Archive for December, 2008

It’s time here… I hope a happy year for all of you :)

Esperanto – Last Tango (1975) (@256)

31 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, gepr.net)

The line-up of Esperanto changed considerably for the third album. Keith Christmas had left for musical reasons and the band was looking for a more energetic front man. Esperanto auditioned and took on board their next singer Roger Meakin. His special vocal timbre made him an ideal partner for Kim Moore, female singer recruited in the same way, as their voices blended perfectly.

The recording of the third album took place partly in London and partly at the famous chateau of Herouville near Paris. It was released in 1975.

It opens with a particularly murderous version of “Eleanor Rigby”. This is an original interpretation of the famous Beatles song. Except for a brief statement of the theme, which is buried in the complexity, you won’t positively recognize the song until the lyrics start. It has a harder sound, with great violins in the intro, and a very special tone of voice, makes it very enjoyable.

“Still Life” is an energetic song with great blend of violin and bass guitar sounds at the intro part. The upbeat tempo is combined nicely with female vocal voice and great piano fills. Violins and cellos accentuate the textures of the song. “Painted Lady” is a relatively short song with poppy touch. The beauty is that it does not flow as typical pop song, it’s a little bit heavier. This track has little touch of violins / cellos, only at the interlude. Keyboard flows with the music.

“Obsession” is a relatively slow tempo song with great vocals. The keyboard sound plays nicely at background to form a sort of orchestration. Very enjoyable, especially the orchestration by violins and cellos in the middle of the song. “The Rape” is an epic with powerful arrangements. This is accentuated with a ELP-like keyboard play. The violin and cello orchestration has enriched the composition of the Kansas-reminding intro part. “Last Tango” is a piano-based song with excellent vocal and melody. This track is well positioned to conclude the album. The violin and cello are used sparingly in this track.

This time, the group seemed to have found its musical and personnel equilibrium and the tour which followed was very successful. Although the band seemed to have found its cruising speed and success was obviously on the horizon, A&M did not renew their contract.

Esperanto was probably also a victim of it’s formula as, even with a reduced line-up on the last album, it still had eight musicians and large technical staff who had to be housed, fed and watered. The cost of touring was very high and the technical problems linked to this sophisticated musical genre necessitated a lot of complex equipment for the era (difficulties of amplifying strings mixed with electronic instruments, etc.). The band was thus expensive to run and, as it is often the case, costs overruled the artistic quality. This rupture marked the end of Esperanto.

Line-up:
- Timothy Kraemer / cello
- Bruno Libert / keyboards
- Gino Malisan / bass
- Tony Malisan / drums
- Roger Meakin / vocals
- Kim Moore / vocals
- Geoffrey Salmon / 2nd violin
- Raymond Vincent 1st violin

Track List:
01. Eleanor Rigby – 7:43
02. Still Life – 7:28
03. Painted Lady – 3:28
04. Obsession – 4:36
05. The Rape – 12:06
06. Last Tango – 3:37
07. In Search of a Dream (Bonus) – 4:45
08. Busy Doing Nothing (Bonus) – 3:44

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Esperanto

Wishbone Ash – New England (1976) (@256)

31 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, wishboneash.co.uk)

For the recording of New England – titled after the area of the US in which they were now living and working – Wishbone Ash decided to record most of the album in Martin Turner’s basement using a mobile recording truck. Only for final overdubs would the band enter the studio. The aim of this unorthadox approach to recording was to capture some of the band’s live energy while still incorporating some of the influences and advanced studio techniques. “New England” was rush released in October 1976, seven months after their disaster of “Locked In”.

We open with “Mother of Pearl”, the loudest track on the album. The song is an upbeat slice of power rock with fine harmonies delivering a strong melody and hook. The twin guitars drive the track along. This however is not representative of the album as a whole. “New England” is surprisingly reflective and melodic. The ballad “(In all of my dreams) You rescue me” gives a far better indication of what to expect here, especially on the second side of the album. “Runaway” is an out and out rock song. “Lorelei”, which became a popular live track, is a mid-paced piece which builds to a fine guitar ending.

Side two flows rather nicely from start to finish. Starting with the routine but enjoyable instrumental “outward bound”, we are taken through a brief “Argus” like “Prelude” to and effective rock ballad “When You Know Love”. The song features Ash’s trademark guitar sound and vocal harmonies delivering an attractive melody. The relaxed, downbeat atmosphere of the side continues with “Lonely Island”, where some of the finest guitar work on the album can be found. The track really is something of a lost gem in the Wishbone Ash catalogue. We close with a further short soft guitar piece “Candlelight”.

“New England” is one of Wishbone Ash’s most accomplished works.

Line-up:
- Andy Powell / electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin, vocals
- Laurie Wisefield / electric & slide guitars, vocals
- Steve Upton / drums
- Martin Turner / bass, lead vocals
with
- Nelson ‘Flaco’ Padron / percussion

Track List:
01. Mother Of Pearl – 4:33
02. (In All Of My Dreams) You Rescue Me – 6:13
03. Runaway – 3:18
04. Lorelie – 5:28
05. Outward Bound – 4:55
06. Prelude – 1:13
07. When You Know Love – 5:50
08. Lonely Island – 4:31
09. Candlelight – 1:50

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Laurie Wisefield, Wishbone Ash

Iguana – Iguana (1974) (@256)

30 Dec 2008

(Review from Orexis)

This mysterious British band, Iguana was formed in Southampton in early 1970s to release one excellent album and then disappear without a trace, The solid presence of horns together with excellent songwriting is what makes Iguana’s only offering truly unique.

The music is a great blend of loud jazz-rock and energetic heavy rock stuffed with progressive elements. The sound is rich and colorful, based on permanent juxtapositions of heavy, some what funky guitar sound and jazzy saxophone riffs – most of the songs are catchy and easy-to-get-into, in spite of their complex structures. Though most of the tracks are vocal-driven, there are enough space for adventurous instrumental excursions, the band achieves a perfect balance between song-oriented stuff and sophisticated progressive compositions.

Brainchild’s “Healing Of The Lunatic Owl” would be the closest comparison to Iguana’s debut, only if Brainchild work was closer to progressive realms, Iguana veers more towards pure rocking sound, making the accent on sheer frank intensity of the early British rock music.

Line-up:
- Ron Taylor / Alto-sax Tambourine
- Bruce Roberts / Guitar & vocals
- John Cartwright / Bass guitar & Finger Drums
- Chris Gower / Trombone & Tambourine
- Pete Hunt / Drums & Congas

Track List:
01. Iguana – 3:40
02. Southampton Blues – 1:52
03. Price of Love – 8:48
04. Power of Love – 3:47
05. I Don’t Need No Buddy – 3:18
06. Ron’s Tune – 4:26
07. Prostitute – 3:34
08. Grey Day Lady – 3:23
09. Celluloid Samba – 3:26

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Esperanto – Danse Macabre (1974) (@256)

30 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, amazon)

Back in England, the twelve musicians met up again, this time in a castle in Wales, and started to prepare the next album. The band always had to meet in farms and castles because of the large number of musicians and of the logistic difficulties of gathering the whole crowd in London. The Welsh castle was of course haunted and its strange atmosphere permeated the music of what would become the band’s second album (featuring a track called “The Castle”).

After several weeks of rehearsals, the group recorded the first tapes but the record company rejected. Glenn Shorrock, hit by nostalgia, decided to go back to Australia. The record company brought in Peter Sinfield (of King Crimson fame) as a producer who brought in Keith Christmas as the new vocalist. He had a very different style and was more folk music oriented.

The second Esperanto record, “Danse Macabre”, was released in 1974. If, on the first album, the band was obviously in search of its style, with pop, rock, classical and progressive influences; this new opus is much more homogenous, progressive, with a quite brooding atmosphere… The Welsh climate and the haunted castle had a great influence on the musicians and permeated Esperanto’s music.

Side One of the LP is very much an orchestral ELP, viola and cello instead of keyboards with a touch of orchestral Caravan thrown in for the few vocal tracks.

Side Two, in retrospect, contains many of the elements that the Alan Parsons Project would use a year later in their debut album, “Tales of Mystery and Imagination”: highly visual orchestrations, rhythmic bass-lines, John Miles-like vocal.

Line-up:
- Keith Christmas / lead vocals
- Tony Harris / viola
- Brian Holloway / guitar
- Tony Kraemer / cello
- Bruno Libert / piano, organ, ARP synthesizers, harpsichord, vibes, backing vocals
- Gino Malisan / bass
- Tony Malisan / drums
- Glenn Shorrock / backing vocals
- Raymond Vincent / 1st violin

Track List:
01. The Journey – 10:15
02. The Castle – 3:30
03. The Duel – 7:04
04. The Cloister – 5:28
05. The Decision – 5:56
06. The Prisoner – 7:20
07. Danse Macabre – 2:02
08. The Duel (Bonus) – 7:00
09. The Decision (Bonus) – 7:19
10. The Cloister (Bonus) – 5:11

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Esperanto

Wishbone Ash – Locked In (1976) (@256)

29 Dec 2008

(Review from rateyourmusic.com, wishbone.co.uk, allmusic)

The band had left their record company, had no management and we were working on a record with Tom Dowd. While his credentials are impressive, producer Tom Dowd was not the man for the job. He was much better suited as a producer of southern rock, jazz, and R&B acts. The band was looking for guidance, didn’t realise they should be the ones taking the lead. It was not a particularly healthy time to make a record. That whole time was probably the roughest in the band’s lengthy career.

The aptly titled “Locked In” album was released on March 1976. Critics had a field day, branding the album a disaster. Wishbone Ash had always taken a certain amount of stick from particular elements of the music press, but for once even the band’s loyal fan base could not defend the album, with it’s distinctly lightweight style.

“Locked In” did contain some fine material however – album opener “Rest in Peace”, for example, would become a highpoint of the band’s live set over the ensuing year. Great duel guitar work from Laurie Wisefield and Andy Powell, all powered along with some intensely focused drumming from Steve Upton.

“No Water In The Well” is a classic example of the mellower sound of Ash. “Moonshine” and “Half Past Lovin’” has a predictable southern style and funky grooves. “Trust In You” is full of nice harmony vocals and that instantly recognizable Wishbone Ash guitar sound. The closing number, “Say Goodbye” has poignant lyrics, a haunting melody, tasteful guitars and a heartfelt lead vocal.

Line-up:
- Andy Powell / electric & acoustic guitars, vocals
- Laurie Wisefield / electric & acoustic guitars, slide guitar, vocals
- Martin Turner / bass, vocals
- Steve Upton / drums, percussion

Track List:
01. Rest In Peace – 6:43
02. No Water In The Well – 3:47
03. Moonshine – 3:35
04. She Was My Best Friend – 3:52
05. It Started (In Heaven) – 3:18
06. Half Past Lovin’ – 5:32
07. Trust In You – 5:06
08. Say Goodbye – 4:58

Link in comments.

Laurie Wisefield, Wishbone Ash

Esperanto – Esperanto Rock Orchestra (1973) (@256)

29 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

Esperanto is a language invented in 1887 by Zamenhof, who combined bits of various Romance language to make what he hoped would become a vehicle of universal communication. The Belgo-English band of the same name at the beginning of the 70s had a short but intense career and produced an extremely varied musical repertoire thanks to the many different nationalities, origins and outlooks of its members.

The music on their debut album resembles best Electric Light Orchestra gone overboard but not in a bad sense. It reminds of the first four albums of ELO when they made still what could be considered as progressive muze. Most songs performed here are – as the name implies – a straight forward, simple structure rock music, and sometimes pop music.

“Statue of Liberty” is a blues influenced song with excellent guitar work. “Gypsy” starts off with excellent violin / cello solo — when the vocal line enters it’s totally a pop song with violin work. “City” is another excellent track with duo vocals and relatively complex arrangement.

Line-up:
- Bridget Lokelani Dudoit / vocals, acoustic guitar
- Tony Harris / viola, saxophone
- Brian Holloway / guitar, piano
- Timothy Kraemer / cello, piano
- Bruno Libet / keyboards
- Gino Malisan / bass, flute
- Tony Malisan / drums
- Geoffrey Salmon / 2nd violin
- Glenn Shorrock / vocals, guitar
- Janice Slatter / vocals
- Raymond Vincent / 1st violin
- Joy Yates / vocals, flute

Track List:
01. On Down The Road – 4:56
02. Never Again – 5:38
03. Perhaps One Day – 4:28
04. Statue Of Liberty – 4:58
05. Gypsy – 6:41
06. City – 4:40
07. Roses – 5:41
08. Move Away – 3:43
09. Getting Along (Bonus) – 3:01
10. Waiting Till The Day (Bonus) – 6:49
11. Emma (Bonus) – 3:20

Links in comments.

Esperanto

Sex – End of My Life (1972) (@256)

29 Dec 2008

(Review from progquebec.com)

Prior to their second album, Pierre Ouellette was added to the line-up, making the band a quartet and lending a little more variety to the music. 1971 saw the release of a second album entitled “End of My Life”, aptly this was to be their last album.

Their obsession with the group’s name returned with a vengeance, this time producing tracks like “Syphilissia” and an overall concept concerning a young man whose sexual “coming of age” involves heartbreak followed by promiscuity, then terminal infection, and ultimately imminent death.

The album opener, “Born to Love”, starts off as psych-blues for the first minute, embarking suddenly on a jazz-rock penchant for the next, and bringing in a prog twist for its conclusion. “I’m Starting My Life Today” is an interesting blues-rock venture that was chosen as album single. “Emotions” borders on progressive-rock with a frantic sax-and-xylophone intro that recalls Zappa, morphing into a basic blues.

Some tracks can find a distant comparison to post-psychedelic group “Blue Oyster Cult”. Only the 8-minute title track that closes off the album succeeds in completely breaking past the psychedelic/blues barrier into the realm of the progressive, with enjoyable stylings resembling early “Jethro Tull”.

Line-up:
- Serge Gratton / drums, congas, xylophone, percussion
- Yves Rousseau / guitar, vocals
- Robert Trepanier / bass, harmonica, lead vocals
- Pierre (Pedro) Ouellette / electric sax, flute

Track List:
01. Born to Love – 6:51
02. I’m Starting My Life Today – 6:08
03. Emotions – 2:05
04. Pleasure – 6:11
05. See – 3:25
06. Syphilissia – 3:14
07. The End of My Life – 13:44

Link in comments.

Sex

Wishbone Ash – There's the Rub (1974) (@256)

28 Dec 2008

(Review from wikipedia, progarchives.com)

After replacing Turner with guitarist Laurie Wisefield, the band relocated to America and recorded what would become the “There’s The Rub” album. The title is both a quote from Shakespeare, and a reference to the Hipgnosis cover photo of a cricket player rubbing a cricket ball clean on his trousers, in preparation for a pitch. To address the production issues which arose with the band’s self-production of their previous album, Eagles producer Bill Szymczyk was brought in.

The differences are immediately apparent on the opening “Silver Shoes”. An otherwise fairly ordinary guitar rock song is exploited to the full through the crisp production. The song represents the album being made up of high quality rock songs. Most of these are certainly extended, but the structures remain relatively straight-forward.

Occasionally, such as on “Persephone”, we have something more meaty. This slower number is vaguely similar to “Everybody needs a friend”, with some fine twin guitar work and a strong melody. The other slower track of the album is the folk influenced “Lady Jay”, the lyrics of which were inspired by an English west country folk legend. The song is a sort of cross between “Warrior” and “Leaf and stream”.

The final track, “F.U.B.B.” takes its title from a variation on the US army term SNAFU (“Fucked Up Beyond Belief”). This lengthy instrumental builds from a solo bass guitar intro through a series of fine guitar workouts. The early part of the track tends to plod along a bit, until the pace is raised and a more dynamic element is introduced, with the album closing on a high.

Unfortunately, the record company seemed to have lost faith and without the appropriate promotion the album failed to sell well. The band parted ways with MCA.

Line-up:
- Martin Turner / Lead Vocals, Bass
- Andy Powell / Guitars, Mandolin, Vocals
- Laurie Wisefield / Guitars, Banjo, Steel Guitar, Vocals
- Steve Upton / Drums

Track List:
01. Silver Shoes – 6:40
02. Don’t Come Back – 5:12
03. Persephone – 7:00
04. Hometown – 4:49
05. Lady Jay – 5:58
06. F*U*B*B – 9:32

Link in comments.

