I first came across Italian band Ataraxia back in 2005, when I was sent ‘Arcana Eco’ to review. At that time, I said “Ataraxia are a band quite unlike any other that I have come across while writing reviews – this is much more than just acoustic music, it is neo-classical, baroque even, yet bringing in folk sounds and styles at the same time.” They are often described as an Italian neoclassical dark wave band who combine modern technology with archaic instrumentation over various media, but that just doesn’t provide enough information to allow the new listener to fully uncover the delights contained within. To put it simple, there just isn’t another band out there quite like Ataraxia, as this is more than just music. When this album was released, there was a very special limited carved wooden box edition including Limited A5 Digibook CD+DVD version, jewel case version, special card with paintings by Alessandra Nicoli, and strings/or signed mediators on which the albums were created. They have long sold out.
I am more at a loss than normal to be able to describe this to you, except to say it is timeless, modern, ancient, beautiful and very, very special indeed. This is music which creates its own world to which the listener is drawn and is soon removed from reality. Acoustic, classical, baroque, folk, it is all these and so much more. Perhaps the last words should just be from the band themselves: “ENA (one = unity in Greek) is our musical contribution to overcome duality, conflicts and separation trying to go towards a resonant, open-hearted attitude. What we seed in our life, in others’ lives, on the earth is what we receive. We are One, separation causes blindness and destruction. WE ARE ONE, WE ALL ARE CONNECTED. Vibration is the very first act of creation, Music has the duty and the right to work on connection being such a suitable and direct channel to express harmony.
If our life is meant to be a spiritual growing and not just a materialistic experience, all the domains where spirituality is expressed can become a source of enlightenment. Here is our naked soul alone in “her” voyage. To us, Music is diffusing a spiritual knowledge that’s not linked to a dominating specific religion but to the harmony of the cosmic forces. The aim is to reach again the primeval plenitude, calmness and inner light, being a part of the whole.
The magic word resounds before being pronounced. Knowledge and Experience happen at the same time and all of this is a sacred announcement, a message that doesn’t need rationality to be caught. It is a sort of spiritual call coming from the depths. Memory and singing are linked, they enable a deeper subtle “sight”.
The ancient wisdom was based on letting go, forgetting ourselves, our ego and masks in order to feel and live “the moment”.
A deeply felt thank for all what we have received from Greek philosophy, poetry, and mysticism. Without this inspiration, we wouldn’t be here to do what we do.” 9/10 Kev Rowland
I first came across the duo of Nicklas Flinck and Carl Westholm with the release of their second album, ‘Superhero’, back in 2003. But although I also heard ‘Man Made Machine’ in 2005 it wasn’t until 2018 that I finally heard the next two albums. But after 2010’s ‘Nymf’ the band took a break, only coming back in 2017 to produce ‘Emerger’ (which I have yet to hear). There was so much energy coming out of the sessions that the day after the release party they were back in the studio, and ‘Subimago’ is the result of that. Looking back at my reviews from 15 years ago, I stated they were very influenced by Floyd but my review of ‘Nymf’ said just how much they had changed, and this is a direct continuation. This is modern melodic progressive rock with some keyboard sounds dragging it firmly back into the Seventies, yet with wonderful hooks and harmonies which makes one also think very much of the Nineties.
There is a lot of guitar at times, but also plenty of keyboards, and this is very much a rock album with wonderful vocals which is both instantly enjoyable as well as demanding further listening. The sheer accessibility of this is a delight, and the more one plays it the more there is to discover as there are hidden depths which take time to uncover and unpeel. IQ, Jadis, Flower Kings, Anekdoten, Galahad and so many others have imparted some influences into Carptree yet at the same time they are quite unlike any of them. The nature of being a duo, combining with NFO (No future Orchestra, who have the same personnel as last time) is very different to others. Combining this with focus on analogue instruments and amplifiers together with an analogue master results in a warm, organic and highly diversified album with a detailed texture. Let’s hope the momentum continues as we all need to hear more music from these guys. http://www.carptree.com
ereus are yet another Polish progressive band who have obviously been highly influenced by their countrymen Riverside (but have also been paying attention to Disturbed, a name I never thought I would put into a progressive rock review!). This is their debut album, released in 2018, following on from three EP’s. All vocals are in clear unaccented English, but it certainly seems strange that the spoken word sections are in French!! Michał Dąbrowski has a great voice, and the band put him front and centre, with plenty of space around him so he can really shine. Porcupine Tree are also again an influence, while I am sure I can also hear some Collage but given their impact on the Polish scene 20 years ago that really isn’t a surprise.
