Katsionis. Bob - Imaginary force (2004)

The second album from this Greek keyboardist and guitarist.

Bob Katsionis on keyboards had got help from six other musicians who provided guitars, bass, toumbeleki, drums and vinyl scratching.

This Nightfall and Septic Flesh guitarist has so far released five solo albums. I only got his first two albums.

His debut album was hugely unimpressive. 

So it was a good idea to hire in some more musicians on the follow up album.

The album is still a keyboards and guitar hero album. 

Most of this fifty minutes long album consist of guitar and keyboards shredding in two hundred miles an hour. There is very little harmonies and slow tempo stuff here. Everything is ultra-fast or fast. 

And the music metal and not much else. There are some goth metal here too.

The result is a half-decent album which fans of shredding should check out. I am no fan of that genre at all. 

1.5 points

Univers Zero - Implosion (2004)

The eight album from this band from Belgium.

The band was expanded to an eleven piece big band on this album. The lineup was a drums, percussion, bass, guitars, accordion, keyboards, samples, violin, viola and woodwinds.

The band has come on in leaps and bounds since their debut album. Their music was really dark on their first albums.

The band has mellowed a lot on the more resent albums.

Implosion almost finds the band in a cheerful mood.... but only just.

The music has some darkness. But not as much as usual. The violins, viola and piano is up against the woodwinds here and they balance each others out in a nice harmony.

The music is still avant-garde chamber music and it has nothing whatsoever to do with rock music. It is still pretty melodic.

The melodies and the rather more avant-garde pieces are good and this forty minutes long album is a well worth listen.

This band has again delivered a good album.

3 points

 

 

Hyaline Grace - Hyaline Grace (2019)

The one and only album from this Canadian duo.

The duo is Katherine Bark (all vocals) and Tyler Martin (guitars, flute, bass, synths, drums).

The album is a Bandcamp album and a name your price album. The link is here.

The band is new to me and I do not know anything about them.

The music is very much female vocals dominated and the vocals is really good. 

The music is a mix of dream pop, neo-prog, goth metal and AOR. 

The album is forty minutes long and that is a good start and length for an album like this. At least for the likes of me. I like this new trend of shorter, punchier debut albums. 

The vocals are really good and dreamy. The music is not that good.

Nevertheless, this is a decent album and well worth checking out if modern metal is your cup of tea.

2 points

 

 

Hot Flash - First Attack! They'll Never Take Us Alive (1977)

The one and only album from this US band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, flutes and vocals.

A guest musician played piccolo flute on one song.

The music here is a bit............ United States of America.

Take a lot of US hard rock, add some US symphonic prog and AOR. Not to mention southern rock and country.

That is when you get an album like this. A forty-five minutes long album.

The music is rather flash with lots of loud guitars, vocals, flutes and keyboards. For some reason, this album reminds me about Disneyland in Florida.

The Disneyland idea of frightening people on those scary rides and making them happy with other attractions is fitting for this album.

The songs are not that good though. The quality is somewhere between decent and good.

It is an album well worth checking out. An album which smells of cheese.

2.5 points

 

 

White Willow - Ex Tenebris (1998)

The second album from this Norwegian band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, theremin, organ, piano, synths, mellotron, keyboards and vocals.

Three guest musicians provided flute, spoken words and vocals.

The band returned again with the follow up to the very promising debut album. 

White Willow is some sort of a symphonic prog band. But it is not symphonic prog as we knows it.

The band goes their own ways and that means some rather strange music.

I would label this album as a naked symphonic prog album. It is really sparse on instruments and the vocals is playing an important part here. Ditto for the mellotron who really adds a great deal of flavours and quality to this album.

The opening song Leaving The House Of Thanatos sets the scene and the tone here with it's really melancholic music. And the rest of the album is rather melancholic and naked too. 

The songs are good throughout. The quality could had been better though. But there is nothing wrong with the sound and the concept on this album. Better songs, and we may have had a minor classic on our hands here.

3 points 

SBB - The Rock (2007)

The 13th album from this band from Poland.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, harmonica, piano, organ, minimoog, synths and vocals.

A guest vocalist did the vocals on one of the tracks.

The band had split up and then reformed after a twenty years long break. 

The band released two albums a a reformed band before they released The Rock.

The Rock is a one hour long album and it takes us through a wide variety of music genres. From heavy metal, via symphonic prog, Middle-East folk music to more standards rock and indie rock.

The vocals are all in Polish and they are good too. The music works best with Polish vocals. 

The quality of the music leaves something to be desired. There is too much plain sailing rock here and the band is trying to branch out to the mainstream Polish rock scene.

This album is slightly dull and uninspiring, I am afraid.

2.5 points

 

 

Marillion - Holidays in Eden (1991)

The sixth album from this British band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, keyboards, bass, guitars and vocals.

I really loved their previous album Seasons End from 1989. That was the first Steve Hogarth vocals album and he impressed me.

And so did Steve Rothery on guitars too. I had previously thought that Fish was the main sound of Marillion. I was wrong. Steve Rothery's guitars is.

They are again very much present on this album and the big positive attraction on this album.

Steve Hogarth and the other musicians does their best too.

The quality of the songs are a pretty huge drop from Seasons End.