Laurie Wisefield, Wishbone Ash

Sex – Sex (1971) (@256)

28 Dec 2008

(Review from progquebec.com, rockadrome.com, alexgitlin.com)

“Sex” were a French-Canadian hard rock trio from Montreal, Quebec. They released their self-titled debut in 1970.

The album features rudimentary hard rock tracks based on heavy blues, a style prevalent in Britain at the time. The sound could be described as a cross between Budgie and Black Sabbath. It is wild, raw, hard psychedelic — chock full of burning, booming guitar, bass and drums. There’s also some nice woodwind on ‘Come, Wake Up!’, some pleasant mouth harp on ‘Try’ and some fuzzy guitar on ‘Night Symphony’ and ‘Love Is A Game’.

Lyrics are sung in English with a heavy French accent. Song titles and lyrics are consistent with the group’s name and contain some disturbing themes.

“Come, Wake Up!” and “Not Yet” were later released as a single.

Line-up:
- Serge Gratton / drums, congas, xylophone, percussion
- Yves Rousseau / guitar, vocals
- Robert Trepanier / bass, harmonica, lead vocals

Track List:
01. Scratch My Back – 3:46
02. Not Yet – 4:27
03. Doctor – 4:13
04. I Had to Rape Her – 4:14
05. Come, Wake Up! – 3:51
06. Try – 2:21
07. Night Symphony – 4:20
08. Love is a Game – 5:24

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Sex

Haggard – Tales of Ithiria (2008) (@256)

28 Dec 2008

7 comments

(Review from metal-archives.com)

Since “Eppur Si Muove”, Haggard was working a long time on an album in order to get it more closer to perfection. Now, 4 years after their previous album, Haggard fans are rewarded with a new album, more epic than the previous one.

“Tales of Ithiria” seems to be close to this perfection and being very well structured: 5 chapters, 1 cover and a few interesting interludes. Originally called “A Dark Winter’s Tale”, the album is not using historical characters and events anymore being more of a fictional medieval story.

“The Origin” is the intro which sets forth the story. With an epic melodic line and using the balanced and deep voice of Nasseri, the song manages to recreate a wonderful medieval atmosphere that will be present throughout the 43 minutes of the album.

“Chapter I – Tales Of Ithiria” continues the intro keeping a melancholic line with the use of violin, cello and piano, supplemented by the soprano voice and the clear and pure voice of Florian Schnellinger. The growls are not missing from the song, perfectly integrated with the guitars which beautifully accompany traditional instruments. The lyrics talk about the advices given by the dying father to his young son, at commence of winter.

In “Chapter II – Upon Fallen Autumn Leaves” the soprano is surpassing herself, as well as the harsh vocals, their duet being remarkable. If in the first chapter the piano had an delicate but important role, in this song he is totally missing, probably because the song wanted to be more agitated and operatic at the same time.

“Terra Santa”, chapter 3 of the musical story is much more slowly although a few growls are scarcely present. The harp and flute have lots of work in this piece, while the piano is quite subtly.

Violin attracts most of the attention in “Chapter IV – The Sleeping Child”, also an agitated song in which the piano is missing. Besides the growls and operatic voice, a choir is present through a few passages. The next track, “Hijo de la luna” or “Son of the moon” in English, represents a great cover, with Haggard lyrics and traditional instruments introduced in the melodic line. A beautiful track based on piano and violin, while the feminine voice is in faultless harmony whit them.

After the final monologue, which is similar to a war prophecy, continues the last song, “Chapter V – The Hidden Sign”, which abuse the violin in a pleasant manner, otherwise a distinguishing instrument for the entire album. Nasseri is excelling in this song, but this time, the soprano sings only a few verses. The lyrics are impressive reaching their peak; the band leader demonstrating his literary talent.

One over another, “Tales of Ithiria” is a beautiful work of art that makes you crave to hear it several times in order to understand and appreciate the entire process of composition and to understand the story of the beautiful lyrics. Haggard is a continuing source of originality through their music.

Line-up:
- Asis Nasseri / guitar, grunts, vocals
- Luz Marsen / drums
- Claudio Quarta / guitar
- Andreas Nad / bass
- Su Ehlers / soprano
- Veronika Kramheller / soprano
- Fiffi Fuhrmann / tenore, crumhorn
- Hans Wolf / piano, organ, cembalo
- Judith Marschall / violin
- Michael Stapf / violin
- Ally Storch-Hukride / violin
- Steffi Hertz / viola
- Patricia King / violoncello
- Anna Batke / flute
- Johannes Schleiermacher / violoncello
- Ivica Kramheller / violone
- Florian Bartl / oboe
- Michael Schumm / timpani, bells, classical percussion
- Andreas Fuchs / corno
- Mark Pendry / clarinet
with
- Mike Terrana / speaker’s voice
- Dieter Roth / solo & rhythm guitars
- Lulyta Garza / voice (9)
- Michael Gründel / tenore
- Sylvia Lindauer / soprano
- Konrad Nägeli / classical guitar
- Julia Schweigger / flute
- Mathias Kirchgebner / guitar
- Rebecca Faviola / concert harp

Track List:
01. The Origin – 1:59
02. Tales of Ithiria – 8:09
03. From Deep Within – 0:28
04. Upon Fallen Autumn Leaves – 6:39
05. In des Konigs Hallen – 2:06
06. La Terra Santa – 4:58
07. Vor dem Sturme – 0:37
08. The Sleeping Child – 6:14
09. Hijo De La Luna – 4:23
10. On These Endless Fields – 1:06
11. The Hidden Sign – 6:25

Link in comments.

Haggard

Wishbone Ash – Live Dates (1973) (@320)

27 Dec 2008

(Review from amazon, progarchives.com)

“Live Dates” is one of those classic live albums of the 70′s that any rock fan must have. Unlike many of their peers, Wishbone Ash are really better live than in the studio, as this album shows all the time. The performances are spotless, beautiful and extremely well recorded.

This is, clearly, the place to marvel at the band’s innovative melange of blues, folk, Yes- style riffs, and endearingly cosmic lyrics, not to mention its centrepiece–the tag team dueling guitars of Andy Powell and Ted Turner. The album is full of great guitar solos, licks and duels, fine vocal hamonies and a very strong rhythm section.

The album’s main attraction is the epic “Phoenix”, expanded by seven minutes from its studio version and included in two different performances. It’s precisely the sort of psychedelic jam that used to really wow them at the Fillmore during the Summer Of Love. Other highlights include a heartfelt version of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Widow”, and an impressively arranged take on the Jimmy Reed blues classic “Baby What You Want Me to Do” (misidentified, for some reason, as the Everly Brothers’ “You Got Me Runnin’”).

Line-up:
- Martin Turner / Vocals, Bass
- Andy Powell / Guitars, Vocals
- Ted Turner / Guitars, Vocals
- Steve Upton / Drums

Track List:
CD1
01. The King Will Come 7:15
02. Warrior 5:41
03. Throw Down The Sword 5:57
04. Rock ‘n’ Roll Widow 5:44
05. Ballad Of The Beacon 5:16
06. Baby What You Want Me To Do 7:36
07. Phoenix (Bonus Live In Memphis) 17:05
CD2
01. The Pilgrim 9:17
02. Blowin’ Free 5:24
03. Jailbait 4:38
04. Lady Whiskey 5:40
05. Phoenix 17:20

Links in comments.

Live, Sakalli's Pick, Wishbone Ash

Chariot – Chariot (1968) (@256)

27 Dec 2008

(Review from psychprog.com, notlame.com)

This obscure bluesy-hard rock band from 1970, sounds like a rockier version of “Three Dog Night” with lots of “Creedence Clearwater Revival” and “Big Brother And The Holding Company” thrown in. Their sound exhibits more than a hint of a classic flower power groove, with some decidedly progressive touches.

This is another extremely good album disinterred from the vaults of psych obscurity.

Line-up:
- Larry Gould / vocals, bass
- Michael Kaplan / guitar, vocals
- Pug Baker / drums

Track List:
01. Yolanda Jones – 3:32
02. You Let Me Love You – 3:50
03. Gamblin’ Man – 7:09
04. The War Is Over – 2:59
05. Home Wreckin’ Mama – 1:55
06. Hey People – 3:25
07. Variety Woman – 3:09
08. Got To Be A Lover – 3:08
09. Poor Man Blues – 6:47

Link in comments.

Haggard – Eppur Si Move (2004) (@256)

27 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

After a break of four years and a successful South-America tour Haggard released their third full-length studio album. “Eppur Si Muove” is again a historical concept album and as the title (“And yet it does move”) and cover suggests about the life and work of Galileo Galilei, who lived from 1564 bis 1642.

The vocal section, especially the one for soprano had been much enforced here compared to previous albums and they have been placed more to the foreground. One might argue that they started to use a bit too much the genre-typical “beauty and the beast-scheme” as sounding most obvious on “Per Aspera Ad Astra”. Though it doesn’t sound at all overblown and as trying to cover some musical incapability by placing an attractive female vocalist with a pleasant voice in front. The female voices, all presented by classically trained sopranos by the way are as well not suffocated by a wall of keyboard sounds.

The contrasts between beautiful classical sections and aggressive metal ones might be here even more blatant than ever before, growlings are more apparent than their first two albums. Yet still everything fits together very nicely.

Line-up:
- Asis Nasseri / guitar, grunts, vocals
- Luz Marsen / drums
- Andreas Hemberger / electric & acoustic guitar
- Robin Fischer / bass
- Gaby Koss / Soprano
- Veronika Kramheller / Soprano
- Fiffi Fuhrmann / Tenore, crumhorn
- Hans Wolf / piano, organ, cembalo
- Judith Marschall / violino
- Michael Stapf / violino
- Steffi Hertz / viola
- Kathrin Hertz / violoncello
- Ivica Percinlie / violine
- Florian Bartl / oboe
- Andreas Peschke / Tenore, flauto
- Mark Pendry / clarinetto
- Michael Schumm / tympani, tamburo
- Anna Reitmeir / violoncello
- Matthias Kirchgassner / guitars
- Dieter Roth / electric & acoustic guitars
- Laura Belli / Alto
- Maria Kraus / Soprano
- Saverio Belli / Tenore
- Matthias Utz / bariton
- Dorothea Zelinsky / violino
- Markus van Langen / voice
- Miguel Michin / corno

Track List:
01. All’inizio e La Morte – 6:52
02. Menuetto In Fa-Minore – 1:17
03. Per Aspera Ad Astra – 6:40
04. Of A Might Divine – 8:21
05. Gavotta In Si-Minore – 1:00
06. Herr Mannelig – 4:52
07. The Observer – 4:42
08. Eppur Si Muove – 8:21
09. Larghetto – Epilogo Adagio – 2:14
10. Herr Mannelig (Short Version) – 6:10

Link in comments.

Haggard

Wishbone Ash – Wishbone Four (1973) (@256)

27 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, amazon)

Following up the magnificent “Argus” was always going to be a monumental task for Wishbone Ash. Instead of trying to create another similar album, the band decided to go back to basics, making their folk sound more apparent than ever.

Many songs in Wishbone Four seem precursors to sounds honed by latter groups like Bad Company, Foreigner and Bob Seeger’s Silver Bullet Band. There are also similarities to the Grateful Dead, early Fleetwood Mac and even King Crimson to be heard in Wishbone’s first of several attempts to become a singles band. Unlike Wishbone’s previous three recordings, songs are shorter and often catchier as well. There are some great rockers on this album, alternating with some softer tracks, all of them sprinkled with anthemic solos from the dual guitars of Andy Powell and Ted Turner. Yet it is the ballads which dominate the album, two in particular standout above the rest.

“Ballad of the Beacon” hails the return of more traditional harmonised multi-tracked vocals and the unique guitar sound of the band is far more apparent. The song (the lyrics of which reflect the band’s decamping to Wales to work on it) is one of the hidden gems of the Wishbone Ash catalogue.

The wonderful “Everybody Needs a Friend” is an acoustic guitar based 8˝ minute ballad features an excellent vocal performance of a fine melody, combined with some of the finest lead guitar work the band have come up with. The lyrics, while melancholy, are optimistic and supportive. The track is immeasurably enhanced by the addition of mellotron.

Guitarist Ted Turner would leave the band after the tour of this album, apparently unhappy with the step he felt the band had taken, and the classic line up of the band was at an end.

Line-up:
- Martin Turner / bass, vocals
- Andy Powell / guitars, vocals
- Ted Turner / guitars, vocals
- Steve Upton / drums

Track List:
01. So Many Things To Say – 5:06
02. Ballad Of The Beacon – 5:04
03. No Easy Road – 3:48
04. Everybody Needs A Friend – 8:24
05. Doctor – 5:53
06. Sorrel – 5:03
07. Sing Out The Song – 4:24
08. Rock ‘N Roll Widow – 5:50

Link in comments.

Wishbone Ash

Euclid – Heavy Equipment (1970) (@256)

26 Dec 2008

(Review from waxidermy.com, rockadrome.com)

Originally released in 1970, Euclid’s “Heavy Equipment” is among the very best of it’s type, merging the psychedelic 60s with hard rock. The raw and ferocious high energy garage element mixed with a very clear and real psychedelic conviction of the drug saturated times. These over shadowing characteristics are combined with their new heavy/hard rock discipline & focus.

The various instrumental contributions are equally matched by their amazingly supportive crystalline vocal harmonies. The background vocal quality was quite effectively offset by the lead vocals “take no prisoners” brutal male vocal styling. This is a ‘bad trip’ spiked with backwards tape effects, darkly-phrased vocals, all instruments set to ‘pummel’ and an album title certainly eligible for the ‘truth in advertising’ award.

Gary Leavitt was killed in 1975, which effectively ended the band, leaving this sole testimony behind.

Line-up:
- Gary Leavitt / Guitar & Vocals
- Harry “Maris” Perino / Bass & Vocals
- Ralph Mazzota / Guitar & Vocals
- Jay Leavitt / Drums & Vocals

Track List:
01. Shadows of Life – On the Way – Bye Bye Baby – 11:40
02. Gimme Some Lovin’ – 3:43
03. First Time Last Time – 2:56
04. Lazy Livin’ – 6:02
05. 97 Days – 3:15
06. She’s Gone – 2:53
07. It’s All Over Now – 3:24

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Haggard – Awaking the Gods Live in Mexico (2001) (@256)

26 Dec 2008

(Review from metal-archives.com)

This is the first (and to-date only) live album of Haggard, featuring their complete line-up in the land of Aztecs.

“Awakening The Gods” combines the highlights of their two studio albums and adds the live intensity of the band to the songs. One would think that Haggard’s merry band of classical instruments would be drowned out in a live performance, but that is not the case! Everything is heard perfectly, and it really and truly sounds fantastic.

The only downside of this great album is that there is not that much audience participation.

Track List:
01. Intro-Rachmaninov Choir – 2:14
02. Mediaval Part – 1:50
03. Lost – 4:39
04. Prophecy Fullfilled-And The Dark Night Entered – 7:03
05. Menuett – 1:21
06. Origin Of A Crystal Soul – 7:15
07. Awaking The Centuries – 10:11
08. Courante – 1:29
09. In A Full Moon Procession – 6:09
10. Final Victory – 7:04
11. In A Pale Moon’s Shadow – 11:03

Links in comments.

Haggard, Live

Wishbone Ash – Argus (1972) (@256)

26 Dec 2008

9 comments

(Review from progarchives.com)

It is in fact difficult to categorise Wishbone Ash’s third album in terms of a sub-genre. The many acoustic parts convey a prog-folk feel, frequently accentuated by the mediaeval lyrics, while the strong guitars and vocal harmonies can perhaps be compared to bands such as Camel. While never overtly metallic, when the band work their way through a few strong bluesy riffs they offer comparisons with the work of Uriah Heep or Deep Purple.

Every little thing that seems not perfect on the first two albums here are completely absent and the album is close to flawless in this gorgeous set of tracks.

From the 9 min+ stunning opener Time Was (and its quiet intro, and strong tightness of the group) to the catchy Blowin’ Free (again returning more towards the tighter and more macho side of the group) and passing through the awesome Sometime World (with its superb intro and then the superb bass line supporting the now-famous scatting, great succeeding guitar solos), the first side of the album ends all too shortly.

The second side of the album manages to top the first one, with their seminal the “King Will Come”, with Ted Turner playing a great solo. Just as superb is leaf and stream with its beautiful arpeggios and that superb pastoral ambiance, a quiet and reflective track from beginning to end and a pure joy. Spine chills guaranteed!! Out comes one of the most awesome track ever written, Warrior and its message for force to become a free man. Throw Down The Sword is a fitting exit to an almost perfect album with both Powell and Turner playing so emotionally that one can only want to spin the album again.

