. The '70s were different in that bands were actually innovative and most of them produced
beautiful music. Sleep Token, in my opinion, is trying to do the same thing in a much different musical climate.

THE SAMURAI OF PROG The 7 Voyages of Sinbad (Crossover Prog, 2026)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 13:30:55 EST

Review by tszirmay — The superlatively prolific warriors never seem to run out of ideas, not surprising as there are so many more
subjects out there still needing a prog rock soundtrack! There is always a lot to like about this multi-national
congregation of Prog luminaries : lots of collaborators from a wide variety of countries and styles, yet they maintain
that top notch Marco Bernard-Kimmo Porsti-Toni Jokinen rhythmic machine in the cockpit. Two other regular
members I hold in very high esteem, namely Alessandro di Benedetti (Inner Prospekt and Mad Crayon) and Rafael
Pacha, the Spanish master who can go back in time , becoming a troubadour as well juggling a wide variety of
instruments, never fail to astonish. The art direction, cover , and packaging are ceaselessly first rate, they are
certainly not cutting corners in that department! Finally, their focus on cinematographic fairy tales and fictional
classics that have stood the test of time, and that is what adventure is all about, they just supply the soundtrack.
Sinbad the Sailor was originally added to the saga of One Thousand and One Nights somewhere in the 18th century
by Antoine Galland but really achieved massive global fame with the 1958 movie "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" , which
was so successful that a couple of sequels followed in 1973 and 1977. The guest list includes new blood with
veteran keyboardist Beppe Crovella (Arti+Mestieri, Randone, Tower, Circle of Fairies, Secret Cinema, Il Castello di
Atlante, Cantina Sociale and countless others) , Roine Stolt needs zero introduction, Chris Engels (Cen- Projekt) and
the return of vocalist Daniel Faldt (Simon Says, The Guildmaster, and Bernard & Porsti) . French vocalist Steph
Honde (JP Louveton , Grandval, Bernard) also shines when called to the microphone. Acoustic guitarist Massimo
Sposaro appears on two tracks as well. Let me propose something a little out of the ordinary. Before listening to
this progressive rock opus, why not seek out the original 1958 flick and luxuriate in all the rollercoaster twists and
turns, and fully savour the swashbuckling (damn, I love that word) battles with a slew of dangerous foes. Then
armed with the album's libretto-like booklet, one can follow along in rapt attention.

As the intrepid dhow sets sail, the musical sailors set the course with instruments (as well as sextants, compass and
binoculars), "Guided by the Moon" and bravely ready to challenge the oncoming waves, winds and storms in order
to discover 'treasure untold'. The arrangement is appropriately drenched in colossal cascades of mellotron ,
courtesy of Beppe, while the story is delivered by a rather dramatic Steve Unruh vocal and violin. Risto Salmi adds
some sultry saxophone.

A trio of mariners not named Keith, Greg or Carl, decide to depict the "Valley of Diamonds" , an instrumental tour de force with an astonishing keyboard display from Stefano Vicarelli , who masters the various ivories at his disposal (piano, organ, synths, mellotron and even clavinet). The wealthy theme is bouncy and vivacious, laden with exciting levels of flourish and theatrics, without ever sounding superfluous.

The stately symphonics take over on the swooning, Octavio Stampalia-penned "Mark the Stars", kicking off with
shimmering effects and then veering into an operatic vocal from the leather-lunged Steph Honde, travelling within
tons of pace and slippery synthesizer helixes toward some gruesome skirmish with a monstrous giant.

First epic, ticking in at a hair over 9 minutes is the "End of the Day", at first glance, a gentler affair that unites Roine
with Toni, as well as being composed by our good friend Alessandro on his magnificent proficiency on piano, while
the ever-busy Michael Trew handles the mike (pun intended). Naturally, the arrangement develops into a bustling
showcase for a wide variety of playful insertions, such as a bluesy electric solo from the Flower King.

Next up, a triad of 10 minute + epics, surely composed on purpose to act as a centerpiece of this album, "Trapped
by Old Age " starts of the proceedings with a medieval-tinged masterstroke penned by Rafael, who handles all the
instruments (outside of the Bernard-Porsti engine room, even a few only rarely heard (sazs, rehtiz, viola da gamba,
zither). Trew takes care of the vocal department, Bernard shoves his Shuker bass front and center, letting his pal
Kimmo beat those skins accordingly and we wander off into the sunset of life.

More melodramatics on the Mimmo Ferri composition "The Isle of Wonder", his handling of the guitars and keys a
delight, the Bernard bass humming along like a well-oiled machine, the twist being the Daniel Faldt vocals which
have a rather distinctive nasal tone. The out-of-the-box style technically challenges the ears with a near 'jazz visits
RIO' tinge, drenched in complex layers and diversions, such as the unexpected darbuka intervention played by
Beatrice Birardi. I wonder if this is one of those tracks that need a few revisits to better grasp the enjoyment or else
the King might just die.

Keyboardist Marco Grieco's turn to imprint his usual flair on "The Last Shore", with guest Gianni Mazzoti on flute,
while Unruh returns with his dual weaponry of voice and violin, recalling the long-awaited return home to Baghdad,
for some well-deserved rest and relaxation. Another titillating track on an album that perspires heroic exploits.

The seven voyages are done and destined to be transcribed by the penned hands of legend, the grandiose finale
"Sinbad the Sailor" serves as an epilogue that summarizes the entire saga and reminds us all, that adventure is
what characterizes science, all the arts and even life itself. Chris Engels is charged with the heady task, leading with
impeccable voice and keyboards. It's a whopping slice of genius.
When the dreams stop, the last breath has left the lungs.

4.5 hanging gardens

ULVER Perdition City - Music to an Interior Film (Post Rock/Math rock, 2000)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:41:21 EST

Review by A Crimson Mellotron — Ulver had already abandoned their black metal roots by the time they released 'Perdition City' in
2000, and their previous studio release had seen them departing from their original style in favor
of an experimental electronic sound that was both contemporary and haunting. But their 'Themes from
William Blake' album is nowhere near as cinematic and expansive as the band's fifth studio release,
conveniently subtitled 'Music to an Interior Film'. This album is perhaps the second most remarkable
record in their discography, the first one being their unforgettably dark debut album, and while
their earlier releases had exhibited a dream-like gothic aura, these subsequent electronic-based
albums are no less atmospheric and compelling. What makes 'Perdition City' even more special is the
fact that this album was designed to resemble a movie soundtrack, with the premise that the music
becomes a standalone piece rather than a collection of sounds supporting a picture.

Stylistically, this is an all-out electronic album with elements of trip hop, occasional jazzy
passages, swirling ambient guitars, and lots of interspersed effects, spoken word interludes,
samples and noises as well as downtempo beats and rhythms. An unusual and demanding listen, this
Ulver release is closer to IDM and the experimental electronic scene than it is to anything their
metal contemporaries were producing at the time. The brooding, industrial soundscapes on some of the
album tracks provide a haunting atmosphere that eventually evokes the feeling of being in a dark,
urban setting. Undeniably this is an effective collection of electronic compositions filled with
evocative instrumental passages that bridge minimalist ambient soundscapes and richly ornate
electronic grooves. Tracks like 'Lost in Moments', 'Hallways of Always', 'Tomorrow Never Knows', and
'Nowhere/Catastrophe' capture the experimental inclinations of Krystoffer Rygg and Tore Ylwizaker,
who are the album's primary composers, while moodier numbers like 'The Future Sound of Music' and
'Dead City Centres' exhibit the uninviting urban atmosphere that this entire record highlights.

Some listeners have been critical of this album throughout the years, seeing 'Perdition City' as a
failed musical experiment. However, the more attentive listeners recognize it as the beginning of a
delightful exploration of the avant-garde by the chameleonic project that is Ulver.

PETER HAMMILL Thin Air (Eclectic Prog, 2009)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:45:07 EST

Review by agradek — I wrote this review of mine as a polemic to some reviews I read here today. Recently I forced myself to buy some
outstanding CD's I missed last couple of decades; today I received the package, and... this album simply refused to get
out of my player.

First song starts like some of Hammil's 'singer/songwriter' albums with gentle singing on top of guitar accompaniment,
and that's what I expected seeing the cover. But... do not judge the book... How many times I've already learned this
lesson? At abt 2:15 I jumped from my chair at sudden hit of the bass. O-ho! there's gonna be something more in it, not
just melancholically lyrical Hammill. Soon there joins rhythmic hammering of piano in the background, change of voice
expression, some synth noises, sudden breaks of rhythm and tempo, and multilayered vocal lines. Then fully
psychedelic last verse... No... I'm not counting the sheep, I'm not going outside, I might be right here some time. And
the CD might be at home at my player's tray for quite a while!
Next song taking over the mood and carries on, developing in truly haunting, multiple tangled, interfusing vocal lines...
And it's only the beginning.

In most psychedelically strange of the songs - "Ghosts of planes" with multiple vocal lines, we are introduced into really
uneasy mood with last spoken verse, then the music carries on with tangled motives of totally weird systems music,
the only con I noticed here, it does not develop further to last another 5 minutes or so.

Surprisingly, I can see in some reviews, the highest note given to the simplest, "regular", standard song "Undone" -
sung to rhythmic piano chords, with not many quirks in it, even with some melodic solo in the middle. I do not
understand this fully, as it is Prog music portal... Even if someone may disagree the music here is "progressive", I found
it interesting, engaging, hypnotizing and addictive. And I did not hear here any folk much less country music, maybe I'm
deaf.
In "Diminished" the lyrics end halfway into the song, and we are taken on a magical journey filled with dark and gloomy
landscapes, then in the background those worrisome, scarry piano tune close to the conclusion.

As a whole it's very consistent album, which simply cannot be seen as the collection of songs. One may say it's not
strictly a concept-album, as there is no "developing story" or plot in it, but all songs here are bond with each other,
thematically, musically and lyrically. There's no nice melodies, there's no simple riffs or familiar rhythms in it. We are
haunted by disturbing or worrying sounds, dissonances, soundscapes, and hypnotized by repetitive rhythms.
I could listen to this album on permanent repeat. But I cannot, as the weight of the last song and its ending is too
overwhelming. I was fooled once again by the cover - though its mood is cloudy dark and blue, there's the ray of sun
shining through from amongst the clouds. I was fooled by the first song, where I smelled a trace of hope in the last
lines. But no. No hope here. The further we are in, the more we are assured there's none at all. Once the last song
fades out, I need a good while to sort the head out, breathe in and out, rethink once again.
The songs are heavy and serious; I even found them a bit depressive. Though there's no despair, there's no
acceptance, either. Not yet... We experienced some kind of acceptance, even reconciling in Hammill's works in the
former decades, once he seemed to grow out of his youthful fights and left behind the past letdowns with the world or
people. Here, at his 51, we are facing Hammill more lost than found, again. There's uncertainty, there's insecureness,
there's anxiety, maybe even fear; there's so many unanswered questions. Above all there is overbearing feeling of
unreadiness. Unreadiness for irreversible loss, for disappearance. Honestly though, are we ever ready to disappear?

Hammill is not the artist, who gives his listeners answers, ready solutions or recipes. He formulates the questions,
sometimes directly shouting them out, often concealing them deep within verses of his involved poetries and singing
them out with his unique voice, he's making the listener thinking and searching for their own responses. Same what
he's been practising over the preceding forty years, he is doing in this album, with a company of some greatly
enjoyable and absorbing, admirable and comprehensive music.
"Directionless"? Yes. Cause this is not the kind of music which proceeds in a particular direction. There's a lot of music
around - from symphonies to heavy metal songs - which are running somewhere, developing, chasing something or
running away, not necessarily and only at full speed, sometimes just stepping, but generally moving ahead. Music on
this album just IS. Here and now. There are certain moods. Landscapes. Frameless pictures. This music is directionless.
Or rather omnidirectional. It does not move. It spreads out, and while spreading it absorbs, wraps up with the sounds
and keeps the listener in motionless contemplation. The only con, again, the instrumental movements could have been
at least twice as long.

Although my hope was to receive another Fireships, this album turned out to be completely different.
And by no means worse or weaker than the mentioned one.

METALLICA St. Anger (Prog Related, 2003)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:35:37 EST

Review by agradek — I'm madly in anger with y'all!

I do not know yet why I'm reviewing Metallica in prog-rock portal, but to be honest for me this album is the most
progressive one ever made by them. Sure, it's a matter of taste, some may say it's regress, not progress, but in both
cases it's a desirable way. The worst for any artist is stagnation. Freeze in place and you're dead. Try different things,
step outside of the frame people put you in - you are risking losing "loyal" fans, but you go ahead, develop, stay alive.
Try to experiment, do something new and unexpected - you may be sure people will be spitting at you with anger and
disappointment just because they have not received what they had expected.

Because people have not received, what they expected, that's why they rate this album low. Funny, but there are just
two crimes here, namely:
1. where are the guitar solos?
2. wtf is that snare drum sound?
And, as album is unlistenable, because of 1 and 2 above, there spawn immediately countless following ones: Cover.
Title. Lyrics. Verses. Choruses. Vocals. Riffs. Drums. Bass lines. Length of songs. Length of the album. Inconsistency.
Production ... Everything sucks!!!

After a bad joke (of "S&M"), the turning-forty guys hit. And they hit with all the power. All the energy of the middle-aged
men at the climax of their mental crisis.
With the rawest sound ever, the album literally smashed into pieces all late 90's bull[&*!#] post-nu-sludge-stone-drone-
whatverelsewannabe-metal bands.

Starting with its cover, same powerfully symbolic and pregnant, like the "Kill'em All" in early 80's, and the title. What's
wrong with it? The "st."? There were not once religious references in Hetfield's lyrics: "Someone help me/Oh please,
God, help me", "Oh please, God, wake me", or "Pray the Lord my soul to keep". Or the "anger"? The album is filled with
pure, uncontrolled anger, so why not? Then, making that anger saint, that's something! Saint, sacred, sacrosanct,
untouchable.... Try to touch it, dismount and kick it out and away! Good luck!

Frantic is hitting right away with raw dirty guitars separated in each channel, followed by the hated-by-all unengaged
snare drum beat. Then comes the marching rhythm with interesting riff, then sudden slowdown, then back to main riff
and into first verse. Melodic pre-chorus. And: "Frantic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tok! Frantic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tok!
Frantic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tok! Frantic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tic, tok!", somehow bringing the memories of: "Fight fire with
fire, fight fire with fire, fight fire with fire, fight fire with fire, fight!"

