Review - 12/27/12 - SoulenginE - Mind Colours

Artist:  SoulenginE
Album:  Mind Colours
Rating:  4 Stars
Link:  http://www.progstreaming.com/_wb/pages/play-album.php?activeAlbum=00294%20-%20SoulenginE%20-%20Mind%20Colours

Review:


Well this is a pleasant surprise.

So, I arrived at work this morning and wasn't sure what I was going to listen to, pulled up Progstreaming and saw an option for a band that I'd never heard.  The cover looked cool so I gave it a whirl.

Holy smokes, Mind Colours is fantastic. Five minutes into the album I realize that I've stumbled onto a gem.  Every musician in this band is top notch and the rhythm section melds together fantastically.  The first song, Polheim, has moments of Genesis interspersed with moments of Return to Forever.

Fabio Mancin is obviously a virtuoso keyboard player and has a fantastic sense of backing rhythm vs solo madness.  He can do both and the important thing, is that he knows the right one to play at any given time.  Ettore Salati's guitar blends perfectly with Mancin's keyboards.  I would describe his style as a combination of Carlos Santana, Steve Hackett and a modern shredder (sorry, no one comes to mind at the moment).

The rhythm section of Nando de Luca and Giacomo Pacin are firing on all cylinders and sound like they've been playing together for years.  Pacin, in particular is incredibly intricate, the cymbal work in No Rewarding made me sit up and say wow.

All in all, this is a great addition to anyone's collection.  It's a tight combination of Symphonic and Fusion with an amazing rhythm section to balance out a pair of vets on the lead instruments.

Review - 12/21/12 Perhaps

Well the good news is that the world didn't end today!  Here's my review of Boston's Perhaps:

Artist:  Perhaps
Album:  Volume 1
Rating:  2 stars

So I was asked to write a review of the album by the band, and honestly I struggled with the request for a week or two, mulling my thoughts and opinions. Honestly, I waffled, at times I thought that it would be better for all parties involved if I didn't write a review, other times I felt that I should write one. Finally, I decided that good or bad, I was going to give my feedback.

The production and sound of the album is very good, even more so when you consider that this was a live recording. I would have preferred that the bass was mixed a little hotter, but again, in a live setting, you often don't get everything that you want.

The musicianship is phenomenal and utterly chaotic. Major props to the chops (see what I did there) of drummer Don Taylor for playing the drums like he was in a knife fight. For the majority of the piece, he doesn't as much keep the beat as he augments the melody with one of the longest drum fills on record. Jim Haney and Sean McDermott are equally aggressive and chaotic on their various guitars.

For me though, this was a little too chaotic. With all three musicians synced up throughout the piece, there was very little to keep me grounded amid the waves of notes. There were parts that I started to enjoy, but just about when I latched onto them is exactly when something exploded and went off in a different direction.

I struggled with the rating but finally settled on two stars based on the guidelines of this site; 2 stars = Collectors / Fans only. The truth is that I'm not a huge fan of chaotic music and while this CD certainly has moments of amazing musicianship, it did not transcend the chaos and connect with me. If you're into Lark's Tongue and similar music, I recommend that you give it a whirl. For me though, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

12/20/12 Progstreaming

Intro:  So today I'm puling albums from www.progstreaming.com, this is a great site if you're looking to discover new Prog Bands.  I'm starting from the bottom and working my way up:

The Albums:

• Lost Kite - Lost Kite
• Epicloud - The Devin Townsend Project (Pulled this from Spotify so no link)
• One Eye on the Sunrise - Nine Stones Close

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

12/19/12 Christmas Time is here

Intro:  Today is the first of three or four days of Christmas carols.  Yes, it's that time of year.  Without further ado, let's get the holiday season started!

