Rumblin' Orchestra - The King's New Garment (2000)

The second and final album from this Hungarian band. Or make that; an orchestra.

The band was somewhere between symphonic prog and classical music on their debut album Spartacus from 1998.

On The King's New Garment, they have shed the rock and prog part and gone fully orchestra. You basically get a full symphony orchestra here and no vocals.

This is the kind of music I am not happy about. There is a lot of commercial pseudo classical music here. It is the kind of music you get on a Children TV or in a cartoon movie. The cat chases a mouse around in a room. Tom & Jerry cartoon movies. 

This type of music works fine with a cartoon movie like for example Tom & Jerry. But on it's own, it falls a bit flat on it's face.

When that is said, this is not a turkey. It has some quality, this seventy-two minutes long album. It does not have much of substance though and not much to let the brain cells get a workout. 

This is a decent, but also a dull album. 

2 points

Salem Hill - The Unseen Cord (2014)

The ninth album from this US band.

Salem Hill is as far as I am aware a stalwart in the US symphonic and neo-prog. Members of Salem Hill has been and is involved in Glass Hammer, Neal Morse's Band and other more obscure projects.

Which is great, off course.

I guess the band is far more popular in USA than here in Europe as I have not seen many reviews of their albums. Which is a bit of a shame. Salem Hill deserve a lot more attention.

The band is a four piece on this album. The lineup is guitars, bass, drums, vocals, keyboards, mandolin and vibraphone. 

This album, which has also been released under the title Thicker Than Water (the band were unable to decide on the title...), is seventy minutes long. The music here is melodic progressive rock. It is somewhere between US neo-prog and melodic rock. Too much melodic rock in my view as this album does not really have any bite. The music is too sugar sweet and too American forever optimists and happy cheery. This is a cultural difference as I am a cynical European who has lived too long on this planet. 

The quality is not that great either. There area a few good songs here and even more of the not so good songs. I am ending up on the decent to good halfway house again. Hence my verdict.

2.5 points

  

Hansson. Bo - Music Inspired By Watership Down (1977)

The eight album from this Swedish composer and musician. His second to final solo album. 

We find again Bo Hansson on piano and keyboards with a lot of guest musicians. That includes guitars, bass, flutes, drums and sound effects. 

This album is inspired by a book with the same name. It was written by Richard Adams and it is about rabbits. Something I guess is a metaphor for something. I don't know. Get the book yourself from Amazon or any other book stores.

The result is another instrumental album from Bo Hansson. A fifty minutes long album. 

The album is pretty pedestrian and full of keyboards with some flutes and guitars. The guitar solos is good. The rest of this music is symphonic and classical music orientated. It feels a bit too light and bereft of much substance. It is going nowhere in my view and I have been giving this album a lot of time as I don't want to talk bad about the late Bo Hansson.

This is a decent album but nothing more than that. It has also bored me pretty much lately and I am not a fan of the music on this album. Nevertheless, it is a decent album.

2 points 

Different Strings - ...It's Only the Beginning (2006)

The debut album from this Malta based band.

I reviewed their second album The Sound Of Silence, Part 1 back in January 2012 just before I left ProgArchives and started this blog. I quite liked that album and was quite eager to explore the band some more. They have just released a new album and I purchased both that one and this album. 

This, their debut album, was recorded by this duo. This duo consists of Chris Mallia on guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. He is helped out by Alan Mayo on vocals. And that is Different Strings. I guess the band/duo was named after one of my favourite Rush songs. I love that song.

There is not much Rush here. There is no Rush here to be precise. The duo comes across as a mix of Marillion and Eloy on this album. The sound is not that great and this fifty minutes long album sounds like a demo to me.

There is a lot of ideas here and most of them is still a bit sketchy and underdeveloped. I think the album title is an apology for the sketchy material. Apology accepted !

This is a decent album, nevertheless.

2 points  

Slychosis - Mental Hygiene (2010)

The third album from this US band.

I have not yet listened to their first two album as this is my first exposure to this band. A band with a guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals lineup.

We are some sort of in the neo-prog village here. On the fringe of this village, that is. I guess this is what passes as neo-prog in USA. The music has a pretty substantial US sound.

A sound which also incorporates a great deal of art-rock. Hence, this is a crossover between art-rock and neo-prog.

The guitar sound is very bad and the drums also sounds very under produced. The vocals and the vocal harmonies is way too much in the front here. 

The songs here, the eight songs on this fifty-three minutes long album, is pretty dull and boring. The music is pretty dark and brooding with some power metal attributes. This is a decent enough album and that is it. Don't waste your pension fund on this album.

2 points 

Warlocks. The - Skull Worship (2013)

The sixth album from this Californian band. It is also my first ever exposure to their music.