St. Anger
After short guitar intro, storming double feet frantic (sic!) beat suddenly taken over by melodic verses, quickly switching
to next, fast and aggressive part. Several diverse parts rotate and alternate - verses, choruses, pre-choruses, pre-
verses... Seven minutes of full speed rollercoaster, hold together tight with wild and heavy drumming; any shortest
single guitar solo would destroy the construction of the song. The video to the song taken in San Quentin... one of the most
powerful music recordings ever.
I immediately bang the head against the stage, like I did before! I do not need second invitation!

Sumkinda Monster
Stunningly developing first two minutes of various motives, riffs, and alternating rhythms. And: "We, the People / Are
we the people?". How truly true then, how [%*!#]ing truly true in 2026...
"This is the voice of silence no more!" - for those who still cannot hear, feel or understand there's in the package thas
bloody empty metal can snare drum. Put this empty bucket over the heads if still cannot hear!

Because the angriness of "St. Anger" is different than the one of "Kill'em All", it is real. Touchable. That is what makes
this album great. As much as I like the "bad" Load/Reload albums (sorry, I really do), "St. Anger" smashed me away
when was released.

The album is perfectly mixed. There's two guitars, drums, bass and vocals. Though noisy and dirty, everything is right
here and is easily distinguishable. Does not sound like Master of Puppets? Sorry, there aren't 10 or 12 tracks of
multiplied rhythm guitar for "wall of sound" effect with lead coming in to play the solo. There are 4 live musicians
spitting their guts out and sweating blood through their instruments; mixed together, they sound like real, live music.
The best blend of metal, hardcore and punk with some industrial. Who needs [%*!#]ing guitar solos here?
Melodic parts alternating continuously with heavy rhythmic ones, unexpected changes of rhythm, tempo and mood
(what some called "inconsistency") - that's what keep those songs together. And it saves the remaining pieces of brain
(if any...) still rattling in the head - who would survive 75 minutes of continuous headbanging? They also make the
listener to focus. To pay attention. To listen more attentively.

The snare doesn't sound? That clanging sound made the record more raw, more powerful and more aggressive! A
couple years ago, when "Kill'em All" was released, some more refined ears called it sounding like a chainsaw (in fast
numbers) or cement mixer (in slower parts). Now you people are complaining the snare does not sound
fully/beautifully enough, as "it should" sound? It's ominous... Truly.
Gosh, do I need the sound I'll go to the concert hall to listen to symphony or to the opera house. I listen to Metallica
now. I want noise, distortion, power, energy... And I got it! I bang the head against the stage... better than before! I'm
not bitter and twisted teenager anymore. I am all but middle-aged, somewhat (I guess) schizophrenic man, who still
"does not even know what the question is". But "it's my time now!"

Full five stars since first listening more than 20 years ago; same five now. Last great album of Metallica is here! *

_____
*)
= Magnetic - return to the 80's? Bull[&*!#], there's no return. That was a real "sell-out", not the "Black Album". And in fact,
this direction was not what they felt they needed or wanted but was advised by a famous branding consulting
company... Whoops.
Everything about the Grim Reaper was said so many times already, and "we all shall die", one day. Do we need to listen
this again? And why killing the sacredness? After cracker and stunning and best Unforgiven II, third one is just
misunderstanding (likely written/recorded after advice from branding consultants...)
= Hardwired - continuation of same direction, it could never work; Papa Het giving high fives to teenagers, it is crappy.
Same sell-out. Maybe two songs worth of mentioning from 2-hour-long double album? Fail. And the cover... another
full style fail. Disaster.
= 72 - nothing to say about. If I'm in need of some seasons, I will look for them in the abyss, not the toddler's bed.

===
P.S. Someone below called up the "technical brilliance" of Ride the Lightning...
From recording sessions RTL at Sweet Silence:
One of sound engineers (to Rasmussen): "What's with these guys? They can't play their instruments".
or:
Rasmussen (asking Lars): "Why are you starting on the upbeat all the time?"
Lars: "What the [%*!#] is upbeat?"

That was more or less their technical brilliance at 1984. Which did not hinder them from recording one milestone
cracker album.

I will finish with Rasmussen answer to his colleague:
"Who cares? Listen to the energy!"

Five stars here, no doubts.

GENTLE GIANT Octopus (Eclectic Prog, 1972)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 08:01:14 EST

Review by Stefano61 — By the time Gentle Giant convened at Advision Studios in London to record their fourth album, the band already
carried a reputation for making things harder than they needed to be, and had grown almost proud of it.
Octopus, released in December 1972 in the UK and arriving in North America the following year, would prove the
point more completely than anything they had made before. The title itself was a small private joke, coined by Phil
Shulman's wife Roberta as a pun on octo opus, eight works, one for each of the record's tracks.
It would also be the last album to feature all three Shulman brothers together; Phil's departure shortly afterward
closed a chapter the band could never quite reopen.
New drummer John Weathers, arriving in place of the previous incumbent, pushed the group toward a harder,
more percussive edge than the more symphonic Three Friends had shown, without asking them to give up a single
one of their contrapuntal habits.
Even the cover became a small piece of divided history: Roger Dean's brooding underwater octopus for the UK
pressing, and, for the American Columbia edition, a die cut jar containing the creature, illustrated by Charles White,
an alternate icon progheads still argue over four decades later.

Musically this is Gentle Giant distilling everything they had been reaching toward since Acquiring the Taste into its
most confident form yet. The band's love of counterpoint and layered polyphony is everywhere, five multi
instrumentalists trading violin, cello, saxophone, vibraphone, and recorder as easily as most bands trade verses, yet
the record never collapses under its own cleverness; there is a real, earthy humor running beneath the complexity,
something closer to a traveling troupe of jesters than to a conservatory recital.
The literary sources are worn openly and without pretension: The Advent of Panurge borrows its giant and his
companion from Rabelais, A Cry for Everyone leans on Camus, and Knots takes its very structure from R. D. Laing's
book of the same name, its tangled a cappella lines mimicking the knotted patterns of family communication the
psychiatrist had described.
Ray Shulman himself would later call this, alongside Acquiring the Taste, the best record the band ever made, and it
is hard, listening today, to disagree; few groups of the era managed to sound so serious and so unserious about
themselves in the very same bar of music.

The album unfolds across eight pieces that, however different in temperament, all seem to share the same restless
intelligence:

- The Advent of Panurge opens the record at full throttle, Gary Green's guitar cutting in short, jagged bursts over a
thundering bass and the occasional churchy organ swell, Rabelais's giant meeting his lifelong companion in music
as boisterous as the text itself.

- Raconteur, Troubadour turns toward a more medieval, violin led lyricism, the closest the band comes here to
something like a chivalric ballad.

- A Cry for Everyone digs into a heavier, almost bluesy groove, its philosophical unease wrapped in one of the
album's most straightforwardly rocking arrangements.

- Knots stands as the record's great vocal experiment, its interlocking, sometimes atonal a cappella patterns drawn
directly from Laing's psychiatry, punctuated by a xylophone solo from Weathers that has become one of the band's
signature moments.

- The Boys in the Band shifts into pure instrumental territory, high intensity and almost orchestral in its
arrangement, a portrait, fittingly, of the group itself at full stretch.

- Dog's Life lightens the mood considerably, a warm, medieval tinged piece written with evident affection for the
band's own touring roadies.

- Think of Me with Kindness slows everything down into something gentle and nearly majestic, and stands, in
hindsight, as Phil Shulman's quiet farewell to the band he was about to leave.

- River closes the record on more familiar blues rock ground, its extended guitar and violin interplay recalling the
band's earlier, less ornate beginnings, a calmer tide after seven tracks of turbulence.

Heard in full, Octopus remains one of those rare progressive records that asks a great deal of patience from its
listener and repays every last bit of it, a genuinely inventive, endlessly rewarding piece of work that only reveals the
full extent of its craft after many returns to the same eight tracks.
What might elsewhere read as restless variety here holds together as something closer to a single, many
chambered organism, each piece feeding naturally into the next until the whole record breathes as one.
Very few bands of the era managed to sound this serious and this playful in the very same breath, and fewer still
left behind a record so entirely without a weak moment.

This is Gentle Giant at its absolute peak, and a genuine landmark of the entire progressive rock canon.
Rating: 5/5

JUMBO Vietato Ai Minori Di 18 Anni ? (Rock Progressivo Italiano, 1973)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 05:08:52 EST

Review by Stefano61 — By the time Jumbo entered the rehearsal room on via Benadir in Milan, a hall once used for Fascist era press
briefings, the band led by singer and songwriter Alvaro Fella had already burned through a tentative solo styled
debut and the far more accomplished DNA. What they built there in barely two weeks would become something
else entirely: a record so direct in its subject matter, so unwilling to soften itself for polite radio play, that the
question mark in its title reads less like uncertainty than like a dare.

Vietato ai minori di 18 anni translates plainly as Forbidden to minors of 18 years, and Fella, who wrote every lyric
himself, filled it with the era's unspoken subjects: drug addiction, prostitution, alcoholism, social marginalization, a
crisis of religious faith, even a frank and sympathetic look at homosexuality at a time when Italian state
broadcasting simply refused to acknowledge such things existed. The result was total silence from RAI, the only
network that mattered then; almost nothing from the album was ever aired, and the band's boldest gesture
became, commercially, its own punishment. And yet the record found its audience anyway, through years of
relentless live performance, and today stands as the closing statement of a group that never got the recognition its
ambition deserved.

Musically this is Jumbo at its most confident and least indebted to any single foreign model. Where earlier records
leaned on recognizable English touchstones, here the band forges something harder to place: folk passages give
way without warning to raw, almost punishing hard rock, then just as suddenly to passages of near classical piano
restraint. New drummer Tullio Granatello, arriving with a more jazz inflected touch than his predecessor, pushes
the rhythmic complexity considerably further than DNA had attempted.
Fella's voice remains the record's central instrument, a rasping, theatrical, at times genuinely harsh sound that some listeners need time to accept and that others count among the finest in all of Italian prog.
Around him, guitarist Daniele Bianchini contributes stretches of genuinely intense playing, at points recalling the ferocity of Il Balletto di Bronzo's Ys, while contributions from two figures of the Italian avant garde, Franco Battiato on synthesizer oscillators and Lino Capra Vaccina on percussion and bells, add a genuinely experimental edge that few of the band's peers would have risked.

The album unfolds across eight pieces that move from confrontation to something close to confession:

- Specchio opens the record already at full tension, its shifting meters and searing guitar work eventually giving way
to an unexpected softness carried by violin, as though the mirror of the title had caught something the band could
not immediately look away from.

- Come vorrei essere uguale a te follows, the album's emotional core and, tellingly, its only track ever granted the
occasional radio spin, a plea built around difference and the wish to belong that carries far more tenderness than
its taboo subject matter might suggest.

- Il ritorno del signor K passes almost as a brief, unsettled interlude, barely two minutes long, a shadow crossing the
record rather than a fully inhabited song.

- Via larga continues in a restless vein, shifting between the band's folk instincts and its harder edges without
settling comfortably into either.

- Gil moves along a similar path, its identity harder to pin down than the surrounding tracks, content to remain one
more shifting scene in a record built entirely from contrasts.

- Vangelo? poses its title as a genuine question, religious certainty examined and found wanting.

- 40 gradi burns with a feverish intensity that its title only half explains.

- No! closes the record as pure, unapologetic defiance, a young generation's refusal of bourgeois convention
delivered with some of the album's finest keyboard work and a vocal performance from Fella that holds nothing
back, the last word of a band that clearly meant every one of them.

Heard today, Vietato ai minori di 18 anni still carries the charge of a record that refused every easy compromise
available to it, and paid for that refusal almost immediately. It is not a flawless album, certain passages ask more
patience than others, but its ambition, its honesty, and the sheer conviction of its performances place it
comfortably among the strongest statements Italian progressive rock produced in its golden years.

Rating: 4/5

BRAND X Unorthodox Behaviour (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1976)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 02:26:54 EST

Review by VianaProghead — Review N]]>�
Brand X is a British progressive rock band that was founded in London in 1975. Brand X was a jazz fusion band that
was active between 1975 and 1980 and had a hiatus from 1980 to 1992. The band was disbanded in 1999 and was
reformed in 2016. Brand X is one of the best, most original and well known British bands in the 70's of the jazz rock
fusion scene. Brand X started in 1975 as a "jam" band funded by the Island Records to keep track of their activity on
the studio schedule. The original drummer and vocalist Phil Spinelli and the guitarist Pete Bonas departed the band
after recording the first and disappeared/unreleased Brand X album. Genesis' drummer Phil Collins took over on
drums and, in the early of 1976, their debut album "Unorthodox Behavior" was released to coincide with an
extensive UK live tour.

Brand X released four studio albums in the 70's. Their debut studio album "Unorthodox Behaviour" was released in
1976. Their debut live album "Livestock" and their second studio album "Moroccan Roll" were both released in 1977.
Their third studio album "Masques" was released in 1978. Their fourth studio album "Product" was released in 1979.

So, "Unorthodox Behaviour" is the debut studio album of Brand X that was released in 1976. The line up on the
album is John Goodsall (electric, acoustic and 12-string acoustic guitars), Robin Lumley (piano, Fender Rhodes
electric piano and Moog synthesizer), Percy Jones (fretless bass, marimba and acoustic bass) and Phil Collins
(drums, percussion, tambourine and vibes). The album had also the participation of Jack Lancaster (soprano
saxophone), as guest.

In 1975 the city of London was the perfect melting pot to generate music of a stratospheric level and even in all that
decade. And although punk was already beginning to show its weariness towards the usual proposals at the time,
Brand X offered us their unorthodox vision. "Unorthodox Behaviour" was an album of smooth, elegant, soulful and
all instrumental jazz rock, totally different from the kind of jazz rock that was being offered by the Canterbury
school of progressive rock. This is jazz rock in the direction of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever or Weather
Report, but there are also allusions to the classic prog. Musically, it's at the very highest level. The album displayed
amazing group improvisation and counterpoint. The album is a fusion of rock and jazz. "Unorthodox Behaviour"
covers a variety of styles from melodic to energetic, and ethereal to mathematical. It's punctuated by the distinctive
characteristic playing of Jones and Collins balanced by the frenetic guitar work of Goodsall and the stylistic
synthesis of Lumley. But, the pillars on the album are the two members of the rhythm section. The bass and drums
have the most distinctive sounds.