The Albums:

• Progressive Rock Christmas - Various
• Barenaked for the Holidays - Barenaked Ladies
• The Best of Christmas - The Starlight Choir
• Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits - The Vince Guaraldi Trio
• Christmas - Manheim Steamroller
• The Christmas Attic - Trans Siberian Orchestra
• A Christmas Concert - The Vienna Symphony Orchestra
• Christmas Eve and Other Stories - Trans Siberian Orchestra
• Christmas Favorites - Nat King Cole

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

Review 12/18/12 Ocnos

This is a placeholder page.  I listened to Ocnos yesterday (on the 18th) as part of my new Prog Archives responsibilities.  My plan is to write a review and include links to the band tonight, but didn't want to loose the place in line.

Also, I'm going to start reviewing for the site again.  As mentioned in my Phidaux story, I felt uncomfortable reviewing at the time as I wasn't a practicing musician, as I'm not actively in a band and writing music again, I feel I can review without feeling hypocritical.  The review posts will start with the title review while the daily music posts will keep their previous format.

12/17/12 Neoprog

Intro:  So I'm breaking away from my initial project for a while.  I've been nominated to become a member of the Neo Progressive Rock team at my favorite web site, www.progarchives.com, and I'm pretty excited about the honor.  In preparation, I'm immersing myself into the genre for the next couple of weeks (Christmas being the exception).  Assuming that the nomination goes through and I become part of the team, there will be frequent excursions from 'The Project' to keep more up to date on what is coming out.

The good news is that the blog isn't going away.  The better news, if you're here looking for recommendations on new music, there will be a larger focus on new prog rock as it comes out.  There will still be a focus on albums so I'm going to keep the format that I already have going for me.

There probably won't be a lot of 'moodies' as most of the moody albums are ones for a particular genre that I don't always listen to.  For instance, I need to be in the right mood to enjoy 70's funk  . . . no, bad example, I can always dig a little funk (can't we all), I guess 80's New Wave is a good example, loved it growing up and enjoy it these days when I'm feeling nostalgic.

By my initial calculations, The Project was going to be completed by May or June, I anticipate that we'll be going into the fall of next year now.  So, stick around, maybe we'll get some new folk in here.  Feel free to drop comments, I'll post just about everything that is sent.

So with that being, I'm starting the with the top rated Neo-Prog albums from The Prog Archives, I'm also sprinkling the most recent works by some of the luminaries of the field, Marillion, Arena, Magenta.

The Albums:

• All Rights Removed - Airbag
• Sounds That Can't be Made - Marillion
• The Seventh Degree of Separation - Arena
• Shooting Albatross - Abel Ganz
• Moonshine - Collage
• Elements - Introitus
• Misplaced Childhood - Marillion
• In the Last Waking Moments - Edison's Children
• Script for a Jester's Tear - Marillion

The Wrap Up:  

Sadly, I was too busy at work and didn't listen closely enough throughout the day to give proper ratings.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

12/13/12 Dreams of Dooooom!

Intro:  Ok, so I didn't quite get through Doomsday Afternoon yesterday (I listened to about five minutes of the first song) so we're starting the day off with it.  We're going to hit most of the 'Dream' albums today, interestingly enough, I think Dreams is the second most used word to start an album (not including 'the' and other small fries).  Black still wins, but there are apparently a lot of people out there that dream in black.

On a related note, both Robert Plant and Robert Miles have an album called Dreamland . . . who knew.

The Albums:

• Doomsday Afternoon - Phideaux
• Dosage - Collective Soul
• The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
• Dramarama - Agents of Mercy
• A Dramatic Turn of Events - Dream Theater
• Drastic Fantastic - KT Tunstall
• The Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
• The Dream Sequencer - Ayreon
• Dreamland - Robert Miles

The Wrap Up:  

So, it's a catch up kind of day.  I've sadly been remiss in updating the blog as of late.  Between work and my new duties with The Prog Archives, I'm a little behind.  With that being said, there really wasn't a big chance that anyone was going to beat Doomsday Afternoon.  Phideaux is a great artist and Doomsday is one of my two favorites by him.  If you're looking for melodic, brooding prog, you can't go wrong here, from the gentle, pained warblings of Crumble to the driving angry mood of "Thank You For the Evil" this remains one of my frequent go to albums.

I should probably include "A Dramatic Turn of Events" as a grower as I didn't turn it off once, it's growing on me.

