Following the release of Dissolution,The Pineapple Thief announce their new concert album Hold Our Fire captured during their 16-date European headline tour in September 2018.
Holding up a mirror to our chaotic, social media-fixated society, Dissolution is a modern masterpiece that pulses with charged emotion – the perfect album for the times.
Hold Our Fire features eight concert performances of Dissolution tracks, including the singles “Far Below“, “Try As I Might“, “Threatening War” & “Uncovering Your Tracks“, as well as “3000 Days” from 2010 studio album Someone Here is Missingwith extra guitars from new guitarist George Marios.
The band’s virtuoso drummer, also known for his work with Porcupine Tree and King Crimson, Gavin Harrison reveals more about their performances for Hold Our Fire“I feel this live recording really captures the energy and spirit of the band playing together in front of a great enthusiastic crowd.”
It’s a feeling shared by frontman, composer and guitarist Bruce Soord“It’s a great souvenir from such a memorable tour. I am really looking forward to taking the show over to North America in November and mixing the record reminded me just how much fun we have playing live.”
1. Try As I Might (live) [04:49] 2. Threatening War (live) [06:43] 3. Uncovering Your Tracks (live) [04:38] 4. All That You`ve Got (live) [03:26] 5. Far Below (live) [04:46] 6. Not Naming Any Names (live) [02:16] 7. White Mist (live) [10:35] 8. Shed A Light (live) [05:44] 9. 3000 Days (live) [07:17]
Bruce Soord – guitars and vocals Gavin Harrison – drums Jon Sykes – bass Steve Kitch – keyboards George Marios – guitars and backing vocals (live)
Mixed by Bruce Soord (drums mixed by Gavin Harrison)Mastering by Steve Kitch
Sacramento, CA — November 6th, 2019 — Sacramento based progressive metal project LUNARare back with a new single from the sophomore studio album Eidolon, out on November 8th via Divebomb Records. Premiering today is animated video for “Comfort” which features guest appearance by Haken’s Richard Henshall, who plays an enticing guitar solo. Watch the video on YouTube
Alex Bosson, drummer and founder of LUNAR, commented:
“I’m very excited to get to debut the song ‘Comfort’ from the new album. Already, this early on, it seems to be a fan favorite. I think it has a good diversity with some aspects of pop, rock and, of course, metal and I think it turned out really well. Plus getting to have a guest solo by Rich Henshall of HAKEN is a big honor for me. The video was done by Miles Skarin of CRYSTAL SPOTLIGHT and he did such a phenomenal job! I hope everyone out there enjoys the song and the video as much as I do!”
LUNAR has been around since 2013. Bosson and guitarist/singer Ryan Erwin’s goal to create the genre-defiant music resulted in releases of a debut EP Provenance(2014) and a full-length album Theogony(2017).
In the Spring of 2018, Erwin unexpectedly passed away, but Bosson decided to continue on the project using this tragedy as an inspiration. The resulting release, Eidolon, is a concept album based around the cycle of life and death, and the stages of grief endured by those left behind.
The core line-up besides Bosson features bassist Ryan Price and singer Chandler Mogel, who previously appeared on Theogony, in addition to NovaReign’s guitarist Balmore Lemus. Eidolonalso includes guest contributions from members of Leprous, Haken, Caligula’s Horse, Fallujah, Thank You Scientist, among others.
Second studio album Eidolon out on November 8th via Divebomb Records
RUFFYUNZ is a partnership between Randy Pratt (Cactus/The Lizards), Emmy winning engineer JZ Barrell, and singer Ed Terry and a collection of drum and guitar masters. Guest artists include guitar legend Pat Travers and drummer T.C. Tolliver from The Plasmatics. The songs are mainly about sex, animalistic sex, with a couple of “Dark Dread” numbers thrown in for bad measure.
“Funky, Heavy & Tight” is RUFFYUNZ credo!
Bassist Randy Pratt on bass, pedals and riffs and is best known for his work with The Lizards & Cactus. Singer Ed Terry has sung live with Stevie Wonder, Sister Sledge, John Oates, Sissy Houston, Slash and recorded with John Lennon, Keith Richards, Talking Heads, Simply Red, Little Steven, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac, David Lee Roth, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner! JZ Barrell handles recording, engineering, mixing and arranging…he earns his writing credits. Jesse Berlin is the band’s “go-to-first guitarist” usually and helps set a bedrock with embellishments.
The band’s concept is to use “known” drummers and guitarists as guests on their records. Once the guest guitarist has done his or her thing, Jesse trades solos with them…and he really throws down the gauntlet, as he SHREDS!!
Says Randy, “The songs are written bass/drums first, creating a lot of grooves and BIG RIFFS. From decades of reading Bass Player magazine, it seems most song writing bassists don’t write on bass…so I hope that gives us a bit of a unique vibe….plus my ever growing collection of uncommon effect pedals, not intended for bass, influence the way I play and the stuff I come up with. After the sessions, my partner JZ Barrell arranges the music into more defined song form. Usually, Ed Terry writes his vocals and lyrics, quickly, and records them at his home studio. Amazingly, it seems like we go with his first takes 90% of the time! Also, he writes most of his vocals to bass and drums, which is ‘different’, too, isn’t it? Josh and I produce the records. Then guitar is added to make the compositions come alive, searching for that sweet spot where James Brown and Black Sabbath collide.”
