Space Debris - Phonomorphosis (2014)

The sixth album from this German band and my first ever taste of their music.

It goes without saying that this four piece band is offering up either kraut rock or space rock. The right answer is actually space rock. All eighty minutes of it/this album. Their lineup is guitars, organs, drums and bass. There is female vocals on one track. The rest is instrumental.

The music is not really outer space with tonnes of electronica. There is not much electronica and/or fuzzy computer generated noises here. The emphasis is mostly on guitars and organs here. 

The music is very much standard and pretty clean sounding space rock with a lot of interesting details here. Both interesting details and melody lines. This album is not a dull, boring album although it is a very long album. This album is a nice company though and is recommended for those long walks and/or journeys. Traveling music, anyone ? This album will go straight onto a traveling music playlist.

The end result is a a very good album from a band who is now pretty large on my radar. I will get some more albums of them. Both this band and album comes recommended. 

3.5 points    

Wigwam - Hard And Horny (1969)

The debut album from this Finnish band who went on to release around ten albums. 

This five piece band + the hired jazz band of three persons who performed on this album was lead by Jukka Gustavson. The lineup was organ, piano, vocals, bass, drums, guitars and some strings. 

The band was known as a jazz/fusion band with a lot of progressive rock influences. That later though. This album is more a mix of Procol Harum, psychedelic rock and jazz. The sound quality is not the best as you can expect from an album from Finland in 1969. Abbey Road Studios, this album was not recorded in.

The vocals are pretty good and mostly done by Jim Pembroke. He and Jukka shared this album which has two distinctive styles, divided on the A and B side of this LP. 

The two styles is jazz and psychedelic rock/pop. That is the two sides of this album.

The quality is decent enough without really being good. It feels a bit dated and I find it a pretty dull album. It is decent enough and I am looking forward to listen to their Fairytale album.

2 points   

Numen - Numenclature (2014)

The second album from this Spanish band and a very surprising return from this band. 

Their Samsara album from 1998 did not exactly set the world afire. It was a good neo-prog album. So this five piece band returns again at the end of 2014 with another neo-prog album. 

The lineup is the usual neo-prog lineup. Keyboards, guitars, bass, piano, English vocals and drums. Neither is this album overcrowded with fancy stuff. There is a hired in saxophone here which adds some extra colours to their music.

The music is bordering to pop-rock at times and is on the lighter side. The vocals are OK, although with some heavy Spanish accent. The music is not particular heavy or complicated. It is interesting enough to keep my interest and I really like this sunshine sound and music. It is a bright, sunny album.

The end result is a good album which I quite like. It comes recommended.

3 points

Venetian Power - The Arid Land (1971)

The one and only album from this Italian band. A theater ensemble who released this album. It is now re-released on LP again and available from Amazon.

That is all I know about this band. The album has a keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and Italian vocals lineup. The vocals are both male and female.

The album is thirty-five minutes long and the music is very typical proto-Italian prog rock. It got a lot of folk rock and blues incorporated in a kind of a progressive rock sound and music. The sound quality is pretty OK. 

There are also a lot of krautrock here and a lot of hippie flower-power stuff. The music is pretty floating and psychedelic. 

The end result is an album without any really good songs. It is a decent album though and a pretty forgettable album too. It is decent enough...

2 points

Valenor - Valenor (2014)

The debut album from this band from Kendal, England. 

We are again into the world of fantasies and literature. Valenor is a four piece band with a cello, guitars, piano, male vocals, whistle, keyboards, organs, bass and drums lineup.

That makes for something pretty folky. Well, that is largely true.

Take a bit of symphonic prog and folk rock. Add some pub rock and standard English rock too. Then you largely get this album.

The album is seventy minutes long and I am finding little to really write about it. The music is clean and good. The songs are good. The music is also not the most exciting here and I have been waiting for this rose to open up and blossom throughout the listening sessions. This has only partly happen. A lot of the music here is vocals dominated with some pretty good melodic, instrumental parts too. And that is really all there is to this album.

This is a good album and I hope the band expands on it next time around.

3 points

Hansson. Bo - Sagan om Ringen (1970)

The debut album from this legendary Swedish composer and musician. He sadly passed away five years ago after years of serious illness.

Bo Hansson wrote and recorded this album many years before Tolkien became fashionable in the music and movie world. He deserves a great deal of credit for this. 

Bo Hansson was in many ways a pioneering musician too and he got a hit album with the English version of this album two years later (through Charisma).

Bo had help of four other Swedish musicians on this album. They contributed with congas, flutes, drums and saxophone. Bo plays mellotron, organs, keyboards, bass and guitars on this wholly instrumental album.

