Discography

Spectrum (73) Crosswinds (74) Total Eclipse (74) Shabazz (75) A Funky Thide of Sings (75) Life and Times (76) Inner Conflicts (7?) Observations (82) Warning (85) ... many others

Reviews

Drummer for Mahavishnu Orch. Numerous solo albums. I only have 2. Spectrum 1973 w/ an all-star band Tommy Bolin (guitar), Jan Hammer (keyboards), Lee Sklar (bass), other guest horn players. Mahavishnu Orch with a more rock feel. Crosswinds 1974 more jazz w/ John Abercrombie, George Duke, the Brecker brothers and more.

Best known as the drummer for the first Mahavishnu Orchestra formation, he's also worked with Miles Davis during his fusion era. His solo efforts vary in quality. He's a fine drummer under someone else's direction, but tends to get flashy on later solo works, to the sacrifice of the music. Spectrum is a good starting place, as it also features Jan Hammer and Tommy Bolin.

Billy Cobham inspired me to start playing the drums, so his music has always had a place close to my heart. Early in his career, Cobham played with James Brown, The 5th Dimension, and Miles Davis (Jack Johnson and Directions feature his instantly recognizable playing). He also did numerous sessions for a number of jazz (Steve Kuhn, Richard Davis, Jimmy Owens, George Benson, Randy Weston, Eumir Deodato, etc.) and pop artists. His playing can also be heard on the theme music for the popular TV program "Mission Impossible" (the last couple of years, anyway). Cobham was a natural choice for the Mahavishnu Orchestra, where his jaw-dropping chops and relentlessly driving style became singularly influential. After recording three spectacular records with Mahavishnu, he pursued a solo career. His first solo record, Spectrum, was his most Mahavishnu-like and featured ex-Mahavishnu keyboardist Jan Hammer. To put it bluntly, Spectrum is a classic fusion album. Half the cuts also featured gonzo guitarist Tommy Bolin and bassist Lee Sklar (from the jazz-rock group The Section) and approach a Mahavishnu-like intensity, only with a harder funk-rock edge. The remaining cuts are more jazz-oriented, and feature the work of trumpeter Jimmy Owens, and saxophonist Joe Farrell. There are also a few brief drum solos, several of which incorporate the Moog drum. Crosswinds continued in the more jazzy, horn-based vein and featured several sidemen who would remain with him for the next several albums: trumpeter Randy Brecker, his saxophonist brother Michael Brecker, and guitarist John Abercrombie. Cobham's next album, Total Eclipse, was vastly superior to Crosswinds for several reasons. Here, guitarist Abercrombie really came into his own as a soloist, and the phenomenal trombonist Glenn Ferris was added to the horn section. Cobham's composing and arranging skills also shine, and tracks such as "Solarization" and "Sea of Tranquility" are among the best he ever committed to vinyl. Shabazz is a superior live set, seemingly issued as an afterthought. Bulgarian keyboardist Milcho Leviev's synth work really shines, as does Glenn Ferris on an electronically modified trombone. A Funky Thide ... retained most of the band from Total Eclipse and Shabazz, but had a much more commercial sound, rather like an instrumental version of Tower of Power. Shortly thereafter, Cobham broke up the 'big' band, and resumed working with a more typical keyboards, guitar, bass and drums lineup. Life and Times is a fine effort from this era, featuring George Duke (a.k.a. Dawilli Gonga) on keyboards, Doug Rauch (ex-Santana) on bass, and the young John Scofield on guitar. Musically, Life and Times is polished, energetic, funky jazz- rock fusion. Their rendition of Scofield's composition "Earthlings" is a real high point. This band (with ex-Weather Report bassist Alphonso Johnson) recorded another album, but I didn't care for it. His final recording for Atlantic, Inner Conflicts, has the look and feel of odds & ends and outtakes, but is actually pretty good. In the late '70s, Cobham switched record companies (to CBS) and his music became more polished and commercial, although his first record on CBS was very good. Observations &, released on the Elektra / Musician label, is very polished, efficiently played fusion with some great music ("M.S.R.", "Observations & Reflections") and some really lame music which sounds like an instrumental version of the pop band Journey. Pretty much everything after the early '80s was very commercial. He also did a record with Jack Bruce, drummed in a band which included various members of the Grateful Dead, and returned briefly to record with John McLaughlin. A recent project, "Jazz Is Dead" involved ex-members of Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit playing Greatful Dead covers. When you consider Billy Cobham's impact on progressive rock and fusion, his solo records are only a small part of the story. He developed a very distinctive way of playing odd time signatures (11/4, 7/8, etc.) which is still imitated today, and he was one of the first to incorporate new (e.g., gong drums, octobans) or long-unused (e.g., Chinese cymbals) instruments into the modern drummers' percussion arsenal. Finally, pretty much every fusion and progressive drummer around today owes at least a small stylistic debt to Billy Cobham. I hear strong Cobham influences in the work of influential drummers like Simon Phillips, Rod Morgenstein, Dennis Chambers, Mark Mondesir, Jeff Watts, Terry Bozzio, and Marvin "Smitty" Smith. Best of all, Cobham is still out there kicking ass! -- Dave Wayne

Links

[See Abercrombie, John | Davis, Miles | Hammer, Jan | Mahavishnu Orchestra] Click here for Billy Cobham's web site

Cobraa (74)

Discography

Thoughts Under Glass (95, 4-song EP) The Temptation of Successive Hours (96) Sounds From The Gathering (98) A Breath of October (01, scheduled out in Winter)

Reviews

Cobweb Strange as of April 2001 - Brandi (keyboards), Wade Summerlin (bass), Holly (guitar), Soumen (drums) (don't blame me for the lack of last names ... they aren't given on the Cobweb Strange website) Have you ever heard of the Is/Is Not chart? It's one of those wonderful new business gimmicks that comes along every few years and is in vogue among the business community. It's the sort of thing Scott Adams makes fun of in his Dilbert strips. Anyway, it's used to tell what a new project or product is all about. It gives a quick overview (usually for management types) of what something is and what it isn't. I thought I'd give it a try for Cobweb Strange: Cobweb Strange IS Cobweb Strange IS NOT A band featuring excellent musicians. A band with its roots in Acid (Psychedelic) Rock and Classic Rock. A band that plays in odd meters and has long songs. A band that is enjoyable to listen to. A band that should get a lot of FM radio airplay on "Alternative" stations. A band that changes line-ups for every album (except for Wade Summerlin). ... particularly Progressive. I've heard The Temptation of Successive Hours and Sounds From The Gathering. Neither of these albums feature the line-up shown above; both are three-piece albums (guitar/bass/drums). I'll admit to having a bias towards symphonic prog, so the lack of keyboards makes it tough for me. However, I don't need keyboards to make a band Progressive in my mind. It just helps. These albums are really more in the psychedelic vein, with lots of "oh, Wow, Man, pass me that doobie" sound to it. I actually really enjoyed these albums because of that, I just don't think they are very progressive. The songs are mostly in the verse/chorus format with some interesting solos and occasional progressive stylings (like the breaks in "Sometimes the Shine" which alternate measures of 6's and 7's), but overall just about anyone should be able to listen to this without being overly challenged. There's also a fair amount of influence here from late '90's FM radio "Alternative / Grunge / Post-Rock" bands, which somehow manages to blend well with the older '70's psychedelic feel. So, a lukewarm review. If you missed these CD's, you wouldn't be depriving yourself of any prog masterworks. Perhaps the addition of a keyboard player to the band (see photo above) will help ... in fact, bassist Wade Summerlin is the only common denominator between the band I've heard and the one that's currently in the studio working on the third full-length CD. We'll see. -- Fred Trafton

Links

Click here for Cobweb Strange's web site

Piccolo Grande Vecchio Fiume (77)

Only one album that I know of. They play an Italian rock with progressive tendencies that reminds me of UNO, Dalton and Odissea. The music is mellow and not very complex, and keyboards are used as a background for the guitar and flute. The album is 40 minutes long and consists of seven songs between 4 to 8 minutes and all of them are very melodic and sometimes beautiful, but overall the album feels slow and a bit boring. This is far from the best Italian bands and is (IMO) only for collectors of Italian progressive rock. There are so many better bands. -- Andre Hagberg

Mu (73), others

Italian rock/pop singer (and keyboardist) who did a progressive album called Mu in 1973 (re-issued on Italian RCA in 1976). Mu starts out rather slow and spacey, and most of it is similar, but ultimately inferior, to the great Italian progressive bands (e.g., PFM, Banco, Acqua Fragile, etc.) of the same time period. -- Dave Wayne

