Rock Music

Review by SouthSideoftheSky — "Our native setting, wherein these tales are told." When I found out that Stone Angel had just released a new album I decided to order a copy directly from the band's website. The disc comes in a very nice digi-pack with an informative booklet. This reflects the high production values and the great attention to detail of the music itself. I expected a good album and could quickly confirm that my expectations would not be frustrated. But over repeated listens Between The Water And The Sky revealed itself to be something ever better. This is a notch above even the very good East Of The Sun in both quality and progressiveness and eventually convinced me to award an extra star. The basis of the sound of the Stone Angel of the new millennium is still Folk Rock in the tradition of Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention, but there are crucial aspects on which Stone Angel differs from these bands. Stone Angel utilises a broader palette of instruments, they only occasionally rely on a Rock rhythm section, and they sometimes include Medieval elements (at times reminiscent of Gryphon; they even use that horrid Crumhorn, but more tastefully than Gryphon did). On many occasions I am reminded of the style of Mike Oldfield here. Electric lead guitar has a stronger presence on this album than on previous Stone Angel albums and the guitar sound is often similar to that of Oldfield. A good reference point in this connection is the excellent and criminally overlooked Prog Folk band The Morrigan. Keyboards are often present here but rarely play a leading role. The sonic quality of the album is superb. The majority of the material is traditional, but there is a greater proportion of original material all of which is written by Ken and Joan Saul who also share lead vocal duties throughout. Most of the time, the originals are the better songs. Silver, Fisherman's Wife, and Dogger Bank are thematically linked to form a kind of suite. The a cappella Fisherman's Wife tells a very moving story of a wife who looses her husband and sons to the sea. Dogger Bank is one of the few tracks on the album to feature Rock drums and it is also the most up-tempo of the 13 tracks. The most progressive songs are probably The Wind Blows Cold (which features great dueling of electric guitar and flute), Ordinary Man, and the title track. Overall, the second half of the album is more interesting than the first half. Between The Water And The Sky is British Folk Rock of the highest quality with several progressive aspects. It is a crowning achievement of a nearly 40 year career (longer if you count the band's pre-history) and Stone Angel's best album. Highly recommended to Prog Folk fans!

Poll created by tamijo — The poll was split into 3 parts, please vote in both. Previous years : Classic Era1967 - Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed - Nights In White Satin 1968 - Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets - Set the controls for the heart of the sun 1969 - King Crimson- In the Court - In the Court 1970 - Genesis - Trespass - Stagnation 1971 - Pink Floyd - Meddle - Echoes1972 - Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick - Thick As A Brick Part 1 1973 - Genesis - Selling England by the Pound - Firth of Fifth 1974 - King Crimson - Starless (best track 1967-76) 1975 - Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here - Shine on you crazy diamond Part one 1976 - Genesis - A Trick Of The Tail - Dance On A Volcano --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Late Classic - Dark Age1977 - Pink Floyd - Animals - Dogs (best track 1977-86)1978 - Rush - Hemispheres - La Villa Strangiato1979 - Pink Floyd - the Wall - Comfortably Numb1980 - Rush - Permanent Waves - Natural Science1981 - Rush - Moving Pictures - YYZ1982 - King Crimson - Beat - Satori in Tangier1983 - Marillion -Script For A Jester's Tear - The Web1984 - Univers Zero - Uzed - Pr?sage1985 - Supertramp - Brother Where You Bound - Brother Where You Bound1986 - Peter Gabriel - So - Red Rain-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Restoration (Metal Age) 1987-19961987 - Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse Of Reason - Learning To Fly1988 - Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime - Suite Sister Mary1989 - IQ - Are You Sitting Comfortably?" - Falling Apart At The Seams1990 - Mike Oldfield - Amarok - Amarok1991 - Porcupine Tree - On The Sunday Of Life... - Radioactive Toy 1992 - Anglagard - Hybris - Jordr?k1993 - IQ - Ever - The Darkest Hour1994 - Pink Floyd-The Division Bell - High Hopes 1995 - Spock's Beard - The Light - The Light 1996 - Porcupine Tree - Signify - Dark Matter Upcomming:Modern (Post Metal Age) 1997-2006 Contemporary Prog. 2007-"2012"

