by Kev Rowland | Jun 4, 2018 | Reviews
by Kev Rowland
When I discovered that this album had been released I was somewhat surprised, as it was so long since I had last heard from the band that I actually thought that they had stopped. The last album I reviewed of theirs was back in 1996, but here in 2018, they have released their latest album, titled to celebrate thirty years in the business, an incredible achievement for any band. Musically they have taken three British bands as references, and tend to move between Horslips, Fairport Convention, and Jethro Tull, sometimes bringing them all together. Now, I have been known to listen to the odd bit of folk rock here and there, and indeed last year travelled from one side of the world to the other just to see Fairport Convention (okay, I also really wanted to see Show of Hands and particularly Richard Thompson, but you get the drift). According to Google that is a one-way trek of 11,750 miles (and I did come back to NZ, honest, straight after the gigs), so it is a form of music I really enjoy.
I prefer folk rock to straight folk, although I do enjoy it as well, as it has so many dynamics and power which is taken to a whole new level with the use of electric guitar. Somewhat strangely there is a cover on here, namely “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”, but somewhat unsurprisingly it does fit incredibly well with layers of mandolins and fine violin, which then takes the lead on a great jig in the middle. Band leader Leif Sorbye continues to show exactly what can be developed when one has a great love and understanding of the genre. Perhaps the most poignant number is the last, an instrumental medley simply titled “Swarb”. It is probably safe to say that David Cyril Eric Swarbrick (5 April 1941 – 3 June 2016) is the most influential fiddler in the last fifty plus years in the folk movement. Although I have seen Fairport in concert more times that I can remember, I only saw him play with the band once, sat in a wheelchair connected to oxygen, but still letting his fingers fly. The tribute here from Tempest is the closest I have heard to any band capturing the violin/mandolin interplay made famous by Swarb (all credit to Kathryn Buys for an amazing performance), apart from when Chris Leslie and Ric Sanders take flight in the current incarnation of Fairport.
I was playing this in the car, and when the song finished and the next album started I audibly groaned because it was over and I was enjoying listening to it so much. I must say that sort of reaction is incredibly rare for me, especially given the number of albums I play each week for review purposes, so it shows just how much I was invested in the music. This is a wonderful album, and let’s just hope that the guys keep going as long as Fairport, currently touring in their 51styear. I love it, and I can see why Robert Berry is so involved.
9/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 4, 2018 | News, Reviews
Some four years on from their second album ‘Bani Ahead’, this the Italian masters of progressive gypsy electro-eclectic jazz returned in 2015 with ‘All You Can Eat’. As with their previous album. this is again fully instrumental, primarily because there is just no room at all for any vocals. They just wouldn’t fit! Yet again there had been a slight line-up change, with bassist Domenico Angarano making way for Vincenzo Lamagna. Here is a band that is continuing to push the boundaries of progressive jazz-rock, taking the likes of Zappa into areas that even he hadn’t thought of. Ricccardo Villari (electric and acoustic violin) has obviously been heavily influenced by the great Stéphane Grappelli, but whereas he normally only had to battle against a guitarist (admittedly he made his career working opposite one of the greatest of all time), here we also have a sax player, a trumpeter, plus Derek Di Perri on harmonica. Derek isn’t a blues wailer either, he is short and sharp, tying in the rest of the brass to provide a structured wall for the others to play against.
There are times when the guys are languid, structured, layered, all taking their time to add their touches to the music, while at others they are battling, with the brass and violin competing against the electric guitar to see who can be the most dominant and have a major impact. Then behind it, all Salvatore Rainone is keeping it all together on the drums, and Vincenzo has a wonderfully warm bass sound and feels that provides the foundation for the others. The title suggests that there is room here for over-indulgence, and the musicians, both individually, and collectively, do push proceedings well into the realm of excess, allowing themselves the joy complex arrangements and dramatic compositional shifts and transitions, until they are finally satiated and there just isn’t space for another morsel. Moonjune Records keep releasing amazing albums by fine artists, and this is yet another.
