17th June 1965 – 20th November 2021 Big Big Train are extremely saddened to announce the death of David Longdon this afternoon in hospital in Nottingham, UK at the age of 56 following an accident in the early hours of Friday morning. He is survived by his two daughters Amelia and Eloise, his mother Vera and his partner Sarah Ewing.
Sarah Ewing comments: “David and I were best friends, partners and soul mates and I am utterly devastated by his loss. He was a beautiful person and I feel so lucky to have known and loved him.”
Greg Spawton comments: “We are absolutely stunned to lose David. It is unspeakably cruel that a quirk of fate in the early hours of yesterday morning has deprived him and his loved ones of a happy future together and all of the opportunities, both personal and musical, that awaited him next year and beyond.”
David joined Big Big Train in 2009, immediately making a significant impact with that year’s The Underfall Yard album. He proceeded to record a further eight studio albums with the band, including the forthcoming Welcome To The Planet, as well as fronting the band for a series of highly acclaimed concerts from 2015 onwards. In addition last year he released an album with the late Judy Dyble under the name Dyble Longdon. On the day before his accident he had been in the studio working on a new solo album.
“David made a huge impact on my life both musically and personally,” Spawton continues. “I loved him like a brother and already feel his loss very deeply. He was a true creative visionary with extraordinary depth of talent. But above all he was a first rate and very kind man. His family, friends, BBT bandmates and crew will miss him terribly.”
The band’s Welcome To The Planet album remains scheduled for release on 28th January 2022. A further statement regarding the band’s 2022 concerts and other activities will follow in due course.
The band and their management request privacy for David’s family and friends at this extremely difficult time.
After a few years, on 11 December 2021 they will be back in Veruno with the show “The Watch plays Genesis – a prog Journey 1970-76 ”which will re-propose the most significant songs of the band English from the album Trespass (1970) to A Trick of the Tail (1976).
The unique way they know how to interpret Genesis songs – counting on a voice that like no other comes close to that of Peter Gabriel – it will offer the opportunity to hear the best of the first production of the British group that made Rock history. The same guitarist as Genesis Steve Hackett (guest on guitar on their latest album) said: “The Watch is a band of very talented people and I recommend them”. Paul Whitehead (Genesis graphic artist): “The band who remind me most of the Genesis magic. “
UK Prog Newsletter: “What’s unique here are the vocals, so very similar to those of a young Peter Gabriel ” The Watch Giorgio Gabriel – lead guitar, 12 strings acoustic and el guitars Marco Fabbri – drums and percussions Simone Rossetti – lead vocals, flute Valerio de Vittorio – piano, organ, mellotron, synthesizers, acoustic guitar, vocals Mattia Rossetti – bass guitar, 12 strings acoustic and el guitars, Taurus bass pedals, vocals
The Watch plays Genesis: “A Prog Journey 1970-76” SATURDAY 11 DECEMBER 2021 9:00 pm (open door 8:00 pm) AUDITORIUM FORUM 19 via Roma 8 – Gattico-Veruno (NO)
Clive Nolan & Oliver Wakeman’s “Dark Fables” will be released on November 5, 2021. This standalone release was originally the third CD from Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman’s “Tales By Gaslight” box set released earlier this year.
“Dark Fables” contains over 30 minutes of music conceived for the abandoned “Frankenstein” album which would have joined the duo’s “Jabberwocky” and “Hound Of The Baskervilles” collaborations. As with the previous albums, “Dark Fables” features the duo’s virtuosic keyboard playing with sublime performances from Gordon Giltrap, Paul Manzi (The Sweet, Arena, Oliver Wakeman Band). Andy Sears (Twelfth Night), Karl Groom (Threshold), David Mark Pearce (Oliver Wakeman Band, Munroe’s Thunder) and Charlotte Dickerson.
The set also includes unused pieces from their “The Hound Of The Baskervilles” album; “The Man Called Sherlock”, which was the original version of the “Overture”, and “221B”, inspired by Sherlock Holmes’ famous address in Baker Street. In addition, the release also features Rick Wakeman narrating the “Jabberwocky Poem” in full, a perfect way to round off the twists and turns of another Nolan/Wakeman project!
Clive Nolan (Pendragon, Arena) and Oliver Wakeman (YES, Strawbs) first combined their considerable keyboard and compositional talents to create the two aforementioned rock opera/concept albums in 1999 and 2002. Peter Pracownik was the creative behind the original “The Hound Of The Baskervilles” artwork 20 years ago and has employed his talents again for the sleeve of “Dark Fables”.