The music is meandering neo-prog which simply does not hit the right tones and melodies.

Half of this album is pretty good and the rest is barely decent.

I still rate this album but not as high as their first five albums.

2.5 points

 

 

King Crimson - Heaven and Earth (2000)

The 14th album from this British band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, warr bass, guitars, effects and synths.

This album is a left over album of ditties and tapes from The Construction Of Light album from the same year.

I am not entirely sure why this was not released as a bonus disc to that album instead of releasing it as a full album.

But they have gone for a full album and I feel a bit cheated now.

There are some decent stuff here and some bits of tapes which should have remained archive stuff and been released as a bonus disc or in an archives box. Not in an official album.

King Crimson has always been very eclectic and gone their own way so I guess this is the reason for this rather pointless album.

This is still a half decent album with some of the best musicians in the scene. Nevertheless.....

1.5 points

Hiatus - Avant Demain (1984)

The one and only album from this band from France.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and tenor saxophone.

I became very interested in this band when I found out that Progarchives had them listed as a zeuhl band.

The album was brought into my home office and then put up for review.

Zeuhl... ?? Yes and no.

Take some of the more weird structures from zeuhl and add a lot of jazz.

I would say three quarters of this album is avant-garde jazz and the rest is zeuhl.

In short, this is a pretty difficult listen even for zeuhl fans like myself.

The music is mid tempo and driven by the tenor saxophone with the bass in the bottom, hitting the pieces of music alongside the saxophone.

The music is at time atonal with shrieking saxophones.

The result is decent enough and a decent album. I get it but the album is a bit lacking in quality. Anyway, check out this album.

2 points

 

 

Horse - Horse (1970)

The one and only studio album from this British band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars and vocals.

This band has lately got a cult status and Rise Above Records re-released this album and some bonus material as the For Twisted Minds Only album back in 2016. A well worthy re-release.

The music on this album is hard psychedelic rock.

Add some of the 1960s beat and some hard blues to the mix too.

At times, they sounds like both The Animals and in particular; The Rolling Stones.

There is also a devil-may-care garage and punk attitude in their music and sound.

The vocals is not great. But it suits this pretty raw and hard music. 

The music is still pretty melodic though and some pop and beat sensitivities. 

The result is a decent album well worthy the re-release Rise Above Records has given it. Check out that one.

2 points

 

 

 

 

Iliad - Sapphire House (1978)

The second and final album from this US band.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, flute, English horn, oboe, grand piano, electric piano, synths and vocals.

Their debut album is a bit of a hidden gem in the scene and I was wondering if this too was the case with Sapphire House. 

In short, I could not wait until I sunk my ears and head into this album.

We are again getting piano and electric piano based fusion. 

There is some vocals here which is used as an instrument rather than as is meaningful vocals.

There is also a lot of pastoral, ambient music here. Some of it is not working too well.

 Most of this forty-five minutes long album is really good and it is a shame that this band only released two albums. 

Iliad is one of those lost bands.... lost gems.

Check out this good album.

3 points

Gospel of Death - We Are Only Here To Suffer (2020)

 

The debut album from this one man project from Canada.

This one man does the computers and some guitars and vocals.

The genre is funeral doom. A quite majestic genre I like a lot and I will try to introduce some more funeral doom albums in this blog this year and next year. They belong in this blog.

The album is a Bandcamp album and is available from here. It is a name-your-price album too.

The album is not an all-out metal attack. It has some ambience and some rather melodic parts too.

Most of all, the grieving pieces of music is rather grieving with a note of post-rock too.

This album is well over seventy minutes long and it may be some minutes too long.

It is still a decent to good album and well worth checking out. The funeral doom genre is alive and well. Just as I like it.

2.5 points

 

Warm Dust - Warm Dust (1972)

 

The third and final album from this British band.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, saxophone, flute, organ, piano, keyboards, synths and vocals.

This band was a quite good band with three pretty different sounding albums. 

This self-titled album take them home to a more conservative, safe type of music.

That is soul with a lot of jazz, blues and hard rock. 

The music really rocks off with some great vocals and the rest of the instruments. This is very much a blow out album which removes the ear wax in most people's ears.

The music is also pretty intelligent and has some prog rock vibes too.

This album is their best one and it really proves that this band was a good band. Indeed, their three albums deserves a visit.

This album is a decent to good album and it is a bit of a party album. 

2.5 points

 

Pineapple Thief. The - Variations On A Dream (2003)

The third album from this British band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, mellotron, organ, piano, synths, keyboards and vocals.

Three guest musicians added guitars, bass and backing vocals.

The band was an emerging band at this stage, not yet established. Their previous two albums had been OK'ish.

Their music is a mix of Radiohead and Marillion on this album. 

..... Or modern prog, a genre later taken up by the likes of Gazpacho and Airbag too. Just to mention those from the top of my head.

The songs are a bit on the epic, ambient side of the spectrum. 

The music pretty pastoral too.

The music is OK with a couple of good songs and some decent songs. This one hour long album needs a spark and it does not have that.

Hence my verdict.

2.5 points

 

 

Yes - Magnification (2001)

The 17the album from this British band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, piano, bass, mandolin, guitars and vocals.

