by Kev Rowland | Jun 9, 2018 | News, Reviews
1981 was a big year for me. I finished grammar school at a small west country seaside town and then moved to do my degree in Wolverhampton, living in a city for the very first time (to say it was a shock to the system is something of an understatement). Between these two events, I traveled for a gig for the first time, having previously only seen some bands who played locally. On 20thJuly 1981 I traveled down to the Cornwall Coliseum in St Austell to see the one and only Rainbow. Having survived the support band, Rose Tattoo, who this day I say was only booked to make the headline act seem even better than they were, I bumped into a mate of mine at the merchandise stall. Geoff was somewhat large in every way, and when he asked if I wanted to go to the very front I agreed and just followed close behind in his wake. We got to the prime position center stage just as the dry ice started, the band came on to the sounds of “Over The Rainbow”, then Ritchie kicked out the chords to “Spotlight Kid” and Joe Lynn Turner arrived on stage as a bundle of energy and the show was on.
Fast forward quite a few years, including some “interesting” times with Deep Purple and Ritchie seemed to turn his back on everything electric and started a very different musical career with his (then) girlfriend (now wife) Candice Night. So many people were incredibly surprised, including me, when it was announced that there were going to be some Rainbow gigs. Except they weren’t. This is Ritchie with some hired hands, and it seems to have been forgotten that although the very first album also came out under the name Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, the band Elf had been together for some years with Ritchie coming in as the new boy, so it was no surprise that they were tight. As the band changed in the Seventies it was still a band, with ‘Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll’ showing a complete unit at the height of their powers. True, there were shifts over the years, but even when I saw them, that line-up had been together for a year and some of the guys had been there longer while Roger Glover had been playing with Ritchie on and off since 1969! But this isn’t a band, Ritchie hasn’t been immersing himself in hard rock for many years, and the result is somewhat disappointing, to say the least.
The version of “All Night Long” is ropable, and while Ronnie Romero is a great singer, he isn’t JLT, he isn’t even Graham Bonnet, and he certainly isn’t the almighty Ronnie James Dio. Given that there are also some Purple songs in here, it hurts to try to and compare him with Gillan and Coverdale/Hughes, it’s just not in the same league. Ritchie just doesn’t have the power and presence that he once had, and the arrangements don’t always work the way they used to, and overall it just feels like a group of musicians going through the paces to earn some money, as opposed to bringing back to life one of our great rock bands. If you want a Rainbow in concert album, then look no further than the series of bootlegs that came out of the Japan tours in 1976. There was a band on fire, Dio was making his presence felt on a world stage, while Ritchie was forty years younger and the master when it came to wielding his white Stratocaster and making incredible music. Sadly this album doesn’t represent the Rainbow I know and love, that band and that time are long gone with both Ronnie and Cozy no longer with us. Ritchie is adding real musical value with his work with Blackmore’s Night and it is time to let the old dogs lie and continue with that.
6/10 by Kev Rowland
by Nick | Jun 4, 2018 | News, Reviews
by Kev Rowland
I have been having quite a few conversations with keyboard/sax player Marek Arnold about his various musical outlets, and he recently provided me with access to virtually everything that has been released by Toxic Smile. Prior to this, I had only heard their fourth album, ‘7’ (which was their seventh overall release), so I was looking forward to this and jumped into the task with relish. For those who haven’t come across them before, the band started as a collaboration between Marek, drummer Daniel Zehe and guitarist Uwe Reinholz in early 1996 when they were still students, really coming together as unit two years later when they were joined by singer Larry B. ‘M.A.D’ was their debut album, released in 2000, but what I am playing is the 2011 reissue which contains two additional songs, one of which is a cover (more of that later).
Musically these guys are at the intersection of prog metal, heavy prog, symphonic, crossover, neo-prog, and more straightforward hard rock. At times they are reminiscent of classic Saga, at others Dream Theater, while IQ has also had an impact, as has Steve Howe. What really ties this all together is the way that Marek and Uwe are joined at the hip, while bassist Robert Brenner is incredibly important to the overall mix with a strong warm bass that can be sat quietly at the back or also provide touches right at the front to provide a completely different and unexpected emphasis. The music swirls, it moves, it switches and loops like a rollercoaster, and right at the very front of this is Larry B., totally in control. He can be emotional, he can be rough and raw, or pure and melodic. The only time he comes unstuck is when the band play “Owner Of A Lonely Heart”. While the arrangement is interesting (I personally would have stuck with the harder riffs they used in the introduction), Larry is singing at the very limit of his range and has to go into falsetto. It would have been more interesting if they had moved away from trying to replicate Anderson and instead did something in a lower register to provide a harshness.
But, that and the sound quality of the snare drum are the only low points of what is a great debut album, and I find it strange that it has taken nearly twenty years for me to come across it and that there isn’t a single review of it on ProgArchives! Well, both of these issues have been rectified now. Well worth investigating.
