|
Register | Blogging | Today's Posts | Search |
![]() |
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
![]() |
#1 (permalink) |
Music Addict
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 131
|
![]()
Great review Boo Boo, I hate to admit it but Hawkwind slipped right past me back in the 70's, my brother had one of their albums but he was going through his hippy phase so I never really talked to him about the new bands he was into. I have Warrior On The Edge Of Time, and Hall Of The Mountain Grill now and I like them both, what other Hawkwind albums would you recommend?
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#2 (permalink) | |
Dr. Prunk
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Where the buffalo roam.
Posts: 12,137
|
![]() Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#3 (permalink) |
Music Addict
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 131
|
![]()
Good timing Boo Boo,,,I just started listening to Gentle Giant this week, I ahem, have their whole discography now and will take my time checking them out the same as I did with KC. I was reading some reviews in another forum and they trashed most of the later GG catalog as rubbish, and only considered 4 of their albums worthy of owning. I don't mind reading other people's opinions about music but in the end I will make up my own mind. Another good review from your prog hoard.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#5 (permalink) | |
Dr. Prunk
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Where the buffalo roam.
Posts: 12,137
|
![]() Quote:
Anyway, this is a perfect excuse to post this. Weathers (the drummer) is one sexy beast. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#6 (permalink) |
Fish in the percolator!
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Hobbit Land NZ
Posts: 2,870
|
![]()
Nice review, I'm giving PT a bit of a spin today since I haven't listened to them in so long.
Have you heard Drown With Me from the bonus disc (also appears on Futile EP)? It's quite a beautiful song, somewhat harrowing given the lyrical matter yet somehow uplifting. It also has the most eloquent 2 note solo I've ever heard. Definitely one of my fav PT songs.
__________________
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#7 (permalink) |
Dr. Prunk
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Where the buffalo roam.
Posts: 12,137
|
![]()
So I'm gonna kick this back into gear.
![]() For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night - Caravan - 1973 Personell: Pye Hastings - Lead vocals, Guitar. Geoff Richardson - Viola. David Sinclair - Organ, Piano, Synthesizers. John G. Perry - Bass, Backing vocals. Richard Coughlan - Drums, Percussion. Guest musicians: Rupert Hine – A.R.P. synthesizer. (1, 2 & 6) Frank Ricotti – Congas. (2, 3, 5, 7) Jimmy Hastings – Western concert flute, Flute. (1) Paul Buckmaster – Electric cello. (7) Tony Coe – Clarinet, Tenor sax. (1) Pete King – Flute, Alto sax. (1) Harry Klein – Clarinet, Baritone sax. (1) Henry Lowther – Trumpet. (1) Jill Pryor – Voice. (5) Chris Pyne – Trombone. (1) Barry Robinson – Piccolo. (1) Tom Whittle – Clarinet, Tenor sax. (1) Martyn Ford - Orchestration. (8) For those of you who loved In the Land of Grey and Pink and have yet to hear this album, this is an entirely different beast. Before this album was made, the group's original bassist Richard Sinclair left to form Hatfield and the North, John G. Perry was his replacement for the time being. Sinclair's absence and the addition of a viola player allowed for the band to evolve into a very different direction. Hammond organ no longer dominates the music and Hastings is using more electric guitar than acoustic, and he doesn't hold back on this one, his rootsy guitar style combined with Richardson's fiddle playing gives the album a very country flavor. This is more keen to southern rock and Wishbone Ash than the jolly whimiscal folk of Grey and Pink. This is still very much a prog album of course, in it's structure, freeform jams, time signatures and lengthy solos. This is basically what The Allman Brothers would sound like if they went prog. One thing that has remained intact is Hastings quirky sense of humor. The lyrics are, well, lets say they're not very politically correct. Memory Lain, Hugh: First track starts off with a rather bluesy riff (actually a lot of the songs here do) but don't expect anything too predictable here, what starts out sounding like a southern rocker quickly evolves into a proggy jam, complete with a brass section, just when thinks seem to be gettng rowdy, you're caught off gaurd with a rather sooting flute solo, which then builds up to a pretty satisfying climax. A fantastic opener. Headloss: In some versions this is melded together with the frst track, but either way it's still it's own song. This is more of a straightforward rock song with a very poppy melody, it kinda reminds me of the Partrich Family theme, lol. It's a rather lubby dubby song, and yes, it's about pot. Hoedown: This one has a very southern rock feel to it and I mean that in a good way, it's a fast paced little rocker, with a mean fiddle solo. A short straightforward song and not really "prog" but it's one of the best songs on the album. Surprise, Surpise: Opens up beautifully with just vocals, guitar and viola, then the drums, bass and organ kicks in. I always love those kinda build ups in songs. A very mellow rock song, I really dig Hastings as a vocalist, I love the bass in this song, and another great viola solo. C'thlu Thlu: NOW things are getting proggy. It starts with a slow repetitive instrumental build up, then the vocals and psychedelic synthesizers come it, it