There really is not a weak track on “Argus”, it represents one of the finest albums of its era, a truly essential masterpiece.

There’s a bonus track included in this edition of the album. It is really out-of-place and unnecessary since it’s a track from their next studio album. Just skip it and listen to it at its rightful place, in their next album.

Line-up:
- Martin Turner / vocals, bass
- Andy Powell / guitar, vocals
- Ted Turner / guitar, vocals
- Steve Upton / drums
with
- John Tout / keyboards (7)

Track List:
01. Time Was – 9:45
02. Sometime World – 6:57
03. Blowin’ Free – 5:18
04. The King Will Come – 7:08
05. Leaf And Stream – 3:56
06. Warrior – 5:54
07. Throw Down The Sword – 5:55
08. No Easy Road (Bonus) – 3:36

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Wishbone Ash

Kangaroo – Kangaroo (1969) (@256)

25 Dec 2008

(Review from lastfm, allmusic,
shindig-magazine.com)

Kangaroo were one of the many bands that briefly coalesced in New York’s Greenwich Village in the late 1960s. With Keith’s beautiful voice, Hall’s strong songwriting, Smart’s solid drumming and Spello’s amazing guitar, the band must have seemed a strong proposion and a deal was soon struck.

Their only album is a salad of non-complementary styles, running the gamut from redneck country-rock (“Frog Giggin’,” “Happy Man”) and sunshine pop-spotted psychedelia (“Such a Long, Long Time”) to strident folk-rock (“Daydream Stallion”) and avowedly sub-Beatlesque sounds (“Happy Man,” “Make Some Room in Your Life”).

There are mixed male and female lead vocals (although unfortunately the wonderful Barbara Keith only sings lead on two songs) with backing vocals akin to Spanky and Our Gang against an instrumental backing of spiky guitars reminiscent of Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield.

The band splintered in 1969, upon which Smart co-founded Mountain with Leslie West. Keith went on to record two solo albums. Hall penned the infamous “Half Moon” for Janis Joplin and went on to pen several other songs for other artists.

Line-up:
- John Hall / bass, pedal steel, vocals
- Barbara Keith / vocals
- Norman Smart / drums, vocals
- Teddy Speleos / guitar, vocals

Track List:
01. Such A Long Long Time – 2:18
02. You’re Trying To Be A Woman – 2:19
03. Daydream Stallion – 3:54
04. Make Some Room In Your Life – 2:49
05. Frog Giggin’ – 4:26
06. You Can’t Do This To Me – 3:49
07. If You Got Some Love In Mind – 2:44
08. I Never Tell Me Twice – 3:53
09. Tweed’s Chicken Inn – 3:03
10. Happy Man – 3:08
11. The Only Thing I Had – 4:05
12. Maybe Tomorrow – 2:14

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Haggard – Awaking the Centuries (2000) (@256)

25 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, metal-archives.com)

Like their previous work this album is a concept one, this time about Nostradamus’ life and prophecies. Lyrics (partly as narrations) are in three languages: Latin, German and English.

Not much has changed in the presented music style here. Certainly the way Haggard accomplish this blend by using a full classical ensemble comprising of 20 musicians has to be called quite unique. On the other hand that goes without saying is this high-contrast style using grunt vocals next to beautiful classical tunes of cellos, violins, clarinet, oboe and so on for sure not everybody’s “cup of tea”.

Switching vocalists and type of vocals – from the dominant male grunts, the cleaner male vocals and the female ones, bordering to operatic qualities, that gives you dynamics. Another way to do that is of course tempo switches but Haggard’s key to success here is having so many instruments available that they can just simply change the orchestration every now and then. Classical string instruments have always sounded well – combined with distorted guitars and piano (an instrument which is used a whole lot on this album), it sounds very well here.

Haggard manages here very well to reflect life and music of this era garmented with a modern “metallic” sound.

Line-up:
- Florian Bartl / oboe
- Karin Bodenmüller / soprano voice
- Christian / tenor voice
- Fiffi Fuhrmann / tenor voice
- Kathrin Hertz / violon, cello
- Steffi Hertz / viola
- Luz Marsen / drums, percussion
- Robert Muller / clarinet
- Danny Klupp / guitars
- Andi Nad / bass
- Assis Nasseri / vocals, grunts, guitars, kettle drums
- Kathrin Pechlof / harp
- Peter Prysch / French horn
- Thomas Rosato / bass voice
- Florian Schnellinger / percussion
- Michael Stapf / violin
- Andrea Sterr / violin
- Georg Uttenhaler / double bass
- Hans Wolf / grand piano, church organ, synthesizers
- Christoph von Zastrow / flute
with
- Evert Fratermann / orchestral percussion
- Ilka Mende / violin
- Fabian Schwarz / acoustic guitar
- New Moscow Radio Choir / chorus
Voices of Pestilencia
- Ulrich Muhlmann / Nostradamus
- Carsten Jacob / Monk
- Christiane B.Horn / Woman 1
- Eveline Gerhardt / Woman 2
- Wolfgang Weibmüller / Man
Moscow Radio Choir
- Elena Rastvorova / conductor
- Olga Uschakova / soprano
- Maria Kutuzova / soprano
- Ekaterina Oblesova / alto
- Katja Prasolova / alto
- Vladimir Tarasov / tenor
- Oleg Kuzmin / tenor
- Anton Vasiljev / bass
- Evgeny Astafurov / bass

Track List:
01. Intro – Rachmaninov-Choir – 0:38
02. Intro – Pestilencia – 1:54
03. Chapter I – Heavenly Damnation – 2:58
04. Chapter II – The Final Victory – 3:35
05. Chapter II – Saltorella La Manuelina – 0:57
06. Chapter III – Awaking The Centuries – 9:34
07. Chapter III – Statment Zur Lage Der Musica – 1:18
08. Chapter IV – In A Fullmoon Procession – 5:18
09. Chapter IV – Menuett – 1:19
10. Chapter V – (Part I) Prophecy Fullfiled
11. Chapter V – Courante – 1:12
12. Chapter V – Rachmaninov-Choir – 2:34
13. Lost (Robin’s Song) (Bonus) – 4:38

Link in comments.

Haggard

Wishbone Ash – Pilgrimage (1971) (@256)

25 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

With such brilliant debut, Wishbone Ash had their hands full to live-up to their burgeoning reputation.

With the impressive opener “Quo Vadis”, Wishbone Ash shows that they have become even tighter than before and they use some of the best scatting on a hard-driving beat: this will become a trademark of theirs for a few years to come.

Once the lenghty intro over with, the (sort of) title track actually swings into a typical Wishbone Ash swing that they were becoming so famous for, and once the three vocalist get into their scatting, the track is really take you places that all progheads love: paradise. “Jailbait” is clearly a return to the rockier (and macho) tracks of the first album. Another highlight of the album is the enjoyable “Valediction”. The usual great drumming, complementary dual guitars and incredible bass works are still among the major asset of the album.

“Pilgrimage” is a something of a transitional album for Wishbone Ash, sitting between the raw excitement of their superb first album, and the majestic excellence of “Argus”. A unique hybrid of these two albums.

Line-up:
- Martin Turner / vocals, bass
- Andy Powell / guitar, vocals
- Ted Turner / guitar, vocals
- Steve Upton / drums

Track List:
01. Vas Dis – 4:46
02. The Pilgrim – 8:33
03. Jail Bait – 4:45
04. Alone – 2:23
05. Lullaby – 3:03
06. Valediction – 6:20
07. Where Were You Tomorrow – 10:25
08. Jail Bait (Live) – 4:54

Link in comments.

Wishbone Ash

Haggard – And Thou Shalt Trust The Seer (1997) (@256)

24 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, metal-archives.com, amazon)

Haggard was founded in 1991 and started playing unoriginal and a little bit uninspired death metal. They managed to change their musicial style to something way sophisticated – then Haggard became one of the first classical/orchestral/symphonic metal bands in the world.

Black Sabbath meets Johann Sebastian Bach? This may be a very loose description of the 16-member outfit from Munich, but the fact is their roots lie as much in death metal as in classical/medieval music. Their albums combine some fine classical moments (cello, flute, oboe, harp, violin as well as dreamy female vocals) with the iron riffs, growling male vocals and raw violence of death metal bands.

The album has a very tight structure and powerful songwriting combining metal and classical music perfectly — a balance between heavy (metal) and soft (classical) music. What an excellent harmony. The band has a perfect balance between modern electrical instrument skills as well as those acoustic ones, all performed flawlessly.

Along only 41 minutes there are great operatic chores, death metal vocals, heavy guitars, but mostly about 15 traditional organs that give Haggard their own identity and sets them appart from the rest of the bands that follow this music pattern.

Line-up:
- Florian Bartl / oboe
- Karin Bodenmüller / soprano voice
- Fiffi Fuhrmann / crumhorn
- Kathrin Hertz / violoncello
- Steffi Hertz / viola
- Danny Klupp / guitars
- Kerstin Krainer / violin
- Lutz Marsen / drums, kettle drums
- Robert Müller / clarinet
- Andi Nad / bass
- Asis Nasseri / vocals, grunts, guitars
- Kathrin Pechlof / harp
- Sasema / soprano voice
- Florian Schellinger / bass voice
- Hans Wolf / piano, synths, cemballo
- Christoph von Zastrow / flute
with
- Schalleluja Kammerchor / chorus

Track List:
01. Chapter I – The Day As Heaven Wept – 5:46
02. Chapter II – Origin Of A Crystal Soul – 5:55
03. Requiem In D-Minor – 2:08
04. Chapter III – In A Pale Moon’s Shadow – 9:38
05. Cantus Firmus In A-Minor – 2:32
06. Chapter IV – De La Morte Noire – 8:02
07. Chapter V – Lost (Robin’s Song) – 4:25
08. Outro – A Midnight Gathering – 2:59

Link in comments.

Haggard, Sakalli's Pick

Wishbone Ash – First Light (1970) (@256)

24 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, wikipedia)

“First Light” is the first studio recording by Wishbone Ash, recorded in Spring & Summer 1970. These recordings helped the band get a recording contract from MCA but were then left languishing in the vaults until recently. As for the songs, 6 out of 8 of them were later re-recorded/used on official Wishbone studio albums.

The original versions on “First Light” reflect both the raw energy of the early stages of the band and the original arrangements of some well-known classics. While perhaps less polished than the first MCA recordings. one can hear the experimentation here that led to that later work. The raw energy that gives the music a very fresh sound. The sound quality is also very good.

The versions of “Alone” (with vocals) and the extended instrumental “Handy” are special treats. Also included are two previously unheard pieces, “Roads of Day to Day” and a short instrumental called “Joshua”.

This archival album as a whole represents the band in their first stages of their creation. During the sessions of recording, the band used home made instruments – Martin Turner used a home made bass guitar which he had bought for 5 pounds.

Line-up:
- Martin Turner / bass, vocals
- Andy Powell / guitar, vocals
- Ted Turner / guitar, vocals
- Steve Upton / drums

Track List:
01. Lady Whiskey – 3:11
02. Roads of Day to Day – 5:51
03. Blind Eye – 3:35
04. Joshua – 2:13
05. Queen of Torture – 3:09
06. Alone – 3:09
07. Handy – 12:41
08. Errors of My Way – 6:24

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Wishbone Ash

Red Dirt – Red Dirt (1970) (@256)

23 Dec 2008

Red Dirt were a British heavy blues-rock band, whose sole eponymous album appeared and disappeared again in 1970.

Their selftitled only album mostly comprises of straightforward heavy blues-rock tracks,. The only variation to this format comes with the opening cut “Memories”, the melodic “Song For Pauline”, the country-influenced “Death Of A Dream” and the final cut “I’ve Been Down So Long”.

There are four bonus tracks on this edition of the album. The first two, “Mixed Blessing” and “Wilting Tree”, are long, slow, dark pieces, a long way from the blues, while “Three Fair Maidens” and “Back Alley Sally” are fiddle-driven country hoedowns.

Line-up:
- Ken Giles / bass
- Steve Howden / lead guitar, piano, lead vocals, bass
- Steve Jackson / drums
- Dave Richardson / steel guitar, piano, organ, harmonica, lead vocals

Track List:
01. Memories – 2:03
02. Death Letter – 3:10
03. Problems – 3:45
04. Song for Pauline – 3:33
05. Ten Seconds to Go – 2:31
06. In the Morning – 2:25
07. Maybe I’m Right – 2:37
08. Summer Madness Laced with Newbald Gold – 6:09
09. Death of a Dream – 5:25
10. Gimme A Shot – 3:29
11. Brain Worker – 3:11
12. I’ve Been Down So Long – 2:45
13. Mixed Blessing (Bonus) – 6:27
14. Wilting Tree (Bonus) – 6:35
15. Three Fair Maidens (Bonus) – 4:03
16. Back Alley Sally (Bonus) – 2:01

Links in comments.

Fotheringay – Fotheringay 2 (1970) (@256)

23 Dec 2008

9 comments

(Review from amazon, brainwashed.com)

Fotheringay remain one of the great might-have-beens of British music. They lasted less than a year, and released just one album, but their disappearance robbed the early-’70s scene of a group of musicians capable of taking folk-rock to new heights of subtlety and musicianship.

Now, the nine songs on that debut album, assumed for almost four decades to be their sole testament, are joined by the eleven that would have constituted a follow-up. Sadly they broke up during the recording sessions for that second album. Incredibly all the tapes survived in various record company archives. After several years of careful research in dusty tape archives, the surviving members of Fotheringay have been able to complete their second album begun back in 1970.

The drums on the original recording of “Two Weeks Last Summer” was replaced and added some percussion. Harmony vocals were added to appear on different lines. For reasons unknown there wasn’t a drum track on the “Wild Mountain Thyme” recording so that was added. “Bold Jack Donahue” was extended at the end so, some tom toms to match the ones at the front of the track. Thus “Fotheringay 2″ was released.

The Sandy Denny tracks really stir the soul. Her remarkable ability to interpret a song never disappoints on this album. With all the emotion in the vocals, and all the Telecaster Pyrotechnics of the genius Donahue, it’s easy to ignore the superb foundation on which this edifice is built. British folk-rock music has provided some of the best rhythm sections in the world. Conway and Donaldson excel on this album, always supporting, always enhancing, always driving, and never overwhelming. And as to the production values, the three remaining members deserve a medal for obtaining a purity of sound that 21st century ears won’t baulk at, while retaining the essential feel and style of a ’70′s recording.

As with the first album, the different vocal styles sometimes clash and the mix of folk, rock and country may not be to everyone’s taste. Yet this record sounds fresh and vital even though Trevor Lucas has been dead for almost 20 years and his lover Sandy Denny has been gone for three decades.

Line-up:
- Gerry Conway / Percussion, Drums, Vocals
- Sandy Denny / Piano, Harmonium, Vocals, 12-String Guitar
- Jerry Donahue / Guitar, Vocals
- Pat Donaldson / Bass, Vocals
- Trevor Lucas / Guitar, Vocals
with
- Sam Donahue / Saxophone
- John “Rabbit” Bundrick / Organ

Track List:
01. John The Gun – 5:06
02. Eppie Moray – 4:44
03. Wild Mountain Thyme – 3:50
04. Knights Of The Road – 4:10
05. Late November – 4:39
06. Restless – 2:48
07. Gypsy Davey – 3:41
08. I Don’t Believe You – 4:45
09. Silver Threads and Golden Needles – 4:30
10. Bold Jack Donahue – 7:38
11. Two Weeks Last Summer – 3:51

Link in comments.

Fotheringay, Gerry Conway, John "Rabbit" Bundrick, Sandy Denny

Halford – Crucible (2002) (@256)

23 Dec 2008

(Review from amazon, metal-reviews.com)

‘Crucible’ is the second studio release from the Halford band. Paying no attention to current trends and sell-out bandwagons, the former Judas Priest frontman and his mighty crew stay true to traditional heavy metal, yet they never come across as dated.

This isn’t ‘Resurrection’ all over again; instead, there are several different styles apparent, some of which are hard to pinpoint exactly. You have your ‘Painkiller’-era rippers, a few Fight influenced tracks, perhaps, and then there are a couple that show a flair that’s maybe new to even Halford. There’s a little experimentation… but it’s still metal, though — not to worry there.

