Archive for December, 2007

(Review from allaboutjazz.com)

While it’s called The Montreux Jazz Festival, it’s always made clear from the very beginning that it’s always been more than just jazz.

The 21st-century incarnation of Tull which, along with Barre, includes keyboardist Andrew Giddings, bassist Jonathan Noyce and drummer Doane Perry, is as flexible as any that’s come before. Whether it’s the elegant folksiness of “Life is a Long Song”, the strange amalgam of “Fat Man”, with Anderson on bouzouki, the pumping blues of “Some Day the Sun Won’t Shine For You”, on which Anderson proves he’s still got his harmonica chops from This Was, or the more progressive leanings of “Hunting Girl”, from “Songs from the Wood” album, Anderson’s choice of younger band mates has clearly been influenced by a need for perhaps the most stylistically diverse version of Tull to date.

There are some welcome surprises. Tull pulls out “With You There to Help Me”, from the largely overlooked Benefit, and it’s both reverential and contemporary, with Anderson’s flute soaring. His voice may have suffered from the ravages of time, but his flute playing clearly hasn’t.

While the band says the first half of the show as acoustic, the second electric, it’s not quite that clearly delineated. There’s nothing acoustic about “Hunting Girl”, which sits firmly between two instrumentals—Barre’s Django Reinhardt-esque “Empty Café” and the buoyant and slightly Spanish “Eurology” from Rupi’s Dance, which features Giddings’ accordion alongside Anderson’s lithe flute.

But the second half of the show is decidedly heavier, and also features more extended tunes, with the three Aqualung tracks and the episodic “Budapest”, from the “Crest of a Knave” album, all turning up the heat. Whatever deficiencies might be there in Anderson’s voice are made up for by the energy of his presence, his untarnished instrumental skills and the clean strength of the group. Barre has always managed to play a kind of intelligent metal when he kicks in the heavy distortion, and he remains a distinguishing asset to the band.

The album is testament to a group that, while having to adapt to a number of changes over the years, is still capable of putting on a fine show. Its glory days of releasing classic albums may be over, but with a set list covering its entire existence and continuing to reveal occasional surprises, it’s a group that still has plenty of life and validity to it.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica, vocals
- Martin Barre / guitar, flute
- Andrew Giddings / keyboards
- Jonathan Noyce / bass
- Doane Perry / drums
with
- Masha / vocals (CD1 track 9)

Track List:
CD1
01. Some Day The Sun Won’t Shine For You (4:20)
02. Life Is A Long Song (3:31)
03. Bourée (4:57)
04. With You There To Help Me (6:33)
05. Pavane (4:28)
06. Empty Cafe (2:37)
07. Hunting Girl (5:30)
08. Eurology (3:39)
09. Dot Com (4:43)
10. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (5:00)
11. Fat Man (5:25)
CD2
01. Living In The Past (6:59)
02. Nothing Is Easy (5:10)
03. Beside Myself (6:39)
04. My God (8:30)
05. Budapest (11:29)
06. New Jig (1:27)
07. Aqualung (8:02)
08. Locomotive Breath (8:36)

Links in comments.

Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Live, Martin Barre

Ozric Tentacles – Waterfall Cities (1999) (@320)

18 Dec 2007

(Review from dprp.net, progreviews.com)

Two years after releasing the wonderful “Curious Corn” album, the Ozrics were back in 1999 with “Waterfal Cities”, a new album with 7 tracks. The music by this band is very enchanting and conjures up lots of moods and mental pictures. At one time you feel like you’re a guest of the Japanase emperor, at another time you’re floating through the clouds, only to come down again in an oriental temple or a dance club.

Here is seven more windows into colourful worlds for all to wrap around the harmonic sensors. Instrumental pathways sprialling off into realms not often encountered but definitely conducive to free mind travel. A blending of natural and not so natural sounds to create places in which to dwell momentarily in a state of blissful otherness.

“Waterfall Cities” seems to avoid predictability as well as fad by introducing new sounds which develop the eccentric textures that have always been characteristic of the Ozric fold. The first two tracks invoke energy with a fury wholly new to the Ozric sound, and “Ch’ai” exhibits qualities of eastern traditional music, set to a groove which acts as the vehicle from which these foreign worlds are being sonically viewed. Even the quieter moments later in the record present a more dramatic and internally focused aspect of the Ozric output.

Line-up:
- Ed Wynne / guitars, synths, tendril manipulations
- Seaweed / synths, whoopz, fizzles
- Zia Geelani / bass, snapiness
- John Egan / flutes, twirlings
- Rad / drum poundings

Track List:
01. Coily (7:19)
02. Xingu (7:27)
03. Waterfall City (11:03)
04. Ch’ai? (5:03)
05. Spiralmind (11:40)
06. Sultana Detrii (9:17)
07. Aura Borealis (5:40)

Links in comments.

Ed Wynne, Ozric Tentacles

Morning Dew – Morning Dew (1967) (@256)

18 Dec 2007

(Review from progressiveworld.net)

Morning Dew’s selftitled debut is a solid album without one throw-away on the entire recording. There are moments of a heavier metal sound, but very few. The peace, flowers, and summer of love influence abounds throughout most of this album. For the most part the folk, rock, and psychedelic sounds are what dominates it, and a nice balance is managed with male and female vocals taking turns.

The musical style remains consistent throughout with the exception of one surprise, the closing track “Epic: The Mann/Death Is A Dream,” which starts off with a Spanish flamenco guitar and then launches into one of their rockers, it’s a step away from the norm and a nice change showing how the band was talented enough to go into an entirely different direction.

Line-up:
- Mal Robinson / guitar, vocals, bass
- Blair Honeyman / bass
- Don Sligar / drums
- Don Anderson / guitar, percussion, vocals

Track List:
01. Crusader’s Smile
02. Upon Leaving
03. Young Man
04. Then Came the Light
05. Cherry Street
06. Gypsy
07. Something You Say
08. Country Boy Blue
09. Save Me
10. Epic: The Mann/Death Is a Dream

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Jethro Tull – Christmas Album (2003) (@256)

18 Dec 2007

(Review from allmusic)

With a mixture of re-recorded old songs, Christmas standards and new originals, Jethro Tull, in a roundabout manner, captures the tradition, warmth, and bittersweet feelings that are inextricably linked to Christmas; at the same time, the group’s 2003 lineup recapture the musical intensity of three decades’ past, and build on the classic Tull mood of sardonic humor, wry irony, and fierce passions that permeated all of their work from Stand Up to Songs From the Wood.

With a generous use of unamplified instruments like mandolin, acoustic guitar, flute, and accordion, this album resembles the production found on Songs From the Wood and Heavy Horses. In fact, three tracks from those two albums were reworked for this release; “Fire at Midnight”, “Ring Out Solstice Bells” and “Weathercock”. Only “Ring Out Solstice Bells” appeared to be the obvious choice for a Christmas album, but given Anderson’s offbeat perspective of things, the other two tracks assimilate nicely.

In addition, “Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow” sounds like it could have emanated from those 1977 and 1978 recordings, as could “Last Man at the Party” from 1974′s War Child sessions.

Among the re-recordings, pieces such as “A Christmas Song”, that originally had orchestral accompaniment, are redone without it, in new arrangements, while others that were done without orchestra get dressed up with strings. From the traditional side of Christmas, Tull gives “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” a jazzy adaptation reminiscent of “Bouree” from Stand Up (which is also revisited on this recording) and “We Five Kings” sounds rhythmically similar to “Living in the Past,” particularly the bass guitar line.

In addition to Bach’s “Bouree”, the majestic Gabriel Fauré piece “Pavane” is included, which features guitarist Martin Barre’s exceptional acoustic playing. He also does a solo composition as the album closer, the deeply evocative tone-painting “A Winter Snowscape” (from his own solo album), which takes some gratifying turns away from the most obvious melodic direction.

The album’s overall mix of folk, jazz, pop, rock and classical elements carries it beyond the holiday listening for which it was intended, and is all woven together so skillfully as to make this an essential Tull album, their first in almost three decades and their most musically rewarding. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you can enjoy the music anyway.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / vocals, flute, acoustic guitars, mandolin, piccolo, percussion
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Andy Giddings / keyboards, accordion, bass, organ
- Doane Perry / drums, percussion (1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14)
- Jonathan Noyce / bass on tracks (2, 5, 9, 11, 13, 15)
with
- Dave Pegg / mandolin (3), bass (4)
- James Duncan / drums (2, 5, 9, 11, 13, 15), percussion (3)
- Sturcz String Quartet arranged by Laszlo Bencker (10)
– Gabor Csonka / 1st violin
– Péter Szilagyi / 2nd violin
– Gyula Benko / viola
– Andras Sturcz / cello

Track List:
01. Birthday Card At Christmas (3:35)
02. Holly Herald (4:15)
03. A Christmas Song (2:47)
04. Another Christmas Song (3:30)
05. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (4:33)
06. Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow (3:35)
07. Last Man At The Party (4:47)
08. Wheathercock (4:17)
09. Pavane (4:18)
10. First Snow On Brooklyn (4:55)
11. Greensleeved (2:39)
12. Fire At Midnight (2:24)
13. We Five Kings (3:14)
14. Ring Out, Solstice Bells (4:03)
15. Bourée (4:23)
16. A Winter Snowscape (4:54)

Link in comments.

Ozric Tentacles – Become the Other (1995) (@256)

17 Dec 2007

(Review from guitar9.com, progarchives.com)

Keyboardist Joie Hinton (who was in the band from the start), as well as Merv Pepler left the band. Two new guys came in, one was Christopher Lenox-Smith, better known as Seaweed on keyboards, and Conrad Prince, better known as Rad on drums.

Ozric Tentacles’ musical vision is one planted firmly in the heady days of experimentation, freeform jamming and musical exploration – the glory days of ’70s progressive rock. The final album on their own Dovetail imprint, “Become The Other” takes a fresh look at the Ozric sound, introducing a more electronic element in tracks such as “Ahu Belahu”, “Gehedengi” and “Wob Glass”.

Although the line-up had changed dramatically the Ozric vibe remains firmly intact. It is a prime slab of classic Ozric-ness and a firm favorite amongst their vast catalog.

Line-up:
- Ed Wynne / guitars, synths, samples, scapes
- Seaweed (Christoper Lenox-Smith) / synths, textures
- Zia Geelani / bass, castanets
- John Egan / flutes, various
- Rad (Conrad Prince) / drums and such
- Jim O’Roon / percussion

Track List:
01. Cat DNA (6:30)
02. Ahu Belahu (2:52)
03. Ghedengi (5:41)
04. Wob Glass (7:52)
05. Neurochasm (6:47)
06. Become the Other (6:25)
07. Vibuthi (10:50)
08. Plurnstyle (7:48)

Links in comments.

Room – Pre-flight (1970) (@256)

17 Dec 2007

(Review from wsr.org.uk)

Room had been gigging around their native Dorset for years before opportunity knocked at the end of 1969. The band came second in Melody Maker’s talent contest and the prize was a recording contract with Deram.

Somewhat staggeringly, Pre-flight – a complex work featuring heavy riffs, tight drumming, frenzied guitar solos and the powerful, distinctive voice of Jane Kevern – was recorded in a single day the following summer.

The band plays a quite rough, unpolished and guitar-dominated style of early 70′s progressive rock mainly influenced by jazz and blues, but they also give the music a symphonic side by using lots of strings and brass. Fronted by a female-singer, her voice fitted well into their often melo-dramatic and complex songs. The title-track and the instrumental “Cemetery Junction” are both solid progressive rock tracks in several sections, revealing a tight and technical very competent band. “Andromeda” shows the band from their most dramatic and grandiose side, while the more blues-inflected tracks “Where Did I Go Wrong” and “Big John Blues” are more modest and basic. The quiet parts of “No Warmth in My Life” tend to remind of Affinity, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

“Pre-Flight” is an album with lots of qualities and is well worth checking out.

Line-up:
- Steve Edge / Lead and Rhythm Guitar
- Chris Williams / Lead Guitars
- Bob Jenkins / Drums, Congas, Percussion
- Jane Kevern / Vocals, Tambourine
- Roy Putt / Bass, Artistic Design

Track List:
01. Preflight (8:56)
02. Where Did I Go Wrong (5:27)
03. No Warmth In My Life (4:34)
04. Big John Blues (2:33)
05. Andromeda (5:07)
06. War (4:33)
07. Cemetery Junction (8:32)

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Jethro Tull – Living with the Past (Live 2001) (@256)

17 Dec 2007

(Review from allmusic.com)

Perhaps there haven’t been that many live Tull albums, it’s been ten years since the last. This is a collection of new live recordings from 2001, largely taken from a performance at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in November.

What makes this particular live performance noteworthy is that they bring back several original members for guest appearances in something that will surely delight longtime followers of the band, which is really who this album is aimed at.

On that level, this works quite well. Perhaps the sound is a little too clean, with each instrument clearly defined and detailed, and perhaps the performance leans more toward the professional than the inspired, but it’s enjoyable all the same, proving that Tull remained a strong live band well over 30 years later — and for those who have followed them for years, this will be as welcome as a visit from an old friend.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / concert and bamboo flutes, vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, mandolin
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, acoustic guitar, flute (1-14, 18, 19, 21)
- Andy Giddings / keyboards, accordion (1-14, 18, 19, 21)
- Jonathan Noyce / bass (1-14, 18, 19, 21)
- Doane Perry / drums, percussion (1-14, 18-19, 21)
- Dave Pegg / mandolin, bass (15-17)
- Mick Abrahams / electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals (20)
- Clive Bunker / drums (20)
- Glenn Cornick / bass (20)
- James Duncan / drums (14)
- Brian Thomas / violin (13, 14)
- Justine Tomlinson / violin (13, 14)
- Malcolm Henderson / viola (13, 14)
- Juliet Tomlinson / cello (13, 14)

Track List:
01. Intro – 0:22
02. My Sunday Feeling – 4:00
03. Roots to Branches – 5:34
04. Jack in the Green – 2:40
05. The Habanero Reel – 4:03
06. Sweet Dream – 4:54
07. In the Grip of Stronger Stuff – 2:57
08. Aqualung – 8:20
09. Locomotive Breath – 5:26
10. Living in the Past – 3:27
11. Protect and Survive – 1:01
12. Nothing Is Easy – 5:16
13. Wond’ring Aloud – 1:54
14. Life is a Long Song – 3:32
15. A Christmas Song – 3:05
16. Cheap Day Return – 1:12
17. Mother Goose – 1:57
18. Dot Com – 4:28
19. Fat Man – 5:06
20. Some Day the Sun Won’t Shine for You – 4:13
21. Cheerio – 1:36

Links in comments.