RUFFYUNZ next record is in the works now with and exciting new cast of guest players!
Limited Edition 30-Disc Box Set Released December 6, 2019
Authorised by all band members
Madfish proudly present the ultimate box set of Gentle Giant music – Unburied Treasure. Highly regarded in the prog-rock world for the 12 albums they released between 1970 and 1980, this comprehensive set sees the band’s catalogue augmented by 15 new concert albums: seven never previously released, seven never previously officially released and one never previously released on CD. The 30-disc total also includes two posthumous live/outtake albums and a Blu-ray bonus disc. Also included are books, posters, replica promotional items and much more.
Gentle Giant members – Malcolm Mortimore, Kerry Minnear, Derek Shulman & Gary Green – reunited to unbox the first-ever copy of Unburied Treasure in front of fans at the 20th anniversary of GORGG (Global On-Reflection Giant Gathering) in New Jersey, USA, October 2019.
Giant emerged from the ashes of chart hitmakers Simon Dupree and the Big Sound to become standard-bearers of the Seventies progressive movement. Their career often paralleled Genesis, their neighbours in the record racks, but while they frequently fought shy of commerciality – largely due to their pop past – and paid the price in sales terms, their uncompromising attitude won them a strong following in continental Europe.
They also enjoyed cult status in the States. When Frank Zappa was asked in 1978 who he was currently listening to, he namechecked Queen and Gentle Giant. (Coincidentally, Roy Thomas Baker not only engineered Giant’s earliest sessions but went on to produce the iconic “Bohemian Rhapsody”.)
Strictly limited to 2,000 copies, this lavishly presented collection is clad in Bob Venables’ new artwork, based on the iconic sleeve created by illustrator and Bowie alumnus George Underwood for the band’s Vertigo label debut in 1970. That full album has been remixed for this release’s Blu-ray disc by prolific rock musician Steven Wilson, whose reputation for remixing prog-rock classics in recent years is second to none. The remix is available in high resolution 96/24 Stereo LPCM, 96/24 5.1 surround LPCM and DTS-HD 5.1 surround mixes, and the instrumental mixes for every track are also included.
The foundation of the set is the dozen albums officially released during Gentle Giant’s 11 years as a recording act – but, for all their studio skills, Giant’s musical abilities were given freest rein on stage. Yet only one live album, 1977’s double vinyl Playing The Fool, was issued in their lifetime, so fans will be in seventh heaven at the prospect of 15 unreleased sets. Covering almost every period of the band’s existence, they allow the individual members’ multi-instrumental abilities to be appreciated to their fullest extent.
Arrangements were changed and refined from tour to tour, including many segues and medleys, so these concert recordings offer year-by-year evidence of the band’s progression. All the music, live and studio, has been remastered by Pete Reynolds, acclaimed for his work on the Wishbone Ash box of 2018.
The audio experience is enhanced by a magnificent 136-page coffee table book. This combines rare photographs and memorabilia with a painstakingly researched history by Alan Kinsman. A fan for 45 years, he has achieved the near impossible by interviewing all members of the band in depth, including Phil Shulman who left brothers Derek and Ray to pilot the band in 1973 after providing much of the initial impetus. The result is a must-read that will unlock many mysteries, clear up misunderstandings and finally give the music the context it deserves.
Also exclusive to this limited-edition set are:
A band photo signed by the classic line-up of Derek Shulman, Ray Shulman, Gary Green, Kerry Minnear and John Weathers.
An exclusive 96-page tour history book compiled by Jack Skelly offering informed commentary on the live recordings, set lists, on-the-road memorabilia and more.
Two replica posters, one from Giant’s debut gig in 1970 and the other promoting 1974’s classic The Power And The Glory album.
Replicas of album giveaway items: the Playing The Fool LP booklet (included with the initial pressing only) and the Giant For A Day mask.
A replica of the jigsaw used to promote the Missing Piece album.
The chance to win a reproduction of Giant’s rarest ever piece of memorabilia – a screen-printed mirror produced to promote The Power And The Glory; only 100 were originally created. A golden ‘missing piece’ included at random in one box set may be traded in by the lucky winner for this coveted item.
For too long prog-rock’s best-kept secret, Gentle Giant finally achieved wider recognition in 2015, upsetting the odds to scoop Prog magazine’s coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. Two years later, their home city of Portsmouth honoured their achievements both as a band and individually by inducting them into the Hall of Fame at the Guildhall; Derek went on to become a leading record-business figure, Ray a noted producer. Unburied Treasure is further recognition that this was a band ahead of its time, and one whose unwillingness to compromise has ultimately enhanced its legacy.
“Giant always set out to have a good time and to make sure the audience had a good time,” says drummer John Weathers. “We’d always go on and see if we could play better than we did the night before. I can’t wait to see this definitive box set.”