The Warlocks is a five piece band on this album. I state this because they have had a lot of lineup changes. They have also gone back to one drummer on this album. They have included a drone machine in their lineup in addition to guitars, drums, vocals, keyboards and bass. 

The band is clearly a space rock band. But they are not an outer space rock band. They are more low flying and melodic. The average length of the songs are around four and a half minutes. That gives us a forty minutes long album, divided on eight songs.

And most tracks here are songs. The band has been listening a lot to both Hawkwind and Radiohead. And that is what this album comes across as. A mix of those two bands.

The bass is the dominant instrument here and everything evolves around a bass line. The vocals are OK and so is the rest of the instruments. But you have to love a good bass to really enjoy this album.

I find this a good album. It is not really my cup of tea. Nevertheless, the band is up to something and I like what I hear. Check it out.

3 points

Whitewater - Obscured by the Sun (2014)

The second album from this English duo, consisting of Stuart Stephens on guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals + Paul Powell on drums.

I was not particular pleased with their 2013 album The Sound Of Galaxy Smashing. So I was not looking forward to this one....

The music here is still on the ambient side. The duo is clearly influenced by Pink Floyd. But also add in Hawkwind and the space rock genre here. The duo's infatuation with the cosmic space kind of gives the game away.

Being a duo, the sound is pretty sparsely populated with instruments. Mostly by a bass, guitar, drums and vocals. The vocals are pretty good and entirely fitting the music. That leaves the music a lot of open space to breathe in. And that is exactly what it does. There is a lot of post rock ambience in the music.

There is even some proper songs too. Well structured songs and melodies. And that is an improvement. And the songs are good too. Ditto for the sound and the rest of the music. The duo has now cracked it and they are a very welcome addition to the prog scene. I like this album and I am giving it a good rating. 

3 points  

Cosmic Jokers. The - Galactic Supermarket (1974)

The second album from this German band. A band who released five albums in 1974 and then split up.

I did not like their debut album which I reviewed back in 2012 during the first year of this blog. I hoped that my musical preferences had changed after three more years with krautrock as one of the main dishes on my plate. Well.......

The Cosmic Jokers had the likes of Dieter Dierks, the famous The Scorpions producer, on bass and Klaus Schulze on synthesizers. There was also a guitarist, drummer, keyboardist and some vocalists here too.

This album contains cosmic, spaced out krautrock. It has two suites, each lasting around 20 minutes. The first one, Kinder Des Alls, is chaos and not particular interesting. The second one is a different kettle of fish, though. The suite, the title track, has some really cool stuff and is a good cosmic space workout. 

I have to admit I am warming more and more towards this album. In particular, the title track. I would not rate this as a good album though. But it is a decent to good album. I am glad I persevered with it when I wanted to throw this and the three other remaining album on the Irish Sea after the first listening sessions. 

2.5 points

Cano - Eclipse (1978)

The third album from this Northern Ontario, Canada based band. 

The band released seven albums, but I have only got their first three albums. From what I have heard, it is their three best albums too. 

Cano has been expanded to an eight piece band. Their lineup is male and female vocals, bass, violin, drums, guitars, keyboards, mandolin, piano and trombone. 

The band has their roots in the folk music scene. These roots are still very much visible here. There are clear references to the first Harmonium album here. Nevertheless, the band has moved on and thankfully gotten rid of their country'n'western influences. 

What we have got instead is a pretty classy mix of sophisticated pop, jazz and in particular; symphonic prog. There is one big name that always pops up when I am listening to this forty minutes long album and that is the band Renaissance. Cano does not have Annie Haslam though. But their two vocalists are very effective and sings very beautifully on their own. In particular when they sings in French.

Unfortunate, this album is split in two languages. They tried to break into the English speaking world by including three English songs out of in total seven songs. Not a good idea in my idea although the song Rumrunner's Runaway is a very good song and the best one here.

The end result is a good album with some weaknesses and some very good stuff. I hope more people outside Ontario will discover this band too. They deserve it.

3 points 

Posto Blocco 19 - Motivi Di Sempre (2014)

The debut album from this Italian band. 

The music for this album was written in the happy 1970s or so if I am not much mistaken. The band was formed in 1972 and this is one of the many Italian progressive rock bands who has finally released something 40 years later. The band is still alive and well, btw. They are playing live all over Italy. Probably as old age pensioners. A great idea and something I admire them for !!

The music is not particular old age pensioner friendly either. This is dynamic Italian progressive rock which requires a great deal of skills. It is certainly not something I will be able to do in 25 years time ! I bow my head in admiration for these guys.