Dave Pegg, Glenn Cornick, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Live, Martin Barre, Mick Abrahams

Jethro Tull – J-Tull Dot Com (1999) (@256)

16 Dec 2007

(Review from progressiveworld.net, dprp.net, progreviews.com)

Jethro Tull’s last album of the nineties sees them still very close to the stunning style of “Roots to Branches”. The Middle-Eastern influences are still occasionally apparent and this album has a harder edge to it than “Secret Language of Birds”, the Ian Anderson solo album released around the same time. The quality, though, has perhaps dropped just a notch.

From the opening notes of “J-Tull Dot Com”, you know that this is Jethro Tull – and not just down to Ian Anderson’s trilling flute. That heavy sound that is uniquely Tull (and Tull clones) burst through from the opening track, “Spiral”. The tracks are certainly diverse, ranging from the “Aqualung” like “Hunt by numbers” through the softer “Nothing @ all” to the semi-spoken “Hot Mango Flush”.

The album shows where Tull are after more than 30 years: they’re still fresh and discovering something new without forgetting their roots. Even if there are few jaw-dropping moments here, everything from the lyrics to the production is done with the elegantly competent style that has become Jethro Tull’s hallmark.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, acoustic guitar, bamboo flute, bouzouki, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Andy Giddings / Hammond organ, piano, accordion, chromatic and qwerty keyboards
- Jonathan Noyce / bass
- Doane Perry / drums
with
- Najma Akhtar back vocals on track 2

Track List:
01. Spiral (3:53)
02. Dot Com (4:26)
03. Awol (5:21)
04. Nothing @ All (0:56)
05. Wicked Windows (4:42)
06. Hunt By Numbers (4:02)
07. Hot Mango Flush (3:51)
08. El Nino (4:43)
09. Black Mamba (4:59)
10. Mango Surprise (1:16)
11. Bends Like A Willow (4:54)
12. Far Alaska (4:08)
13. The Dog-Ear Years (3:34)
14. A Gift Of Roses / Silence / Secret Language of Birds (9:37)

Links in comments.

Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Martin Barre

Ozric Tentacles – Arborescence (1994) (@256)

16 Dec 2007

(Review from allmusic)

Ozric Tentacles carries its mainly instrumental version of the Gong experience forward to new heights with 1994′s Arborescence. Instrumental prowess abounds. Ed Wynne’s guitar can best be described with two adjectives: swirling and Hillage-esque. Drummer Merv and bassist Zia lay down odd-meter rhythms with confidence and energy, and the way they mutate some of these long grooves is one of the most entertaining things about this record.

In fact, this is one of the things that Ozric Tentacles does best in general: creating legitimate, memorable song structures out of very little purely melodic material. On only a few occasions on Arborescence does the band provide the listener with some sort of melodic hook, with one notable occasion being the Arabic-themed melody to “Al-Salooq”. Rather, they prefer to insinuate grooves under your skin while guitars, flutes, and synthesizers dance gleefully around the rhythms. It is ambient music crossbred with alien dance music, and it is marvelous stuff.

Spicy, evocative, and hypnotic, Arborescence is an unpredictably joyous record.

Line-up:
- Ed Wynne / guitar, synth, weirdness
- Joie Hinton / synth, strangness
- John Egan / flutes, ghasps
- Merv Pepler / drums, percussion, postulations
- Zia Geelani / bass, rainmaker

Track List:
1. Astro Cortex (5:20)
2. Yog-Bar-Og (9:40)
3. Arboresence (4:53)
4. Al-Salooq (5:03)
5. Dance of the Loomi (5:14)
6. Myriapod (5:59)
7. There’s a Planet Here (6:39)
8. Shima Koto (6:25)

Link in comments.

Brainstorm – Bremen (Live 1973) (@256)

16 Dec 2007

13 comments

(Review from progressiveworld.net)

In 1973 the German jazz-rock band Brainstorm played live on a “rainy Saturday outside the machine shed of the Bremen College Of Technology”, a show that was broadcast live by Radio Bremen as part of their “Jazz Live” show.

What stands out about Brainstorm live are the flute and saxophone passages that are all over the place. The band plays mainly material from their second album, “Second Smile”, with three tracks from their debut “Smile A While”. “You’re The One” is the track that starts out sounding as if they’re going to break into a rendition of “Feeling Alright”.

“My Way” rolls right into a heavy, fusiony jam. Schaeffer gets a little more torchy for the latter half of this piece, as the rhythm slows down, gets a little sultry and laid back.

“There Was A Time” begins with a flurry of notes being played, like a little tornado twirling through, before what remains behind slowly resolves itself to late night jazz before coalescing into something a little less “freeform” — extending to more than 14 minutes. “Hirmwind”, which comes two tracks later, goes from having been a 5-plus minute studio version to here a 21 minute live version. The spaciness of the studio version is only partially present here in the live setting, Dernov’s bass back in the mix until about the 3 minute mark. Of course, the time is lengthened by solos, including the obligatory drum solo.

If you like noodly jazz, and want to hear it performed in a live setting, then Bremen 1973 is the album to get. As a live recording, the sound is very, very good. Aside from the live feel and the obvious audience applause between pieces, you’d not really know it was live. The vocal performance on “Marilyn Monroe” is a bit weak and recorded quietly, but the music otherwise comes through. Each instrument can be clearly heard, each cymbal crash, keyboard note, each throb of the bass, etc.

Line-up:
* Roland Schaeffer – vocals, clarinet, guitar, saxophone
* Eddy Von Overheidt – keyboards
* Rainer Bodensohn – flute, bass
* Enno Demov – bass, guitar
* Jo Koinzer – drums

Track List:
01. Zwick zwick (5:28)
02. Das Schwein trügt (5:01)
03. You’re the one (5:19)
04. My way (9:54)
05. There was a time… (14:24)
06. Affenzahn (5:08)
07. Hirnwind (21:02)
08. Marilyn Monroe (9:45)
09. Snakeskin Tango (2:35)

Links in comments.

Brainstorm, Live

Ozric Tentacles – Strangeitude (1991) (@256)

15 Dec 2007

(Review from guitar9.com, allmusic, dprp.net)

Ozric Tentacles took this moment in their career to take their folk tendencies, add a heaping dose of weirdness, and connect it all with a dash of the emerging electronica scene to create a wildly experimental yet highly accessible sound that was all their own.

The instrumentation is essentially guitar, bass, synths and drums with the occasional flute or other acoustic instrument tossed into the soup for variety. There are no vocals, though the occasional spoken word or phrase is mixed in, adding to the swirling wall of sound.

White Rhino Tea, a remake of a track from the “Sliding Gliding Worlds album, starts out in much the same way as “Eternal Wheel” on the Erpland album with a combination of guitar and electronic effects. Great keyboard solo’s, powerful percussion, lots of breaks. There might not be a real Rhino in this track but there certainly is an elephant!

One look at “Sploosh!” reveals throbbing synthesizers, continually changing water sound effects, heavily processed virtuoso guitar, hypnotic conga beats, and an amazing array of repetitive percussions that lead to a fascinating journey through their complex compositional skills.

Not every track is that dense, but in general Strangeitude works because of their ability to build layer upon layer of sounds that bring the listener to different places. This music takes patience, as many times the subtle changes and winding melodies are hard to keep up with unless full attention is paid. What makes this so rewarding is the delivery, as guitars dive bomb into the music and result in explosions of instrumental complexities that make perfect sense. What’s even more impressive is how easy it is to go back to the record for repeat listens, despite the almost-complete lack of vocals, the time dedicated to the tracks (which are rarely under seven minutes), and the abrasive and experimental nature of their arrangements.

Without needless noodling or druggy tautology, Ozric Tentacles unveils a magnificent space rock effort. The track “Sploosh!” from this album was used by BMW in an advertising campaign and became the band’s only single.

Line-up:
- Ed Wynne / guitars, synthesizers
- Roly Wynne / bass
- Eoin Eogan (John Egan) / flute, voice
- Joie Hinton / synthesizers, bubbles
- Merv Pepler / drums
- Paul Hankin / congas (2 & 7)

Track List:
01. White Rhino Tea (5:55)
02. Sploosh (6:28)
03. Saucers (7:34)
04. Strangeitude (7:31)
05. Bizarre Bazaar (4:07)
06. Space Between Your Ears (7:47)
07. Live Throbbe / Weirditude (7:16)

Link in comments.

Michael Schenker Group – Michael Schenker Group (1980) (@256)

15 Dec 2007

(Review from allmusic)

The concept may seem patently absurd, but guitarists were held in such high regard during the late ’70s and early ’80s that many elite players were given to tantrums and notions of self-worship usually reserved only for singers and divas. And maybe no one better exemplified this six-string megalomania than German guitarist Michael Schenker, whose turbulent flights of emotional fancy had already earned him the “Mad Michael” nickname during his mercurial tenure with Brit rockers UFO.

Of course this behavior simply went into overdrive when the guitar legend launched the Michael Schenker Group with a 1980 self-titled album, which was at times as unstable as the man himself.

Witness the downright weird, Jimmy Buffet-like calypso melodies that introduce “Cry for the Nations” or the absurd title bestowed upon the delicate solo guitar piece “Bijou Pleasurette.” But fear not, as for the most part the album is dominated by straightforward hard rockers very much in the UFO vein. Highlights like “Looking out From Nowhere” and “Lost Horizons” are laced with the pomp and bombast typical of the era, and storming opener “Armed and Ready” is arguably Schenker’s finest solo track. Vocalist Gary Barden wisely stays out of the way, his understated style (not unlike that of UFO singer Phil Mogg) placing all emphasis where it is intended: Schenker’s stunning axe work.

Line-up:
* Michael Schenker – Guitar
with
* Gary Barden – Vocals
* Mo Foster – Bass
* Don Airey – Keyboards
* Simon Phillips – Drums

Track List:
01. Armed & Ready 4:05
02. Cry For The Nations 5:08
03. Victim Of Illusion 4:41
04. Bijou Pleasurette 2:16
05. Feels Like A Good Thing 3:44
06. Into The Arena 4:10
07. Looking Out From Nowhere 4:28
08. Tales Of Mystery 3:16
09. Lost Horizons 7:04

Link in comments.

Don Airey, Michael Schenker

Jethro Tull – A Little Light Music (Live 1992) (@320)

15 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

“A Little Light Music” is a long and loving look at a legendary journey through the years, from the early “Bouree” ’round presently to Catfish Rising. What’s impressive is how Tull still fills out the old swashbuckler’s suit, handling the dusty sword once more with care and charisma. Was “A New Day Yesterday” so long ago, did “Under Wraps” just come unwrapped so soon? “A Little Light Music” isn’t concerned with the business of When; it answers Now. The whole body of Tull, from apple to zanzibar, is as vital today as twentysomething summers ago. Time passes, wine matures and temples crumble; Tull lives on.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, mandolin, harmonica, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Dave Pegg / bass, mandolin
- Dave Mattacks / snare drum, bass drum, hi-hat, cymbal, glockenspiel, percussion, keyboard

Track List:
01. Someday The Sun Won’t Shine For You (3:59)
02. Living In The Past (5:08)
03. Life Is A Long Song (3:37)
04. Under Wraps (2:30)
05. Rocks On The Road (7:05)
06. Nursie (2:27)
07. Too Old To Rock: Roll Too Young To Die (4:44)
08. One White Duck (3:15)
09. A New Day Yesterday (7:34)
10. John Barleycorn (6:34)
11. Look Into The Sun (3:46)
12. A Christmas Song (3:46)
13. From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser (3:51)
14. This Is Not Love (3:53)
15. Bourée (6:06)
16. Pussy Willow (3:32)
17. Locomotive Breath (5:52)

Links in comments.

Dave Pegg, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Live, Martin Barre

Ozric Tentacles – Erpland (1990) (@320)

14 Dec 2007

(Review from allmusic, guitar9.com)

With a perfectly blended fusion of numerous musical styles and ideas, the Ozrics elevate consciousness and open the spaces on Erpland. The infusion of reggae, dub, and Middle Eastern elements help to make this particular set a true joy to experience — it’s hard not to bliss out while this is playing.

Opening with a re-recorded version of “Eternal Wheel” from the “There Is Nothing” album, Erpland drifts onward through a melange of blistering space rock, reggae infused smoking tunes and exotic psychedelic styles, from the eerie “Toltec Spring” and rolling, surging “Tidal Convergence” through to the hypnotic persistence of “The Throbbe”. It is, however, the mixing of exotic Asian and Middle Eastern music that makes the Ozrics stand out from the ordinary space rock crowd. The blending of acoustic and electric instruments with spiralling space rock guitar, cross polyrhythmic percussion and bubbling synths on tracks like “Sunscape”, “Mysticum Arabicola” and “A Gift Of Wings” gives Erpland a delicately perfumed diversity.

Ozric Tentacles have developed an impressive following during their existence, defying every attempt to pigeonhole them as one thing or another — the best approach is simply to abandon all categories and go with the flow.

Line-up:
- Ed Wynne / guitar, synthesizer
- Roly Wynne / bass
- John Egan / flute, voice
- Paul Hankin / percussion
- Merv Pepler / drums
- Joe Hinton / synthesizer, sampling
with
- Marcus Ethnic / percussion
- Generator John / tea & tambourine
- Steve Everett / sampling
- Tom Brooks / Reggae Bubbles

Track List:
01. Eternal Wheel (8:20)
02. Toltec Spring (3:03)
03. Tidal Convergence (7:14)
04. Sunscape (4:02)
05. Mysticum Arabicola (9:14)
06. Cracker Blocks (5:40)
07. The Throbbe (6:21)
08. Erpland (5:32)
09. Valley of a Thousand Thoughts (6:32)
10. Snakepit (3:17)
11. Iscence (4:37)
12. A Gift of Wings (9:46)

Links in comments.