Guitar duo Patrick Lachman and Mike Chlasciak swap monstrous riffs and fluid solos that are as solid as a brick wall, while Halford himself is in top form, able to reach high notes with an ease that could put youngster shriekers to shame. Even when he belts out the album’s only ballad, the bonus track “She”, it’s with unsurpassed conviction. The album is a nonstop metallic assault complete with anthems (“One Will”), speed metal (“Betrayal”), and accessible midtempo rockers (“Sun”), as well as dark and moody moments, such as “Crystal” (which deals with the dangers of crystal-meth addiction).

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / Lead Vocals
- Patrick Lachman / Guitar
- Mike Chlasciak / Guitar
- Ray Riendeau / Bass
- Bobby Jarzombek / Drums

Track List:
01. Park Manor – 1:11
02. Crucible – 4:26
03. One Will – 3:32
04. Betrayal – 3:04
05. Handing Out Bullets – 3:16
06. Hearts Of Darkness – 3:48
07. Crystal – 4:37
08. Heretic – 3:49
09. Golgotha – 4:20
10. Wrath Of God – 3:11
11. Weaving Sorrow – 3:28
12. Sun – 3:48
13. Trail Of Tears – 5:56
14. She (Bonus) – 4:01
15. Fugitive (Bonus) – 4:01

Links in comments.

Halford, Rob Halford

Ram – Where In Conclusion (1972) (@256)

22 Dec 2008

(Review from progressiveears.com)

Ram were a relatively unique thing: an early 70s US progressive band that created material which compared favorably to that of their British and European brethren. Definitely obscure, the information on the band is sketchy to say the least, other than their being a quartet from New York who released this, their only album, in 1972 and then promptly disappeared.

The artwork itself depicts a brain scan photograph forming the shape of a ram’s head and horns, surrounded by a field of stars. Cosmic stuff in its implications, and pretty descriptive of the band’s sonic palette.

The band is a psychedelic cocktail made up of a base of “Spirit” with a large infusion of “Nektar” and just a dash of groin-grinding “Guess Who”, served up by a certain amount of Jimi Hendrix. Yes, this was most definitely an American band, but one that retained an edginess on vinyl that sometimes was lost by their overproduced peers.

“Ram” has that in-your-face boisterousness of American rock going for them, as demonstrated by the tight and aggressive album opener, “The Want in You”. But they also had a spacier and gentler vibe. Indeed, part of the beauty of this album is in their ability to switch from head-banging intensity to a gossamer-thin flute-driven sweetness, on the fly. The same band that could produce the Hendrix-tinged band-of-horny-gents-on-the-road song, “The Mother’s Day Song”, also deftly created a quite beautiful flute-led instrumental and a bona-fide sidelong progressive epic, taking the listener through a multitude of emotions in 20 minutes of psych-heaven. Here the band recalls the best of early Nektar while maintaining it’s own identity.

Ram were inventive. Creative use is made of the bass as lead instrument on both album sides, while ripping guitar passages can bring the music to the edge of chaos prior to the flute pulling us back from the brink of an adrenalin overdose, and into more airy territory. Strategic use is made of the much-maligned vocoder on side two’s “Aza”, as well as some unusual mixing that sometimes place the keyboards and wind instruments prominently above the guitar and rhythm section to great mind-expanding effect. The mantra-like opening section of this song is quite sublime, and the only gripe about the piece is that it seems to run out of steam towards the end, almost as if they didn’t know quite how to end it.

This is a very enjoyable listen that should satisfy the cravings of the psych-space brigade for some time to come. It would appear that the original master tapes have been lost since this sounds to have been taken from a mint vinyl copy. The quality is quite good, but there is some surface noise that might bother some listeners.

Line-up:
- Dennis Carbone / piano, tambourine, vocals
- John Demartino / saxophone, flute, clarinet
- Ralph Demartino / guitar, vocals
- Michael Rodriguez / bass, vocals
- Steeler / drums

Track List:
01. The Want In You – 4:23
02. Stoned Silence – 5:29
03. Odyssey – 3:44
04. The Mothers Day Song – 6:19
05. Aza – 20:57

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Halford – Live Insurrection (2001) (@320)

22 Dec 2008

(Review from amazon, metal-reviews.com)

Capitolizing on the energy and success of his recently-completed world tour with Iron Maiden, Halford unleash a double album chock full of ripping, classic metal.

This impressive live album covers all phases of Rob Halford’s career. There are tracks from the band’s ‘Resurrection’ album, there’s Fight material, even 2wo and there’s also a generous spackling of Priest cuts — including several that haven’t seen the “live” light of day in over a decade.

The band attack Halford’s songs with taut force and accuracy. From newer gems such as “Made in Hell” to Priest staples “Electric Eye” and “Breaking the Law” to a duet with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, this comprehensive collection was largely recorded at various venues throughout a seven-month tour.

After the live performance is over with there are three studio songs, one being a new Halford songs and the two others being lost Judas Priest songs that Halford has recorded. All three smoke with “Screaming in the Dark” sounding like a heavier “Resurrection”, “Heart of a Lion” being a Judas Priest rocker, and “Prisoner of Your Eyes” being a Judas Priest ballad.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / Lead Vocals
- Pat Lachman / Guitar
- Mike Chlasciak / Guitar
- Ray Riendeau / Bass
- Bobby Jarzombek / Drums
with
- Bruce Dickinson / Vocals (10)

Track List:
CD1
01. Resurrection – 4:02
02. Made in Hell – 4:13
03. Into the Pit – 4:15
04. Nailed to the Gun – 3:35
05. Light Comes Out of Black – 5:00
06. Stained Class – 5:32
07. Jawbreaker – 3:25
08. Running Wild – 3:02
09. Slow Down – 4:40
10. The One You Love to Hate – 3:11
11. Life in Black – 4:26
12. Hell’s Last Survivor – 3:24
13. Sad Wings – 3:33
14. Saviour – 2:57
15. Silent Screams – 7:32
CD2
01. Intro – 0:14
02. Cyberworld – 3:04
03. The Hellion – 0:48
04. Electric Eye – 3:29
05. Riding on the Wind – 3:10
06. Genocide [1st Encore] – 7:36
07. Beyond the Realms of Death – 6:51
08. Metal Gods [2nd Encore] – 4:34
09. Breaking the Law – 3:50
10. Tyrant – 4:41
11. Screaming in the Dark (Studio) – 3:41
12. Heart of a Lion (Studio) – 3:51
13. Prisoner of Your Eyes (Studio) – 4:33

Links in comments.

Bruce Dickinson, Halford, Live, Rob Halford

Halford – Resurrection (2000) (@320)

21 Dec 2008

(Review from allmusic)

Former Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford finally re-embraced his roots, formed a band simply called Halford. He brought out the leather and motorcycle and recruited guitarists Patrick Lachman and Mike Chlasciak, bassist Ray Riendeau, and drummer Bobby Jarzombek to start over. The band recorded 2000′s Resurrection, a tremendous album of pure heavy metal.

Halford stretches his voice out by utilizing everything from piercing falsetto wails to sinister, throaty rumbles. Some songs have autobiographical lyrics, particularly the stunning one-two opening punch of “Resurrection” and “Made in Hell”. The former features Halford admitting to past mistakes while the latter is a history lesson on the creation and rise of heavy metal. “Locked and Loaded” is a bit slower and the guitars settle into a groove, but the song’s power isn’t jeopardized. “Night Fall” sounds like a great lost Judas Priest song, and that’s meant as a compliment.

The seven-minute “Silent Screams” starts slowly and builds into a fiery rocker complete with Halford’s multi-tracked vocals. Heavy metal fans will quake with joy after hearing Halford’s duet with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson on “The One You Love to Hate”, a brutal three-minute blowout. “Slow Down” is another example of Halford displaying a variety of vocal styles within the same song. “Drive” and “Saviour” include traces of speed metal, the style Judas Priest embraced on 1990′s Painkiller, Halford’s last with the band.

This is literally a “Resurrection” for Rob Halford.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / Vocals
- Patrick Lachman / Guitar
- Mike Chlasciak / Guitar
- Ray Riendeau / Bass
- Bobby Jarzombek / Drums
with
- Bruce Dickinson / Vocals (6)
- Pete Parada / Drums (6)
- Ed Ross / Keyboards (5,9)

Track List:
01. Resurrection – 3:58
02. Made in Hell – 4:12
03. Locked and Loaded – 3:19
04. Night Fall – 3:41
05. Silent Screams – 7:07
06. The One You Love to Hate – 3:12
07. Cyberworld – 3:09
08. Slow Down – 4:51
09. Twist – 4:09
10. Temptation – 3:32
11. Drive – 4:31
12. Saviour – 2:57

Links in comments.

Bruce Dickinson, Halford, Rob Halford

Uriah Heep – Rarities From The Bronze Age (@256)

21 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

This is an archival album to plunder the Uriah Heep archives in search of rough diamonds. As the title suggests, it covers the period when the band recorded on the Bronze label. This era lasted from their inception through to the “Head First” album.

Up until this point, the average Uriah Heep fan had to assume they had heard all the Byron era songs by the band which had been recorded, with the possible exception of the odd single B side. This collection however indicated that there was a veritable wealth of material to be unearthed.

The tracks here are in fact a mixture of alternative recordings and edits, plus surplus album material. While David Byron dominates the vocals, there are also recordings featuring John Lawton, John Sloman, and Peter Goalby.

Getting the superfluous material out of the way first, “Look at Yourself”, “Gypsy” “Return to Fantasy” and “Stealin” are all excellent songs, but the versions here are simply edits of the original songs.

“Simon the Bullet Freak” is a pulsating blues based song which featured on the US version of “Salisbury” and also appeared as the B side of the “Look at Yourself” single. It is the first of many gems here. “Why” (full title allegedly “Why Fourteen Minutes”) is one of Heep’s most progressive songs ever. Several takes of the song have now become available but this superbly loose version is absolutely essential not just for fans of the band, but for anyone who thinks they were little more than a heavy rock band.

A succession of wonderful David Byron vocal performances follows on tracks such as “Sunshine”, “What Can I Do” “Shout It Out”, etc. None of these songs had previously appeared on a Uriah Heep album. In fairness, some of them may not be up to the standard of the classics which made it onto albums such as “Wonderworld”, “Return to Fantasy”, “Magician’s Birthday” etc. but they are still akin to the Holy Grail for Heep affectionados.

The John Lawton tracks here, of which there are four, are more prosaic. While Lawton is a fine singer in his own right, he did not fit in well with the sound of Heep, largely because he sounded nothing like Byron. The tracks here reflect that. Those who appreciated the Lawton era albums will however find these songs to be of a similar standard.

The “Conquest” album featuring the vocals of John Sloman is generally considered to be the low point of the band’s career, and the four tracks here on which he sings do nothing to alter that view. “Love Stealer” is however historically interesting, as it was only the band’s second cover version ever. Ken Hensley then left the band, leaving Mick Box as the only original member. The final three tracks here are from that post Hensley period, with Pete Goalby (whom Hensley had wanted to join the band when Sloman got the job) on vocals. Two of the tracks are from the rare “Abominog Junior” EP, while the final track “Playing for Time” is from the “Head First” sessions.

As will by now have become apparent, as this collection progresses, it moves rapidly from an indispensable status to (ardent) collectors only. Nevertheless, the historical significance of this album (in Uriah Heep terms) is unquestionable, and some of the music is worthy of any collection.

Track List:
01. Look At Yourself
02. Simon The Bullet Freak
03. Gypsy
04. Why
05. Stealin’
06. Sunshine
07. What Can I Do
08. Shout It Out
09. Return To Fantasy
10. Time Will Come
11. Crime Of Passion
12. Masquerade
13. Gimme Love (Struttin’)
14. Cheater
15. Been Hurt
16. Love Stealer
17. Think It Over
18. My Joanna Needs Tuning
19. Tin Soldier
20. Son Of A Bitch
21. Playing For Time

Links in comments.

David Byron, John Lawton, Uriah Heep

Two – Voyeurs (1997) (@256)

20 Dec 2008

(Review from thelantern.com, allmusic)

Gone is the studded leather jacket Rob Halford used to wear as the frontman for Judas Priest. On the cover of “Voyeurs”, the debut album from his new project, 2wo, he looks disturbingly similar to the sinister strangers in “Dark City”, with his bald head and fuzzy-collared coat. Halford has also traded in his heavy metal for the typical industrial sound, complete with slap-and-pick bass lines, lyrics full of self-loathing.

Although “Two” does inherit some of Priest’s metal riffs and overall power, this is an almost completely electronic affair. Halford’s vocals are still unmistakable, but there’s less high-pitched shrieking and more of the singing/talking/screaming style that the techno genre demands. “Two” also tackle Tool’s demented alternative, evidenced in the near progressive track “Stutter Kiss” (with elements of latter-day David Bowie added as well). The overtly melodic “Water’s Leaking” is musical territory that Judas Priest would never have permitted Halford to explore, yet “Leave Me Alone” sounds an awful lot like electro-Priest.

“Voyeurs” sold poorly and Halford disbanded the ill-fated group.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / lead vocals
- John Lowery / lead guitar
- Bob Marlette / rhythm guitar, keyboards, synthesizers
- Ray Riendeau / bass
- Sid Riggs / drums

Track List:
01. I Am a Pig – 3:36
02. Stutter Kiss – 4:30
03. Water’s Leaking – 3:54
04. My Ceiling’s Low – 3:34
05. Leave Me Alone – 4:31
06. If – 5:06
07. Deep In The Ground – 5:12
08. Hey, Sha La La – 4:22
09. Wake Up – 3:32
10. Gimp – 3:41
11. Bed of Rust – 4:32

Link in comments.

Rob Halford

Uriah Heep – Live In Europe (1979) (@256)

20 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

This live album is taken from various recordings on John Lawton’s last tour with the band. It was not released at the time, but was put out as an archival live recording later on.

By 1979, David Byron and Gary Thain had left the classic line up, being replaced by John Lawton and Trevor Boulder respectively. Audiences however still demanded to hear a good proportion of material from the band’s Byron era albums, hence we have Lawton singing songs such as “Easy Livin’”, “Look at yourself”, and “July Morning”.

John Lawton is a fine vocalist, and the studio albums he made with Uriah Heep were designed to his vocals well. Yet his style and delivery are far too rough and bluesy though for the Byron era songs which the Uriah Heep audiences expect in concerts. The album would probably have been much more successful if the band were able to stick with the material designed for Lawton.

“Live in Europe” manages to capture an accurate live Uriah Heep of the era. Those who love to explore may find the album interesting.

Line-up:
- Mick Box / guitars
- John Lawton / vocals
- Ken Hensley / keyboard, guitars, vocals
- Lee Kerslake / drums, vocals
- Trevor Bolder / bass

Track List:
01. Easy Livin’ – 3:17
02. Look At Yourself – 5:07
03. Lady In Black – 7:19
04. Free Me – 5:02
05. Stealin’ – 6:06
06. The Wizard – 4:13
07. July Morning – 12:13
08. Falling In Love – 2:57
09. Woman Of The Night – 3:18
10. I’m Alive – 4:11
11. Sweet Lorraine – 11:30
12. Free N’ Easy – 3:20
13. Gypsy – 5:07

Links in comments.

John Lawton, Ken Hensley, Lee Kerslake, Uriah Heep

Siddhartha – Weltschmerz (1975) (@256)

19 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

Siddharta from Korntal in the neighbourhood of Stuttgart existed for nearly four years. Formed in 1973 and named after a novel by Hermann Hesse, the band’s trademark is a special obscure blend of styles like jazz and art rock, folk, psychedelia with unique vocals in German and English.

The debut and single album was produced with three additional musicans which delivered further colours due to female voice, flute and tuba. ‘Weltschmerz’ (literally translated ‘World’s Pain’) was released in 1975.

The songs are experimental with surprising changes – full of variations and freaky contributions by the musicians. This album is referring to many different music styles which is significant for krautrock. On the other hand there are also poppish vocals and simple elements which are far away from a progressive relation. “Siddharta” mixes this in a very special unique manner, often in an orchestral mood similar to “Out Of Focus” for example, supported by a dramatic organ.

It’s an impressive work, approximately hard to digest and therefore needs time to come in.