8/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 4, 2018 | News, Reviews
by Kev Rowland
There have been many attempts to blend rock with operatic styles over the years, with ‘Tommy’ being widely regarded as one of the most successful, but in truth that was much more of a rock musical than a real opera. Here Therion, or more accurately Christofer Johnsson, have created a three-disc, three-act opera, lasting somewhat over three hours. With some thirty singers, there are times when the music is opera, with or without some metallic influences, while at others it is more like symphonic metal. Overall, one has to say that it is an incredible achievement, totally subsuming metal into an operatic setting, and I am sure that they are incredibly proud of their achievements. It has worked so well that this is going to be performed in its entirety at various opera houses around Europe. There’s only one problem for me, I don’t like opera.
I can appreciate how clever this is, and if any band can claim to have moved more musically than Opeth it has to be Therion, but I just don’t like it. True, it has been well recorded, the production and sound are great, and the layers are rich and complex, but while there are a few songs such as “Never Again” which I enjoyed, they are very different to the album as a whole. I kept checking to see if the album was nearly finished, not initially realizing that there are 46 songs here!
There are going to be many who acclaim this as an incredible work, and in many ways, I agree with that statement, but just because it is incredible doesn’t mean I’m going to enjoy it. When the album finished I had to wash out my ears with some Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Napalm Death just to feel cleansed and ready to face the next one. Yes, this is a true metal opera or even an opera with metallic tendencies, but it just isn’t for me and I wonder how many of their fans will feel the same?
4/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 4, 2018 | Reviews
by Kev Rowland
When I discovered that this album had been released I was somewhat surprised, as it was so long since I had last heard from the band that I actually thought that they had stopped. The last album I reviewed of theirs was back in 1996, but here in 2018, they have released their latest album, titled to celebrate thirty years in the business, an incredible achievement for any band. Musically they have taken three British bands as references, and tend to move between Horslips, Fairport Convention, and Jethro Tull, sometimes bringing them all together. Now, I have been known to listen to the odd bit of folk rock here and there, and indeed last year travelled from one side of the world to the other just to see Fairport Convention (okay, I also really wanted to see Show of Hands and particularly Richard Thompson, but you get the drift). According to Google that is a one-way trek of 11,750 miles (and I did come back to NZ, honest, straight after the gigs), so it is a form of music I really enjoy.
I prefer folk rock to straight folk, although I do enjoy it as well, as it has so many dynamics and power which is taken to a whole new level with the use of electric guitar. Somewhat strangely there is a cover on here, namely “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”, but somewhat unsurprisingly it does fit incredibly well with layers of mandolins and fine violin, which then takes the lead on a great jig in the middle. Band leader Leif Sorbye continues to show exactly what can be developed when one has a great love and understanding of the genre. Perhaps the most poignant number is the last, an instrumental medley simply titled “Swarb”. It is probably safe to say that David Cyril Eric Swarbrick (5 April 1941 – 3 June 2016) is the most influential fiddler in the last fifty plus years in the folk movement. Although I have seen Fairport in concert more times that I can remember, I only saw him play with the band once, sat in a wheelchair connected to oxygen, but still letting his fingers fly. The tribute here from Tempest is the closest I have heard to any band capturing the violin/mandolin interplay made famous by Swarb (all credit to Kathryn Buys for an amazing performance), apart from when Chris Leslie and Ric Sanders take flight in the current incarnation of Fairport.
I was playing this in the car, and when the song finished and the next album started I audibly groaned because it was over and I was enjoying listening to it so much. I must say that sort of reaction is incredibly rare for me, especially given the number of albums I play each week for review purposes, so it shows just how much I was invested in the music. This is a wonderful album, and let’s just hope that the guys keep going as long as Fairport, currently touring in their 51styear. I love it, and I can see why Robert Berry is so involved.
9/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 4, 2018 | News, Reviews
Some four years on from their second album ‘Bani Ahead’, this the Italian masters of progressive gypsy electro-eclectic jazz returned in 2015 with ‘All You Can Eat’. As with their previous album. this is again fully instrumental, primarily because there is just no room at all for any vocals. They just wouldn’t fit! Yet again there had been a slight line-up change, with bassist Domenico Angarano making way for Vincenzo Lamagna. Here is a band that is continuing to push the boundaries of progressive jazz-rock, taking the likes of Zappa into areas that even he hadn’t thought of. Ricccardo Villari (electric and acoustic violin) has obviously been heavily influenced by the great Stéphane Grappelli, but whereas he normally only had to battle against a guitarist (admittedly he made his career working opposite one of the greatest of all time), here we also have a sax player, a trumpeter, plus Derek Di Perri on harmonica. Derek isn’t a blues wailer either, he is short and sharp, tying in the rest of the brass to provide a structured wall for the others to play against.