John Wetton – Arkangel (1998) (@256)

14 Dec 2007

Request of unusual music.

(Review from progarchives.com)

For this solo release, Wetton brought in several progressive heavyweights, including Steve Hackett and Robert Fripp. Strange then that he should record one of his most vocal and pop orientated albums.

There’s much more Asia to this album and much less King Crimson/Uriah Heep, indeed many of the songs could have been recorded by Asia had Wetton stayed on. “Nothing Happens For Nothing” for example is an Asia song, pure and simple, with a strong upbeat melody and a catchy hook. There are plenty of ballads and slow acoustic songs too. Of these, the title track and “All Grown Up” are among the most emotional and enjoyable.

The album opens rather deceptively, with a fine if brief instrumental “The Circle of St Giles”. The mood of the album though is quickly encapsulated in the pop/rock of “The Last Thing On My Mind” (no relation to the Tom Paxton song), a fine song but far from challenging. The other instrumental, “The Celtic Cross” has more than hint of Mark Knopfler’s inspirational theme music for the film “Local Hero”.

For those who enjoy the voice of John Wetton, this is a good listen. The songs may be relatively simple, but they are flawlessly performed, and superbly produced.

Line-up:
- John Wetton / vocals, bass
with
- Billy Liesgang / guitar
- Steve Hackett / guitar, harmonica
- Robert Fripp / guitar
- Tom Lang / drums
- Misha Calvin / acoustic guitar
- Ramon Vega / acoustic guitar, vocals
- Thomas Radl / bass, vocals
- Richard Plamer-James / guitar, keyboards, programming

Track List:
01. The Circle of St. Giles
02. The Last Thing on My Mind
03. Desperate Times
04. I Can’t Lie Anymore
05. Arkangel
06. You Against the World
07. Be Careful What You Wish For
08. Emma
09. Nothing Happens for Nothing
10. All Grown Up
11. After All
12. The Celtic Cross
13. Take These Tears (Bonus)

Links in comments.

John Wetton, Robert Fripp, Steve Hackett

Jethro Tull – Nightcap Unreleased Masters (1973-1991) (@320)

14 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

This outtakes album covering the period from 1973 to 1991 contains work from the sessions which ultimately led to “A Passion Play”, plus later material, some of which saw the light of day in different formats on other albums. The collection is in two distinct parts. CD1, subtitled “The Chateau d’Isaster Tapes”, was recorded in France in 1973, between the release of “Thick as a Brick” and “A Passion Play”, while CD2 is a more eclectic gathering of tracks omitted from the various Tull albums released up to 1991.

“Chateau d’Isaster Tapes” that’s being called this way by Ian Anderson due to the process by which this record was made. The infamous 1973 recording sessions at The Chateau D’Herouville, near Paris, were never completed due to ill-health, technical and production problems, and the sudden decision of the band to return to the UK from temporary and ill-advised tax exile. Rather than continue with the Chateau Tapes, the band decided to begin with a virtually new work which quickly became the more down-beat and controversial “A Passion Play”.

In some ways, these recordings are a bit of a tease. While they are largely complete in themselves, they come across at times as disjointed in this context. Some additional dubbing (mainly flute) was added around 1991, but these are essentially the tracks as they were originally laid down. Although some of the music found its way onto “A Passion Play”, “War Child”, and “Minstrel in the Gallery” in different guises, these recordings have much more in common with “Thick as a Brick”. The performances have all the qualities which made “Thick As A Brick” such an essential album.

CD2 is a different story, but is nonetheless interesting and worthy of investigation. Here we have a collection of disconnected tracks from the 1970s through to the early 90′s, which were omitted from the albums for which they were intended for a variety of reasons (“Rock Island,” “Catfish Rising”, “Broadsword And The Beast” and “Too Old To Rock And Roll”). Some were too similar to other tracks already on the albums, while others were considered too radically different to the other tracks. What is undeniable though is that these tracks are in many cases equal to, and occasionally superior to, those tracks which were selected. “A small cigar” is interesting, as it was apparently dropped by Anderson because of its pro-smoking implications! Other highlights of this set include the lighter “Broadford Bazaar” and the classically (Bach) based “Man of Principle”.

While the ever present Ian Anderson appears on all tracks and Martin Barre only misses a couple, the consistency of the first disc is notably absent. This can be attributed in part to the line up changes the band experienced over the period, and perhaps more significantly to Anderson’s enforced change of vocal style during the 80′s. as a result of illness.

Line-up:
CD1
- Ian Anderson / flute, balalaika, mandolin, Hammond organ, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar
- John Evans / celeste, piano
- Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond / bass, backing vocals
- Barriemore Barlow / drums
CD2:
- Ian Anderson / flute, mouth organ, claghorn, piano, vocals, harmonica, mandolin
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, marimba (1-8, 10-14, 16-18)
- Barriemore Barlow / drums, percussion (1, 2, 4)
- John Evans / piano (1, 2, 4)
- Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond / bass (1, 2, 4)
- David Palmer / keyboards, orchestra conductor (4, 9)
- Dave Pegg / bass, mandolins, vocals (3, 5-8, 10-14, 16, 18)
- Gerry Conway / drums, percussion (6, 7, 10-13, 16)
- Peter-John Vettese / piano, synthesizer (6, 13)
- Doane Perry / drums (3, 5, 8, 14)
with
- John Bundrick / piano, Hammond B-3 organ (3, 5, 8)
- Scott Hunter / drums (17)
- Matthew Pegg / bass (17)

Track List:
CD1
01. First Post (1:54)
02. Animelée (1:41)
03. Tiger Toon (1:36)
04. Look At The Animals (5:09)
05. Law Of The Bungle (2:32)
06. Law Of The Bungle Part II (5:26)
07. Left Right (5:01)
08. Solitaire (1:25)
09. Critique Oblique (9:03)
10. Post Last (5:35)
11. Scenario (3:26)
12. Audition (2:34)
13. No Rehearsal (5:12)
CD2
01. Paradise Steakhouse (4:01)
02. Sealion II (3:21)
03. Piece Of Cake (3:40)
04. Quartet (2:45)
05. Silver River Turning (4:52)
06. Crew Nights (4:33)
07. The Curse (3:39)
08. Rosa On The Factory Floor (4:38)
09. A Small Cigar (3:39)
10. Man Of Principle (3:57)
11. Commons Brawl (3:24)
12. No Step (3:38)
13. Drive On The Young Side Of Life (4:13)
14. I Don’t Want To Be Me (3:29)
15. Broadford Bazaar (3:38)
16. Lights Out (5:16)
17. Truck Stop Runner (3:47)
18. Hard Liner (3:47)

Links in comments.

Dave Pegg, Gerry Conway, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, John "Rabbit" Bundrick, Martin Barre

Ozric Tentacles – Pungent Effulgent (1989) (@320)

13 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

After releasing a handful of cassettes the band produced and made themselves, it was about time their music got wider distribution, rather than just obtaining their cassettes in the back of their tour van during live gigs, or UK underground mail order catalogs. There was a label called Demi-Monde. This label was owned by Dave Anderson, who was no stranger to the progressive space rock scene for he was a member of Amon Düül II for “Phallus Dei”, “Yeti”; also of Hawkwind for “In Search of Space”. He signed the Ozrics to the label.

This recording signals Ozric Tentacles’ arrival to their musical mature age; after years of nurturing and developing their own strategic combination of jazz-rock, ethno-pop, trance, prog, fusion, and electronic psychedelia, you can tell by paying close attention to what you can hear in the “Pungent Effulgent” repertoire that this combo has conquered their own territory in the world of contemporary popular music. The instrumental ensemble works as a unit where all sounds are perfectly interconnected.

Line-up:
- Ed Wynne / guitar, synthesizer
- Merv Pepler / drums
- Roly Wynne / bass
- Joie Hinton / synthesizer, sampling
- John Egan / flute, voice
- Paul Hankin / percussion
- Tig (Nick van Gelder) / drums on (4)
- Generator John / drums on (9)
- Marcus / percussion on (8)

Track List:
01. Dissolution (The Clouds Disperse) (6:15)
02. O-I (3:58)
03. Phalarn Dawn (7:34)
04. The Domes of G’Bal (4:35)
05. Shaping the Pelm (6:08)
06. Ayurvedic (10:57)
07. Kick Muck (3:53)
08. Agog in the Ether (4:05)
09. Wreltch (8:31)

Links in comments.

Vangelis – 1492 : Conquest of Paradise (1992) (@256)

13 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com, amazon)

You mean there was also a movie?

Vangelis has created a stunning soundtrack that doesn’t need the movie to support its musical theme. If you did not know this album was a soundtrack from a movie, there is nothing from the music that would tell you.

The album is usually classified as “new age”, which is a bit of a stretch. It can be difficult to classify someone like Vangelis, who uses synthesizers in combination with cameos by several other instruments and vocal performances when required to create a work that sounds more like a full orchestra versus a guy with a bunch of keyboards and a mixing board.

With its romantic approach, where emotion is more important than technique, there are no words to describe how great and deep “Conquest of Paradise” is. Within songs like “Hispanola”, the title track and “Pinta Nina Santa Maria” are contained several different emotions and rooms that will blow the various corners of your mind away. It is impossible to not get touched by the beauty contained on each of these twelve songs.

This music is ideal for someone who likes classical music and progressive rock. If you enjoy traditional classical music such as Dvorak and Stravinsky, and you also like groups like Yes, Moody Blues and King Crimson, then this album will likely appeal to you.

An amazing and emotional album, try to forget any prejudice against Vangelis (and new age music in general) and listen to this album, you won’t regret it.

Track List:
01. Opening (1:22)
02. Conquest of Paradise (4:48)
03. Monastery of la Rabida (3:38)
04. City of Isabel (2:16)
05. Light and Shadow (3:46)
06. Deliverance (3:28)
07. West Across the Ocean Sea (2:53)
08. Eternity (1:59)
09. Hispanola (4:56)
10. Moxica and the Horse (7:06)
11. Twenty Eighth Parallel (5:14)
12. Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria (Into Eternity) (13:20)

Links in comments.

Sakalli's Pick, Vangelis

Jethro Tull – Catfish Rising (1991) (@256)

13 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

“Catfish Rising” is Jethro Tull’s first album from the nineties.

One of the most notable improvements this album has over its immediate predecessors is the production- it’s very organic sounding, with a welcome return of the acoustic guitar and mandolins that so characterised their best work in the 70s. It’s also good to hear some ‘real’ drums after the clinical nightmare of the syn drums, and keyboards thankully at last take a back seat. More importantly, the quality of songs here is a massive improvement over the undistinguished ‘Rock Island’- whilst there are perhaps fewer classics than ‘Crest Of A Knave’ had, this is a far more consistent and satisfying album.

The album returns slightly to ‘Stand Up’, with its rock songs tinged with folk and blues. There are a few tracks that continue the hard rock momentum of the previous albums, such as the storming opener ‘This Is Not Love’ which erupts from the speakers from the get-go due to the punchy drumming of Doane Perry and a catchy hook to accompany Martin Barre’s rock solid riffing. ‘Occasional Demons’ is in a fairly similar mould and again is a reasonably strong track.

Elsewhere, there is a return to the blues roots the band started out with. Indeed, the closing ‘When Jesus Came To Play’ is practically ‘This Was’ in style! The over-the-top innuendo of ‘Roll Yer Own’ is a wonderfully realised bottleneck blues parody, harking back to the days where euphemisms like ‘jelly roll’ were commonplace due to the wonderful acoustic guitar and mandolin strumming alongside Anderson’s vocal performance.

‘Doctor To My Disease’ lyrically occupies the same space, but is an altogether heavier track with some scorching electric guitar riffs and flute work. Anderson hams it right up with ‘Like A Tall Thin Girl’- the mandolin driven riff takes you right back to ‘Fat Man’, but has some of the most ham-handed double entendres this side of David Coverdale you’ll ever hear! ‘Sleeping With The Dog’ continues this overall theme, a loping blues ballad with some fine flute playing. The plaintive acoustic balladry of ‘Still Loving You Tonight’ shows a rather more sensitive side, however, and has some very fine acoustic guitar leads from Martin Barre. ‘Gold Tipped Boots…’ is a lot of fun, with more jaunty flutes and mandolins.

There are a few songs that occupy the folkier territory of their late 70s work, such as the acoustically driven ‘Rocks On The Road’, whilst the wacky ‘Thinking Round Corners’ wouldn’t have disgraced ‘Songs From The Wood’ with its propulsive flute motif and a gleefully crazed vocal performance that harks back to wonderful classics such as ‘The Whistler’.

The oft-brought up criticisms of Tull in this period of how they were sounding too much like Dire Straits only comes into play once with ‘White Innocence’, one of those storyteller tracks like Dire Straits’ ‘Romeo And Juliet’.

The band sound recharged, yet have in a sense gone back to their acoustic roots and sound far more comfortable there. What’s more, the subsequent studio album ‘Roots To Branches’ continued the momentum and was even better.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, acoustic mandolin, electric mandolin, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, percussion, vocals, drums and keyboards
- Martin Barre / electric guitar
- Dave Pegg / bass, acoustic bass
- Doane Perry / drums, percussion
with
- Andy Giddings / keyboards on tracks 1, 4 and 8
- Foss Paterson / keyboards on track 10
- John “Rabbit” Bundrick / keyboards on track 11
- Matt Pegg / bass on tracks 1, 4 and 7
- Scott Hunter / drums on track 7

Track List:
01. This Is Not Love (3:57)
02. Occasional Demons (3:49)
03. Roll Yer Own (4:26)
04. Rocks On The Road (5:32)
05. Sparrow On The Schoolyard Wall (5:22)
06. Thinking Round Corners (3:32)
07. Still Loving You Tonight (4:32)
08. Doctor To My Disease (4:35)
09. Like A Tall Thin Girl (3:38)
10. White Innocence (7:44)
11. Sleeping With The Dog (4:26)
12. Gold-Tipped Boots, Black Jacket and Tie (3:41)
13. When Jesus Came To Play (5:03)

Links in comments.

