Porcupine Tree > Lightbulb Sun 2007 remix - a review

In the year 2000 , when Lightbulb Sun was initially released, it was somehow a change of dogma. Being a rather trippy band, with lots of atmospheric sequences, long melodies, and a rather depressive way of singing, but with complex rhythms and time signatures, and some real great drums, they released an album that went into another direction.
Their sound suddenly went into more compact song structures, almost like a new brit pop band it semed at that time.
Many fans jumped off the train since then, but as the band went forward, they gathered even more fans.

One thing we Munich fans thought about the cd was that it was perfect in sound; a production value never heard before, and we bowed to it.

So why do a remix of a perfectly produced album? I got curious.
It arrived, and contained 2 discs, a CD containing the 2007 remix, and a DVD-A containing 4 songs mixed in 5.1 and the entire album in its original mix.
So I started listening to the remix, and at a first glance there was - nothing....... hmm...... oh, wait... it sounds warmer.
yes, I can hear everything a good tad better. --- That was my first impression.

"The differences are small, but there are some sonic improvements..." Steve Wilson states in the booklet.

So what are the differences?

I think the original mix was done to meet industry standards, making it radio friendly. Removing that was their goal, I guess.
The overall sound is less aggresive, they took much more care to not overload the trebles, not to distort waveforms, and keeping all as transparent as possible.
The entire sound is warmer, in a vinyl style somehow. the loudness of every instrument is matched perfectly, so one doesn't disturb the other, and yes, they made it so good that one doesn't miss one note.
Some slightly different effects have been applied to the guitar for not bleeding all other instruments out, and such things.
Seperating all instuments and make it a new sonic experience, well that's exactly what they did.

In 2000 I thought "wow that sounds like the band is playing right in my living room".
In 2008 I can only top that by saying "nice of the band to stop by in my humble home".

I haven't listened to the DVD-A, as I do know the original version very well, and the 5.1 remixes of those 4 tunes make no sense on a stereo environment.
One thing I can say for sure: I recommend the cd to everyone. It is such a great new sonic experience, you shouldn't miss it!

The elusiveness of inspiration

As a follow up to my last post I was thinking about all the music that has really inspired me in my life. I now think that musical enjoyment comes in 3 forms for me. These 3 categories overlap like Russian nesting dolls. I can be just entertained, entertained and inspired, or entertains, inspired and imitative. Let me run down my categories.

1. Entertainment - As I've gotten older I think I find more and more examples of music I just like listening to. Doesn't matter what genre (metal, jazz, americana, whatever), I can just enjoy listening to a song because I like it and I think its well done.
2. Inspiration - I hear something and it makes me feel like working on my own music. Gives me a little kick to keep going. It's motivational entertainment. I often get this from live shows as well as from listening to music at home.
3. Imitation - I hear something and I want to actually write a song like that. A song that either sounds like that or a song that makes me feel the same way. Sometimes the end result doesn't really resemble my source of imitation at all but somehow, for me, the mood remains the same.
   

As I mentioned, my age has mellowed me a bit and I can just find enjoyment in a good song. When I was a teenager everything I listened to had to be just a certain style and it had fit the second two categories. Inversely, as I've gotten older I find it harder to find new music that inspires me. Maybe its that I'm exposed to far more music through the internet now and there's more to sort through to find what really speaks to me. Maybe the more of my own music I make the less of others music I get into. I have more than once read interviews with artists who, when asked what new music they listen to, say they don't really listen to anything new or list one or two bands. I often find myself going back to my older music for inspiration and it seems like in most cases what inspired me long ago still does. To use one band as an example, Dream Theater, I find Systematic Chaos fun to listen to but it doesn't get to me, doesn't get under my skin. I can still pop Images and Words in and I feel like a starry-eyed 16 year old again. I have reached the point where I don't expect to always be inspired and thats ok. Sometimes its just good to listen to good music. Getting inspired also means working and I can't work 24/7.

Even though great moments of finding something new are fewer, they are sometimes more satisfying and exciting. They seem to come in brief bursts. After college the first big 'new music' explosion happened in 2001. I was already a little familiar with Symphony X, but attending ProgPower USA 1 exposed me also to Pain of Salvation and Zero Hour for the first time. Here I found new music, stuff that sounded fresh and like it was forging a new path. I was also introduced to Spiral Architect and Vauxdvihl that same year. Back in 2001 pretty much everyone else I heard was trying to be a Dream Theater clone. 2001 was a great year for finding new music for me. Over the subsequent years I never had such a big explosion of discovery like that again but every once in a while something grabs me when I'm not looking and shows me a new perspective. I had those moments with Porcupine Tree - In Absentia, Sieges Even - The Art Of Navigating By The Stars, and most recently Everon - North.

I wonder if people who don't play music feel like this at all. Am I in a unique position as a listener and a composer, you do others find similar circumstances of inspiration and imitation, though maybe not for creating music, but for doing something else? All in all I still love listening to music. Almost as much as I love creating it.