builds up into a hard rocker with a soft/hard verse/chorus dynamic, and finishes off with a psychedelic jam with hard driving guitar riffs and fiddle and hammond organ solos. A great kick off into the proggier second half of the album. The Dog, The Dog, He's at It Again: Possibly the best song on the album, gorgeous melody, great chorus, awesome synthesizer solo. Though you should probably know that this song is about blowjobs. Yeah, prog bands can write songs about sex too, take that AC/DC fans. Be Alright/Chance of a Lifetime: Starts out as a fast paced rocker, but this one has a proggy twist. The Chance of a Lifetime segment brings things to a halt, a mellow bossanova rhythm with some great vocals and jazzy instrumentals. Another high point. L'Auberge Du Sanglier - A Hunting We Shall Go - Pengola - Backwards - A Hunting We Shall Go (Reprise): As you can tell by the title this is basically a medley. It starts out with some beautiful accoustic guitar and viola. Then the drums come in and kicks things off into an intense jam that lasts for 3 minutes or so. The next segment starts with some quiet piano, later joined by the rest of the band and a symphony orchestra (the idea of a prog band using orchestration may seem bloated but it's very wonderfully done here), ending the album on a beautifully pompous note, fantastic. This is a must have album for canterbury fans. Caravan had a gift for combining folk, pop, psychedelic and jazz influences in a very unique and satisfying way. They had one more good album after this, but it's been very downhill from there. This was their last great album and it adds something quite different to the bands catalog than their previous efforts. This is a great mellow album to listen to in your backyard on a quiet night and just get completely lost in, also makes great background music for a barbeque. A classic. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#8 (permalink) |
why bother?
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,840
|
![]()
I think Caravan are one of a select few prog bands on my to try-out-sometime-preferably-soonish list, as I've heard one of their songs somewhere and remember quite digging it (can't remember which one though). Cracking write-up
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#9 (permalink) |
Dr. Prunk
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Where the buffalo roam.
Posts: 12,137
|
![]() ![]() Tormato - Yes - 1978 Personell: Jon Anderson - Lead vocals. Chris Squire - Bass, Backing vocals. Steve Howe - Guitar, Mandolin, Backing vocals. Rick Wakeman - Keyboards, Piano, Organ, Synthesizers, Harpischord. Alan White - Drums, Percussion, Backing vocals, Vibraphone. I thought it would be interesting to review a not so great album for once, and yeah, pretty odd that the first Yes album I'm gonna review is one that I don't think very highly of. Well, to be honest, I don't think this is a HORRIBLE album like most people say, but for Yes it's a huge disappointment, this one is very much a mixed bag, of course there are still some of those moments of pure brilliance that for years have made Yes my favorite band, but there are also a lot of moments that that are just embarassing and a clear sign of a band struggling to stay relevant during the age of punk and new wave and not doing a very good job of it. This album came out in 1978, when prog was already considered dead. After their 8th album, 1974's Relayer, Yes went AWOL for 3 years, then made a comeback in 77 with Going for the One, which marked the return of Rick Wakeman on keyboards, it was a modest success and overall a very solid and underrated album. It also saw the band heading into a more mainstream, arena rock direction. Tormato expands on this, but unfortunately not very successfully. This was a band clearly at career crossroads, they were trying to please critics and mainstream musicgoers with more commercial sounds, hi fi production, less ambiguous lyrical subject matter and less of the over the top jams and elaborate epics that defined their previous efforts, while at the same time trying to cater to their own fanbase. In the end not very many people were pleased, listening to this record, you can really tell that Yes had no idea what they wanted to do, they threw in a lot more effects than usual, Squire uses reverb effects, synths and wah pedals that gives his bass playing a rather unique sound on this record, Howe and Wakeman also sound more polished than they usually do, but they seem to lack the power and energy they once had, Anderson's vocals sound rather weak and robotic on this record and it's as if he isn't really trying. They clearly didn't have much fun making this record and it shows. Still, while this marked the first real lowpoint in their career, there are a few gems hidden within this clumsy, overproduced mess of an album. And since it's virtually impossible for progarchives to give cohesive, helpful reviews, especially for albums like this. I'll try my best to give you a fair, non fanboish perspective. Future Times/Rejoice: While nothing mindblowing, this is a promising start. It starts off with a quite cheesy guitar/synth riff, which is thn joined with Squire's wah wah heavy bass and a millitary style drum beat from White. Anderson just does a lot of chanting here rather than singing. Nothing deep here but not bad, there's some nice jamming and of course some great (if overly glossy sounding) guitar and synth work by Howe and Wakeman. Not much else to say, a decent opener, moving on. Don't Kill the Whale: Heh, when critics talk about how bloated and ridiculous Yes are, this is a song that always gets name dropped. This is a mind blowingly cheesy