Dave Pegg, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, John "Rabbit" Bundrick, Martin Barre

Traffic – The Last Great Traffic Jam (Live 1994) (@Video)

12 Dec 2007

13 comments

(Review from concertdvdreviews.com, progarchives.com)

The Last Great Traffic Jam is a documentary of Traffic’s 1994 reunion tour and features original members Winwood and Jim Capaldi joined by Randall Bramblett (woodwinds, keys), Walfredo Reyes Jr. (percussion, drums), Mike McEvoy (guitar, keys), and one-time Traffic bassist Rosko Gee, who had played on their final album “When The Eagle Flies”.

Capaldi and Winwood’s performances show them enjoying playing together again. The other members of the band are very good musicians but Chris Wood’s presence and playing on stage is obviously missed. The line-up is very good though, particularly Cuban percussionist Walfredo Reyes Jr. playing style sounds better adapted to Traffic’s music. Sax & flute player Randall Bramblett is a very good and professional musician, and it is obvious that he knew that replacing Chris Wood wasn’t going to be an easy thing to do, so he plays in his own style without trying to copy Wood’s.

The eleven song setlist was disappointingly short, but the song choices provided an excellent overview of the various styles of music you will find in this band’s eclectic catalogue, including psychedelic rock, melodic pop, English folk, R&B, and the occasional hints of jazz. Every Traffic album, except 1973′s Shoot Out The Fantasy Factory, was represented here by at least one song, and every one of these classic old songs sounds fresh and rejuvenated. Steve Winwood has never sounded better, both vocally and on the guitar, which was his instrument of choice throughout most of the concert. He only occasionally took to the Hammond B3 and piano.

For many of the shows on this tour, Traffic opened up for the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia returned the favor by lending his guitar to the song, which the Dead had practically made their own, “Dear Mr. Fantasy”.

The only downside of this video is that the concert video footage (not the audio) is occasionally interrupted with special effects and images. Just plainly showing the incredible performances of this legendary band would have been more than enough.

Video : Xvid, 720×480, 29.97 fps
Audio : MP3, 224.0 kbit/s
Total Runtime : 103 min

Line-up:
* Steve Winwood / Vocals, guitars, piano, organs
* Jim Capaldi / Vocals, percussions, drums
* Rosko Gee / bass
* Randall Bramblett / winds
* Mike McEvoy / keys, guitars
* Walfredo Reyes Jr / percussions, drums
with
* Jerry Garcia / guitar on Dear Mr Fantasy

Track List:
01. Pearly Queen
02. Medicated Goo
03. Mozambique
04. 40,000 Headmen
05. Glad
06. Walking In The Wind
07. Low Spark
08. Light up
09. Dear Mr Fantasy
10. John Barleycorn
11. Gimme Some Lovin’

Links in comments.

Jerry Garcia, Jim Capaldi, Live, Steve Winwood, Traffic, Video

Jethro Tull – Rock Island (1989) (@192)

11 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

Hard on the heels of the Grammy-winning “Crest of a Knave”, Jethro Tull turned out a nicely crafted album of rock tunes in the same vein. Most of the material has a hard rock feel, featuring Martin Barre’s electric run-wild-guitars. To apply different keyboard playing styles, Martin Allcock, Peter-John Vettese and John Evans were invited, but Evans refused having lost his interest in music years before.

What the album lacks is the previous humour and lightness. This seems to make all too serious. The same happened to earlier albums like Benefit and Heavy Horses and are by fans sometimes referred to as “the dark albums” (when you look at the lyrics, much of this album deals with themes of alienation and loneliness-see the cover’s lonely island), separation from the mainstream of society and wandering down (those) “Strange Avenues”. There’s nothing on here to compare with the warmer, more comfortable stuff you’ve seen previously.

The opener “Kissing Willie” sounds a bit like “Steel Monkey”, With such a title, I can only hope that they are going to be rocking all over again.The opener “Kissing Willie” sounds a bit like “Steel Monkey”.

The title track is more elaborated : it is almost the longest track and has some nice theme changes. A very good tune after all : a bit mysterious in its initial phase, then completely salvage during a great instrumental passage (the whole band being involved).

Other highlights include “The Whaler’s Dues” : complex song like in the good old times, a bit dark, clocking at almost eight minutes. “Big Riff and Mando” is another very good Tull composition : great accoustic guitar, wonderful flute, some hard-rocking rhythm changes. The closing number is also very good. Nothing to do with some other Tull ones. It starts as a acoustic pure instrumental with a crystal clear guitar sound and evloves into a hard and scary theme.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, mandolin, keyboards, acoustic guitar, drums on tracks 2 and 7, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar
- Dave Pegg / bass, acoustic bass, mandolin
- Doane Perry / drums
with
- Martin Allcock / keyboards on tracks 1 and 10
- Peter-John Vettese /keyboards on tracks 3, 4, 5 and 6

Track List:
01. Kissing Willie (3:32)
02. The Rattlesnake Trail (4:02)
03. Ears Of Tin (4:55)
04. Undressed To Kill (5:25)
05. Rock Island (6:54)
06. Heavy Water (4:12)
07. Another Christmas Song (3:32)
08. The Whaler’s Dues (7:53)
09. Big Riff and Mando (5:58)
10. Strange Avenues (4:10)

Link in comments.

Wolf – Saturation Point (1973) (@192)

11 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

When a progressive rock band has violin and guitars in his music, usually they are not played at the same time. In fact, they are simultaneously played here, and this really contributes to give Wolf a very personal trademark.

Their second album is full of impressive violin, electric + acoustic guitars and dynamic & punchy bass! Drums are very well played and quite complex. Everything is very well synchronized, like Gentle Giant. The tracks are mainly instrumental and the keyboards are surprisingly rare, simple and discreet: they mostly consist of electric piano.

This record is heavier, more symphonic and straightforward than their first album, “Canis Lupus”: there are some very seriously loaded parts, very progressive and the violin is more omnipresent.

Line-up:
- Darryl Way / violin, viola, keyboards
- John Etheridge / guitars
- Dek Messecar / bass, vocals
- Ian Mosley / drums

Track List:
01. The Ache (4:52)
02. Two Sisters (4:21)
03. Slow Rag (5:19)
04. Market Overture (3:40)
05. Game of X (5:49)
06. Saturation Point (6:47)
07. Toy Symphony (7:12)

Link in comments.

Darryl Way, Ian Mosley, Wolf

Patti Smith – Horses (1975) (@256)

11 Dec 2007

(Review from pitchforkmedia.com)

Patti Smith sounded both young and old on her 1975 debut, Horses: young because only a young punk can slink into the spotlight and sell an opening line like, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine”; old, because she was dead serious and sophisticated, an ur-punk but also a poetess and a singer who knew to stop this close to overindulgence. Like her hero Jim Morrison she wrote absurd verses more fit for a diary than a rock ‘n’ roll record, but could also follow them with lines that genuinely terrified.

Smith is the fountainhead for the punks, grrrls, rockers, and artists that have worn the shit out of this record in their most raw, needy hours, and who study and mimic everything she does with that voice — which is all rends, tears, and bite marks, and no clean cuts. Horses is an album of its time — not because it’s dated, but because it precariously captures a phase in Smith’s life, and when all the raw elements fall in place, it feels miraculous.

Take “Birdland”. Just like in a jazz ballad, you can practically hear the band breathing in sync, and the slightest misjudgment would screw up the flow of Smith’s surreal– but straightforwardly powerful– poem. But Lenny Kaye’s guitar stretches effortlessly from post-funeral ballad to ecstatic, crazy fury, and Smith’s performance is fierce and horribly unbeautiful. “It was as if someone had spread butter on all the fine points of the stars/ ‘Cause when he looked up they started to slip”. Holy God is she a poet, and she hurls those words so accurately you want to scream and give up too.

That was 30 years ago. Today, Smith is unavoidably grown up, stuck in the canon, and well defined, and that’s the artist we hear on the bonus disc in this package, a live track-by-track recital of Horses from the Meltdown Festival in London, this past June. She took the stage with old friends Tom Verlaine and Lenny Kaye on guitar and Jay Dee Daugherty on drums. They knocked the roof off– but they don’t match the original. “Birdland” is fitful and noisy, the segue from “Lands” back to a “Gloria” reprise seems like a cop-out, and Smith’s wild poetess thing has settled into something a little more, hey, settled, like when she complains about how much time we spend on email and Blackberrys. “Elegie” takes far more meaning now that she has a list of loved ones to commemorate, like Robert Mapplethorpe, or her own husband. But play it back to back with the debut, and instead of a transformative force, you hear an old familiar voice cranking about George Bush.

Here’s the thing about growing up: You don’t know when it happens until later, but if you could catch it, it would be an amazingly quick moment– like the point where you toss a ball in the air and it comes to a complete halt before it starts to fall to the ground. When we talk about youth and rock and roll, we’re looking for that moment, of not being one thing or the other but of straddling both, of making mistakes that are above and beneath us, of a crest of energy as the ball gets ready to stop. We’re talking about Smith changing from the twentysomething poet who decided to add guitar to her readings, and about an artist who can ape the last generation even as she spawns the next one. Or a performance like her old take of “My Generation”, where she and John Cale knock the shit out of the by-then-ancient Who classic and Smith wraps with the wail, “I’m so young, I’m so goddamn young”– and she’s still, barely, right.

Line-up:
- Patti Smith / Vocals, Guitar
with
- Lenny Kaye / Guitar, Bass, Vocals
- Jay Dee Daughterty / Drums
- Ivan Kral / Bass, Guitar, Vocals
- Richard Sohl / Piano
- John Cale / Bass, Producer
- Flea / Bass, Trumpet
- Allen Lanier / Guitar
- Tony Shanahan / Bass, Piano
- Tom Verlaine / Guitar

Track List:
CD1
01. Gloria – 5:55
02. Redondo Beach – 3:26
03. Birdland – 9:15
04. Free Money – 3:54
05. Kimberly – 4:26
06. Break It Up – 4:05
07. Land: Horses + Land Of A Thousand Dances + La Mer (de) – 9:25
08. Elegie – 2:49
09. My Generation (Bonus) – 3:20
CD2 (Bonus Live 2005)
01. Gloria – 7:01
02. Redondo Beach – 4:29
03. Birdland – 9:52
04. Free Money – 5:29
05. Kimberly – 5:28
06. Break It Up – 5:24
07. Land: Horses + Land Of A Thousand Dances + La Mer (de) – 17:35
08. Elegie – 5:08
09. My Generation – 6:59

Links in comments.

Wolf – Canis Lupus (1973) (@256)

10 Dec 2007

(Review from progressiverock.com)

Violinist Darryl Way left Curved Air earlier in 1973 to form Wolf and assembled a remarkable collection of talent: a young John Etheridge (of later Soft Machine) had his professional start here on guitar, while Ian Mosley (of later Trace and Marillion) had previously drummed for Walrus. Dek Messecar (of later Caravan) joined on bass and vocals, and King Crimson’s Ian McDonald produced the ensuing debut album.

The first side contains vocal numbers : “The Void” clicks along and “Isolation Waltz” gets down right heavy; there’s a slightly psychedelic and spooky feel they’re aiming at and ultimately achieve.

The second side is instrumental : “Cadenza” is a regular hoot, highlighting Way’s acoustic violin and some nice clean guitar lines from Etheridge, while “Chanson San Paroles” features Way’s considerable keyboard skills.

Wolf carries on Darryl Way’s brand of progressive rock, predictably mixing classical elements with heavy rock.

Line-up:
- Darryl Way / violin, viola, keyboards
- Dek Messecar / bass, vocals
- John Etheridge / guitar
- Ian Mosley / drums
with
- Ian McDonald / piano, percussion (track 6)

Track List:
01. The Void (4:35)
02. Isolation Waltz (4:37)
03. Go Down (4:45)
04. Wolf (4:06)
05. Cadenza (4:48)
06. Chanson Sans Paroles (6:28)
07. McDonald’s Lament (7:10)

Link in comments.

Darryl Way, Ian Mosley, Wolf

Gordon Haskell – It Is and It Isn't (1972) (@256)

10 Dec 2007

10 comments

(Review from allmusic)

Gordon Haskell is usually thought of as a footnote in the history of King Crimson — the only lead singer in the group’s long list of personnel who never played a single live date with the band, though he was with them long enough to cut most of an album (Lizard) and get one performance (“Cadence And Cascade”) onto its predecessor.

Gordon Haskell issued this solo album to absolutely no critical notice or public response of any kind in 1974, which is sort of a shame. It tends to be relatively light and lyric-oriented, reminiscent of Gordon Lightfoot with something of a progressive rock edge and more humor, some of it very sardonic.

Latter-day Crimson member John Wetton is present here, playing bass and organ and providing backing vocals on this rather sweet-textured, languid, and highly melodic assembly of songs, which mostly show off Haskell’s unusual vocal range but leave ample room for classical stylings on the electric and acoustic guitars and jazz-inspired fills on the drums.

When Haskell does rock out, as on “Sitting by the Fire,” the effect is startling, the crunchy electric rhythm guitar (courtesy of Dave Spinoza) and bold lead parts (by Alan Barry) wrapping around decent, memorable hooks and choruses — “No Need” is a similarly accessible piece of romantic balladry that might have passed for an England Dan/John Ford Coley demo. And then there’s “Worm,” a pounding, too-serious-for-words meditation on (apparently) life, death, and being devoured, that repeats a cool opening electric guitar flourish in various guises and allows Barry the chance to stretch out on a related series of riffs. “Spider” is some kind of personal commentary on the music business, possibly referring to managers and their potentially devouring ways — Haskell would know that best — but it is funny and cheerfully upbeat in mood, with some pleasing choruses. And “Benny the Beaver,” with its fascinating but confusing references to various elements of the music business, also seems to be about a subject that mattered to Haskell, and it’s a pity he couldn’t have shared it more clearly, but the principal acoustic guitar riff is pretty, and some of the transitions recall King Crimson’s “Cadence and Cascade” (which Haskell sang), and the final section in which an old-style music hall showband picks up the riff demonstrates more humor than most entire art-rock albums of this period ever dared revealed.

This is a fun piece of King Crimson ephemera, and pretty pleasant on its own terms.