"Nuclear Burn" is an amazing opener where Collins and Jones erupt in unison. Phil and Lumley enter to introduce us
to the song and Goodsall who, together with Lumley, exudes a wonderful solo. The 70's jazz fusion flavour is
perfectly audible. "Euthanasia Waltz" is much calmer. It follows the repertoire with a melodious and dynamic piece
that finds Goodsall playing captivatingly and where the acoustic guitar is the dominant instrument. Collins and
Jones' cuts are stunningly precise. "Born Ugly" is a groovy number where the band shares a bit of funk without
getting too far apart. It can be best described as an improvisation session with a structure. The middle part is a bit
psych as the band weaves large soundscapes with growing intensity. "Smacks Of Euphoric Hysteria" is probably the
least euphoric song in the all repertoire, but it's highly attractive too. It has a slow groove. There's an obvious
intention to give each musician the same time in the centre spot but Phil's drums are really in the front. The title
track is another piece that sounds like an improvised jam. It begins quiet and even hesitating and builds up a
tension that it's broken up suddenly by Phil's drumming. A dialogue develops between the guitar and the keyboards
and where bass and drums occasionally pop in. "Running On Three" is a piece where the band makes a rhythmic
melodic experience. It's a fast track where bass and drums play intriguing roles. Keyboards share the melodic work
with a guitar solo of rock in the middle. The overall impression is a jazz jam. "Touch Wood" closes this great debut
with delicacy where Lancaster's nuances with his soprano saxophone, the Goodsall's acoustic guitar and Lumley's
keyboards, fill us with warmth, especially at the end.

Conclusion: "Unorthodox Behavior" is a very well done instrumental debut album. You can feel that the musicians
are very much in tune with each other. There are plenty of excellent instrumental parts here. It seems that all tracks
were developed from jam sessions and structured later. You can hear typical jam-heavy fusion here, based on
rather short carrying riffs or licks. The songs have less of a fixed structure that is then easy to follow. We can say
that Brand X is definitely more for jazz rock fans than for the traditional progressive rock fans. So, if you like your
70's jazz fusion with catchy hooks and complex rhythms you will adore Brand X's "Unorthodox Behaviour". It
certainly set the tone for the band's subsequent releases. But this is the album that showcases them at the peak of
their humour and "innocence".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

ACHE Pictures From Cyclus 7 (Symphonic Prog, 1976)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:22:12 EST

Review by UMUR — "Pictures From Cyclus 7" is the third full-length studio album by Danish progressive rock act Ache.
The album was released through CBS Records in May 1976. It]]>�1971. There have been quite a few lineup changes since "Green Man" and only guitarist Finn Olafsson
and keyboard player/backing vocalist Peter Mellin remain from the lineup who recorded the
predecessor. New in the lineup are Stig Kreutzfeldt (vocals, percussion), Johnnie Gellett (vocals,
percussion, guitars), Steen Toft Andersen (bass), and Gert Smedegaard (drums).

Probably as a result of the changes in musical winds since 1971 and the major lineup changes taking
place, "Pictures From Cyclus 7" almost sounds like a completely different band to the Ache who
recorded and released "De Homine Urbano" (1970) and "Green Man" (1971), which were both organ heavy
progressive rock albums rooted in late 60s psychedelic blues rock but with a sophisticated touch
including classical music and jazz-rock elements. "Pictures From Cyclus 7" instead sounds like a
more progressive inclined Supertramp. The addition of several new vocalist to the lineup has
provided Ache with more options and as a result "Pictures From Cyclus 7" features a lot of vocal
parts, harmony- and backing vocals, and choirs, and they are very well performed.

Ache are arguably still on an international level when it comes to the quality of their songwriting
and the performances. Add to that a well sounding production job, and "Pictures From Cyclus 7" is
overall a high quality release. It may not appeal to fans of the first two albums, but fans of the
more polished and AOR leaning progressive rock albums of the mid- to late 1970s (artists like Saga,
Queen, Supertramp, Electric Light Orchestra, and 10cc) will probably find a lot to appreciate here.
A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

VARIOUS ARTISTS (CONCEPT ALBUMS AND THEMED COMPILATIONS) Wind of Change - Progressive Sounds of 1973 (Various Genres, 2023)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:07:34 EST

Review by Matti — If the 2-CD compilation Prog Rock and Beyond (that I reviewed a few days back) was an example of a poorly
done Various Artists set, here we have a total opposite. Esoteric Recordings, namely Mark Powell, has a long
experience in re-releasing vintage prog albums with careful and informative liner notes. In addition to the
artist-based, expanded re-releases, Esoteric has put out conceptual V. A. box sets, and progressing year by
year is one of those concepts. This 4-disc set concentrates on the year 1973, which still was a very good prog
year.

Instead of going through the selection with a massive amount of name dropping (you can form the picture of
the musical contents yourself simply by reading the track list), I will concentrate on pros and cons of the whole.
The outlook, the layout, all of that, is excellent. What I was missing again were the tracks lengths, but happily
they were to be found on Discogs. The 60-page booklet is very user-friendly. After the track credits comes
Powell's brief and up-to-the-point essay on the state and status of prog in 1973, dealing with the album format
vs. single, the music media, the prog oriented record labels. After that comes the artist by artist liner notes, in
alphabetical order, offering a basic but thorough career-spanning information of each included artist/band.
This approach is fairly wise, especially serving well those listeners who are not yet advanced connoisseurs of
the genre. The negative side of it is that the texts are a bit dry and always more or less the same from
compilation to compilation, as they don't really speak of the track choices themselves (which approach I have
appreciated on numerous V. A. sets released by other labels).

For a connoisseur these Esoteric box sets are actually rather predictable, especially if you have paid attention
to which prog (related) bands they have been re-releasing over the years. Borderline surprises are few and
easily acceotable, such as AL STEWART or JOHN MARTYN. Surely the set is missing even some big names such
as Genesis, Jethro Tull, King Crimson and Mike Oldfield, and the list of potential artists with releases from the
year 1973 would ubdoubtedly be long. In that respect, I wonder a little why several source albums are visited
twice in this set (by e.g. Camel, Caravan, Kevin Ayers, Arthur Brown's Kingdome Come, Spirogyra and Pete
Sinfield). All artists are British except PFM whose English-language albums were released by ELP's own
Manticore label.

Bands that I wasn't very aware of included HEMLOCK, PINK FAIRIES and STRAY. A delightful surprise was
ANTHONY PHILLIPS whose 1973 'Silver Song' - - featuring Mike Rutherford as co-composer and Phil Collins on
vocals - - has been released in an archival setting. It also must be said that there are plenty of tracks exceding
the ten minute length. And what could be a more gorgeous closing piece than RENAISSANCE'S 'Ashes Are
Burning'.

HESSE KASSEL Morir saltando (Post Rock/Math rock, 2026)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 23:04:17 EST

Review by XixoTheRock — With this new LP, released just yesterday, Hesse Kassel has settled, most likely permanently, their
musical identity, aesthetical approach and most importantly, their brand, ever since the release of
"La brea" in February 2025, the band has just grown larger and larger within not only the Chilean
indie scene, but the international as well. They've been awarded the Pulsar award for "Best new
band", have been reviewed and displayed in several magazines worldwide and have even made
controversial statements about politics which have drawn even more attention to them, it's natural
that now the band has a dedicated cult following.

Following the release of their single "Sancho plagio" during late April 2026, a part of me was
afraid that they would"sell out", boy as I wrong! That was their only single for this LP, and
although it foretold the direction they would take, the left turn still felt sudden, but
recognizable, a big feat for a relatively new band.

It's also worth noting and admiring just how quickly they were able to compose, play, produce and
release new material...their schedule has been bloody busy, touring, college, rehearsals...and yet,
they were able to put a record in less than a year and a half, this speaks wonderfully about the
capabilities of the members.

And to finish of this introduction, it's also worth noting that frontman Renatto Olivares, had
recently also released his solo EP "Aguas raras" which takes an interesting approach of traditional
folk music mixed with post rock and spoken word poetry, it's a high quality record I'd also
recommend checking out, preferably before listening to the record I'll review ("Morir saltando") now
as it highlights how insanely creative and efficient the boys are, and also highlights how they are
not afraid of making huge left turns while keeping their identity intact.

The first aspect I'd like to analyse, are the compositions. Parallel to their previous release, the
first track sets the tone immediately and is not afraid to violently take you inside the aura of the
record...what's the difference? "La brea" takes a more melodical, jazzy and math rock approach,
while this record immediately throws you to an aggressive, ritmical, industrial, Avant Garde
landscape. The compositions are intricate, complex and noisy, they have expanded more on this
influence they have addressed on interviews, the main characters will be Matthew and Eduardo with
their bass guitar and drums, the bass is overdriven, loud, aggressive and has the attack of a wolf
ready to hunt down it's prey, the drums are strident like an artillery regiment, complex and yet,
delicate, in the way thunders are. The main feat the composition have is their dramatism,
crescendos, loud sections, sudden halts and aggressive come backs, industrial noises, atonality and
aggressiveness are present throughout all the album, even on the "tamer" more melodic pieces such as
"El reflejo" and "Tulpa", they are not afraid to be uncomfortable and daring, Renatto shouts a lot,
and instead of delicate pianos like in la Brea, we have moody synth backgrounds. The album sounds
like a mix of post-punk, industrial, noise and Avant jazz, at times it feels like Coltrane's
"Meditations", if that doesn't say "high quality", I don't know what will. Creativity with
aggression, engaging uncomfortableness, dramatic without being overly bloated.

The production is also very clean, it highlights the clean sections very well and captures each
instrument individually and crystal clear, that's amazing for a noise album...the musicianship is
also quite strong, and Renatto sings much better than in previous releases!

The lyrics are of social critique and political protest, ir highlight "Profesan tu tierra y la horca
te ponen" ("They profess your nation and then will hang you"), this goes hand in hand with the
aggressive tone of the album...

This album is delightful, it's a must listen... seriously, do so, you won't regret it

IF Waterfall (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1972)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 16:04:30 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — The American version of July's United Artist Records release entitled If 4. only with a slightly different song selection
and order. Whereas If 4 contained six songs extracted from live performances (which may or may not have been from
dates from their April tour of Germany).

1. "Waterfall" (5:42) a slightly different mix of the little live hippie/Christian Rock-feeling song. The flute solo during the
middle instrumental jam is fun--with Dick Morrissey's vocalizations during his breath-catching breaks making me
smile--and David Quincy, Terry Smith, and John Mealing's tight rendering of the middle ground's melodies beneath are
awesome. Almost a Jethro Tull or Marshall Tucker Band feel. (8.875/10)

2. "The Light Still Shines" (5:06) a pop-melody-driven show-tune that sounds like it came from Canadian band
LIGHTHOUSE. Solid and dirty (which would be great in concert) with some nice vocal arrangements and stage imagery.
(8.75/10)

3. "Sector 17" (8:00) demoted from being the opening song on the UK/European release, this slightly different version
of the band's wonderful SOFT MACHINE-like Power Fusion jam with its great performances from guitarist Terry Smith
and Dennis Elliott. (18.375/20)

4. "Paint Your Pictures" (5:18) a Beatles/Nektar-like psychedelic show-tune with a great body and chorus. (9/10)

5. "Cast No Shadows" (7:30) another multi-part tune that feels way more studio-generated than the other songs
despite the poor placement and engineering of J.W.'s vocal as well as some poor sound collection from Clif Davies'
drums. The jamming here sounds a lot like what one hears in Hendrix/Cream land. (13.375/15)

6. "Throw Myself to the Wind" (4:42) a song that was composed by Dick Morrissey and his wife Barbara produces a
heavier, much more Clapton-like Blues-Rock tune. The highlight for me is the back and forth duelling going on
between Dick, Terry, and David. Nice THE BAND-like vocal harmonies accomplished by J.W. and John Mealing on this
live performance. (8.75/10)

Total Time 47:48

B+/four stars; an excellent collection of live performances of never-before-heard original songs. Too bad these guys
never caught with the radio DJs and audiences.

IF If 4 (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1972)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:41:50 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — Warning: This is a collection of recordings of songs that were extricated from some of the band's live concert performances (quite possibly all from the band's tour of Germany in April of 1972). The songs were selected and cleaned up for publication in three locations: London (UK), Memphis (TN), and Atlanta (GA) and then released by United Artists Records in Europe on July 15, 1972 (in Germany as If 4 (On Tour in Germany - April 1972)). An American version, entitled Waterfall, was not released until September.

1. "Sector 17" (10:34) a recording of a live stage performance, it starts out slowly with one saxophonist and John
Mealing's electric piano conversing minimally over space and time before being joined by the pulsing notes of Jim
Richardson's heavily-distorted bass and some small chords from Terry Smith's dirty electric guitar. As the band
congeals and shifts into gear the palette and style of the jam motif feels a lot like the work of THE SOFT MACHINE
around this same time. The second thru fifth minutes are dominated by Terry's guitar shredding and man! is he all
over the place: rapid legato runs, angry chord slashes, and everything in-between, all the while drummer Dennis Elliott
and the percussion crew and rhythmatists are flying at top speed over the rolling terrain--until 5:25 when a little
bridge stops the forward momentum allowing for the setup of a new motif (slowly building in both tempo and power)
in which the horns get their turn to scratch and wail as the rhythm section beneath recharges, re-builds, and releases.
Marvellous! Now this is Jazz-Rock Fusion (bordering on Power Fusion). (18.625/20)

2. "The Light Still Shines" (5:06) a pop-melody-driven show-tune that sounds like it came from Canadian band
LIGHTHOUSE. Solid and dirty (which would be great in concert) with some nice vocal arrangements and stage imagery. (8.75/10)

3. "You in Your Small Corner" (3:49) a poppy anthemic song with expanded contingent of (uncredited) background
vocalists (including females) which make it sound like a live/stage performance. (8.75/10)

4. "Waterfall" (5:27) another little hippie/Christian Rock-feeling song that has all the sound markings of a live recording
(including universal mics capturing the panned imagery of each band member's placement on stage). The flute solo
during the middle instrumental jam is fun--with Dick Morrissey's vocalizations during his breath-catching breaks
making me smile--and David Quincy, Terry Smith, and John Mealing's tight rendering of the middle ground's melodies
beneath are awesome. Almost a Jethro Tull or Marshall Tucker Band feel. (8.875/10)

5. "Throw Myself to the Wind" (4:51) a heavier, much more Clapton-like Blues-Rock tune in which the highlight for me
is the back and forth duelling going on between Dick, Terry, and David. Nice THE BAND-like vocal harmonies
accomplished by J.W. and John Mealing on this live performance of a song that was composed by Dick Morrissey and
his wife Barbara. (8.75/10)

6. "Svenska Soma" (7:09) back to instrumental Jazz-Rock (where I think the band really excels--no disrespect intended,
J.W. and John). A two part song: first with horns leading the way before everything switches to a three-chord rondo
that sounds like a Grand Funk Railroad-like motif in which John solos extensively on his organ. At 3:40 he's finished
and the band switches back into a faster-paced four-chord motif for Dick and David to trade solos. I love the
encouraging vocalizations from other band members in the background. (13.25/15)

Total Time 36:56

After several close listens I am prepared to declare that, yes, as suggested by the title on the German release, this is a
collection of songs gleaned from live concert performances. Despite the fact that all of the material performed (and
captured) here are original songs, I am not, as you may know, a fan of albums of live concert performances. Perhaps
I'm changing that.