I'll end with a quote by John Coltrane, one of my favorites about being a creator and consumer of music:

"Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music for the first time, as if I had never heard it before. Being so inescapably a part of it, I’ll never know what the listener gets, what the listener feels, and thats too bad."

Everon - North

The new cd 'North' by Everon has quickly become a daily habit. Its been a while since I've discovered a new (to me) band that made a big impression on me. One thing I really like about this cd is that the music if fairly uplifting and hopeful. It had its dark moments, but as someone who loves Fates Warning and Pain of Salvation, Everon is a nice shift from the melancholy and intensity of bands like that.

What got me the most excited about this band though were the lyrics. I don't often pay that much attention to lyrics... or at least I pay more attention to the music. Put another way, I can listen to a song I think has good music and bad lyrics, but not a song that has bad music and good lyrics. I think Everon's lyrics are some of the most poetic I've read. Here are some samples:

(from the song 'Wasn't It Good')

"Nostalgia is a dangerous poison
If mixed with bitterness and grief
Makes the past look so much brighter
Forms illusions of relief
Makes what's lost still seem an option
Though it failed the test of time
Pretends the years have done no damage
That we're still in our prime"

(from the song 'Running')

Still lies the ocean deep
Such grace never met the eye
A whole world in peaceful sleep
Under a star covered sky

I find in the first example an expression of something a lot of people might feel but not know how to say, and it is said without either being too simple or too mired in metaphor. In the second example I think we have just a beautiful image painted in words. Oliver Philipps has great skill with the English language even though its not his native tongue. Reading these lyrics has given me a little kick to put more effort and thought into my own. I usually only write lyrics when very inspired. Unlike music, which I can sit and write anytime, lyrics come on their own time. But I'll be more aware I think of finding the best way to say what I want to say.

So go get this cd. Its a complete vision and I don't think I'll get tired of listening to it.

An ode to vinyl

or about being an audio-nerd...

The most recent event of my nerdiness: a guy of Music Buy Mail found a topic in the progulus forum and felt the need to send out his comment to a couple of people who ordered the Koyaanisquatsy album. I felt the need to answer it and, as I am, asked if they consider offering 320 kb/s mp3s. He replied and promised to do so.

The normal metal guy may like those 192 kb/s mp3s, I don't, a 'lossy' compressed audio format doesn't sound as clear as a lossless one. The one's who love metal because of it's noisyness may like the 192 kb/s version even better. And on most home stereos, people even may not hear the difference.

I did spend quite some money for my stereo and I love using it.

Having some hundreds of vinyl discs in my shelf, there had to be a good old-fashioned turntable, too. Equipped with a modern high class needle, I started to listen to those old black monsters again, and I was quite surprised!

Yes, most of them crackle, some more some less, some even don't at all.

I purchased a couple of cds though having the vinyl version in the shelf in the last 20 years. Now, in the meantime, I rather listen to the vinyl version because they simply sound better than the cds.

Some weeks ago I stumbled over the leak that enabled me to download the new Opeth cd "Watershed" even before it got released. I couldn't resist. But it was clear to me that I need to buy the album now, and I indeed wanted to.

Well, in this case, I decided to buy it as 2lp (when you remember that abbreviation, you're old... ) vinyl.

The sound of the vinyl is quite different. Not worse or better, but different.

All in all it sounds a tad smoother. The guitars for example are less earbleeding; not less aggressive, just a bit nicer to the ears. Therefore, more room is left for Ackerfeld's vocals. The vocals are more intense on the vinyl version, which is rather good, because he does some real great work on this recording. All in all it is like comparing guitar amps. The cd would be the transistor amp, vinyl the tube amp.

The only big issue is the sound of the drums. As vinyl doesn't have the same dynamic range, the drums sound really old fashioned and don't fit the metal genre somehow. but I like them hearing this way as well as I like the mellotron they play on the disc.

Well, despite the drum problem, I think the vinyl still sounds more natural to me.

Allow me to talk techincally, just a bit.

They sample audio at a frequency of 44,1 kHz. They say the human ear doesn't hear a sine higher than 20 kHz. that is true, but we do recognize higher frequencies, not every noise we hear is a sine. And music does not consist of sines only. for example you discern a trumpet from a violin not because of the sine they play but because of the different harmonics they produce. That is ignored, when deciding to not sample high frequencies.

If we consider the Nyquist an Shannon theorem of scanning, the formula is even worse. The theorem says that the scanning frequency must be 3x as high a the original for an accurate result. So 44,1 kHz divided by 3 makes a frequency of 14,7 kHz. Any higher frequency will be scanned erroneous. Distorted guitars and vocals produce those frequencies.

I agree that the analog world is imperfect, but the digital techniques that are offered to us are nothing more than a lame compromise.

I shall listen more to knackles and rumbles....

A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!