The music here, unsurprisingly, is a mix of Mike Oldfield, ELP and some fusion. It is both introspective and melodic at the same time. Some of the music here is very good. Others not so good. I do understand why this album is regarded as a classic album by some people. It is most certainly a fascinating album which has raised my interest in Bo Hansson. The music is so full of adventure that Tolkien himself must have approved every single tone of it if he had heard the album. Check out this album and experience this thirty-five minutes long adventure yourself.

3.5 points    

Horizont - Horizont (1977)

The first album of in total two albums from this Swedish band. A band who features the famous Swedish artist Tommy Nilsson on vocals. This album was in fact his first ever album of many, many albums. Most of them in the disco and euro-pop genre. Horizont was also the first ever album from Jonas Isacsson who later played in the world famous Swedish band Roxette.

The horrible, horrible artwork (yes, I did consider to omit/ban it due to my good taste...) is probably why Wikipedia and others has labelled Horizont as a heavy metal band. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Take the first two Kaipa albums and pop/dull them down a bit. Then add some light jazz/fusion and tonnes of keyboards too and you get this album from this five piece band. The line up is Swedish vocals, keyboards, guitars, glockenspiel, bass and drums. 

The jazz/fusion bits is very good at times. It has this dynamic fusion feel. Not overly technical and rather commercial fusion it is. It is still some very good fusion, although a bit too slick for my liking. 

The pop and prog bits is not too bad either. There is no really great songs here and that is my main gripe with this album. The end result is a good forty minutes long album. Shame about the album cover....

3 points  

Nicosia & C. Industria Musicale - Una Favola Vera (1973)

The one and only album from this Italian band.

I have heard the expression "big band Italian prog rock" being used on this album. It is indeed a very good label on this album. The band name is big and it had around twelve musicians. The lineup was everything from Italian vocals to woodwinds. Include xylophones, flutes, bass, keyboards, guitars and drums too and you get the picture.

The sound is indeed the big band sound with lots of lots of brass and woodwinds. But there is also place for xylophones, flutes, guitars and keyboards here. Not to mention the very good vocals too.

The music though is pretty much standard Italian progressive rock with some pop, jazz and folk influences. Lots of it, in fact. The band just uses a lot more instruments than other bands on this forty-five minutes long album.

The end result is a good album. A good Italian prog rock album which should appeal to everyone into this scene. It does not have any really great songs though and that is my gripe with this album. Check it out.

3 points 

Gravy Train - A Ballad Of A Peaceful Man (1971)

The second album from this English band who release four albums before they split up.

Gravy Train was one of the many British nearly-bands who were chasing fame & fortune as a pack somewhere behind the likes of Yes, Genesis, Black Sabbath & co. They never really made the grade, commercially and artistic.

The band was fronted by the lead guitarist and vocalist Norman Barrett (who later joined Mandalaband). He was helped out by three other musicians who contributed with flutes, saxophone, keyboards, bass and drums. 

The sound is very good on this album. It is a bit dated but there is no problems with the sound.

Music wise........ I would put them somewhere between hard rock, folk rock and symphonic prog. There are even some soul on this album. In short; the sound of 1971.

The eight songs on this thirty-minutes long album is really good. Ditto for the vocals too. The flutes and the rest of the instruments are also good. This album is almost a feel-good album. 

There is no really great songs here. Nevertheless, I really like this album.

3 points   

Budgie - You're All Living in Cuckooland (2006)

The eleventh and so far final album from this Welsh combo.

The band was back to being a power trio again and the lineup was bass, vocals, drums and guitars. Their best days had long gone by now and the band was a bit of a shadow of the old Budgie. The hard rocking and psychedelic band from Wales.

Their last albums had been an attempt to keep up with the new heavy metal scene. A scene which rightly hailed Budgie as one of their inspirations. Metallica had also covered a Budgie song by now and a new generation was scrambling to find out more about Budgie. That put pressure on Budgie to deliver the right stuff.  

When that is said, You Are All Living In A Cuckooland is not a bad album. It could had been far, far worse. Out is the old hard rock and psychedelic rock. In comes a much more acceptable sound which fits nicely into today's scene. The title track is actually a pretty good song. A good ballad.

The rest of the songs rates from pretty dire to pretty good. This album is not their best. Neither is it their worst. And the statement You Are All Living In A Cuckooland is very much a correct observation of today's music scene and today's world. Budgie gets at least the last laugh here. This despite of this album not being a good album. It is nevertheless a decent to good album.

2.5 points

Nodo Gordiano - Nous (2014)

The fourth album from this Italian prog rock band.

Nodo Gordiano is a bit of an untraditional prog band as their music is much more ambient and post rock like than the vast majority of the Italian bands. Well, at least on this album. They were much more like Picchio Dal Pozzo on their previous album Flektogon from 2009. 

One of the reasons may be the change of band members since 2009. The founding member is still here, but the band has got some new members. The line up is also a bit different.