Line-up:
- Gordon Haskell / Guitar, Vocals
with
- John Wetton / Organ, Bass, Keyboards, Vocals, Guitar
- Bill Atkinson / Drums
- Alan Barry / Guitar
- Dave Kaffinetti / Piano, Keyboards
- Arif Mardin / Keyboards, Piano
- David Spinozza / Guitar
- Neal Rosengarden / Piano
- David Brigati / Vocals
- Eddie Brigati / Vocals

Track List:
01. No Meaning – 3:31
02. Could Be – 3:18
03. Upside Down – 4:31
04. Just A Lovely Day – 3:59
05. Sitting By The Fire – 3:44
06. When I Lose – 0:26
07. No Need – 2:51
08. Worms – 4:46
09. Spider – 4:19
10. Learning Not To Feel – 2:39
11. Benny – 4:49
12. When I Laugh – 0:24

Link in comments.

Gordon Haskell

Jethro Tull – Crest of a Knave (1987) (@256)

10 Dec 2007

(Review from progreviews.com)

After a three-year break due to Anderson’s throat problems, Jethro Tull made a comeback with “Crest of a Knave” in 1987.

As a teenage boy whose main previous exposure to Jethro Tull was their classic stuff, I wasn’t quite prepared for the mostly laid back offerings that greeted me here. Where were the contrapuntal bass runs? The Hammond organ? Did I pick up a Dire Straits album by mistake (not that there’s anything wrong with that)?

Returning to Crest of a Knave all these years later, I am quickly reminded about what really bugged me about the album then. The worst things remain the thin, late 80s production and the icky drum programming, neither of which have worn well. That being said, as a mellow grown-up I find that myself enjoying this album much, much more. It’s the renewed quality of the songwriting here that makes Crest of a Knave memorable.

There are two genuinely classic Tull tracks here. “Farm on the Freeway” mixes Barre’s Knopfler-influenced guitar with Anderson’s flute highly effectively, and the band uses a two chord sequence masterfully to build suspense. The song builds up and we’re treated to one of Barre’s best guitar solos with Tull before the song return to its quieter and still not quite resolved beginnings. “Mountain Men” is another song which builds up from a slow beginning. The highlights here are the composed guitar riffs which are comparable with some of Steve Hackett’s early contributions to Genesis.

As with most of Jethro Tull’s albums, the lyrics stand out for their ironic perspective on life. Alongside the more serious observations are two pieces about Eastern European women he chatted up on tour, and completely failed to get into bed. And who could remember the Thatcher era and not smile at the line “Hey Mrs. Maggie won’t you come on over. Hook me up to the power lines of your love”?

Surprisingly, the album put Jethro Tull back in the spotlight again, winning a hard-rock Grammy.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, guitars, keyboards, drum programming, percussion, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar
- Dave Pegg / electric bass, acoustic bass
with
- Doane Perry / drums on tracks 2 and 7
- Gerry Conway / drums on tracks 3, 4, 6 and 8
- Ric Sanders / violin on tracks 6 and 8

Track List:
01. Steel Monkey (3:40)
02. Farm On The Freeway (6:31)
03. Jump Start (4:55)
04. Said She Was A Dancer (3:43)
05. Dogs In The Midwinter (4:37)
06. Budapest (10:05)
07. Mountain Men (6:20)
08. The Waking Edge (4:49)
09. Raising Steam (4:05)

Link in comments.

Dave Pegg, Gerry Conway, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Martin Barre

Amon Duul II – Carnival in Babylon (1972) (@256)

09 Dec 2007

(Review from progreviews.com)

As the 70s progressed, Amon Düül II put the kibosh on their lengthy, side-long improvisations and the meandering psychedelic madness that flowed from their previous albums. Carnival in Babylon saw them with tighter musicianship and, for the most part, following standard rock song structures and length. Despite these concessions to accessibility, however, one still couldn’t really call the band conventional. Their brand of psych-rock looked to the West Coast for inspiration, and seems particularly to fit in nicely as across-the-Atlantic companion pieces to the early Paul Kantner-led Jefferson Starship albums: layered acoustic and electric guitars; a distinctive lead woman vocalist playing off male vocals; and the free-spirited, cryptic lyrics that were the currency of the counterculture.

All of the songs on this album have something to offer. “All the Years ‘Round”‘s verses sound almost like Knaup is submerged in fog or waking up from a dream. There is some fantastic lyrical imagery. In the final moments, however, the song shifts gear into a great, electric jam centered around a simple, ascending E-minor scale. “Kronwinkl” is also built around strong riffing, this time in a 9-beat. “Tables are Turned” is another strong point of the album, an acoustic song that puts the listener on safer footing with its gentle, tuneful atmosphere.

“Hawknose Harlequin”, the final track, comes closest to the looseness that harkens back to the earlier albums, seemingly cobbled together from three different ideas. The first section has vocals, apparently recounting the legend of the title character. This leads into the middle section, a mellow, legato jam. Finally, in the last third of the song, the band disconnect the fuel rockets and jump into the stars never to return, with a more laid back jam characterized by echoing lead guitar and glistening organ.

“Carnival in Babylon” is generally underrated, coming off after the great space exploration of their first three (Phallus Dei, Yeti and Tanz der Lemminge) albums. When you’ve “freaked out” enough for one day listening to their earlier stuff, check this one out and prepare for a perfectly chilled-out musical gem.

Line-up:
- Danny Fichelscher / drums, congas
- Karl-Heinz Hausmann / keyboards, electronics
- Chris Karrer / acoustic & electric guitars, violin, Soprano sax, vocals
- Renate Knaup-Krötenschwanz / vocals
- Peter Leopold / drums, tambourine
- Lothar Meid / bass, vocals
- John Weinzierl / acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
with
- Joy Alaska / backing vocals
- Olaf Kübler / Soprano sax, door
- Falk U. Rogner / organ

Track List:
01. C.I.D. In Uruk (5:36)
02. All The Years ‘Round (7:23)
03. Shimmering Sand (6:36)
04. Kronwinkl 12 (3:54)
05. Tables Are Turned (3:37)
06. Hawknose Harlequin (9:50)
07. Light (Bonus) (3:50)
08. Between the Eyes (Bonus) (2:28)
09. All The Years ’round (Single Bonus) (4:10)

Link in comments.

Amon Duul, Amon Duul II

Andwellas Dream – Love and Poetry (1969) (@256)

09 Dec 2007

(Review from clear-spot.nl)

Andwellas Dream emerged in Belfast, Ireland in the mid 60′s lead by the child prodigy Dave Lewis. Originally called “Method”, the band was one of the founders of the Irish Rock scene. In the late 60′s “Method” moved to London and changed their name to “Andwella’s Dream” – a name that came to Dave Lewis in a dream – and over two days in a studio in Denmark Street they recorded what was to become their sole album, “Love and Poetry”.

“Love and Poetry” captures the cusp of the moment just before the abstract abandon of psychedelia mutated into the leaden predictability of progressive rock. Composed entirely of Dave Lewis songs, the album evokes the heady atmosphere of the late ’60′s with druggy utopian themes and innocent musical experimentation.

Hard psychedelic rock with blistering guitar work is mixed with contemporary pop themes given a liberal dose of backwards effects exotic percussion, flute and acoustic guitar.

Line-up:
- Dave Lewis / Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
- Bob Downes / Flute, Percussion
- Nigel Portman Smith / Bass
- Gordon Barton / Drums

Track List:
01. The Days Grew Longer For Love
02. Sunday
03. Lost A Number Found A King
04. Man Without A Name
05. Clockwork Man
06. Cocaine
07. Shades Of Grey
08. High On A Mountain
09. Andwella
10. Midday Sun
11. Take My Road
12. Felix
13. Goodbye
14. Mister Sunshine (Junkie Woman Blues) (Bonus Single)
15. Mrs. Man (Bonus Single)
16. Take My Road (Bonus Alternate)
17. Man Without A Name (Bonus Alternate)

Links in comments.

Jethro Tull – A Classic Case (1985) (@256)

09 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com, starling.rinet.ru)

It does not take you to be a Tull fan first before enjoying this album as the music is quite accessible to many ears. But if you are a fan of Tull and orchestral music, this album is a must. It’s common that when you love certain band you would be wondering on what if the band’s original composition is re-written for an orchestra arrangement.

This album is a totally instrumental collection of great Tull songs (and one Ian Anderson’s solo “Fly By Night”) composed by David Palmer – the band’s active member in the early years – with The London Symphony Orchestra.

The arrangements are fabulous! David Palmer is a very bright guy indeed. There are places where you can’t really replace a rock instrument by an orchestra, like on the guitar solo on ‘Aqualung’: all such parts are given to Martin Barre to play. Ian Anderson, too, turns in some strong flute parts. But best of all is that the orchestra provides a terrific substitute to Ian Anderson’s voice – on ‘Locomotive Breath’, for instance, Anderson replaces the first verse with a flute part, and the second verse is all strings, and it’s not any worse than the actual singing.

Same goes for ‘Aqualung’, ‘Bungle In The Jungle’ (here included in a medley together with ‘Teacher’ and another re-run of ‘Locomotive Breath’) and ‘Too Old To Rock’n'Roll’. Best of all, though, is ‘Thick As A Brick’; the only downside about that one is that they could have done a more significant chunk of it than just four minutes – come to think of it, the suite seems almost perfectly fit for a symphonic performance.

Line-up:
- David Palmer/ orchestral arrangement, orchestra conductor
- London Symphony Orchestra
- Ian Anderson / flute
- Martin Barre / electric guitar
- Dave Pegg / bass
- Peter-John Vettese / keyboards
- Dave Burgess / drums

Track List:
01. Locomotive Breath (4:16)
02. Thick As A Brick (4:24)
03. Elegy (3:41)
04. Bourée (3:10)
05. Fly By Night (4:12)
06. Aqualung (6:22)
07. Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll; Too Young To Die (3:27)
08. Medley: Teacher/Bungle In The Jungle/ Rainbow Blues/Locomotive Breath (3:58)
09. Living In The Past (3:29)
10. War Child (4:56)

Link in comments.

Jethro Tull – Live At Hammersmith (1984) (@320)

08 Dec 2007

(Review from amazon, progarchives.com)

This comes from the tour to support the album “Under Wraps” in 1984. In the middle of the tour, Anderson would develop serious throat problems. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Jethro Tull was sidelined for almost 3 years.

It is a mix of what Tull sounded like in 1984: Electronic keyboards, fast flute solos, and a screaming guitar by Martin Barre.

This is not one of Jethro Tull’s better live performances. The songs are muddled and muffled, there is very little energy or innovation in many of the tracks. Jethro Tull would always play around with the songs, changing them drastically from the studio versions. There would be blazing solos from Anderson, Barre and Evans. They would run songs to together or overlap them. On this album, Jethro Tull does play around with some of the older songs like Locomotive Breath and Living In the Past. But the newer material is played much like the studio versions.

A surely imperfect (and short!) concert, and maybe one strictly for the fans, but “Live At Hammersmith ’84″ can’t be called bad. Just very edgy (and part of a free-rock experiment Jethro Tull soon abandoned), uninteresting here and there, plus made of lots of adapted, refreshed (or modified) ideas.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute,acoustic guitar, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar
- Doane Perry / drums
- John-Peter Vettese / keyboards
- Dave Pegg / bass

Track List:
01. Locomotive Breath (2:36)
02. Hunting Girl (4:56)
03. Under Wraps (4:30)
04. Later, That Same Evening (4:03)
05. Pussy Willow (4:44)
06. Living In The Past (4:29)
07. Locomotive Breath (7:43)
08. Too Old To Rock’N'Roll: Too Young To Die (9:08)

Link in comments.

Dave Pegg, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Live, Martin Barre

Curved Air – Alive 1990 (@256)

08 Dec 2007

(Review from progvisions.i12.com, progarchives.com, dprp.net)

1990 was the 20th anniversary since Curved Air’s first release, the concert recorded here was a gig played at the Town & Country Club 2 in London in anticipation of the reunion concert.

The only musicians featured here are the original line-up of the band, with the result that all tracks are taken from the band’s first three albums.

The most visible surprise of this album is Sonya Kristina’s voice. Her voice has now matured and shows more depth and grit. It adds edge to the recordings that the band never had before. Francis Monkman and Darryl Way — both multi-instrumentalists and the musical masterminds of the band – play as well as ever. In general, the songs have a new energy and a more modern recording, fans have a chance to hear different versions of old classics.

Apart from the first track “Twenty years on” (biting wah-wah guitar) the sound quality is good. During the other 12 songs Curved Air showcases their unique sound and great skills: powerful vocals and great electric violin play in “It happened today”, a swinging rhythm and rock & roll with again wah-wah drenched guitar and powerful vocals in “Stretch”, rock & roll meets classic in “Hide and seek”, a beautiful folky climate in “Melinda” (Jobson-like violin and acoustic guitar), more Jobson-like violin and exciting keyboards in “Young mother”, great interplay between electric violin and electric guitar and a long violin improvisation (including a Four Seasons interpretation) in a 10 minutes version of “Vivaldi” and a catchy rhythm featuring haunting vocals and sparkling keyboards in “Everdance”.

Line-up:
- Sonja Kristina / vocals, acoustic guitar
- Darryl Way / violin, keyboards
- Francis Monkman / guitars, keyboards, sequencers
- Florian Pilkington-Miksa / drums, percussion
with
- Rob Martin / bass on “Vivaldi”

Track List:
01. Twenty Years On – Intro (4:11)
02. It Happened Today (5:31)
03. Stretch (4:20)
04. Hide And Seek (7:02)
05. Marie Antoinette (7:05)
06. Melinda (More Or Less) (4:14)
07. Situations (5:43)
08. Young Mother (7:09)
09. You Know (3:34)
10. propositions (5:15)
11. Vivaldi (10:00)
12. Everdance (4:16)
13. Back Street Luv (4:26)

Links in comments.

Curved Air, Darryl Way, Francis Monkman, Live, Sonja Kristina

John Mayall – Plays John Mayall: Live at Klooks Kleek (1964) (@256)

08 Dec 2007

(Review from allmusic, wikipedia)

John Mayall was the son of Murray Mayall, a guitarist and jazz music enthusiast. From an early age, he was drawn to the sounds of American blues players such as Leadbelly, Albert Ammons, Pinetop Smith, and Eddie Lang, and taught himself to play the piano, guitars, and harmonica.

