Rock Music

Review by Umma — This is the other album I just bought, following a hype. (The first one being Big Big Train: EnglishElectric Part II) And this time I was lucky.I was looking for some new approach, blending Progressive rock with maybe Radiohead-likeelectronics, maybe a bit of Sigur Ros, certainly a lot more 80ies new wave (the antichrist of progso to speak... why this is so, I cannot tell) and The Cure. To make it short: Thielen does just thatand he does it perfectly. Yes, perfectly. He draws a lot from New Wave, the typical melodies, theguitar sounds, the atmosphere. But he omits all the things that make New Wave dated, like therepetitive structures, the plastic keyboards and the rather too simple Punk relation. Then he addsthe structures of classical progressiveness and gets somewhere completely elsewhere. This is trueinnovation, progressive rock in the true sense of the word.The "masterpiece" part then is that it really works from a listener's perspective. The music isboth, new and innovative on the one hand, emotional and highly digestible on the other. What asurprise from such an artist who is all but famous. I will certainly try and get the other cds as well.

Review by Umma — So much boasting and enthusiasm going on. So little to talk about really with this album. So muchempty fandom and so much noise. So little signal, so little essence.I bought this album on behalf of its rating of on many sites. (So, all you tiny amateur bands: Justget a hype going somehow! Sales figures will follow... Stupid me!) It was claimed that it was ahighly emotional and highly innovative approach towards crossing over New Wave / artsy pop andProgressive Rock. Well, frankly, it isn't. It is just another neoprog record without much going onin the individuality sector. It is not really bad, but it certainly is not in the least up to allthat noise about Big Big Train that is going on. It is somewhat disillusioning that even this tinygenre seems to suffer from promo wizardry.

www.youtube.comStuart Bull interviews Tommy Thayer of KISS.

Source: GeneSimmons.com Here's a "Monster" billboard advertising KISS' tour dates in Japan spotted in a Japanese train station.

www.KISSOnline.comMick Campise was part of our original road crew and they believed in us as much as we did. Mick always made sure that we did our show without compromises or interference from other bands or their crews. That dedication made the impossible possible for us and paved the way for our rise to the top. Rest in peace Mick. You aren't forgotten.

Photos by Keith Leroux for KISSONLINE Here's the KISS Crew getting ready for tonight's show in Milan earlier today.

Photo by Dean Snowden for KISSONLINE. Here's KISS with the SOLD OUT crowd at tonight's show at Mediolanum Forum in Milan.

Review by Second Life Syndrome — I really need to get my butt over to RoSfest. I mean, I live in OH, which isn't ridiculously far from Gettysburg, PA. In fact, I think it's 8 hours or so. Anyways, this festival is starting to get some seriously good line-ups every year, and this live album from IOEarth proves that.Usually, I judge a live album by whether or not the experience comes off as better than the band's albums. I know that being at the concert is a different story all together, but a live album can be exciting, too. IOEarth is known for their dynamic live shows, and I think this transfers to the album quite well. I love the song selection here: Some of their best songs are present, such as "The Creation", "Harmonix", "Moments", etc. I also love how they performed them differently than the studio album. "The Creation", for example, has whale noises as mimicked by a guitar---genius. Other times, the guitar solos might be different or altered subtlety. Although I love the song selection, I do wish that they could have chosen one or two more vocally driven songs. They have plenty to choose from: I would have loved to hear "Come to Me" or "Mountains Start to Fall". I think I know why they did not explore these options, though.One of the downers for this live album is the fact that female singer, Claire, was starting to have issues with her voice. She had some sort of throat condition, and has since stepped down as the vocalist for IOEarth. This is tragic because she has an immense voice, and it is this quality that is missing from Live in the USA. She misses high notes, sounds very masculine at times, and sounds like she is in pain. Don't get me wrong: She still sounds great and did an amazing job. However, she didn't quite have the power available to create the truly stunning moments that IOEarth usually presents. I was left thinking, "If only she'd hit that note, my legs would have turned to jelly". Or whatever.The vocals aren't my only complaint: I feel that guitarist Dave Cureton tries to rush things a bit. His studio recordings are crisp, clear, and purposeful. In this live album, his guitar work is often muddled, not by the recording quality (which is excellent), but by his own messy attention to detail. He completely misses some foundational notes in some of his solos. I can't help but wonder if he was stuck between wanting to improvise and trying to remain true to the original recording. The result is a muddy sound at times.I can't emphasize enough, though, that this album is still excellent. My issues with the album are only present at certain times, but I do feel that they reduce the overall quality. With that said, any IOEarth fan NEEDS to hear this, and hopefully I can experience this group live someday.

Photo by Hab Haddad for KISSONLINE. Here's KISS at the opening of tonight's show in Milan. The band was rocking hard and so was the incredible audience!

Review by Warthur — What if Hawkwind or Gong went folk, with Nico on lead vocals? Perhaps they would have ended up with a sound a bit like the one exhibited by Catherine Ribeiro's backing group Alpes on this release. Sputtering hazily between psychedelic space rock vistas and hippy folk chants and songs, this bizarre release combines adventurous musical experimentation with capable and diverse vocals on the part of Catherine herself, which have a resonance and a boldness to them matched by very few. There aren't many groups who can count themselves as having a truly unique sound, but Alpes might just be one of them.