Discography

Heroes Awaken (91) To See It Made Real (95) The Purest of Designs (98)

Reviews

Steve Cochrane No one can deny Canada's amazing contribution of artists and albums to the cause of Progressive Rock. Rush and Saga stand out as much as Yes and King Crimson for their longevity as well as the calibre of music they've entertained us with. Inspired by his fellow countrymen and the full gamut of progrock, Steve Cochrane from Ontario offers his third solo album, The Purest of Designs. An inspired follower of the school of [author] Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged), Steve has woven a concept sound around the idealistic value of optimism and the hero awakening within us. This conviction is bought out in astounding, almost frantic guitar riffs climbing on the first track, "To the Glory of Man". But I'm ahead of myself. He is the consumate musician with a mastering of guitar, keyboards, bass, drums and vocals, and is not shy of telling anyone of the progrock inspirations which have helped create this album. Certainly the likes of Rush, Camel, early Genesis (Steve Hackett), Renaissance, and even an element of Steve Howe show up in his latest album to date. Steve picked up a guitar at the age of 15 and 5 - 7 years later was playing in the Ontario progrock band, Endpieces before deciding on going solo. With the advent of so called Contemporary Instrumental (okay, I'll call it what it really is, New Age) music Steve found a willing market for his home studio recordings. The first album, Heroes Awaken explored the theme of what he proposed, "something to be experienced - our integrity, honesty, intelligence, ambition, the best within us." To See It Made Real, the follow up album again was targeted for the New Age market but Steve's past was catching up with him and elements of Progrock showed through especially with what I think is the best track, "To See It Made Real." Electric and MIDI guitar ran amok in the best prog fashion possible. And so to The Purest of Designs, the third album in his trilogy. In a way it is a full circle for this Ontario artist. Steve had actually written much of his latest album before he had even recorded his first one, Heroes Awaken, shelving the project for when technology finally caught up to his artistic vision. And vision plays a large part in the running theme on this album. This time around Steve worked on the production in Sweden with fellow artist and friend, Roland Ivarsson. As said, the first track, "To the Glory of Man" [6:44] fades in with a wash of keyboards followed quickly by guitars and bass reminiscent of Rush. Nice fingerwork displays Steve's own unique signature found in most of his albums leaving you to wonder how many scorch marks he leaves on the neck of his guitars. This guy is very fast. Track two, "When Music Speaks" [5:14] is a melodic piece introducing Steve on vocals with a brief but pure of voice contribution by Marie Bodine. Whereas the first two tracks were built for speed, "Songs For Spring" [27:26] is marginally slower to begin with but it doesn't hold Steve back for long. This seven piece ode to Spring begins with a nice turn of e-bow which would warm the strings on any of Steve Howe's guitars. The keyboards denote the sparkling of snow on a track coincidently named "Overture/The Melting Snow". MIDI'd trumpets herald Steve on vocals leading onto the next piece, "The Hopeful Seed". Oh yeah, the album is heavy on nature mirroring the growth of the spirit of man. Greenfingered metaphors abound throughout as this track hauntingly similar to some of the works by Anthony Phillips introduces the next song, "The Flower". This has a slight folk element to it, almost Jethro Tull in some ways with an excellent guitar arrangement near the end of the piece. "The Dreadful Weed" is darker in mood to begin with as Steve rushes ahead (no pun intended) with another excellent guitar solo creating the sonic battle with the weed. The pace builds with "The Storms Of Passion" and the artist showing his best keyboard talents yet. Shades of Yes and Genesis on the next gentle track, "The Scent Of After Rain", as e-bow heralds one of the best, in my mind, tracks on the album. Nice blending of acoustic, electric guitar, keyboards, and vocal harmonies in a tribute to Mike Oldfield maybe. The last piece in this verdant opus winds up as an instrument with Steve let loose on lead. Steve then relaxes with "Dreams Of Reason" [4.39]. This has radio airplay written all over it if given the chance. The title of the album can be found in here in the chorus - "Isn't it dreams that paint a world, With the purest of designs?" This reinforces the total concept of the album - an optimistic disposition towards being the masters of our own destiny and fulfillment. "The Promise Of the Music" is in some ways an addendum to the constant theme throughout the album. Initially I didn't see the point of including it once the story had been told, but over the past months it has grown on me and it displays Steve's talent of balancing not only acoustic with electric guitars but also his ability to play smoothly at a seemingly running start. We may wrestle with disproving Einstein's theory of relativity, but this artist has no problem defying the speed of light with his fretwork. It's an instrumental of nearly 16 minutes and as I once said in a review of one of Steve's earlier albums, "As we know, steriods are a banned substance, but one can't help feeling this guy has been feeding his guitar with it to achieve the sudden climb we are subjected to as we listen to this album further." Never truer words spoken or meant as on Steve's latest contribution. I'm in awe of this artist's technique and ability to patch his multi-talented instrumentations and vocals into an album befitting the progrock genre. -- Paul Watson

Links

Click here for Steve Cochrane's web site Click here to order Steve Cochrane CD's

Discography

Garlands (82) Peppermint Pig (83, EP) Head Over Heels (83) The Spangle Maker (84, EP) Treasure (84) Aikea Guinea (85, EP) Tiny Dynamite (85, EP) Victorialand (86) Love's Easy Tears (86, EP) Moon and Melodies (86) Blue Bell Knoll (88) Heaven or Las Vegas (90) Four-Calendar Café (93) Twinlights (95, EP) Otherness (95, EP) Milk & Kisses (96)

Reviews

The Cocteau Twins in 1990 - Simon Raymonde (bass, guitar, piano), Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) and Robin Guthrie (guitar) Very spacy pop-art band with very nice female vocals in some language that nobody can seem to identify. Two albums in particular, Victorialand and Treasure, feature 3 or 4 great cuts each, the balance being too poppy or just plain too weird. "Just plain too weird"? What kind of concept is that in the GEPR? This is the web site that discusses Henry Cow and Thinking Plague as if they're the most normal bands in the world. How could any band be "just plain too weird" for the GEPR? I was both unsatisfied with and intrigued by this review, so I decided to try a Cocteau Twins album for myself. First, a few hard facts. Quoting from their web site, "Founded in 1981 by Robin Guthrie, Will Heggie and Elizabeth Fraser, the Cocteau Twins have always been a threesome. In 1983, Will Heggie departed the band and, in 1984, Simon Raymonde joined Robin and Liz. This lineup would be the de-facto Cocteau Twins until their breakup in 1998. [Elizabeth Fraser's] unique vocal stylings and mysterious, indecipherable lyrics have generated much debate over the years, but she has often been taciturn on the matter when asked about it." Now on to my own experience with the album I bought. With no guide for which album to get at the time I decided to buy, I picked up a random album, which happened to be their second album Head Over Heels (83). The liner notes belie the statement made above, indicating that "Cocteau Twins are Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie". Perhaps this was written after Heggie had turned in his resignation but before Raymonde joined. Whatever. The music itself is what's of interest here. This album could certainly be described as "weird", especially considering the (relatively) large audience they have. I bought the CD at a Border Books and Music store, where you certainly won't find copies of Henry Cow or Thinking Plague albums ... CT is selling far more albums than most "prog" bands ever will. The music is very thick, though not in the usual "symphonic" way. The instrumentation is mostly guitars, drums and vocals, though there are also keyboards which are used like Mellotrons. But I suspect they're modern samplers playing slowed-down violin samples. What thickens the sound is the oppressive haze of velvety reverb that enshrouds every song, to the point that you can't make out the individual instruments any more. As to the vocal incomprehensibility, Fraser could be singing in English, Gaelic or Kobaïan and I wouldn't be able to tell with this much reverb. OK, I can pick out occasional words in English, but not enough to form a coherent thought or even a phrase. The CD insert has two phrases in barely-legible text: "When mama was moth I took bulbform Slan(?) candle grenades are popping still will not keel over. Tinderbox of a heart left a shell is all fog up my love paramour ooze out and away onehow." OK. So what's wrong with that? Seems perfectly obvious to me (the reviewer claims with the pompous air of an art critic). All that's beside the point, however. Personally, I like this music, in spite of the obvious "pop" leanings ... if "pop" means it was created with some hope of enjoying popularity, which it was and has. It's odd enough in harmony, lyrical content (or lack thereof) and orchestration to hold the interest of this "old-school" progger, at least. No, it's not terribly complex or high in "virtuosity" as far as the instruments go, though Fraser's vocals are certainly well trained in their sound. If you like their 4AD labelmates Dead Can Dance, then Cocteau Twins shouldn't seem like too much of a reach for you. But don't expect "conventional" RIO stylings. They aren't "weird" in that way. But I'd definitely buy another album based on this one. Any Cocteau Twins fans out there with a recommendation? -- Fred Trafton Together with Dead Can Dance, [they] are probably the most well know group of the 4AD label, and the two of most interest to progheads. The band was founded in the early 80's in Scotland by Robin Guthrie, guitar, tape loops, echo boxes, keyboards, Will Heggie, bass, drum machine and Elizabeth Fraser, vocals. Their first record Garlands came in 1982, a good album were they try to define their sound, this is probably their most rocking album with a slight punk-new wave influence even the vocals are little aggressive in some songs and the sound is quiet repetitive in all the songs, this may be the least appealing to prog fans. Their second album Head Over Heels was recorded as a duo of Guthrie and Frazer, after the departure of Heggie, this is the album with the sound that they are known for, start to take place, a ethereal sound very atmospheric, relaxing, nothing complex and quiet accessible, this is a good album. By the Spangle Maker EP they were joined by bassist Simon Raymonde, which helped to improve the band sound and the follow up works saw the band making a series of flawless albums were they get creative and produce a sound of their own. Treasure, the first full record as a trio again, is a great album, were all the above ingredients that started in Head Over Heels are put together to create very mature record and were each song is a winner. This high quality music continued through a series of EP's and a couple of albums. Then Victorialand is another good album a bit more acoustic. And one with the collaboration of Harold Budd titled The Moon and the Melodies which is a mix of their own sound and the ambient sound Budd was doing at that time, after the record with Eno. [For] Blue Bell Knoll they create, together with Treasure what I think are the best albums they ever did. Due to their signing to Capitol, (Fontana in the U.K.) the group became more accessible and even with that Heaven or Las Vegas still one of their best albums. Their next four records (two EP's and two LP's) still very good but not to the caliber of previous jobs. I don't see anything weird in this group other that the "language" the songs are singing, a mix of English and some made words that nobody seams to understand. This is a beautiful and very innovative group and worth listening to. -- Julio Lopez