Line-up:
- Martin Morike / organ, piano, vocals
- Klaus Hermann / drums
- Gerhard Kraus / violin, vocals
- Eberhard Muller / guitar
- Klaus Scharff / bas

Track List:
01. Looking in The Past – 6:12
02. Tanz im Schnee – 5:14
03. Times of Delight – 7:07
04. Weit Weg – 12:17
05. Gift of The Fool – 6:39

Link in comments.

Traffic – Far From Home (1994) (@256)

19 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

In 1994, founding members Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi reunited under the name of Traffic. Chris Wood had sadly passed away over 10 years previously. Both Winwood and Capaldi had enjoyed a measure of solo success, with Winwood in particular having briefly flirted with superstardom through a series of dance friendly singles.

“Far From Home” though while bearing the clear trademarks of Winwood’s solo work, also draws upon the influences which could be found on Traffic’s releases through the years. Winwood is of course the dominant partner, playing virtually all the instruments with the exception of the percussion, and providing all the lead vocals. With the significant passing of time between the 1974 album “When The Eagle Flies” and this 1994 release, there is inevitably a noticeable maturing of sound and style here. For one thing, Winwood has long since discovered and exploited synthesisers. His familiar organ tones can still be heard but they can be overlaid with the rhythmic sounds of synths, such as on the opening “Riding High”.

It is hard to place this album among the myriad of styles covered by Traffic. It is certainly far more accessible than the band’s jazz orientated work around the time of “Low Spark…” and “Shootout…”, but it isn’t also alongside their early Dave Mason driven pop songs. Perhaps the closest album in terms of style is “John Barleycorn…”, although even here, the folk influences are largely absent now.

“Here Comes The Man” features a fine vocal performance by Winwood, along the lines of that on “Every Mother’s Son”. The track lacks the fine lengthy instrumental break of that song, but does nevertheless feature the familiar organ sound. The 8˝ minute title track is the longest on the album. It takes us closer to the relaxed “Low Spark…” style, while remaining tight and rhythmic. The track features some striking guitar work by Winwood.

The standout track for me is “Holy Ground”, an atmospheric Celtic influenced piece of pure magic. Winwood’s voice never sounded better than it does here, the Uilleann pipes of Davy Spillane (who receives a composition credit) complementing his tones superbly.

The sequence of tracks from “Some Kinda Woman” through “Every Night, Every Day” to “This Train Won’t Stop” could have been lifted directly from one of Winwood’s solo albums. They are pop/funk/rock numbers with synth rhythms. The next song of note is the delicate ballad “State of Grace”. The song features some fine traditional organ sounds, with Winwood delivering the sort of song which suits his voice best.

The album closes with “Mozambique”, the last song to ever grace a Traffic album. In true Traffic tradition, this instrumental is something of a surprise, sounding more like an outtake from a Santana album than a Traffic original.

History now records that this was the last album of original material to bear the Traffic name. A further planned recording by Winwood and Capaldi in 2004 was aborted when Capaldi was diagnosed with cancer, and sadly he passed away the following year. Both he and Winwood can be proud that they created a fine epitaph for a great band.

Line-up:
- Jim Capaldi / drums, percussion, vocals
- Mick Dolan / rhythm guitar
- Davy Spillane / Uilleann pipes
- Steve Winwood / guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals

Track List:
01. Riding High – 5:33
02. Here Comes a Man – 5:08
03. Far From Home – 8:36
04. Nowhere Is Their Freedom – 7:00
05. Holy Ground – 7:50
06. Some Kinda Woman – 5:28
07. Every Night, Every Day – 5:32
08. This Train Won’t Stop – 5:26
09. State Of Grace – 7:18
10. Mozambique – 4:24

Links in comments.

Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Traffic

Fight – A Small Deadly Space (1995) (@256)

18 Dec 2008

(Review from metal-archives.com, amazon)

Fight’s second (and last) full studio album features a more collaborative songwriting approach from the band. It offers a slightly toned-down version of War of Words’ full-bore intensity, maintaining the straightforward metal sound and Halford’s darker, real-life horror lyrical themes..

The thrash ‘scoop’ guitar sound is still there, as is the heavy bass and double bass drums pounding away. But this is more experimental, and often lacks the drive and power of War of Words. Halford’s vocals being amazingly muted and sober, yet the music has more dynamic range and a larger variety of sounds.

The album’s highlight, “In a World of my Own Making” starts just like a Priest ballad (complete with piano!) and develops into heavy chorus – it stands out as the most Priest-like track of Halford’s whole solo career.

This was to be Fight’s final album, Rob Halford moved on to other projects.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / Vocals
- Brian Tilse / Guitar
- Mark Chaussee / Guitar
- Jack “Jay Jay” Brown / Bass
- Scott Travis / Drums

Track List:
01. I Am Alive – 4:56
02. Mouthpiece – 3:22
03. Legacy Of Hate – 4:34
04. Blowout In The Radio Room – 4:10
05. Never Again – 3:51
06. Small Deadly Space – 5:19
07. Gretna Greene – 3:52
08. Beneath The Violence – 4:43
09. Human Crate – 6:09
10. In A World Of My Own Making – 13:43

Link in comments.

Fight, Rob Halford

Key Largo – Key Largo (1970) (@256)

18 Dec 2008

(Review from amazon, alexgitlin.com)

Key Largo may best be described as a group of musicians seeking to create something fresh and unique within the supposed musical boundaries of what most people would simply term blues. Their sound that is reminiscent of Cream and also Steamhammer. What’s on offer is pretty typical British blues but with lots of harmonica, percussion and brass arrangements in places.

Their sole album includes lots of cover versions of Willie Dixon, Alain Toussaint, B.B.King and P. Mayfield songs. It opens with an excellent instrumental version of Earl King’s “Big Chief (Part 1)”, followed by a bluesy cover of Willie Dixon’s “Axe & The Wind” which features superb backing bass. Laurence Garman plays great harmonica and Jew’s Harp on a very funky and soulful cover of Allen Toussaint’s “Give It Up”. Other hightlights include the slow number “As The Years Go Passing By”, which features some good blues guitar work, and “Come On And Get It Baby”, written by thirties English pianist Stanley Black – an instrumental with jazzy electric piano, sharp guitar chords and percussion.

Line-up:
- Pat McAuliffe / vocals
- Laurenc Garman / harmonica
- Bob Savage / piano, organ
- Laurie Sanford / guitar
- Tom Stead / bass
- Kenny Lamb / drums

Track List:
01. Big Chief – 1:27
02. Axe And The Wind – 1:35
03. Give It Up – 2:42
04. What Do I Do With It – 1:54
05. Stranger In My Own Home Town – 2:54
06. That Did It – 5:01
07. Big Chief (part 2) – 2:21
08. Come On And Get It Baby – 6:15
09. O.S. Blues – 3:17
10. Wrapped Up In Love Again – 2:17
11. Biscayne Bug – 1:56
12. As The Years Go Passing By – 5:31

Link in comments.

Fight – Mutations (EP 1994) (@256)

17 Dec 2008

(Review from metal-archives.com)

“Fight” slam back with this half-live/half-remix recording that manages to be more fun than a project such as this sounds. The band on the live tracks is cooking at double-time with main man Halford delivering a rather tense vocal performance at the mic. The remixes are rather tasteful, and while they will still only appeal to those of us with an interest in electronic music – they obviously had effort put into them. Halford hinted as his “2wo” effort with this, as well as kicking some ass in the live arena with carefully chosen Fight and Judas Priest tracks.

The live side bears three of the Fight “classics” in “Nailed to the Gun”, “Into the Pit” and “Little Crazy”. The band performs these with a formidable firepower. Even more brutal than in the studio – Fight slams through and takes names. The version of Judas Priest’s “Freewheel Burning” is also rather intimidating compared to the original. Of the remix’s, “War of Words”, “Immortal Sin” and “Kill It” seem to work best – with “Immortal Sin” taking on an extremely strange and haunting quality that should have been the sound of the “2wo” project.

This is hardly a “full-scale” effort that needs to be examined as the excellent first Fight record or the rather sub-par second one. Still, if you are a fan of Rob Halford – the live tracks alone will make this worth it for you! If you love electronic music… try the second half as well.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / Vocals
- Brian Tilse / Guitar
- Mark Chaussee / Guitar
- Jack “Jay Jay” Brown / Bass
- Scott Travis / Drums

Track List:
01. Into The Pit (Live) – 4:10
02. Nailed To The Gun (Live) – 3:34
03. Freewheel Burning (Live) – 4:45
04. Little Crazy (Live) – 4:56
05. War Of Words (Bloody Tongue Mix) – 6:47
06. Kill It (Dutch Death Mix) – 3:50
07. Vicious (Middle Finger Mix) – 6:05
08. Immortal Sin (Tolerance Mix) – 5:49
09. Little Crazy (Straight Jacket Mix) – 5:55

Link in comments.

Fight, Rob Halford

Whistler – Ho Hum (1971) (@256)

17 Dec 2008

(Info from Tapestry of Delights)

Soft and delicate, yet melodic, confident and self-assured, this Deram act’s only album resides somewhere between period UK country rock (Quicksand, Southern Comfort, Quiver) and singer-songwriterdom (Mike Maran, Pete Atkin, Tony Hazzard) with plenty of light and shade thrown in from both sides.

Featuring cream of the cream of Britain’s studio scene and aided by a sympathetic and lush production, this band manages to produce twelve superbly orchestrated tracks full of energy, effervescence, vigour, character, rich flavour and originality. It also features no less than three lead vocalists and – count them! – five guitarists, including none other than Southern Comfort’s Gordon Huntley and Eric Bell of Thin Lizzy. Jimmy Hastings, of course, needs no introduction, being a long-standing member of Canterbury progressive legend Caravan.

Line-up:
- Eric Bell / Guitar
- Tony Carr / Percussion
- Clem Cattini / Drums
- John Chuter / Vocals, Guitar, Bass
- Ant Grouth/Smith / Guitar, Bass, Sax, Vocals
- Jimmy Hastings / Flute
- George Howe / Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
- Gordon Huntley / Steel Guitar
- Barry Morgan / Drums
- Douglas Wright / Drums

Track List:
01. Help Me – 2:31
02. Hello Lady – 2:47
03. I Can’t Believe Me Eyes – 2:49
04. City Boy – 2:01
05. Blind Leading The Blind – 2:33
06. Machine – 2:56
07. See The Wheels Are Turning – 3:35
08. Whenever – 2:51
09. Do It For Mother – 2:48
10. Blind Man – 3:50
11. Nothing At All – 3:03
12. See What The Future Brings – 3:54

Link in comments.

Eric Bell, Jimmy Hastings

Fight – K5 War Of Word Demos (@256)

16 Dec 2008

(Review from draven99)

This is a collection of demos from Fight’s first album, covering the majority of those initial songs, as well as a few new ones that failed to make the original cut.

During the recording sessions Halford had the studio turn on the recorders, in order to create reference tracks to use while refining the music. This album contains those early recordings. It is fascinating to listen to these songs, slipping into their familiarity but being surprised by the differences. Many of the songs are slower than the final cuts, and there are a lot of little guitar fills and such that are not here. It is like listening to these songs for the first time. It also proves just how great Fight was.

The songs captured here are raw, intimate, and not perfect. When we are used to perfect mixes and spotless recordings, Rob Halford is secure enough to put his voice, and his band, out there, exposed to the world, warts and all.

For Fight diehards and Halford-lovers, this is a must have. It is fascinating to listen to these early takes and see the evolution from this form to the finished versions.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / vocals
- Brian Tilse / guitar
- Russ Parrish / guitar
- Scott Travis / drums
- Jack “Jay Jay” Brown / bass

Track List:
01. Into The Pit – 4:35
02. Nailed To The Gun – 3:35
03. Now You Die – 3:38
04. Life Is Black – 4:53
05. Kill It – 3:34
06. Controtion – 4:21
07. Forbidden – 4:44
08. War Of Words – 4:59
09. Psycho Suicide – 4:48
10. Down – 4:41
11. Vicious – 3:15
12. Beast Denies – 4:48
13. Laid To Rest – 5:23
14. Jesus Saves – 3:40
15. Dead Men Talk – 5:12
16. For All Eternity – 4:36

Links in comments.

Fight, Rob Halford

Fight – War of Words (1993) (@256)

16 Dec 2008

(Review from allmusic, metal-archives.com)

When lead singer Rob Halford left Judas Priest in the early 90s, he quickly rebounded with a ferocious new band called Fight. He took with him from Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis. The line-up was completed by Russ Parrish on guitar, Brian Tilse on guitar and keyboards and Jay Jay on bass guitar. Halford took Fight into the studio and recorded War of Words in 1993.

Taking a deliberate step away from the old-school tendencies and cartoon metal lyrics of his former band, Halford based Fight’s sound on the more sleek, thrash-oriented approach of newer metal outfits like Pantera and matched the intense sound with decidedly more topical and socially relevant lyrics.

Among the many highlights on this record include the double-time “Into the Pit” and “Nailed to the Gun” displayed a chugging machine-grind that benefits from Halford’s throaty delivery. Slower numbers like “Reality – A New Beginning”, “Little Crazy” and “Immortal Sin” give room for passionate vocal performances. “For All Eternity”, “Laid to Rest” and “War of Words” also provide strong moments for the band as well.

The album as a whole is a strong example of a man who wanted to try something new and embraced the sound as an honest personal expression.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / Vocals
- Jack “Jay Jay” Brown / Bass
- Russ Parrish / Guitar
- Brian Tilse / Guitar, Keyboards
- Scott Travis / Drums

Track List:
01. Into The Pit – 4:13
02. Nailed To The Gun – 3:38
03. Life In Black – 4:34
04. Immortal Sin – 4:39
05. War of Words – 4:29
06. Laid To Rest – 4:40
07. For All Eternity – 4:42
08. Little Crazy – 3:49
09. Contortion – 4:35
10. Kill It – 3:30
11. Vicious – 3:11
12. Reality, A New Beginning – 13:18

Links in comments.

Fight, Rob Halford

Jackson Heights – Bump 'n' Grind (1973) (@256)

16 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

For their fourth and last album, the band aimed at a concept album about the lives of the ladies in a cabaret. Apparently the concept diverged into a complete extravaganza with tons of extra musicians once the label got excited about the project and over-did their part.

Starting on seagulls and piano into “I Could Be Your Orchestra” or its string-overloaded follow-up “Spaghetti Sunshine”, this album seems to be filled to the brim with the whole kettle of progressive clichés, but then again, this might be a proghead’s easiest way to get into Jackson Heights. Classically trained Brian Chatton, constantly pushed by his buddy Keith Emerson, he obviously explodes into this album, here seems to take on the lion’s share in terms of songwriting.

The band wouldn’t survive the album very long. Swiss keyboard wizard Patrick Moraz would then step in, forming the group Refugee with him.

Line-up:
- Lee Jackson / bass, guitar, vocals
- Brian Chatton / keyboards, vocals
- Michael Giles / drums
- John McBurnie / guitar, keyboards, vocals
with
- Johnny VanDerrick / violin
- Ian Paice / drums
- Ian Wallace / drums
- Chris Laurence / bass
- Bill Bell / banjo

Track List:
01. I Could Be Your Orchestra – 4:15
02. Spaghetti Sunshine – 3:32
03. Long Necked Lady – 3:46
04. Public Romance – 2:32
05. Bump and Grind – 3:26
06. Cumberland County – 3:39
07. It’s a Shame – 4:17
08. Ladies in the Chorus – 3:08
09. Whatever Happened to the Conversation – 3:45

Link in comments.

Ian Paice, Ian Wallace, Jackson Heights, Lee Jackson, Michael Giles

Glenn Tipton – Baptizm of Fire (1997) (@256)

15 Dec 2008

(Review from draven99, metalexcess)

“Baptizm of Fire” is a finely honed example of what metal can do. From chugging riffs to driving drums, to screaming solos, they’re all here. Glenn Tipton surrounded himself with a group of talented musicians that helped him spread his wings and step away from the band mentality. Tipton is really showing himself here as a great vocalist showing a lot of different styles. The album is definitely metal, but album covers many subgenres such as punk, alternative and thrash but it still manages to sound Priest-like at times.

The album opens with a chunky guitar riff, followed by a nice double bass drum fill leading us into “Hard Care”. A decent track which introduces you to an altered Priest sound, and the interesting and unique, if unspectacular voice of Glenn Tipton. This initial offering is followed by a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black”. Tipton does a sped up metalized version which works surprisingly well.

