The Prog Rock Album Club

Unknown Soldier · 12-03-2013, 03:40 PM

Quote:

=Big Ears;1391407 If the thread has a new lease of life in my absence, all well and good.

It has only had a new lease of life in the last week or so, largely due to the new format suggested by Trollheart, which now allows for a longer and more flexible listening period. Before that the thread was pretty much dead.

Anteater · 12-03-2013, 03:42 PM

Alrighty then my fine proggy friends, here's four delicious albums to choose from!

The Custodian - Necessary Wasted Time (2012/2013)

A spacey, immersive prog-ject from the very talented Richard Thomson (the frontman for death metal band Xeranth). For fans of Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd and Anathema, this here might be right up your dark alleyway!

Moon Safari - [Blomljud] (2008)

I've raved about this band before here on MusicBanter, but now seems like a good opportunity to re-introduce them. They have a very unique, beautiful sound somewhere between Yes and The Beach Boys: all five of the band members sing together, resulting in some impressive harmonies. They also list Bruce Springsteen as an influence, though you won't hear a whole lot of that here. I'd recommend listening through the album here on their Bandcamp page, as the lyrics are available as well-

Blomljud | Moon Safari

David Sylvian - Gone To Earth (1986)

Amazing solo album from the former bandleader and frontman of Japan, featuring Robert Fripp on guitar and electronics throughout (plus some songwriting credits!). For fans of jazzy, ambient-oriented progressive rock that doesn't sound quite like anything else out there, this is going to be a lot of fun for you!

Toto - Falling In Between (2006)

Besides being one of the tightest and most impressive live bands of all time, Toto are known for dabbling in a variety of styles from their inception in the late 70's all the way to the present day. Like early Ambrosia, they're something of a crossover act who meld pop, rock, funk, AOR and progressive rock into something hard to classify. Falling In Between was their last studio album and arguably their strongest, catchiest AND proggiest record as well, so I'd actually recommend this one to any of you.

Trollheart · 12-03-2013, 06:59 PM

OK well I liked Moon Safari so yoink!

I would strongly disagree with the inclusion of Toto however: for me they have always been an AOR band, but you know, if I have the time then maybe I'll just listen to that too and see if I'm wrong. Good selection, Ant! Be interesting to see who picks what.

Blomljud --- Moon Safari --- Trollheart

Trollheart · 12-05-2013, 11:10 AM

OK then this seems to be how it's panning out at the moment...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

The Custodian - Necessary Wasted Time (2012/2013)

DJChameleon

Quote:

Moon Safari - [Blomljud] (2008)

Trollheart

Blomljud | Moon Safari

Quote:

David Sylvian - Gone To Earth (1986)

Ninetales

Quote:

Toto - Falling In Between (2006)

Unknown Soldier (with a possibility of Trollheart sticking his big nose in here too)

As two weeks takes us close to Christmas time let's say we'll give this to Jan 1, as surely nobody will be in the mood to review albums over Xmas. Which means theoretically we have almost a month to get our reviews done, then we start off fresh in January. Sound ok to everyone?

Unknown Soldier · 12-25-2013, 04:02 AM

My Toto review should be up soon, just said this to remind everybody else to wrap theirs up in the next week as well.

Trollheart · 12-27-2013, 05:36 PM

Yeah you're right, need to get mine organised. Spending so much time getting the Year in Review for Sunday's update and stacking up those awards. But I'll get it done, as they say.

Ninetales · 12-04-2013, 11:15 AM

Well I like what ive heard from Japan and i really liked Secrets of the Beehive so imma take on Gone to Earth. Robert Fripp being there just makes this choice all the easier.

Unknown Soldier · 12-04-2013, 12:13 PM

Given that Toto are one of my all-time favourite bands, I'm inclined to pick them, but I'll wait and see if anybody else picks them first.

Trollheart · 12-28-2013, 11:37 AM

Blomljud --- Moon Safari --- 2008

I have to be honest: when I looked at this and saw that there were two ten minute tracks, a fifteen minute one and a THIRTY-TWO minute one I paled. However I've really liked what I've heard from Moon Safari so far, so I'm happy to give it a ago. The album title, apparently, means "Flowersound", and as it unfolds I can see why: there's a definite sense of nature and a real pastoral feeling about this, the Swedish prog band's second effort. It starts off well with a Beach Boys-style acapella opener that's very pleasant, and on into a nice piano-driven second track, with a very early Genesis sound about it, very soothing vocals from Simon Åkesson and Petter Sandström and some lovely harmonies, reminds me a bit of Blunstone or Woolfson. Certain sense of Spock's Beard about the piano parts too. Really nice. Have to say I'm really impressed.