B/four stars; an excellent recording of some great live performances of previously-unreleased, original pop- and Jazz-
Rock-oriented songs.

P.S. If 4 was never released as such in the USA, instead, a different album, Waterfall was released in September of
1972 by US Metromedia--and album that presented different mixes of four of the above songs, issued in a different
order ("Waterfall" coming first instead of "Sector 17"--which was moved to the album's third spot), 2. "The Light Still
Shines" and 5. "Throw Myself to the Wind" remained in their same positions while two songs were removed ("You in
Your Small Corner" and "Svenska Soma") and replaced, respectively, by the Beatles/Nektar-like psychedelic show-tune
with the great body and chorus, "Paint Your Pictures" (5:18) (9/10) and another multi-part tune that feels more studio-
generated, "Cast No Shadows" (7:30) (13.375/15).

WOBBLER Afterglow (Symphonic Prog, 2009)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 09:26:48 EST

Review by A Crimson Mellotron — Esteemed Norwegian retro prog band Wobbler released their sophomore studio album 'Afterglow' in
February of 2009, a good decade after the band's formation. The majority of the music on this album
is said to have been written in the early days of the band, as it features a very intriguing modern
recreation of the classic prog sound, in which the quintet combine seamlessly their orchestral/
symphonic leanings with a vivid folk-tinted sonority. Speaking of classic albums, this 2009 LP
features five tracks and clocks in at just under thirty-five minutes, making it the band's tightest
collection to date. This is also the last Wobbler album to feature original vocalist Tony
Johannessen, who makes a brief appearance in the second part of track two 'Imperial Winter White'.
'Afterglow' is definitely going to be a treat for fans of Yes, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, and
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Opening track 'Haywain' is a folky instrumental intro that gives way to the first of two longer
pieces, in this case the aforementioned suite 'Imperial Winter White'. With its intense fifteen
minutes, this track is a melting pot of pastoral symphonic soundscapes, sophisticated keyboard
pyrotechnics, and top-notch progressive folk interludes. The instrumentation is lush and ornate, and
the attentive balance between epic and serene is what makes this entire piece so compelling. Its
only "weakness" is the singing, which is not as convincing as the instrumental experiments on this
album, and perhaps is a bit off-hand on a record that is almost entirely instrumental. The shorter
piece 'Interlude' comes next, delivering a beautiful acoustic tone, and a somewhat magical interplay
between the bass and the cello. 'In Taberna' is the fourth album track, and its thirteen minutes of
upbeat keyboard-driven prog might be the overall best offering on 'Afterglow'. Riff after riff, Lars
Fredrik Fr]]>�analogue keys and synths, competently crafting a rich and delightful symphonic sound. Fifth and
final album track is the folky 'Armoury' that finely closes off the album.

Virtually the least popular Wobbler album of all, 'Afterglow' remains the most underappreciated
entry in the Norwegian band's back catalogue. In reality this excellent album is no less brilliant
than anything else they've done so far, which is why it is definitely worth getting into.

IF If 3 (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1971)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 08:36:35 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — Same lineup as the band's two 1970 releases. If 3 was recorded at Island Studios in the Spring of 1971 and then
released by United Artists Records in the UK and Europe and Capitol Records in the US and Japan in August and
September.

1. "Fibonacci's Number" (7:48) a Jazz-Rock instrumental that finds the band returning to the dynamic Jazz-Rock forms
and styles that they had unleashed upon the world with their debut album (but had veered away from with their more
poppy sophomore effort) only with much more sophistication, band tightness and maturity. Though this song sounds
a bit like it expresses far more originality than (13.75/15)

2. "Forgotten Roads" (4:26) a return to the vocal stylings they had concentrated more on during their putting together
of their second album, the music of this song retains all of the power, dynamics, energy, and high spirits of the best
Jazz-Rock stuff. Guitarist Terry Smith continues to evolve with his skills and proclivity for speedy, technically-impressive
solos. (8.875/10)

3. "Sweet January" (5:03) a slower ballad that sounds very much like something PROCOL HARUM could/would have
done. Nice doubling up from John Mealing on the organ and piano while Dave Quincy and Dick Morrissey both take
turns on both saxes and flutes. Nicely crafted pop- and stage-friendly song--one that represents the band's own
production choices. (9/10)

4. "Child of Storm" (3:50) a DEEP PURPLE-like organ-led motif opens this as the whole band congeals with it and J.W.
(now "John"?) sings above the horns, dynamic organ and solid rhythm section. There are elements of this song that
deserve superlatives while, at the same time, there are a few notable engineering and timing weaknesses, which
makes it really hard to rate. I really like this one despite its flaws. (9/10)

5. "Far Beyond" (4:59) opening with 15 seconds that sound a bit like 10CC's "I'm Not in Love" before we switch to stage
right where the solo piano takes control of the music with John's vocal, making it feel much more like a 1970 West
End/Broadway "showtune." It is a nice song, well constructed and emotionally engaging, but other than the "safe" rock
guitar solo in the third minute, it is nothing really exceptional. A piano rocker pop tune. I do, however, wonder if Jon
Anderson and YES ever saw (or heard) this band live as there are some familiarities to the music on Yes' second
album, Time and a Word. (8.875/10)

6. "Seldom Seen Sam" (5:04) dipping into the sound and stylings of American band CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
we have a solid Blues-Rocker that uses guitar and flute lines quite effectively to help form the matrix over which John
sings in his less-than-usual nasally voice. Terry's guitar work--which is highlighted in a prolonged "C" instrumental
passage--is quite in line with the stylings used by folk rock and Country-Western guitarists. (8.875/10)

7. "Upstairs" (4:44) heavy and thick with guitar and horn section power chords, the feeling here is like a cross between
CHICAGO, COLOSSEUM, and PROCOL HARUM--this latter is especially true during the instrumental passages between
John's vocals (which make up probably 80 percent of the song and are the best parts of the song). A rather dull, one-
dimensional song that is elevated significantly by the South African-like guitar and bass lines played during the
instrumental passages. Nice work from John Mealing on the organ as well as by Dave and Dick's saxes. (8.875/10)

8. "Here Comes Mr. Time" (4:45) this one cries out BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS with its Rock/R&B syncopation and steady
vocal performance and prominent horn section. Terry exhibits a fuzzy/distorted sound for his solo in the second and
third minutes. John's vocal performance in the second half begins to sound so much like JON ANDERSON (especially
with the application of those YES-like background vocal harmonies. A solid song but, like so many of the songs on this
(and other IF albums), I can see why/how it gets forgotten. (8.875/10)

Total time: 40:37

I'm so glad to hear the band returning to the jazzier side of music with this Jazz-Rock album release. I am, again,
continually surprised that this band is held together by one of the musicians who seems to have decreased his role in
the songs since their debut: saxophonist Dick Morrissey. Also, as solid of a singer is J.W. "John" Hodgkinson, his
weakness (and, probably, his ultimate forgettability) is due to a lack of that "something special."

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of skilled songs and performances captured with proficient engineering and
production showing growth and maturation but, like much of the music of its comparable Jazz-Rock representatives,
Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago, somehow lacking a necessary "it" factor to take them to the next level of
international stardom.

SEMIRAMIS Dedicato A Frazz (Rock Progressivo Italiano, 1973)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 06:55:50 EST

Review by Stefano61 — SEMIRAMIS - Dedicato a Frazz (1973)

There is a particular kind of ghost that haunts Italian progressive rock: the one album wonder, the single flare sent
up into the sky by a group of boys too young to know they were making something eternal.
Semiramis belong entirely to this species. Formed in Rome around 1970 by three fifteen year olds, keyboardist
Maurizio Zarrillo and his cousins Marcello Reddavide and Memmo Pulvano, the band found its true voice only when
Maurizio's younger brother Michele joined in 1972, a sixteen year old guitarist whose hands seemed to have arrived
from some other, later decade. Dedicato a Frazz, released the following year on the small Trident label, is the only
testimony they left behind, and it is a testimony of a very particular sort: a concept album, drawn from a story
written by Reddavide himself, about a clown who looks at the world without malice or calculation, who loves only its
beauty, and who, once that innocence collides with reality, chooses the rope.
On stage, in those brief and incandescent years of theirs, the band would bring a full sized gallows and hang a
mannequin dressed as their own keyboardist Giampiero Artegiani; the audience, moments earlier watching him
dressed exactly so, understood the joke was not entirely a joke. Even the title carries this same conspiratorial spirit:
Frazz is nothing but the initials of the players' surnames, Faenza, Reddavide, Artegiani, Zarrillo, Zarrillo, a private
code turned into a public riddle.
Commercial success never arrived. The record sank, the group dissolved in 1974 while sketching a second album
that would never be finished, and for decades Dedicato a Frazz circulated mostly as rumor among collectors, an
ultra rare object whose gatefold, painted by the English artist Gordon Faggetter, promised more than most listeners
could ever verify.

What they promised, it turns out, was true. The record moves with a nervous, theatrical intelligence that recalls the
circus far more than the concert hall, veering without warning from delicate acoustic and classical guitar interludes
into passages of genuinely heavy, proto metal riffing, years before that idiom had a name.
Michele Zarrillo's guitar work is the album's great surprise, alternately tender and violent, often locked in close,
combative dialogue with his brother's and Artegiani's keyboards, vibraphone colors drifting in and out like carnival
lights. There are moments that lean toward the pastoral clarity of early Genesis, others that snarl with a King
Crimson edged aggression, and the record's mood swings, sudden and unresolved, owe something to the same
emotional volatility that makes Van der Graaf Generator's Pawn Hearts so unsettling. And yet none of these
references quite explain Semiramis, whose particular insanity, to borrow a word more than one critic has reached
for, is entirely their own: a symphonic ambition pushed to the edge of derangement, held together by musicianship
far too assured for the ages of the people producing it.
Listened to today, in full, without interruption, the album still carries the vertigo of watching something being
invented in real time by people who did not yet know it could not be done. Few Italian records of this era ask so
much of the listener and reward so completely; fewer still leave behind, once the needle lifts, so persistent a sense
of having witnessed a small, strange miracle.

Taken scene by scene, the record reads almost like a small libretto for the clown who gives it its title:
La Bottega del Rigattiere raises the curtain among discarded, secondhand things, its long unfolding form setting the
wistful tone of the whole piece before the band's harder edges even appear.
Luna Park follows as the fairground itself, all glinting motion and gaudy color, the closest the album comes to pure,
uncomplicated delight.
Uno Zoo di Vetro turns colder and more fragile, its guitar lines cutting with a Crimson like severity against caged,
brittle keyboard textures, as if beauty here were already something kept behind glass.
Per una Strada Affollata pushes the character out into the crowd, restless and searching, a piece built on movement
rather than arrival.
Dietro una Porta di Carta withdraws again into a hushed, almost pastoral interior, its acoustic guitar and mellow
keyboards recalling the gentler side of early Genesis, a private room glimpsed before the final turn.
The title track, Frazz, gathers the record's tensions into its most exposed and emotional stretch, the moment where
the mask seems, briefly, to slip.
And Clown closes the circle where it must close, the performer alone again in his own name, the joyful and the
tragic finally shown to have been the same face all along.

Rating: 5/5 Highly recommended!

REGNA Cinema (Symphonic Prog, 2023)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 05:50:47 EST

Review by Hrychu — Regna's debut LP Cinema I found to be quite good if unremarkable. They've been described as a retro
70's influenced prog band. To me, though the 70's prog influences are definitely present, I'm
personally noticing much more upfront inspirations taken from the 90's and 2000's imitators of the
aforementioned genre like Anima Mundi, Spock's Beard or IQ and others. Particularly the organ sound.
It's so Martin Orford! I really dig that organ sound. But anyway, what makes Regna stand out from
the plethora of similar neo-symph projects is their sense of flow composition-wise, combined with
the attention to detail in the arrangement department. The instrumental and vocal parts sit
perfectly in their designated spots. Not even once did I feel like something was off or there was
too much stuff happening at once, when I was listening to the album. The performances aren't flashy
but they do the job. The guys know what they're doing. My personal highlights of the album are the
solo piano section near the end of Tangent and the staccato breakdown followed by a quite impressive
bass guitar motif around 5 minute mark in the 20+ minute epic Accolade. I thought those were a lot
of fun. The drums, the keys, the bass, the guitars, everything is played well, without signs of the
band being too amateurish or lazy for the genre they tackled.

But at some point, the demonstration of experience and competence hits a bit of a roadblock. If I
can name any downsides, it'd be the fact that a very large portion of the album is a little too
samey. It kinda drags. The band gets comfortably locked into one specific sound, they stick with the
exact same instrumentation for quite a while, and just jam, before they eventually move on to switch
things up. Some of those jams feel to me like they could've easily been trimmed. Also I wouldn't
mind had the band thrown in a curveball like a key change, a more complex chord progression, or some
odd time signature. The chord progressions are probably the biggest weakness of this album. The band
doesn't try to take their compositions just a little notch forward. The compositions, while they
have some truly superb moments, for the majority of the album's runtime, are too simple and
uninspired for the stylistic set of tropes that Regna was clearly aiming for. Also, the vocalist's
narrow range, both in terms of pitch and color didn't leave a good impression on me. His singing is
mostly very monotone, sadly. Because of that, I couldn't pay attention to the lyrics, at all.

So? Modern classic? Absolutely not. But still a rock solid, super enjoyable release.

NEAL MORSE So Many Roads (Symphonic Prog, 2009)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 05:32:42 EST

Review by wjohndavidson —
It's easy to become overwhelmed by the number of studio albums that Neal Morse releases, so adding in live triple
album might seem like a step too far.
This album however showcases Morse at his creative best. It has 'covers' of Spock's Beard and Transatlantic songs but
the heart of it is his more personal, overtly religious songs.
As a person who isn't all that interested in other people's religious sentiments, I was initially put off his solo work, but
when the songwriting (and performances) is this good it's a factor I am happy I took the time to 'look past'.
The highlights for me were Lifeline and the medleys of Question-mark and Testimony, that I'd previously not paid
much heed to.

