Archive for November, 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

The Cherry Five self-titled debut is an interesting album not quite like many of the other Italian progressive bands of the era. Rather than the elegant grandiosity of some the competition “Cherry Five” is a lean, mean machine with a sound that is breathlessly energetic, rocking, and tight.

Curiously, at the time it arrived in the mid-70s the sound was a strangely retro one. Retro in that it sounds amazingly like the first two Yes albums, so much so that if Jon Anderson were singing for this band rather than Tony Tartarini you would think you were hearing extra material from the early Yes sessions of the debut and “Time and a Word”. From the driving beginnings of “Country Grave Yard” you will think of Peter Banks era Yes and if you like the pre-Fragile era, you are in for a real treat. These guys are very tight players with nice vocal harmonies. There really is not a weak spot in that sense, the rhythm section is a blast to listen to and the lead playing is exuberant! There is plenty of mellotron and other vintage keyboards to compliment the excellent lead guitar work of Massimo Morante. Carlo Bordini will blow your mind on the kit with his impressive fills all over the place, sounding a bit like a crazed Bruford in places.

The performances are top notch even if the style is derivative, the sound is nice and punchy with good bass that will slam your head against the wall. The music here is not looking to break any new ground but rather to have a great time and it succeeds there with boundless enthusiasm. A good album to be sure but recommended mostly to Italian fans and early Yes fans. The members would eventually move on from this and assume the name Goblin, leaving the Cherry Five as an interesting novelty.

Line-up:
- Claudio Simonetti / keyboards
- Massimo Morante / guitars
- Fabio Pignatelli / bass
- Tony Tartarini / lead voice
- Carlo Bordini / drums, percussion

Track List:
01. Country Grave-Yard – 8:20
02. The Picture Of Dorian Gray – 8:29
03. The Swan Is A Murderer (Part 1) – 3:53
04. The Swan Is A Murderer (Part 2) – 5:08
05. Oliver – 9:32
06. My Little Cloud Land – 7:46

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(Review from amazon)

As a young artist, Ben Harper combined elements of classic singer/songwriters, blues revivalists, Jimi Hendrix, and such 90s jam bands as Blues Traveler and Phish. His fiery politicised second album “Fight for Your Mind”, that he was to truly make his mark on the musical landscape.

This is an intimate and deeply introspective record, that not only looks inwards, but frequently looks at the world from the perspective of an enraged musical poet (Harper’s influences such as: Dylan, Hendrix, Bob Marley, are clear to see). “Another Lonely Day” which is largely minimal in its instrumentation, relies mostly on Harper’s soul-folk singing to carry the emotional impact of this song, (think stripped back folk, with some lovely slide guitar), it went some way to prove that Harper wanted people to hear what he had to say, rather than just purely focus on the music.

“Burn one Down” which is actually a pro-weed song, with Harper brazenly declaring “”if you don’t like my fire, then don’t come around, yes I’m gonna burn one down.”, shows that he likes the protest songs of someone like Dylan, hasn’t shy-ed away from controversial subject matters.

“Ground on Down” is a great track, Harper hooks up the electric guitar for a occasionally feedback drenched throwdown, that has more place on a rock album, such is its explosive energy, with Harper assuming the lyrical stance of a righteous commentator over the energetic guitar that is probably the nearest he’s come to sounding like an infuriated Jimi Hendrix, in this insistent, almost slightly aggressive rock-out.

There is an undeniable sense of Harper wanting to get a lot of his chest, as quite of few of the songs deal with social/racial injustice to some degree, as “Fight For your Mind” & “Oppression” immediately spring to mind, with unsettling guitar tones which range from poignant one minute, to curiously uplifting the next. Although none of this would mean anything without some inspired writing, that easily surpasses his debut in structure and musical dynamics.

This is a combination of righteous finger pointing, consice lyrics and cerebral blues-folk with impressively strong musical arrangements.