The name's Alex Ricard, but please. Call me T-Bo. Or even better, by my rightful title as mighty King T-Bo.

I, too, am a regular on Progulus Radio, dating back almost to the site's inception in 2005. I believe I joined a month or so after it was created. My tagname comes from another site I frequent, RPG Chat, where my username is Terry_Bogard, after the fighting game character. Somebody once shortened it to T-Bo, and I liked it, so the name stuck.

Anyhow, my journey to prog began as a young boy. My dad is a quite talented guitarist and vocalist, and while not the best in the world at it, he is certainly capable. There was always music playing in my house growing up. My dad loves everything from Bob Dylan to Led Zeppelin to Robert Johnson to Django Reinhardt to bluegrass. I'm serious, his music taste changes constantly. He's even been digging some of the Dream Theater, Neal Morse, and Sigur Ros I've been throwing to him lately. In 1999, I was nine years old, and my dad went on a religious retreat. It was then that he started playing guitar regularly again, for the first time since he'd been in college. That Christmas my little brother and I both recieved small guitars, and he taught us basic chords, and eventually enrolled me in formal classical music lessons. For years and years I played classical guitar, but with no real passion for it. I played, and I enjoyed the music, and I practiced, but outside of my own tinkling of nylon on wood, I never really took the time to listen to music.

But that all changed one day at my friend's house. He put on a CD of this band he had just discovered. It started quiet and calm, with a theatrical singer saying something about fearing darkness. And then it got HEAVY. I was instantly hooked on Iron Maiden, and from that point on I constantly listened to music. Maiden, Metallica, Dio, Megadeth, Rush, Led Zeppelin, you name it. I became a guitar disciple, exponentially increasing in my abilities as I switched over to electric guitar.

One day, in school guitar class my freshman year, I was jamming out some Maiden with a friend of mine and he turned to me and told me about this band called Dream Theater. He had me download their song "A Change of Seasons", and then made sure I sat and listened in its entirety. From there, there was no turning back. Opeth, Tool, Ayreon, Pain of Salvation, Symphony X, Frost*, Spock's Beard, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Meshuggah, Porcupine Tree, Devin Townsend, Vanden Plas, Muse, Transatlantic, OSI, et al.

I began to love all forms of progressive music, from the epically pompous stylings of Rhapsody (of Fire) and Blind Guardian (always sticking to my metal roots), the ethereal minimalism of Tangerine Dream and Sigur Ros, the brutality and intensity of Spiral Architect or Behold... The Arctopus, the intense emotional journeys of Arena and IQ and Everon and Marillion and A.C.T., the simple weirdness of The Mars Volta and Magma, and the pure beauty of Mostly Autumn and Panic Room and Parhelia, and so on. I still enjoy extreme metal, and rock, the occasional blues or jazz, lots of classical, and pretty much everything. Even hip-hop.

And so, I've begun my own prog-ject. It's called Hopefactor, a word I discuss quite frequently on my main blog. Hopefactor is very much a prog-metal project, but my music has touches of electronica, acoustic music, and symphonic metal in it. The official site is here, but there are no samples up yet due to the lack of technology. However, I've already written a concept album's worth of material (INCLUDING a 20-minute epic!), and more.

So, there's your T-Bo in a nutshell. I will be reviewing music, offering my opinions on modern music (being a young guy, I'm still very aware of mainstream music, though one of my favorite things to say is that I "stopped listening to the radio once I got into music"). And I'll be throwing out rants as well. I'm sure you'll be entertained. I'm looking forward to posting! And maybe, if I do enough, I can go on the sidebar as one of them FEATURED AUTHORS... :O

Also, bow before me. I am your King, after all.

Review: Second Society – All solutions are artificial

A short while ago I got in contact with one of my Childhood friends (seems that Facebook can actually be used for something). I also discovered that he has recently joined a Danish rock band as their bass player. So I thought that I would do him the favor of reviewing their latest album. Just one warning: This is not progressive rock/metal, but that does not stop me from reviewing it, since I am open to all sorts of music.

This is actually a difficult task. First of all my friend Lars Holmboe is...well…my friend and I would not like to write anything negative about him and his band activities. Secondly Second Society does not play the kind of music that I would normally listen to. So, since I am already rather biased, I will not rate the album on lets say a 0-10 grade scale, but just try my best to give a balanced view of my findings.

On the band’s MySpace page they name themselves a Danish PowerRock Band, and I agree in the sense that they are playing rock not heavy, death or other forms of metal, but the style is nevertheless powerful.

So what elements make this album stand out from the rest?

The first thing I noticed was that it is very well produced coming from such a relatively new and unknown band. I can already think of some other bands I listen to that would have benefited from the same production process. I feel that the resulting songs compliment each other well and belong on the same album, so yeah, it sound pretty much as if they know what they are doing and where they want to take their music.