Links

[See Dif Juz] Click here for the Cocteau Twins web site Click here for Elisabeth Fraser's web site Click here for the official 4AD web site

Discography

Sounds of Passion (86) Crazy Fool and Dreamer/Central Station (92, mini CD) What a Symphony (94)

Reviews

Coda is a Dutch concept band led by multi-instrumentalist Erik DeVroomen. The sound is progressive and very symphonic, with strong emphasis on melody and impact. Possible comparisons might be made with Vangelis but with some killer guitar and some very beautiful spacy segments as well. The album Sounds of Passion was originally released in 1986, but has recently been transferred to CD. The thirty minute title track is an absolute mindblower. Two other shorter tracks are a little lame and poppy.

Coda were a Dutch progressive band who released this one masterpiece of conceptual, symphonic rock and vanished. For those who enjoy the essence of progressive rock, with swirling keyboards, passages with varying moods, and profound lyrics, this is sure to be of interest.

Coda's sole release, Sounds of Passion, is essentially a conceptual solo work by Erik de Vroomen though he brought in a band to help pull of his ideas. The reason you buy this album is for the 30 minute title track. It is divided into five parts of which only the first two minutes contain (spoken) vocals. The vocal prologue tells the story behind the concept and the remaining 28 minutes weave the instrumental story. The music is lush symphonic and ranges from aggressive to very pastoral in nature. Most notable is de Vroomen's keyboard work which covers everything from grand piano to novatron to various synths and more. Also heard throughout are various sampled sounds such as birds singing, thunderstorms, doors closing, voices and several other sound effects. The remaining two songs (totalling about 11 minutes) are weaker vocal efforts leaning toward the pop end of the Progressive spectrum. I've heard several SI releases and I've been disappointed with the vast majority of them. Coda's Sounds of Passion is a notable exception and very worthy of an audition if you like lush symphonic Prog.

This [What a Symphony] is the second album from Dutch keyboardist Eric De Vroomen, who is a free politician and journeyman rather than composer and musician. The most part of compositions represented here are not very complex classical music performed mostly with modern instruments. This very serious project was well composed and played. However, rare vocal parts with lyrics performed, on the whole, by a nice guest operatic female singer, insufficiently reflect the conceived anti-fascist conception. Also frequent jazzy guitar solos sometimes slightly destroy the overall classical scheme. Nevertheless, this album is one of the best acts from Lukassen's "Transmission" label. -- Vitaly Menshikov

Discography

Alba y Ocaso (99)

Reviews

Códice is a Mexican band. To my knowledge, Alba y Ocaso (Dawn and Dusk) is their only release. But what a release! This is '70's styled prog with many references to the bands of that day. Alba y Ocaso is a 2-CD set with the first CD being a set of cuts featuring a mix of male and female vocalists and great '70's keyboards (actually, an E-mu Vintage Keys). Códice reminds me in parts of various Italian bands (particularly Le Orme) plus Pink Floyd, Genesis, Red-era King Crimson and even Rubycon-era Tangerine Dream in one place. But they most frequently recall Emerson, Lake and Palmer, complete with a B3 riff positively stolen from Tarkus' "Stones of Years" and lead synthesizer patches ripped right from Emerson's personal library. But even so, one might rightly say that they've borrowed from so many '70's bands that they don't really sound like any of them any more. In addition to these prog rock influences, there are also numerous classical style compositions, including several classical (nylon-string) guitar solos and a nice Bach-like pipe organ fugue. This is great stuff! If you like energetic, '70's-sounding keyboard-oriented prog with just enough "neo" flavor to sound like a modern recording, Alba y Ocaso is a gem. It even has a cover that looks as if it was taken from a Giger sketch book (very Brain Salad Surgery looking). This album was recorded on David Overstreet's Art Sublime label and is available from the usual prog sources, or from David himself if you attend any prog festivals. This one gets my highest recommendation. -- Fred Trafton

Links

Códice do not seem to have a web site. Click here for an interview on the Hispanic Progressive Rock web site

Discography

Codona (79) Codona 2 (80) Codona 3 (82)

Reviews

Codona was an influential world-jazz group, certainly progressive, but with hardly any rock influence. Members were Collin Walcott (from the group Oregon) on sitar, tabla, dulcimer, sanza, etc.; famous jazz musician and world music fan Don Cherry on trumpet, flute, organ, doussn'gouni, etc., and Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. The group name was derived from the members' first names. The group ceased to exist after Walcott was killed in a car accident while touring with Oregon in East Germany. -- Dan Kurdilla

Project of Don Cherry, Colin Walcott (Oregon) and Nana Vasconcelos (Weather Report), dominated by Cherrys trumpet. Here you find something best described as ethno/jazz/prog., a lot of percussion, psychedelic organ, sitar and tablas. "Inner Organ" on Codona 3 has an incredible tension, spacy organ, weird trumped and some secreted whisperings, that will delight many prog. listeners (especially Gong fans). Not really prog. but nevertheless great music. -- Achim Breiling

Discography

Wakan Tanka (71)

Reviews

Bluesy, very ordinary riff-driven psych, reminiscent of the plethora of anonymous San Francisco bands of the period who did this kind of thing; in other words it isn't particularly interesting even within this genre, and I can't imagine it being of any interest whatsoever to prog fans. -- Alex Davis

Discography

Cofradía de la Flor Solar (71) El café de los ciegos (97) Korfrádica (98)

Discography

The Second Stage Turbine Blade (02) In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (03) Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (05) Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow (07)

Reviews

Coheed and Cambria - (not in photo order) - Claudio Sanchez (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, synth), Travis Stever (guitars, lap steel, vocals), Michael Todd (bass, vocals), Chris Pennie (drums, percussion) Very good, melodic hard rock with tight arrangements and sweet vocals. I can't wholly recommend the 2003 CD, however, as it only had two tracks that interested my progressiveness [the title and "Cuts Marked in the March of Men"] and though complex by rock standards -- they remind me a little of Tool (or a less techie IQ) and theme their albums around characters Coheed and Cambria -- their music is more neo-grunge than prog rock. -- David Marshall I picked up the same album that David Marshall discusses above, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, in Half-Price Books' clearance rack for $3.98. Though it's hard to argue with Marshall's overall assessment, I will say that I find this album to be pretty good, though it speaks to other musical interests than "progressiveness". Many of the tracks have echoes of punk thrash or even '80's new wave (one cut could almost be a Cars tune, though a bit more metallic). Others are straight ahead metal anthems or ballads. But my interest level is high enough that I'd like to hear some of their latest work, particularly since some reviewers say they have gotten more progressive in the last few releases. Coheed and Cambria are not the names of band members, but are fictional characters in an epic sci-fi story collectively referred to as The Amory Wars. The story line has been partially revealed in a set of comics published by Evil Ink Comics, whose reason for existence is to publish The Amory Wars story line penned by C&C leader Claudio Sanchez which inspire the lyrics for their albums. -- Fred Trafton