Line-up:
* Ben Harper – acoustic guitar, vocals, weissenborn
with
* Brett Banduci – viola
* Danielle Charles – violin
* Oliver Charles – drums
* Bob “Stiv” Coke – tabla, tambourine, tamboura, sarod
* Timothy Loo – cello
* Leon Mobley – percussion
* Juan Nelson – bass
* Ervin Pope – organ, Hammond organ

Track List:
01. Oppression – 2:58
02. Ground On Down – 4:53
03. Another Lonely Day – 3:43
04. Please Me Like You Want To – 4:55
05. Gold To Me – 5:00
06. Burn One Down – 3:31
07. Excuse Me Mr – 5:24
08. People Lead – 4:13
09. Fight For Your Mind – 4:06
10. Give A Man A Home – 3:35
11. By My Side – 3:34
12. Power Of The Gospel – 6:02
13. God Fearing Man – 11:49
14. One Road To Freedom – 4:12

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(Review from progressiveworld.net, progarchives.com)

When the album Water Blue was released on the Japanese Marquee label in 1989, it didn’t take long before the band Vermillion Sands was known throughout the entire world as one of the most outstanding symphonic rock bands ever to emerge from the land of the rising sun. The album was a true homage to fantasy rock in a year when such albums could not have been too common.

The very beautiful and refined music can be named in the same breath as that of Camel and Renaissance, sometimes a little bit folky. The female vocalist, Yoko Royama, sings in English and Japanese (when she uses her native languange, melody line seems to be even more delicated), and her voice is clear and sweet.

But Vermillion Sands isn’t a clone. Despite the evident and strong Renaissance’s best period influence, this band sounds less classical but more “electric”, always keeping the elegance.

Line-up:
- Yoko Royama / vocals, flute
- Masahiro Yamada / keyboards
- Hisashi Matoba / drums & acoustic guitar
- Kenji Ota / bass
- Takafumi Yamasaki / drums
- Hiroyuki Tanabe / flute, keyboards

Track List:
01. My Lagan Love – 3:10
02. Ashes of the Time – 12:11
03. In Your Mind – 7:35
04. Coral D – 5:53
05. Kitamoto – 4:43
06. Living in the Shiny Days – 4:15
07. The Poet – 8:45
08. The Love in the Cage – 6:59
09. In the Night of Ancient Tombs – 6:16
10. The Love in the Cage (Bonus Live) – 6:20
11. In Your Mind (Bonus Live) – 7:22

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(Review from progarchives.com)

This Prague band that had started as far back as the mid-60s. Their sole album came in the second part of their career in 1972, once woodwind player Kubik and vocalist Misik arrived and changed the group’s sound to a sort of hard-driving brass-jazz-rock. By this time Flamengo was a sextet, and until then, they had been fairly well tolerated by the communist regime after the crush of the Spring Of Prague. And for some strange reasons, the regime will ban the album, most likely on the account of the lyric content, which had been written by Josef Kainar and Hynek Zalcyk, both non-members of the group, although the latter was the album’s producer and doing a fairly good job sound-wise.

If previously fuzzed-out guitarist Frantisek Francl had been the focus of the band, he was gone from the line-up, here Kubik’s wind instruments dominate the album (he gets help from two other sax players Kral and Hruska) from the short title track intro with its footstep intro, until the last brass grumbles the second part of the title track closing the album, not withstanding the two bonus tracks. The album’s name “Kure V Hodinkach” means “chicken in the clock”.

Songwriting-wise the chores are roughly spread out between windplayer Kubik, guitarist Fort and vocalist/percussionist Misik, with keyboard man Khunt also contributing a track, but it would be pretty hard to tell which one would have written which track, because the album stands as a very tight collection of tracks. Standing out a bit is the flute-laden acoustic guitar “Ja A Dym” track slowly evolving into a nice sax-dominated groove, one of the album’s highlights.

Roughly the other tracks sound much like an Italian Colosseum (Italian due to the singing, mostly) and at times Traffic. The centerpiece (and longest track) Par Stoleti is another superb moment with its outstanding interplay between keys, winds and guitar. The bonus tracks are obviously strongly related to the album (slightly funkier and extra female backing vocals) and are pure added value to the album.

Flamengo’s only album stands as one of the best albums to have come out of Czechoslovakia.

Line-up:
- Jan Kubik / saxophone, flute, clarinet, vocals
- Pavel Fort / guitar, vocals
- Ivan Khunt / organ, vocals
- Vladimir Guma Kulhanek / bass guitar, vocals
- Jaroslav Erno Sedivy / drums
- Vladimir Misik / vocals, guitar

Track List:
01. Kure V Hodinkach (Introdukce) – 2:28
02. Ram Prístích Obrazu – 4:00
03. Jenom Laska Ví Kam – 2:56
04. J A Děm – 4:46
05. Chvíle Chvil – 4:24
06. Par Stoleti – 6:33
07. Doky, Vlaky, Hlad A Boty – 4:34
08. Stale Dal – 3:17
09. Kure V Hodinkach – 5:39
10. Kazdou Chvili (Bonus) – 3:59
11. Těden V Elektrickem Meste (Bonus) – 4:05

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(Review from peterjolly.co.uk)

Spanish power trio Tapiman have produced a heavy rock album which takes its place among the best from the country. Guitarist Max Sunyer was Spain’s first ‘guitar hero’, and his versatile style gets a good airing on their 1971 album.