“Enter the Storm” opens with a nice progression leading into the mellow vocals, which in turn leads to a slow chugging guitar riff. The first couple of minutes actually remind of some of Type O Negatives slower songs. This leads into an incredible, blood pumping, guitar/drum progression. That is followed by another chunky rocker in “Fuel Me Up”.

The title track is the lone instrumental representation from our metallic ringleader. The guitars are haunting and very reminiscent of raw Priest. The song comes together with some great bass and drum work. The solos are Tipton cutting loose without having to work around vocals, instead using his guitar to take the listener on an emotional journey.

Other standout tracks include “Kill or be Killed” and “Voodoo Brother”. The former kicking up the speed a few notches and including some nice riffs. The latter moves along at an old school pace, sounds great. Then the album ends with the country/acoustic flavored “Left for Dead” which closes the album on a strange note but is an enjoyable change of pace.

Line-up:
* Glenn Tipton – Guitars, Vocals
with
* Robert Trujillo / Bass (1, 2, 10)
* C.J. de Villar / Bass (3, 4, 8, 9, 11)
* Billy Sheehan / Bass (5, 6)
* John Entwistle / Bass (7)
* Brooks Wackerman / Drums (1, 2, 10)
* Shannon Larkin / Drums (3, 4, 8, 9, 11)
* Cozy Powell / Drums (5, 6, 7, 11)
* Don Airey / Keyboards (6)
* Whitfield Crane / Back Vocals (10)

Track List:
01. Hard Core – 4:39
02. Paint It Black – 2:53
03. Enter The Storm – 5:56
04. Fuel Me Up – 3:02
05. Extinct – 5:33
06. Baptizm Of Fire – 5:16
07. The Healer – 4:54
08. Cruise Control – 4:08
09. Kill Or Be Killed – 3:21
10. Voodoo Brother – 5:36
11. Left For Dead – 3:45

Link in comments.

Glenn Tipton

Jackson Heights – Raga Muffins Fool (1972) (@256)

15 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

Compared to their previous album, keyboardist Brian Chatton is also involved in the songwriting, which makes them a full and equal trio, but the overall sound of the group won’t be altered too much, still hovering on a soft folk rock with west coast influences but without any trace of country rock.

The opening track Maureen with its string arrangement would become a single. The following “Your Beauty” does however spell some kind of proggy ambiance and is linked to “As She Starts”, both tracks hovering around Guess Who and Steely Dan. In the same realm, “Bebop” is a nice tidbit with mellotrons. Other tracks like “Chips And Chicken” or the title track to “Poor Peter” and “Bellyful Of Water” are ranging from Honky Tonk to hillbilly roadside blues and fun roll-out rollicking rock.

“Catch A Thief” could almost be a good “Nice” track, relying on a wild piano, while “Chorale” IS a “Nice” track (a part of the Five Bridge Suite) with Jackson singing almost Gabriel-like. But most of the second side’s tracks remind in some ways the short crazier and zanier “Nice” tracks from their first two albums.

Line-up:
- Lee Jackson / bass, guitar, vocals
- Brian Chatton / keyboards, vocals
- Michael Giles / drums
- John McBurnie / guitar, keyboards, vocals

Track List:
01. Maureen – 3:50
02. Oh You Beauty – 4:20
03. As She Starts – 3:24
04. Bebop – 3:57
05. Catch a Thief – 4:48
06. Ragamuffins Fool – 3:04
07. Chorale (Five Bridges Suite) – 3:20
08. Chips and Chicken – 3:56
09. Poor Peter – 2:04
10. Bellyfull of Water – 3:53

Link in comments.

Jackson Heights, Lee Jackson, Michael Giles

Tipton, Entwistle & Powell – Edge Of The World (1994-96) (@256)

14 Dec 2008

(Review from about.com, seaoftranquility.org)

After Rob Halford left Judas Priest, guitarist Glenn Tipton recorded an album with bassist John Entwhistle (The Who) and drummer Cozy Powell (Black Sabbath, Rainbow). After submitting it to the record company, they didn’t think it sounded modern enough and the material was shelved, not to be released until a decade later.

All 3 are fantastic musicians and they have an excellent chemistry together. Edge of the World has a more old school feel to it. The songs are very melodic and less heavier sounding than Judas Priest or Glenn Tipton’s later solo work. In addition to wielding his legendary axe, Tipton also sings lead on the album. He’s no Rob Halford but his voice lends itself well to this material. His range is rather limited, but he realizes that and sticks to singing in the range that sounds best.

There’s some crunchy and rockin’ material here, like the bombastic “Friendly Fire”, complete with lightning lead work, or the symphonic “Never Say Die” which has some catchy hooks and plenty of keyboards. There are also some tunes that have a Magnum or Ten kind of feel, like “Resolution” and “The Holy Man”. There’s even a few acoustic based numbers, like “Crime of Passion” and “Searching”, it’s quite frankly surprising these guys put as many mellow tracks as they did on this album.

It’s a shame that Tipton was the only one of these three brilliant talents still alive when the recordings saw the daylight. It would have been great to see those three play these songs live.

Line-up:
- Glenn Tipton / guitar, vocals
- John Entwistle / bass
- Cozy Powell / drums
with
- Don Airey / keyboards

Track List:
01. Unknown Soldier
02. Friendly Fire
03. The Holy Man
04. Never Say Die
05. Resolution
06. Searching
07. Give Blood
08. Crime Of Passion
09. Walls Cave In
10. Edge Of The World
11. Stronger Than The Drug

Links in comments.

Glenn Tipton, John Entwistle

Jackson Heights – Fifth Avenue Bus (1972) (@320)

14 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

After their debut album, the group was already falling apart and Lee Jackson had to rebuild it from scratch. Lee wisely sought some more songwriters in the person. Not only he made space for a real songwriter, but accepted shared vocal duties, he picked up his bass again and would call upon ex-Crimson drummer Michael Giles to play drums, even though he and McBurnie handled percussion instruments as well.

Musically fairly different than their debut album, “Fifth Ave Bus” is more to do with Crosby, Stills & Nash than with “Nice” or any other progressive group around, although on the odd song, they could play up a proggy storm, especially with Giles drumming it up. The huge majority of the songs are written by guitarist McBurnie and his feeling has a definitive west coast pop/rock with vocal harmonies Crosby, Stills & Nash or America.

The percussion middle section “Trampdog Got Bitten” or the middle section of the lengthy “Sweet Hill Tunnel”, where Chatton shows his keyboard palette, the wind noises allowing some ambiance to take hold and the excellent interplay between Chatton’s palette, Lee’s bass and Giles’ drums is a definite highlight.

The closing “Pastor Roger”, which has a Family feeling, partly induced by the vocals Chapman-esque lead vocals.

Line-up:
- Lee Jackson / bass, guitar, vocals
- Brian Chatton / keyboards, vocals
- Michael Giles / drums
- John McBurnie / guitar, keyboards, vocals

Track List:
01. Trampdog Got Bitten
02. Autumn Brigade
03. Long Time Dying
04. Sweet Hill Tunnel
05. Laughing Gear
06. House In The Country
07. Rent A Friend
08. Luxford
09. Pastor Roger

Link in comments.

Jackson Heights, Lee Jackson, Michael Giles

Happy Birthday!

13 Dec 2008

13 comments

Two years ago today, I had started this blog. I sometimes still can’t believe how large it has grown over time.

Thanks to all who have supported me; be it by commenting, contributing, linking, telling other people or anonymously downloading.

I am very happy that I was and still able to help spread the music.

Jackson Heights – King Progress (1970) (@256)

13 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, rateyourmusic.com)

After the split of “Nice”, Lee Jackson dropped the bass, picked up his acoustic guitar and started writer songs in the singer/songwriter mode. He chose to become lead singer of a quartet that consisted of old buddies. Named after a NYC district, the group’s debut album King Progress got a release in 1970.

The music on their 1970 debut is about as far from the organ dominated progressive rock which the Nice was known for given that this is more in the folk rock vein. The songs on the album are sometimes short pop tunes like some of those early “Nice” tune, and there is even a rework of “Cry Of Eugene” on this album.

Line-up:
- Lee Jackson / vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
- Charlie Harcourt / guitars, keyboards
- Tommy Sloane / drums, percussion
- Mario Tafia / bass, guitars

Track List:
01. Mr. Screw – 3:21
02. Since I Last Saw You – 7:03
03. Sunshine Freak – 4:52
04. King Progress – 3:30
05. Doubting Thomas – 4:16
06. Insomnia – 5:03
07. Cry Of Eugene – 7:54

Link in comments.

Jackson Heights, Lee Jackson

Hard Stuff – Bolex Dementia (1973) (@256)

13 Dec 2008

(Review from rockadrome.com, amazon)

Hard Stuff’s second album isn’t as brutally heavy as their debut album, but it does still have some quite heavy guitar work. They sound a little more polished though, and they do experiment with some different styles.

There are some hard edged power chording going on but there’s also some ventures into funk and weirdness. ‘Mermany’ is strange acoustic rock that kind of grows on you after a while. ‘Libel’ has a groovy bass line layered with r&bish vocals, and ‘Bolex Dementia’ is a fuzzy conglameration of shortwave radio noises, scratchy noise samples, and a psychotic sounding guitar riff.

The album’s reigning acheivement has to be ‘Spider’s Web’. Great guitar riff, great bass playing, a bit funky but not as funky as Deep Purple’s Stormbringer. ‘Roll A Rocket’ would be the album’s ‘Speed King’. It would make for a perfect soundtrack of to a muscle car chase from an old 70s B movie.

Heavy, but not as evil as one might think, ‘Bolex Dementia’ is a solid effort that is a bit more experimental than the previous album.

Line-up:
- John (Du) Cann / Guitars
- John Gustafson / Bass
- Paul Hammond / Drums

Track List:
01. Sick N’ Tired – 4:04
02. Mermany – 5:58
03. Jumpin’ Thumpin [ Ain't That Somethin' ] – 2:55
04. Dazzle Dizzy – 3:41
05. Bolex Dementia – 3:41
06. Roll A Rocket – 5:19
07. Libel – 3:58
08. Ragman – 3:01
09. Spidere Web – 4:55
10. Get Lost – 3:01

Link in comments.

John Du Cann, Paul Hammond

Judas Priest – Nostradamus (2008) (@256)

12 Dec 2008

(Review from blabbermouth.net, metal-archives.com)

Enter Priest’s first concept album, and a trip into a realm they seem to be visiting for purely artistic (or perhaps legacy) reasons. It’s not like these big metal operas are new to the underground (in fact Avantasia did this exact same concept album a few years back).

This is a huge departure, one only hinted at on previous songs like “Loch Ness” and “Cathedral Spires” — slower, more stately, with lots of acoustics and very little denim-and-leather sparks a-flyin’. It’s a more dignified Priest — one concerned with weighty and mystical concepts and theatrical pacing, rather than three-minute compact song flair. The band uses some very unconventional (for Priest-hood) features like choirs and strings. This of course creates a very epic mood to the album.

The album flows smoothly from one song to another and at no point does the music pause. This is achieved with guitars fading out from one riff or melody to another that starts a new song, the aforementioned strings, or a combination of both. Almost half the songs are interludes that progress the music from one song to another.

Nostradamus is no doubt an album that has split Priest fans in half. Some loved the new ground the band is exploring, others thought it was music that any other band could have made.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / vocals
- K.K. Downing / guitars, synthesized guitars
- Glenn Tipton / guitars, synthesized guitars
- Ian Hill / bass
- Scott Travis / drums
with
- Don Airey / keyboards

Track List:
CD1
01. Dawn Of Creation – 2:31
02. Prophecy – 5:26
03. Awakening – 0:52
04. Revelations – 7:05
05. The Four Horsemen – 1:35
06. War – 5:04
07. Sands Of Time – 2:36
08. Pestilence And Plague – 5:08
09. Death – 7:33
10. Peace – 2:21
11. Conquest – 4:42
12. Lost Love – 4:28
13. Persecution – 6:34
CD2
01. Solitude – 1:22
02. Exiled – 6:32
03. Alone – 7:50
04. Shadows In the Flame – 1:10
05. Visions – 5:24
06. Hope – 2:09
07. New Beginnings – 4:56
08. Calm Before The Storm – 2:05
09. Nostradamus – 6:43
10. Future of Mankind – 8:29

Links in comments.

Glenn Tipton, Judas Priest, Rob Halford

Hard Stuff – Bullet Proof (1972) (@256)

12 Dec 2008

(Review from amazon)

Often regarded as one of Deep Purple’s proteges, this heavy, but melodic early 70s power trio had a credible reputation of a hard-nosed, no-compromise, heavy-rocking act in the Purple vein, throughout their short-lived career. Paul Hammond had previously played with Atomic Rooster, as did John Du Cann; John Gustafson came from Quatermass.

Hard Stuff’s Bulletproof is considerably heavier with thick mounds of aggressive guitar chords and lightning fast leads. The music itself is very rooted in the 70s. “Hard Stuff” is to Blairwitch Project as Led Zeppelin is to Nightmare on Elm Street, with the latter being more raw, gritty, and not filtered through big production values and commercialism.

Songs on the album like the hard hitting blues fest ‘Sinister Minister’ or the heavy metal self-document ‘Time Gambler’, convey a sense of soul, strength and edginess.

Line-up:
- John (Du) Cann / Guitars
- John Gustafson / Bass
- Paul Hammond / Drums

Track List:
01. Jay Time – 2:55
02. Sinister Minister – 3:33
03. No Witch At All – 5:40
04. Taken Alive – 3:18
05. Time Gambler – 6:14
06. Millionaire – 6:06
07. Monster In Paradise – 4:35
08. Hobo – 3:25
09. Mr. Longevity – 4:36
10. The Provider – 1:53

Link in comments.

John Du Cann, Paul Hammond

Greatest Show on Earth – Going's Easy (1970) (@256)

12 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

The second album of “Greatest Show on Earth”, released fairly shortly after their debut, is a bit different than the brass-heavy debut. The group is now only a sextet; Hanson is mentioned from the brass band, but we get some sax from one other blower. The train-artwork is much tamer.

The album is definitely more appealing to hard progressive rockers, especially after an intriguing distorted intro of the 9-min opener Borderline promises and they convince in the UK proto-progressive realm. The other lengthy track “Love Magnet”, with some almost-perfect lines, might sound at times as Van Morrison’s Young Lovers and at others excellent Chicago.

But the group was still trying to pump some potential hits like “Magic Woman Touch” (which was later successfully covered by Hollies) or the energetic “Story Times”, the rocking-rolling “Leader” and the album closer piano-dominated sing-along (no doubt it was designed as such in concerts) “Tell The Story”, which was on the accompanying single’s B- side. As a bonus track comes the single A-side non-album track “Mountain Song”.

The band would tour until the half of next year before disbanding, domestic lack of success being the main reason.

Line-up:
- Mike Deacon / keyboards
- Dick Hanson / horns
- Colin Horton-Jennings / vocals, guitar, drums
- Tex Philpotts / saxophone
- Ron Prudence / congas, drums
- Garth Watt-Roy / vocals, guitar
- Norman Watt-Roy / vocals, bass

Track List:
01. Borderline – 9:20
02. Magic Woman Touch – 5:14
03. Story Times And Nursery Rhymes – 4:53
04. The Leader – 5:45
05. Love Magnet – 9:28
06. Tell The Story – 4:31
07. Mountain Song – 2:56

Link in comments.

Garth Watt-Roy, Greatest Show on Earth

Judas Priest – Angel of Retribution (2005) (@256)

11 Dec 2008

(Review from rollingstone.com, wikipedia)

After almost twelve years apart, as well as an ever-growing demand for a reunion, Tim Owens parted amicably, Judas Priest and original lead vocalist Rob Halford announced they would reunite in July 2003. The band toured in 2004 and out the door came “Angel of Retribution” in 2005.

The quintet celebrates its return on the throttling opener “Judas Rising”, revisits its 80s heyday on the speedy “Deal With the Devil” and alludes to vintage song titles throughout. Instead of trend-hopping, there’s “Lochness”, a grinding thirteen-and-a-half-minute metal-folk tune devoted to the mythical Scottish water beast. You cannot get any more old-school than that.

On “Hellrider”, guitarists Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing revive the well-conceived solos that most heavy bands avoid these days. Halford is in excellent form, particularly on the ballads. His gayness has for decades given semihidden weight to the group’s outlaw lyrical metaphors (not to mention its leather dress code). Here it baldly informs “Angel”, where Halford calls out to a gender-indeterminate spirit he prays will bring him to a better place. It’s an honest power ballad from a band that understands power like few others, the centerpiece to an album that holds up well next to Priest’s strongest, most sustained recordings. Now that’s retribution.