Links

Click here for Coheed and Cambria's web site Click here for Coheed and Cambria's MySpace page Click here for Coheed and Cambria's Facebook page Click here for the Evil Ink Comics web site

Coïncidence (78), Clef de Ciel (79)

Clef de Ciel is an excellent album, purely fusion, reminding me very much of a Belgian band named Cos. It also sounds sort of like the best fusiony moments from Jeff Beck's Blow By Blow. The band was led by brothers Jean-Pierre Llabador on guitar and Jean-Claude Llabador on keyboards. Michel Montoyat played Rickenbacker bass, Joel Allouche was on drums and Olivier Chabrol played sax and piano. Yes, it's "just fusion" but it beats the hell out of UZEB. It's much more like the great European fusion bands of the time. -- Kenneth Newman

French prog/fusion band co-led by brothers Jean-Pierre (guitars) and Jean- Claude (guitars and keyboards) Llabador who did at least two records (Coincidence and Clef de Ciel), before Jean-Claude was killed in a tragic auto accident while touring. In the light of the band's history, I truly hate to say that I find both records to be rather pedestrian and uninteresting. Some of the guitar work is nice, but the keyboards are very dated- sounding, and the compositions are riddled with all sorts of lame jazz-rock cliches. Generally, the playing is merely competent but not especially inspired. Of the two records, Clef de Ciel is the superior.

[See Llabador, Jean-Pierre]

Basnie (89) Nine Songs of John Lennon (93), Moonshine (94), Changes (95, comp., same as Zmiany (93), Safe (96)

I know this review is going to confuse a lot of people. I've a bit of a reputation of being down on neo-prog. It's true that I don't care for Pendragon, Galahad, Aragon, Deyss, and most of the dozens of their sound-alikes and wannabes. The music is simple and commercial, and often the singing is atrocious and the drummer metronomic. So why do I like Collage? You tell me. I'm a bit confused myself. This Polish five piece write fairly simple music with catchy harmonies, prominent vocals, and the overused verse-verse-chorus style. However, they sing in their native Polish, and they have an excellent drummer. These two features set them apart to my ears. Sure, the music is straightforward I-IV-V progressions but the singer is competent, and doesn't butcher English grammar like so many do. The drummer adds fills and rolls constantly, and while he's not in the Moerlin, Farrugia, or Hauser camp, he's head and shoulders beyond most. If you approach this album for what it is, accessible music, you won't be disappointed. It's not a prog classic in terms of musicianship, composition or feel, but it contains more depth than just a few hooks and catchy vocal melodies. In ways it reminds me of what Jadis could be if they decided to be more musical, or maybe Marillion without the emphasis on twisted, emotional pieces. Friends have told me it reminds them of Rush. Whatever. I like it. -- Mike Borella

From Poland, this group plays a melodic rock typical of modern British bands. The usual lineup features vocals (in English), keyboards, guitars, bass and drums. The compositions on Moonshine are text based but instrumental parts and solos are also present. A heavy production and very symphonic arrangements add a touch of drama to the performances. The themes often evoke the melancholic feel of ballads but also rely on inspired work from the drummer. A band to discover for fans of the style. -- Paul Charbonneau

Discography

Collegium Musicum (70) Konvergencie (71) Live (73) Marián Varga & Collegium Musicum (75, Live) Continuo (78) On a ona (79) Divergencie (81)

Reviews

In the style of ELP, they were active from 1971 until 1981. Your best buy is the live album [1973]. Perhaps a bit jazzier than ELP.

Whereas many of the progressive bands in what was then the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia were fusion-oriented and had strong guitar presence, Collegium Musicum's leader, keyboardist Marián Varga, took his cues from classical music and steered his band into the same murky waters between classical and rock that Keith Emerson had been navigating with The Nice. Considering Czechoslovakia's harsh political climate in 1969 (Prague's Spring was only a year in the past, after all), when clampdown on any dangerous ideological elements in art cast its shadow over the relative musical independence of previous years (which didn't stop bands on government-owned labels like Supraphon from clashing with the rulebook), working on classical music in rock context, as Collegium Musicum did on their debut single "Hommage à J.S. Bach" / "Ulica plná plastov do dazda" (Panton 03 0250), might also be seen as a relatively safe way of starting a career of explorative music making. "Hommage à J.S. Bach" is a rather workman-like pastiche of Bach's baroque organ pieces, full of stomping chordal marches and liquid arpeggios (the kind that Tony Banks made part and parcel of his keyboard style). Varga's instrument here behaves more like a common church organ than Emerson's unruly Hammond, which gives this a more formal and restrained air than The Nice's classical dissections. Also the accompanying guitar and rhythm section are largely superfluous, merely underlining the basic rhythmic pulse and adding an occasional flourish here and there. The end result is quaint, nicely drawn, but ultimately rather flat. "Ulica plná plastov do dazda", though harmonically and melodically more spartan, uses dynamics and orchestration much more skilfully, letting all instruments have a go at its central melody. Some development had been made by Collegium Musicum (Supraphon 113 1018), which features three 13-minute tracks. The first one, "If You Want to Fall", is well within the extended psychedelic tune format, with bluesy, pedestrian vocal sections featuring a rather strained vocals from bassist Fedor Freso separated by an extended instrumental jam. From here on, Varga begins his successful emulations of what is unfortunately Emerson's most influential mannerism, his Hammond torture routines, turning his instrument into an airraid siren or a celestial glockenspiel with eager delight. The electrified-chickenwire guitar sound and the monotonously honking orchestral backing help to make this song sound dated beyond its years. The more subtle "Strange Theme" is far superior in terms of melody and arrangements, with Varga even adding a bit of harpsichord and the orchestra only appearing during the middle section to give effective and appropriate boost to his solo. "Concerto in D" is a rock arrangement of Haydn's well-known piano concerto (organ is used here instead), and is also the album's strongest individual track, thanks to a high overall energy level and Haydn's superior melodies. Yet it shows the structural limitations of this approach, for after the initial theme is stated, the orchestra is chucked aside and the tune settles on to a metallic bass ostinato over which Varga spins and stretches the piece's melodic material with admittedly a good touch and range of organ tones, completely bypassing the slower, Mozart-influenced second movement. The end result is a ballsy but brazen simplification that rocks nicely, but makes no attempt at a more subversive reconstruction and reinterpretation as Los Canarios would do with Ciclos. Collegium Musicum is a bit too much a child of its own era. Time has not been kind to many of these psychedelic innovators (including The Nice), but to parts of this album, it has been one sadistic son of a bitch. Collegium Musicum then made the effortless leap from ambition to megalomania with Konvergencie (Opus 9113 0136/37), a second member in the Guild of Progressive Rock Double Albums with Just Four Side-Long Tracks on Them. I find most of the other members (Soft Machine's Third, Tangerine Dream's Zeit and Yes' Tales from Topographic Oceans) problematic at best, and Konvergencie suffers from lot of the same problems of obesity and over-indulgence as [the others]. "PF 1972" has a catchy main riff and a good melody sung by a children's choir that for once is allowed to sound assertive rather than just twee innocent. "Suita po tisíc a jednej noci" is a live jam built around themes lifted from Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade", which suffers from a slightly inferior sound quality, but packs more sonic wallop than the cleaner studio tracks. Varga's solos will surely make the Campaign for Humane Treatment of Rock Instruments scream in protest and some of the instrumental flights are exhilarating, but especially with "Suita po tisíc a jednej noci" I feel a bit of condensing would have improved things considerably. The most successful track is "Piesne z kolovrátku", which essentially consists of three distinct vocal numbers strung loosely together with instrumental segues and manages to include Beatles-derived pop, Slovakian folk melodies, Hendrix-like guitar strains and quasi-hymnal organ all in one track. "Eufonia" is where the album "converges", with some of the melodic material from the other songs restated in a nicely mutated form, but the majority of the track is devoted to Varga's sound experiments, where he subjects his organ and piano to combinations of basic echo chambers, Leslie modulation and simple feedback-inducing excess volume. The resulting electric menagerie of sounds may have been mind-blowing in its own time, but now sound mostly dated and overdrawn, gimmicky even. Ummagumma did it before and IMO with much more imagination and better integration between the sounds and the rest of the music. The CD re-release of Konvergencie (Opus 91 2413/4-2) contains also the first album and the first single, all in one double CD. With 137 minutes of music, there is enough good stuff to justify keeping it, but I can't help feeling that quite a lot of this sounds dated and unexceptional, a simple psychedelic romp that lacks the development and compositional finesse I associate with the best of progressive rock. However, if Emerson-style Hammond torturing and lengthy jams are your cup of tea, then get Konvergencie and your cup shall overflow. Divergencie (LP Opus 9113 1221-22; CD Bonton BON 497636 2) was another double album with four distinct sides. It abandons the "convergent", Hammond-heavy sound of the earlier albums for a more diverse set of musical influence orchestrated on a larger palette of shiny synthesizers and keyboards. The first side, titled "Refrény", consists of three segued fusion compositions of rather mediocre quality. Only the final (and the only vocal) track, "Nemé výcitky", stands out, but half of it is taken by a spacey if impressive solo by guitarist Lubos Andrst, whose influence is spread across the album side: he also provides electric solos and humorously dated-sounding, funky rhythm parts under piping synthesizer lines on "Refrén" and a noodling acoustic duet with Varga's piano on the moody "Interlúdiá". A children's choir is back for the oddly episodic "P.F.[1982, 1983,........ ]" suite, giving a vaguely Christmas carol-like ambience to most sections where it appears; the mood is carried over to the near-mawkish vocal sections featuring singer Pavol Hammel, clinky piano and sentimental strings. But between these are interesting keyboard instrumentals and one catchy, folk-like tune. Where "PF 1972" sounded raw and had more length than meaningful material, this one comes across as over-polished and disjointed, as it flits from theme to theme and back to reprise without developing anything fully, making the end product sound more like some half-finished musical jigsaw full of interesting but isolated pieces than a smooth integration of rock, classical and folk elements it probably was intended to be. Much better is the more formally classical suite "Musica Concertante", which integrates a full symphony orchestra to your standard rock quartet and sounds much more like a real classical piece than many of the slap-some-strings-on-it jobs in prog history. A combination of stabbing fanfares, domestic folk influence and brooding becalm where a supposedly stable tonality is blurred by gusts of thickening harmonies, it bears more than passing resemblance to the symphonic style of Varga's countryman Bohuslav Martinu. The final side, "Sazda do obálky", is a collection of short vocal tracks which, apart from "Piesen o blate" with its magisterial build-up conclusion, are rather innocuous pop heavy on glittering keyboards but light on edge or really memorable hooks, though "Prístavy" is brightened by a burst of bubbling (and somewhat out of place) Minimoog arpeggios. Like with earlier Collegium Musicum albums, Divergencie has lots of interesting ideas but the realisation often leaves me cold. Varga obviously had his heart more on the classical elements than the pop music of the fourth side, as evinced by his more adventurous solo album three years later. -- Kai Karmanheimo