There are times when the guys are languid, structured, layered, all taking their time to add their touches to the music, while at others they are battling, with the brass and violin competing against the electric guitar to see who can be the most dominant and have a major impact. Then behind it, all Salvatore Rainone is keeping it all together on the drums, and Vincenzo has a wonderfully warm bass sound and feels that provides the foundation for the others. The title suggests that there is room here for over-indulgence, and the musicians, both individually, and collectively, do push proceedings well into the realm of excess, allowing themselves the joy complex arrangements and dramatic compositional shifts and transitions, until they are finally satiated and there just isn’t space for another morsel. Moonjune Records keep releasing amazing albums by fine artists, and this is yet another.
8/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 4, 2018 | News, Reviews
By Kev Rowland
Peter Matuchniak has been around the progressive scene for nearly forty years now, firstly with Janysium, and then with Mach One when he and Simon Strevens were both asked to join. They became a popular band in the Eighties, with various releases and performances at The Marquee etc. Fast forward quite a few years and I came to know Peter, who was by now living in the States, both for his solo works and with Gekko Projekt. So when I heard that he had a new band I asked how they had come together, and where on earth the name came from: “After completing the second Gekko Projekt album, the keyboard player Vance and I were discussing plans for a new album. At the time I had just played my second live solo show and was discussing an album with my bassist, Steve Bonino. Of all the musicians I have met over my time, these are by far two of the very strongest composers and great to work with for ideas creatively. So I had the idea of doing a new project with just the three of us. Vance came up with the concept of Gyreland which Steve and I added our parts to and we would work in a studio on both story and songs together. We worked extremely fast and had the whole album written within a few months last year. Then we pulled in Jimmy Keegan on drums, and he nailed the whole album in one day — extraordinary! I had a temporary band name made up of the first two letters of our last name: Bo, Ma, Gl, and pronounced it phonetically as “Bomaggle”. It was never intended to be our real band name until I accidentally referred to us as “Bomber Goggles”. We all laughed, but the name stuck and everyone we knew told us to keep the name!”
But what about the album itself, it is a concept, but what is the story? “The album ‘Gyreland’ tells the story about a new continent that is constructed out of the plastic debris that is floating in our oceans. As the currents swirl, they bring the plastic closer together, something we are witnessing in our oceans today. The oceanic swirl is called the Gyre, and so in our story the new inhabitant’s name this new floating continent “Gyreland”. As more people are drawn to this new place, they experience a strange phenomenon, where they can almost anticipate each other’s thoughts and it allows them to build Gyreland at an unprecedented pace. Some people think that the gyre provides strange forces or power, whereas others believe it enhances our empathy or telepathy. Or perhaps it’s the earth’s way of rewarding those that choose to take care of her? We never truly find out the exact reason, but it attracts the interest of countries around the Pacific Rim who now want a piece of this power. Three powerful countries form an alliance to invade Gyreland. At home, their citizens protest, but the “Triangle of Power” proceeds with their invasion plans, as well as plans to break the alliance once they get what they want out of this new source of power. The new people of Gyreland have no armies or weapons, and so they wait uneasily for the invasion to occur. Some hope that the oceans that gave them this second chance will provide them with an answer. An answer in the wistful waves. But on the day of the invasion, something strange happens. As the invading soldiers set foot on Gyreland, they are overwhelmed by a sense of empathy that prevents them from wanting to fight. Perhaps this empathy is the same force that allowed Gyreland to be built in the first place? Whatever the reason, it makes it impossible for any hostile takeover to occur, because the new invaders simply abandon their army and join the people of Gyreland. A new turning point in the history of mankind.”
Given that the topic of plastic in the oceans is incredibly topical at present, in many ways it could be argued that this is the most relevant progressive album out there. I have been watching programmes on the Great Pacific garbage patch, which is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean discovered between 1985 and 1988. Estimates of its size vary between being equivalent to Texas or equivalent to Russia, but at the very least it is huge. And now we have a progressive rock band singing a story about a mythical continent that is built out of the plastic debris – seems more relevant than “Tales of Topographic Oceans” to me.
I can honestly say that I have been playing this album a great deal, as it was sent to me digitally but wanted to wait for the physical CD to arrive so kept playing this on rotation until that happened. But, events conspired against me and Peter and after more than a month it still hasn’t got here and I just can’t wait to write about it any longer! It took me ages to work out what musically the band was reminding me of, as in many ways it is so far removed from the normal regressive progressive rock I am sent, and then finally it hit me. Utopia! There is something about their melodic crossover poppy progressive rock with harmony vocals that I can imagine Todd and the boys coming up in their heyday. But, while it is indeed reminiscent of how Utopia would approach something, it is very much music for 2018 and not what was being produced some 40 plus years ago.
This is a debut album, but by a band whose members have been working in the scene for a great many years, and the guy who dropped in to provide drums completed the whole album in one day! (okay, so Jimmy is an incredibly well-known drummer, but that is some feat for anyone). I am not going to pick a particular track and point to the benefits of this or that, but will just say that this is an incredibly accessible and enjoyable album from the very first time it is played, and it only gets better the more it is listened to. Superb.
9/10