OK, the band is a six piece band with a lineup of keyboards, moog, mellotron, flutes, guitars, bass, drums and Italian vocals. The music is a throwback to the 1970s scene from where they come from. The sound is excellent and the music is dynamic and symphonic. 

Think the big bands in the scene. Le Orme, PFM and Banco. Then you get this band and this album. The band still got their own style and flair.

The end result is a very good thirty-five minutes long album and a very welcome addition to the Italian progressive rock scene. Get this album and see the band live. 

3.5 points

Rumblin' Orchestra - Spartacus (1998)

The first of two albums from this Hungarian band.

Rumblin' Orchestra was a seven piece band with tonnes of keyboards, woodwinds, bass, percussions, drums and some vocals. Three guest musicians also provides additional vocals and guitars.

The cover art work kind of gives the game away. This is classical music meets symphonic prog with some fusion inspirations thrown in too. Add a great deal of musicals type of music too and you get the full picture.

The music is mostly orchestral with some vocals too and a couple of AOR like songs. Yes, we have been here before. Solaris and Marian Varga's bands springs to mind. This though is a bit of a different orchestral music again. It has this 1990s funk and sound incorporated. It feels a bit plastic fantastic too me. It feels a bit like the TV series Miami Vice and Jan Hammer. 

The end result is a slick one hour long album which has some good music and a pretty flat commercial sound. This is another album tucked in between decent and good. Hence my verdict.

2.5 points

Saqqarah - The Awakening (2005)

The second and final album from this French band.

I have yet to find their 1996 debut album Genese anywhere. Not that I am looking for it. I think this album is enough from this band.

Saqqarah was a four piece on this album. The lineup is guitars, keyboards, drums, bass and English vocals. The vocals are OK, but not particular good. It is in the Klause Meine (The Scorpions) vein. Very similar to Mr. Meine in fact. The other instruments players does not excel either. 

Besides of their version of Comfortably Numb (the Pink Floyd classic), the music here is pure and simple neo-prog. This off course with some Genesis influences and a lot of standard rock influences. 

The songs are a bit too much on the safe side. All the fourteen original songs on this sixty-six minutes long album. There is no real life and joy here. There is no explosions and no surprises. Hence my rating as this is not a bad album. Neither is it a good album.

2.5 points

Nuova Era - Lo E Il Tempo (1992)

The third album from this Italian band.

Their two first albums had been great Italian progressive rock albums. This five piece has taken their inspirations from the 1970s scene and copied the sound over to their own decade and age. The result is their albums.

With the help of keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and Italian vocals, this forty-five minutes long album was recorded and released. 

This album consists of two long suites. Which is great on paper at least.... and I was settling in for some great times with this album.

Unfortunate, I was left a bit disappointed. The rich moog and mellotron sound was not there. The sound is a bit flat. Most of all; the songs here are not as great as on their previous two albums. This album is a solid, good album..... and that is it. Nevertheless, the band cements their position as one of the greats in this scene.

3 points 

Follakzoid - Follakzoid (2009)

The debut album from this Chilean band. 

I really liked their second album and I have also recently purchased their third album. So I also purchased this album too.

It seems like Chile and Peru is a hotbed for cosmic space rock these days. Several new bands has emerged. This four piece is one of them. The lineup is guitars, bass, drums and synths. This half an hour long album is mostly instrumental.

The music here is a bit laid back with emphasis on half-acoustic guitars and some bass. The band creates cosmic moods instead of going all out. Sometimes, they do all out noise too. Their music reminds me a lot about post rock. But it is not post rock. Fans of post rock will like what they hear, though. 

This is a bit of a fascinating album and a good one. I really like this album. It comes recommended.

3 points    

Sailing. The - Anniversary of Spears (2015)

The debut album from this US band. An album released as a name your price album on Bandcamp.

The Sailing is a four piece band with keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and vocals. And yes, we are sort of in neo-prog land. Or perhaps not. 

Most of all; we are in the US of A. That is where everything is big and brash. Ditto for this album. An album with a big and brash wall of sound throughout. I almost suspect they have sprung Phil Spector from the jail and got him to produce this album. 

There is layers upon layers of guitars and keyboards here. The music is at times very symphonic. But most of all, it is as pomp as you can get it. It is Muse and US symphonic prog bands merged into one entity. 

The result is a pretty heavy album. It is touches into prog metal territory too. The heaviness comes from the wall of sound though.

There is no real great songs on this one hour long album. It is still a good album though and I am pretty sure we will hear a lot more from this band in the future. Get this album and make up your own mind.

3 points

Zypressen - Zypressen (1996)

The one and only album from this Japanese band. A band who briefly appeared and then disappeared again.