Links

[See Modry Efekt | Varga, Marián]

Discography

Color (78) Another album (8?)

Reviews

An underrated, never-spoken about band from 1970's Hungary that made an album just as good as a few of the first tier Italian albums and 2nd tier Italian albums. I don't know about their 2nd album from 198?, but their first is very good. Loaded with Mellotrons, keyboards, guitars, harmonizing vocals and cellos to boot. Fans of Italian prog should like Color as there's quite a bit of similarity in the keyboard sounds (sometimes sounding like Biglietto Per L'Inferno and other times like Le Orme). I would say that this album is not a classic but "close" to being a borderline classic. Not overly complex but it sports all of the moves that fans of melodic 70's Italian prog would like. I heard their 2nd (and last one) from the early 80's no longer had violin/cello and sounded more poppish. -- Betta

Discography

Heavenicetrip (98)

Reviews

Techno-influenced modern instrumental psych prog. For those looking to hear modern-day psychadelic with Camel-esque guitars, Colorstar might be up your alley. I personally don't care for the techno drums which almost gives the album industrial sound of Nine-inch Nails or something of the like. But the guitars are a good listen and there are some touches of middle eastern sounds. -- Betta

Discography

Those About To Die Salute You (69) Valentyne Suite (69) Daughter of Time (70) Grass Is Greener (70?) Live (71) Collector's Colosseum (71)

Reviews

More jazz/blues than progressive.

Their first is the best prog blues album ever made, but it may be too blues for most Gibraltar readers (its one of my very favorites, actually).

Dave Greenslade's first prog-jazz group, Their first two releases Valentyne Suite and Those Who Are About To Die Salute You are generally regarded as their best.

Jon Hiseman (drums), graduate of the John Mayall school of power blues set out to meld the evolving blues sound with a solid rock rhythm section and the result is a very solid if somewhat dated debut album For Those.... The music is Mayall style power blues that evenly showcased the musicianship of saxman Dick Heckstall-Smith, keyboardist Dave Greenslade, Hiseman, guitarist James Litherland, and bassist Tony Reeves. The sound is somewhat dated, but it remains to this day one of the most powerful and important progressive albums. This is to blues what Soft Machine's Third was to jazz. The second release, Valentyne Suite, shows a more mature band beginning to experiment with different musical styles. Some of those presented on this album are the psychadelic sounding opening track "The Kettle," "Elegy" with a great strings arrangement, and Greenslade's monsterous sidelong suite "Valentyne Suite." This 17 minute instrumental track is a tour-de-force and is in my book of the 10 greatest progressive tracks of all time. Unfortunately for Hiseman, personnel changes after the second album began the downfall and a year later there was to be no more Colosseum. They lasted only a brief three years and a small legacy of five albums, but Colosseum did leave its mark and a good mark it was. The first two albums are available on a singe CD and is an excellent introduction to the band. Sound quality is excellent and it is highly recommended.

Colosseum, along with bands like King Crimson and Julian's Treatment, were creating some of the earliest forms of progressive rock back in 1969. Two fine examples are their excellent albums, For Those About to Die, We Salute You and Valentyne Suite. While King Crimson's famous In the Court of the Crimson King (generally touted as the first Progressive Rock album) comes in from the Heavy Mellotron Psychedelia angle, Colosseum approach this early form for Prog from the Jazz and Blues direction. For Those About to Die..., recorded in late '68 and early '69 contains eight songs averaging about 5 minutes each. Half have vocals and half are instrumental. The sound (a bit dated here) consists of the standard fare of guitar, bass, drums, vocals and Hammand organ as well as saxophone. Essentially, this album is a good-time jammin' rock album that is heavily blues and jazz inflected. There are definite Progressive tendencies, however, as some of the chordal progressions are a bit out of the ordinary. I'd file this under "proto-prog." Valentyne Suite, recorded in the summer of 1969, continues where their previous release left off but becomes more adventurous and Progressive. While the first four songs contain vocals and range from jazzy blues (or bluesy jazz) to hard rock (similar to their debut), the three-part, side-long "Valentyne Suite" is a stunning piece of instrumental music. Dave Greenslade turns in a *killer* Hammond solo that simply blows away ANYTHING Emerson ever did. I haven't heard any of their others but I would suggest Valentyne Suite is an excellent album to start with and, if you are interested in the growth of progressive rock, an essential part of any progressive collection