Their new music still has a bit of King Crimson in it's core. But add some Pink Floyd and cinematic music too and you get the drift. 

The album starts very slowly and not so impressive. It is a slow grower during it's fifty minutes and it does not really start to get into full bloom before twenty minutes or so. 

The music is slow and based on guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and some vocals. Add glockenspiel and sound effects too. 

Some of the music sounds like soundtracks. Some of the music is much more not so soundtrack sounding. The end result is anyway a very good album from a band who are going their own ways and is not conforming to this Italian progressive rock label. A band I really respect. Get this album.

3.5 points       

Iraklis - Se Allous Kosmous (1976)

The first of in total three albums from this Greece band. 

The Greece alphabet is not easy to understand so please bear over me here. From what I gather, this band was an eight members combo + three guest musicians on this album. An album which includes a lot of strings, violins, flutes, harmonica, Greek vocals, bass, drums and guitars. 

The sound is really good here. The music is a mix of Greece folk music, pop and psychedelic rock. This album has a very large flavour of Greece incorporated. From the instruments and the vocals to the music. Most of this album is very much a folk rock album. It even includes some belching sheep and lambs.  

The psychedelic bit also comes to the fore on some songs and is never really far away throughout. 

I am not a big fan of Greek folk music and have my reservations. When that is said, this is a good album with some good songs and details throughout. It will not occupy my speakers that much in the future. For those into folk music with some psychedelic rock; this is an album for you.

3 points     

Deadwood Forest - Deadwood Forest (1997)

The debut album from this US band who went on to release two albums in total. 

I very much liked their second/final album Mellodramatic from 2000. A very good mellotron filled album. And yes, that was a symphonic prog album. To a certain degree, so is their debut album too.

The band was a five piece band here. The lineup was vocals, bass, drums, keyboards and guitars. The sound is very good. A typical US symph prog sound in the vein of Discipline and Kansas. A sound with a bit of an AOR and country'n'western slant too. 

The vocals are very good although pretty downtuned in line with the rest of this seventy minutes long album. A very long album with this kind of melancholic US symph prog. There is not much pomp and joy here. The final track, the fifteen minutes long Vital Commentary, is the most symphonic and uplifting track here. The rest is pretty depressive, downtuned. 

There are not any really great or even good song here. I have noted that this band has made a vast improvement from this album to their second/final album because this is only a decent album. I find it a pretty dull and uninspiring album. This album is not my cup of tea, I am afraid. 

2 points 

Locus Amoenus - Clessidra (2013)

The debut album from this Italian band and hopefully the first of many albums. 

This five piece band is not exactly a run of the mill Italian progressive rock band. The line up is saxophone, flutes, keyboards, bass, drums and Italian vocals. Which makes a bit of an interesting sound to say at least.

The saxophone is pretty high in the mix and the vocals is a bit mad. Welcome to the weird world of Locus Amoenus. And there is a whiff of avant-garde in the air, yes. Nevertheless, a lot of the music here is in the indie-rock mould. Besides of some strong Area references, there is hardly anything here which reminds me about Italian prog rock. Despite of that; the music here is Italian prog rock. The new brash wave of Italian prog rock.

The end result is a good album which is more than acceptable, this being a debut album. I am not overly happy about this album. It is nevertheless a good album and one for those into an adventure or two. O boy do you get it here.

3 points

Nth Ascension - Ascension of Kings (2014)

The second album from this English band and the follow up to the rather good 2011 album Frequencies Of Day And Night album. 

I gave that album a 3 points rating and advised them to try harder. Well, I have to admit they have tried harder and have come up with an album which genre wise takes a lot from the likes of Foreigner, Rush, Yes, Genesis, Marillion, Arena, Asia and Pink Floyd.

The band is a five piece and the lineup is the usual vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards and drums. 

The music is pretty dramatic and melodic with a lot of pomp, circumstances and symphonic prog thrown into the mix. And this album is a mix of everything you can throw at a listener when it comes to melodic prog and pomp rock.  

The album is almost an hour long and it is a grand tour of music. I am not the biggest fan of Alan Taylor when he goes over the top in his pomp and dramatic vocals. It is best when the likes of Christian Descamps does this type of vocals as French is a language best suited to drama. The English language is not and dramatic vocals falls a bit flat on it's face when sung in English.  I like it a lot better when Alan Taylor is a lot more earthly and not so dramatic.

Most of this album is instrumental anyway and the band is doing a great job. So is Alan Taylor, too. Just to have said that.

There is no really great songs here. Nevertheless, this is a very good album from one of the brightest hopes in the British prog rock scene. Give us more albums and gigs, please. And keep up your good work.

3.5 points

New Trolls Atomic System - Tempi Dispari (1974)

The live album from this short lived off-shot of New Trolls.

No, this is not live versions of the songs on their self-titled debut album. This is entirely a different kettle of fish. 