Nice Country feel to the appropriately-named “In the countryside”, some really sweet percussion courtesy of Tobias Lundgren, puts me in mind of “Hedgerow” off the Big Big Train “English Electric Part I” album. Sort of. “Moonwalk” is a great instrumental with a lot of guitar in it --- Sandström plays guitar on this album as well as singing (and a lot of other instruments too!) but I think the bulk of the fretwork comes from Pontus Åkesson, especially the beautiful twelve-string and some lush mandolin --- very uptempo. Two ten-minuters follow each other but really this is so consistently good I don't even notice: I'm just kind of letting the music wash over me. Lovely. These guys remind me in a way of an old German pop band called Freiheit, which nobody will know. Nobody. But I have yet to hear anything resembling a bad track, and we're more than halfway through.

“Yasgur's farm” has more country/bluegrass style guitar with a lovely booming synth, rippling piano ... ah hell I could go on but this is supposed to be short. Short, Trollheart! Look it up! Okay, I'm shutting up and just enjoying the music until ...hey! They just robbed a Springsteen lyric there! “Rosalita”, I think. Nice little reel or jig or something celtic anyway in “Lady of the woodlands”, one of the few short tracks, which is followed by the other, “A tale of three and tree”, which melds the seventies art-prog of Gabriel's Genesis with the soft rock crooning of David Gates and throws some eighties Alan Parsons in for good measure. Just perfect.

Yes, I'm aware I'm going on to my fourth paragraph and the massive epic has yet to hit me, but this album is too good to just write a few lines, sorry: it needs to be properly treated, and I'm already lining it up for a full review in my journal next year. The vocal harmonies come totally into their own on this track, then we're into that epic, the penultimate track, almost long enough to be an album in its own right and split into four sections. “Other half of the sky” runs to a total of almost thirty-two minutes, its first part, “Written in the stars” a soft, lush, gentle lullaby that really showcases the vocal talent of, well, both lead vocalists, as it's hard to know who takes lead here.

Some beautiful piano work and gentle guitar just frame the melody perfectly, and there's a feel of early Floyd around the “Meddle” era here as well as of course classic Genesis. It kicks up then on bouncy Hammond for “The meaning of success”, taking a turn somewhat into seventies Yes territory but without ditching all the already-mentioned influences, and with more of a role for the guitar in a harder sense. Returning to its softer acoustic tone then for part three, “The child inside the man” as it slows down again, getting nice and pastoral with some flute and piano, ah, but then it ramps up with a superb keyboard solo and much faster percussion, superb Hammond coming in evoking the best of the likes of “Cinema show” and “One for the vine”, then some beautiful Gilmouresque guitar leads in an instrumental to open part four, “After all”, with some recorded broadcast stuff going on in the background a la Porcupine Tree. A definite sense of a big closing section as the vocal comes back in against powerful evocative Hammond. It's amazing, but over half an hour has just gone by and it doesn't even feel like it.

Long as it is though, and epic closer though it would have made, there's one more track to go. With a real feel of “The carpet crawlers”, final track “To sail beyond the sunset” finishes off this album perfectly, with a pastoral, gentle, lush tune that just plays out the album in a perfect almost coda after the gargantuan “Other half of the sky”. What an album!

TRACKLISTING

1. Constant bloom
2. Methuselah's children
3. In the countryside
4. Moonwalk
5. Bluebells
6. The ghost of flowers past
7. Yasgur's farm
8. Lady of the woodlands
9. A tale of three and tree
10. Other half of the sky
(i) Written in the stars
(ii) The meaning of success
(iii) The child inside the man
(iv) After all
11. To sail beyond the sunset

Rating: 10/10 (I know; it's really just that good!) I have GOT to get the rest of their discography! Ant, my man...?

Anteater · 12-28-2013, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Rating: 10/10 (I know; it's really just that good!) I have GOT to get the rest of their discography! Ant, my man...?

Moon Safari have been nice enough to put their entire discography up on BandCamp for streaming/buying/lyric reference purposes, so here's a link to each album if you plan on buying their stuff later on. I don't mind PMing you the albums though, mate!

Debut album: A Doorway To Summer (2005) - A Doorway to Summer | Moon Safari

Third album - Lover's End (2010) - Lover's End | Moon Safari

Newest album - Himlabacken Vol. 1 (2013)
- Himlabacken vol. 1 (24 bit version) | Moon Safari