Dramarama is the second release from "Agents of Mercy" an offshoot of one of my favorite bands, The Flower Kings.  The unfortunate reality is that they never quite hit their stride on this one.  Even with the addition of Lalle Larsson (one of the best keyboard players in prog) doesn't save Dramarama from the general meanderings of the CD.  It feels like it should go somewhere . . . it doesn't.

I think I've mentioned this before, I have a soft spot for Sting, I love a lot of his stuff and "The Dream of the Blue Turtles" is no exception.  This was his first solo release and he hit the mark on this one.  This one produced four solid hits; "Fortress Around Your Heart", "Russians", "If You Love Somebody, Set them Free" and "Love is the Seventh Wave".  Yeah, same album.  The beauty of it is, is that there are four other songs that are just as good if not better; "We Work the Black Seam" and "Moon Over Bourbon Street" both are on par with the hits.  The title track, however, is a one minute jazzy gem that just makes you smile.  My favorite track from the album is "Shadows in the Rain".  This is a four minute romp through insanity and excess with the formative lyrics:

Woke up in my clothes again this morning.  Don't know exactly where I am.
I should heed my doctor's warning, he does the best with me he can

Kenny Kirkland's electric piano solo is worth the price of admission on its own merit.  All in all, this CD could have easily been crowned the co-winner of the day.  (You know what, it's my blog, I'm doing it)

Also, an honorable mention for the Robert Miles CD, the song Children has such a haunting melody and the overall electronica / trancy feel warrants a keeper rating for this one.


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Doomsday Afternoon - Phideaux
• The Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
• Growers
• The Dream Sequencer - Ayreon
• Keepers
• Dreamland - Robert Miles
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• A Dramatic Turn of Events - Dream Theater
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Drastic Fantastic - KT Tunstall
• Bleh
• Dosage - Collective Soul
• The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
• Dramarama - Agents of Mercy

12/12/12 Dooooooom!

Intro:  

The Albums:

• Disciplined Breakdown - Collective Soul
• Discography:  The Complete Singles Collection - Pet Shop Boys
• Disintegration - The Cure
• The Distance to Here - Live
• Diva - Annie Lennox
• The Division Belle - Pink Floyd
• Dogman - King's X
• Dogs From Japan - Crack the Sky

The Wrap Up:  

I may have to listen to Disciplined Breakdown again.  I like what I heard but due to the ebb and flow of the work day, I didn't hear as much as I wanted to of it.  Both that and Diva by Anne Lennox get the grower award, I heard parts of Diva and I want to hear more of it.

Dogs from Japan was pretty awful, poor 80's rock production and, in my opinion, weak songwriting.

I had to weigh Dogman and The Division Bell for a few moments before finally anointing Dogman.  King's is such a fantastic band and they absolutely smoked both times I saw them live.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Dogman - King's X
• Growers
• Diva - Annie Lennox
• Keepers
• The Division Belle - Pink Floyd
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• The Distance to Here - Live
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Disintegration - The Cure
• Discography:  The Complete Singles Collection - Pet Shop Boys
• Bleh
• Dogs From Japan - Crack the Sky

12/11/12 Big Big Blog

Intro:  So today I get to introduce you all to Big Big Train which is one of my new favorites.  Also, as a side note, I did the unthinkable, I skipped something entirely without listening to it.  Different Stages by Rush is one of the five live albums that I have by them.  Honestly, I didn't feel listening to Rush for the entire four hours of the release so I just gave it a 'Bleh' and skipped it.  No apologies.  The purpose of the blog is for me to listen to the obscure stuff on my hard drive . . . Rush is not obscure.

The Albums:

• Detours - Sheryl Crow
• The Difference Machine - Big Big Train
• Different Stages - Rush
• Dig Your Own Hole - The Chemical Brothers
• Dirt - Alice in Chains
• Dirty Epic / Cowgirl - Underworld
• Dirty Vegas - Dirty Vegas
• Discipline - King Crimson
• Disciplined Breakdown - Collective Soul

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh
• Different Stages - Rush

12/10/12 Bleh

Intro:  Damn, I'm really getting behind on the write ups here.