The album takes the use of synth (in rock) to a new level. Where other bands mostly use keyboard synth as a way of creating a background for the songs, this band uses it more as a regular instrument, which is quite refreshing in this day where so many bands sound similar.

The Songs:

The album opens with the rocker “A New Dawn”, which quite well introduces the band and gives you an idea about the rest of the album: Fast guitars, synth and voice distortion. This would be one of the obvious single contenders (are people still buying singles?).

“The Waiting”: Not a bad rock song, but I find this to be the weakest track on the album. I find it a little too straight forward, although the last 3rd has a good heavy feeling to it.

Like the opener “The Only One” is synth driven, maybe a little too much for my taste, but I find this song has the most enjoyable drum patterns I have heard for a while (also compared to what I normally listen to).

“Devil With Two Hearts” is my favorite song on the album, and could be another choice for a single. The introduction of piano to this track makes everything more interesting, especially how it stands in contrast to an otherwise heavy track. This is probably the most diverse track on the album, which in my book also makes the best.

The album is closed with “Bring me the renegades” which is my other favorite track. The band here shows that they have an excellent rhythm section, which I feel could have been put to better use throughout the album.

Some criticism:

All band members play their instruments well, nothing there to put my finger on. Everything fits together like a well oiled machine. Unfortunately that is where I must criticize the most, the album has some great moments, but overall I find it a little mechanical, as if part of the album was recorded on autopilot. Simply put, I miss some more surprises. Voice distortion and piano helps a bit, but more range and complexity in the vocals and melody would have made the listener experience more enjoyable. A way to achieve this would be to break away from the “verse, chorus, verse in 3½ minute” formula on some tracks, which would force you to come up with some new and hopefully brilliant ideas. But all that would be for a future album, which I would surely take for a spin.

Dear band members, if you read this, please take my criticism with a grain of salt. As I usually listen to Progressive rock/metal I am used to music that often has a structure more similar to that of classical and jazz than to rock/pop, and I usually favor the more complex sides of music. But, for the style of music you play I find that you do more than a decent job.

The Road to Life and Progressive Rock. Part III

Phase3
The move back to California!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB17uWuBrL0&feature=related

"Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done, lay your
weary head to rest, don't you cry no more..."
- Carry On Wayward Son/Kansas

Look away Dixie Land indeed!
Life in Gretna, Louisiana is OVER . . .
Me and my Dad had enough! Me at school and my Dad's jobs and the "good ol' boy"
attitudes. The only good things that came from living there were Relatives, the
Seafood and the birth of my little Brother whom I love soo much.
But my Dad had traded (and sadly, my beloved...) the Ford 67 Mustang "Fastback",
that fell victem to the La. Humidity, for a Non-4x4 Chevy Blazer a few years before.
To this day, I miss that car, and I know it would have passed down to me.
Fricken' State even ate up the car!

The Birth of Comedy.
Through the hardships, I found my sanity through building model kits of Cars and
Warbirds. And I had always been the "funny one" in my small circles of friendships.
So having a sophisticated (for my age) comic sense, or rather a GOOFY comedic
sense helped. I think it was a gene from my Dad. He was always the Life of the
Party.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcXA_pkfLso&feature=related
It also came from watching Monty Python and SCTV episodes, and the nation
wide broadcast of the "Dr. Demento Show" on the radio, that featured funny skits,
performers, comedians and bands with the likes of Weird Al (before he had a
record contract), Shel Silverstien; Captain Beefheart; Monty Pythons Flying
Circus; Cheech & Chong; Spike Jones and his City Slickers; Barnes & Barnes
and it would be the 1st time to hear Frank Zappa. And outrageous songs/acts by
the obscure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c-NMnYhM3Q
(Okay, so this isn't a "Funny Song" but the antics are, and
Zappa shreds! Can you guess who the 2nd guitarist is,
close to the camera?)
So my "humour in music" was sown forever (later, I would listen to the direct
California broadcast for over the next few decades until its last shows).


" . . . You can check out anytime you like... but you can never leave!"
- Hotel California/Eagles

Summer of 77.
1977, The road to California is a special memory because during the ride
across a few deserts (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California), we were
listening to "The Radio X" (and the sweet voice "sweeper" of a Latina saying,
"Baja California-Mejico [Mexico]" -The same station ZZ Top sang about).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8BRmZCqsHg
And we would hear newly released songs by the Eagles; Gerry Raferty; Bob
Seger and the Silver Bullet Band; Al Stewart; Fleetwood Mac; Electric Light
Orchestra; Marshall Tucker Band and a Band from the East Coast . . .