I have to admit I am not so eager to review RIO/avant-garde albums. I got a lot of such albums under considerations though. It is not that I don't like the genre. But there is something within me who want to avoid this genre. 

It is not denying that this album requires a lot from the listener. The music here is mostly chamber rock. That means numerous acoustic instruments. From bass, woodwinds, piano and percussions. Zypressen was also a five piece band who got help from three guest musicians to make this album.

There is a lot of very good ideas on this album. Ideas not entirely carried through on this album. A pretty messy album at times. A fifty minutes long album, no less. 

The music is pretty dark. It is not as dark and wild as what I expected from a Japanese RIO/avant-garde album. The music here is pretty civilized, in fact.

This is a good album who could had been so much better. I still recommends this album to those into RIO/avant-garde music.

3 points   

Gravy Train - Staircase To The Day (1974)

The fourth and final album from this English band.

Their previous album had seen some lineup changes and a change of direction too. Harmonica and woodwinds was in and so was a mix of funk, hard rock and blues. Gone was most of their folk rock and progressive music. The band went mainstream.

This four piece gets help from some guest musicians on this album. The lineup is harmonica, woodwinds, flute, guitars, bass, drums and vocals. 

This album is forty-five minutes long, divided on eight songs. Not many long songs. But each and individual song pulls a punch. This album is not particular hard rocking. It has some more pastoral moments too where the flute comes to the forefront on this well produced and great sounding album.

The result is a good album which did not give them enough new fans to continue the band. I still like this band a lot. Good, honest English rock with a lot of very interesting details. That is what this band brought to the table. Check them out.

3 points

Zion - 9P Nove Pianeti (2014)

The second album from this Italian band.

I was not overjoyed by their debut album, the 2007 album The Three Hands. Too English and too much removed from the Italian scene. So I am happy to report that the band has moved on.

They have, musically at least, moved back to the Italian heartlands although the lyrics and this album deals with the planets around our cosmos. That include our own planet.

This four piece uses moog, keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and Italian vocals to create this forty minutes long album. 

But no, this is not a space rock album. This is on the other hand Italian progressive rock. The hard rocking end of the Italian scene, that is. The sound and music is simply in the vein of 1970s hard rocking progressive rock. That with Italian lyrics and some softer, pastoral parts included. 

There is no really great tracks here. The nine tracks are pretty short too. Mercurio, the closing track, is the longest track here at seven and a half minutes. The sound is great though although I have my reservations towards the drum sound which is too plastic fantastic. The vocals is very good and the keyboards and moog is great. 

The overall quality of this album is very good and I hope the band gets the recognition they richly deserve. Welcome to this scene, guys.

3.5 points 

Streetmark - Eileen (1977)

The second album from this German band. 

Their debut album Nordland did not impress me at all. A reasonable hopeless mix of kraut and symphonic prog which came complete with a hopeless vocalist.

So the band has swapped the previous vocalist with a new vocalist. I should not really talk bad about murdered men, but I cannot deny that the new vocalist is almost as hopeless as the previous vocalist. No, I shall not name him here. 

He is supported by guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. Together, they have cooked up another mix of krautrock and symphonic prog. Although with a badly mixed sound where some instruments sounds louder and clearer than other instruments. 

The synths and keyboards is pretty strong here. That is the best I can say about this album. A pretty decent album with some good stuff. Other stuff here makes me cringe. I am not a fan of this band.

2 points

Cano - Tous Dans L'Meme Bateau (1976)

The debut album from this North Ontario, Canadian band. A band who released seven albums or so if I am not much mistaken. 

Cano, named after a very useful type of vehicle/transport method on the lakes and rivers in that part of Canada, was an eight piece band on this album. They were joined by four guest musicians. 

The main instruments here are keyboards, electric and acoustic guitars, violin, mandolin, piano, bass, drums and lots of French male and female vocals. Even seagulls are listed as instruments here. Well, I guess they are a permanent feature in the sound of Ontario. 

I reviewed their second album five years ago, in September 2010, and liked what I heard. I noted the similarities to Harmonium. 

That similarity can also be found on this, their debut album. But it is a rather faint similarity. What we get here is a mix of folk rock and country. Too much country in my view as I cannot stand country. We also get some very good vocals and vocal harmonies here too. 

The songs are all around good. This is an easy album to like, even to love if folk rock is what makes your heart beat. I like this good album.

3 points    

Flea - Flea on the Honey (1971)

The debut album from this Italian band who released in total two albums. Both reviewed in this blog.

The band was from Italy and the label/band went to great lengths to hide that. They got English names and the vocals was in English. The sound was very much an English sound too. There is not a single trace of Italy on this album. No wonder they went native Italian on their second and final album. That with a shortened name too as this album was released under the band name Flea On The Honey. Flea is a much easier name and I am using that on this album to mark that both albums was released by this band.