About Daughter Of Time: I found it a bit better than the first two albums, simply because I barely tolerate blues unless it is not incorporated into a track in such a way, that it is unrecognizable or barely recognizable. Of course, in the case of Morituri and Valentyne’s Suite, blues component is passable and doesn’t nerve me much. If first two efforts were bluesier, this one comes closer to the classic progressive rock sound. As the sound is less bluesy, songs sound straighter, more vivid, the production is improved, sorta brightened, performances shine and gleam even when all around is dark, (ha!). Overall, album is slightly leaning toward KC’s In the Court ... or In the Wake ..., albeit they run through ears joyously, even when they tend to be pompous and dignified. As guests also appear additional saxist (f), plus brass duo and string quintet on two tracks ("Time Lament" and title song). This gives the sound width, depth and brightness, mentioned earlier, as the brass and string arrangements are demonstrating pristine gaiety. The opener, "Three Scores and Then ..." is straighter, as the openers should be or they usually are. "Time Lament" has so good orchestrated lines that it is rather festival than lament. The best track is "Take me back to Doomsday" with the superb melody and vocal lines, here Dave Clempson sings, fits more to my ears than Farlowe (maybe won’t fit to yours, who knows; of course, neither him, nor Farlowe could surpass Hammill or Gabriel, still talking ‘bout my taste, and not anybody elses). "Daughter of Time" begins with great orchestral part and proceeds rather solemn. "Theme for Imaginary Western" is cover of or is written by Pete Brown, don’t know exactly. "Bring Out Your Dead" is great instrumental piece. Track no.7, "Downhill and Shadows", is still very bluesy and I must really "wade" through it in comparison with first six ones. O.K., sax at the begining is great but rest is much predictable. "The Time Machine" (last track) is recorded live and is Hiseman drum solo. Awesome, at least for track length and the endurability of a drummer. As I have CD, don’t know if it appears on original LP or it was added for CD-rerelease. By my opinion, DOT should be surpassed by the last album of Colosseum’s first incarnation in 70’s, The Grass is Greener, from 1971. I heard two pieces, which I think belong to it, and these are the very best I have heard from the band. And the rest is quite good, innit? Yes, "The Rope Ladder to the Moon" and "Jumping-off the Sun" are peak efforts. If the rest of Grass is Greener is third-quarter as good, let’s unearth this gem, which still remains un-rereleased and undeservably so. -- Nenad Kobal

Links

[See Airey, Don | Colosseum II | Greenslade | Mogul Thrash | Tempest]

Discography

Strange New Flesh (76) Electric Savage (77) War Dance (78) Variations (78) Strange New Flesh: Expanded Edition (05, 2CD, Reissue w/ 2 bonus tracks plus a 10-song bonus disk of live & demo tracks)

Reviews

After the departure of Dave Greenslade from Colosseum in his quest for a solo career, drummer Jon Hiseman teamed up with a very talented bunch of musicians to form Colosseum II. Powered by the guitars of Gary Moore and the keyboards of Don Airey, they released a trio of albums, of which these are the best two. Musically, they straddle the boundary between jazz fusion and rock in very much the same style as Brand X, Arti+Mestieri, etc., with an increased keyboard presence. With the exception of a couple of tracks, most of their work is all-instrumental. Jon Hiseman's drum and percussion work also contributes greatly to the intensity of the music, all of which is anchored by John Mole's bass. Electric Savage was released at the end of 1976. As noted in the sleeve, "Just hours before Christmas 1976 and a few hours after our return from a European tour, our exhausted crew set up the gear ... for seven days we continued playing the music live ..." The recording captures the musical virtuosity of the band members, and their ability to present a powerful live performance. War Dance was released in 1977, and was a more mature work with tightly executed compositions written around the dueling guitar and keyboard leads of Moore and Airey. In terms of overall effect this might have the edge over Electric Savage, but only slightly. Additionally, Don Airey's keyboard work is on equal footing with Gary Moore's guitars, unlike Electric Savage in which Moore's guitar was more prominent in the mix.

Jon Hiseman tries it for a third time this time enlisting newcomers Gary Moore (guitar), Don Airey (keyboards), and Mike Starrs (vocals). Starrs lasted for only one album as the band made a change to a more instrumental approach. Strange New Flesh is an interesting first release by the new lineup. The opening track, "Dark Side of the Moog" - a humorous tribute to Pink Floyd, shows a band primed and ready for an instrumental performance. The second track, a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Down to You" is a bit of a letdown after the solid opener, but does redeem itself by Don Airey's extended keyboard improvisation in the middle. The remainder of the album much the same, great instrumental passages surrounded by vocal pieces that seem out of place. All in all a nice album, but nothing to rush out and buy. Electric Savage was recorded just before Christmas in 1976 and shows a Colosseum II that has corrected all the shortcomings from the first album. Gone are the laborous vocal tracks with Gary Moore handling the lone brief vocal track. Instead you will find relentless interplay between Moore and Airey with the listener left trying to decide who really won. This is high energy progressive fusion in the same vein as Return to Forever or Mahavishnu Orchestra sans violin. You have not heard the best of Gary Moore unless you have heard this album. Very highly recommended. War Dance features the same lineup as Electric Savage and is really more of the same brand of fierce fusion. All three releases are available as Japanese or US domestic CD reissues.

Variations is an Andrew Lloyd Webber album of arrangements of a theme written by classical composer Nicolò Paganini. He enlisted all of the members of Colosseum II (Hiseman, Moore, Airey & Mole) as well as Rod Argent, Phil Collins, and Herbie Flowers. The 2nd track, "Theme (Paganini Caprice in A Minor No. 24) and Variations 1-4" was used as the theme music to ITV's "South Bank Show". -- Dave Lane

Not a lot to add to the above write-ups except to say that their first, Strange New Flesh, is mediocre at best. The second album however, Electric Savage, is a rock-fusion tour de force loaded with fiery, tight instrumental performances at a time when Mahavishnu had already peaked and "fusion" consisted mostly of Jean-Luc Ponty's whiney violin or Brand X's endless stream of uneven records. Sadly, C2's later albums are not currently in print and [I've heard] they're only available at inflated prices. -- David Marshall

Links

[See Airey, Don | Colosseum | Lucifer's Friend]

St. John's Eve (76)

Discography

Veci (Things) (80)

Reviews

Fascinating all-instrumental 6-piece (keyboards, reeds/violin, bassoon, guitars, bass, drums/percussion) from Hungary. None of the members of this group were full-time musicians, but they run through 14 brief (1':35" to 4':26"), but very intricate compositions (mostly by keyboardist Daniel Fikejz), as if they were conservatory-trained. Wonderful stuff which, although strongly influenced by Hungarian folk and classical (i.e., Bartok) musics, seems very Zappa-inspired (circa Burnt Weeny Sandwich). The basson is prominent, so the music is superficially reminiscent of Gryphon, at times. I highly recommend this to fans of Zappa, Canterbury sounds, RIO (esp. those of us who enjoy Nimal, Zamla, etc.), and people who like the sound of the bassoon. The music of Combo FH is weird, but not in a pernicious/atonal/chaotic way, so even those of you with more mainstream tastes may like this. -- Dave Wayne

Václav Pátek, who used to be in this band, wrote to let me know that they were a Czech band (then Czechoslovakia) from Prague, not Hungarian as previously reported. -- Fred Trafton

Discography

Comedy of Errors (8?)

Reviews

A British neo-prog band, at times similar to Pendragon or the Holidays In Eden era Marillion. Some songs are almost straight melodic hard rock with some Mark Kelly styled keyboards icing the cake; others feature a bit more complexity in the rhythm and composition departments. An obviously low-budget production, the CD has a pressing error so that the song "The Student Prince, Part I" has been replaced by a demo-quality version of another song on the album, "Behold The Knight". Most of the songs are undeniably catchy, but the whole album is very light on the progressive side. Still if you are into neo-prog, have all the essential releases and still want more, then by all means, try this out. -- Kai Karmanheimo

Diumenge (75), L'Oucomballa (76), Tramuntana (77), L'Angel de la dansa (78), Ordinaries aventures (79), L'Atlantida (81), Çompanyia Electrica Dharma al Palau de la Musica Catalana amb la Cobla Meditterania (82), Catalluna (83), Forc,a Dharma (85), No volem ser! (86), Homenatge a Esteve Fortuny (87), Fibres del cor (89), Tifa Head (91), Que no es perdi mai aquest so (93), 20 Anys, Forc,a Dharma! (94, comp.)

Çompanyia Electrica Dharma is a Catalan group that blends Catalan folk music with pop-rock music, and with a "soft" jazzy and experimental flavour, especially in their seventies albums, which gives an interesting final result. After Catalluna they became more poppy (avoid Forc,a Dharma and No Volem Ser!!), with the exception of Homenatge a Esteve Fortuny. The 20 Anys, Forc,a Dharma! compilation album is very a good starting point and to decide a further follow-up. -- José Miguel Girart

Discography

Compost (72) Life is Round (73)

Reviews

Compost is what drummer-keyboardist Jack DeJohnette did right after he left Miles Davis' group: a happy, funky, slightly weird jazz-rock band that had a distinctly hippy-dippy flavor to it (supplied mainly by drummer-mallet percussionist-vocalist Bob Moses). Compost also contained bassist Jack Gregg, saxophonist Harold Vick and percussionist Jumma Santos. The self-titled first album was pretty commercial, but despite sounding like a less funky, more jazzy, guitar-less version of Sly and the Family Stone, it had its moments. Life is Round is a much better record, with a more jazzy sound (only 3 vocal cuts) reminiscent of Eddie Harris' recordings on Atlantic from the same time period. It's fun to listen to, but sounds rather dated today ... -- Dave Wayne

Links

[See Davis, Miles]

Discography

First Utterance (71) Diana (71, EP) To Keep From Crying (74) Note: A 1999 reissue combines First Utterance and Diana under the title First Utterance.