"When I'm tired and thinking cold, I hide in my music, forget the day
and dream of a girl I used to know, I closed my eyes and she slipped away. . ."
- Boston/More than a Feeling

"Boston". (The debut in 76, which was still making its way on the airwaves-1st
hearing them a few months before leaving La.) The dueling Guitars of Tom
Sholtz and Barry Goudreau were soo smooth and Brad Delps soaring Vocals
really made an impact. Their sound has always been very special to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AlzsP4jN1E
Not until 1978 would we have their sophomore Album "Don't look Back" and
their unfortunate decline through various lawsuits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_%28band%29
Tom Sholtz, Being an M.I.T. graduate, would boast "No Synthesizers used!"
on their albums. It was amazing and puzzeling at the same time.
More than a Feeling to this day reminds me of the little girl that lived across
the street from me when I was 5 (my 1st kiss, Kimberly) . . .

I'd ask my Dad, for us to take a ride out to BellFlower Ca. (I think it was the
city of Cudahy to be exact) to see what the old nieghborhood was like.
Well, it was a sight alright, dilapidated Houses, trash everywhere, Gang
Grafitti, not the place where multi-racial middle class people lived in the
60's and early 70's, where I used to ride my tricycle on the sidewalks.
And where we used to walk to a Fosters Freeze to get Burgers and an Ice
Cream Cone.
" . . . She slipped away!"


Re-Settlement, and Re-Settlement.
We moved in temporarly with my Dads Sister and Brother-in-law in the San
Fernando Valley in the beginning of Summer. A few months later we found an
Apartment on Van Nuys Blvd. in Panorama City.
I can remember the Heat, but in the early mornings, I remember them being
the most content sleep I would ever have in my life, and I would wake up (or
"fade out" of a comfortable sleep) to a cold breeze through the window, that
seems to have never returned.
Soon I would start 1 year of school nearby as a Freshman, A School that I can
not even remember its name. I vaguely remember my 1st Art Class, A girl I
had a crush on named Leslie, with her friends, laughed at some idiots joke
about me being "Gay". I do remember the food, probably the best damn
lunches I would ever have in school (3 choices of Entres and all kinds of

sides, including the individule foods at the outside counters).

The music of the time also reminds me of our drives down Van Nuys Blvd.
Where we would eventually live in an Apt. for over a year. The type of Apt. that
all the units surrounded a Pool in the middle (See "The Karate Kid", it was sort
of like what Daniel -Ralph Machio lived in), at least I think there was a pool (If
there was, I don't recall people swimming in it), something we were not used to,
since living in houses most of our lives.
Life on the "Strip" would see the last days of Hot Rods and Lowriders "Cruising"
down the Boulevard as it would be outlawed in 1978-79.
This "Film" represents 1979, but its very reminiscent of 77 (though I was only 14
and didn't have close friends until our next move):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3MOXwdkJp8

As my folks, weary of living in the Apartment, in the sweltering heat of the
"Valley" as it was called (The San Fernando Valley, that Zappa would make
famous years later with "Valley Girl"). My parents saved for a new home of our
own and to make new roots. And we would take rides to different neighborhoods
to look at homes while my dads 8 track would play Santana, and Eagles Newly
released "Hotel California".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9UUm1NvjbM
No matter what you think of them, this song had all the sensibilities what Prog
Rock was, but the Eagles made it their own, soo layered with sound and various
guitar tones, and the vocal harmonies were brilliant, intertwined with a blend of
Mexican Folk, "Tex-Mex", Country/Western and Rock.
With Orchestration, beautiful ballads, great storybook lyrics and high caliber
musicianship.
I still think its a great album through and through.
But, it would take years till I realized what the Song Hotel California actually
meant, and that all the songs seemed to take place in the same "State".
For many, the lines in the song were true. I'm one of the few that want to stay
. . . but I just want to move farther up north (but thats another story in my later
years, the love/hate relationship of LA and a Los Angelino).

"Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice, and she said:
'We are all just prisoners here,
Of our own device'
And in the master's chambers
They gathered for the feast,
They stabbed it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast..."
- Hotel California/Eagles


Back at the Strip . . .
I would be skateboarding for longer distances at this time. Smooth marbleled
sidewalks at nearby outdoor plazas, skating through corridors, around Department
Stores and such, for hours. There was also a Tower Record Store a block away
from home, and I remember seeing all the LP's on the shelves, it was overwhelming
I think. All the colours, the Art . . . but sadly, I wished I could hear every record.
Radio, was kind of all over the place as far as music, and their were all kinds of
genre's and bands becoming more popular and new ones being born.
But . . .
Queen; Led Zeppelin; Steely Dan; Santana; Rolling Stones; Wings; Alice Cooper;
Chicago; Supertramp, The Who and others were some of the exceptions, as other
Rock artists were getting lost among the Disco, R&B and "One Hit Wonders" at
this time.
I didn't discover FM Radio yet, I was still stuck on the AM dial and Top 40 Radio.
I was missing out on the more creative stuff coming from Europe (Especially from
England) where Rock and other forms thrived.