Line-up:
* Rob Halford / Vocals
* Glenn Tipton / Guitar
* K. K. Downing / Guitar
* Ian Hill / Bass
* Scott Travis / Drums

Track List:
01. Judas Rising – 4:12
02. Deal With The Devil – 3:54
03. Revolution – 4:42
04. Worth Fighting For – 4:18
05. Demonizer – 4:37
06. Wheels Of Fire – 3:46
07. Angel – 4:24
08. Hellrider – 6:23
09. Eulogy – 2:52
10. Lochness – 13:29

Link in comments.

Glenn Tipton, Judas Priest, Rob Halford

Nosferatu – Nosferatu (1970) (@256)

11 Dec 2008

7 comments

(Review from progarchives.com)

Back in Germany, in the late 60s and early 70s, while a host of bands were headlong for the evolution and enforcement of a peculiar sort of progressive psychedelia, Nosferatu felt quite comfortable setting a trend inspired by Great Britain’s jazz-rock and North America’s R’n'B, the result being a hard jazz-rock sound with a starring role for the organ.

Contrary to other bands produced by the famous Conny Plank, Nosferatu’s musical career was very short and suffered of a lack of recognition by a larger public. Almost nothing is said about their history and the only thing we have from them is a fresh, enthousiastic, atypical jazzy rock album dominated by raw, aggressive guitars and progressive “folk” arrangements. The album creates a deep and trippy atmosphere.

It is also noticeable that the dynamics delivered by the rhythm duo turns out to be very featured in the mix. The sax/flute and guitar leads add effective colors in many passages, but definitely the latter instruments are the elements that conform the overall sonic core. Michael Thierfelder’s range and style very properly fit the band’s style, sounding like a mixture between Jack Bruce and Chris Farlowe.

The guys of Nosferatu flaunt their penchant for freshness and extrovertiveness in their material. In progressive terms, the most interesting aspect of Nosferatu’s music is the clever and tasteful manner in which the musicians display their skills during the jams and expansions.

The opener ‘Highway’ is a very catchy song conceived in the vein of James Brown-meets-Cream, perhaps with a nice touch of early The Nice. The following two tracks are more ambitious regarding both duration and arrangement. Indeed, ‘Willie the Fox’ and ‘Found My Home’ are examples of how well the sources of R’n'B, funky and jazz rock can be fluidly fused with the raw tension of psychedelia. The excursions created alternatedly by the organ the guitar and the sax show a taste for freedom without slipping out of the scheme solidly defined by the rhythm duo. ‘Willie the Fox’ comprises some of the most vibrating moments in the album during its center section, while ‘Found My Home’ reveals a closer leaning toward the jazz thing. Even though the flute is especially featured in the latter, teh guitar lead also calls to attention, arguably the best one in the entire album.

Track 4 is titled ‘No. 4′, being a robust exercise on psychedelic progressive: the tribal, ceremonius drumming at the beginning is complemented by bizarre adornments on piano, after which comes a cross between jazz-rock and early symphonic prog. This highlight shows Nosferatu at their most bizarre. The last two pieces find the band getting back deeply into the R’n'B thing, with ‘Vanity Fair’ including some African-Latin elements. This exotic factor helps the album meet a proper exciting closure.

Line-up:
- Byally Braumann / drums
- Christian Felke / saxophone, flute
- Reinhard Grohé / organ
- Michael Kessler / bass
- Michael Meixner / electric guitar
- Michael Thierfelder / lead vocals

Track List:
01. Highway – 4:16
02. Willie The Fox – 10:48
03. Found My Home – 8:39
04. No. 4 – 8:47
05. Work Day – 6:59
06. Vanity Fair – 6:44

Link in comments.

Judas Priest – Live in London (2001) (@320)

11 Dec 2008

(Review from blogcritics.org)

Touring to support their 2001 album Demolition, Judas Priest blow the roof off London’s Brixton Academy during a 90-minute performance. Live In London is a two-disc set recorded that night.

The album leans heavy into Priest’s older stuff playing a lot of songs from “British Steel”. It also manages to blend in solid versions of post-Vengeance/Defender Priest which many fans say was when things started to go downhill for them musically with “Touch of Evil” and “Turbo Lover”. They even mixed in a little more brutal fanfare with Painkiller.

“Point of Entry” fans will get their fix with “Live in London” because there are compelling versions of “Heading Out to the Highway” and “Desert Plains”. Also satisfying are classics like “Victim of Changes”, “Green Manalishi (with the two pronged crown)”, “Running Wild”, “Hell Bent for Leather”, “Hellion/Electric Eye”, “You Got Another Thing Comin’” (of course!), “The Sentinel”, and the “what’s my name?” song: Ripper. in for sur-prise … you’re in for a sho-OCK!

Tim Owens’ obvious deep admiration and passion for the band can be heard and felt in his amazingly similar vocals. Priest excels when they are jamming heavy, two-guitar melodies played an octave apart like Victim of Changes.

“Live in London” is as familiar and somewhat predictable as the signature Priest Harley riding in for a whipping encore performance of Hell Bent for Leather. It isn’t quite the same caliber as Unleashed in The East or even the later Priest Live, but it shouldn’t taint Ripper Owens’ resume nor leave heavy metal Priest fans screaming for vengeance.

Line-up:
* Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens / Vocals
* K.K. Downing / Guitars
* Glenn Tipton / Guitars
* Ian Hill / Bass
* Scott Travis – drums

Track List:
CD1
01. Metal Gods – 4:37
02. Heading Out to the Highway – 4:13
03. Grinder – 4:04
04. A Touch of Evil – 5:58
05. Blood Stained – 5:11
06. Victim of Changes – 10:08
07. The Sentinel – 5:31
08. One on One – 6:05
09. Running Wild – 3:19
10. The Ripper – 3:31
11. Diamonds & Rust – 4:13
12. Feed on Me – 5:25
13. The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown) – 4:51
CD2
01. Beyond the Realms of Death – 7:15
02. Burn in Hell – 5:22
03. Hell Is Home – 5:47
04. Breaking the Law – 2:47
05. Desert Plains – 4:25
06. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ – 5:20
07. Turbo Lover – 5:39
08. Painkiller – 7:17
09. The Hellion – 0:36
10. Electric Eye – 3:35
11. United – 2:55
12. Living After Midnight – 5:13
13. Hell Bent for Leather – 5:47

Link in comments.

Glenn Tipton, Judas Priest, Live

Monument – First Monument (1971) (@256)

10 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com, Tapestry of Delights)

More than an independent band, Monument are an offshoot of British hard rock band Zior, who released two albums in the early 70s. Their only album, “The First Monument”, is the result of an all-night, drunken jam session involving the four members of Zior.

The album features a heavy, distorted, Hammond-drenched sound, and Zior’s trademark occult lyrical themes.

The “drunken playing” is probably why it’s such a mish-mash of tempo changes and different styles. Mystical and eerie sometimes, this is some solid hard progressive rock, emphasis on hard — maybe doom rock would even better describe it. Drug-and-drink-fuelled luciferian mass, soundtracked by hypnotizing, hammond-adorned, catechismic dark progressive hymns… interesting album all around.

This proved to be last outing of Zior. Pete Brewer eventually ended up a successful musical instrument/equipment dealer in Southend. Skeels sells dress jewellery in his native Newcastle. Bonsor worked for many years as an engineer/producer and also became a DJ in the late 70.

Track List:
01. Dog Man – 3:20
02. Stale Flesh – 3:51
03. Don’t Run Me Down – 2:28
04. Give Me Life – 3:53
05. The Metamorphis Tango – 3:56
06. Boneyard Bumne – 4:28
07. First Taste Of Love – 3:25
08. And She Goes – 2:36
09. Overture For Limp Piano In C – 3:32
10. I’m Coming Back – 2:52

Link in comments.

Judas Priest – Demolition (2001) (@256)

10 Dec 2008

(Review from rollingstone.com, wikipedia)

It’s such a great story, they’ve made a movie out of it – ultra-fan and cover-band singer gets opportunity to sing lead for his idols. For Ohioan metalhead Ripper Owens, that dream came true; Owens stepped up for the British hard-rock legends full of enthusiasm and vigor, and the Priest of 1997′s Jugulator was a re-energized and, praise Satan, an unevolved one.

“Demolition”, produced by guitarist Glenn Tipton himself, has a clean and direct sound, all red meat and bare arms, sinister choruses, chugging pace and those hysterical lake-of-fire vocal harmonies emblematic of vintage metal. Owens is four years better – he slides from talk-singing on “Hell Is Home” to blood-chilling high notes; his solid wail activates the loamy, chunking pace of “Cyberface”. His default mode is a bouncy, enormous bellow, slinking into the music’s bare spaces like stage fog. At times he comes across like Rob Halford but he is really working to carve out his own identity. Tipton and K.K. Downing provide intelligent, pertinent solos, and drummer Scott Travis only seems to play faster as he ages. If there’s such a thing as unpretentious titanic, blood-of-the-goat-style metal, Judas Priest prove they are still making it.

The album is an amalgam of Jugulator-style riffs, references to 80s Priest, and sporadic nu-metal additions such as quasi-rapping, samples, and industrial-style beats. Yep, it’s not the 70s Priest nor the 80s Priest. Judas Priest is renown for re-inventing themselves — they do it again to be more modern, darker and harder.

While the ostensible aim was to offer something for every possible fan, in the end, the album received an even poorer reception than “Jugulator” by most fans.

Line-up:
* Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens / Vocals
* K.K. Downing / Guitars
* Glenn Tipton / Guitars
* Ian Hill / Bass
* Scott Travis – drums

Track List:
01. Machine Man – 5:35
02. One On One – 6:44
03. Hell Is Home – 6:18
04. Jekyll And Hyde – 3:19
05. Close To You – 4:28
06. Devil Digger – 4:45
07. Bloodsuckers – 6:18
08. In Between – 5:41
09. Feed On Me – 5:28
10. Subterfuge – 5:12
11. Lost And Found – 4:57
12. Cyberface – 6:45
13. Metal Messiah – 5:14

Links in comments.

Glenn Tipton, Judas Priest

Pentacle – La Clef Des Songes (1975) (@256)

09 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

Another one off band, Pentacle was formed in 1971 in Belfort, France. They recorded their sole album, “La Clef des Songes” in just 8 days. Very low key vocals, tons of mellotron and soaring lead guitar.

The album belongs to the canon of delicate and refined progressive rock, showcasing a music which mixes energy, virtuosity and melodic beauty. The elegance of the themes reminds one of the kind of chamber rock elaborated by English groups like Cressida, Gracious, and Czar with an emphasis on the development of a sophisticated and lyrical symphonism.

The music avoids the bombast of some of their contemporaries. The vocals are emotional and there are bits of guitar lashing. Passages evoke early King Crimson and Moody Blues.

Line-up:
- Claude Menetrier / organ, Moog, Elka string ensemble, piano
- Michel Roy / drums, backing vocals
- Gerald Reuz / electric & acoustic guitars, lead vocals
- Richard Treiber / bass, acoustic guitar

Track List:
01. La Clef Des Songes – 4:08
02. Naufrage – 4:29
03. L’Ame Du Guerrier – 6:07
04. Les Pauvres – 3:25
05. Complat – 5:03
06. Le Raconteur – 10:45
07. La Clef Des Songes (Bonus Live) – 6:00
08. Complet (Bonus Live) – 8:45
09. Le Raconteur (Bonus Live) – 7:23

Links in comments.

Zior – Every Inch A Man (1972) (@256)

09 Dec 2008

6 comments

(Review from rateyourmusic.com)

This is the unreleased second album of Zior, mainly recorded in 1971.

Every band should want their first album track to be a doozy, one to remember as well as possibly set the course of the album. “Entrance to the Devil”, expertly named, can do just that with its intro of phantasmal screams, devilish laughter, feedback, and a nifty heavy riff that reminds of Sabbath. Keith Bonsor’s vocals are a low-end, garbled mess.

“The Chicago Spine” begins heavy enough with some one-shot power chords, then ambles to a moderately paced rocker Steppenwolf could’ve easily conjured. The vocals remain low, even guttural compared to most of that period. Harp, played by drummer Peter Brewer, kicks off the more timid, yet heavy undertoned “Have You Heard the Wind Speak”. Partially high-pitched whispered vocals swirl within pseudo wind effects, chinking tambourine, and a quirky rhythm.

Probably one of the most interesting tracks is “Time is the Reason”, a serene, yet dashing display of folksy paired acoustics, clean mid-range vocals imploring disheartening lyrics to life, and a strange up-tempo forlorn feel. “She’ll Take You Down” abandons the clean vocals for the original husky ones and is one of those patented blues tracks that gives me time for a four minute snooze. “Dudi Judy” is in old-time rock mode, a hand clappin’ hip shaker that doesn’t do all that much for me. Heavy grooves hoof forward for the fuzz-addicted rhythms of “Strange Kind of Magic”, a slow churner with memorable rhythms and chorus that can easily eat into your head.

Some psychy sound effects announce the coming of “Ride Me Baby”, a short, lively ditty streaked with harmonica, meanwhile “Evolution” is best remembered for its anthemic chorus and low, distorted guitar tone. The title cut is the only organ-lead track and comes complete with stints of Arthur Brown/Jim Morrison bassy, neurotic narrative. The “Evolution”-esqe “Cats Eyes” takes you into the spacey, psychy, aptly-titled and absolutely placid “Suspended Animation”. Finale “Angel of the Highway” harks the album’s end with another heavy blaster, the most Sabbathy of the bunch especially at the start with total power chords and sounds like a duck overdosing on ephedrine.

Line-up:
- Keith Bonsor / Vocals, Keyboards, Bass, Flute
- Peter Brewer / Drums, Piano, Harmonica
- Barry Skeels / Bass, Vocals
- John Truba / Guitar, Vocals

Track List:
01. Entrance Of The Devil – 2:11
02. The Chicago Spine – 4:05
03. Have You Heard The Wind Speak? – 3:35
04. Time Is The Reason – 2:49
05. She’ll Take You Down – 3:47
06. Dudi Judy – 2:52
07. Strange Kind Of Magic – 3:04
08. Ride My Baby – 2:20
09. Evolution – 3:37
10. Every Inch A Man – 4:37
11. Cat’s Eyes – 2:59
12. Suspend Animation – 3:21
13. Angel Of THe Highway – 6:24

Link in comments.

Zior

Judas Priest – Live Meltdown (1998) (@256)

09 Dec 2008

(Review from metal-archives.com)

Judas Priest takes a catalog of (at that point) twenty-three years worth of music and gives it a good, swift kick. Everything is tuned down, turned up, and injected with a heavy dose of amphetamines – it’s the grand heavy metal traditional.

“Rapid Fire”, long suspected as possibly the first thrash metal song, is turned into a skin-shredder worthy of Exodus (except with better vocals) here. Ripper’s version of “Touch of Evil” is great, as is “The Ripper.” The cut-down “Death Row” is a great enhancement and “Bullet Train” translates one of the best Owens-era tracks to an even more effective live setting.

The second CD also has its moments; “Night Crawler” is an absolute beast, with Ripper throwing in primal screams and growls until that song rips and tears. “Victim of Changes” really highlights his vocal abilities, and “Painkiller,” while not quite vocally matching the original, is even heavier musically. That brings up the oft-forgotten superstar of the disc, drummer Scott Travis. Travis keeps up a solid beat throughout while tossing off high-speed and highly difficult drum parts like “Bullet Train” and “Painkiller” with ease; judging on his work on the songs where Downing and Tipton let him really cut loose.

So no, this album is not the Judas Priest of old – it’s something different. Something heavier, harder, faster, and in some ways better. “Live Meltdown” remains as a milestone in Priest’s history, when they were fresh, rejuvenated, and ready to show the world that nobody was getting old in this camp.