Derek Shulman would “like Gentle Giant to be remembered as a group with integrity. It wasn’t done for any other reason than simply being together playing music and challenging ourselves to be better. We hated compromise, and we had a lot of integrity in terms of what the music was about.”
For fans of quality progressive rock, Unburied Treasure is the motherlode.
Pictures at an Exhibition was released on Saturday, November 2nd, 2019 on what was Keith Emerson’s 75th Birthday, the specific date for this release was chosen to pay homage to a man who jettisoned classical music into the modern era. Voyager IV has now surpassed and expanded the definition of this classical piece. Pictures at an Exhibition is based on the Compositions of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky (1874). Like so many of this magnificent composer’s works, they were written quickly but not published, it would be 50 years after his death before a scholarly edition of this work would be published.
Pictures at an Exhibition a piece for virtuoso pianists; Maurice Ravel was commissioned for orchestration of the work in 1922 Pictures at an Exhibition came alive in a new way. This orchestration continues to be chosen for performance and recordings.
Enter, English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, who would bring this work to a new generation with their live album release: Pictures at an Exhibition (November 1971). It is a recording of the band’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition which was performed at Newcastle City Hall on 26 March 1971.
History is now rewritten through the re-interpretation and release of Pictures at an Exhibition
Track Listing 01. Promenade 02. Samuel Goldenberg & Schmuyle (From My Point Of View ) 03. Gnomus 04. Il Vecchio Castello (Photophobia) 05. Promenade II (From The Land Of Feathers) 06. Tuileries 07. Bydlo (The Bullock Cart) 08. Lucky Man 09. Catoacombae/Cum Mortus In Lingua Mortua 10. Baba Yaga 11. The Great Gates Of Kiev (Daedalus Calling) 12. Talk To The Wind
Production Notes Arranged by Marcus Schinkel & Johannes KuchtaRecorded October 14-19 2018 at EMI / Maarwegstudio Cologne, Germany by John Caffery, Chris Gardiner, and Franz-Wieland FiltzProduced, mixed, and mastered by John CafferyCo-produced by Marcus Schinkel & Johannes Kuchta Cover Design & Layout by Lieve Vanderschaeve
Band Members Marcus Schinkel: Piano & keyboards Johannes Kuchta: Vocals & Drums Fritz Roppel: Bass Wim de Vries: Drums
Karisma Records have today released a second single from “Leker for barn, ritualer for voksne“, the upcoming album from Norwegian Prog Folk Rockers TUSMØRKE.
The single, for the track “Sjubidubidu Sju”, which, according to TUSMØRKE is “A funky number about the number seven, centred around an old dance (and character in the story) called Per Sjuspring”, can be streamed or downloaded at https://karismarecords.fanlink.to/Tusmorke_Sjubidubidu_Sju
“Leker for barn, ritualer for voksne”, which translated means “Games for children, rituals for adults”, is based on two musicals for children, “The Bridge to the Other Side” and “The Root of All Evil”, and consists partly of Tusmørke’s take on traditional Norwegian children’s songs, and partly on new material by the band.
Noted for its eccentricity, and not shy about trying new and unusual things, TUSMØRKE is quite happy to admit about “Leker for barn, ritualer for voksne” that “Not everyone who took part in the plays completely understood what they were doing. Neither did everyone in the audience. But here it is, in all its gory glory as the collegium of dashing adventurers and explorers of the unknown reaches of history, known to the unwashed masses under the pseudonym TUSMØRKE, have yet again brought fresh fever from the stars”.
“Leker for barn, ritualer for voksne” is set for release on the 29th November, and will be available in CD, Digital, Black Vinyl and Limited Edition White Vinyl formats, all of which include a 16 page lyric booklet, which, according to the band, “May, or may not, explain the plot”.
With artwork by Thore Hansen, track listing for “Leker for barn, ritualer for voksne” is as follows:
Bro bro brille 9. Velkommen til Hades
Per Sjuspring 10. Kharons vise
Kjerringa med staven 11. På den ytterste nakne øya
Ta den ring 12. Jeg gikk meg over sjø og land
Tornerose 13. Den tolvte Baal
Bjørnen sover 14. Gamlas seierssang
På Torneroses slot 15. Eventyret er ute
Sjubidubidu Sju 16. Du og jeg og vi to
USMØRKE’s lineup consists of Benediktator on Bass, vocals, Glockenspiel and percussion, Krizla on Flute, vocals, electronics and percussion, The Phenomenon Marxo Solinas on Minimoog Model D, Korg CX3, William de Blaise on harpsichord, Steinway & Sons Grand Piano, Hohner Clavinet D6, Mellotron M400, Hammond C3, Wurlitzer 200 and Solina String Ensemble, and HlewagastiR on Drums and percussion. With its members drawn from bands like WOBBLER, JORDSJØ and ALWANZATAR, it is easy to understand why TUSMØRKE can make use of such a staggering variety of instruments.
“Leker for barn, ritualer for voksne” is now available to pre-order from:
The official video for the track “Tøyens hemmelighet” from TUSMØRKE’s album “Osloborgerlig Tusmørke: Vardøger og utburder vol. 1” can be seen at https://youtu.be/EvhRlAFxQG0
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