Where the studio album was Italian progressive rock, this live album is entirely jazz. I would perhaps call it fusion too. It is on the more jazzy end of the fusion spectrum. 

Vittori De Scalzi plays guitars here and he is joined by sax, flutes, bass, drums and keyboards. There is no vocals here. This half an hour long album has a rather muddy sound. It is still an acceptable recording.

The jazz/fusion here is pretty intense and at times; leaning towards avant-garde too. The saxophone, guitar and keyboards is leading the melodies. The music reminds me a lot about Soft Machine at times. 

The end result is a good album. Nothing less and nothing more. Nevertheless; I prefer a lot of other jazz/fusion albums to this one.  

3 points

Waniyetula - A Dream Within A Dream (1983)

The one and only album from this very obscure German band.

The album was released on LP in 1983 and on CD by Garden Of Delights in 2004. They have also released a box with this band.

The band set out to do commercial symphonic prog and that is what we find here. Take the more commercial songs from Yes and the Gabriel era Genesis. This is where you find this four piece band. Their line up was keyboards, English vocals, bass, drums and guitars. 

The sound varies from really bad to very good on this seventy-six minutes long album. That is something I don't really like. Worst of all is the lack of quality. The songs are pretty awful and that makes this a very bad album. It is nothing less than a turkey, this album. Terrible is a word that covers this album. Terrible.

1 point 

Aquanaut - The Taste Maker Suite (2008)

The debut offering from this Australian combo who so far has released this EP and two albums. 

Aquanaut was a four piece band on this album with keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Their sound is very good and so far, so good.....

The band is listed as a space rock band in ProgArchives. This almost unknown band, that is. Which they are. Their music is not as spacey on this album, though. Take a big slice of traditional rock and hard rock. Then you get the first five out of in total six songs here. Tracks with hooks, verses, choruses and vocals.

Those songs are catchy enough and not too bad. They do not defend the album art work though and I had expected a much more spaced out trip into outer space. Or perhaps raga-rock. Well...... Promise not delivered !

The final track Dnb is a ten minutes long instrumental song which is a much more spacey track. You get long guitar and keyboards solos here. It is not a particular good track though.

I kind of like this EP. It shows potential and I am looking forward to hearing their two albums. For now......

2.5 points  

Mostly Autumn - The Ghost Moon Orchestra (2012)

The tenth album from these British veterans and genre creators. 

Mostly Autumn can fully take the credit/blame for creating the recent wave of female fronted prog rock bands. Heather Findlay was the queen of this genre for a while. Olivia Sparnenn has now taken over the vocal duties for Mostly Findlay. That in addition to the male vocals of Bryan Josh. 

Personally, I would have liked a lot more Olivia's vocals and far less Bryan's vocals on this album. An album which follows on from their Go Well Diamond Heart.

We still get this mix of female and male vocals backed up by keyboards, guitars, flute, bass and drums. The usual lineup. 

The best track here is the title track with some great vocals by Olivia. A kind of a children rhyme song. Besides of that, the music on this album is pretty much standard Mostly Autumn fare. A mix of prog rock, rock and some pop music. A mix of Keltic music and commercial rock. All of this very much Great Britain and British culture. 

I feel the band is threading water here and is bogged down in their formula without really coming up with something great. This is not a bad album. Neither is it a great album. Hence my rating.

3 points

Normanna - I See Icy Eyes (2014)

The first of perhaps many more albums from the Norwegian composer and musician Trygve Nakland. I don't know much about him and Normanna.

He has called his album for world music. He did not mean Norwegian folk music with that statement. He meant a mishmash of various genres put out as one album. That is mostly variations over the songs based music. Here, we find AOR, Police like reggae, country'n'western and commercial pop-rock. 

The music is fine, but also very dull if you want more of a challenge. This one hour long album does not offer up any technical finesses or any really good songs. To put it short; this album is not for me. Hence my verdict.

2 points 

Cincinnato - Cincinnato (1974)

The one and only album from this Italian band.

No, it is not RPI/Progressive Italian Rock this time. Or rather; the main part of this album is not RPI at all. We are talking jazz here. Sort of.....

Cincinatto  was a four piece band and the line up was guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. That and some vocals at the final track. 

The result is a forty minutes long album with four tracks. It starts out as a jazz album and then move on to a much more jazz rock and even prog rock direction on the final track, the twenty minutes long L'Ebete. 

Much of the music, if not all of it, is improvised. That is great if the musicians is great and knows what they are doing, music wise. That is not the case when it comes to this band. The first half of this album is like a cure against insomnia. Boring and dull as watching paint dry. The final song, L'Ebete has some good stuff. It is still not a good song.

The end result is a decent album and one you don't need to have in your record collection. That is; if you don't want something quite healthy against insomnia. 