The Albums:

• Deconstruction - Devin Townsend
• Deep - Peter Murphy
• Deep Forest - Deep Forest
• Definitive Collection - Stevie Wonder
• Delirium (remixes) - Euphoria
• Deliverance - Sylvan
• Demon Days - Gorillaz
• Desireless - Eagle Eye Cherry

The Wrap Up:  

Bleh, it's a bleh kind of day.  Sorry, not much of a write up here, there were a few keepers from the day but nothing that stood out.  Demon Days is a grower in that I actually listened to it the whole way through.  Not my best of days musically.  The good news is that I'm actually doing a write up.  Starting next week, Christmas albums!.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• Demon Days - Gorillaz
• Keepers
• Deep - Peter Murphy
• Deep Forest - Deep Forest
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• Deliverance - Sylvan
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Definitive Collection - Stevie Wonder
• Bleh
• Deconstruction - Devin Townsend
• Delirium (remixes) - Euphoria
• Desireless - Eagle Eye Cherry

12/06/12 Darkness

Intro:  Darkness reigns . . . No seriously, the project has gone a bit better than I thought it would.  Next week, I'm going to start the Christmas music, but for today, we reach another milestone.  We've made the transition from C to D.  Yes, we're starting out with Michael Jackson and I was originally going to give today the title of "Jam" until I realized that there are a lot of great CD's coming today, all of which start with the word 'Dark'.

The Albums:

• Dangerous - Michael Jackson
• Dark Matter - IQ
• Dark Passion Play - Nightwish
• Dark Passion Play (Instrumental) - Nightwish
• Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
• The Dark Third - Pure Reason Revolution
• Darwin - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
• David Myers Plays Genesis - David Myers

The Wrap Up:  

It takes a pretty friggin amazing album to keep "Dark Side of the Moon" from winning.  "The Dark Third" by Pure Reason revolution is that album.  They kind of take the dark brooding atmospheres of gothic rock and overlay it with Pink Floyd psychedelics then top the whole thing off with not one lead singer, but what sounds like three part chamber singers, two sopranos and a tenor.  The combination is magnificent.  Sadly, the albums that come after this have replaced much of the atmosphere with poorly done electronica, but The Dark Third is not an album to miss.  The highest compliment that I can give any album is that 'it's been on the new iPod since I got it'.  I do a lot of moving stuff on and off, but The Dark Third is always there.

If you're reading this blog, if you like my recommendations then don't miss this one, go to Spotify now, play it as loud as you can get away with and enjoy.  Even if you don't like it, you'll appreciate the unique quality of this album . . . but you're going to like it.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• The Dark Third - Pure Reason Revolution
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• Dark Passion Play - Nightwish
• Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• Dark Matter - IQ
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• David Myers Plays Genesis - David Myers
• Bleh
• Dangerous - Michael Jackson
• Dark Passion Play (Instrumental) - Nightwish
• Darwin - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

12/07/12 Remember

Intro:  

The Albums:

• Day for Night - Spock's Beard
• A Day Without Rain - Enya
• Days of the New (1) - Days of the New
• Days of the New (2) - Days of the New
• De-Loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
• Deadwing - Porcupine Tree
• A Decade of Steely Dan - Steely Dan
• Decade:  Greatest Hits - Duran Duran

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• 
  
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• 
  
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• 
  
• Bleh

12/05/12 Crash!

Intro:  So I think I'm going to start waiting until the end of the day to give the day a title.  A lot of times there's a story involved and I'm thinking that the name should be derived from the story.  Incidentally, I missed the last four tracks from Counterparts yesterday and I'm listening to them now. . . what a fantastic way to end an album and start a day off.  I don't think I'm allowed to give something the winning CD two days in a row but it's a thought.

On the bright side, I figured out what today's story will be so I'll give today's post a name right now.