While attending an art college, he started playing with semi-professional bands. After graduation, he obtained a job as an art designer but continued to play with local musicians. In 1963, Mayall opted for a full time musical career and moved to London. His previous craft was put to good use in the designing of covers for many of his own albums.

His debut album, recorded live in December 1964, is a little unjustly overlooked, as it was recorded shortly before soon-to-be famous guitarists started to school in the Bluesbreakers.

With Roger Dean on guitar and the rhythm section of bassist John McVie and drummer Hughie Flint; it has more of a rock/R&B feel, rather like the early Rolling Stones than the purer bluesier material Mayall would usually stick to in his subsequent recordings.

The record doesn’t suffer for this, however, moving along quite powerfully, and — unusually for a British R&B/blues band of the time — featuring almost nothing but original material, all penned by Mayall. Nigel Stanger’s saxophone adds interesting touches to a few tracks, the songs are quite good.

This expanded edition adds five enjoyable cuts that round up everything else recorded by this line-up of the Bluesbreakers, including the 1964 single “Crawling Up a Hill”/”Mr. James”; the early 1965 single “Crocodile Walk”/”Blues City Shakedown”; and the February 1965 outtake “My Baby Is Sweeter”.

Line-up:
- John Mayall / Guitar, Harmonica, Keyboards, Vocals
- Roger Dean / Guitar
- John McVie / Bass
- Nigel Stanger / Saxophone
- Hughie Flint / Drums

Track List:
01. Crawling Up A Hill – 2:30
02. I Wanna Teach You everything – 3:17
03. When I’m Gone – 3:26
04. I Need Your Love – 4:20
05. The Hoot Owl – 2:39
06. R & B Time : Night Train – Lucille – 2:23
07. Crocodile Walk – 2:44
08. What’s The Matter with You – 2:45
09. Doreen – 3:08
10. Runaway – 2:43
11. Heartache – 3:16
12. Chicago Line – 4:43
13. Crawling Up A Hill (A side single) – 2:17
14. Mr James (B side single) – 2:52
15. Cocodile Walk (A side single) – 2:15
16. Blues City Shakedown (B side single) – 2:24
17. My Baby Is Sweeter (Studio Outtake) – 2:59

Link in comments.

John Mayall, Live

Jethro Tull – Under Wraps (1984) (@192)

07 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

An inflexible, mechanical opus whose brisk digital bitstream buffets the dreamcraft a bit rudely in the beginning. “Under Wraps” is one of Jethro Tull’s most inhospitable works.

The troubling point for longtime listeners is the increased role that electronics play in the storytelling; a song like “Astronomy” sounds more like Thomas Dolby than anything on “Broadsword and the Beast”. “Under Wraps” #2 at least offers a tantalizing picture of the soul in the machine, and may be the first foothold from which fans scale the slick digital face presented them.

After repeated listens, it turns out, Jethro Tull hadn’t changed the way they write their music, just the instruments they use to play it. Synthesizers and electronic drums (provided mostly by Mr. A this time) leap in and out of the mix the same way that a mandolin or portative organ might have earlier. The result is more jarring and less tantalizing than earlier efforts, but altogether not so different otherwise.

It’ll be small consolation at first as you wonder where the magic went, but it’s there, hidden under the sheets and ultimately worth the detective work it takes to find it.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar
- Dave Pegg / bass
- Peter-John Vettese / keyboards

Track List:
01. Lap Of Luxury (3:37)
02. Under Wraps #1 (4:03)
03. European Legacy (3:23)
04. Later, That Same Evening (3:53)
05. Saboteur (3:33)
06. Radio Free Moscow (3:42)
07. Astronomy (3:38)
08. Tundra (3:41)
09. Nobody’s Car (4:08)
10. Heat (5:38)
11. Under Wraps #2 (2:14)
12. Paparazzi (3:48)
13. Apogee (5:29)
14. Automotive Engineering (4:05)
15. General Crossing (4:01)

Link in comments.

Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis Bold As Love (1967) (@256)

07 Dec 2007

(Review from allmusic, wikipedia)

One of the greatest and most influential guitarists, Jimi Hendrix helped pioneer the technique of guitar feedback with overdriven amplifiers, incorporating into his music what was previously an undesirable sound. He built upon the innovations and influences of blues stylists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, and T-Bone Walker, and derived style from rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, and Cornell Dupree, as well as from traditional jazz.

Hendrix strove to combine what he called “earth”, a blues, jazz, or funk driven rhythm accompaniment, with “space”, the high-pitched psychedelic sounds created by his guitar improvisations. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas; he was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects during recording.

Jimi Hendrix’s second album follows up his groundbreaking debut effort with a solid collection of great tunes and great interactive playing between himself, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, and the recording studio itself.

Since he is in the midst of a creative hot streak, Hendrix stretches further musically than the first album, but even more so as a songwriter. He is still quite capable of coming up with spacy rockers like “You Got Me Floating”, “Up From the Skies” and “Little Miss Lover”, radio-ready to follow on the commercial heels of “Foxey Lady” and “Purple Haze”. But the beautiful, wistful ballads “Little Wing”, “Castles Made of Sand”, “One Rainy Wish” and the title track set closer show remarkable growth and depth as a tunesmith, harnessing Curtis Mayfield soul guitar to Dylanesque lyrical imagery and Fuzz Face hyperactivity to produce yet another side to his grand psychedelic musical vision. These are tempered with Jimi’s most avant-garde tracks yet, “EXP” and the proto-fusion jazz blowout of “If 6 Was 9″.

Line-up:
- Jimi Hendrix / guitar, vocals, bass, piano, flute
- Mitch Mitchell / drums, glockenspiel, backing vocals
- Noel Redding / bass, backing vocals

Track List:
01. EXP – 1:55
02. Up from the Skies – 2:55
03. Spanish Castle Magic – 3:00
04. Wait Until Tomorrow – 3:00
05. Ain’t No Telling – 1:46
06. Little Wing – 2:24
07. If 6 Was 9 – 5:32
08. You Got Me Floatin’ – 2:45
09. Castles Made of Sand – 2:46
10. She’s So Fine – 2:37
11. One Rainy Wish – 3:40
12. Little Miss Lover – 2:20
13. Bold as Love – 4:09

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Curved Air – Stark Naked (Live on the BBC 1975-76) (@320)

07 Dec 2007

This is a superb stereo soundboard bootleg recording of two seperate BBC sessions. The first four tracks are from Jan 31st of 1975, the rest are from Feb 21st of 1976.

Track List:
01. Marie Antoinette
02. The Fool
03. Midnight Wire
04. Woman on a One Night Stand
05. Stark Naked
06. Woman on a One Night Stand
07. Young Mother
08. Kids to Blame
09. Hot and Bothered
10. The Fool

Links in comments.

Curved Air, Darryl Way, Live, Sonja Kristina

Jethro Tull – Broadsword and the Beast (1982) (@256)

06 Dec 2007

(Review from progreviews.com)

Sporting a Viking cover, fantasy lyrics and a Martin Barre who had obviously been practicing his scales, Jethro Tull seems to have been trying to pull in the metal crowd with this album. Or at least role-players who are geeky enough to be able to read the runes on the cover.

Never a band to restrain themselves within the conventions of a specific musical genre, least of all progressive rock, here Jethro Tull use a dazzling palette of musical colours. “Fallen on Hard Times” uses a folky mandolin, digital synthesisers and slide guitar on top of a sophisticated blues groove. The album has the oppressive mood of an approaching storm cloud, and features a guitar solo laden with ultra-fast scales in the mode of so much metal at the time. It is then followed by the decidedly feminine “Pussy Willow”. Underpinning all of this is a band who, in its current form, only came into existence on the previous album, “A”, and were just starting to click as a unit.

In common with Tull’s best latter-day efforts, this album has a few songs that stand out. “Clasp”, whose digital synths are perhaps a little dated, nevertheless shifts very well between atmospheric, folky and digital moods, all of which are beautifully married to the lyrics. “Broadsword” is a favourite with the aforementioned role-players, while “Slow Marching Band” and “Cheerio” are sweet pieces that round out each side very nicely.

Lyrically, Ian Anderson has a running theme of the demons and battles of modern-day life, marrying dark ages imagery with modern, urban concerns. This is particularly succesful on “Clasp”, which deftly explores the failure between individuals to connect due to either lack or excess of information. Ian Anderson’s wry humour is also evident in “Fallen on Hard Times”, whose tale of woe among the mighty could easily be a sly reference to Tull’s own situation as a band that could no longer fill stadiums, yet could still manage a comfortable living playing at their hobby.

Good songwriting, a cohesive band and brilliant arrangements. Had any one of these elements been missing, this album would have been a complete mess.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Gerry Conway / drums, percussion
- Dave Pegg / bass, mandolins, vocals
- Peter-John Vettese / piano, synthesizer (1,13,16)

Track List:
01. Beastie (3:57)
02. Clasp (4:11)
03. Fallen On Hard Times (3:12)
04. Flying Colours (4:39)
05. Slow Marching Band (3:38)
06. Broadsword (4:50)
07. Pussy Willow (3:53)
08. Watching Me Watching You (3:40)
09. Seal Driver (5:10)
10. Cheerio (1:00)

Link in comments.

Dave Pegg, Gerry Conway, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Martin Barre

Eskaton – 4 Visions (1979) (@256)

06 Dec 2007

(Review from progreviews.com)

Eskaton’s music owes a great debt to Magma, perhaps moreso than any of the other zeuhl bands Magma influenced. Elements of Magma you will find here: throbbing, jarring bass, combined with female vocals employing repetitive chants and vocals to induce alternating frenzy and trance. Occasional restrained sections make the moments of power all the more impressive. Elements of Magma you will not find here: a Blasquiz-like male lead vocal and the Kobaian language (they sing in French).

In most respsects, Eskaton’s music is more accessible than Magma. The alien quality of the Kobaian language is not present, and much as a neo-prog band doesn’t stray far from its prog influences, neither does Eskaton venture far outside of Magma’s music, while Magma themselves occasionally did try other things. The energy in this release is definitely a positive thing; it’s the one word that comes most often to mind when trying to describe it. While not the most original material in the world, it’s still undeniably potent.

This album is recommended as a good entry point into zeuhl for the uninitiated, and essential listening for Magma freaks who are looking for more of what they love.

Line-up:
- André Bernardi / bass
- Gérard Konig / drums
- Alain Blésing / guitar
- Gilles Rozenberg / organ, synthesizer
- Eric Guillaume / Fender piano
- Marc Rozenberg / Fender piano
- Paule Kleynnaert / voice
- Amara Tahir / voice

Track List:
01. Eskaton (10:28)
02. Attente (10:15)
03. Ecoute (12:53)
04. Pitié (8:45)
05. Le Cri (9:02)

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Eskaton

Curved Air – On Air Live at the BBC (1970-76) (@256)

06 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

The first session from the April of 1970 is yet bit tame, but the tracks breathe more freely than in the studio recordings. The version of “Vivaldi” is quite good. “Propositions” is performed well also — in this version, there’s a short lyrical passage in the end of the jam. This set ends with “It Happened Today”, with rock ‘n’ roll pianos, quite soft empathy for Sonja and an irritating fadeout.

“Young Mother in Style” is great, and comparing to the studio version, the lyrics are audible, and there aren’t any fadeouts. “Situations” is quite beautiful! In addition of the song “Blind Man” there’s also a second session done a few weeks later, featuring “Thinking on The Floor” and “Stretch”, which are decent performances.

The last session time warps to year 1976, where the band backing up Sonja has been mostly changed and also the musical style has ventured to a different direction. The instrumental opening is still energetic little in the style of the early days, but the rest of the songs are mostly more emotional and moody.

Line-up:
- Sonja Kristina / vocals
- Darryl Way / violin, vocals
- Francis Monkman / guitar, keyboards (1-8)
- Robert Martin / bass (1-3)
- Florian Pilkington-Miska / drums (1-8)
- Ian Eyre / bass (4-8)
- Tony Reeves / bass (9-13)
- Mick Jacques / guitar (9-13)
- Stewart Copeland / drums (9-13)

Track List:
01. Vivaldi
02. Propositions/What Happens When You Blow Yourself Up?
03. It Happened Today
04. Young Mother in Style
05. Situations
06. Blind Man
07. Thinking on the Floor
08. Stretch
09. Stark Naked
10. Woman On a One Night Stand
11. Midnight Wire
12. Hot ‘N’ Bothered
13. The Fool

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Curved Air, Darryl Way, Francis Monkman, Live, Sonja Kristina

Curved Air – Midnight Wire (1975) (@256)

05 Dec 2007

(Review from amazon, starling.rinet.ru)

The remaining members Sonja Kristina and Darryl Way recruited Sonja’s partner and future husband Stewart Copeland (later of Police) and Mick Jacques for the 1975 album, “Midnight Wire”.

The album focuses its mood on humbleness rather than blaring flashiness and on soft passion rather than obvious passion. What they try to construct here is an interesting and, indeed, unique brand of luscious, deeply erotic “dream-pop”, based on romantic guitar/violin interplay (where “romantic” doesn’t necessarily mean “happy sappy” – there are plenty of passages on here that rock quite heavily, yet without descending into true arena-rock/power-ballad territory) and those irresistable libido-raising vocals from Sonja Kristina.

The mild seduction of ‘Dance Of Love’ is simply irresistable, featuring Sonja cooing out ‘take my body with your soul’. The vocal melody is darn catchy, not to mention a trembling violin solo from Darryl Way.

On a couple of tracks it almost seems like Kristina wants to be Janis Joplin; particularly on the opener, ‘Woman On A One Night Stand’, a full-fledged R’n'B number with hyper-expressive vocals and intricate soul-electrifying chord changes that perfectly illustrate the supposed turmoil within her.

The slow and relaxed ballad “Day Breaks My Heart” is outwardly sad and mourning, yet inwardly a testament to the fact that there is a reason that a heart can be broken. The instrumental “Pipe of Dreams” is rather trippy and dreamy. The title track “Midnight Wire”, a 7 minute epic of intense emotion — dark, powerful, tragic, intense, soft.