12-03-2013, 06:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	OK well I liked Moon Safari so yoink! I would strongly disagree with the inclusion of Toto however: for me they have always been an AOR band, but you know, if I have the time then maybe I'll just listen to that too and see if I'm wrong. Good selection, Ant! Be interesting to see who picks what. Blomljud --- Moon Safari --- Trollheart __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-27-2013, 05:36 PM	#6 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Yeah you're right, need to get mine organised. Spending so much time getting the Year in Review for Sunday's update and stacking up those awards. But I'll get it done, as they say. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-28-2013, 11:37 AM	#9 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Blomljud --- Moon Safari --- 2008 I have to be honest: when I looked at this and saw that there were two ten minute tracks, a fifteen minute one and a THIRTY-TWO minute one I paled. However I've really liked what I've heard from Moon Safari so far, so I'm happy to give it a ago. The album title, apparently, means "Flowersound", and as it unfolds I can see why: there's a definite sense of nature and a real pastoral feeling about this, the Swedish prog band's second effort. It starts off well with a Beach Boys-style acapella opener that's very pleasant, and on into a nice piano-driven second track, with a very early Genesis sound about it, very soothing vocals from Simon Åkesson and Petter Sandström and some lovely harmonies, reminds me a bit of Blunstone or Woolfson. Certain sense of Spock's Beard about the piano parts too. Really nice. Have to say I'm really impressed. Nice Country feel to the appropriately-named “In the countryside”, some really sweet percussion courtesy of Tobias Lundgren, puts me in mind of “Hedgerow” off the Big Big Train “English Electric Part I” album. Sort of. “Moonwalk” is a great instrumental with a lot of guitar in it --- Sandström plays guitar on this album as well as singing (and a lot of other instruments too!) but I think the bulk of the fretwork comes from Pontus Åkesson, especially the beautiful twelve-string and some lush mandolin --- very uptempo. Two ten-minuters follow each other but really this is so consistently good I don't even notice: I'm just kind of letting the music wash over me. Lovely. These guys remind me in a way of an old German pop band called Freiheit, which nobody will know. Nobody. But I have yet to hear anything resembling a bad track, and we're more than halfway through. “Yasgur's farm” has more country/bluegrass style guitar with a lovely booming synth, rippling piano ... ah hell I could go on but this is supposed to be short. Short, Trollheart! Look it up! Okay, I'm shutting up and just enjoying the music until ...hey! They just robbed a Springsteen lyric there! “Rosalita”, I think. Nice little reel or jig or something celtic anyway in “Lady of the woodlands”, one of the few short tracks, which is followed by the other, “A tale of three and tree”, which melds the seventies art-prog of Gabriel's Genesis with the soft rock crooning of David Gates and throws some eighties Alan Parsons in for good measure. Just perfect. Yes, I'm aware I'm going on to my fourth paragraph and the massive epic has yet to hit me, but this album is too good to just write a few lines, sorry: it needs to be properly treated, and I'm already lining it up for a full review in my journal next year. The vocal harmonies come totally into their own on this track, then we're into that epic, the penultimate track, almost long enough to be an album in its own right and split into four sections. “Other half of the sky” runs to a total of almost thirty-two minutes, its first part, “Written in the stars” a soft, lush, gentle lullaby that really showcases the vocal talent of, well, both lead vocalists, as it's hard to know who takes lead here. Some beautiful piano work and gentle guitar just frame the melody perfectly, and there's a feel of early Floyd around the “Meddle” era here as well as of course classic Genesis. It kicks up then on bouncy Hammond for “The meaning of success”, taking a turn somewhat into seventies Yes territory but without ditching all the already-mentioned influences, and with more of a role for the guitar in a harder sense. Returning to its softer acoustic tone then for part three, “The child inside the man” as it slows down again, getting nice and pastoral with some flute and piano, ah, but then it ramps up with a superb keyboard solo and much faster percussion, superb Hammond coming in evoking the best of the likes of “Cinema show” and “One for the vine”, then some beautiful Gilmouresque guitar leads in an instrumental to open part four, “After all”, with some recorded broadcast stuff going on in the background a la Porcupine Tree. A definite sense of a big closing section as the vocal comes back in against powerful evocative Hammond. It's amazing, but over half an hour has just gone by and it doesn't even feel like it. Long as it is though, and epic closer though it would have made, there's one more track to go. With a real feel of “The carpet crawlers”, final track “To sail beyond the sunset” finishes off this album perfectly, with a pastoral, gentle, lush tune that just plays out the album in a perfect almost coda after the gargantuan “Other half of the sky”. What an album! TRACKLISTING 1. Constant bloom 2. Methuselah's children 3. In the countryside 4. Moonwalk 5. Bluebells 6. The ghost of flowers past 7. Yasgur's farm 8. Lady of the woodlands 9. A tale of three and tree 10. Other half of the sky (i) Written in the stars (ii) The meaning of success (iii) The child inside the man (iv) After all 11. To sail beyond the sunset Rating: 10/10 (I know; it's really just that good!) I have GOT to get the rest of their discography! Ant, my man...? __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

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12-04-2013, 11:15 AM	#7 (permalink)
Ninetales Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: livin wild Posts: 2,179	Well I like what ive heard from Japan and i really liked Secrets of the Beehive so imma take on Gone to Earth. Robert Fripp being there just makes this choice all the easier.