song, but no my lastfm isn't lying, it's one of my most played songs, it's a guilty pleasure, a song so horrible that it's actually kinda awesome. It starts off with an unusually groovy guitar riff and funky bassline, and some sugary synths in the background. You heard Jon right, he is indeed singing about the sins of the whaling industry, pretty rare to have a Yes song where the lyrics actually make sense, but that's not really a good thing. Howe and Squire's great guitar and bass work really do their best to pull this one out of the sh*tter. But this song's most defining moment comes in at 2 minutes in when you're greeted with the cheesiest synthesizer solo in music history. But just when you think it couldn't get cheesier, it does, the song ends with Anderson chanting "Dig it, Dig it". Yeah, that's my description but you still have to hear it to beleive it, and I dare you to try and listen to the whole song without chuckling once, it's impossible. It's a pretty bad song, yet I can't help but like it anyway. Madrigal: You hear right, this song is a showcase for Wakeman's mad Harpischord skillz, along with some acoustic neo classical guitar by Howe, and Anderson singing "Sacred ships do sail the seventh age", yeah don't ask me what it means. Proggies seem to consider this to be one of the better tracks on the album, but that's just because they have a hard on for cheesy neo classical wank, avoid at all costs. Release Release: FINALLY things are getting interesting, this is the first real high point on the album. This is a very fast paced song by Yes standards, complete with rockabilly guitars from Howe and some of the fastest basswork Squire has ever done, it sounds like they actually had fun making this one, even Anderson manages to show some passion. It still has that cheesy 70s arena rock sound (Wakeman being the main culprit) but overall this is a great track, if only the whole album had as much energy and power as this song. This is a rare example of Yes actually doing a "rock" song, they even throw in a Bo Diddley beat at one point, and the results are a lot better than you'd expect. Arriving UFO: But eh, just when they made it out of the muck, they fall right back in, and yeah, it's about UFOs. Yes have done the space themed songs before, and a hell of a lot better I might add. Mostly it's pretty boring though there is some weird guitar effects from Howe. The only real point of interest is Howe's crazy wah wah guitar solo, but man, Wakeman should have stuck to his moog, I don't know what kind of synths he uses here but it's getting really damn irritating at this point. Circus of Heaven: Wow, they have finally made it to the bottom with this one. I couldn't even make it all the way through this song, it seems like they tried to capture a caribbean/reggae vibe here, but yeah, it's more Ob La Di Ob La Da than Bob Marley, this is followed with a lot of guitar and synth noodling that doesn't go anywhere. And then for whatever reason they thought a great way to close the song would be to have a little kid (Jon's son Damion) whine "But there was no clowns, or lions, or tigers". Yeah guys, where were they? This is a good candidate for worst f*cking Yes song ever. Onward: Get your cigarette lighters out for this one. That's right, a ballad. Now sure that sounds like the ultimate icing on the sh*tcake but surprise surprise, I really love this song, it's my favorite track on the album in fact, no prog at all, just a very simple, beautiful baroque pop ballad. Anderson's vocals are in great form here, he really works best with softer, melodic songs. This is excellent. On the Silent Wings of Freedom: Despite all the rough moments on this album, this is a great closer and another great track. Once again this is a song where everybody seems to be giving it their all, why in the hell couldn't the whole album be like this? The beginning, middle and end is mostly jamming, and Squire and Howe really give it everything they got, even Wakeman's synth solo at the end is pretty cool. So, in the end, this album is NOT as bad as people say, yes, there's some real sh*t in this album, but at least it would have made a great EP. So in the end, it's not a bad album, not a good one mind you, it's somewhere in the middle. What really hurt it was the lack of consistancy, it's like they were trying to do an album that showed they could be really diverse, they try a lot of styles here but add their own twist on it, this applies to the really bad songs just as much as it does to the really good ones, so you can't say they weren't ambitious, it's just that in the end, Yes came off as sounding tired and unmotivated, and they were. But with their declining popularity, growing tension between band members and the increasing media pressure to try and reinvent themselves, you can't really blame them for that. Howe and Squire are in good form here, Wakeman and Anderson not so much, except for a few brief moments. Overall there are only a few songs where the contributions of every band member meshed together nicely, and it's no wonder it took 2 decades for Yes to return to this lineup. So I recommend you download Release Release, Onward, On the Silent Wings of Freedom and just for the lulz Don't Kill the Whale and skip the rest. I wouldn't recommend getting the whole album even for the diehard Yes fan, unless you're a completionist or just want to have some historical perspective. And yeah, if you want to know why Yes gave up on prog or what REALLY did prog in during the late 70s, download this album. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#10 (permalink) |
Dr. Prunk
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Where the buffalo roam.
