Rock Music

Review by Dark Nazgul — Satan's angels fly! It's been just 48 hours since my review, rather negative, of "The Great Leap". And I feel guilty.I feel guilty because although I am convinced that "The Great Leap" is not a memorable album, I have so much regard for this man and his band that I feel guilty anyway! And so now I try to redeem myself with the second album of this underground trilogy."Doomsday Afternoon", unlike its predecessor, is a masterpiece of modern progressive rock, and in my opinion the best album of 2007. It is probably the turning point in the career of Phideaux, the moment when the band decide to follow the path of progressive rock with great determination (as already made, but only in part, with "Chupacabras"). It is an album characterized by dark and apocalyptic sounds, also implemented through the use of a orchestral section of strings and horns, which help to give extreme solemnity to the songs. Great importance have keyboards, especially the Hammond organ and the synth. As always, Phideaux shows great sensitivity for acoustic music with beautiful piano and guitar parts. The arrangements are very elaborate but do not suffocate the harmonies: the result is a good balance between melody and experimentation, where finally is given to the voice of Valerie Gracious the space it deserves. Matthew Parmenter also participates, he occasionally sings and play violin. Regarding the tracks that make up the album, it is not correct to speak of "single" songs. All songs are linked by the plot, and some themes are repeated many times along the album. In practice, we are faced with a complex musical work that should be appreciated in its entirety. Anyway, here is a brief analysis of the individual tracks. Micro Softdeathstar :9/10. The beautiful initial notes of "Micro Softdeathstar" immediately set the tone that characterizes the entire album. The quiet introduction singed by Xavier is followed by the orchestra in a way that leaves stunned for majesty and elegance. Great changes of atmosphere and rhythm. When Valerie singing "I'm singing to the rain" in the end, the fan of progressive rock already feels at home. The Doctrine Of Eternal Ice (Part One) : 9/10. Instrumental song that starts with another epic and catchy piano riff. Though I am not a big supporter of the synthesizers, I must admit that in this passage the use of this instrument is superb. The orchestra offers a new contribution. Candybrain : 8/10. Short song with acoustic guitar, flute and keyboards. The very first David Bowie comes to mind (it seems like "Space Oddity" or "The Man who sold the World"). The vocal harmonies are very beautiful. Phideaux is the lead singer here. Crumble : 10/10. Exceptional instrumental interlude. A gentle piano melody is played with the accompaniment of the hammond organ and then with choirs and orchestra. This beautiful melody will be reproduced in other parts of the album. The first four songs are all outstanding, with no weak point. The Doctrine Of Eternal Ice (Part Two) : 7/10. It takes up the theme of the second track, as the title suggests, but this time with vocals (both by Valerie and Xavier). The song is more melodic in the first part; in the second half there are complicated arrangements with keyboards in evidence, and some reference to the sounds of Alan Parsons. Thank You For The Evil : 9/10. There is no orchestra here. It is the song that Pink Floyd have never recorded. The slow pace and the use of synth lead you to albums such as "Wish You Were Here" and "Animals". The song expresses a great sense of inevitability. One of the greatest moment of this brilliant work. A Wasteland Of Memories : 7/10. Taken in itself is not an important piece, but it works very well placed in the overall context of the album. The orchestra is under the spotlight again and the theme is taken from the middle section of Micro Softdeathstar. Crumble (Part Two) : 10/10. The most poignant song of the album, thanks to the wonderful in

Review by poslednijat_colobar — What a comeback after an extensive touring for about 8 years! Hard rock giants Deep Purple shatteredall the critics with Now What?!. It's an unique album with many facets. It's typical Deep Purplealbum, but on the other hand it's something else as well. It's hard rock, it's symphonic prog, it'sfunky, it's jazzy, it's Perfect Strangers, it's Purpendicular, it's Yes, ELP and Pink Floyd, butmost importantly - it's one of best and most balanced Deep Purple albums. The arrangements of thesongs are precise. The songwriting is highly compressed and full of ideas, developed in accurate,direct manner. That means to create progressive rock album with hard rock means of expression! The"conversations" between rhythm section (Paice and Glover), organ solos (Airey), guitar solos (Morse)and The Voice (Gillan) are highly addictive. Highly recommended album by one of greatest bands ever!Deserved 4,5 stars would be rounded up! Another gloden page in Deep Purple's extensive and brilliantcareer!

Review by shantiq — Yes they have the name and pretty queer ones too [Ahmet and Dweezil they escaped the moniker chosen for their sister which is MoonUnit so maybe they got off lightly] and i would surmise Nirvana and Pearl Jam Steve Vai and Prince were much more important to the Zappa boys than Daddy's Oeuvre in all its glory...They are VERY MUCH of their generation! Nothing Sixties there and nothing Frank; but two accomplished musicians doing their thing... and it requires serious stretch of the imagination to hear what one could call Progressive Rock here; unless we label this Progressive Grunge...A really good album which takes a few listens before one can fully appreciate it ...

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