I have been fortunate enough to hear a great many Polish progressive bands over the years, and now that Cereus has finally produced an album let’s hope they continue pushing as this is incredibly solid and well worth investigating. 7/10 Kev Rowland
The third album in the Curved Air Rarities Series finds the band headlining the second British Rock Meeting at Germersheim in Germany on 22ndMay 1973. What is of real interest to many fans will be the sheer panic which set in when the band realise that for some reason the guitar isn’t working. The band start playing a blues as they put themselves into a holding pattern instead of opening with their normal “It Happened Today” while they tried to resolve the issue, and we can hear Sonja say “what shall we do?”. This means the set we have is quite different to the norm, with the band improvising when they need to, and close with a 32-minute jam, which also incorporates some of “Vivaldi”.
My favorite is the simplicity in all the chaos, as the band gently work through “Melinda (More Or Less)”. This has always been one of my favorite numbers by the band, and with just gentle acoustic guitar and sympathetic bass, Sonja’ vocals are incredibly powerful. The reverb coming through the microphone is the only treatment she needs on her voice and puts all of today’s auto-tune singers to shame. The sound throughout is very good indeed, thanks to Armed Forces DJ Paul McGowan who had been allowed to record the whole festival, and the booklet contains essays from both Paul and Christoph Wagner along with an introduction from Francis Monkman. These, along with the photos and of course the wonderful music, capture a band at the height of their powers (this was not long after the ‘Phantasmagoria’ album). Due to the issues on the night, it isn’t a perfect set in some ways, while in others it shows a band on the edge, relying on intuition and musicianship to get through. 7/10 Kev RowlandCURVED AIR
This album is often linked with ‘Bedside Manners Are Extra’, which always seems strange to me as there was an album in between the two, ‘Spyglass Guest’, but given this again shows the man with many arms it is probably due to the artwork and not the music. ‘Spyglass’ was the last to feature the original line-up as bassist Tony Reeves left to pursue a career in production and was replaced by session guitarist Martin Briley. The new line-up didn’t last long though, and ‘Time and Tide’ was to be the last album from Greenslade for more than twenty years. Dave formed a new version of the band at the turn of the century with Tony back on board, and keyboard player/vocalist John Young and drummer Chris Cozens. ‘Time and Tide’ has always felt to me to be of a band in flux, no longer really sure of direction, where they were going and what they wanted to achieve.
Greenslade (the man) was working more on his own, while some of the songs with vocals seem very at odds with what the band had been playing previously. “Waltz For A Fallen Idol” could have been produced for Rod Stewart, and it certainly doesn’t seem like a Greenslade track at all. The backing vocals and falsetto just doesn’t make sense at all, and the use of electric guitar also shows a band moving further away from their roots. Of all of the original Greenslade albums, this is the one I play least as while there are some delights to be heard, they are mixed with others which I can gladly skip.
This is the Esoteric reissue, which means there are some additional songs on the CD, one a single edit of “Catalan” while the other is a B-side. But we also have another disc, a Swedish Radio show which was recorded in March 1975, prior to the release of the album, and given this contains songs from other albums as well, this is the one I have been playing most. Opener “Pilgrim’s Progress” is still a powerful, dramatic number and one can only wonder what would have come of the band if they had stayed together for another album. With an essay from Malcolm Dome inside, this is yet another powerful reissue from Esoteric, but it just doesn’t have the punch and panache of ‘Bedside Manners’.
t was with is third album that Breton musician Alan Simon really made a huge impact, 1999’s ‘Excalibur, La Légende des Celtes’. As with the further albums in the series, he used a combination of well-known musicians and singers (in that instance it included the likes Roger Hodgson, Fairport Convention, Dan Ar Braz, Tri Yann, Angelo Branduardi, Didier Lockwood and Gabriel Yacoub). There have been three further albums in the series, and now we are treated with a compilation which takes songs from all of the ‘Excalibur’ studio albums plus ‘Tristan & Yseult’. The theme which ties all these together is in the title, in that every song features a female lead vocalist.
It is hard to imagine another collection which features singers of this calibre, as here are treated to performances by Moya Brennan, Maddy Prior, Karan Casey, Kohann, Siobhan Owen, Jacqui McShee, Nikki Matheson, Sonja Kristina and Maite Itoiz. I must confess to not knowing a couple of the names prior to playing this, but they certainly stand up within the august company. Musically this of course is full of the classical/folk/progressive elements we have all become used to with the ‘Excalibur’ series with rock guitars happily alongside trippy keyboards or flute, bagpipes, acoustic guitar, violin etc. Some songs are almost pop rock in their approach, while others are traditional with a capital “T” (suddenly I feel inspired to go and dig out some Horslips). All of them are joined together with stunning vocals, and with all the lyrics contained within the booklet, plus details of who sang on which song, it seems somewhat churlish to say I wish I also knew which musicians who had been involved as well. Putting that to one side, this really is a superb album, with vocals to die for.
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