The supporting musicians, although unknown to me outside this record, are phenomenal, delivering a nuanced
performance that honours the works of SB and Transatlantic.

Not 5 star essential - but definitely worth adding to your collection.

ADVENT HORIZON Falling Together (Heavy Prog, 2026)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 02:56:24 EST

Review by alainPP — "Advent Horizon"?a name inspired by "Event Horizon," that region around black holes from which nothing
escapes.

"In A Lone and Dreary World" is a sprawling heavy/prog-metal epic; it delivers atmosphere, riffs, and a meltingly
beautiful female vocal contrasted with an over-the-top male vocal (Carducci). It features a gorgeous melody and
everything that makes music thrill?from acoustic passages to death growls?creating a dynamic, structured
blend of modern prog metal and atmospheric rock, with Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater as key influences.
Kristen effortlessly brings a languid, dual-toned softness; the melody swirls and hooks the captivated listener.
Between the electro break, the addictive melody, and the ethereal vocals, everything flows seamlessly?
surpassing even Rush, thanks to far more pleasant vocals. The flamenco-infused break is a highlight, while the
growls remind us that prog is constantly reinventing itself! In short: a knockout track. "Faiths Window" is the first
of five shorter songs?a feisty pop-rock track tinged with a dark, melodic ballad feel. It features expressive synth
pads and lush guitar work that gives way to demonic growls?shouted in a style reminiscent of Dimmer Borgir,
Ihsahn, and Mercyful Fate. A frenetic crescendo builds the tension, before the synth and Kristen's counterpoint
vocals restore a sense of purity.

"Patience" opens with a superb Rush-style intro, featuring Rylee's wonderful falsetto and a roaring riff?pure joy
and emotion. There is a frenetic drum build-up and a grungy guitar oozing groove, leading to an instrumental
finale where keyboards and guitar blend into a melting harmonic finish. "Past Life Parable" begins with a fleeting
arpeggio introducing a velvety?dare I say angelic??vocal over a pop-rock track with an engaging chorus. It
culminates in a dizzying, spine-tingling finale driven by a spacey fretless bass line that raises goosebumps,
sweeping the listener away into an apocalyptic final riff. "Gravity I" opens with a Hackett-esque acoustic intro?
crisp notes and a drum attack that cuts through the air. The infectious solo and a prog interlude reach a fever
pitch on "Enchant," perfectly setting the stage for "Gravity II," which bursts in with declamatory vocals, a riff
reminiscent of Haken, and harpsichord-style keyboards. A thunderous crescendo builds toward a climactic break
and finale, momentarily suspending its flight with Rylee's soaring vocals?energetic, intense, and addictive.
"Animals" features a Wall-esque guitar arpeggio and flute, creating a melancholic nursery-rhyme feel enhanced
by meltingly beautiful vocals. The fretless bass works its magic, the acoustic guitar mesmerizes, and the electric
solo shines. The vocal melody imprints itself on your brain from the very first listen?pure bliss.

Advent Horizon has released a flawless album balancing tension and tenderness, power and intimacy; it plunges
into a modern, timeless universe, riding the waves of alternative rock and electro-post-metal.

JETHRO TULL Minstrel in the Gallery (Prog Folk, 1975)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:40:17 EST

Review by Fercandio46 — This is a very special album; for me, it represents a return to the band's epic compositional style, recalling Thick as a
Brick and A Passion Play. While War Child was an acoustic experiment, bordering on world music and featuring
orchestral arrangements, with truly beautiful songs, Minstrel in the Gallery was a work of true magnitude. It was
recorded at the Maison Rouge Mobile Studio in Monte Carlo and marked the final album to feature Jeffrey
Hammond on bass... yet the real focus is the music itself, recorded largely live by the quintessential lineup from the
band's classic era.

"Minstrel in the Gallery" has a Renaissance feel... it starts out acoustic, featuring that unmistakable flute sound, until
Martin Barre shifts it into hard rock; the band becomes as raw as possible without losing the precision that
characterized this era. It gives the impression that what we are hearing, or parts of it, originated from an
improvisation, as the earlier acoustic section is later reprised in an electric style. Ian sings just as he did during that
period: perfectly, sweeping the listener up in the epic wave the band creates.

The acoustic side of things reaches new heights on "Cold Wind to Valhalla", not least because nothing on this album
is purely acoustic or electric; styles are subverted and transformed, much like minstrels in a performance. Ian hits
impossible high notes, while Martin Barre plays guitar lines that evoke landscapes from bygone eras. Needless to
say, the rhythm section, Barriemore Barlow on drums and Jeffrey Hammond on bass, rises to the occasion, proving
themselves the perfect musicians for such complex material. Ian employs a classical vocal style with operatic
falsettos, yet also incorporates soul and, naturally, glam-rock inflections, lending a unique freshness to this fusion
of styles.

"Black Satin Dancer" is like a classical ballet; with the orchestra and guitar creating a cosmic sound, it serves as a
gateway to another place, another atmosphere. Each track comprised various parts and sections, yet they were
joined so seamlessly that the transitions felt natural, much like the integration of the orchestra with the band,
acting as just another member of the group. The composition itself was perfectly aligned with this performance
style, never feeling forced. There was room for psychedelic passages, moments that didn't aim for a specific
destination other than the sheer enjoyment of the instruments being played, alongside other, tightly constructed
sections that drove the composition toward its intended goal.

Diving into the drums, flute, and guitar, played at breakneck speed, we shift from a calm section to an aggressive
one, and then into the "Requiem"... featuring string arrangements by David Palmer that evoke Vivaldi; the Baroque
style was one of Jethro Tull's finest companions during this era, especially considering what they achieved by
blending it with their own music.

"One White Duck / 0^10 = Nothing at All", with its violin pizzicato and the song itself, is another acoustic gem in the
band's catalog, which boasts many such treasures.

"Baker St. Muse" is one of their final extended suites; composed of four parts, it takes on an even more
Renaissance-like quality with the orchestra. The band excelled at transitioning from violins and guitars to heavier
rock sections, and it is fascinating how they managed to make the organ, flute, guitar, and drums sound like a jam
session before circling back to the original melody.
"Nice Little Tune" serves as a classic bridge track, while "Crash-Barrier Waltzer" straddles the line between classical
influences and an almost country-like undertone in "Mother England Reverie", sung with great emotion by Ian,
before building to a rock finale that retains all the grandeur of their classical suites, evoking the conclusion of a
glamorous symphony... heavy... regal yet streetwise, much like the band itself.

REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA Lame di Luce (Rock Progressivo Italiano, 2022)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:08:28 EST

Review by Stefano61 — Fifty years is a long time to carry a name. When Pericle Sponzilli revived Reale Accademia di Musica in 2018 with
Angeli Mutanti, he made no attempt to resurrect the pastoral, mellotron laden sound of the group's celebrated
1972 debut.
Four years later, Lame di Luce, released on the eighteenth of November 2022 as part of Sony Music's Italian Prog
Rewind initiative marking the golden anniversary of Italian progressive rock, confirms that same choice, deliberately
and without apology.

This is a mature, song oriented record built less on instrumental display than on melody, atmosphere and a series
of lyrics that travel widely: apocalyptic visions, a Zen ascent of Mount Fuji, Burmese folklore, a slow train journey,
wounds that heal with time, and finally a medieval knight's farewell.
Ten tracks in total, eight on the vinyl edition and ten on CD, it is an album that asks to be listened to as a whole
rather than mined for highlights, closer in spirit to an intimate song cycle than to the symphonic suites of the band's
youth.

The lineup gathered by Sponzilli for this second chapter of the reunion era is a small, tight unit: Pericle Sponzilli on
vocals and guitars, Fabio Liberatori, formerly of Stadio and a longtime collaborator of Lucio Dalla, on piano,
Hammond organ and synthesizers, Erika Savastani, of Deserto Rosso, on vocals, and Fabio Fraschini on bass, with
Francesco Isola on drums and Danilo Pao adding Fender VI to three of the pieces.

Produced by Liberatori, Pao and Sponzilli himself, the record openly favors melody over technical display; more
than one commentator has called it progressive more in attitude than in form, and that description fits.

Vintage and modern textures sit side by side throughout: acoustic guitar arpeggios and Hammond swells share
space with sequencer led passages and a distinctly contemporary production sheen, while Savastani's voice, warm
and precisely controlled, gives the material a very different color from the narrative, almost recitative male vocal
that defined the original 1972 lineup.
On the closing track in particular, her phrasing has been compared to Mina for its expressive range, a comparison
that says a great deal about how far this incarnation of the band has moved from its symphonic origins.

The songs themselves reward close listening to the words as much as to the music:

- Onde di Sabbia opens the album gently, an acoustic guitar arpeggio soon joined by keyboards, painting a
dreamlike vision of a distant desire appearing like a mirage among dunes and waves of sand.

- Ascesa al Fuji follows with a spiritual ascent of the sacred Japanese mountain, its lyrics tracing the silence of the
climb, the fear of falling, and the eventual calm of watching the sunrise beside a friend.

- Due pietre preziose birmane is more ethereal still, built around the image of two fighting gemstones, an eight
legged dragon guarding the sky and a tiger representing the earth, a metaphor for the gamble between chasing
one's dreams in distant places and settling for the safety of the familiar.

- Lame di Luce, the title track, is the album's melancholic center: a man watches the sea from a home turned into a
concrete bunker, blades of light playing across the walls as he aims at an imaginary target on the horizon, haunted
by memories until the water turns from blue to blood red before the night finally restores its calm.

- Si parler]]>�trees that grow without bending, imagining a future where people talk instead of waging war.

- Una ferita da disinfettare turns inward, an introspective meditation on relationships reshaped by time and the
fading magic of a smile veiled by indifference.

- Ore Lente is perhaps the most quietly beautiful piece on the record, a chance encounter on a long, wintry train
journey next to a silent stranger, resolved in a single glance that finally melts the distance between two people.

- Incontri closes the vinyl edition, and stretches past seven minutes on CD, with a reflection on love as something
like art, a string of moments too precious to let fade.

The two CD only bonus tracks continue in the same vein.

- Ossessione is nervous and urban, a kind of metropolitan nightmare set to a lively tempo.

- Il Cavaliere del Cigno (L'Addio) closes the whole cycle on an ethereal, elegiac note, a farewell to a figure who
vanishes into deep water and can no longer love, but who is not forgotten.

My judgment: 4 out of 5.

Lame di Luce does not try to be the second Reale Accademia di Musica album that never quite existed; it is instead
a confident, well crafted work in its own right, one that trades the conservatory grandeur of 1972 for a warmer,
more contemporary kind of songcraft without losing the melodic sensibility and the taste for evocative imagery that
made the original band memorable in the first place.

For a prog rock collection built around Italian bands that dared to age gracefully rather than chase their own
legend, this is a genuinely excellent addition.

IF If 2 (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1970)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 11:25:33 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — The band must have put a lot of music in the can during the recording sessions that provided the material for the
October release of their debut because this album, their second, was also released within the same calendar year as
their debut! Thus the similarities in sound and production quality between this album and its predecessor. After the
band's debut album rose quickly in the charts--in both the UK and the USA--the record companies must have felt
rushed to take advantage of the window of popularity by pulling together this second album. And yet, the
musicianship and compositional skill on display here seem even higher than the fine material on the debut.

1. "Your City Is Falling" (5:04) my premise of prediction offered in the opening intro to this review may have just been
proved quite wrong by this song: the compositional demands of this song feel far more demanding than anything on
the first album and the musicianship feels quite a step up from nearly everybody but especially from keyboardist John
Mealing and drummer Dennis Elliott: the two are on fire! Quite the dynamic, even rousing, gem. A masterpiece of Jazz-
Rock Fusion. The only weaknesses come from the Grand Funk Railroad-like lyrics/subject matter and vocal (or perhaps
more accurately: the presence of vocals). (9.375/10)

2. "Sunday Sad" (8:18) Point Two in the disproval of my opening theory: the guitar tone selected by Terry Smith for the
opening of this song is quite different than the one he settled into over the course of the song sequence of the debut
album. The vocal and musical style presented here is very much in the wheelhouse of the great new emerging
American Southern Rock bands--like Buffalo Springfield, The Band, and The Allman Brothers as well as Grand Funk or
The Who. (17.5/20)

3. "Tarmac T. Pirate and the Lonesome Nymphomaniac" (5:12) reaching back to their Blues and Blues Rock roots we
have The WHO with Roger Daltry and BLIND FAITH as the would be targets for emulation with this one. Decent rock
but not really anything close to J-R Fusion. Nice Clapton guitar work, Terry! (8.75/10)

4. "I Couldn't Write and Tell You" (8:23) this one takes me back to Stevie Winwood's early days with The Spencer Davis
Group (parts of this song feel lifted straight out of "Gimme Some Lovin'"). The band is so tight, the musicianship so
well synchronized, it's almost enough! But, in the end, this is not the type of music that I run to. It is rather remarkable
how often J.W. hits a note and I find myself thinking that I'me hearing Roger Daltry or Stevie Winwood (which definitely
begs the question as to why this band didn't reach lasting international fame). I love the interplay between Terry's
speedy lead guitar note-play, Jim Richardson's bass, and Dennis' stick-to-metal percussion play during the fifth thru
seventh minutes. (17.75/20)

5. "Shadows and Echoes" (4:24) a little funky Soul music! I am impressed! This could easily have come out of some
Philly, Chicago, or even Motown studio--at least, that is, the first two minutes! Then, around the two-minute mark, as
J.W. winds up his singing portion of the song, the band high-tails it into the hills with jazzy instrumental passage of
breath-taking speed, but this, sadly, only lasts a minute or less before the band returns to a recapitulation of the A-B
sections for J.W.'s soulful finish. Fascinating! (9.125/10)

6. "Song for Elsa, Three Days Before Her 25th Birthday" (5:11) another bluesy WHO-like tune that stays a little more
grounded in the Jazz-Rock that made their first album such a different delight: In fact, knowing the band's history (with
sax player Dick Morrissey being the leader that holds the band together for as long as it did) how little solo or even
"horn section" time he and David Quincy are occupying on this album. At least they get this one song! (8.875/10)

Total Time 36:32

The musicianship and compositional acumen are on the rise but the direction away from both Jazz-Rock Fusion and
even Jazz-Rock has me feeling a bit disappointed.