2 points

Weather Report - I Sing The Body Electric (1972)

The second album from this US band. 

This band is widely regarded as the most jazzy bands of those great fusion bands/Bitches Brew sessions offspring bands from the 1970s. Which is very much evident here.

The album is lead by Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul. Both regarded as masters of their trade. Wayne's sax is very much present here and ditto for Joe's keyboards. This on an album which is pretty avant-garde and introperspective jazz dominated.

The opening track Unknown Soldier points in the direction of a pretty accessible album. That is a false dawn. The album soon closes it's doors to the casual listener and becomes pretty much a pure jazz album. 

Wayne Shorter's sax contributions is very delicate and carefully delivered. Ditto for Joe Zawinul's keyboards. They are well supported by some very good bass, drums and percussions too. 

The live tracks here are in the same vein too. Almost avant-garde in it's form. Well, avant-garde in my world. 

The end result is a good album, though. Weather Report is a further one step for me towards fully blown jazz. That very much goes for this album. But Wayne Shorter's sax wins me over and I am a bit hooked. I would have preferred a fully blown studio album though instead of this slightly half baked album. Nevertheless, this is a good album.

3 points 

   

Sinagoga Zen - Sinagoga Zen (2014)

The debut album from this five piece Brazilian band whose album is distributed through Masque Records, Brazil.

The lineup is female vocals, violin, viola, guitars, keyboards, piano, drums and bass. 

The band and label lists a lot of influences on their music. Everything from Weather Report to Yes, King Crimson and Pink Floyd. Well, they may be right. I have my own opinion, though.

The album starts out as...... a bit of Aranis in fact. Yes, that is chamber rock and even RIO. The album moves into a much more music accessible area. Mostly Autumn and the other English female fronted prog bands. The music also moves a bit towards King Crimson too. The Hammond organ like sound is also pointing back towards the great Brazilian prog bands from the 1970s. There is also a jazz feel here although Weather Report is not a reference I agree with. But I would also add a bit Renaissance into the mix. The band also comes across as a bit like The Third And The Mortal too from their all too brief Kari Rueslaatten era. 

The sound is great and the vocals is also great. My only gripe with this album is the lack of a great song. That aside, this is a very good album with a lot of very good guitars, keyboards, violins and piano. 

In short; get this album from here.

3.5 points  

Nostradamus - Testament (2008)

The one and only album from this Hungarian band with some Solaris members.

Nostradamus was a five piece band on this album. The line up was piccolo, alto flute, flute, keyboards, piano, guitars, bass, drums and some vocals. The vocals are in English.

My heart sinks a lot when I hear flutes and piccolo on the top of some gothic keyboards and guitars. Gothic music is too cheap and nasty. It is very much a show stopper in my case and I am starting to cringe.

Although this album continues in the same vein and never really grows out of the gothic sound, there are some really good melodies here. The piano also plays a soothing role on my anger and I am starting to like what I hear around halfway through the album. That is halfway through the album x some listening sessions.

It is still not an album I overall really like. Too gothic and too much full of old ideas from other bands. This is an album somewhere between decent and good. I hope Solaris is a better band than this band as I am about to review their albums.

2.5 points

Negua - A Way Out (2006)

The one and only album from this Spanish band.

The cover art work says absolute nothing about the music here. I got no idea what this picture says. It is not ugly though. It is just weird.

The music though is pretty much poppy and verse-chorus-verse dominated neo-prog. Well, the opener Bagdad is a bit on the bleak, dark side. It also got some Middle-East ethno sound. That aside, this is a pretty light album created by keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and English vocals.

It is very obvious that the band has been inspired by the likes of Arena, IQ and Pendragon. That makes a pretty much middle of the road neo-prog album.

It is not the most inspiring album I have heard. I cannot deny that this is a solid album. It is also a good album without any flaws and without any really great stuff. Neo-prog fans should check out this album.

3 points  

Aria Palea - Zoicekardia (1996)

The debut album from this Italian band who went on to release two albums before they were disbanded. 

Aria Palea was a five piece on this album with a lineup of flute, drums, Italian vocals, guitars and bass. The vocals are rather very good and fitting for this music. 

The opening minutes of this album made me believe I was in for an Area insanity copycat. Well, I was wrong. The opening minutes of this album is very misleading. The band and the music is rather sane. 

The music here is a mix of Jethro Tull with the frequent use of flutes and other pretty obvious references to 'Tull too. Then there is a great deal of Italian folk rock here. I have heard Dalton being listed as a reference here. I agree with that sentiment. I would also add Area and mainstream Italian prog rock here too as a main reference. 

The music here is both good and pretty straight forward . It also has an element of avant-garde which adds a lot of spice to this forty-five minutes long album. 

The result is an enjoyable, good album with a very good sound too. It comes recommended by me.