From hard rock solos on ‘Wrong World’ through heavy riffing on ‘Don’t Ask Why’ to the romanticism of ‘Paris’ the guitarwork on here is first rate. The songwriting would not sound out of place on an album by a UK band from the period, and with the vocals having only the slightest hint of an accent the music is easily accessible to a British audience.

The afore-mentioned ‘Don’t Ask Why’ contains one of Sunyer’s best solos, showing that his reputation as the Spanish Hendrix was well deserved. ‘Practice’ has something of a jazz-rock feel to it, while still retaining its heavy roots, and the instrumental ‘Moonbeam’ once again combines the heavy riffs with some virtuoso soloing. The closing ‘Driving Shadow’ certainly has a driving beat to it, and ends the album with some great hard rock.

This edition of the album includes 4 bonus tracks from their singles.

Line-up:
- Max Sunyer / Guitar
- Pepe Fernandez / Bass
- Jose Maria Vilaseca / Drums

Track List:
01. Wrong World – 3:15
02. Gosseberry Park – 3:54
03. Don’t Ask Why – 4:48
04. Practice – 3:22
05. Paris – 3:48
06. No Change – 3:02
07. Moonbeam – 3:24
08. No Control – 3:08
09. Jenny – 3:32
10. Driving Shadow (Pepe’s Song) – 7:55
11. Hey You (Bonus) – 3:25
12. Sugar Stone (Bonus) – 2:59
13. Love Country (Bonus) – 4:43
14. Walking All Along the Life (Bonus) – 5:15

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(Review from gepr.net)

Grime was a French art rock band formed in the mid-seventies. Didier Duval chose Grime as their name because in Greek theater it signifies an actor made up as an old man. This image intrigued him and he tried to incorporate it in their live performances.

Intended for sale at their concerts, their first and only album was initially a privately released limited edition LP of 1000 copies.

Conceived as a concept album, Grime tells the story of a man on a subway who discovers that he can no longer get off. After falling asleep he awakes and looks outside to find the train stranded on a beach. This confusion between dream and reality is the departure for a musical odyssey to worlds of the fantastic. In the end the man wakes to find that he is still on the train in the same dull world.

Grime’s music is an example of French progressive rock with a subtle blending of poetry, music, and theater. Their music is a mixture of complex melodies, vocals, and instrumentation similar to other popular contemporary progressive bands: Camel, Genesis, H. P. Lovecraft, King Crimson, Le Orme, and Supertramp. Only the brutal opening song “Cauchemar” (Nightmare) stands apart from the rest of the music. This punk influenced song opens with French shouting representing the trapped man’s awareness of his dilemma.

This CD reissue contains six live bonus songs recorded at the “Panespo Club” in Neufchatel, Switzerland on 12 December 1981. The live music recorded 2 years later documents their growth as musicians and as a band.

Grime’s music is great. They give good sax but no violins!

Line-up:
- Didier Morando / drums, percussion, and vocals
- Thierry Duval / keyboards, and lead vocals
- Didier Duval / 6 and 12 string guitars, acoustic guitar, and vocals
- Marc Nion / alto sax, flute, vocals, and sketches
- Nick Vicente / bass, piano, and vocals (studio)
- Michel Munier / bass (live)

Track List:
01. Cauchemar (part 1) – 1:56
02. Ocean – 5:19
03. Les Villes De Bulles – 6:34
04. Ton Image – 4:06
05. Message Aux Ancetres – 4:33
06. Le Dernier Arbre – 5:32
07. Conte Galactique – 4:08
08. Une Nuit A Babylone – 2:59
09. Cauchemar (part 2) – 1:21
10. L’heure Du Grime (Bonus) – 3:33
11. Cauchemar (Bonus) – 4:04
12. Fric Frac (Bonus) – 4:34
13. Le Dernier Arbre (Bonus) – 5:54
14. Marche Droit (Bonus) – 7:15
15. Harangue Sempiternelle (Bonus) – 7:34

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(Review from vintageprog.com, progarchives.com)

Back again in that beautiful 1974, when so memorable albums were released and so many Italian bands gave light to their best works, Edgar Allan Poe (you can imagine why the name and who was an inspiration) released their only effort, sadly so many great and promising (at that time) Italian bands released only one album and dissapear, this was also the case for this band.