Reviews

Twisted folk music with male and female vocals and plenty of instruments (flute, oboe, viola, slide bass along with acoustic guitars and percussion), First Utterance abounds with themes of rape, murder, and insanity. The song "Diana" would not be out of place on a newer Current 93 record. Pretty unique stuff for its time or any time. [To Keep From Crying] is less interesting, as it goes into more conventional folk music. -- Rolf Semprebon

Comus, appropriately named after the Greek god of revelry, is certainly one of the most interesting musical groups of all time, and in my opinion one of the best. The Tapestry of Delights neatly describes their style: they use folk as a point of departure, and from there do whatever they want. The result is startling, complex, generally fast-paced and often twisted tunes that elude categorization. The sound is somewhat like that of Air Conditioning-era Curved Air. Unfortunately, in '72 the group lost half their lineup. The original line-up, which recorded their first two albums, was: Roger Wooton: Lead and backing Vocals, 6-string acoustic guitar Colin Pearson: Acoustic Violins, Acoustic Viola Glen Goring: 6 & 12-string Acoustic and electric Guitars, backing vocals, hand drums Andy Hellaby: Electric Basses, backing vocals Bobby Watson: Miscellaneous Percussion, Lead and backing Vocals Rob Young: Flute, Oboe, hand drums Each was a truly special talent on his own particular instruments and molded perfectly with the others. Roger Wooton often used terrifyingly evil and hideous voices, but sang primarily with intense emotion and was perfectly complimented by Bobby Watson, a woman with a voice like a dying nightingale; the power of these two harmonizing has to be heard to be believed. Colin Pearson produced truly fearsome melodies on the violin, and is perhaps the best embodiment of the group's mood. Glen Goring and Rob Young fill out the rest of the instrumental muscle. Andy Hellaby is a phenomenal bassist whose talent is shadowed over on the first two albums by virtue of its compositional basis. Bobby's percussion talent is also shadowed over on the first two albums, but in her case because of the producer. First Utterance is respected yet somewhat misunderstood by reviewers. From my viewpoint the album does not revel in evil; rather, it reveals evil. The music and lyrics wipe away ideas of relative morality and unmask evil as the sick, festering monster that it is. All 7 tracks are strong and, with the probable exception of "Bitten" (appareny a Hellaby composition), all are group compositions. "Diana", a paradigm of lust, is filled with the haunting viola of Colin and the impassioned warning cries of Roger and Bobby. The 12-minute "The Herald" is peaceful yet often eerie and features lengthy acoustic guitar and violin journeys. The 10-minute nightmare of "Drip Drip" sports curious instrumental sections, a catchy viola riff, and some of Roger's creepiest vocals. In "Song to Comus" the peace of a summer day gradually builds to the horror of rape with ingenuous arrangement and wonderful playing. "The Bite" is dominated by superb flute offset by rusty, rapid acoustic guitar and strained vocals in a mixture that builds tension to an almost unbearable point, while "Bitten" is a horror-movie style instrumental with shocking violin and bass atmospheres. The album Diana is largely ignored due to its rarity, but is their best in my opinion. Aside from a slightly different version of "Diana", all the tracks are percussion-less medieval ballads marked by atmospheric violin. "In the Lost Queen's Eye" is a superb lament opened by an intense bass line. Bobby's despairing lead vocals are beautiful, and Roger's anguished backing is in perfect contrast. Side B is entirely occupied by the 8-minute "Winter is a Coloured Bird", Comus's masterpiece. All the emotions are here: from gentle peace to roiling fear, from soft acceptance to unbearable lament. The guitar solo alone is filled with pity and a dozen unnamable emotions. Certainly one of the best progressive epics to be placed on record. Most blame Comus's decline on a turn towards commercialism. If you listen to "Down (like a movie star)", "To Keep From Crying", or any of Andy's compositions on To Keep From Crying, however, it is plain they never lost their taste for experimentalism. Rather, it seems that they were unable to keep up their old pace due to their lineup being reduced to Roger Wooton (Vocals and Guitars), Andy Hellaby (Basses and tape effects), Bobby Watson (Miscellaneous Percussion and Vocals), Keith Hale (Misc. Keyboards), and Gordon Caxon (Drums). After all, is it not plausible that most of the group's experimentation came from the songwriting of, say, Colin and Glen? This line-up was largely dominated by the original members (Caxon only appears on 6 of the album's 11 songs!). The instrumental muscle was taken on by Andy and, to a lesser extent, Keith Hale. Andy's incredible bass work is therefore much easier to appreciate. All but one song is written by either Roger or Andy. The masterpieces are "Down", "To Keep From Crying", and "After the Dream", but even the giddy "Figure in Your Dreams" has great vocal harmonies at the end. A throwback to First Utterance, "Down" is filled with twisting and unpredictable vocals, excellent bass, and an odd bridge with fine recorder. The follow-up, "Touch Down", is melancholy and despairing with fascinating background piano work. "Waves and Caves" and "Panophany" are eerie instrumental interludes. "Perpetual Motion" starts as light-hearted folk before suddenly changing; a real Folk Geek-meets-King Crimson song. The classically influenced "To Keep From Crying" brings the album to an unexpected and shattering climax, with mind-blowing bass work and vocal harmonies. The harp-based "After the Dream" is a strangely beautiful epilogue. Though certainly weaker and less consistent than their first two, To Keep From Crying has some great prog. (Note:Although members of Gong, Henry Cow, and Esperanto do appear on TKFC, fans should be warned that their roles are minimal.) There are few things in life that can give you such a shocking experience as Comus. Highly recommended to those who like their prog unconfined, frightening, and with touches of folk. The third is the rarest, but well-worth seeking out if you are prepared for an album of a weaker and more conventional variety than the first two. -- Robert Orme

Discography

Condemned (91) Condemned (91, EP)

Reviews

In the very late eighties fairly gruesome and strange band from North Carolina began to dig up itself from the total underground. They used to mix Watchtower-like technical metal with extremely slow doom metal a la early Cathedral with very interesting results. Even nowadays I consider this band's music to be the hardest to get into. These guys have seemingly captured trully inhuman source of inspiration. Their music has an eerie aura, which one can not put down just like a ... snap. Univers Zero and co. are galaxies away from them but Confessor can compete. Actually, I have better feeling, when I listen to Univers Zero's Heresie. In comparison with Condemned even Shub Niggurath's C'Etaient ... can be written off as a sort of abstract music-concrete hodge-podge (of course it is not that bad, listener only need to approach it different way). Condemned usually fills me with unease and strange tenseness. I wonder for years now how to explain rationally the fact that I can't comfortably land on this album. With other words this could be ... music for the dying robots, music for the dying cyborgs, or mourn-songs for the computerized and dehumanized world of today. But we are sorta used to it, aren't we? I mean, this world of today. Their music itself is a solitary, lonely world. However, I always put them in CD-player with a great respect. Singer has hella high pitched voice, higher than Alan Di Tecchio of Watchtower fame, with a slightly different colour, but not a falsetto or similar to Vienna Boys' Choir. Depression and sadness are expressed in higher pitch. Really inclassifiable. The other comparison with WT is through use of rhythms. Mostly contrarhythms with pounding, grinding, almost industrial resonance. Slow (midtempo is highest gear here) and precise. Phobos of VoiVod is scary, but it is also brutal. Condemned has some differently strange qualities, which, so it seems, will always fill me with an awe and will never be unveiled. EP Condemned has two tracks not appearing on the album. These two are a bit less eerie. Recommended only to those who think that they have experienced all posibilities in progressive music. One of the guitarists of late Confessor, Graham Fry participated in Ozone Quartet. -- Nenad Kobal

Links

[See Ozone Quartet]

Discography

El Congresso (71) Tierra Incognito (75) Congreso (77) Mias de los Andes (78) Viaje Por La Cresta Del Mundo (81) Ha Llegado Carta (83) Páfaros De Arcilla (83) Estoy Que Me Muero (86) Gira al Sur (87) En Vivo (88, Live) Los Arqueólogos del Futuro (89) Aire Puro (90) La Pichanga (92) Los Fuegos Del Hielo (92) 25 Años de Musica (94 Compilation) Por Amor Al Viento (95) La Loca Sin Zapatos (01) La Historia de un Viaje (03) Congreso de exportación (04, Live)

Reviews

Excellent Chilean progressive band with a big sound, some influence from the melodic side a-la early Genesis, but an equal influence from their own ethnic folk heritage, such so they come off sounding very unique yet accessible. Many albums. Vocals in Spanish. Start with their double-live En Vivo.