The Albums:

• Cowboy's Back in Town - Trace Adkins
• Crack the Sky - Crack the Sky
• Crash - The Dave Matthews Band
• The Cross and the Crucible - Pallas
• The Cross of Change - Enigma
• The Cry - Arena
• Culture of Ascent - Glass Hammer
• The Cure - The Cure
• Cut the Cake - The Average White Band

The Wrap Up:  


The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Crash - The Dave Matthews Band
• Growers
• The Cross of Change - Enigma
• Culture of Ascent - Glass Hammer
• Keepers
• Crack the Sky - Crack the Sky
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• The Cross and the Crucible - Pallas
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Cowboy's Back in Town - Trace Adkins
• Cut the Cake - The Average White Band
• Bleh
• The Cry - Arena
• The Cure - The Cure

12/04/12 (Insert witty name here)

Intro:  Kind of a crazy morn, should be an eclectic day musically.  We have 90's alt, Country, 70's rock, 80's pop, 00's pop and Rush.

The Albums:

• Continuum - John Mayer
• Contraband:  The Best of Men at Work - Men at Work
• Core - Stone Temple Pilots
• Counterparts - Rush

The Wrap Up:  

Well this ended up being a short musical day for some reason, sadly, I don't have a lot to write about.

Here is the one point of interest from yesterday, I'm giving Counterparts the win and a 'grower' tag.  On the last few releases by Rush, I've been unimpressed by Geddy's voice.  He sounds really good on Counterparts though.  I don't know if it's a mix or the result of a younger Geddy singing, but I caught a little of the magic of Rush again.  Don't get me wrong, I love Rush, I probably see them every other tour and give them props for continuing to do what they obviously love.  It was just a nice change to not have to apologize for Mr. Lee's voice (in my own head).  I get it, we all get older and degrade a little bit as we age, sadly nothing to be done about it.  I just really enjoyed hearing a younger Geddy Lee singing.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• Counterparts - Rush
• Growers
• Counterparts - Rush
• Keepers
• Continuum - John Mayer
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• 
  
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• Contraband:  The Best of Men at Work - Men at Work
• Core - Stone Temple Pilots
• Bleh

12/3/12 Complex and Contagious Oxygene

Intro:  Today will be an interesting day musically, Oxygene 1 and 2 bundled together and two top twenty albums.  Don't get too frightened by the multiple contagions by Arena, the first one is the real album, the second two are related three song EP's.

The Albums:

• The Complete Depeche Mode (Excerpt) - Depeche Mode
• The Complete Oxygen - Jean-Michel Jarre
• The Complex - Blue Man Group
• The ConstruKction of Light - Kimg Crimson
• Contagion - Arena
• Contagious - Arena

The Wrap Up:  

So I declared a multiple winner day.  Both 'The Complex" and "Contagious" are all time favorites of mine.

I started my fascination with The Blue Man Group a few years ago, I think they were on a PBS concert and I was utterly impressed with their work.  I bought "The Complex" and absolutely loved it.  Highly innovative and imaginative with their music, their stage show and their instrumentation.  Marianne and I went to see them in concert and absolutely loved it.  Honestly, I can't wait for the chance to take Tori to go see them.  If you're interested in people that make their own instruments, these are the guys to see.  I've heard amazingly interesting things come out of PVC thanks to these guys.

Contagion is by a Neoprog band called Arena and tells the story of Earth after the population has been decimated by disease.  The real story here though is the music.  Clive Nolan truly shines on Keys, so much of this album is dominated by his work, if you want to hear a great 'keyboard feature' piece, check out "Riding the Tide".  For songwriting, try "Skin Game", the modulation from minor to major at the 2:41 mark is one of the key points and most spine tingling moments of the album.  If you like Neoprog, this album is a must have.

The Final Tally:

• Winner
• The Complex - Blue Man Group
• Contagion - Arena
• Growers
• 
  
• Keepers
• The Complete Oxygen - Jean-Michel Jarre
• Wibblers (no opinion one way or another)
• The ConstruKction of Light - Kimg Crimson
• Moodies (Albums for a certain mood)
• The Complete Depeche Mode (Excerpt) - Depeche Mode
• Bleh
• Contagious - Arena