The music here is very much mid 1960s psychedelic rock in the vein of The Beatles. Just add psychedelia to The Beatles and you get this album. It is essentially a beat album.

The songs on this forty minutes long album are pretty decent. The mix of guitars, English vocals, bass, drums and some sporadic keyboards are pretty good. The music is a bit poppy with the verse-chorus-verse structure. This album has it's short and sweet charm. But it is not long lived, this charm.

Nevertheless, I have heard far worse albums than this album.

2 points

X Religion - Dances On Gobelins (2003)

The second and final album from this Uzbek band who later morphed into Fromuz and released some albums under that name.

The scene in Uzbekistan is pretty active. Both Fromuz and this band proves that. Where Fromuz is a much more fusion orientated band, X Religion is a somewhat symphonic prog band.

The instruments here are drums, bass and tonnes of keyboards and synths. 

Take some mad keyboards wizard from the ex Soviet Union, mix him/her with Keith Emerson and some avant-garde fusion. Then you get this album. 

The music is dense to say at least and very heavy intricate throughout this one hour long album. This is a prime example of technical ecstasy. The various instruments are just clasped onto each other without really making much sense. There is some sort of order in this chaos. That order is not easy to spot and it does not make much sense either. 

The end result is not any good melodies and a lot of good details. The end result is also a decent to good album which fails to send me into an ecstasy.

2.5 points 

Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso - Urgentissimo (1980)

The tenth album from these Italian legends.

The 1970s was over and a new sound was visiting this world. The plastic fantastic sound. And Banco, amongst many others, also adopted that sound, vision and music.

Francesco Di Giacomo was still at the microphone and got help from guitars, bass, drums, piano and synths. A terrible synth sound, btw. 

This album is said to be their disco album. Well, it is not that terrible, actually. The music here is more leaning towards Italian pop than disco. Yes, this is not Banco as we know them. And the music is terrible and very plastic fantastic commercial anno 1980. And yes, this album is a betrayal of their original fans.

On the other hand, it is not fully a signed up turkey. Francesco's vocals is still here and they are good. Not a turkey, but close. Avoid this album.

1.5 points

Trees - On The Shore (1970)

The second and final album from this English folk rock band. Their second album from 1970, a productive year for this band.

Their debut album The Garden Of Jane Delawney was a good album. Yes, the band sounded like a cheap version of Fairport Convention. They still does that on this, their second album too. The missing ingredients is off course the lack of any great vocals like Sandy Denny and Richard Thompsen's great guitars.

What we get instead is some really good female vocals, some really great guitars and ten folk music songs. Folk music with a lot of psychedelic influences and some rock influences. 

Both their albums is good album and I am not able to decide who is their best album. Get both albums as they are two good albums. This album offers up some fifty minutes of good, progressive folk music. This is appreciated in my cave. 

3 points 

Weather Report - Mysterious Traveller (1974)

The fourth album from this US fusion band.

The quality of their albums had been so-and-so up to this album. I have not been overwhelmed by this band to this point.

Weather Report was always regarded as the most jazz orientated band of those who emerged from Miles Davis Bitches Brew sessions. A bit dense jazz and difficult to grasp.

This album is not easy to grasp either. The music is introverted and focused on the small details. The music is not easy listening. Nevertheless, I feel this is their first album I am able to really get below the skin on. 

Yes, this is dense jazz. But the solos and the work from all those involved here, woodwinds players and keyboardists, drummers, percussionists and bassists, is really infectious and the album really swings. Not as in Dixieland jazz. But more as in a bit avant-garde jazz with some good rhythms.

The result is a very good fifty minutes long album which I have warmed to a lot. And Nubian Sundance is a great track and from what I understand; one of their best ever tracks. I really like what I hear.

3.5 points 

Røsenkreütz - Back To The Stars (2014)

The debut album from this Italian band.

This four piece band was put together with the purpose of making progressive rock with both a modern prog metal twist and a good old symph prog twist. That according to the press blurb on this album.

Well, so far the blurb. The bass, drums, keyboards, guitars and English vocals is a bit on the safe side. Ditto for the music too. Music who does not have much in common with good old Yes and Genesis.

What we get here instead is music somewhere between slick rock, pop, neo-prog and progressive metal. The sound is slick and so is the music. Verse-chorus-verse. That is the formula here. Some keyboards and guitar solos freshens things up a bit. But not by much.

The music is decent enough without really impressing me. Neither is any of the songs any good. This is a decent album where their version of I Am The Walrus is the only bright light in an ocean of tedious music. I seriously doubt I will ever listen to this one hour long album again.

