by Kev Rowland | Aug 19, 2018 | Reviews
About five years ago I came across Darrel’s debut solo album, ‘Celestial’, reviewed it, and since then we have been in contact on and off. He is probably best-known as being keyboard player in the mighty Ten, but he also works with Nth Ascension and has released a couple of other solo albums as well. Released in 2016, I was somewhat expecting this to follow on from ‘Celestial’, but instead, he has brought together musicians and singers to create something that is far more progressive, and far less ambient, than his previous solo effort. I did smile to myself when reading the sleeve notes for my favorite song on the album, the instrumental “Riding The Waves”, which has more than a hint of Colosseum II about it, although brought up to date. Darrel dedicates it to his father, a trawlerman from Fleetwood: on my mother’s side I can trace many generations of trawlermen from Brixham, and here in my study there is a slate clock awarded to my great-grandfather 100 years ago for winning the trawler race in BM 16, the Glory.
Compare the driving rock power of that song with the beautiful piano piece “Nexus Pt.2”, which features just Darrel on piano and voice, and the difference is dramatically stark, but that is the joy of this album in that one never knows what is coming next. “Twilight” has Darrel moving onto bass and mandolin as well as keyboards, with Alan Taylor providing vocals in a baritone that totally fits with the music. It is hard to describe just how the fretless bass, strident guitar and softly spoken/sung vocals (John Power) on the title track fit together so seamlessly. This feels like a very personal album in so many ways, with Darrel allowing himself to move where his inspiration takes him, never compromising to fit into any particular genre, with folk having as much an impact as jazz, classical as much as rock, yet all being brought together in a way that fits perfectly. Far more contemporary than his debut solo album, this is a mature album from a musician confident in his own abilities, and it shows. http://darreltreece-birch.com
8/10 Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Aug 19, 2018 | Reviews
After the release of six albums between 2008 and 2017, Italian bassist and composer Alberto Rigoni (soloist, co-producer of Vivaldi Metal Project, founder of Bassists Alliance Project, ex Twinspirits) is back with ‘EvoRevolution’, an instrumental prog/rock/ambient concept album which also features drummer Marco Minnemann (The Aristocrats, Paul Gilbert). It “consists in a 33-minute long suite divided into six chapters, plus a much shorter second track. Minnemann: “Alberto approached me with the idea of adding drums to a fairly long piece composed mainly on the bass guitar. It goes in chapters and takes you on a trip through a variety of sensitive and dynamic soundscapes, leads through heavy rock song like parts, odd meter prog or jazz orientated sections and many more surprises.”
I’m glad Marco liked it, as I have long been a fan of his drumming, and he certainly adds a great deal to this. But, it doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a 33-minute long piece of music mostly composed and performed on a bass, or series of basses, and it comes across as rather tedious and boring. There is too much reverb and attack in the sound for it to be truly ambient, and not enough interest for it to be anything else. The only thing that got me through to the end of the album was knowing that once I had written about it then I would never have to listen to it again. I much prefer Vivaldi Metal Project to this, sorry.
3/10 – Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Aug 2, 2018 | Reviews
So I had this playing in the background, but when it started with a corner shop quartet from the Forties I thought I must have put on the wrong playlist. But, what it did do was make me stop whatever else I was doing and concentrate on this, and I am so very glad indeed that I did. What we have here, boys and girls is a progressive rock album in its very truest sense that is designed to drive despair into the heart of anyone brave or stupid enough to try to write a review of it. I’ll leave you to ascertain which camp I fall into, just don’t ask my wife. Progressive rock, by sheer definition, is music that is refusing to sit within any preconceived boundaries, and will not be pigeonholed. Why? Because IT’S NOT A PIGEON!
So let’s start by hanging some labels on this thing, shall we? People like labels. So, there’s some Zappa, yes definitely Zappa, jazz, psychedelia, funk, krautrock, oooh Cardiacs, mustn’t forget Cardiacs, folk, um, kitchen sink, cuddly toy. Must have missed something somewhere. But, the joy of this album is that when it is being played it all makes total sense, and all I want to do when it is finished is to put it on again! It may be incredibly diverse, but not in the way that these guys have pulled it together. Apparently, this is the second release from the band, who comprise just Nathan James (voice, keyboards, bass, horn) and Ian Beabout (flute, editing, sound design, and production) and some assorted guests, which includes Dave Newhouse from The Muffins among others. The use of brass instruments of different types work incredibly well, and there is a passion, lightness, and sense of fun throughout this album which makes it a real joy. This is music with no preconceived ideas or formula, just being taken where it needs to go. If I had my arm twisted behind my back and was asked for a simple subgenre then I would have to plump for crossover prog, but as it is meant to be defined, as there are a real musicality and melody that pervades the whole album.
Available in multiple formats, this is a delight, and the fractured beauty of “Photograph” is required listening for anyone who is fed up with created pop stars. In some alternate universe, it is #1 on the charts.