The band had help from a full symphony orchestra too.

The band was trying to unite the fans they had got in the 1970s with the fans they had got in the 1980s and 1990s. The result was this album.

Alan White, Jon Anderson, Chris Squire and Steve Howe was the band on this album. 

It is pretty obvious from the first listening that their fans from the 1970s is those most catered for here. Or the fans they are trying to cater for most here.

The music is really complex at times. 

Unfortunate, this symphony orchestra is everywhere in the pieces of music here and it seems like the band does not trust the material enough on this album to let it breathe on it's own.

There is no keyboards here either and that is a miss.

This album is a half-way house.

That said, this is not a bad album at all. This one hour has some good stuff. But not enough for my liking and it leaves me mostly cold or lukewarm.

2.5 points

 

 

Hayward & Lodge - Blue Jays (1975)

The one and only album from this British duo.

Justin Hayward did guitars and vocals while John Lodge did bass, guitars and vocals here.

The duo had help from some guest musicians who provided drums, violin, viola, French horn, piano, keyboards and vocals. The band 10CC was also involved on this album.

Justin Hayward and John Lodge is the leading lights of The Moody Blues and this duo released this album when The Moody Blues went into a long, long break. 

This album is often regarded as the unofficial The Moody Blues album. Something that becomes evident when listening to this album.

The music is very much in their mother band's vein.

Soft symphonic prog with a lot of strings and soft vocals. The vocals are off course top notch and the pastoral music is based on them again.

The music is a bit too sugary sweet at times and reminds me about pop music before The Beatles blew apart that scene once and for all. There is not much rock on Blue Jays......

That aside, the music is really good on this album. A forty seven minutes long album that will bring joy to those who loves old style symphonic prog and The Moody Blues. 

Hayward & Lodge is again touring together as a duo..... was the plan before the Covid pandemic hit us.

3 points

Katsionis. Bob - Turn Of My Century (2002)

The debut album from this artist from Greece.

This guitarist and keyboard player had help from a drummer and a bassist.

Bob Katsionis is the guitarist in both Nightfall and Septic Flesh. Those two bands are both successful and good bands from Greece.

He has on his own so far released six albums in the fusion, metal and guitar shredding genre.

The music is a mix of metal and fusion. There is some folk rock from Greece and the Middle East included too on this album. There is also some ambient nodding off on this fifty-five minutes long album too.

Bob mostly uses the guitars, but the keyboards is underpinning the melodies too.

Both the keyboards and the guitars are shredding in a pretty fast speed.

I have to admit this not a particular interesting album. The music here is at best only half-decent. Hence the lack of enthusiasm from my side.

1.5 points

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Last of a Dyin' Breed (2012)

The 14th studio album from these US legends.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of drums, bass, keyboards, guitars and vocals.

Gary Rossington on guitars was the only original member left from their pre-airplane crash lineup... from the albums I have previously reviewed. But another member of the Von Zant family, Johnny Van Zant was now doing the vocals and Rickey Medlocke from Blackfoot had joined the band too.

This is the final album from Lynyrd Skynyrd, we are lead to believe.

So how did they sound in 2012 ? Not bad at all, in fact. 

Johnny is a very good vocalist in his own right. But he is no Ronnie Van Zant. 

On the positive side, the band maintains the Lynyrd Skynyrd sound and this album should not come as a disappointment to those who liked the original band. 

The music is in another words fully blooded southern rock. And the songs are pretty good too.

They are uncomplicated and catchy. This is party music indeed and the band and their fans is having a ball on this album.

The result is an album loved by many as it charted pretty high in USA and a good album in my view. If this is their final album, they have left us with their dignity intact and with a very likeable album.

3 points

 

 

 

Hanagaria - Court Of Hallucinations (2016)

The one and only album from this band from Israel.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, keyboards, synths, samples, programming, bass, guitars and vocals.

This is a totally unknown band to me and most others too. I have not seen any reviews of this album anywhere else. I may have not been looking hard enough to find reviews.

Their music is a mix of vaudeville rock, indie rock, jazz, Marillion, Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson and some chamber orchestra avant-garde rock.

The music is eclectic prog in other words.

It is also pretty melodic with some quirky melodies and themes during this fifty-five minutes long album.

The vocals are a bit atonal and adds a lot of colors to this album. Ditto for the organ sound.

I quite like this album and regard it as forgotten and undervalued. 

This is indeed a good album and one to be checked out by everyone into eclectic progressive rock.

3 points

 

Pharaoh Overlord - Zero (2018)

 

 

The ninth album from this band from Finland.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of bass, drums, synths, guitars and vocals.

The band was a side-project of the more famous Circle from the same country. I still think they are a side project of Circle.

What we get is raw cosmic space rock.

There is a lot of guitars here and a raw, death metal like vocalist. Which really suits the music.

The space rock is also very groovy with some disco influences. Yes, disco influences.

Some of the space rock is really fast and some is not so fast. 

There is a lot of melodic sensitivities in the music too and the band knows what a good melodic theme is and how to develop it into a good piece of music.

This band is well worth having a look into and I am pretty impressed by them. I may have to get the rest of their albums and a lot more Circle albums.

3 points

Spock's Beard - X (2010)

The tenth album from this band from USA.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, keyboards, guitars and vocals.