3 points 

Nessie - Head In The Sand (1979)

The second and final album from this Belgium band.

I reviewed their first album The Tree for ProgArchives back in November 2009. I have noticed I can almost word for word write the same review for this album too.

Nessie refers to the Loch Ness monster. Just to emphasize this, the album starts with some monster sounds. I am not sure if the real Nessie would approve of that, though. Nevertheless.......

Nessie was a four piece band and their music was somewhere in the symph and crossover prog genre. Their sound and music is sickly sweet with an almost psychedelic sound. That and some sickly sweet female choirs and male vocals. The instruments are not that much healthy either. Sugar, it is.

The instruments here are a bit guitars, lots of keyboards and mellotrons, piano, drums and bass. The music is on the overly dramatic totally over the top end of the scale. It feels like a parody at times. But I am afraid this band took their music and themselves seriously.

This album is in short a nice turkey with a horrible cover and even worse music. It flaps it's wings, but never takes of into the skies. Horrible is the word on this album.

1 point  

Moody Blues. The - Octave (1978)

Oh dear.....

The ninth album from this legendary English prog rock combo. A band who took the baton from The Beatles and ran with it into prog rock land.

There is not much prog rock here on this, their comeback after a four years long break. Prog rock was as fashionable as black death in 1978. Even their contemporaries, Electric Light Orchestra, had gone slightly disco that year. 

Justin Hayward & co did not go that far, though. There are still some dna traces from the old The Moody Blues here. Nevertheless, elegant and smart proggy rock details and melody lines had been replaced by soppy, overly emotive housewives pop-rock music here. For some reasons; the likes of Roger Whittaker pops into my head. And yes, there are some country like melodies here. And that is not good news.

I have heard far worse albums than this one. But it is barely a decent album and that is it. It will never be played by me anymore.

2 points   

Nimbus - El Aguila (2004)

The only album so far from this Chile based band. An album made by five well matured men which has drawn on the history of music to make this album.

It is indeed an album with a lot of various progressive rock affiliated genres. The music has been created by guitars, stick bass, keyboards and electronics, bass, flutes, drums and Spanish vocals. Very good male vocals too.

The result is a fifty minutes long album which draws a lot on Chilean folk music, English folk music, Italian progressive rock, jazz, fusion, avant-garde, eclectic prog in the vein of Van Der Graaf Generator, symphonic prog in the Camel vein and everything from the Canterbury scene. 

The musicians knows what they are doing and they creates a festival of very good progressive rock. Which in essence this is. My only gripe here is the lack of a great track. Besides of that, this is a very good album. Can we get a second album, guys ?

3.5 points 

Nosound - Lightdark (2008)

The second album from this Italian band.

I have tried to avoid their releases for some time as I am not really into long psychedelic albums. Albums in the early Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and Marillion vein. But I have to decided to give two of their albums a chance this winter/spring.

The band is the brainchild of Giancarlo Erra on vocals and keyboards. He has got help from Tim Bowness and five other musicians. The line up is guitars, keyboards, bass, cello and drums. There are also vocals throughout this album. English vocals.

The music, one hour of it, here is laidback prog rock in the vein of neo-prog and space-rock. Gazpacho springs to mind. Giancarlo Erra and Nosound is more like painting sounds and songs than making them. The music is full of emotions.

The result is a good album. It may be a bit too pedestrian for most of us. Those into the above mentioned bands should really check out this album and band, though. They will become a fan of this band, no doubts. I am not there yet, but I would not discount it if the next album is a bit better than this one.

3 points   

Le Orme - La Via Della Seta (2011)

The 19th and so far final album from this great Italian band.

Aldo Tagliapietra had by now left the band and Jimmy Spitaleri had taken over the microphone. Besides of that, we get keyboards, bass, drums and guitars. 

This on an album which is quite a return to their first albums and the ELP like symphonic prog from those albums. They are not quite as ELP on this album as they were on those first albums. There is a lot of classic Italian progressive rock on this album too. Progressive rock highly influenced by Italian pop and folk rock. 

If this is indeed the final Le Orme album, I have to say they are going out with a bang rather than with a whimper. There is a lot to be happy about on this album. What is really missing is a final great song from this band. Besides of that, this album oozes class and style. It oozes Le Orme and everything I really loved about this band. 

This is a great album for their fans and a very good album for the rest of us. It is bordering to a great album, indeed. But I will only give it a very good rating. It may be upgraded.......

3.5 points

Placebo - Placebo (1974)

The third out of in total four studio albums from this Belgium based band. A band now long disbanded.

I liked their 1973 album a lot. Great fusion. So I had a great deal of hope for this album.

Again, we find a lot of instruments and musicians here. From woodwinds to keyboards, bass, percussions, drums and guitars. No vocals as per usual from a fusion/jazz album.