2 points  

Sigma - Implemental View (1998)

The debut album and I believe the only album from this Brazilian band.

I know absolute nothing about this band. From what I hear in their music, the lineup is keyboards, guitars, xylophone, bass and drums. This is an instrumental album.

And it is also a symphonic prog album in the same vein as Camel. They are very like Camel from the late 1970s. Well, like Camel throughout their career, with the exception of their AOR stuff. 

Both their guitars and keyboards runs are pretty good on this one hour long album. The music is pretty pleasing on the air and not so taxing or even pleasing for the brain. It is by no means shopping mall music. Neither is the music in particular technical too. 

The end result is a decent to good album without any really good tracks. Fans of Camel should get this album. The rest of you...... maybe not. 

2.5 points 

Worster. Martin - And Now... (2014)

The debut album from this Dutch singer and songwriter. He plays guitars, keyboards, drums, bass and synths on this album. Henk Van Wijk does the saxophones.

The music here is pretty much downtuned singer songwriter music. Not exactly Bob Dylan, but a bit more melodic than that. The dominating instrument is the vocals and the guitars. The other instruments pipes in on a regular basis.

I am not entirely sure why I bought this album and why it is here. It was tagged "progressive rock" and I am a sucker for progressive rock. Sometimes, that tag comes with a rat trap included and my nose is a bit sore right now after the rat trap bloodied my nose.

The music is not really bad. It is just that it is dull and uneventful. It is also following a well trodden path and it does not really offers up anything new. This is barely a decent album and that is it.

2 points

Warhorse - Red Sea (1972)

The second and final album from this Nick Simper (ex Deep Purple) fronted British band.

I very much liked their first self titled album from 1970. Really good hard rock with a lot of prog rock incorporated. 

The follow up, this album, is very much in the same vein. Deep Purple meets Vanilla Fudge and The Nice. The sound is early 1970s and the band has taken a lot from the stadium rock acts from that time. The one that toured USA from coast to coast. This album sounds like a stadium rock album. 

Ashley Holt is great on vocals and he is backed up by bass, drums, guitars and a Hammond organ. I very much like the Hammond organ sound and I like this sound. It is a driving sound which takes no prisoners.

Yes, the band sounds very much like Deep Purple. They still got their own sound. And the songs are good too. I like this type of music, I have to admit. This is a very good album.

3.5 points

Crack - Si Todo Hiciera Crack (1979)

The one and only album from this Spanish band. It is also widely regarded as one of the best ever Spanish albums. 

That is one of the best ever Spanish prog rock albums, that is. I am not sure what Spain has given other music genres though. They are pretty good on death metal and jazz too. So far, that is all I know.

Crack was a five piece band with a lineup of mellotrons, keyboards, flutes, guitars, bass, drums and Spanish vocals. A very effective lineup.

The music is symphonic prog with a lot of early Genesis influences and some Jethro Tull influences. But mostly Genesis and a lot of Italian symphonic prog influences. The music is on the pastoral side and somewhat dramatic. But mostly pastoral. Crack very much created their own sound and music here. I guess other bands has copied them. 

This forty minutes long album offers up some very good mellotron, guitars and vocals. The rest of the instruments are good too. The end result is a very good album which I do not rate as highly as most others has rated this album. This album does not have the great songs I am looking for. It is still worth purchasing.

3.5 points

Mostly Autumn - Dressed in Voices (2014)

The eleventh album from this British band. 

Their previous ten albums has been a mixed bag, to say at least. The band has followed their formula of Keltic rock tinged commercial prog rock with excellent female vocals. First with Heather Findlay and now with Olivia Sparnenn. Bryan Josh does all the male vocals while Ann-Marie Helder (Panic Room) does some backing vocals.

Phew....

There has been some lineup changes since the Diamond album. That is normal in Mostly Autumn who has never had a stable lineup. Fair enough as the concept has been set in stone long time ago.

Mostly Autumn fans, and I am slowly becoming one, get what they are used to here. Excellent vocals over some dramatic songs and some ballads. They are never gothic and they are never keltic rock enough to be put in any camp. They have got their own style, deeply rooted in the apple orchards in the west counties of England. 

Dressed In Voices is a very good album with a couple of very good songs and all around a great listening experience. This is quite a heavy album too with some heavy organs/keyboards and guitars. The music is always a pleasure and this album is one very good album. It is recommended.

3.5 points   

Waste Lagoon - Shadow Chaser (2001)

The one and only album from this Norwegian band.

Waste Lagoon was a four piece band from Bergen, Norway's second largest city and a city who has spawned a lot of great bands. Most of the Norwegian black metal scene was from Bergen. 