They had support from some woodwinds players, keyboardist and a strings quartet.

The band had by now been pretty settled in their sound. A sound that in a large degree has defined the new US symphonic prog genre.

US symphonic prog is what we get here. The music is bold and big. Ditto for the sound.

The music is sometimes hard and sometimes dissonant. 

It is epic though with some long songs. Symphonic too.

Spock's Beard delivers most of the same as they have always done on this album. It is one of many very good albums from this band.

It is always nice to listen to this band. At eighty minutes, this album has a surprisingly amount of misses too and music which is not up to their usual standard.

This is still a good album, but still one of my less favourite albums from this band.

3 points

SBB - Memento Z Banalnym Tryptykiem (1980)

The 10th album from this band from Poland.

The band was a quartet on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, banjo, clavinet, organ, keyboards, marimba, church organ, grand piano, moogs, melotron, harmonica and vocals.

SBB is probably the greatest Polish prog band of all times and has an impressive discography.

You never really know what you get with an SBB. Most albums are prog and fusion orientated. Some are not. Some are even pop and rock albums.

The band is on my track with this album. It is again an album which is ten minutes longer on the Metal Mind CD re-release and I strongly recommend that version instead of the LP as these ten minutes are very good to great and is rather essential listening.

The original forty minutes long album is a mix of symphonic prog with some folk rock and a lot of fusion.

ELP meets fusion and some folk rock bands. There are even some bars from Led Zeppelin's Stairways To Heaven on this album. Tasteful.

The vocals in Polish is very good. The sound too is very good.

There is a lot of great details here and that elevates this album to becoming a great album. An album you really need to check out.

This is one of the great albums from Poland.

4 points

Iliad - Distances (1976)

The debut album from this US band.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, organ, kalimba, electric piano, grand piano, flute, english horn and double bass.

This is a very obscure band from Los Angeles who released two albums and then disappeared again. 

That is a shame as at least their debut album promised a lot. I will review their second album later on.

The music here is fusion.

..But not quite fusion. The music is very much fusion as in Canterbury scene prog.

There is a lot of both Caravan and Soft Machine influences here. Caravan influences although the music is Canterbury style fusion. The reason is the quirky time shifts which is very much Caravan'esque.

The music a mix of uptempo, midtempo and pastoral fusion/Canterbury prog.

The music is organ and keyboards dominated with a strong support from flutes. This again also gives the music some folk rock and prog vibes.

There is a lot of cool details too and the music is overall good. Surprisingly good.

Iliad and this album should not be obscure. This album deserve a lot more attention. 

3 points

Grand Tour - Clocks That Tick (2019)

The second album from this band from Scotland.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Their 2015 debut album Heavy On The Beach showcased some good neo-prog in the vein of Abel Ganz and Comedy Of Errors.

The band has not deviated from this formula on Clocks That Tick.

Their take on neo-prog is still the 1980s and 1990s brand of neo-prog. Abel Ganz and Pendragon springs to mind.

The music is not particular muscular. The vocals is a bit thin.... but also very good. Joe Cairney's vocals is what they are and a great throwback to the neo-prog in the 1980s and 1990s. 

And so is the guitars too.

The songs are not as great as on Heavy On The Beach. I had wished a bit of an improvement on that album.

Nevertheless, this is a good album.

3 points

Gordon. Ian - Terminally Brave (2011)

The third album from this British artist.

Ian Gordon plays all the instruments himself. Bass, drums, guitars, synths, keyboards and vocals. The drums may be drum machines.

Ian Gordon's music is mix of heavy metal, progressive metal, gothic symphonic prog and neo-prog.

The music is big and bold. 

The vocals are really good too.

There is a lot of good details on this album too.

Some of the music is a bit dull and the music is pretty mainstream heavy neo-prog. 

The music is OK but it is still lacking some originality and some sparks flying.

This album falls somewhere between decent and good.

2.5 points

Gong - The Universe Also Collapses (2019)

The 24th album from these British legends.

The band was now a quintet with a lineup of theremin, drums, percussion, saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, synths, guitars, bass, harmonium and vocals.

The band had moved a long way from the early beginnings in Paris, France where the Australian citizen was stranded after being denied re-entry to United Kingdom. Hence, he also lost his position in Soft Machine and had to set up his own band.

The band was Gong..... and a solo career.

Daevid Allen left this planet some years ago and is not physically involved in this album. Spiritually.... that is another thing. 

Gong is more an idea than a proper band. The idea "Gong" is very much alive here and more alive than on most other albums. 

That idea also includes a lot of Steve Hillage's ideas he had in Gong. This album therefore takes us back into the early 1970s.

There is a lot of the Steve Hillage era Gong and solo career in the first piece of music here, the twenty minutes long Forever Recoccuring. A great piece of music.  

A shorter and whimsy track follows before the band goes off tangents again on the thirteen minutes long My Sawtooth Wake. A shorter track takes us to the end of the album.

Gong, the idea, is very much alive on this album and this is one of the best Gong named albums out there. Long live Gong and this concept and idea.

3.5 points

 

Gruppo D'alternativa - Ipotesi (1972)

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of bassoon, flute, drums, percussion, guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals.