This album comes across as a disappointment in my ears. The band has moved into a much more restrained, formalistic jazz territory. This forty minutes long album sounds like it has been shackled and roped down into this strict formula.

When that is said, the music is good throughout. But there is no sparkle and not much life here. I still regard it as a good album, but nothing more than that. 

3 points 

Nirgal Vallis - Y Murió la Tarde (1985)

The one and only album from this Mexican band. The album was released through a local label in 1985 and through Musea in 1986.

Nirgal Vallis was a six piece band with a drums, bass, electric piano, synths, sequencers, violin, guitars, percussion and female vocals. I have to say that the female vocals here is not particular great. They suits this music, though.

The music here comes across as Mexican/Latin folk rock in the beginning before this fifty minutes long album broadens out into a much more symphonic prog album. Camel is a good reference here.

This album is in essence a folk and symphonic prog crossover album with a great deal of local culture and flair. That with some English folk and symph prog thrown into the mix.

The result is a good album which should appeal to a lot of prog heads. It is highly rated in all prog reviews blogs and I hope it will give this album the attention it deserves.

3 points 

Drama - Drama (1985)

The one and only album from this US band, released on Black Moon Productions. A record label who also released albums by Maelstrom and Ethos. 

There is tonnes of other bands called Drama too. This one was playing fusion with guitars, percussions, drums, bass, keyboards and xylophone. 

No vocals and plenty of slick, polished fusion on this forty-three minutes long album. The only thing not slick here is the very wrong cover artwork which makes me believe this was a metal album and the pretty raw guitar solos. 

The rest of the album is pretty good and offers up some good fusion. Not everything here is good though. The melodies are a bit on the anonymous side of the scale and I can understand why this is their only album. Hence my verdict.

2.5 points 

Masters Apprentices. The - A Toast to Panama Red (1972)

The fourth album out of in total five albums from this Australian band. This album is widely regarded as their best album and crowning achievement. 

The hard rocking quartet take a much more psychedelic and folky approach on this album. They are really becoming a much more multi-dimensional band on this album.   

The basis is still hard rock. There is a lot of loud guitars here. There is also a lot of drums, harmonica, bass and vocals here. The songs varies from hard songs to some rather delicate psychedelic pieces.

The sound quality is not good and neither is the songs. This is very much an album lost in time and space although it has a legend status down under. It is a decent album though and that is all I can say.

2 points

Ramases - Glass Top Coffin (1975)

The second album from this UK band.

This band was set up by a man who believed he was a God. Or perhaps just a pharaoh. In any case; he was barking mad. He also released two albums under this name before the lack of commercial success closed down this band and the label support. 

Their label Vertigo sunk a lot of money into this album by hiring both London and Philadelphia Symphonic Orchestra. That and a lot of other musicians. Cheap, this album was not. 

What did they get ? A kind of a hymn like album with a lot of religious dreams and imagery. Not about Jesus off course. It was about this demented guy behind this album.

At times, this album reminds me about The Moody Blues second album. A lot of instruments and a demented male and female vocal on the top. Other parts of this album reminds me about My Sweet Lord by the Beatle George Harrison. Other parts is too sickly sweet to be described. 

The quality of the material here is very poor and the fifty minutes in the company of this album is pretty bad. Several times fifty minutes in my case. Avoid this turkey at all costs.

1 point  

Eloy - Visionary (2009)

The eighteenth and so far final album from these German masters of space rock.

Their last two albums had shown a band not too afraid of going back to their best albums from the 1970s and revisit some of those ideas again. Albums from the 1970s we fans of Eloy really love. 

Take a big slice of this day and age too. The band has not left the more commercial and not so delicious inspirations from the contemporary rock and pop scene too. Not to mention the more psychedelic rock scene. Then add the 1970s and you have this album.

Frank Bornemann is still the voice of the band and their sound. He is helped out by keyboards, bass, guitars and drums. That and some classical orchestra instruments. 

The sound is a bit too sugar sweet this time around. The songs are good though. But nothing here is really sparkling. It more feels like still water. It is still a good album though. A solid album from Eloy. An album for us fans.

3 points 

Corte Aulica - Il Temporale E L'Arcobaleno (2007)

The debut and so far only album from this Italian band.

The band was formed to form as a bridge between Canterbury prog and Italian prog. The band is a four piece with guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. And yes, no vocals whatsoever. 

I have to admit the term "instrumental album" is starting to fill me with dread these days after having had ten too many of them on my plate. And this album is not changing my opinion about instrumental albums, I am afraid.

Take a lot of moods from the Italian prog rock scene and fuse them with some Canterbury prog. Then you get this album. And yes, deduct the fun and the life from those two scenes and you get this album. A not too bad album. But still a far too sterile album. 