Posts: 12,137
|
![]() ![]() Mirage - Camel - 1974 Personell: Andrew Latimer - Guitar, Flute, Lead vocals, Oboe. Peter Bardens - Keyboards. Doug Ferguson - Bass, Backing vocals. Andy Ward - Drums. I admit Camel weren't exactly the most original prog band, while a canterbury scene band that formed in 71, their most memorable work, starting with this album, came out at a time when prog was already on the way out in terms of mainstream acceptence, and this album sounds like it could have been made in 1969, and their influences were quite obvious. You can hear the Hendrix, The Doors, Santana, Floyd, Crimson and Deep Purple in here for sure. They were one of the more "rock" sounding prog bands in their day and despite being a little late in the prog parade, Camel are still considered one of the finest bands in the genre that most people haven't heard, and rightfully so. Like most prog bands they couldn't really keep a consistant lineup, the leader that has held the band together at all times was Andy Latimer, an extraordinary guitar wizard who is on par with Fripp, Howe and Hackett. A pretty bitchin flautist too. Camel were one of the few successful prog bands in the late 70s who didn't conform to 70s arena rock, as Kansas and Styx did. They would become more ambitious with laters albums, specifically Snow Goose and Moonmadness, unlike those albums, Mirage is much more rooted in psychedelic rock, but this should be considered the first in their trilogy of excellent albums. Freefall: Starts off with the sound of blowing wind and synths, which leads to a repetitive drum beat that is joined in by crashing guitars, I just can't get enough of that intro, proof that simplicity can work wonders for prog. It starts off sounding like a Deep Purplish acid rock song with some catchy vocals before kicking off into a big jam, Latimer and Bardens really duel if off on this one, greasy hammond organ combined with Latimer's guitar layers, which is very much all over the place, it sounds very Santana-esque at times but he also manages to pull some neat surprises and gorgeous flourishes. Supertwister: A short little track but it's by no means filler, one of the big highlights of the album. It's a hypnotic instrumental with no guitar at all, instead it's dominated by some gorgeous flute work by Latimer. Not a note is wasted in this composition, it's melodic brilliance through and through and a great use of the loud/fast dynamic. One of my favorite pieces of prog, ever. Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider: Yep, a prog epic made up of multiple parts, this is a really weird one. The intro with aquatic sounding guitar effects and synthesizer is very beautiful and haunting, but just when you think it's gonna build up into something, it fades out. The next segment begins to fade in with the sounds of a parade, followed by millitary drums, brass and flutes, this segues into a gorgeous guitar melody with mellotron and oboe, then the vocals and acoustic come in and this whole segment sounds a LOT like old school King Crimson, and in a good way, this is followed with.... Well sh*t, it's really tidious just to write down everything that happens isn't it? Well f*ck it, no point in walking you through the whole damn thing, just believe me when I tell you the climax is awesome. Fantastic stuff, amazing showcase for the whole ensemble. This also hints at the more symphonic rock direction the band would follow with their later albums. Earthwise: Another instrumental, yet another great melodic piece that makes a great showcase for the musicianship of every band member, mostly it's a big face off of guitar and synths, like the whole album there's a lot of mood change so describing it is pointless. Just because I'm being lazy with the description doesn't mean this is not on par with the rest of the album though. Lady Fantasy: Ah yeah, this was the first track I heard from Camel. It's also my favorite song on the album and an excellent closer. It starts off with scrambled synths combined with crushing guitar riffs. Despite being the longest track it's also the most poppy sounding, the organ playing and Latimer's gloomy baritone gives this one a very Doors vibe. But just when you expect this song to head towards a certain direction, it doesn't, about a third way in it unexpectedly kicks off into a funky organ/bass ryhthm and IMO the most face meltingly awesome guitar solo you'll ever f*cking hear in your life. And then it leads to a very mellow Santana-ish guitar solo with acoustic guitar backing, then comes in another vocal section where Latimer sings about walking on moonclouds and sitting on sunbeams (hey, it's prog man). Then things get intense again, another kickass guitar solo, then an organ solo and the outro brings things back to right where it started, this is when you realise you've just heard the most awesome f*cking song ever. Yeah sure, the lyrics are corny, but like most prog albums the vocals just function like another instrument, it's the overall music that does all the talking, and as you can tell with this clumsy review, I had a difficult time trying to describe the music, but that's true for most prog, it's not something you can describe very easly. And I just wanted to give you a general idea of what to expect, still, you have to hear this and judge for yourself. The key to great prog is being able to surprise the listener, to build up suspense and to provide a lot of great hooks, and especially within the context of stellar musicianship. This album certainly applies. I love all 5 of the tracks on this album so I'd say it's very consistant. If you're a canterbury fan this is one you can't miss. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|