This band has been described as a proto-RIO band.

I understand where that description comes from.

Takes the likes of Etron Fou Leloublan and that should give you a good indication where this band is in the musical landscape.

The vocals are off course in Italian and not in French. That is a big difference.

There is a lot of bassoon here off course and some good vocals. There is also some good guitars and the rhythm section is really groovy. The flute adds what it is worth too and it also adds some folky flavours.

The music is really avant-garde and RIO indeed.

A bit chaotic too. 

There is method in this madness though and fans of RIO will really find an album they will appreciate. I find this album a bit short on quality. Nevertheless, check it out.

2.5 points

 

  

Univers Zero - Rhythmix (2002)

The seventh album from this band from Belgium.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of percussion, marimba, bass, drums, keyboards, glockenspiel, harmonium, oboe, English horn, bassoon and vocals.

The band had help from some guest musicians who provided cello, piccolo, trumpet, bass clarinet, acoustic guitars and accordion.

The band has a long history and they released their debut album 25 years before the release of this album. Their output has been sporadic to say at least.

Rhythmix sees the band goes a bit lighter and more melody based than before. 

The music is very far from being commercial and easy listening. This is indeed still avant-garde and is nowhere near being classed as rock or pop. Not even progressive rock or jazz.

Avant-garde chamber music, it is.

The music use a lot of shade and light. More light than shade, it has to be said. 

These fifty-two minutes is never dull though and that makes this a good album. Even for those of us who are not entirely into their world. 

Check out this album.

3 points

Fatal Fusion - Dissonant Minds (2020)

The fourth album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of percussion, drums, flute, keyboards, bass, guitars and vocals.

Fatal Fusion's first three albums established them as a band to be reckoned with. So there was a lot of expectations in the air when they announced a new album.

Their brand of prog is a mix of heavy progressive rock, neo-prog and some folk prog. 

This is a heady mix much used by Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian bands. A mix that suits the culture and the nature of these three countries and the Scandinavian peninsula.

There is a lot of muscles in the music. Muscles provided by organ, flute, guitars and vocals. The vocals are beefy and raw. They are also melodic.

The four songs are all reasonably long, the longest one topping out at around sixteen minutes.

Easy listening, this three quarters of an hour long album is not. The music is really complex.

It is also a very good album where most of the ideas and melodies is working out fine. A killer track would have been nice. Nevertheless, this album confirms this band's position as one of Norway's finest.

3.5 points

 

   

King Crimson - The ConstruKction of Light (2000)

 

The 13th album from these British legends.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, warr bass, guitars, programming and vocals.

This album is a studio album with rehearsals recorded in garages and living rooms. 

Is it a proper album ? It has been described as a proper album and I have to take their word for it. Hence this review.

King Crimson is the genre-defining band in the Eclectic Prog genre. A genre with dissonant and leftfield music and bands. 

In most cases, on most King Crimson albums, that means very good and great albums. 

King Crimson revisits some of the great themes from their 1970s albums on this one hour long album. Nice rehashes of old themes, they are.

Sometimes, the rehearsals is just ideas thrown out there in the hope they will fly. In some cases, that does not happens.

The Construction Of Light, rehearsal or not, is still a typical King Crimson album with Robert Fripp's sonic landscapes and guitars. 

The quality is somewhere between decent and good throughout this album. It is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Gotic - Gegants I Serpentines (1978)

 

The second and final album from this Spanish band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of guitars, flute, keyboards, bass and drums.

This album was released in 2016 as a reworked version of the unreleased LP/album the band had intended for release in 1978. To avoid confusion about a comeback from this band, I have therefore put the year of the release as 1978.

Their Escenes album from earlier that year is regarded as a classic album. Not so much for the quality but for the sound.

The band continues down the same route again on Gegantes I Serpentines.

Lush concerto flute dominated instrumental symphonic prog.

There is a lot of both classical music and folk rock in their music. Music where keyboards and the guitars is supporting the flute, but are still playing an import part in the music.

The music is really flowery and lush.

There is also a lot of small details here well worth checking out.

Clocking in at almost forty minutes, this album is a good companion of Escenes and too deserve a place in a symphonic prog record collection.

This is indeed a good album.

3 points

 

 

 

Warm Dust - Peace For Our Time (1971)

The second album from this British band.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, timpani, organ, piano, woodwinds, vibraphone, harp and vocals.

The debut album was a pretty poor offering, a double album, of various genres. But I had hopes for this album and some improvements.

The band is still operating somewhere between blues, soul, progressive rock and jazz. 

There is some methods in their music and on this album. A concept album if I am not much mistaken.

There is a lot of narrations here and a symphonic prog structure. 

The vocals are good and some of the music is also rather good.

The music is dynamic and swirling in all directions. At thirty-seven minutes, this album is not outstaying it's welcome either. The narrations gives the album an identity too.

The music feels a bit dated in today's standards. Nevertheless, this is quite en enjoyable album and well worth checking out.

2 points

 

Greaves. John - Kew. Rhone. (1977)

 

The debut album from this British bassist. 

This album was a cooperation between him (percussion, piano, organ, bass & vocals), Lisa Herman on vocals and Peter Blegwad on guitars, vocals and saxophone. 