“Generazioni” is an album that gathers elements of classical music, of folk music, with its Italian roots, and jazz elements as some references, the album was made with 7 tracks. This album is very typical Italian progressive. Tasteful arrangements and songwriting of a high quality.

The album opens with a sinister voice, before a jazzy instrumental. “Considerazioni” is the most rocking track of the album, and both this and the opening track have a very marked bass theme. “Alla Ricera Di Una Dimensione”, “Ad Un Vecchio” and the title-track are typical Italian progressive, melodic and with all the right moves in the arrangements. Stuffed with organ, piano, moog and guitar. “Per Un’Anima” and “La Ballata Del Cane Infelice” are both very mellow and wonderful acoustic tracks.

A solid album that should satisfy any fan of Italian progressive.

Line-up:
- Giorgio Foti / keyboards, vocals
- Beppe Ronco / guitar, mandolin
- Lello Foti / drums
- Marco Maggi / bass

Track List:
01. Prologo – 4:48
02. Considerazioni – 5:29
03. Per Un’anima – 2:37
04. Alla Ricerca Di Una Dimensione – 4:23
05. Ad Un Vecchio – 6:53
06. La Ballata Del Cane Infelice – 4:54
07. Generazioni – 5:27

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(Review from rock.co.za, rateyourmusic.com)

Goliath were a short-lived but very promising UK band.

Their eponymous album, released in 1970, has elements of rock, folk and blues, as well as an Eastern touch. Vigorously jagged, propulsive blues rock with shards of brass and metal, played with a contrapuntal intensity which alternately empowers and submits to the tough and salacious belting of Linda Rothwell, perhaps the most sexually aggressive (and demanding) British female singer of her generation.

A band with fantastic potential, they faded into obscurity.

Line-up:
- Linda Rothwell / Vocals
- Joseph Rosbotham / Flute, Saxophone
- Malcolm Grundy / Guitar
- John Williamson / Bass
- Eric Eastman / Drums, Percussion, Vibes

Track List:
01. Port And Lemon Lady – 4:03
02. Festival Of Light – 3:56
03. No More Trash – 2:43
04. Hunters Song – 9:45
05. Men – 3:43
06. I Heard About A Friend – 4:30
07. Prism – 6:05
08. Emerge, Breath, Sunshine, Dandelion – 3:32
09. Maajun (A Taste Of Tangier) – 4:35

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(Review from allmusic)

Taking their name from the river where Alexander the Great achieved his first important victory over the Persians, Clevaland’s Granicus had a ridiculously brief lifespan. Granicus honed their original material in local clubs before signing for a studio album.

Boasting a surprisingly mature caliber of songwriting, their eponymous debut album of the same year offered a spirited synthesis of late-‘60′s hard rock influences — Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, etc. — and early-‘70′s giants-in-the-making like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin — particularly when it came to Leffel’s high-pitched, Robert Plant-like attack.

The record acts as a veritable time capsule, taking the listener back to that tenuous transition point where late-’60s progressive rock and experimental psychedelia finally gave way once and for all to what is now considered the classic ’70s hard rock sound. It’s this convoluted transformation process that simultaneously informs the album with its edgy, nervous energy and helps explain its mysteriously lasting appeal.

Elements of the old ways pervade the wistful interlude “Twilight”, the prog-tastic “Nightmare” and the 11-minute freakout “Prayer”, while ballsy hard rockers like “You’re in America” and “When You’re Movin’” reflect the new world order imposed by the church of Led Zeppelin. Somewhere in between, an optimum balance is struck by excellent single “Bad Talk”, the scorching, self-affirming tirade of “Cleveland Ohio” and the amazing hard boogie workout that is closer “Paradise”.

As for the bandmembers, their technical prowess and taut interplay drives all of the above into truly impressive realms of inspiration, and with his piercing shrieks and bluesy falsetto, Leffel is a positively eerie sonic precursor to Rush’s Geddy Lee. Rock & roll history may have dealt them a losing hand in the end, but there’ll always be a place in musical anthropologists’ hearts for both Granicus the band and Granicus the album.