B/four stars; an excellent collection of sophisticated Blues-Rock-based songs that show the band's movement more
toward Pop-R&B than Jazz-Rock Fusion (or even Jazz-Rock).

REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA Da Che Tempo � Tempo (Rock Progressivo Italiano, 2026)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:30:07 EST

Review by Stefano61 — Fifty-four years separate this record from the pastoral, mellotron-warmed debut that gave the Reale Accademia di
Musica its place in the canon of Italian symphonic prog. And yet "Da che tempo ]]>�Italian idiom for "as long as time has been time") does not arrive as nostalgia dressed up in new clothes: it arrives as
a closing of a circle. The lineup is completed by Elio Volpini on bass and the recently deceased Walter Martino on
drums, to whom this album is dedicated, since the recording of the title track was his last musical work. That fact
alone changes how one listens to this EP: it is not simply a comeback single, it is an epitaph and a farewell disguised
as a suite, and there is something quietly moving in a band choosing, at the end of a life, to return to the language
of its own beginning rather than to invent a new one.

On the purely musical side, the EP is deliberately spare: just two tracks, no filler, no attempt to pad a runtime. "Da
che tempo ]]>�composed by Pericle Sponzilli with lyrics by Massimo Altomare, while "Favola" is a new version of the song that
opened that 1972 album, performed by Sponzilli and Fabio Liberatori. The choice is telling on both counts. The title
track deliberately reaches back past the group's more recent, radio-friendly incarnations; after reforming in 2018
with "Angeli Mutanti" the band had settled into a style closer to accessible classic rock and pop, with short songs
and little room for instrumental extension or virtuosity, so hearing Sponzilli stretch a composition out past nine
minutes again, chasing the same kind of shifting movements and dynamic tension that defined "Il Mattino" or
"Padre" on the debut, feels like a genuine act of reclamation rather than mere revivalism. Altomare's lyrics, from
what the suite's structure suggests, follow the introspective, almost liturgical cadence typical of the original group's
writing: less narrative than meditative, built to breathe inside long instrumental passages rather than to drive them.

"Favola" is the more poignant of the two pieces precisely because of what it strips away. The 1972 original was a
full-band, pastoral piece built on interlocking acoustic guitars, gentle mellotron and a floating, narrative vocal that
critics have long described as bucolic and almost hypnotic in its warmth. Here, reduced to just Sponzilli's voice and
guitar against Liberatori's keyboards, the song loses none of its melodic tenderness but gains a kind of bareness
that suits a 2026 remake performed by two survivors of a band whose other founding members are, in most cases,
long gone from the project. It plays less like a cover and more like two old friends quietly finishing a sentence they
began writing in 1972.

The physical object reinforces the sense of occasion: the EP is limited to 150 copies on transparent red vinyl, etched
and pressed on one side only, which turns it into a genuine collector's artifact rather than a conventional release.
And its purpose extends beyond the vinyl itself: the same two tracks are also earmarked as bonus material for a
Japan-only CD compiling highlights from the band's two most recent studio albums, "Angeli Mutanti" and "Lame di
Luce", which places this EP at a curious crossroads between farewell tribute, archival curiosity and promotional
bridge for the Japanese market.

It is a small release in scale, only two tracks, barely thirteen minutes total, but a generous one in spirit. What it lacks
in ambition compared to a full album it makes up for in coherence: everything here points backward toward 1972
with real intention rather than convenience, and the shadow cast by Martino's death gives even the more
exuberant passages of the title suite a weight they might not otherwise carry. For anyone building a collection
around the classic era of Rock Progressivo Italiano, this is a genuinely worthwhile, if niche, addition: not essential in
the way the 1972 debut is essential, but a dignified and sincere coda to it, and a rare case of a reunion project
honoring its origins rather than trading on them.

Judgment: 4/5

SLIFT Fantasia (Psychedelic/Space Rock, 2026)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:43:55 EST

Review by alainPP — SLIFT, a deluge of notes for a telluric space voyage where musical matter appears as unstoppable radioactive
energy, the sound of 80s metal bands.

"Fantasia," a heavy and long intro with disturbingly shrill vocals, a desire to proclaim a better world? A misplaced
verbal rage recreates the live sensation, oppression mixed with the delicacy of the ethereal, hypnotic synth,
erasing this catastrophic beginning. The instrumental suite, with its rumbling bass and soothing keyboard,
brings serenity, but the vocals return and will assault until the very end. The thick, swirling guitar takes you far
away; the intense, heart-wrenching, deconstructed track with its apoplectic finale launches "Corrupted Sky" as a
secondary track on the shrill wave of vocals and guitar, the watery, crystalline, Genesis-esque keyboard of the
80s. The bass in Teutonic thrash style, the guitar solo pursuing your terrified ears; Canek hits hard and evokes
the metal territory.

"The Village" concludes this apocalyptic triptych, its haunting, raw vocals reminiscent of PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED.
A magnificent crescendo to headbang to until the end of the night, its compulsive feel recalling XTC's hysterical
"Complicated Game." It unfolds and increasingly resembles their signature sound. "A Storm of Wings" is metallic,
reverberant, with a screeching, aggressive vocal on a hard-hitting, stamped-on-the-blaze track. The song hits you
hard, fist raised and chest thrust forward, the old-school hard rock that played the tough guy when it was
actually a big teddy bear. The sharp sound, with ROGUE MALE in the distance, evokes a yearning for a better
world during the psychedelic-ambient break.

"Orbis Tertius" arrives, illuminating the air with its reverberant, exhilarating, and vibrant rhythmic foundation.
The lumbering psychedelic undertones swell, the radiant break brings grace and freshness, the spoken vocals
ideal. The aggressive heavy return, more doom than metal, surfs on NEUROSIS, thick and pervasive. Canek lets
loose, Jean rants, and only R]]>�dark psychedelic ballad with a composed, melancholic Jean, narrates the discovery of our schizoid world; the
build-up, using an arpeggiator, amplifies the sound.

"The Day of Execution" is a kind of 'Corrupted Sky' rehash for its crystalline synth texture flirting with GENESIS.
An abrupt track like an uncut diamond, offering the mantra-like psychedelic break where the tension swells,
swells, and explodes in a measured cacophony. Extreme progressive metal with a haunting final guitar solo over
vocals, vocals, in short. "Secret Mirror" in decadent, ethereal new wave waltz mode, reminiscent of The
Stranglers, Siouxsie, and The Cure. The solemn intro, with its bewitching bass, precedes the predictable fury, as
always. The alternation of these two amalgamated sounds reinforces the feeling of distress.

Slift and Fantasia, an imaginary city on the border between doom and stoner, its psychedelic drops and
pervasive riffs, its shrill vocals acting as a catalyst for our lost world.(3.5)

GRACIOUS Echo (Symphonic Prog, 1996)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:26:28 EST

Review by lemonadejoey — I like this third album from the remains of Gracious...
I need to mention firstly that the vocals that made the first two albums by Paul 'Sandy' Davis are gone. As well as the
Electric Piano / Mellotron which Martin Kitcat brought. Too Alan Cowderoys excellent electric guitar (he appears briefly
in the end of the first track).
Of two of these three gone I think some of the guitar work is suitable albeit different, also the keyboard work by Sev
Lewkowicz is fine, again albeit different to the style of Martin Kitcat.
The vocals however are quite weak, someone else should've done the vocals or they should've considered keeping it a
purely instrumental project.

To my understanding Robert Lipson + Tim Wheatley were approached by Centaur Discs to produce a 'NEW' Gracious
album. Alan Cowderoy felt like he couldn't commit to the project, probably because both sole writers of the bands
music before Martin Kitcat + Sandy Davis, were not involved in the project. Both Davis and Kitcat were in Germany and
America respectively, Kitcat was approached to collaborated but declined, Davis (apparently) was not even asked! But
one must speculate it was due to living away... Davis was also working on a solo project at the time so perhaps this got
in the way... Off the bat this CD lacks the writing which had made the band unique in their early days, which in my
opinion was the classicalness of Kitcat and the poppy melodic harmonicness of Davis.
To replace them both, Tim Wheatley asked his old mate Sev Lewkowicz (he had actually played previously with Sandy
Davis in 'Headwaiter') Tim + Sev have been in a folk rock band 'House' since the mid-late 70s, also involved in various
projects like 'Duffo'.

The music is much darker than the first two albums, but thats not a bad thing, theres glimmers of hope in the album
but its overall much more proggy and rocky compared to the OG Lps.
The highlights for me are 'Spring', 'Summer', 'Autumn', and 'Winter'. I don't know if these are intentional call backs to
the much spoken about (and unheard to date) four seasons piece composed by Kitcat and Davis called 'Opus 41'. Its
important to note however that this is completely original pieces written by Sev Lewkowicz, and very nice small pieces
they are, carefully tying together the tracks which make the album.
Another highlight is 'Faith', there are some weird twists and turns (certainly dark sounding) but I think the vocals are
really not bad at all.
'Mangroove' is a really "groovy" track. The bass really carries the track, and the keyboards subtly lift it, and then boom
a decent guitar solo from Stuart Turner.
'Cynic's Gate' is a last highlight for me, its kind of a call back to being young and on the road, and has some nice
progression, particularly the end is nice.

Its really not a bad album. I can see why some of the members (Robert and Tim) like to pretend it doesnt exist, sure it
doesnt carry the same cult following of the originals and its not really got the key distinctive sounds which made
Gracious sound like Gracious, for example I'm meaning Alans bluesy guitar, Kitcats Mellotron, electric piano and
classical esque sound, and Sandy Davis' vocal harmonies, melodies and acoustic guitar.
Overall though, this holds up against a lot of crap other prog bands released in the 80s and 90s, and if you're a fan of
Gracious its worth listening to as much as listening to Sandy Davis' solo pop stuff. It may not be the same but it carries
the same creativity.

KRAAN All In (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 2026)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 21:22:47 EST

Review by Stoneburner — Teaching old dogs new tricks?

That's not what's happening here. Kraan is one of those cult Krautrock bands, although they were less
adventurous than many of their German contemporaries. They started with a spacey, progressive sound on
their self-titled 1972 debut. Their second album leaned more toward hard rock with progressive touches
but was less adventurous than the debut. A year later, Kraan released a much stronger album, perhaps the
one that brought them out of the underground and made them known throughout Europe. More
importantly, they found the formula for their signature sound: a unique blend of jazz fusion, progressive
rock, and subtle Krautrock influences. In other words, Kraan sounds like Kraan.

After Andy Nogger, Kraan released 13 more albums, bringing their discography to an impressive total of 16
studio records?an outstanding catalog with far more highs than lows. And so we arrive at their latest
album, which, like their debut, is also self-titled: Kraan. The album doesn't present anything new; instead, it
delivers an entertaining record built around the band's classic sound. It features three original members:
Peter Wolbrandt (electric and acoustic guitars, vocals), Hellmut Hattler (bass, vocals), and Jan Fride (drums),
along with the excellent keyboardist Martin Kasper. Fride also designed the album cover.

Returning to the music itself, the album sounds like Kraan, and that's exactly what matters. With 12 songs
and nearly 50 minutes of music, Kraan is another enjoyable chapter in the band's long and remarkably
consistent career.

PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI (PFM) Storia Di Un Minuto (Rock Progressivo Italiano, 1972)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:35:10 EST

Review by Fercandio46 — From their beginnings linked to the Battisti-Mogol project, which aimed to modernize Italian music and saw them
leave their mark on recordings by Lucio Battisti and Mina Mazzini between 1969 and 1972, to taking their name
from the early 20th-century bakery ("Premiata Panetteria Marconi") where they rehearsed in the basement, and
serving as the opening act for Yes during the band's first Italian tour at Lyric Theatre of Milano in 1971... that is how
Premiata Forneria Marconi was born.

The magic begins the moment the first notes are Heard, the magic of true classics. The guitar, the Mellotron, the
mastery of silence, and the voice standing alone, singing in the language of opera. The bass and the flute... giving
way to an explosion of drums and Minimoog, pure symphonic rock, with raw, palpable lyricism. Franz Di Cioccio had
a distinctive way of playing the drums, syncopated, accentuating every moment of the song. Franco Mussida's voice
fills Impressioni di Settembre, accompanied by drum beats fit for royalty... and then, as the tempo slows, a song
emerges that feels almost like a street ballad, bohemian in spirit, a bold statement from the very start, destined to
leave a mark and set a precedent for this quintet that would truly make history.

With "E' Festa," the fusion of rock and symphonic styles continued, marked by a simplicity that makes it a prime
example of symbiosis, where the Minimoog crowns and joins the guitar, transforming the rock sound into classical
music without losing any of its energy or provocative edge.

"Dove... Quando... (Part I)" is so deeply imbued with the spirit of the Renaissance and Italian medieval music,
featuring a polyphony only they could achieve, that listening to it feels like stepping back into that era. This first part
serves as an introduction, presenting the same melody that the second part would later develop in a symphonic
style; that melody is revisited in "Dove... Quando... (Part II)" by the organ and violin, which sustain it in the air until
the classical piano bursts in, joined by the drums in a moment that felt remarkably modern, predating even the
time when Rick Wakeman had Bill Bruford play drums alongside the organ on The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

Mauro Pagani's violin joins the Minimoog on a low note until a saloon piano takes a jazzy turn; then, the vast Italian
palette, with its myriad colors, comes into play alongside the flute, forming a jazz trio with enviable swing.
Things turn atonal with the organ work of La Carrozza di Hans; the richness and variety of instruments at their
disposal offered so many interpretive possibilities, yet none of that would have mattered without their
compositional skills, it was the combination of all these elements that made the quintet work and allowed it to
deliver its best.

There is a Steve Hackett-esque classical guitar moment with Franco Mussida that then accelerates as they shift back
into a jazz style alongside the violin; that wild, Renaissance-era, courtly past resurfaces, it was in their DNA,
something these twenty-somethings carried within them, just like their generation as a whole, and they
demonstrated it through their playing and composition. Then they turn funky... and "Grazie Davvero" marks the
end of this auspicious beginning, the start of a bumpy, winding journey that would see them become one of the
peninsula's most beloved and memorable bands.

The orchestra and its wind section provided the final touch needed to conclude this debut with the grandeur it
deserved, masterfully composed, constantly surprising, constantly dazzling... the same notes brought to life by
piano, bass, and flute... and it matters not if rain falls upon us, as they sang there, because Premiata Forneria
Marconi will be with us forever.