They had help from numerous people on woodwinds, violin, viola and vocals.

John Greaves has released sixteen album so far and most of them, if not all of them, are totally leftfield and has nothing to do with rock. Jazz and chanson is more in his direction. And it is avant-garde music too.

I am always up for a challenge but I will leave the rest of his albums to a later time... if ever. This of pure respect for John Greaves because Kew.Rhone is such a difficult album to understand. It is rumoured this is his most accessible album too........

The music is a mix of jazz, folk hall music, chanson and French folk music.

This is a concept album too. A thirty-seven minutes long album too.

There are some good music here. But this album has some avant-garde stuff I find a bit on the weird side. There is a lot of Van Der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammill comparisons here when it comes to the more melodic parts of this album.

It is a weird album and one well worth checking out. It is a decent album too and one heck of a challenge.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Greyfeather ‎- Greyfeather (2017)

 

The one and only album from this band from USA.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of bass, drums, percussion, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This band is a side-project of Izz, Iluvatar, Little Atlas, Farpoint and Cobweb Strange.

This should be an indication about the music. US neo-prog, it is and that is correct.

There is some symphonic prog and some americana here too. Add some AOR too.

My mind goes to Farpoint and that is a good reference. But fans of all the bands above would really feel at home in the music on this album.

There is a lot of good and long guitar solos here in addition to some good keyboards and vocals.

The music is OK and not pretty good.

I am not won over because the music is a bit generic. Nevertheless, this is a decent to good melodic progressive rock album. US progressive rock album.

2.5 points

 

 

White Willow - Ignis Fatuus (1995)

The debut album from this Norwegian band.

The band was an eight piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussions, bass, woodwinds, strings, mellotron, organ, moog, synths, piano, guitars, pipes, ebow and vocals.

The band was supported by ten guest musicians who provided a vast amount of different instruments.

I knew the mainman here, Jacob Holm, for a short period in 1993-95 when I, Jacob and Trond Gjellum from Panzerpappa lived on the same student dormitory in Oslo. Sogn Studentby, that is. Jacob and Trond ran their own prog rock fanzine back then while I was just sniffing around the prog rock scene. 

Both Jacob and Trond became popular musicians while I became an unpopular death metal record label manager and later dropped out of the music business altogether and emigrated to Scotland.

I have not had the pleasure of listening to any of the White Willow albums yet, 25 years after I should have been listening to and buying this album. I will therefore run through all their albums this fall and review them, album by album.

There is a lot of musicians involved in this album. It is still Jacob Holm's band.

The music is pastoral symphonic prog. Which came as a surprise to me as the album was released on a progressive metal label... Laser's Edge. 

I had not expected that much Norwegian folk rock on this album. The music is really in that vein while still being symphonic. 

The music is good throughout these sixty odd minutes. There is a lot to build on here for the band. I am in no doubts the rest of the album has done just that.

Check out this album.

3 points

 

 

 

Marillion - Seasons End (1989)

The fifth album from this British band.

The band was as quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band had help from a bagpipe player and a saxophonist on this album.

I am a big fan of the Fish era of Marillion and has for the last 25 years avoiding touching the Steve Hogarth albums. Which is the vast majority of the Marillion albums.

I have always wondered why there has been Marillion meetups around the Europe. Meetups dedicated to the Steve Hogarth era and not so much to the Fish era. 

I also happens to like the bands which is very much influenced by the Steve Hogarth era. 

So it is about time to investigate the Steve Hogarth era, the Marillion albums he has done.

.... Starting with his first album as the vocalist in Marillion. An album which is the follow up to one of my favourite albums of all time; Clutching At Straws.

Let me first say that Steve Hogarth is a great vocalist. Both on the albums, live and as a frontman of the band. His vocals on this album is very good. 

The band has scrapped the Genesis fanboy sound and that is probably for the best. I still love that sound... But their new direction is for the best of the band and the genre.

Are they still a neo-prog band ? Yes, they are that but I state that under a lot of doubts. And they are still the kings of the genre on this album.

The guitars are really good and a remainder that it is the guitarist Steve Rothery who are the sound and soul of Marillion.

I find myself really liking the songs on this album and I am more than accepting Steve Hogarth as the vocalist. He is different, but still great.

There is a couple of deadwood songs here. The album is bordering to great. 

This is indeed a great album.... OK, rounded up from somewhere between very good and great. I am still a bit surprised. But I get this new Marillion now and I am very much looking forward to listen to and review the rest of their albums.

4 points

Herd Of Instinct - Incantation (2019)

The fifth album from this US band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, chapman stick, percussion, keyboards, guitars, warr guitar, synth and piano.

The quartet had help from around ten guest musicians who provided warr guitar, moog, mellotron, organ, gong, violin, tambura, ebow and vocals.

The band continues as an instrumental quartet although there is a human voice here working as an instrument. But that only on one piece of music.

The band has become a lot heavier and has moved a lot more towards King Crimson on this album. 

There is a lot of small, but interesting details here too and that makes this album a lot more interesting than the previous album. 

We get fifty minutes here and that is fifty minutes who demands a lot from the listener. Although the music is instrumental, it is not easy listening music. 

It is indeed very technical music.