There are also the punchier tunes, like ‘The Fool’, built around a pretty violin riff and at times almost developing into a convoluted kind of jig, or ‘Orange Street Blues’, where Sonja contemplates about having sex with a loser and ultimately rejects that possibility (or so it seems).

Line-up:
- Sonja Kristina / vocals
- Darryl Way / violin, keyboards, vocals
- Stewart Copeland / drums
- Mick Jacques / guitars
with
- John Perry / bass
- Peter Wood / keyboards
- Derek Damain / backing vocals
- Norma Tager / lyrics

Track List:
01. Woman On a One Night Stand (5:06)
02. Day Breaks My Heart (4:38)
03. The Fool (4:27)
04. Pipe of Dreams (3:58)
05. Orange Street Blues (5:01)
06. Dance of Love (4:36)
07. Midnight Wire (7:32)

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Curved Air, Darryl Way, Sonja Kristina

Edgar Winter Group – They Only Come Out At Night (1974) (@256)

05 Dec 2007

(Review from rollingstone.com, amazon, allmusic.com)

Like Mark Farner and Alice Cooper, Edgar Winter understands that rock & roll is vaudeville. What he lacks in charisma, he makes up for in talent. His forte has been the instrumental solo, the shrieking vocal, and the endless deafening riff.

In his fourth album, Edgar Winter combines his vaudeville consciousness with musical sophistication, creating the kind of three-dimensional album that most rock artists just don’t bother to make. Taking every type of music that has appealed to rock audiences in early 70s, he weaves it all together into a cohesive album. As pure music, it provides a delightfully smooth roller coaster ride.

Many of the songs may seem simple in appearance but the instrumentation, the dynamics, and the full-blown singing of the more uptempo songs give a level of sophistication, yet remarkable, fun sound to each and every song, all the while staying unique from every other. The lyrics show great sensitivity at times, communicating loneliness, frustration and struggle as well as exuberance and joyous boogie.

While this album will forever be remembered for spawning the huge hit singles “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride”, there’s plenty more to appreciate on this stellar release.

From “Hangin’ Around”, to the pretty melodies of “Round & Around” and “Autumn”, the set collects ten outstanding cuts. The “party” feel of “We All Had a Real Good Time” and the singalong “Alta Mira” only add to this already red-hot mix, making “They Only Come Out at Night” the album Edgar Winter will always be remembered for.

Line-up:
* Edgar Winter – organ, synthesizer, piano, marimba, saxophone, timbales, vocals, clavinet
* Rick Derringer – bass, guitar, pedal steel, vocals, claves
* Ronnie Montrose – guitar, mandolin
* Dan Hartman – guitar, bass, percussion, maracas, ukulele, vocals
* Randy Jo Hobbs – bass
* Chuck Ruff – conga, drums, vocals
* Johnny Badanjek – drums

Track List:
01. Hangin’ Around 3:04
02. When It Comes 3:17
03. Alta Mira 3:20
04. Free Ride 3:08
05. Undercover Man 3:51
06. Round & Round 4:00
07. Rock ‘N’ Roll Boogie Woogie Blues 3:26
08. Autumn 3:00
09. We All Had A Real Good Time 3:07
10. Frankenstein 4:47

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Jethro Tull – A (1980) (@256)

05 Dec 2007

(Review from wikipedia, progreviews.com)

“A” was recorded as an intended Ian Anderson solo album before Jethro Tull’s record label asked that it become credited to the group to help the label get through overall slow record sales. This is the reason for the album’s title, as the tapes were marked “A” for “Anderson”. It is noted for its more synthesizer-based sound and deemphasis on folk music influences, a fact which creates controversy among many of the band’s fans.

“A” features a dramatically different lineup of Tull from the band’s previous album, Stormwatch. Former keyboardist John Evan, organist David Palmer, and drummer Barriemore Barlow were all de facto fired from the group and former bassist John Glascock died soon after the recording of Stormwatch. The only members of Tull to appear on both Stormwatch and “A” are Ian Anderson and Martin Barre. This is also bassist Dave Pegg’s (of Fairport Convention) first appearance on a Tull record but he had already become a member of the band in 1979, replacing John Glascock on the “Stormwatch” tour.

Conflicting reasons have been given for the lineup change. Anderson said that he wanted to take the band in a different direction from the folk rock and progressive rock of the 1970s. Barriemore Barlow was unhappy in the band and has stated that he would have left anyway. However Anderson had never intended to replace the ‘classic’ Tull lineup with the musicians who recorded “A”, but was forced by Chrysalis Records which had decided to release his ‘solo’ album under the name Jethro Tull.

From the album’s opening, a rapid run of notes played on Jobson’s Yamaha CP80, followed quickly by the rest of the band breezing in with a laid back pop sound and almost disco-styled bass from Pegg, you know you are in for something different. Jobson in particular contributed quite a bit to this new direction in sound with his more precise, classicially-trained style of playing and textures of CP80 electric piano, Moog, and violin. This was quite a contrast to former keyboardist John Evan’s preference for ‘classic rock’ Hammond and piano. Add to this the occasional use of vocoder and Pegg’s fretless bass, and the differences from the last line-up are striking.

However, this is definitely still a Jethro Tull album, with the band’s intelligent lyrics, their penchant for intricate arrangements, and great hooks still very much present. A is an album that creeps up on you. The first few times played, “Crossfire” or “Fylingdale Flyer” can be a bit on the bland side, but upon repeated listens, quickly grow on. The album doesn’t really hit its full stride, however, until “Black Sunday” an extended piece showing that this new line-up could easily tackle the classic, progressive sound of the band as well. Beginning with an ominous Moog introduction from Jobson, the song soon enough explodes into a rush of frenetic energy with Anderson in full form.

The second side, while largely continuing further with the band’s new sound, also has quite its share of moments. The underrated “Batteries Not Included”, clearly not the type of song that would appear on a 70s Tull album; taps around neurotically with an insistent, robotic riff. The bluesy “4.W.D.”, while not Tull’s most sophisticated tune, is still pretty catchy. While “The Pine Marten’s Jig” sounds as if it missed the boat by a few albums, the album redirects and closes with the beautifully serene “And Further Out”.

Regarded by many as a transitional album for a destination that never really arrived (Craney and Jobson departed after this), A has more than its share of staunch loyalists among the diehards of Tull fandom. Even if you’re not immediately impressed with it, stick it through and you may come to appreciate how it got its reputation.

Line-up:
* Ian Anderson – flute, vocals
* Martin Barre – electric guitar
* Mark Craney – drums
* Dave Pegg – bass
* Eddie Jobson – keyboards, electric violin

Track List:
01. Crossfire (3:54)
02. Fylingdale Flyer (4:36)
03. Working John, Working Joe (5:04)
04. Black Sunday (6:36)
05. Protect and Survive (3:37)
06. Batteries Not Included (3:53)
07. Uniform (3:34)
08. 4.W.D. (Low Ratio) (3:42)
09. The Pine Marten’s Jig (3:28)
10. And Further On (4:22)

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Dave Pegg, Eddie Jobson, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Martin Barre

Jethro Tull – Stormwatch (1979) (@256)

04 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com, wikipedia)

‘Stormwatch’ released in 1979 is the last of a trilogy started with ‘Songs from the Wood’ and ‘Heavy Horses’ and dealing with nature in a wider sens. While previous albums of the trilogy were more nostalgique with Ian Anderson as the gentlemen farmer of yonder days, ‘Stormwatch’ looks with an perspicious eye into the future, especially the destruction of nature.

The previous two albums were heavily influenced by folk creating a pleasant bucolic atmosphere where the sweet sound of the flute was basic for the melodic sound; Stormwatch is heavier and more oriented towards rock and roll. Even though the classical flute doesn’t disappear, it is more aggressive and less frequent, heavy guitar riffs by Martin Barre take the lead with the well known and powerful vocals of Ian Anderson.

Stormwatch has vigor, drive, appeal, liner typeset of folksy heading, powerful points of a brief excitement, good call on diverse sensations (dark to foolish, ambient to fiendish, sculptural to emotive), the thrill succinct faked symbol and the mood of Tull rand.

It is sometimes rumored that album closer “Elegy” was a homage to John Glascock — who was very ill at the time due to a congenital heart defect and would die shortly after the album’s release. Actually, it is an elegy to David Palmer’s father and is one of the few tracks on which Glascock plays.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, acoustic guitar, bass, vocals
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, mandolin, classical guitar
- Barriemore Barlow / drums, percussion
- John Glascock / bass, vocals (plays on 2, 9 and 10)
- John Evans / piano, organ
- David Palmer / synthesizers, portative organ, orchestral arrangements

Track List:
01. North Sea Oil (3:11)
02. Orion (3:58)
03. Home (2:45)
04. Dark Ages (9:14)
05. Warm Sporran (3:35)
06. Something’s On The Move (4:27)
07. Old Ghosts (4:23)
08. Dun Ringill (2:42)
09. Flying Dutchman (7:45)
10. Elegy (3:34)

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Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, John Glascock, Martin Barre

Curved Air – Live (1974) (@320)

04 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

The original line-up of Curved Air, except bass player Robert Martin who was replaced by Phil Kohn, had problems with an unpaid tax bill, leading to them reforming for a three week tour of the UK, during which this album was recorded.

With all the line-up turmoils, it would be forgivable if the performances on this album were less than perfect. In fact “Live” stands as a worthy testimony to their unquestionable talents, with many fine moments.

The selections are taken from their early albums, “Air conditioning”, “Second album” and “Phantasmagoria”, with “Air cut” being ignored completely, presumably since it was recorded by an almost completely different line up. The opening tracks, “It happened today” and “Marie Antoinette” are pretty faithful to the originals, although Sonja Kristina does seem somewhat over-excited, replacing the smooth multi-tracked vocals of the latter with a far more aggressive performance.

The latter part of the album is more improvisational, with both “Propositions” and “Young mother” being enhanced by lengthy instrumental workouts. Way and Monkman both enjoy considerable freedom on these tracks to let loose with extended performances. The wonderful Darryl Way epic “Vivaldi” is taken for a nine minute romp which includes the “Sailor’s hornpipe” (per “Tubular bells”), and some extended violin virtuosity. Kristina, who would otherwise be unemployed for this piece, misguidedly decides to add some vocal improvisation, but this is more than compensated for by the synthesiser and synthesised sounds.

The closing “Everdance” finds Kristina still rather over-doing the vocal pyrotechnics, the track otherwise being a faithful recreation of the original with a brief reprise of “Vivaldi” to close.

In terms of live albums, “Curved Air” live captures the essence of the band in that environment well. The talent on show is undeniable and the chemistry they create together palpable.

The reunion was short lived though, with Francis Monkman and Florian Pilkington Miska leaving again immediately afterwards. Kohn left in 1975.

Line-up:
- Sonja Kristina / vocals
- Darryl Way / violin, keyboards, vocals
- Francis Monkman / lead guitar, organ, synthesizer
- Florian Pilkington-Miksa / percussion
- Philip Kohn / bass guitar

Track List:
01. It Happened Today (5:25)
02. Marie Antoinette (6:45)
03. Back Street Luv (3:43)
04. Propositions (7:42)
05. Young Mother (8:56)
06. Vivaldi (9:00)
07. Everdance (5:36)

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Curved Air, Darryl Way, Francis Monkman, Live, Sonja Kristina

Iron Maiden – Killers (1981) (@256)

04 Dec 2007

(Review from wikipedia, allmusic)

Iron Maiden was formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris. He attributes the band name to a movie adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask, which he saw around that time, and so the group was christened after the 17th century torture device. The band was influenced by Thin Lizzy, UFO and Deep Purple amongst others. Iron Maiden’s mascot, Eddie, is a perennial fixture in the band’s sci-fi and horror-influenced album cover art, as well as in live shows.

Iron Maiden’s second album, 1981′s Killers, proved to be a more focused and developed affair than its predecessor. Contributing factors included the first appearance by new guitarist Adrian Smith, who helped develop Maiden’s signature twin-guitar harmonies with original member Dave Murray, plus respected producer Martin Birch manning the controls for the first time.

Killers contains a much livelier sound than the debut, while bassist Steve Harris again played a prominent role in the songwriting, penning all of the tracks, co-writing only one of them.

Chock full of classics, Killers is one consistent highlight — the homicidal tales of “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and the title track, the crushing instrumental “Genghis Khan”, as well as such forgotten first-rate rockers as “Innocent Exile”, “Purgatory”, “Twilight Zone” and “Drifter”. Inexplicably, the album’s two best tracks — the shout-along anthem “Wrathchild” and the melodic “Prodigal Son” — were never issued as singles.

Killers is a(nother) bona fide Maiden classic but would also prove to be vocalist Paul Di’Anno’s last with the group.

Line-up:
* Paul Di’Anno – vocals
* Dave Murray – guitar
* Adrian Smith – guitar, backing vocals
* Steve Harris – bass guitar, backing vocals
* Clive Burr – drums

Track List:
01. The Ides of March – 1:45
02. Wrathchild – 2:54
03. Murders in the Rue Morgue – 4:18
04. Another Life – 3:22
05. Genghis Khan – 3:07
06. Innocent Exile – 3:52
07. Killers – 5:00
08. Prodigal Son – 6:12
09. Purgatory – 3:20
10. Drifter – 4:48

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Curved Air – Lovechild (1972-73) (@320)

03 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com, amazon)

This album consists of 34 minutes of previously unreleased material recorded in 1972-73. The line up is essentially the one which recorded “Air Cut”, except that former member Florian Pilkington-Miksa returns on some of the tracks.

Eddie Jobson and Kirby Gregory had worked well together on “Air Cut”, but here they are far more distant and entrenched in their own preferences. The result is inevitably a pretty incoherent, but nonetheless enjoyable collection of songs.

The album is bound together with Sonja Kristina’s superbly distinctive vocals. When she sings in her angelic higher tones, such as on “The dancer”, the results are truly beautiful. When she adopts a deeper tone however (such as on “The widow”), she struggles more to remain in tune.

The title track sounds like an outtake from the “Air Cut ” album, it would certainly have been worthy of inclusion there, especially when combined with the brief symphonic opening track, “Exsultate jubilate”.