Disco throughout 1977 thru 79 would slowly die off, as Rock grew strong. But
unfortunately Disco would influence R&B and completely kill (for the most part)
a genre of music I enjoyed.
Again . . . "Rock is dead they say, Long Live Rock!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-S5aVuKsgI&feature=related
And yet ANOTHER band would exclaim this Anthem against the Top 40
garbage at this time (1977-78). I would not discover them till 1981:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG012KNiC_Q&feature=related

Santa Brings my 1st PrOg album!
For the coming Christmas, I would receive my 1st LP/Vinyl of my own, Kiss-
Alive II; ELO- Out of the Blue; and Foreigner (debut) From my Parents, who
also enjoyed their hit singles (sans Kiss).
Note:
Did you know, Sax, Keyboardist, 2nd Guitarist and Flute player in Foreigner-
Ian McDonald, was also in King Crimson?:
Foreigner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQagCZPRk2c&feature=related
King Crimson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4c5lY_5NNU
(Another band I wouldn't discover till late 1980).

Electric Light Orchestra, for all that they were, could very well had been my
1st (technically speaking) Progressive Rock band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVAvjFwKshQ
But there was another album among these, that would change my world of
music, but . . .
I was just getting into Kiss the last year of living in La. But I think I was just
being a wanna-be, and maybe I just liked "Destroyer" and thought it was
their strongest album. I knew my Ear was tuned differently than most kids, I
just didn't know what it was yet. I was also getting albums on Cassette at
this time. But Alive II held something that I never payed attention to till this
album . . .

The Drum Solo.
I thought Peter Criss was a GOD, the "Cat" could beat those skins, nevermind
that I saw Buddy Rich numerous times on Johnny Carson, this guy was it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oswmeVPoOM&feature=related

Soon after I'd start collecting a few of their albums on Cassettes, "Rock and
Roll Over"; "Love Gun" and others.
One day in Science class in 9th grade, I don't remember who I was talking to,
I was talking about Peter Criss and this great drum solo on Alive II-very
enthusiastically, and this tall black guy (I think he was the schools star
basketball player) with a huge afro says to me,
"You want to hear a great drum solo, listen to Carl Palmer of ELP"
and he just walked away . . .
WHO is this guy to tell me Peter Criss's drum solo isn't as exciting as . . .
Carl Palmer (ELP again!)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvhjgQvvK18&feature=related
And STILL, I didn't run out and get their albums!

Buddy Burnin'-
Buddy Rich on NBC's Johnny Carson circa mid 70's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky5bC7wDMOw&feature=related


". . . I was going nowhere fast, I was needing something that would last!"
- Paradox/Kansas

THE "Gift" that keeps on giving.
I was also hearing cuts on the radio from an album called "Leftoverture" that
was released the previous year.
But Songs like "Carry On" with its hard rocking edge resonated in me as a
prelude for what was to come (and would not purchase that album till the
late 80's) and a NEW single "Dust in the wind", still had that Top 40 vibe of
the era . . . but not.
I didn't realize what they were until 1977 and the release of "Point of Know
Return" by Kansas. The 1st real Prog Rock band I'd fully dive into. This
was the other album I had gotten for Christmas.
Its weird, I'd brag about Kiss but didn't realize that it was Kansas that
broadened my taste, painted pictures in my mind- with my favorite songs
"Lightnings Hand", "Sparks of the Tempest" and "Closet Chronicles" (What
weird picks for faves of a 14 year old) and the aggressive notes of "Paradox"
and "the Spider".
Yet I couldn't really grasp what they were doing, how complex the music really
was . . . I just LIKED it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60A1yKc2hi4

I would buy more Cassettes, single 45's and hearing the songs of Paul
McCartney and his band "Wings". It continued the love I had of the Beatles.
As well as John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison and their musics.
This carried on from Louisiana till this day. They will always be special.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkAuBGyQVG4

It Changed my life Forever.
Another life changing experience, There were giant billboards all over Los
Angeles, Big black billboards with no images but a stylized white logo and the
headline, "A Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away".
From the Opening "Crawl" to the 1st ship that flew over our heads . . .
to the LARGER ship that went on forever, and the scene of Luke Skywalker
on his Farm, looking over the Valley and the twin Suns, dreaming of
adventure far beyond . . . I was hooked.
The Summer of Star Wars would slowly take me from drawing cars, to drawing
Spaceships, eventually to drawing people in the later teens, and dreams of
working for Industrial Light & Magic, which at the time was a small slapped
together Company among small Warehouse suites in Van Nuys California
not far from where I lived! (But I did not know that, till years later).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gvqpFbRKtQ

On our Family Sunday outings, we would walk on Hollywood Blvd. "Window
Shopping" and from a Book Store (that is still there) I'd see many of these
images:
http://conceptships.blogspot.com/2008/06/star-wars-concept-ships-from-ralph.html
These images and the Film would instill the possibilities of me to be, a
somewhat unknown career in movies . . . The "Conceptual" Artist.
I'd run to my room and get out paper and try to recreate what I had seen.
As I said before, from Cars, and Hot Rods, I'd start drawing Spacecraft,
Creatures, People in Sci-Fi garb, and I started to draw more Women, which I
think was influenced by Fantasy Artists Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo.
More and more I delved into the Art and Films of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Soon, the "Music" and my new interest would go hand in hand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjxGjwzWUuA

"I came to learn perhaps to teach but I can tell somehow
The world that I was sent to reach has got no future now
Across the galaxy to spread the word and no one heard
I came for nothing I'm alone and Nobody's Home"
- Nobody's Home/Kansas


To be continued . . .