8/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 4, 2018 | News, Reviews
By Kev Rowland
Peter Matuchniak has been around the progressive scene for nearly forty years now, firstly with Janysium, and then with Mach One when he and Simon Strevens were both asked to join. They became a popular band in the Eighties, with various releases and performances at The Marquee etc. Fast forward quite a few years and I came to know Peter, who was by now living in the States, both for his solo works and with Gekko Projekt. So when I heard that he had a new band I asked how they had come together, and where on earth the name came from: “After completing the second Gekko Projekt album, the keyboard player Vance and I were discussing plans for a new album. At the time I had just played my second live solo show and was discussing an album with my bassist, Steve Bonino. Of all the musicians I have met over my time, these are by far two of the very strongest composers and great to work with for ideas creatively. So I had the idea of doing a new project with just the three of us. Vance came up with the concept of Gyreland which Steve and I added our parts to and we would work in a studio on both story and songs together. We worked extremely fast and had the whole album written within a few months last year. Then we pulled in Jimmy Keegan on drums, and he nailed the whole album in one day — extraordinary! I had a temporary band name made up of the first two letters of our last name: Bo, Ma, Gl, and pronounced it phonetically as “Bomaggle”. It was never intended to be our real band name until I accidentally referred to us as “Bomber Goggles”. We all laughed, but the name stuck and everyone we knew told us to keep the name!”
But what about the album itself, it is a concept, but what is the story? “The album ‘Gyreland’ tells the story about a new continent that is constructed out of the plastic debris that is floating in our oceans. As the currents swirl, they bring the plastic closer together, something we are witnessing in our oceans today. The oceanic swirl is called the Gyre, and so in our story the new inhabitant’s name this new floating continent “Gyreland”. As more people are drawn to this new place, they experience a strange phenomenon, where they can almost anticipate each other’s thoughts and it allows them to build Gyreland at an unprecedented pace. Some people think that the gyre provides strange forces or power, whereas others believe it enhances our empathy or telepathy. Or perhaps it’s the earth’s way of rewarding those that choose to take care of her? We never truly find out the exact reason, but it attracts the interest of countries around the Pacific Rim who now want a piece of this power. Three powerful countries form an alliance to invade Gyreland. At home, their citizens protest, but the “Triangle of Power” proceeds with their invasion plans, as well as plans to break the alliance once they get what they want out of this new source of power. The new people of Gyreland have no armies or weapons, and so they wait uneasily for the invasion to occur. Some hope that the oceans that gave them this second chance will provide them with an answer. An answer in the wistful waves. But on the day of the invasion, something strange happens. As the invading soldiers set foot on Gyreland, they are overwhelmed by a sense of empathy that prevents them from wanting to fight. Perhaps this empathy is the same force that allowed Gyreland to be built in the first place? Whatever the reason, it makes it impossible for any hostile takeover to occur, because the new invaders simply abandon their army and join the people of Gyreland. A new turning point in the history of mankind.”
Given that the topic of plastic in the oceans is incredibly topical at present, in many ways it could be argued that this is the most relevant progressive album out there. I have been watching programmes on the Great Pacific garbage patch, which is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean discovered between 1985 and 1988. Estimates of its size vary between being equivalent to Texas or equivalent to Russia, but at the very least it is huge. And now we have a progressive rock band singing a story about a mythical continent that is built out of the plastic debris – seems more relevant than “Tales of Topographic Oceans” to me.
I can honestly say that I have been playing this album a great deal, as it was sent to me digitally but wanted to wait for the physical CD to arrive so kept playing this on rotation until that happened. But, events conspired against me and Peter and after more than a month it still hasn’t got here and I just can’t wait to write about it any longer! It took me ages to work out what musically the band was reminding me of, as in many ways it is so far removed from the normal regressive progressive rock I am sent, and then finally it hit me. Utopia! There is something about their melodic crossover poppy progressive rock with harmony vocals that I can imagine Todd and the boys coming up in their heyday. But, while it is indeed reminiscent of how Utopia would approach something, it is very much music for 2018 and not what was being produced some 40 plus years ago.
