In 2015, after a gap of some sixteen years, Drifting Sun returned with their third album. Keyboard player Pat Sanders had decided it was time, and created a brand-new version of the band, with himself being the only person who had appeared on the two albums in the Nineties. Making up for lost time they have released four acclaimed albums since then, as well as a number of singles which have often included bonus songs which were not available on a physical CD and were only available as downloads. So, a decision was taken towards the end of 2019 to release a physical album (and download of course), containing 12 songs ranging from solo piano pieces to full-blown band numbers, plus some interesting demos and various outtakes. Full details of where each track originally appeared are included in a 6-panel Digipak along with a full-color 12-page booklet.
In my humble opinion Drifting Sun’s last album, ‘Planet Junkie’, is their best album to date and one of the few to get full marks from me, and I am sure many people have discovered the band because of that release and hopefully, they will be looking back through the catalog. But there are distinct and different areas of the band, and this collection only includes rarities from the time when Peter Falconer was singing with Drifting Sun, who appeared on the albums ‘Trip The Life Fantastic’. ‘Safe Asylum’ and ‘Twilight’. Having played this a lot now, one has to wonder just how so many of these songs did not make it onto a full album yet given their release rate they are already putting many other bands to shame. Yes, some of them are solo pieces, and to my ears, there is probably more piano than normal, but there are some real delights on here. It is a nice bookend to Falconer’s time with the band, as he is a wonderful singer, melodic and emotional, and while there have been a few line-up changes even during that short time, there is a restrained beauty as everyone comes together.
Musically it is often based on piano, with those lush vocals, and then the other guys coming in and out as the need arises. Sometimes their contribution to the music is by not taking part at all. Take for example “Atlantis” which originally featured on the “Remedy” single: this song is basically Peter and Pat who provides piano (plus there are some strings) and is simply stunning. Harmonies abound and I fall into the music headlong, immersing myself in the emotions. I really enjoyed the solo piano pieces such as “Bubble” – I could listen to a whole album of music like that (Pat – are you reading this?) – and although the album is slightly more fractured due to coming together from different musicians and time periods the overall result is something which is a delight from start to end. There are some gems on here to be discovered, and it is great they have not been “lost” in the world of digital downloads but are available in a physical form all in one place. More crossover to my ears these days then neo-prog, this is a rarities compilation worth discovering for the quality of the music and not just the scarcity of the material. 8/10 Kev Rowland
I am very used to being late to the party, especially with living at the end of the world, so I have only just come across this album which was released in 2012. It was the debut album from German band Effloresce, following on from a 3-track EP and according to their website, it was very well received at the time, even being voted best progressive metal album of 2012 by some. But their site has not been updated since 2016, although I have tracked down singer Nicki Weber and found a post from 2018 where she says the band will still do a second album, so there may be hope yet. Hope? Yep, I want to hear more from these guys as unlike many bands within the spectrum who either embrace metal so hard they forget the prog or vice versa, these guys have a strong grip on both sides of the spectrum moving along the scale as it suits them.