“Seasons” is a long slow power ballad with some good bluesy guitar work, but a single pace which continues on the Kirby led instrumental “The flasher”. There are echoes on 10CC on this track, it’s almost a slowed down version of their “How dare you”.

“Joan” which opens side two has a lovely piano intro which sounds remarkably like Yes’ intro to “Awaken”. This track had actually been recorded some three years earlier. “Paris by night” gives Jobson centre stage for the closing track, which is rather uninspired repetitive piano piece.

During the sessions for this album, the group broke up and the tapes went into a vault. Eddie Jobson joined Roxy Music and then went on to form UK and then to play with Jethro Tull and Frank Zappa. Mike Wedgewood joined Caravan.

Line-up:
- Sonja Kristina / vocals, acoustic guitar
- Kirby Gregory / guitars, vocals
- Eddie Jobson / keyboards, violin, vocals
- Jim Russell / drums, percussion
- Mike Wedgwood / bass, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Florian Pilkington-Miksa / drums, percussion
with
- John O’Hara / keyboards

Track List:
01. Exsultate Jubilate
02. Lovechild
03. Seasons
04. The Flasher
05. Joan
06. The Dancer
07. The Widow
08. Paris by Night

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Curved Air, Eddie Jobson, Sonja Kristina

Gov't Mule – Gov't Mule (1995) (@256)

03 Dec 2007

(Review from rollingstone.com)

Simply put, Gov’t Mule — featuring guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody of the Allman Brothers — is one of the most exciting major-group offshoots. Taking a further cue from the glory days of the power trio, the Mule kick with punishing metal force. Woody and drummer Matt Abts hammer out a bottom-heavy platform from which Haynes can grandstand.

As formidable as Haynes is with the Allman Brothers Band, he soars in this sparser setting. He pits an astonishing slide solo against John Popper’s guest harmonica on “Mule” and then bridges the not-too-distant gap between Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis on the modal jam “Trane”. Gov’t Mule gallop through a gamut of power-trio tropes from the steel-spinning ecstasy of Cream to the otherworldly effects of ZZ Top, from the light-heavy dichotomy of Led Zeppelin to the sonic taffy pull of Mountain.

This debut displays a high level of communication, cohesion, and musicianship, indicating this Mule can handle a considerable workload.

Line-up:
* Warren Haynes – vocals, guitar
* Allen Woody – bass
* Matt Abts – drums
with
* John Popper – harmonica
* Hook Herrera – harmonica

Track List:
01. Grinnin’ in Your Face – 1:35
02. Mother Earth – 8:13
03. Rockin’ Horse – 4:06
04. Monkey Hill – 4:40
05. Temporary Saint – 5:44
06. Trane – 7:28
07. Mule – 5:39
08. Dolphineus – 2:03
09. Painted Silver Light – 7:07
10. Mr. Big – 6:06
11. Left Coast Groovies – 6:52
12. World of Difference – 10:15

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John Popper, Warren Hayes

Jethro Tull – Bursting Out (Live 1978) (@192)

03 Dec 2007

(Review from rollingstone.com, wikipedia)

Bursting Out (1978) is Jethro Tull’s first exclusively live album. It was recorded at various locations during the European Heavy Horses tour of May and June 1978, but it is not certain where each track was recorded.

This double live album is almost too perfect. Bursting Out can’t be faulted on any of the usual live-record stumbling blocks: the performances exemplify Tull’s technical mastery and omnipresent energy, the track selection runs the stylistic gamut and provides a quick academic history of everything the group’s ever been about.

Of Jethro Tull’s previous albums, only a few aren’t represented here. There are five title tracks. These guys even reach back nine years to “Stand Up” for a hoary old blues, “A New Day Yesterday”. Other characteristic Tull sounds include folksy strumming (“Jack in the Green”), precise orchestration (“Thick as a Brick”), crunching guitar fireworks (Martin Barre’s interlude in “Minstrel in the Gallery”) and such ancient beer-blast standbys as “Aqualung” and “Locomotive Breath”. One could quibble about the choice of material but it’s a program notable for its balance.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, vocals, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, mandolin, marimba
- Barriemore Barlow / drums, glockenspiel
- John Glascock / bass, guitar, vocals
- John Evans / piano, organ, accordion, synthesizers
- David Palmer / portative organ, synthesizers

Track List:
CD1
01. No Lullaby
02. Sweet Dream
03. Skatin’ Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day
04. Jack-in-the-Green
05. One Brown Mouse
06. New Day Yesterday
07. Flute Solo Improvisation / God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / Bourée
08. Songs From The Wood
09. Thick As A Brick
CD2
01. A Hunting Girl
02. Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young To Die
03. Conundrum
04. Minstrel in the Gallery
05. Cross Eyed Mary
06. Quatrain
07. Aqualung
08. Locomotive Breath
09. Damnbuster’s March / Medley

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Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, John Glascock, Martin Barre

Jethro Tull – Songs from the Wood (1977) (@256)

02 Dec 2007

9 comments

(Review from vintageprog.com, progressiveworld.net)

Ian Anderson became a farmer in the second half of the 70′s, and his new and rural life-style gave him enough inspiration to Jethro Tull’s next album. As the title says, all the songs on the album are clearly inspired by the forest and nature. As a natural consequence of this, the folk-element in the music was taken a step further here, but there is still plenty of powerful electric guitar-work from Barre.

The title-track is the best known song of the album, and features great vocal-harmonies that get relieved by complex and aggressive instrumental-parts. The two other most progressive tracks here are “Velvet Green” and “Pibroch (Cap in Hand)”. Both these songs have also a clear baroque influence that works absolutely excellent.

“Hunting Girl” is the most aggressive song here, and the main melody is in a marvellous way being varied by playing it both as an aggressive riff and a polished vocal-part. The rest of the album is made up of very nice and beautiful tunes like “Cup of Wonder”, the catchy “The Whistler” and the Christmas-song “Ring Out Solstice Bells”.

Some truly fantastic tunes that have ever-changing music and lyrics bring you right into a living room in the countryside where Ian Anderson conjured up the principle of this album. What is most significant about this release is that it digs down and exposes all of the band’s talents and influences all at once on one album, nothing held back. Loved every second of it.

Line-up:
- Ian Anderson / flute, acoustic guitar, mandolin, whistles, vocals, all instruments on track 2
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, lute
- Barriemore Barlow / drums, marimba, glockenspiel, bells, nacres, tabor
- John Glascock / bass, vocals
- John Evans / piano, organ, synthesizers
- David Palmer / piano, portative organ, synthesizers

Track List:
01. Songs From The Wood (4:55)
02. Jack-In-The-Green (2:31)
03. Cup Of Wonder (4:34)
04. Hunting Girl (5:13)
05. Ring Out, Solstice Bells (3:46)
06. Velvet Green (6:04)
07. The Whistler (3:31)
08. Pibroch (Cap In Hand) (8:37)
09. Fire At Midnight (2:27)

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Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, John Glascock, Martin Barre

Curved Air – Air Cut (1973) (@224)

02 Dec 2007

(Review from progarchives.com)

With Daryl Way and Francis Monkman no longer in the band, Sonja Kristina, whose distinctive voice is one of the band’s strongest trademarks, was the only original member left. She continued however to surround herself with highly competent musicians, including the multi-talented Eddie Jobson. The other Curved Air trademark, the violin of Way was mainly replaced by keyboards, with Jobson only reverting to violin on a couple of tracks.

“Purple speed queen” is a storming opener, with a great synthesiser solo in the Rick Wakeman vein. “Elfin Boy” follows on much more softly, Kristina’s voice never sounded more haunting than it does here. The track is a real weepy, with beautifully sympathetic violin accompaniment. “Graceful his fingers, they waltz on the strings, gentle the song that he sings”, as the lyrics go.

The third track ”Metamorphosis” starts with almost classical piano, builds and softens, quickens and slows. Sonja’s vocals vary from the almost child like, to seductive temptress. They combine with some really infectious themes and great instrumental work for over 10 minutes, to make for a real progressive classic.

Kristina takes something of a back seat on side 2, with an instrumental track, and a rare (for Curved Air) male vocal lead on “Two three two”. The feature track on side 2 is however the longer final song, “Easy”. For want of a better description, this is a progressive power ballad. Once again, the track has superb keyboards including an excellent instrumental break, and Kristina on top form vocally.

If all Curved Air means to you is the full frontal nudity of the cover of their first album, plus variations on “Vivaldi”, this album will open up a whole new dimension for you.

Line-up:
- Kirby Gregory / guitars, vocals
- Eddie Jobson / keyboards, violin, vocals
- Sonja Kristina / vocals, acoustic guitar
- Jim Russell / drums, percussion
- Mike Wedgwood / bass, acoustic guitar, vocals

Track List:
01. The Purple Speed Queen (3:23)
02. Elfin Boy (4:26)
03. Metamorphosis (10:40)
04. World (1:37)
05. Armin (3:50)
06. U.H.F. (8:55)
07. Two-Three-Two (4:16)
08. Easy (6:40)

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Curved Air, Eddie Jobson, Sonja Kristina

Alice Cooper – School's Out (1972) (@256)

02 Dec 2007

(Review from allmusic)

“School’s Out” catapulted Alice Cooper into the hard rock stratosphere, largely due to its timeless, all-time classic title track.

While the song became his highest-charting single ever and recalled the brash, three-and-a-half-minute garage rock of yore, the majority of the album signaled a more complex compositional directional for the band.

Unlike Cooper’s previous releases which contained several instantly identifiable hard rock classics, School’s Out appears to be a concept album. Aside from the aforementioned title track anthem, few of the other tracks have ever popped up in concert. That’s not to say they weren’t still strong and memorable. While such cuts as “Gutter Cat vs. the Jets”, “Street Fight”, “My Stars” and “Grande Finale” come off like mini-epics with a slightly progressive edge, Alice Cooper still managed to maintain their raw, unrefined punk edges, regardless.

Other highlights include the rowdy “Public Animal #9″, the mid-paced “Luney Tune” and the sinister, cabaret-esque “Blue Turk”.

Line-up:
* Alice Cooper / vocals
* Glen Buxton / guitar
* Michael Bruce / guitar, piano, organ, synthesizers
* Dennis Dunaway / bass guitar
* Neal Smith / drums
with
* Ryan Gains / additional guitars
* Dick Wagner / lead guitar on “My Stars”

Track List:
01. School’s Out – 3:26
02. Luney Tune – 3:36
03. Gutter Cats vs. the Jets – 4:39
04. Street Fight – 0:55
05. Blue Turk – 5:29
06. My Stars – 5:46
07. Public Animal #9 – 3:53
08. Alma Mater – 4:27
09. Grande Finale – 4:36

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Neu! – Neu! 4 (1986) (@256)

01 Dec 2007

(Review from wikipedia, allmusic)

After a decade, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger entered a studio together, recorded and mixed between October 1985 and April 1986. However the sessions were not completed and the planned album was abandoned.

Neu! 4 picks up where the duo left off in 1975, exploring the extremes of both white noise and ambient beauty. Like Neu! 2, the album fills out with remixes of the basic tracks, but where the earlier effort simply varied playback speeds, the material on Neu! 4 undergoes radical, even alien transformations.

Line-up:
- Klaus Dinger / voice, guitar, OB8, mix, drums, percussion, programmes
- Michael Rother / Fairlight, synthesizer, guitar, bass, voice, programmes
with
- Gigi / drums (on 6, 13)
- Konrad / bass (on 6, 13)
- Jochen / voice (on 12)
- Birgit / voice (on 12)

Track List:
01. Nazionale (3:11)
02. Crazy (3:15)
03. Flying Dutchman (3:56)
04. Schöne Welle (Nice Wave) (4:30)
05. Wave Naturelle (5:37)
06. Good Life (Random-Rough) (3:51)
07. 86 Commercial Trash (3:18)
08. Fly Dutch II (5:06)
09. Dänzing (5:08)
10. Quick Wave Machinelle (3:46)
11. Bush-Drum (3:10)
12. La Bomba (Stop Apartheid World-Wide!) (5:59)
13. Good Life (3:42)
14. Elanoizan (3:24)

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Neu

Rick Saucedo – Heaven Was Blue (1978) (@256)

01 Dec 2007

(Review from lysergia.com)

Rick Saucedo is mainly known as an Illinois-based Elvis impersonator, and a successful one at that, but some time when the King’s ghost wasn’t looking he sneaked out and cut himself two sides of music that were as far to the other end of the spectrum as you can imagine; dreamy, melodic 60s-style psychedelia.

The album opens with “Reality”, a dreamy yet concise trip of rich guitar tapestries and nice folky hooks. It is a flowing and multilayered piece of music with wistful vocals and a droning melody.

Saucedo then spins a few wheels on his kaleidoscope and via a single echoing guitar note we flow into “In my mind”, a counterpart and alternative to the “Reality” of almost the exact same duration. It’s at least as strong as the opening track, a little heavier with fuzz chords chugging underneath the multilayered guitars and a more cutting vocal style, albeit still totally in a 1967-68 flowerpsych mood along with the great use of organ and booming bass.

Skipping past the two roots rockers, it’s time to flip the LP over and parachute into the marvelously painted landscape that constitutes Saucedo’s sidelong title track. If it seems that “In my mind” and “Reality” gave promises of melodic psychedelic nirvana, then “Heaven was blue” is the realization. Clocking in at almost 19 minutes it is something unique in the psychedelic world; a successful transportation of the acid heritage from John Lennon’s “Revolver” into the domains of carefully composed suites. Saucedo pulls it off like a charm — stacking new melodies, guitar figures and arrangements atop the old ones every 3 minutes or so, each more swirling and enchanting than the last, and retaining a sense of progression throughout. The fact that it’s less than a perfect performance, with guitars occasionally strolling off-key and the drummer seeming to wing it as he goes along, enforces the human warmth and removes any progressive rock specter forcefully.

Exactly how a moonlighting Elvis impersonator made this amazing album is one for our children’s children to ponder.

Track List:
01. Reality – 4.25
02. In My Mind – 4.12
03. Country Shakin’ History Makin’ – 2.48
04. Ka Mon Gonna Rock All Night Long – 3.52
05. Heaven Was Blue – 18.29

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Jethro Tull – Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! (1976) (@256)

01 Dec 2007