OPUS INSERT
As we PrOguli (and listeners of the Female gender), enjoy many a Femme'
Fronted Prog Rock or Metal band within its many sub-genre's.
There are too few to thank for the movement.
I can think of Hard Rock/Metal Bands such as "Girlschool" (the all girl band
that Lita Ford and Joan Jett, got their start).
"Warlock" fronted by "Doro Pesch", who would go on with a Solo career.
"Chastaine (David T. Chastaine)" fronted by "Leather Leone"; "Drain (STH)"
the all girl Metal band from Sweden; N.Y. Thrashers "Znowhite" fronted by
Nicole Lee's raspy but powerful voice (She would later form "Fear of God").
And "Saraya", the AOR/Hard Rock/Metal band from New Jersey fronted by
the beautiful "Sandi Saraya".

These Artists paved the way for what was to come. But who came before
them? . . .

1977 would mark a breakthrough album for a band with an un-likely name,
Heart. The Seattle born band, that not only had a Female Guitarist (Electric
and Acoustic with 2 other Guitarists) and 2nd Lead and Backround Vocalist
Nancy Wilson, but her sister, the powerfully soulfull, bluesy, soaring and
screaming Vocalist Ann Wilson, with her dark sensual looks (contrast to her
sisters Blond Locks) were more than ready to rip heads off and astound their
listeners from ballads, to hard rock anthems. The song "Magic Man" brought
them to the radio. But it was 1977 when the album "Little Queen" was
released.
And a single that stands as a staple for AOR Radio (if you still enjoy it or sick
of hearing it), as much as any Led Zeppelin, Beatles or Rolling Stone song.
"Barracuda" was pretty heavy for its time, and that it is sung by a Woman
breaks all barriers! If that "Chugging" riff were done now, it would be tuned
down, Overdrive/Distortion on 9, Saturation on 7, Bass knob turned up,
Treble on 5, Volume at "11" on the Amp and it be ready for Death Metal riffage.
The song hit #11 on the Billboard charts in 77 and it remains an Anthem for
anyone burned by someone.
1. Their story can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_%28band%29
2. Little Queen Album:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Queen
3. The "official" story of Barracuda:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_%28band%29#Controversy
Barracuda Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpkitLUbeEg&feature=related

Their next album "Dog & Butterfly", dare I say, even had Prog Rock
qualities to some of their songs, but maintained the melodic Hard Rock they
were known for (This became one of my all time fave albums).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWhlC_xCPok
Watch this and many other vidz of Ann, Nancy and the Boys and you will
come to realize the huge influences on their contemporaries.

What happens after the music is done

So, the mix on the new Strange Land cd "Catharsis" is nearly done. Yay! Now we can party, right? Hold on, not so fast. There is a lot that goes into a cd beyond the music as I'm sure you can imagine. All the more time consuming for an indie band that doesn't really have "people". I have learned that I need to take my estimated time for project completion and triple it. It always takes longer than I want it to. Here is a snapshot of what happens after the music is recorded.

1. Mix the music. This can take hours to weeks. With Strange Land we do a little bit together, then I finish up everything myself. I burn cds for Chad and Brad to listen to in various places, I often judge a mix in my car since that's where most of my listening happens. We kick this back and forth a few times until we are happy.
2. Master the cd. Mastering puts the final 'pixie dust' on the recording and its often best to have another set of ears to do this, someone not in the band. This time we will give it to a guy who will tweak it, then we will meet with him to listen and finalize everything.
3. Artwork and layout. Everything from the front cover to who gets thanked. This time out we had a photographer take some pictures, I am manipulating them, then I will send the cover to MAV (hi MAV) for a kick ass logo. Then I'll put the whole thing together. Time here varies depending on how many pages we will do for the booklet. And that can depend on:
4. Who is paying for it? While all of the above is going on we are working with our contacts to see what kind of record/distribution deal might happen for this cd. The details of that can affect how many copies get made, how many pages the book has, and other things determined by who will foot the bill.
5. Sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Or run and hide for a while to decompress from the whole damn process. Or both.

What is Progressive anyway? 4/5 - Discovering Marillion

Part: 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1

Discovering Marillion

When I started to listen to Dream Theatre I actually didn't have a clue about Progressive Rock or Metal. This was just Metal, although being of a different sort. It actually took me a couple years before I started to explore the genre.