www.KISSopolis.comToday In KISStory - May 25, 2006: KISS is honored and performed at the first 'VH1 Rock Honors' concert in Las Vegas.KISS performed "Detroit Rock City," "Deuce," "Love Gun" and "Makin' Love."Before KISS' set, an All Star band tribute to KISS with surprise guest Ace Frehley, Tommy Lee, Slash, Scott Ian, Gilby Clarke and Rob Zombie performing KISS' 'God Of Thunder.' er.' Below is the video of the All Star band tribute to KISS and KISS performing "Detroit Rock City," "Deuce," "Love Gun" and "Makin' Love."

Review by dragonspirit — I'll begin this review by saying that Led Zeppelin and King Crimson are my two favorite bands. Overall, this album by LPJ sounds more like a demo than a finished product. That is really unfortunate. I hear a lot of good foundations and ideas that could have been further developed into outstanding pieces. I agree with an earlier reviewer that some tracks could definitely have used either a vocalist or (in my opinion) a lead guitar soloing over the other instruments. Nosumi Blues succeeds fairly well thanks to the lead guitar. It could have been used on other tracks as well.It is, at times, repetitive, and at times it has powerful intensity. I find the non-prog numbers to be, in general, executed better than the prog ones, in fact.

Photo: Paul BassettHere's a photo of KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer behind Eric Singer's drum kit on the last day of rehearsals before KISS starts the European leg of their "Monster Tour 2013" on June 1st in Stockholm, Sweden.

Review by progaeopteryx — I had wondered about this band for quite some time. With a name like Art in America, featuring a harp player and being produced by the one and only Eddy Offord, one can only imagine big things. The band apparently had some success, played live as an opening act for a number of big artists, and even made it into the MTV rotation during its early years. I was around in 1983, but what on earth was I doing? Dissecting worm gizzards in biology class?? I didn't hear about this group until they had long disappeared from the music industry. And then I find their CD on Ebay for one dollar. Hey, why not, let's take a chance...Well, it certainly didn't turn out to be some amazing progalicious masterpiece. And I wasn't expecting it to. For heavens sake, it was 1983. Remember 90125? Asia? The Genesis yellow shapes album? But it doesn't really sound like Asia, or Genesis, or Yes. No, I have to give these guys some credit. They did have a rather original sound that showed some prog rock influences, but mostly heavily slanted towards an art rock/pop rock mixture. What they really remind me of... and here's the kicker... ELO Part 2. If you took ELO Part 2 and formed it in 1983 and forgot to include the orchestra, it would sound like this. Maybe a little Alan Parsons and Saga thrown in.The version I purchased was made in 2008 and features 7 additional tracks. Some of these bonus tracks sound like they were recorded much later, but the CD insert says nothing about them. Here I thought I would be listening to nine tracks, popped it in the CD player, and whoa, 16 of the buggers! I only found the names of the tracks by looking for the album on Amazon. The bonus tracks sort of sound like what one might guess the band would sound like in the 1990s. I haven't the foggiest idea when these were recorded, so 1990s I guess? They couldn't have possibly been from Middle Ages. We can certainly rule that out.So, some confusion, the odd thought of ELO Part 2 transporting back in time, a harp player that seems to only make her mark in the first 10 seconds or so, and I'm left thinking I just dropped pop tarts in the engine cavity of my van. OK, whatever...Anyway, an enjoyable listen of pop-art-prog-AOR-art-pop-thing-something or other. If you like early 1980s Saga, or ELO Part 2, or other stuff like that, this might be OK for you. I doubt the rest of the prog community will be clamoring for this, even if you do find it for a dollar.