The quality is good throughout. I am not a big fan of instrumental prog albums. This band has some albums I quite like. Incantation is one of them.

3 points

Grannie ‎- Grannie (1971)

The one and only album from this British band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, flute and vocals.

The band was based in London and gigged the clubs in London from 1968 to 1973 without much success. They released this album and broke up after someone stole all their equipment in 1973.

I was expecting a hard blues band. I was mistaken.

Wishbone Ash is a good reference here. The music is a mix of rock, blues, hard rock and soft rock.

Rock in other words.

The guitars and the flute plays an important role here. Ditto for the vocals.

The sound and music has a garage feel as it is pretty loose. The sound is good though and not a problem at all.

The songs are decent enough and this makes this album a pretty interesting half an hour of listening... and then you want to give it another go.

This is an album well worth checking out.

2 points

Grand Tour - Heavy On The Beach (2015)

The debut album from this band from Glasgow, Scotland.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band consists of one ex Abel Ganz member and three Comedy Of Errors members. After the recording, all members of Grand Tour also became members of the re-vitalized Comedy Of Errors.

The music on this album is old style neo-prog.

Their take on neo-prog is very symphonic with several songs clocking in at well over ten minutes. 

There is some strong influences from both old Abel Ganz and Comedy Of Errors here. Fans of these two albums has probably already got this (and the second) Grand Tour album. Those who has not must get this album.

The vocals are good and the musicians does a good job. The sound is a bit thin and not so muscular as I would have wanted it. But again, this is music that sounds like neo-prog from the 1980s and 1990s. That is their style and chosen path. So the sound is therefore a bit light-weight.

The songs are all good but some great songs cannot be found here. That is my only gripe with this album.

Fans of neo-prog will get this album.

3 points

 

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors (1977)

The fifth album from this US band.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band had help from a female three piece choir and some guest musicians who provided dobro, bass, drums and male backing vocals.

This was the final album of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd before the awful plane crash who took the lives of the vocalist Ronnie Van Zant and the guitarist Steve Gaines. 

The band was never the same again.

The music on this album follows up the music they gave us on the 1976 album Gimme Back My Bullets.

That means southern rock with some rockabilly, soul, gospel and hard rock.

The music is as U S A as you can get. It is also songs based and based on having a good time.

It is music for the heart and not so much for the brain. It is not progressive rock or anywhere near progressive rock.

The guitarists are doing a good job and so is Ronnie.

The plane crash robbed us for a great band although some kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd is still around. It is still an acceptable band. But Ronnie perished in the plane crash and we all lost out on something great.

This is still a decent album.

2 points

Gong - Rejoice! I'm Dead (2016)

The 23rd album from these British legends.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, woodwinds, ebow, shakar, whistles, bells, keyboards and vocals.

Steve Hillage contributes with a guitar solo and three other members helps out on piano and violin.

This was the first album after Daevid Allen's passing. He is still credited as a member and contributes with vocals on one of the songs. 

Does the passing of Daevid Allen means this version of Gong is more of a tribute band than a proper Gong ? Not at all. Gong is much more an idea than a band around Daevid Allen. This and the next album is in the DNA of Gong and not a tribute. Gong anno 2016 and this album is the real thing. 

Rejoice I's Dead is very much following in the same path as most Gong albums. Take some spaced out rock, avant-garde prog and some jazzy rock. Add a lot of progressive rock and you get this album.

The musicians are all avid followers of Daevid Allen and is here delivering music in his spirit. 

And this album is a weirdo, funny and leftfield take on Canterbury prog. There is a lot of saxophones here and a lot of quirky melodies. Melodies which is good.

This one hour long album is indeed a good album and one Gong fans should be happy with. I am.

3 points

 

Pineapple Thief. The - 137 (2002)

The second album from this band from London, UK.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of programming, synths, keyboards, organ, mellotron, sample, guitars, bass, percussion, drums and vocals.

This band is well known to most people in the scene. This is my first meeting with their music if I am not much mistaken.

It is my intention to review a handful or more The Pineapple Thief album this autumn.

This is a very long album, clocking in at over seventy minutes.

The music is a mix of Marillion like neo-prog, shoegaze and some more traditional, modern rock. 

The music is pretty much in the same vein as new neo-prog from United Kingdom.

The songs are short. Some of the has some symphonic prog references. But not many.

The music is technical and complex. The music is driven forward by some good guitars and vocals in addition to the other instruments.

The music is somewhere between decent and good. I am not entirely won over by this album. But I am looking forward to sink my ears into their other albums.

2.5 points

Yes - The Ladder (1999)

The 11th album from this British band.

The band was a sextet on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, harmonica, bass, guitars, steel guitar, mandolin, keyboards and vocals.

The band was supported by a woodwinds ensemble and electronics.

The band was by now only a shadow of themselves and their releases was a hit and miss. Mostly misses.

I am not sure what the band was thinking here. I guess they wanted to please both their strands of fans. The old fanbase from the 1970s and the new fanbase they got with their massive hit Owner Of A Lonely Heart.

The result is an album which kicks in all directions. It tries to please everyone.

The music is though a mix of world, pop, rock and modern rock anno the 1990s.

The vocals is there but the quality of the songs are pretty poor. This despite of the musicians deliver some good work.