You can listen to the single release, “Why Do You Hate Me” on Oliver’s YouTube channel:https://youtu.be/hHgejgg5Wy4
Track Listing:
1 The Overture 2 I’d Give You Anything 3 The Mirror 4 Elizabeth 5 Why Do You Hate Me? 6 The Wedding Approaches 7 Time Passe 8 A Descent Into Madness 9 221B 10 The Man Called Sherlock 11 The Baker Street Irregulars 12 The Jabberwocky
Melodic Revolution Records is thrilled to annouance that Belgian progressive rock project Transport Aerian, known for its acclaimed works Darkblue (2015) and Therianthrope (2017) is back with the new lineup and the new album Skywound. Skywound is a concept album whose main themes are focused on the tragedy of an ordinary loving couple caught in the turbulent events of the world preparing for the war and standing on the brink of global catastrophe. It reviews the global problems, ranging from political to spiritual from the perspective of a human: the story behind the album concept could be about each and every one of us. It combines the elements of classic prog and contemporary heavy and experimental music, exploring the vintage production designs, post-modernist tint in lyrics, and is made as a seamless piece of music, in the tradition of progressive rock albums that are meant to do the same as Skywound does – to tell the story. Album will be released as a limited edition double-digipack with a booklet artwork exclusively designed by award-winning Belgian artist Hans Boeykens (most known by his graphic novel Aleize) and will be available worldwide both as a CD and on all digital platforms.
The lineup for Skywound and the live performances features contemporary composer and pianist Umut Eldem, Gent’s young and gifted drummer Paul De Smet, Transport Aerian’s long-term partner, experimental guitar player Stefan Boeykens, and Hamlet himself who is in charge of the project since its creation.
Tracklisting
1. Shall Not Be (Hamlet) 2. At The Cliff (Hamlet) 3. Fracture I (Boeykens) 4. Lunatic (Boeykens) 5. Latgalian Gothic (Hamlet) 6. Falling 20 (Hamlet) 7. Fracture II (Boeykens) 8. Kuznetsov (De Smet) 9. Fracture III (Boeykens) 10. The Effect (Boeykens) 11. Moses (Boeykens) 12. Fracture IV (Boeykens) 13. Skywound (Hamlet)
All lyrics by Hamlet. Music as mentioned in the tracklist, arrangements by Hamlet and Transport Aerian. Produced and engineered by Hamlet. Photography by Linde Van Syngel.
Hamlet: vocals, bass guitar, electric guitars (4,13), programming (2,5,13) Stefan Boeykens: electric and acoustic guitars, programming (4,9,10) Umut Eldem: keyboards, electric organ, and piano Paul De Smet: drums, violin (5,6), programming (8)
At the young age of 70, Robert has just released his 6th solo recording, ROBEONE on LABEL. The keyboardist says, “Robeone is short for Robeoneknobe– a nickname I got years ago at work for being a huge ‘Star Wars’ fan. It stuck and I decided to use it for my music name.’”
ROBEONE’s Six instrumental keyboard compositions effortlessly flow into different styles of New Age, Jazz, Prog, and Fusion music. Robert uses a range of keyboard gear including Moog, Mellotron, Kurtzweil, Moog, Mellotron, Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Kurtzweil, Ensonic Roli Seaboard, EMU, and Ashun Sound Machine. He says: “It’s my wish that this music will take my listeners away from the current times into a musical journey that serves as an opportunity to feel better.”
Robert has been recording since the early 1970s with progressive rockers Mayson on Bearsville Records, pop-rock acts The States on Chrysalis and Boardwalk Records, the eclectic Tony Romero’s Vortex on Melodic Revolution Records, and the progressive rock group ZOOM with Paul Landry on New Age Music Planet Records. He’s worked with a number of artists—including notables Ronnie Spector and keyboards for Johnny Nash when “I Can See Clearly Now” was a hit. He played keyboards for the Award-Winning documentary Soundtrack “The Fiery Narrows – Following The Path Of John Charles Fremont.”
Robert continues to collaborate with many artists…. Recently he had a solo set at ProgStock and will be performing solo, as well, this spring 2022 at RoSFest. The ProgStock promoters dubbed Robert as the Patron Saint for the Bob Moog Foundation, for connecting them with that North Carolina-based non-profit!
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