ELDER Through Zero (Heavy Prog, 2026)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:32:46 EST

Review by Fercandio46 — Nick DiSalvo, the guitarist and leader of Elder, had stated in 2011 that bands such as Colour Haze and Dungen were
the ones that had prompted the change in direction for the band, which hails from Boston, Massachusetts.This shift
was already evident on their previous album, Innate Passage; the influence of those German and Swedish bands,
with their psychedelic and progressive rock sounds, left its mark on Elder, and on Through Zero, this is clearly
reflected in the compositions' instrumental progression. Progressive elements are more prominent, flowing more
naturally alongside space rock and heavier influences; rather than simply following one another, these elements
coexist as part of a unified whole.

The powerful dual-guitar setup featuring Nicholas DiSalvo and Michael Risberg is present on "Sigil to Ruin," yet the
album gradually reveals new nuances through the use of synthesizers, also courtesy of Nick, which lend the quartet
a completely different, yet perfectly complementary, sonic character.

Capture/Release incorporates electronic music elements, with the band members both playing and singing, evoking
a sense of interstellar travel, while moments of suspension create a psychedelic illusion; as with the previous
album, a key strength lies in the complex harmonies crafted by the two guitarists, harmonies so intertwined that
neither could exist without the other, like pieces of a puzzle.

Another defining factor is the presence of melodies and harmonies; in this way, the title track, "Through Zero,"
unfolds like a fruit bursting open and scattering its seeds. DiSalvo's vocal style reminds me of Chris Squire, and it
suits the music perfectly.

"Strata" pulses like a defibrillator, driven by oscillating guitars; then, as the tempo quickens, Georg Edert's drums,
locked in with Jack Donovan's bass, ramp up the tension. After an epic moment, the rhythm shifts again, bringing in
cymbals and a piercing guitar note, the kind that stays with you.

Nuances like those proposed by Sight Unseen evoke Krautrock, where technology and rock go hand in hand,
serving simultaneously as a line upon which to improvise; the acceleration of the synthesizer and drums also has its
purpose, and as the guitars join in, the highways of that progressive path diverge.
The ending, featuring Rhodes keyboard notes, gives way to the acoustic guitar of "Blighted Age," followed by
mysterious closing notes that crown an album as sharp as a rock, one that gleams brilliantly under both sunlight
and moonlight.

JOHN GREENWOOD First Day (Neo-Prog, 2026)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:09:38 EST

Review by tszirmay — Our favourite ex-surgeon is back with a third solo album that should cause shudders of joy across the progressive
universe. With luminaries like Roger King and Sean Timms on keyboards and the amazing Chester Thompson on
the drum kit, John delivers with guitar scalpel in one hand and microphone sutures in the other, a true master of
both, yet also incorporating a vast array of other instruments. Emma Bartsch handles all the lead female vocals
once again and, there is also a massive orchestra including strings, woodwinds and brass, a huge challenge that has
worked out in spades.

He seeks to anesthetize us with an opening epic infusion of cinematic dreamwork "Christmas Present" ticking along
for over 12 minutes, where John gets to regale a tale of holiday cheer, an overtly expansive progressive sleighride, a
jingle bell piano from Sean Timms Yuletide may seem to be the subject matter, a great time to be had by all with a
pulverizing prog soundtrack, now that is a gift that requires no ribbons! Truth be told, the piece is really about social
injustice, the divisions between those who have too much and those who want just a little. Superlative
entertainment, with glittering vocal gymnastics that blew my mind, ushered along by sumptuous keyboard and
guitar flurries, crackling embers burning in the adorned fireplace. The most unexpected opener, both in size and
content, still searching for my dislocated jaw (John, can you help me put it back in place, please?). The medieval
acoustic passage is simply astonishing, the orchestrations turning the moment into a magical ride that provides
nothing less that smiling revelry. For whom the bells toll. I could not help to be reminded of 'My Fair Lady' for some
not that obscure reason , I guess Eliza Doolittle and her father getting married in the morning had imprinted way
deeper in my soul.

Fluttering flutes introduce the bucolic "All Over", an opportunity to showcase some expert picking on the various
guitars, be it acoustic or electric, rhythm or lead. And yet, the mood veers into a romantic debate on quarrelling
relationships, that has all the usual suspects: passion, miscommunication, trust, jealousy and desire, often all-rolled
up into one massive labyrinth of hostile confusion. Yes, pain and regret are never fun. That is why they call it the
blues.

"The Girl" is as like-sized epic as the introduction, another whopping slice of intricacy and delight that reconnects
with the previous album's focus on "The Boy". Now it's her turn to bask in the spotlight, and Emma really takes
charge, once the narration by Mark Addy has set the stage. The orchestra establishes a dramatic melancholia that
defies description, solemn and sorrowful, where promises were broken, love abandoned. The lyrics are
extraordinary: "I'm Rising , as you begin to fall, advancing as you begin to stall, you chased a dream and so did I ,
and now it seems?.It's my turn to fly". The haunting mellotron combines with the pizzicato strings into a symphony
of liberation and impending freedom. Magnificently, John carves the outrageously gorgeous melody on his electric
guitar with impeccable concentration and exactitude. His piano playing is also noteworthy. A definite highlight track
on this album.

The following eight tracks should be viewed (or heard in this case) as the languorous "First Day" suite, a musical
treatise on the unfairness of life can be harrowing. I will let John explain : 'Starts with my first day as a doctor when I
met a young woman who it turns out was having her last day'. When extremes do collide, we tend to realize their
impact much latter, when all the fuss has subsided, perhaps even vanished, from our minds. That is when the
ghosts appear to remind us that nothing is forgotten, and everything is literally skin deep. Humans are and always
will be extraordinarily fragile. Our minds perhaps even more so than our bodies. Musically, the melodies are gut-
wrenching, the instrumental details way beyond even the slightest reproach, each segment a chapter in the never-
ending lives we all live, often intertwined with our leisure time and paying the price for it. The piano is in the expert
hands of the former Steve Hackett musical director, now that he has officially retired from touring (The King can
rest!). The various orchestral sections are utterly complicit in the overall sound, creating all the operating room
drama one might expect, the trials and tribulations of lives saved and others lost. Three violins, two violas and two
cellos can pack quite the wallop, nothing ever dragging on too long with sufficient beauty to dare to stop on a dime
on "The Last Room on the Left Part 2" where the electronic beep of life just flatlines, extinguished forever. Gulp!

Three delightful solo albums in, and its fair to say that the good doctor has certainly diagnosed his muse to
perfection, this recording will join "Dark Blue" and "The Boy" as yet another champion in his pantheon of creativity,
all highly rated by the critics and seemingly destined for many more inspired performances in the future. You can
take the mask off now, John, we are definitely cured and maybe, so are you.

4.5 revolving doors

VARIOUS ARTISTS (CONCEPT ALBUMS AND THEMED COMPILATIONS) Prog Rock and Beyond (Various Genres, 2017)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:48:05 EST

Review by Matti — What a strange (and failing) attempt to demonstrate "a wide range of music" known as progressive rock. I
have, out of sheer curiosity and a wish to expand my knowledge on lesser bands, borrowed and listened to
numerous prog compilations, and this 2-CD set must be the most oriented towards heavy (and frankly, not
always so progressive) stuff of the late sixties/early seventies, favouring edgy electronic guitars and Hammond
organ. The person who compiled this obviously likes hard rock, blues rock and jazz-rock tinged with
psychedelia, and doesn't care at all about the more delicate, classical music influenced prog. The band choices
are guaranteed to raise eyebrows of prog enthusiasts, both for the included acts and for the absence of
myriads of standout prog bands. The four-page liner notes are sometimes just ridiculous. (All words in my review
marked with "s are quotations from it.) The actual information on the tracks is rather inadequate. For example no
source albums are marked, only occasionally mentioned in those vaguely chatty liner notes.

There's Status Quo and TWO of the 60's line-ups preceding it! I don't hear much of prog, and yet "You'll witness
a world-class progression, if a definition of the prog-word is what you're looking for". Uriah Heep is
represented by two tracks, both of them good and quite well known. Eventually you'll get bands like Atomic Rooster,
Colosseum, Tempest, Blonde On Blonde and Quatermass. Often the bands with an eclectic output are
represented by a relatively hard rocking piece. Man (1969), for example. Perhaps the strangest pick is the 1970 "sepulchral version" of 'Summertime Blues' by Mick Farren (never heard of him or his mentioned band The Deviants).

There is a bunch of essential prog bands, and especially on them the liner notes and the offered information
are very haphazard. Is there really an ELP song titled 'Brain Salad Surgery'? Is Fruupp's 'Old Tyme Future' on
one of their albums, for I don't remember such song? The liner notes ask "who wrote epic prog anthems better
than Procol Harum" ('Conquistador', The live version with an orchestra), which is funny in a sense that the epic
side of prog is pretty absent altogether. I'm baffled by the VdGG choice 'Bunsho' (Live at Metropolis) since I
don't recall the source album, and also the composing credits (Andrew/ Banton/ Randolp) sound odd to me. I
appreciate the inclusions of Caravan (1970), Spirogyra, Titus Groan, Colosseum II (1976) and Comus (1971, and
yet a track NOT from their cassic album, right?). I would categorize Fire (1970) more into psychedelia than prog,
despite being "delivered by master musicians, later of the Strawbs stable".

The whole is very much British oriented, with a few exceptions: Amon Duul II (1969) and,
representing the newer times, Voivod from Canada and Tides From Nebula from Poland. Jesus, what a way to
expand the timeline, by including "an experimental thrash metal act" (the liner notes don't even mention they
are covering the Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd) and "a wonderfully far-out slab of post-rock noise", and Zoroaster's
"quasi-psychedelic take on doom metal".

The eighties are represented in an equally peculiar way. A quotation: "throughout the 1980s and 90s, The prog
flag was flown by a new (or at least, not old) group of acts. Among them were the mighty John Lee's Barclay
James Harvest, represented here by the John Lees-fronted variant of the two touring versions of BJH" - whaaat??
The other 80's pick is the early instrumental era of Twelfth Night, which is delightful as a very rarely heard
thing, but again one would wish to have informative liner notes instead of a vague mentioning of "neo prog (as
the new music was inevitably dubbed)".

So, I believe I managed to showcase the unorthodox and uneducated take on "progressive rock". If the
liner notes would have openly admitted the favouring of certain music styles and excused the omittance of e.g. the
more classic (symphonic) prog, the approach would be easier to accept. To a newcomer this set would give a totally false idea of progressive rock.

Did I get any happy discoveries? Yes, one. I had never heard of Woody Kern, but their flute-starring jazz-rock
sounds great.

IF If (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 1970)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:45:00 EST

Review by BrufordFreak — British Jazz-Rockers whose career lasted four years during which they were able to produce three very solid Jazz-Rock
Fusion albums, starting with this one. The band's debut album was released in the UK by Island Records in October of
1970, in the US by the Capitol label.

1. "I'm Reaching Out on All Sides" (5:14) a simple straight Blues song that the band tries to jazz up with its horns in the
fashion of bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago though one can definitely hear the influence of any band the
Steve Winwood has participated in by this time (The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith). The music slowly
increases in intensity over the opening three minutes, even as singer J.W. Hodgkinson sings in an Alex Ligertwood-type
or Roger Wootton-like sound and style, building up a and somewhat unsettling or 'scary' hypnotic effect, but then, in
the fourth minute, the two saxes appear with emphatic punctuation accents in the style and tradition of the famous
MEMPHIS HORNS to take us into an even-more psychedelic WHO-like motif (complete with a PETE TOWNSEND-like
singing voice). The effect of this two-person horn section is powerful enough to make me re-listen to the song over
and over to uncover how, in fact, the band is achieving such an impressive "full horn" effect. (9/10)

2. "What Did I Say About the Box, Jack?" (8:20) despite a dynamic and powerful flute-and-sax-led Jazz-Rock opening and
an ensuing "I'm a Man"-like organ chord progression over which composer Dick Morrissey performs quite a wild and
enthusiastic flute solo, the main body of this song is built over organist John Mealing's four chord minor blues
progression--a progression that was obviously borrowed from fellow Brit guitarist Peter Green's Latin-Blues songs "I
Loved Another Woman" (from Fleetwood Mac's self-titled debut album) and "Black Magic Woman" (which was
somewhat borrowed from John Mayall & The Blues Breakers' version of Otis Redding's "All Your Love" two years
previously), the latter of which first appeared as a single, released by Fleetwood Mac in March of 1968--long before it
became a household name via SANTANA's Abraxis album (both released in the Autumn of 1970). The Latinized minor
blues chord progression then becomes the support bed for guitarist Terry Smith's extended lead, the two-sax "horn
section"'s accents, and, later, some smooth sax soloing to take us well into the seventh and eighth minutes. I have to
say that I am impressed with the way these guys can cobble together a song! (18.125/20)

3. "What Can a Friend Say?" (6:28) switching to a slightly-muted guitar tone, Terry Smith gives us an excellent STEPHEN
STILLS impression on his lead guitar as the band establishes a very full, very dynamic Jazz-Rock motif for a vocal
performance that reminds me of MURRAY HEAD in the iconic role of Judas in Andrew Lloyd-Weber's Jesus Christ
Superstar. A very aggressive tenor sax solo takes over the lead in the middle of the song, presenting a very strong,
very spirited performance as the equally-inspired rhythm section pushes and propells the music along in quite the
BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS fashion. Again, a powerfully-designed and amplified Jazzed-up Rock song. (9.125/10)

4. "Woman, Can You See (What This Big Thing Is All About)?" (4:01) Side Two begins with another blues-based chord
progression and melody line that is elevated by speed and power of the musicians' dynamic energy. Solid and
powerful. (9/10)

5. "Raise the Level of Your Conscious Mind" (3:11) using the Jazz-Rock medium to elevate the spiritual wisdom of the
Hippie Age! It's as if the L.A. positivity is being taken over by the San Francisco blues-rock scene. I like the message: I
can see it being effective as a medium for gaining audience participation (which was, apparently, one of the band's
strenghts). (8.75/10)

6. "Dockland" (5:21) here again I find the band trying to tap into the social-political consciousness that musicians all
over America were trying to squeeze into: CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG and THE ASSOCIATION. It's good but now
feeling rather dated. The final minute shows the band picking up from one of their previous songs--where the vocalist
seems to want to sing about important things in a form most familiar to the radio world via the music coming from
West End/Broadway-like stage musicals. (8.875/10)

7. "The Promised Land" (4:31) the hippie spirit of consciousness raising is again felt rather strongly in both the lyrics
and the uplifting theatric/Christian music Singer J.W. Hodgkinson certainly comes across as feeling genuine in his
backing of the lyrics he's singing. Heck! The whole band continues to come exploding through any haze or lethargy
with their amazingly intrepid performances! (And, yes, I love the Stephen Stills guitar tone Terry has decided to settle
into over the course of the second half of the album--since "What Can a Friend Say?".) (8.75/10)

Total Time 37:06

The band was obviously made up of experienced, well-trained musicians, at the same time it is equally obvious that
they are rising out of the UK's well-steeped Blues/Blues-Rock scene. What I find most remarkable about the music on
this album is the songwriters' abilities to cobble together riffs, themes, and styles borrowed from or inspired by other
songs, bands, and musicians while rendering them interesting, layered, and each song multi-varied/multi-movement.
It's still a mystery to me how this band & production crew got the powerful horn section sound out of two saxophone
players!