The direction of this album is wrong and the songs pretty poor. 

The result is a decent album with a couple of songs being half-decent.

I am not impressed.

2 points

 

 

 

  

Gotic - Escenes (1978)

The debut album from this Spanish band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of handclap, gong, drums, percussion, bass, mini-moog, organ, clavinet, piano, electric piano, guitars, flute and piccolo flute.

This album is one of the classic albums from Spain and the Spanish prog rock scene.

I was therefore looking forward to giving this and their second album my attention.

The music on this album is symphonic prog with a lot of folk rock influences. There is indeed a lot of fusion and jazz influences on this album too. 

The music is flowery and beautiful. It is also pastoral and full of light.

There is also some shadows and darkness to contrast the lightness of the music. 

The music is mostly done by flutes and keyboards. There are some electric guitars here too to make it more electric. The music is pretty much acoustic.

These thirty-seven minutes are really very good and I understand why this is regarded as a classic album from Spain.

Check it out and you will not be disappointed.

3.5 points

 

Wappa Gappa - Gappa (2004)

The third and final album from this Japanese band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

I have very much appreciated their first two albums. The band has something I find hard to describe, but who makes their albums well worth spending time with.

Gappa is sadly their final album. 

I would have loved to see this band develop and flourish. In particular with the very goods vocals of Ms. Tamami Yamamoto. Her vocals are really cool and jazzy.

We are again treated to over an hour worth of jazzy, melodic prog. There is a lot of neo-prog here too. The music has a Japanese flavour.

The vocals are in Japanese and that makes this album very refreshing. Ditto for the art-work.

The vocals floats on the top of some melodic guitars and keyboards. 

The music is good throughout this well over one hour long album. Something that makes me mourn the demise of this band..... Well, their three albums is to be enjoyed.

3 points

Gods Of Steam - Illuminate My Mind (2016)

The one and only album from this British band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

A handful of guest musicians helped them out on keyboards, bass and vocals.

This album has flown under the radar of the prog community. I am not so sure if it is progressive rock at all. 

There is though a very healthy amount of neo-prog here. Melodic neo-prog. Add some rock too and you get this album. The Beatles is not a bad comparison here.

The music is very melodic but has some teeth now and then.

The vocals is really good and the addition of some strings and Arabic female vocals is some good details.

I would even say this band has some talent and should give us at least another album as there is some good things well worth building on here. I am afraid they may have split up, though.....

This is a decent to good album and well worth checking out for those into melodic neo-prog.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Brast Burn - Debon (1975)

The one and only album from this band from Japan.

The band was a trio with percussion, synths and vocals.

Brast Burn is another Japanese band who went down the krautrock path. There is a handful of these bands and they were all short-lived bands. One-album-bands. All of them very obscure.

The band has the same setup as Amon Duul.

Very primitive krautrock in other words.

The forty-six minutes long album is divided into two pieces. Debon # 1 and Debon # 2.

The first piece is very primitive and on par with the first Amon Duul album. In other words, pretty poor.

The band expands their sound and music a lot on # 2 though where synths and some psalm like vocal lines is included. This is pretty good music. 

Do not give up on this album after # 1. The best part is # 2 and it is well worth checking out.

This is a pretty decent album and worth checking out.

2 points

Spock's Beard - Spock's Beard (2006)

The ninth album from this US band.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of timpani, drums, percussion, bass, guitars, sitar, keyboards and vocals.

The band was helped out by some strings and woodwinds on this album.

Spock's Beard has delivered some very good albums on their eight previous albums. My expectations before reviewing this album was pretty big.

This album is eighty minutes long. I guess giving this album a self-titled name is a way of saying a new start. I do not see much of that in the music. But there may be other factors here.

The music is again US symphonic prog. It is a mix of Kansas and Genesis/Yes. Between US and UK symphonic prog from the 1970s.

That has made this band into the standard bearer of the US symphonic prog scene. 

The band has become slightly more rock orientated on this album. The songs are a bit punchier. But not by much.

This is still mainly the good old Spock's Beard and this is a very good album with a lot of very good songs and details.

This album is off course one to check out and one to be enjoyed by all symphonic prog fans.... most of the symphonic prog fans, that is.

Spock's Beard delivers the goods again and this is why I rate them so highly.

3.5 points

 

SBB - Welcome (1979)

 

The ninth album from this band from Poland.

The band was a trio with a lineup of timpani, drums, bass, mellotron, moog, clavinet, organ, piano, guitars, harmonica, tubular bells, marimba, bouzouki, church organs, synths and vocals.

 

I am reviewing the original album from 1979. Metal Mind released an expanded version in 2005, doubling the length of this album. Go for that version as it is the only available one.

 

The original album is just over forty minutes long.

 

The band has gone up/down the symphonic prog route on Welcome.

 

The symphonic prog is very dense with some church organs and a big sound collage. It is a wall of sound throughout.

 

There is some good vocals here too.

 

There is some classical music influences here too and some fusion.

 

This music is not easy listening. 

 

Hidden in the cascades of sound, there is another good album from these legends from Poland. 

There is also a lot of interesting details on this album and that really makes it interesting.

 

Check out this album.

 

3 points