Line-up:
* Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens / Vocals
* K.K. Downing / Guitars
* Glenn Tipton / Guitars
* Ian Hill / Bass
* Scott Travis – drums

Track List:
CD1
01. The Hellion – 1:08
02. Electric Eye – 3:47
03. Metal Gods – 4:09
04. Grinder – 4:26
05. Rapid Fire – 4:24
06. Blood Stained – 5:08
07. The Sentinel – 5:46
08. Touch Of Evil – 5:51
09. Burn In Hell – 5:34
10. The Ripper – 3:51
11. Bullet Train – 5:58
12. Beyond The Realms Of Death – 7:13
13. Death Row – 4:22
CD2
01. Metal Meltdown – 5:02
02. Night Crawler – 6:11
03. Abductors – 5:54
04. Victim of Changes – 8:31
05. Diamonds and Rust – 3:54
06. Breaking The Law – 2:36
07. The Green Manalishi – 4:53
08. Painkiller – 6:28
09. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming – 8:35
10. Hell Bent for Leather – 3:48
11. Living After Midnight – 6:01

Links in comments.

Glenn Tipton, Judas Priest, Live

Zior – Zior (1971) (@256)

08 Dec 2008

(Review from forcedexposure.com, rateyourmusic.com, Tapestry of Delights, last.fm)

Zior had their roots in Southend’s early sixties R&B scene. Kevin Bonsor had previously been in a local R&B outfit, The Essex Five, and then classical/rock fusion outfit, Cardboard Orchestra. Pete Brewer had been in another Southend R&B band, The Night Riders. He and Bonsor were Zior’s founding members recruiting Truba and Skeels via a Melody Maker advert.

Though an obscure heavy rock group, Zior’s 1971 debut album got immediate attention when it was released because the band used the same artist that Black Sabbath had used on their first album. The band obviously had a huge fascination with the occult and expressed this often in thier songs (and mostly in their stage show).

The album is pretty much bluesy and proggy hard rock. There are some cool (fairly) fuzzy riffs. At times the music has a tribal-like rhythm to their sound, very psychedelic and 70s.

“Love’s Desire” is the highlight of the album. It has a cool, catchy riff (plus some hand claps), and it also has the most memorable chorus of the album.

Line-up:
- Keith Bonsor / Vocals, Keyboards, Bass, Flute
- Peter Brewer / Drums, Piano, Harmonica
- Barry Skeels / Bass, Vocals
- John Truba / Guitar, Vocals

Track List:
01. I Really Do – 3:02
02. Za Za Za Zilda – 2:40
03. Love’s Desire – 4:04
04. New Land – 4:09
05. Now I’m Sad – 4:08
06. Give Me Love – 2:49
07. Quabala – 3:22
08. Oh Mariya – 3:24
09. Your Live Will Burn – 3:18
10. I Was Fooling – 3:09
11. Before My Eyes Go Blind – 3:29
12. Rolling Thunder – 3:08

Link in comments.

Zior

Circus 2000 – An Escape from a Box (1972) (@256)

08 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

The band’s second album, An Escape from a Box was released in 1972.

The progressive rock elements are strong through the album although the influences of jazz fusion exist with reference to the guitar work of Marcello Quartarone. By adding lead singer Silvana Aliotta’s fluttering butterfly voice to the mix with strong classical and operatic overtones, their sound takes on a distinct exclusivity. Her voice is flexible and she could have easily been on the cutting edge of the opera circuit rather than on the cusp of groundbreaking progressive rock. She has a lot of range, which gives her fellow musicians tremendous freedom to experiment and play extended compositions.

Side 2 clearly demonstrates the band’s ability to create full-length pieces that convincingly stretched their musical wingspan in an impressive fashion.

After 1973, the band members went their own ways. Singer Silvana Aliotta tried a solo career with some singles but the choice proved to be not successful.

Line-up:
- Silvana Aliotta / lead vocal, percussion
- Marcello Quartarone / electric & acoustic guitar, vocal
- Gianni Bianco / bass, vocal
- Franco Lo Previte / drums

Track List:
01. Hey Man – 6:19
02. You Aren’t Listening – 5:01
03. Our Father – 6:18
04. Need – 8:41
05. When The Sun Refuses To Shine – 7:44

Link in comments.

Circus 2000

Judas Priest – Jugulator (1997) (@256)

08 Dec 2008

(Review from metal-archives, wikipedia)

In 1996, Tim “Ripper” Owens, who had previously sung in a Judas Priest tribute band, was hired as Judas Priest’s new singer. Expectations were high for the next year’s “Jugulator”, the first release from Judas Priest since Rob Halford left.

“Jugulator” is Judas Priest’s heaviest album. Often criticized for trading in melody for brutality, this album trades in Priest’s traditional guitar harmonies and upbeat metal anthems for a darker, meaner, and heavier sound which clearly takes influences from bands such as Slayer and Pantera. Still, their aptitude for writing concise, effective and interesting metal songs keeps this album as a praiseworthy example of how a band can successfully depart from their typical sound without screwing things up.

The entire album seems to describe the end of the world, from the coming of the Jugulator (“Jugulator”) to the actual ending of it (“Cathedral Spires”). The Jugulator itself seems to be a metaphor for the evil that is done in the world. Songs like “Dead Meat”, “Decapitate” and “Burn in Hell” all describe the evils that humans do. In the end, the evil deeds are so great in number that it consumes and destroys the world.

Tim Owens has a very similar range and voice to Rob Halford, but has his own vocal style. His vocals are one of the highlights of this album, and his varied and passionate singing keeps things interesting. His voice seems almost perfectly suited to the music, and vice versa. It plays up his strengths, which are his ability to add a lot of aggression to his voice at any range, his powerful high screams, and his flawless transitions between vocal registers.

Other than the obvious result of having to bring in another singer to replace him, there is also the fact that Halford was responsible for much of Judas Priest’s lyrics. On this album, Glenn Tipton takes over, and his apparent fascination with death, violence, and anger seems to fit the music, but comes off as immature in comparison to Halford’s often cheesy yet eloquent lyrics. At times his lyrics are very cleverly written but sometimes, they’re just bad. Still, Ripper saves the day, singing lines like “Jugulator killing time now, reaches in and rips your spine out” like he really means it.

There are definite similarities with some of the stuff Judas Priest were doing on Painkiller. A simple way to describe this album would be as a combination of Painkiller, Slayer’s South of Heaven and Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power. The album never reaches the speeds of Painkiller’s title track, but tends to stay at a comfortable pace, with the heavy, downtuned guitars and Scott Travis’s clever drumming combining to form a well-oiled machine. The production emphasises the heaviness in the guitars and brings in a lot of sound effects and echoes, etc. which, along with some occasional “evil” sounding clean guitar parts help give the album a very dark atmosphere.

Reaction to the album was roughly divided among those who enjoyed the album on its own terms, those who liked the music but preferred that Rob Halford would sing it, and those who disliked it on all counts. However, “Cathedral Spires” is generally regarded as a classic, even by some critics who disliked the rest of the album.

Line-up:
* Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens / Vocals
* K.K. Downing / Guitars
* Glenn Tipton / Guitars
* Ian Hill / Bass Guitar
* Scott Travis / drums

Track List:
01. Jugulator – 5:51
02. Blood Stained – 5:26
03. Dead Meat – 4:44
04. Death Row – 5:04
05. Decapitate – 4:39
06. Burn In Hell – 6:42
07. Brain Dead – 5:24
08. Abductors – 5:49
09. Bullet Train – 5:11
10. Cathedral Spires – 9:17

Links in comments.

Glenn Tipton, Judas Priest

It’s been a long time since we polled ‘n’ rolled

05 Dec 2008

No comments

I’ve setup a poll in the right sidebar of the blog (if you can’t see it, just rolldown the scrollbar a bit). There you can vote for the next group after Judas Priest.

As always, everybody can vote!

Swamped

05 Dec 2008

I’ve been pretty overloaded these last few days. I need some time to recuperate.

Will be back on Monday.

Circus 2000 – Circus 2000 (1970) (@256)

03 Dec 2008

(Review from progarchives.com)

Circus 2000′s self-titled debut album is an outstanding piece of dreamy psychedelic progressive. The quartet (guitar trio plus the superb- sounding Aliotta singing) developed a great form of psychedelic prog, that can serve as the perfect example between psychedelic rock and pure prog rock, without sounding too much like most of the 60’s groups (bar the Indian-laced Magic Bean).

Some of those tracks (10 short ones) are pure joy and could’ve been easily written by Jefferson Airplane at their top form (a tad proggier though, but this came out two years after Jefferson Airplane’s creative peak).

Among highlights are the superb opening “I Can’t Believe” and its successor I Just Can’t Stay, the Jeffersonian Must Walk Forever, the irresistible “Try To Live” (with its wild rhythms and moods), the enthralling “The Lord, He Has No Hands” (what a groovy tune) and the exciting “I Am A Witch” (and its weird incantations). The worst thing is that most of these songs appear way too short (longest just below 4 min) and you’d be curious as to how the group could’ve expanded on them.

Aliotta’s voice is cross of Grace Slick and David Surkamp (of Pavlov’s Dog), creating a bit a timbre and delivery between Madeleine Bell (Stones The Crow), Janita Haan (Babe Ruth) and Sonja Christina (Curved Air), but unlike the latter two, Sylvana can not only sing very well, but charm the hell out of us, singing in a fair English some proggy occult lyrics. But she’s hardly alone in the group and Quartarone is an excellent guitarist, not afraid to use his fuzz box at good use, while drummer Lo Previte is shinning throughout the whole album and Bianco’s bass filling much of the gap when the other two compadres are running up and down all over the fretboards and toms. Some additional but un-credited flute (on I Just Can’t Stay) and the odd sitar complete an album that does perfectly well without the slightest trace of keyboards.

A short album (just under the 30 min-mark), but indeed a real classic, all too sadly overlooked by progheads because of the lack of extended musical interplay. Barely missing the flawless, this album is easily an essential piece of progdom.

Line-up:
- Silvana Aliotta / vocals
- Marcello “Spooky” Quartarone / vocals, guitars
- Gianni Bianco / guitar, bass
- Johnny Betti / drums
- Franco “Dede” Lo Previte / drums

Track List:
01. I Can’t Believe – 2:36
02. Try To Live – 3:40
03. Must Walk Forever – 3:52
04. Sun Will Shine – 1:56
05. I Just Can’t Stay – 2:39
06. I Am The Witch – 3:22
07. Magic Bean – 2:05
08. While You’re Sleeping – 2:50
09. Try All Day – 2:33
10. The Lord, He Has No Hands – 3:44
11. Io La Strega – 3:21
12. Pioggia Sottile – 2:36
13. No Regalato I Capelli – 5:01
14. Regalami Un Sabato Sera – 3:02

Link in comments.

Circus 2000

Judas Priest – Painkiller (1990) (@256)

03 Dec 2008

Thanks to Man in Silence for the review contribution.

(Review from allmusic, metal-archives.com, wikipedia)

“Painkiller” marked the debut of current drummer Scott Travis. Judas Priest dropped the 80s-style synths (except one track), returned to their classic 70s style, while borrowing contemporary speed metal techniques, resulting in their most critically acclaimed album in a decade. The album is viewed by some as the quintessential speed metal album and the style proved highly influential to European power metal bands such as Gamma Ray and Primal Fear.

The band’s performance of this album is incredible. Rob Halford’s singing is very diverse, ranging from high pitched screams (Painkiller or All Guns Blazing) to a mix of slightly high but more noticeably low pitched singing (Between the Hammer and the Anvil or Leather Rebel). K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton go crazy with their solos on the album, and often are not satisfied with just one. Ian Hill’s bass follows the guitars to create the perfect sound for the album. Scott Travis proves to be an amazing drummer on his debut here, most noticeably on the title track.

Songs like the title track, “Leather Rebel” and “Metal Meltdown” thrash like mad; Halford’s shrieking and growling is positively frightening, as he uses his incredible vocal range to an almost King Diamond-like effect. But it isn’t just the rediscovered power that makes “Painkiller” a great musical effort: the elegant “A Touch of Evil”, for example, is reminiscent of the progressive, intricately arranged pieces of their ’70s work. Seasoned keyboardist, Don Airey provided the beautiful keyboards on it, which greatly added to the atmosphere of the song.

Following the tour for this album, singer Rob Halford left the band and maintained little contact with his former bandmates throughout the 1990s. Judas Priest declared that they did not exist anymore after Halford had left.

Line-up:
- Rob Halford / Vocals
- K.K. Downing / Guitar
- Glenn Tipton / Guitar
- Ian Hill / Bass
- Scott Travis / Drums

Track List:
01. Painkiller – 6:06
02. Hell Patrol – 3:36
03. All Guns Blazing – 3:57
04. Leather Rebel – 3:35
05. Metal Meltdown – 4:48
06. Night Crawler – 5:45
07. Between The Hammer & The Anvil – 4:48
08. A Touch Of Evil – 5:45
09. Battle Hymn – 0:56
10. One Shot At Glory – 6:47

Link in comments.

Glenn Tipton, Judas Priest, Rob Halford, Sakalli's Pick

City – City (1977) (@256)

01 Dec 2008

7 comments

(Review from progarchives.com)

Originating from what was at the time East Germany, City initially did what most bands do at the beginning of their career: they played rock standards and nothing distinguished them from a dozen other bands active at that time. Not until 1977 at least, when they released their debut album.

The five songs which make up the first side of the original album are well crafted but rather undistinguished blues/guitar rock. The lyrics are all in German although the sound is rather British; those looking for Krautrock need to look elsewhere. There are hints of bands such as Wishbone Ash (especially in “Nachts um halb eins”) and Golden Earring (“Traudl” is more than a little like “Radar Love”).

“Meister aller Klassen” (Master of all classes) is a slower guitar driven power ballad which tells the tale of an over ambitious motorcyclist. The appearance of flock like violin played by Georgi Gogow on “Der King vom Prenzlauer Berg” offers a pleasing additional dimension to the song.

It is though to “Am Fenster” that we look for the band’s piece de resistance. This 17+ minute suite is made up in three contiguous parts, opening with the acoustic “Traum”. Here, violin and acoustic guitar combine in a slightly folk influenced melody, the violin gradually swelling the sound in a manner similar to the middle section of Curved Air’s “Vivaldi”. The section ends abruptly as ticking clocks and chimes introduce the brief “Tagtraum”. This simply acts as link to the main part of the suite, which is also titled “Am fenster”. Here we find the first vocals of the track, but violin continues to dominate instrumentally. The track now finds a rhythm and a hook, the relentless violin acting as the catalyst for the development of the song into a hypnotic daydream (Tagtraum).

While the song did find significant success in East and West Germany, and indeed in some other parts of Europe, it failed to find an audience in the lucrative markets of the English speaking countries. Such an injustice has befallen many bands who record in their native language, examples such as this merely emphasising how fine music is ignored simply because of the language used.

This album is something of a “Tarkus” with one superb side long number, and a collection of good supporting songs.

Line-up:
- Fritz Puppel / guitars
- Klaus Selmke / drums
- Georgi Gogow / bass, violin
- Toni Krahl / vocals

Track List:
01. Es Ist Unheimlich Heib – 4:31
02. Der King Vom Prenzlauer Berg – 4:55
03. Nachts Um Halb Eins – 3:54
04. Traudl – 3:16
05. Meister Aller Klassen – 5:34
06. Am Fenster (I.Traum II.Tagtraum III.Am Fenster) – 17:24

Link in comments.

It's A Beautiful Day – It's A Beautiful Day Today (1973) (@256)

01 Dec 2008

(Review from allmusic, itsaboutmusic.com, amazon)

In 1973, ongoing disputes over royalties forced LaFlamme out of the group he created, and upon installing new violinist Greg Bloch, the remaining members issued It’s a Beautiful Day…Today. As a result of differing opinions regarding drugs, management and a penchant for a heavier sound.

With LaFlamme gone, Pattie Santos finally gets the chance to shine on this album. The music is now firmly in the post-psychedelic style, with a Southern Rock feel in many of the cuts, like “Mississippi Delta”. There are elements of folk and even soul in many of the pieces.

“It’s A Beautiful Day” disbanded shortly after the release of this swansong.

Line-up:
- Val Fuentes / drums, vocals
- Pattie Santos / percussion, vocals
- Bill Gregory / guitar
- Fred Webb / keyboards, vocals
- Greg Bloch / mandolin, violin
- Bud Cockrell / bass, vocals
- Greg Bloch / horn

Track List:
01. Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby – 3:54
02. Child – 4:19
03. Down On The Bayou – 3:15
04. Watching You, Watching Me – 3:12
05. Mississippi Delta – 4:06
06. Ridin’ Thumb – 3:32
07. Time – 3:18
08. Lie To Me – 3:30
09. Burning Low – 2:09
10. Creator – 6:09

Link in comments.

It's A Beautiful Day

Judas Priest – Ram It Down (1988) (@256)

01 Dec 2008