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of Jazz-Rock that I'm almost ready and willing to bump up to masterpiece status
based upon the consistently upbeat power and force of its music and mature whole-band performances.

JAMES LABRIE Impermanent Resonance (Progressive Metal, 2013)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:44:28 EST

Review by A Crimson Mellotron — With the release of his third album, James LaBrie and his solo band established themselves as a
recognizable entity in the world of progressive metal. 'Impermanent Resonance' was released in 2013
on Inside Out Music, expanding upon the stylistic searching of its predecessor - 2010's 'Static
Impulse'. LaBrie is once again joined by guitarist Marco Sfogli (who would go on to join PFM),
drummer Peter Wildoer, bass player Ray Riendeau, and keyboardist Matt Guillory, practically
preserving the lineup that had worked on the aforementioned previous album. And truth be told, there
is very little separating these two releases, stylistically and production-wise. The listener is
presented with a very modern, upbeat, (and sometimes overproduced) modern metal that bridges the
progressive and alternative genres in a pretty successful, commercially inclined way.

'Impermanent Resonance', much like its predecessor, but perhaps more ostensibly, explores a melodic
death metal/metalcore aesthetic, with drummer Peter Wildore singing all the harsh vocals heard on
this album. The entire record is pretty song-oriented, and the extended use of electronics and fast-
paced synth leads reminds me of bands like Motionless in White and The Devil Wears Prada, who also
like to use lots of synths. This solo project from James LaBrie definitely separates itself from the
Dream Theater sonic trajectory, but the inevitable comparison between the two bands allows us to
understand that the melodic and highly digestible prog metal of 'Impermanent Resonance' is less
appealing than the sophisticated prog theatrics of LaBrie's main band. Nevertheless, this is a good
effort, on which I have found the songs 'Agony', 'Back on the Ground', 'Lost in the Fire', 'Destined
to Burn' and 'I Will Not Break' to be really enjoyable.

MARUJA Pain to Power (Post Rock/Math rock, 2025)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:37:54 EST

Review by memowakeman — Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

A wonderful album, overflowing with power!

I am one of those people who actually trusts the recommendations suggested by streaming platform algorithms,
because more often than not they lead me to real gems. That was precisely the case with Maruja. Their name
caught my attention, but their music completely blew my mind.

What this band from England delivers across eight tracks and fifty minutes is a carousel of sounds that move from
experimental jazz to hip hop, passing through alternative and progressive rock, all wrapped in a defiant punk spirit.
The result is a powerful blend of explosive passages and groovy moments that create an exquisite balance,
although your mind will probably linger on the most intense, noisy, high-energy sections.

'Bloodsport' opens in a frenetic fashion, instantly injecting you with energy. The raw, catchy bass lines and a vocal
delivery that shifts somewhere between Sleaford Mods and La Dispute set the tone. After a couple of minutes, the
saxophone enters, adding a mystical dimension. This is not a decorative instrument for Maruja. It is embedded in
their DNA and plays a crucial role in shaping their identity. They are masters at building tension, and when the
explosions finally arrive, you will want to stand up, move your body, scream, and jump into the mosh pit.

One could easily imagine that Maruja grew up listening to Rage Against the Machine, not only because of certain
musical and vocal hints, but also because of their rebellious and socially conscious spirit. This becomes evident in
the majestic 'Look Down On Us', a sublime composition that begins with tremendous energy and gradually morphs
into different sonic entities. At times it dissolves, at times it resurfaces, offering subtle instrumental passages close
to post rock that invite you to breathe and reflect on your life, the universe, and the context in which we exist. At
their core, Maruja possess a deeply emotional and thoughtful spirit, which they channel through both lyrics and
sound. Prepare yourself for the most moving moments, especially around the sixth minute of this track.

The song that led me to this album was 'Saoirse,' and I hold it very close to my soul. It begins delicately, almost like a
small jazz jam, with the saxophone taking the lead while bass and drums gradually build a subtle, nostalgic
atmosphere. The addition of violins adds beautiful color, and a soft yet profound voice delivers phrases we will
want to repeat and shout, such as "it's our differences that make us beautiful." That line carries not only musical
beauty but cultural significance as well. We are a world of distinct yet complementary individuals, and perhaps we
should see it through that lens of light rather than through the tyranny that too often prevails.

'Born to Die' is a ten-minute whirlwind of emotion that from its very first second establishes the protest driven soul
of Maruja. The song unfolds slowly yet hypnotically, with tension built through guitars and restrained saxophone
lines, while the voice declaims from deep within about the irony that we are all born only to die. Although the
tempo remains steady, emotional intensity steadily rises. New textures appear constantly, and there is a clear
progressive rock influence in the structure. With each cycle, the cry of "Born to Die" grows stronger. The drums
introduce increasingly complex figures, the saxophone continues to paint the atmosphere, and the strings inject
endless shades of emotion, together forming a controlled chaos. Just before the sixth minute, there is a pause, and
the initial structure returns, only to give way moments later to a more driving rock section filled with energy and
frenzy. It feels like the kind of catharsis we need if we truly wish to change the world.

With 'Break the Tension', a sense of collective strength and protest emerges. The vocals blend punk urgency with
hip hop cadence, supported by gritty bass lines, dynamic drumming, and a saxophone that can either build or
release tension at will.

We then move into another shorter piece, 'Trenches', which carries shades of Rage Against the Machine and
perhaps even Run The Jewels. It is easy to chant along with the hip hop rhythm and nod your head with force, while
the lyrics and instrumentation deliver yet another profound and powerful message.

'Zaytoun' is a four-minute introspective track where the musicians create layered textures and subtle noises that
form countless atmospheres. Those distant screams generate a sense of chaos, but also of hope. Everything is in
constant motion. It feels like a reflective interlude that prepares us for a powerful finale.

That finale arrives with 'Reconcile', a ten-minute closing statement in which Maruja encapsulate their sound in a
cohesive and compelling way. It begins with subtle passages that move between post rock and jazz, gradually
transforming into their other sonic faces, with rock, hip hop, and punk always present. The transitions feel
completely natural and never forced. The balance among instruments and the band's compositional and
performance skills are remarkable. It is a brilliant ending to an album that came to make noise, and one that
deserves to be celebrated and shared.

I truly hope I can see Maruja live someday. Until then, I will be eagerly awaiting their next releases.

DEWA BUDJANA Praguenayama (with Czech Symphony Orchestra) (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 2026)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:29:56 EST

Review by memowakeman — Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

What a beautiful release.

Dewa Budjana is one of the flagship artists of MoonJune Records, a musician I discovered during the previous
decade and who has kept me fascinated ever since, thanks to the sublime way he approaches the guitar. His
playing carries an exquisite cadence deeply connected to spirituality, creating a combination where, in the end, the
true beneficiary is not the body, but the soul itself.

For this EP, inspired by his family, Budjana decided to revisit five compositions and record them alongside an
orchestra. The chosen collaborators were the Czech Symphony Orchestra, with whom he achieved a marvelous
convergence that allowed everything to flow naturally and efficiently, as if the magic had already been present in
the atmosphere before the recording even began. While I have often mentioned that some albums can feel overly
long, here the opposite happens: this EP leaves us wanting more, simply because it is that good.

Everything begins with the delicious "Pranayama", whose seven minutes unfold with extraordinary elegance. The
piece feels highly visual, as the different instrumental textures and melodic figures easily transport the listener to
various imagined worlds. Naturally, it is Budjana's expressive guitar that guides the experience, but the orchestra
and the subtle percussive elements enrich the atmosphere with emotion and multicultural depth.

Interestingly, each following track becomes slightly shorter. "On The Way Home" carries a spiritual and somewhat
folk oriented atmosphere, with the acoustic guitar opening the path into new territories, while the wind
instruments become especially important this time around. The rhythm remains semi slow, offering a warm
embrace for the soul in a moment of contemplation and calm. Budjana's acoustic guitar work is remarkably clean
and elegant, yet never loses its emotional power.

With "Sasih Sadha", the music moves closer to classical territory. Of course, the presence of an orchestra naturally
evokes that feeling, but compositionally speaking, the piece genuinely leans toward a classical sensibility. What
makes it particularly interesting are the subtle electronic elements introduced throughout, along with the shifts in
mood and intensity mainly driven by the wind section. A beautifully harmonious composition.

"Dreamland" is one of my favorite moments on the EP. The bass work is exquisite, subtle yet memorable. The track
flows wonderfully, like wandering through open fields while appreciating nature alongside the people who bring
meaning and warmth into our lives. Its calm rhythm embraces the listener, guiding us gently, while every small
detail, every instrument, and every passage leads toward the same destination: pure satisfaction.

The EP concludes with "Karma", the calmest composition of all and a finale that truly feels like a farewell. It gives the
impression of having reached a long sought destination, as if, after so much effort, magic finally carried us exactly
where we dreamed of being. Good karma arrives here to embrace the soul, and Dewa Budjana together with the
orchestra knew perfectly well how to achieve it.

XAVI REIJA Xavi Reija Electric Quintet: Nu Breed (Jazz Rock/Fusion, 2026)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:26:12 EST

Review by memowakeman — Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

What a marvelous album!

I feel truly fortunate to discover music created by incredibly talented people from all around the world, and Spanish
composer and drummer Xavi Reija is undoubtedly one of them. With a long and respected career, and now a
familiar name within the roster of MoonJune Records, Reija has showcased his abilities across a vast number of
albums, whether as the main creative force behind a project or as a guest musician contributing his distinctive
touch.

Now, in 2026, accompanied by his Electric Quintet, Reija delivers "Nu Breed", a majestic work that, without
hesitation, has become my favorite release within his catalog. The album features an ensemble of top caliber
musicians, beginning with Dusan Jevtovic, another artist I came to know thanks to the MoonJune family, a
remarkably skilled guitarist who has built a wonderful musical chemistry with Reija. Of course, the success of this
record also relies heavily on the extraordinary talents of Bernat Hern]]>��and Rafael Garc]]>�

Reija has established himself as a true master of experimental drumming, incorporating elements from different
genres and techniques into his playing. While I may not have connected equally with some of his previous works, I
must say that from the very first listen of "Nu Breed", I was completely captivated. This is an exquisite release where
jazz, progressive rock, and avant-garde converge in a forty minute journey divided into eight compositions that
genuinely stands among my favorite releases of 2026.

Everything begins with "Dreamscape Room", a track that delights us with such a free and organic approach to
creating and sharing music. The quintet feels completely connected, as if their chemistry extends far beyond the
recording studio and into real life itself, because there is a beautiful energy and natural flow that fills both our ears
and souls with high quality music. I particularly enjoyed Garc]]>�
Rock enters the equation with "Are You Religious?", where the band clearly shifts toward a heavier, more intense,
and electric sound. This can be heard in Jevtovic's guitar work, but also in the attitude and interplay of the entire
ensemble. Naturally, Reija's drumming undergoes its own transformation as well, offering a masterclass in blending
rock, prog, and jazz through an experimental lens that feels both unique and unmistakably tied to Reija and the
MoonJune universe. This is one of my favorite compositions on the album, a track I deeply enjoy and one that
continues to reveal new details and emotions with every listen.

The title "Dusan Song" may serve as a clue to what lies ahead, or perhaps simply as a tribute to the quintet's
guitarist. Yet the piece is far from a monologue. Instead, it is a construction built equally by all five musicians,
perfectly reflecting the jazz fusion spirit they embody, along with that inherent avant-garde and experimental edge
flowing through their veins. Naturally, Jevtovic shines throughout several passages, which is exactly what one would
expect from such a talented musician.

And indeed, from the very first bass notes Hern]]>�into the piece. As the seconds passed and the rest of the instruments entered, that attraction only grew stronger.
Jazz fusion is present through elegant and fluid sounds that constantly evolve and challenge themselves, guiding
the listener into a wonderful multisensory experience. The dialogue between bass and drums is particularly
powerful, and although those were the first instruments to capture my attention, every musician fulfills an essential
role. That is why the saxophone emerges as a guide in certain moments, while the guitar hypnotizes us in others.

"We Keep Walking" opens with the progressive side of the band through Fosch's keyboards and the layers he
gradually builds, soon joined by drums, bass, guitar, and saxophone to launch another captivating journey. That
progressive fusion essence remains throughout the composition, filled with emotional highs and lows and an
endless display of figures and phrases from each musician, resulting in a piece that feels electrifying in some
moments and subtle in others. Another personal favorite.

With "Reflections", the palette of sounds and colors changes drastically. Here, the tempo slows down and the music
enters a more experimental territory where each instrument expresses itself with total freedom and without
barriers. I could describe this track as a sort of interlude within the album.

The title track, "Nu Breed", is absolutely delicious, a frenetic journey through progressive fusion featuring sublime
changes in rhythm and mood that can leave the listener in a state of exhilaration. I love the different rhythmic
figures Reija plays and the way he adapts his drumming whenever another instrument takes the spotlight, allowing
each musician to shine naturally and comfortably. In particular, I adore the passages where he works side by side
with Garc]]>�Fosch. Shifting rhythms, hypnotic atmospheres, playful moments, and raw power all coexist here. At times, the
spirit of Weather Report inevitably comes to mind, both individually and collectively. A magnificent composition.

Finally, the quintet closes the album with "Two Sides". I had been thinking it throughout the record, but this track
confirmed it for me: the spirit of Frank Zappa is also present here. The piece perfectly reflects the creativity
displayed across the entire album, carrying that progressive fusion essence infused with experimentation and
avant-garde sensibilities. Once again, I also sense the influence of Weather Report, which appears repeatedly
throughout the record. A wonderful closing track for a truly fabulous album.

Congratulations to Xavi Reija and company, because they have just released a genuine musical gem.