The album met with little to no commercial success upon release, and, after being dropped by their label, Granicus’ dwindling career prospects eventually contributed to their break-up sometime later.

Line-up:
- Woody Leffel / acoustic guitars, vocals
- Wayne Anderson / lead guitar
- Al Pinelli / rhythm guitar
- Dale Bedford / bass
- Joe Battaglia / drums

Track List:
01. You’re In America – 4:07
02. Bad Talk – 2:49
03. Twilight – 3:25
04. Prayer – 11:06
05. Cleveland Ohio – 3:30
06. Nightmare – 8:21
07. When Yoy’re Movin – 3:19
08. Paradise – 7:14

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(Review from progarchives)

Mostly known as the Quebecois Gentle Giant, Et Cetera certainly manages to make out the best of their major influences and come up with something refreshing and creative that they can properly call their own.

Sure these guys were totally interested in delicate dissonances and intricate polyphony, and their compositions contain lots of classical and jazzy elements in a progressive rock context, but all in all there is a certain cadence in their music, built on an eerie delicateness. The male- female vocal dialogues and counterpoints are simply delicious, and so are the interplays built by the lead guitarist and the two keyboardists. Pierre Dragon handles craftily the complex rhythm patterns with his solid, precise drumming, while bassist Pigeon combine his partnership with Dragon and his inputs for the melodic stuff contributed by his other fellow members.

The first two tracks overtly show the listener what the band’s artistic ideology is all about, and so do ‘Newton Avait Raison’ and the exquisite closure ‘Tandem’. The usual progressive pretentiousness is there, but it is not taken to an excessively pompous level: delicateness seems to be the main rule of Et Cetera’s game. ‘Entre Chien et Loup’ has a beautiful pastoral intro that soon gives way to one of the jazziest motifs in the albums; things go on softly and fluidly until the intro is reprised for the conclusion part. ‘L’Age Dort’ is the most bizarre piece in the album: synth layers and guitar arpeggios spread under the ticking of a vibraphone and a piano, with a floating cello providing touches of solemnity, and some soft percussives cutting the air of mystic stillness in order to introduce a Renaissance-inspired motif somewhere in the middle. The catchiest stuff is contained in the energetic instrumental ‘Apostrophe’, which also comprises some of Marchand’s best soloing.

This is a great album – so weird, so inscrutable, and so fabulous.

Line-up:
- Marie Bernard Page / keyboards, ondes Martenot, vocals
- Denis Chartrand / keyboards, flute, saxophone, vibraphone, vocals
- Pierre Dragon / drums, percussion
- Robert Marchand / guitars, vocals
- Alain Yves Pigeon / bass, cello, vocals

Track List:
01. Et La Musique Tourne – 4:06
02. Eclaircie – 5:16
03. Entre Chien Et Loup – 7:04
04. Apostrophe – 5:01
05. Newton Avait Raison – 4:13
06. L’age Dort – 4:36
07. Tandem – 6:08

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(Review from progarchives.com)

Although very little known – Oxford band Diabolus is an early predecessor for symphonic rock to come in the middle 70s. Their only album, “High Tones”, was recorded in 1971, in London but never released because of ‘commercial’ reasons.

Music runs from folk tunes to excessive instrumentation, including flute, sax and chorus sang by three of the members of the band, passing through jazz-fusion and complex time composing. Gentle Giant’s choruses run similarly to Diabolus’; flute sound takes them close to Jehtro Tull. Sax prefigures later Pink Floyd sound, but while in Pink Floyd’s sax is “invited”, in Diabolus it comes as part of the whole. Some of the tunes approach electric jazz through the use of broken times and an open drumming, with moments of total free improvisation.

Line-up:
- John Hadfield / lead guitar & vocals
- Anthony Hadfield / bass, vocals
- Philip Howard / flute, keyboards, saxophone, organ, piano
- Ellwood Von Seibold / drums

Track List:
01. Lonely Days – 7:08
02. Night Clouder Moon – 5:40
03. 1002 Nights – 4:42
04. 3 Piece Suite – 6:58
05. Lady Of The Moon – 3:52
06. Laura Sleeping – 5:58
07. Spontenuity – 6:13
08. Raven’s Call – 6:06

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