There is some good details and melody lines here. And this album is thankfully not elevator/shopping mall music. It is far too complex for that. It is still a bit of a heard-it-before type of an album which is lacking in imagination and quality. Hence my verdict.

2 points 

New Trolls Atomic System - NT Atomic System (1973)

The debut album and only studio album from this New Trolls splinter group. Yes, New Trolls from Italy and New Trolls Atomic System is also Italy based. 100 % Italian, in fact...... almost. 

Vittorio De Scalzi is the vocalist and flautist here. He is helped out by six other people here. I don't really know the chaotic New Trolls history so I don't know who of the original New Trolls members was involved here.

The lineup here is keyboards, Italian vocals, flutes, woodwinds, bass, guitars, drums and percussion. The music is very much middle of the road Italian symphonic prog. All forty-five minutes of this album.

The album is pretty one dimensional at the beginning and feels like a rose who is hiding the flower in the middle of some frost. The first half an hour is bordering to dull where one theme is running through the songs. It is not a good theme and the music sounds starved of any daylight and intelligent life. It is also music bordering to Italian beat music from the 1960s.

The final two songs is so much better though and the rose is finally opening up on a fine summer's day. These two songs are both multi-dimensional and lush.

This album is as frustrating as the whole New Trolls venture. You get the feeling the musicians is not really able to unleash their potential on this album. Hence my good rating. I wish this had been a great album, though.

3 points

   

Art And Illusion - Seasons (1995)

The third and final album from this Italian band. 

I have to admit I have been grossly underwhelmed by their previous two albums. They were both operating in the turkey yard area. Terrible albums, in other words. My expectations for this album was .........zero.

The band is still a four piece on this album. The lineup is keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and English vocals. That with some added guest instruments and musicians. Nothing exciting in my books. 

The music is now leaning towards melodic pop-rock with some hints of progressive rock. The band and the music here is not influenced at all by Italian progressive rock. 

The result is a pretty melodic and not too shabby one hour long album. The Genesis pastisj at the end of the album is pretty bad, though. This is a decent album.

2 points

Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso - Di Terra (1978)

The eight album from this Italian band.

This band is known for their great and long bearded vocalist Fransesco Di Giacomi and his excellent voice. So I was confused to find out that he and his excellent vocals was not present here. Neither is there any rock or pop on this album either. This is a classical music piece.

A just over forty-five minutes long classical music piece divided on seven tracks. I am by no means a fan of classical music. I am in particular no fan of rock bands crossing over to do classical music. I think rock, folk, pop and jazz is strong enough on their own feet instead of having to cross over to an archaic, lifeless genre. Classical music is in my view grossly overrated and mostly hot air which is loved by snobs and people who think they are ubermenschen.

Hence, I am not bowled over by this album.

When that is said, this fully orchestral classical music album has a lot of positive things going for it. Some really good melodies and details. It is by no means a light hearted album either. There is a lot of almost avant-garde like melodies and details here. 

The end result is a fairly good album. OK, a good album it is. 

3 points   

Nightwinds - Nightwinds (1979)

The one and only album from this Canadian band.

The year was 1979 and symphonic progressive rock was dead. Nightwinds did not have much success with this album and Laser Edge re-released it 12 years later. Also with not that much success.

It is obvious that the band has all the Genesis and Yes albums when listening to this album. Add Starcastle too and you get the picture. 

The band was a five piece and they used guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals in the recording of this album. The sound is lush and symphonic. 

This album is basically a distillation of the best of the symphonic prog scene. Unfortunate, without really making some great songs. The songs are good throughout and I am kind of enjoying this album. An album which does not add anything exciting or new impulses to my life. A weak three pointer is awarded.

3 points 

Kaipa - Keyholder (2003)

The seventh album from this Swedish band.

Kaipa is in many respect the grandfathers in the Swedish symph prog movement. The band who to a large extent created the Swedish sound. A sound later copied over by The Flower Kings and others. In the middle of both bands; we find Roine Stolt. He is one of the greatest alltime men in the progressive rock movement. A living legend, no less.

Having him both on this album and in The Flower Kings creates a bit of a problem, though. OK, a small problem. The bands sounds a bit too like in my opinion. That was in particular the problem on the previous album, Notes From The Past. 

Then again..........

Keyholder is an eighty minutes long album though and the band has moved a lot towards Yes on this album and a bit away from The Flower Kings. Yes anno Close To The Edge, that is. The opening track Lifetime Of A Journey is very much in the Yes vein. And that is good !

The rest of the album is very much Yes meets the Swedish forests and The Flower Kings. It is a proper Kaipa album with female vocals on the part of this album too. The songs are very majestic and this time, very varied and takes the listener to many different places. Many places and styles. But all within a Swedish symphonic prog setting. 

So far, this is their best album and the one Kaipa album I have enjoyed most. It is a great album and one who cements their place as one of the truly great prog rock bands.

4 points