What really got me started was Marillion.
For a while I had been seeking new and interesting music. So there I was in the record shop looking at the "special price" CDs and one of them was standing out because of a colorful and interesting cover. "Misplaced Childhood".

The funny thing about this album was that I had actually seen (I can't say that I listened) it before (as vinyl), but at the time I totally dismissed it. I suppose I was too young and too interested in "Top of the Pops". I was introduced to it a few later times, but I stubbornly refused to see its value. So what prompted me this time? I am not sure, maybe I just decided to take a chance, I don't know, but today I am happy that I purchased it.

I brought the CD home, listened to it...and the next evening I had altogether 4 new CDs in my collection. On the third day I went to get more...bought one of the new era Marillion albums (Afraid of the sunlight) and was severely disappointed. Just to say it shortly the new lead singer sucked...badly.

Ok, ok now, I'm too hard on Hogarth (top left), but comparing him to Fish (bottom left) is like comparing apples and oranges. Both are fruit, but of a different kind, and I just happen to like one better than the other. This was around 1995 which is probably why I still didn't have a clue about the term "progressive". I say this, because at that time the Internet was not much to talk about and I couldn't access it to find out more about this genre of music that I had started to like more and more.

In 1996 I got married and 1½ year after I moved to Finland. At work we got free Internet access and it didn't take me long to find out everything about Marillion and put a label on my new and favorite type of music.

Nowadays I hardly never pick up Marillion. They have not become bad. Its just that I have heard those 4 albums so many times that I can sing most of the songs...even the guitar and keyboard solos. There are simply no more surprises left. Instead I look elsewhere, and luckily there is still so much material to put my hands on all the way back from the 70s till now.

Christ.0 the musical

Me at a theatrical play, who had ever thought this would happen...

Well, Christ.0 was one the best releases in 2006, if not the best. So when Vanden Plas announced to make a musical out of it, I first had the wish to watch a musical. I never felt the need to do so, but in this case, well, I had to. So together with PL, my sister and an old friend we got tickets and went to the patriarchal theater, built in the year 1865.

Having never seen a musical (except in movies) it is quite hard to review one, as it might become unfair easily, but I'll try to do my best.

On the cd I never understood the concept they wrote, I just love it because of the music. The story of the play is quite different to the original, but why not? Storytelling should be a creative process, too, so it's just fine for me.

Edmont Dantes (played by Andi Kuntz) got imprisioned on a ship, abuses drugs and finds a way to escape. He uses the ship as a base of operations. He became schizophrenic and his 2nd personality managed to become inspector Xsaviour (Chris Murray) ; the good personality hunts the bad one of himself. Prosecutor Villefort (Mischa Mang) who imprisioned Dantes is a drug dealer and uses the fine society for his secret business. Fearing that Dantes could unleash his secret, he's after Dantes as well, so they all are hunting each other. Dantes' son (not knowing who his real father is) is in love with Villeforts daughter, which complicates things even more.

So much about the plot. I had the feeling they told it rather sparsely, I wished they had more to tell, but hey, it is a necessity for a musical to take time for everything; they play, sing songs, change stage sets, so 2 hours are filled rapidly.

And indeed, there wasn't one boring minute in it. The construction of the plot is great, e.g. you find out about Dantes schizophrenia very late in the play.

With all the technical ability the theater provides they seemed to have plenty of fun creating all stage design and characters, and it really turned out good for the audience, too.

Playing with a story that's centuries old in the here and now turned out quite good. Electrically moving requisites, back projection, front projection on gauze while playing behind it, besides old geeks like trap doors etc. are cleverly used, a multimedia stage turned out; very fine, delicate use of light made a great three dimensional look of the stage.

The charachters are all a drawn a bit to the grotesque, but don't turn out cheesy at all. Indeed, in many moments this is where it becomes fun, for example when the prosecutors dark soul comes to light. What a great show! Mischa Mang for sure loves this part the most.

If they ever decide to make a DVD, I bet they just need one camera, just film the stage, it is all perfectly done already.

Musically Vanden Plas had to extend a lot of course, it wouldn't be done if they only played the cd. Plenty of fills here and atmospherics there were added to make it a complete play. The additional compositions are more in a musical style than prog metal, but one would expect that.

Vanden Plas of course play the enitre show live, and they do that really awesome. They are perfectionists! In my opinion it is a crime to let them play in the orchestra pit. They should be on the stage as well, so the audience could see them playing the music.

And they should turn the PA to eleven! It was at about 3 or 4; not loud enough imo. If they make a prog metal musical, the agressive parts should blast the audience imo.

But hence, they probably fear to damage the good old theater...

The director of the theater said he asked them to produce the musical because he wants to have a show that attracts young people. That seemed like a strange idea to me, as kids normally don't listen to prog metal. But it turns out very well. Classes come to watch the play; they even come in busses. In the break we found us inmidst a huge bunch of kids.

I like the double effect of it, kids come to see a rock musical and experience prog metal. And they all seemed to like it, just like all of us.