This means we can get numbers that are quite neo-prog in many ways, except often with more metallic drumming, and then we can go into full-on metallic-style prog with the band fully firing. Then at the front, there is Nicki, who often sings like an angel but can also growl when she needs to, immediately making me think of Angela Gossow. There are times when they remind me somewhat of Lacuna Coil, which did make me wonder if the album title is a tip of the hat to the 2002 album ‘Comalies’, and like them, they have a very diverse approach to the job at hand. The sound and production are superb, but one would expect nothing less seeing as how the mighty Dan Swanö mixed and mastered the release. It is polished, interesting throughout with plenty of movement and change in the overall approach, by a band who are skilled and a great singer. It never sounds like a debut by an unknown band but instead by one who has been around for years and is at the top of their game. Why they have not been picked up by a label such as Nuclear Blast is something of a surprise, and one can only hope the second album is still a possibility, as this is a band with a lot to offer. 8/10 Kev Rowland
When Frank Wyatt was diagnosed with cancer, it led him to think he ought to release at least one more album, and for the assistance, he turned back to his old friends. This means that on this album we have everyone who played on Happy The Man’s debut from 1977 (plus everyone who was there at the time of their last release ‘The Muse Awakens’ in 2004), every player from Pedal Giant Animals’ 2006 album plus everyone from Oblivion Sun’s 2013 release ‘The High Places’ as well as a few other guests. The album took far longer to come together than was originally expected, as not only did many people live in different states, but Wyatt had to keep undergoing treatments. However, as Wyatt puts it “The album’s concept turned into a sort of ‘goodbye, or one last swing at it’ as I had been diagnosed with the big ‘C’ and told I was short on time. I had no idea the project would take so long! I’m five years out of warranty now and still kicking. Perhaps the project has been what’s kept me going; I’ve been too stubborn to give up on completing it. I plan more work already… music is great medicine.”
Happy The Man was undoubtedly one of the most important progressive bands to come out of America in the late Seventies, mixing influences from the likes of Genesis, Yes and Gentle Giant with more jazzlike tendencies and often producing albums which were mostly instrumental. Needless to say, given how virtually everyone on this recording has been involved with keyboard player Frank Wyatt and guitarist/vocalist Stan Whitaker during their long musical journey together, one would expect this to be somewhat similar, and it is. I still remember hearing Happy The Man’s ‘The Muse Awakens’ where I said “it is hard to believe that this is prog from America as it definitely belongs at home in the UK – with the way that it switches both tempo and melody reminiscent of a style of prog music that virtually no-one plays anymore. Mostly it is relaxing, almost soothing, but at no time it can be said to be simple background music as there is just so much going on.” I could have left it there without the speech marks as all those words apply to this album as well. There are some pieces where we have some wonderful piano and keyboard interplay, others where there is a great deal of complexity, others where there are lush vocals, and others where there is none.
This is a soaring, wonderful, glorious progressive rock that embraces the genre without trying to become anything it is not. This is not neo-prog, or prog metal or any of those sorts of things, but rather American polished progressive rock which looked firmly across the Atlantic for influences more than 40 years ago and is still doing so today. This album is superb in every way and should be in every progressive rock lover’s collection. 8/10 Kev Rowland
Babal – The Big Everything – Melodic Revolution Records
Released at the beginning of 2020, ‘Frank’s Lament’ is the third of the EP’s completing the second part of the trilogy, which will be finalized with the release of the ‘(I’m Just A) Spirit In A Meat Suit’ later this year. Singer Karen Langley suffered a potentially terminal blood cancer in 2019 (she undertook extensive chemo, which was brutal, and a stem cell transplant), and she is now in remission. Because of this, the band has made the decision that all profits from this release will go to Macmillan Cancer Support. The last EP featured just two songs while this one has four, with the opening title cut being the longest at more than 9 minutes. A couple of shorter numbers then lead us into a live version of “Endless Re-Run Society”.
The three EP’s every run to more than 20 minutes in length, combining together to form one full-length album, so perhaps it isn’t surprising they are similar in style, although “The Axe” is quite different to the others with a concentration on Karen’s vocals combined with whirling synths. It makes me think of a very modern folk song in terms of its lyrics and approach, not something I would normally associate with this band. Karen is often using her voice as an instrument, challenging norms, so it is nice to hear her singing with emotion in a more “normal” manner. “Bones & Blood” starts off almost orchestral in fashion, but soon we get the jagged edge and syncopation as Rob and Jon come in to turn it into something quite different. Their music is a combination of performance art, space rock, krautrock, Talking Heads, RIO and experimentation and this all comes to a climax in the live cut which ends the EP. The three EP’s together make quite a set, certainly worthy of an investigation who wants their progressive rock to sound nothing like Genesis.
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