Waste Lagoon played progressive metal though and their lineup was bass, vocals, drums and guitars. Their music were not the heaviest prog metal around. I would call them a crossover between neo-prog and prog metal. 

There is not much all out thunder and lightening here. Neither is the band high on majestic, symphonic songs. This although they have taken a lot from Yes and in particular; Rush. Their Rush influences are pretty obvious and comes as frequent as rain-showers in Bergen. 

It is a shame that the quality of the material here is not that great. I am not a prog metal lover and avoids this genre as much as I try to avoid getting rabies. This album has some good stuff though. Hence my rating.

2.5 points 

Flea - Topi O Uomini (1972)

The second album from this Italian band. 

Their debut album were a 1960s beat album from what I have heard others say about it. So this album comes as a bit of a surprise.

Flea were a four piece band with guitars, bass, harmonica, keyboards, drums and Italian vocals. The music here is pretty heavy and blues based. It is also a Italian progressive rock album too. That although on the more bluesy, heavy side of the scene.

The sound quality is pretty good throughout. The band makes a lot of noise on this album. They still have some really good vocals, vocal harmonies and some good hooks throughout this thirty-six minutes long album.

There is no really good songs here and I am not particular impressed with this album. Nevertheless, this is a decent to good album.

2.5 points

Woolgather - Programmes Vol II The Reality Principle (2011)

The second and so far latest album from this US band. 

I was not a fan of their first album. A too much metal dominated album. So I was inclined to not review this album. I am glad I did. The listening sessions with this album has not been too bad.

The band is still gravitating towards post-rock and some stoner rock on this album. The vocals is in the Eddie Vedder mould. The guitars are pretty much chugging along although they have been moderated a lot. There are some good guitar harmonies here too. The bass and drums is also working hard here. There are some sparse, but very effective piano, cello and keyboards here too.

The album is the moderate and big enough mouthful forty minutes long. It is a well balanced album and one I quite like. The vocals are good and the songs are also pretty good. 

I am therefore awarding it a weak good award. 

3 points

Trees - The Garden Of Jane Delawney (1970)

The first of two albums from this English band. Both of them released in 1970. Curiously enough. 

Trees was a five piece band with female vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards and drums. The music here is folk rock with some psychedelic rock and flower power influences. 

Trees was pretty much slaughtered by the press for being a Fairport Convention ripoff back in 1970. I have to admit they got a point. Trees did not have Richard Thompsen and Sandy Denny though, although the vocals here are very good. So is the guitars too. 

The music is also very much more traditional folk rock than Fairport Convention was back in those days. This may be down to the band's limited abilities. Not that they were bad musicians. It is just that they were not brilliant musicians. 

The Garden Of Jane Delawney is still a forty-five minutes good album. It is a bit too pedestrian during the first two songs. But it does open up a lot during the final twenty minutes with some good folky psychedelic rock.

This is a good album and one folk rock fans must check out.

3 points 

Hansson. Bo - Attic Thoughts (1975)

The fifth album from this Swedish musician and composer. He released nine albums in total and this is very much the halfway point in his career.

Bo Hansson does all the tangents here and has enlisted around ten other musicians to do other instruments. Mostly woodwinds in addition to bass, drums and some guitars. There is no vocals here.

The music Bo does is not easy to grasp. At least not on this album. There is a lot of symph prog, classical music, Swedish folk music, new-age and jazz here. That and some avant-garde music. Both jazz and rock. 

Bo plays his tangents very competently and the sound is very good. There is a lot of influences here. What this album is missing is some really good music. There is none as far as I am concerned. This forty-three minutes long album is plodding along without really making me happy. It is kind of Jean Michel Jarre without the inspirations. This album is not for me.

2 points

Year One - Year One (1971)

A one off album from this US band who broke up just after the release of this album.

Year One was the remnants of the US band Fantasy who released a self titled album in 1970. A pretty successful album too. So they broke up and Year One was formed. 

Year One was a four piece on this album. The lineup was guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and vocals. When it comes to diversity, this album probably takes the biscuit as the most diverse album I have ever heard. In a matter off sixty-four minutes, this album features funk, folk rock, fusion, country, symph prog, AOR, rock, stadium rock and hard rock. It is like listening to an album sampler from the likes of RCA, Atlantic or EMI. 

This is off course it's biggest weakness. It is too diverse by many, many miles. OK, it is a double album, four LP sides. Still, large parts of this album is cringe worthy.

Then again, large parts of this album is pretty good too. Hence, I am rating this as a decent album. But be forewarned. This is not an easy listening album.

2 points 

Iraklis - I Stigmi (1984)

The third and final album from this Greek band. 

I have to say I have not been particular impressed by this band up to now. The band is at least now a six piece band and they have adopted a much more psychedelic rock sound than on the previous two albums. 