New man: Leon Cave Status Quo have named Leon Cave as their new drummer after Matt Letley bowed out following a 13-year stint. Multi-intrumentalist Cave has been a member of Francis Rossi’s solo band and an in-demand session drummer, guitarist and bassist. He’ll make his live debut with the band in Germany tonight. Quo say in a statement: “Leon has been in rehearsal with the band and will be playing at the Wolkenkratzer Festival in Frankfurt, Germany.” Cave is described as “a fast learner of new material with the ability to play across all genres of music.” Last year Letley announced his decision to move on. He was scheduled to make his final appearance at the O2 Arena in London on December 19, then stayed on to cover the band’s Australian tour in February this year. He said: “It’s been a fantastic journey – but I have decided that now is the right time for me to leave Quo and move on to something new.” But he denied the move was anything to do with the band’s Frantic Four reunion shows, played by Rossi and Rick Parfitt alongside founding members Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan. The last of those concerts, in London March 17, was filmed for a later DVD release. The veterans released their feature film Bula Quo! in July and tour the UK in December with 10cc: Dec 6: Liverpool Echo Arena Dec 7: Birmingham LG Arena Dec 8: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena Dec 10: Plymouth Pavilions Dec 11: Bournemouth BIC Dec 13: Brighton Centre Dec 14: Nottingham Arena Dec 15: London O2 Dec 17: Leeds Arena Dec 18: Glasgow Hydro Dec 19: Newcastle Metro Arena

Iggy Pop: “My pants fall down a lot” Despite his mantle of the Godfather Of Punk, Iggy Pop isn’t actually a fan of punk rock music. Oh yeah – and he’s never intentionally displayed his penis on stage either, saying: “That’s an urban myth.” To celebrate the release of The Stooges’ second comeback album Ready To Die, Iggy is interviewed in the latest edition of Classic Rock. When asked how he deals with the fact that everyone and their dog calls him the Godfather Of Punk, he responded: “[Industry suits] have to think in boxes. They have to have a place to put me to reference the whole thing. And they think they have to explain that to an audience of people who are similarly lacking in intelligence or education. So you get that. It’s okay. But it’s tedious. “We hadn’t sold out one of the shows, so the promoter wanted me to go on the radio. So I said: ‘Alright, I’ll do an interview.’ Well, then that wasn’t enough. They wanted me to talk about five punk songs. And I told them: ‘I don’t like punk.’” Iggy also denied threatening the audience that he’d take his penis out while performing at the recent South By Southwest festival. “I wasn’t threatening them… I mean, I never really have displayed my penis. That’s sort of… that’s an urban myth. Once in a while it slips out here and there, or my pants fall down a lot.” Ready To Die contains social commentaries on modern America in the form of songs such as Burn, Sex & Money, Job and Gun. There’s also a track called DD’s, on which Iggy declares his passion for big breasts… “Well, yeah,” he agreed. “Tits are very big in America, y’know? I mean, we have lots of big tits. And people don’t have big tits, they have the operation to get them. I always liked Russ Meyer, wonderful movies. I used to go when I was making Raw Power if I wanted to relax. They’re beautiful. The attitude’s great and the tits are fucking amazing.” Read the full interview with Iggy Pop in the latest edition of Classic Rock, on sale now. Got an iPad or iPhone? Download our free app to get the digital edition of Classic Rock – plus grab your free awards issue! Simply go here http://goo.gl/z4Yhu (in the UK) or here http://goo.gl/YUnR9 (for the US) to get well and truly digitized. Buy the print edition from all good newsagents or direct from www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk. Get the Classic Rock Spotify app for must-hear mag-related playlists. Go to http://open.spotify.com/app/classicrock or find us in App Finder in Spotify.