This is a debut album, but by a band whose members have been working in the scene for a great many years, and the guy who dropped in to provide drums completed the whole album in one day! (okay, so Jimmy is an incredibly well-known drummer, but that is some feat for anyone). I am not going to pick a particular track and point to the benefits of this or that, but will just say that this is an incredibly accessible and enjoyable album from the very first time it is played, and it only gets better the more it is listened to. Superb.
9/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 3, 2018 | News, Reviews
By Kev Rowland
Back with their fifth studio album, it has been a while since I last heard this German band that morphed out of Sieges Even, as there have been two other albums between this and 2011’s ‘Touchstones’. I would have classified their last album as solid neo-prog, but while I do think that classification is still the best place for this as a whole, there is much more crossover in what they are doing now. This has a lightness and deftness of touch to it, yet at the same time, there is a maturity and feeling of a band knowing exactly what they want to get across to the audience. Bringing in RPWL’s Yogi Lang and Kalle Wallner to undertake the production was a touch of genius, as that act has also been through a great deal of change as they have moved to adulthood, and together they have all combined here to show that there is a prog band that has very much come of age.
The current line-up, consisting of Markus Steffen (guitar), Arno Menses (vocals), Ralf Schwager (bass), Markus Maichel (keyboards) and Dirk Brand (drums), has remained unchanged for quite some time. Markus and Arno starting working together in Sieges Even before moving away, while Ralf (Dreamscape) and Dirk Brand (Axxis, Geoff Downes & John Wetton) also have strong reputations, but it is as this quintet that they are now becoming best known. The vocals soar, the melodies hit while the harmonies and musicianship are all that one would expect and want from a band like this.
The approach is far more song-based than before, and although they can hit hard when they want to (witness the keyboard-led melodic hard rock introduction to “Every Able Hand”), they are also content to lighten it up and let Arno take center stage. This is an incredibly accessible progressive rock album, one that brings the bands of the Nineties right up to date, and also not being afraid to use hints of the Seventies when the need is right, but all wrapped up in commercially acceptable radio-friendly songs that are a delight.
8/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 3, 2018 | News, Reviews
by Kev Rowland
Born and raised in Kobe, Japan, Takaaki Otomo started learning classical piano at the age of five, moving onto jazz when he was fifteen, inspired particularly by Oscar Peterson. He has released a number of CDs as a leader and sideman, and then in 2014 moved to New York City. Composer Bernard Hoffer heard him playing at a restaurant in New York, and knew that it would be wonderful to hear him record in a trio setting, and set about making that a reality. Takaaki was joined by Noriko Ueda (bass) and Jared Schonig (drums), and they selected five originals, four jazz standards, plus one Broadway show tune (Takaaki’s suggestion) and two novelties from Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The originals were two tunes by Takaaki, one by Noriko, and two of Hoffer’s tunes written specifically for this project. Although Hoffer doesn’t perform, he was heavily involved, arranging eight of the numbers on the show.
Takaaki (pronounced Tock-ah-OCKie, rhymes with hockey) is an incredibly lyrical and accomplished pianist, and uses the full range of the grand piano, while in Ueda and Schonig he has discovered some incredibly capable and willing partners. There are times when the trio are in full flight, and it is incredibly majestic. Takaaki did start learning classical music, and this shows in some of the pieces as they move in and out of the jazz form. I must comment on their version of “Mars”, as while I have heard it undertaken in both its original form and with rock bands, this is the first time I have come across it as a jazz trio. It starts very true to the original, but at just under two minutes in length, Takaaki starts to stretch his musical wings and instead of playing the piece as composed, he starts to use it as an influence and plays in and around the piece. Overall it is an album that can be enjoyed on many levels, always pleasant and interesting without ever really pushing the boundaries a great deal.
7/10