The exotic Greek instruments has also been dropped. Mandolin, fife, banjo and violins is the only none standard instruments here. To those instruments, add keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and vocals. That is both female and male vocals in their mother tongue. 

The psychedelic vibe here also gets some support by their penchant of going down the folk music route. A very effective mix.

Effective if they also had included some good songs here. There are none. This is still a decent to good thirty-five minutes long album. It is well worth checking out.

2.5 points   

Wigwam - Fairyport (1971)

The third album from this Finnish band. The band released ten albums, the last one in 2005, before they gave up their career as recording artists. I know next to nothing about this band so please prove me wrong.

Their first album was a bit of a raunchy rocker. Fairyport is not ! The band was lead by Jukka Gustavson now and he enlisted a lot of the best musicians in Finland for this one hour long album. There is a lot of woodwinds here in addition to his own piano, organs and vocals. We also get guitars, harmonica, bass and drums here.

Jukka's vocals is very similar to Peter Gabriel's vocals. Some songs here are very Genesis like. Other songs are much more organs dominated and some others are more leaning towards folk and jazz. This album is though a symphonic prog album in my view.

The music here is very good throughout. The songs are solid and really worth the purchase price. It is an album I really like.

3.5 points 

Aquanaut - Golden (2010)

The second and so far last album from this Australian band.

I quite liked their previous album The Psychonaut from 2009. Good space and psychedelic rock in the good old tradition from the 1970s.

That was the US and English/Welsh space rock tradition. The band has evolved over the 12 months between the albums and have moved their interest to Germany. The album is very much in the krautrock vein. 

Modern krautrock, that is. Neo-kraut, perhaps. Some heavy metal influences has been retained. German heavy metal, that is. The band is now a four piece with keyboards, samples, bass, drums, guitars and vocals. The guys does their stuff pretty good. 

My main gripe is the lack of any really good songs here. The album is huffing and puffing throughout these fifty-two minutes without really getting into full bloom. The other gripe I have got is those Germany heavy metal influences. I cannot stand German heavy metal and I am getting plenty of that here. Not good !

This is a decent album but nothing more than that.

2 points 

Yatha Sidhra - A Meditation Mass (1974)

My house/blog is full of one albums only bands (albums, that is...) and this is one of them. This band comes from Germany and they played krautrock.

What happened here was that Achim Reichel became so impressed by a jam from a heavy metal band Brontosaurus that he offered them a record if they, for that album, changed their name to Yatha Sidhra. A change of musical direction also followed.

The new musical direction was cosmic krautrock. Very much in the vein of Achim Reichel's own band/project A.R & Machines. But not quite so electronic. 

Actually, there is a great organic sound on this album. Mostly due to the enchanting flutes which carries some of the melodies forward. There is also a lot of bass, moog, percussions, drums and guitars here. The band was a four piece band, btw. 

This forty minutes long album, which contains the title track divided on four pieces, have some very good stuff indeed. There are also some not so good stuff here. It is a cosmic krautrock album I really like and will enjoy again sometimes in the future too. It is a good album, well worth checking out.

3 points 

Moody Blues. The - Long Distance Voyager (1981)

The tenth album from this classical UK prog band. 

My fellow reviewers around the globe has hailed this as the final hooray from this great band. The band released six more albums. All of the mediocre of these reviewers are to be believed. I will soon review some of them myself.

Justin Hayward is still behind the microphone and has got help from the ex Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz, John Lodge, Graeme Edge and Ray Thomas. Those and The New World Philharmonic Orchestra. 

The result is a pretty poppy album with a lot of soft strings arrangements, soft vocals and soft music. Very much like 1981 and in the same style as the cover artwork. The music is reasonable progressive with some interesting details. 

I am not fully signed up to the brigade who says this is a good to very good album. It is too soft and too wishy washy for my liking. Too much strings and not enough substance. Hence my verdict here.

2.5 points 

Window - The Empyreal Ballet (1978)

A one of album from a pretty obscure US band.

US symphonic prog was very special even back in the 1970s with a pretty much all around different sound than their British counterparts. This album is a very good example.

The core element of this band is a four piece with piano, vocals, bass, guitars and drums. Add twenty more guest musicians and instruments. Mostly of them pretty much classical instruments and lots of more vocals. 

The music is a mix of theater music, jazz, vaudeville rock, symphonic prog and pomp rock. The music is to put it mildly very varied. It still got this theater and musicals feeling. Maybe this is a musical. I don't know. 

The end result is a bewildering but still a good album with a lot of very good ideas which has not been carried out as well as I wished they had been. This is a one off album in every sense of the word and well worth checking out.

3 points