Review by Master of Time — This review is a long time coming, as I was asked to write one all the way back in November, but I'm finally writing it now. The core of the band consists of just a drummer, a bassist, and a guitar player, but there are many guest musicians, including saxophone, trumpet, and strings. This album was actually my introduction into math rock, a genre I have grown to love, and it is still my favorite album of the genre. The piece starts out much like Close to the Edge, building quietly for a bit until it finally comes frantically crashing in. The whole thing is very high energy, with a constant unrelenting rhythm section. Guitar is for the most part the main focus, but sax will occasionally take over and there are times where they both are coming at you at the same time. It being so frantic and high energy you might expect it to kind of meander on at times, but it feels focused, and never tires. The frantic battle of guitar and sax continues for awhile until about 13 minutes in when it shifts and the sax disappears. The drum and guitar just start hammering in, fading out, and hammering back in. Then starts to dramatically pick back up in a very Crimsonian way. After that it starts to sound very playful and maybe a little Zappa-esque. It then gets a bit jazzier and starts shifting tempo multiple times. It's a very bright sounding piece with tones they use, if also quite chaotic. I have to comment that I love Sean McDermott's guitar tone.About 19 minutes in trumpet comes, sounding a bit like King Crimson's Lizard, but with perhaps's experimental edge and constant rhythm keeping it sounding their own. As it continues it develops into more of a psychedelic krautrock sound that works fantastically with the addition of trumpet. It starts to progress into more of Hawkwind psychedelia as guitar becomes more and more prominent. It begins to calm down, which is short lived and it becomes louder and energy picks back up as the drums start crashing in louder and louder. At about 27 minutes in it shifts moods again, becoming more playful, until after a minute it suddenly stops, doing something similar to what they did back at 13 minutes. The drums and guitar keep hammering on for another minute until it descends into a calmer post rock atmosphere. After a few minutes strings are added in as it starts to pick up. It reaches a powerful crescendo until suddenly dropping. It immediately picks back up even higher then it was before. The guitar goes into a solo over the strings and pounding drums that is just fantastic. The drums continue to pound louder and louder over the guitar and the strings until finally it is all brought down into the powerful conclusion of a masterpiece.This album is truly amazing. I cannot recommend this enough to any fan of progressive music, and it is a fantastic introduction to the post/math rock genre if you've yet to explore it.

Review by Harry Hood — ProjeKct Two Space Groove is the best King Crimson album because nobody knows it exists.I was first introduced to this album by someone who was not really a fan of progressive rock at all. They were big into 80s and 90s alt rock dinosaurs like Dinosaur Jr., Butthole Surfers, and The Flaming Lips. But for whatever reason they had this album as part of their collection and held it in high regard.So being something of an obsessive King Crimson fan and wanting to impress this other person I began listening to this album. This was nearly a decade ago now, and I'm still not sure what to think.It does stand out as being one of the most unique albums in the King Crimson discography. Its really hard to find anything else in their catalog that even sounds kind of like this.Basically this consists of three musicians with some new toys to play with. Trey Gunn with his recently acquired Warr Guitar, Adrain Belew and his V Drums (which had just arrived prior to recording), and Mr. Fribble with his ever expanding collection of effects units and pedals to run his guitar through. The latest and most advanced in late-90s musical instrument technology.So the three Crimsos gather together and hit record, and these are they results.Being an album that consists almost entirely of improv (with some vague compositional ideas scattered throughout) it can't really be judged on the same merits as a traditional written and composed album. It is spontaneous music-making by a group of musicians who are basically professionals at it. Probably the most intriguing thing about the music is it is sometimes hard to tell exactly who is playing what. Was that sound I just heard a V-Drum sample, a Frippertronic, or a Warr Guitar worked through some pedals? These sort of things can only be dissected on repeated listens, and even then there's always something new to discover. The improvisations were always the most interesting part of a King Crimson show anyway, this album is one of the few occasions where the audience gets to experience a candid improv session in a private setting, without the pressures of a live audience and pesky flash photography.This is what progressive rock is all about. Put on some big headphones, pick out a particular instrument, and listen to all the amazing things going on, the various intricacies and quirks of the musicianship. You know you're a prog! It's time to listen like one.