9/10 – Kev Rowland
Buy Unfamiliar Skies
https://colouraturamrrartist.bandcamp.com/album/unfamiliar-skies
Follow
https://www.facebook.com/colouratura.album/
http://mrrmusic.com/colouratura/
by Kev Rowland | Jul 29, 2018 | Reviews
Some years ago I was lucky enough to come across the debut album from Yagull, ‘Films’. At that point in their career the band was Sasha Markovic on guitars, bass, percussion, voice and keyboards with a few guests on some of the songs. There were a couple of co-writes, two cover versions (incredible takes on “White Room” and “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”) , but the rest were all written by Markovic. I was immediately taken by the acoustic “post-rock chamber soundtrack”, and likened them to Karda Estra. But when they returned with their second album, ‘Kai’, the group had doubled in size to a duo as Markovic had been joined by pianist Kana Kamitsubo, who is also his wife (they names the album and title track after their son, who was born in 2014). This time around there is only one song credited just to Markovic, and sometimes he is credited after his wife, plus there are another couple of covers.
Guests again feature on some of the songs, most notably Moonjune artists Beledo and Dewa Budjana, but I found that it is the songs where it is just the two of them where they come across best. There is no need at all for anything special, just an acoustic guitar and piano, played by two people who know each other intimately and can accompany the other in perfect harmony. This is restful music, and when Budjana made his appearance on electric guitar on “Blossom” I was actually quite disappointed. I have been a fan of Budjana’s for years, but to my ears his delicate electric guitar was out of place on this acoustic album. The interplay between the two musicians in simply beautiful, there is no other word for it, and I would have preferred to have heard an album filled just with their songs, with no other musicians, as there is no need for the purity of their sound to be messed with. Again there are two cover versions of classic rock songs, but this time they don’t work quite as well. Of the two, “Wishing Well” is well worth hearing, with some wonderful guitar, but “Burn” doesn’t really gel as it should.
But overall this is still an incredible album, and if they trust themselves and record a full album of their own material, with no outside “help”, then the next one could be very, very special indeed. http://www.yagull.com/
8/10 by Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Jul 29, 2018 | Reviews
Right, here is my third attempt at writing this review, as so far I have ditched every attempt as it either comes across as too fawning or doesn’t really portray exactly what this album means to me. What we have here is the debut album from Michael-Alan Taylor of Nth Ascension, on which he provides lead vocals, guitars, and keyboards. He is joined by Darrel Treece-Birch (piano, additional keys, and guitar), Craig Martin Walker (low flute), David Austin Taylor (spoken word) and Melissa Brown (spoken word). This is a concept album, detailing the last days of the brave Knight Lancelot who recalls the battles for Camelot, his devotion to his King and his love of the Lady Guinevere.
To say that it is a cinematic atmospheric soundscape doesn’t really do this album justice, and for once an album cover manages to portray exactly the right feeling, as the way that the misty early morning sun finds its way down to the forest floor is a wonderful representation of an album that is beguiling and entrancing. In some ways it reminds me of some of Wakeman’s great concept albums, except that the keyboards are far more delicate: Taylor’s vocals capture the emotion of the music and are a perfect fit. There are times when I find myself thinking of Camel’s mighty ‘The Snow Goose’, and I can see myself playing this album a great many times late in the evening, as the mystical and magical atmosphere is so relaxing, and it takes me to a land far away in time. Delicate, but with a hidden strength and power, there is no need at all for drums, as the layered keyboards create a swirling curtain which moves like a magician’s cloak, never really sure what is going to happen next, but confident that it will be incredible. I can only hope that this release gets the acclaim it so richly deserves, as it is one of the most important releases I have come across for some time, and there is no doubt that it will feature in my Top Ten of 2018, no matter what the genre. This is an album that enriches the musical soul, and I love it. http://melodicrevolution.com/
10/10 by Kev Rowland
Buy it in the US and Canada
https://melodicrevolutionvinyl.bandcamp.com/album/avalonia-the-sonnets-of-guinevere
Buy it in the Europe
http://michael-alantaylor.bandcamp.com/album/avalonia-the-sonnets-of-guinevere
by Kev Rowland | Jul 29, 2018 | Reviews
As soon as I started playing this I was taken back more than 20 years to two albums released on the long-lost Ad Perpetuam Memoriam label by a band called Death Organ. Led by keyboardist Per Wiberg (Opeth, Spiritual Beggars), their music was a strange mix of death metal and prog, and notably contained no guitars. I wonder if these guys have come across them, as yet again we have a band producing heavy music, with no guitars involved. Actually, their motto is, “No six-strings allowed,” and they create a soundscape equipped with just bass, drums and Hammond organ and a vast array of lengthy jam-based compositions interspersed with heavy stoner-like riffs.
The trio of Fredrik Andersson (Hammond and Farfisa Organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, electric piano, flute and vocals), Linus Karlsson (bass, Theremin, sound effects) and Wiktor Nydén (drums) have taken Atomic Rooster as a starting point and have then moved on from there. I was fortunate enough to see Vincent Crane, John Du Cann and Paul Hammond (all three now sadly deceased) some 35 years ago, and the power they were putting out onstage, without a bass, was quite incredible, and here Blå Lotus are doing the same without guitar. With a very heavy use of Hammond, their sound is strongly rooted in the early Seventies, and they move between extended instrumentals and vocals with ease. That this is a great album is never in doubt, and it is incredible to think that they came together in Autumn of 2016, and recorded this album in April the following year, as they sound as if they have been bouncing ideas off each other for years. Now if only Per Wiberg would reform Death Angel, and the two bands went out on the road together, that would be something well worth seeing. If you have ever enjoyed the sound of a Hammond Organ in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, then this is essential. https://blalotusmrrartist.bandcamp.com/album/tube-alloys-2
8/10 – Kev Rowland