Links

Click here for El Congreso's official web site Click here for a fan web site

Theme to the Guardian (75), Of Mist and Melting (79), Swimming With a Hole in My Body (80), Step It (85), Double Up (86), Assembler (87)

US jazz and fusion guitarist who first came to prominence in the mid-'70s with Chick Corea's Return to Forever (Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy), only to be replaced by the far less interesting Al Di Meola. Connors also appeared on Stanley Clarke's eponymously-titled second solo effort with Jan Hammer and Tony Williams. Two (Theme... and Swimming...) of Connors' first 3 solo albums on the ECM label are lovely, introspective solo guitar records, while Of Mist and Melting finds Connors on acoustic guitar in a jazzy, yet subdued, quartet with the likes of Jack DeJohnette (drums), Gary Peacock (bass) and Jan Garbarek (sax). Connors subsequently occupied the guitar chair in Garbarek's group, where his successors were the equally worthy Bill Frisell and David Torn. The three most recent solo albums (all reissued on the Evidence label) are very fine high-energy jazz-fusion power trio affairs, and should be of interest to fusion fans. -- Dave Wayne

Discography

Conspiracy (00) The Unknown (03)

Reviews

Conspiracy - Billy Sherwood and Chris Squire The easiest way to describe Conspiracy is as "Chris Squire's other band", following his tradition of extra and para-Yes projects like 1975's Fish Out of Water, Syn, or his work with former Yes men Rick Wakeman and Alan White. I have always loved Mr. Squire's rich, piercing tone and impeccable finesse and was looking forward to something in the creative spirit of those heady days. Sadly the band's second outing The Unknown (Inside Out, 2003) does not reflect that. Resembling neo-progressive rock, it is actually a stale attempt at catchy song stylings with just enough Yes-isms (some nice chorales and Steve Howe-ish guitar) to make you think you're hearing something decent from the later Yes period. Except what your hearing is a throw-away record with, count it, two reasonably good cuts ("New World" and the title track). It is more like neo-regressive. I would actually love to hear a good new Chris Squire album. Unfortunately this ain't it, not by a long shot. -- David Marshall

Links

[See Squire, Chris | Yes] Click here for Conspiracy's web site (seems to be incomplete) Click here for Chris Squire's web site Click here for info on the first Conspiracy album on the Notes From The Edge web site Click here for info on The Unknown on the Inside Out Music web site

New Marks (78), Musik (81)

German space-jazz trio who recorded 2 albums for JAPO (the now-defunct sister label to ECM). Both are excellent and are highly recommended to people who like ECM and that spacey German stuff. The music never lapses into fusion posturing, new age noodling, or straight-ahead jazz. Featured on both records are guitarist Evert Brettschneider and bassist Aloys Kott. Brettschneider sounds, at times, like John Abercrombie (circa his Timeless solo record, also on ECM), but plays a lot of acoustic as well. Michael Jullich doubles on drums, vibes and marimba. On the second album, Peter Eisold replaces Jullich on drums. Eisold doesn't play mallet percussion, which limits the group's sonic palette a bit. Nevertheless, Musik is a fine release which, although firmly in the ECM mold, has moments which recall space-jazz groups like Dzyan. -- Dave Wayne

Kronos (93)

Name a power trio from Canada with a singing bassist and a drummer who writes lyrics? No, not them because the drummer only wrote two songs. Continuum have released one CD that I know of, called Kronos. These guys are obviously influenced by fellow Canadian techo-progsters, Rush. There are a few brief moments where they get away from that formula but basically Continuum are...let's just say very strongly Rush influenced. If you like Rush, check these guys out. If not, then stay away because there is no other reason to check it out.

Discography

Contraction (72) La Bourse ou la vie (74)

Reviews

Canadian '70s prog.

Links

[See Dervieux, Franck] Click here for further information

Discography

Americanos (73) El Pasaje (00) Ramos Generales (03)

Reviews

Contraluz - (not in photo order) Carlos Barrio (guitar, flute), Nestor Barrio (drums), Freddy Prochnik (bass) and Jaime Fernández Madero (vocals, keyboards) Contraluz was born at the end of the '60's with brothers Carlos and Nestor Barrio (guitar and drums respectively), Freddy Prochnik (bass) and Alejandro Barzi (vocals and flute). By the time of their first LP, Americanos, they had added vocalist Alvaro Cañada and played a number of major festivals. But due to a number of problems both internal and external, Contraluz broke up in 1974. But after more than 20 years, core members the Barrio brothers and Prochnik got together again, with a new vocalist/keyboardist Jaime Fernández Madero and created a new album, independently released in 2000 etitled El Pasaje. The band has always had some folkish roots and Tull-like flute passages, and El Pasaje continued that tradition, with Carlos now playing flute. Prochnik sent me their latest effort, Ramos Generales a while back, and I've finally had a chance to give it the listen it deserved. Though I had heard that the band had "folky" tendencies, it hadn't occurred to me that this might mean hispanic folk music. (Duh. What was I thinking? The Strawbs?) The first song in particular has a sort of mariachi feel to it, though the electronic keyboards, drums and flute set it apart from that type of music. There's also some classical (spanish) guitar parts (some of them, perhaps, counterpointed with guitarish-sounding keyboards) that remind you you're listening to a South American band ... as if the Spanish vocals weren't enough of a clue. Ramos Generales isn't without its problems. In particular, the keyboards sound a bit cheezy in places and the recording quality is a bit in the "pretty good garage recording" range. But still, the compositions range from good to excellent, and the vocalist and flautist both turn in impassioned performances to go with the rest of the band. I've read elsewhere that Contraluz is really more of a "classic rock" band than "prog" (though this was about their first album, Americanos), but I would disagree. If you think Tull is prog, then Contraluz certainly is too, though the "folk" parts of each of them come from their respective ethnic backgrounds and prevents Contraluz from sounding like a Tull tribute band. They definitely have a unique voice that should be attactive to prog fans on both sides of the equator. I enjoyed Ramos Generales and recommend it to any fan of folky electric prog who doesn't mind hearing the words in a language other than English. -- Fred Trafton

Links

Click here for Contraluz' web site (finding the place to click to enter the site is a bit of an Easter Egg hunt ... keep clicking around on the sun and you'll eventually be rewarded)

Discography

Minor Complexities (07)

Reviews

Contrarian is a band from Trenton, New Jersey. Their debut album has a core of three members; Joseph Leming (lead vocals & percussion), Michael White (drums) and Timothy Boney (everything else, including acoustic and electric guitars, bass, keyboards and backing vocals), plus a couple of guests on violin and cello. On their web site, they refer to themselves as a six-piece band, but this must be a recent development, and the names of the other members aren't mentioned on their web site. Their album is called Minor Complexities, and it's a good album, especially for a debut. Their sound has a lot in common with Kansas (including the use of violin on several cuts), but with more of a prog-metal edge like Dream Theater and their brethren, plus a fair dose of Styxian Arena Rock. Some have compared Leming's vocals to Rush's Geddy Lee, but he doesn't sing nearly as high-pitched. I would compare him more to Kansas' Steve Walsh myself. Minor Complexities is a good album, but not a great album. No bad songs on it. No really memorable ones either, at least for my taste, at least after only 2 listenings. Fairly intellectual material in the lyrics (several songs are attributed to the writings of philosophers Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Plato, for example) does remind me a bit of Neil Peart's newer (non-sci-fi) lyrics, and that's not a bad thing in my book. But there are Christian overtones here that Peart wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, though they're not too preachy. In summary, I'd say "Recommended but not essential". I would keep a watch on these guys, though. They may yet develop into much much more. -- Fred Trafton P.S. I added the TM after their name because when I talked to Boney at their vendor's table at NEARFest 2007, he spent several minutes telling me about how important it was for a band to get their name trademarked. I suppose this is because he had a bad experience before in an untrademarked band, but that's just a guess. Anyway, since he thought it was important, I thought I'd add the trademark symbol, at least to their main entry name. -- FT

Links

Click here for Contrarian's web site Click here for Contrarian's MySpace page Click here to order Minor Complexities from CD Baby

Discography

Trudge (90) Body Samples (90) Curd (91) Golgatha (91) Penetration (92) ... many more releases on tape, vinyl and CD, see links below

Reviews

Trudge is industrial sounding dance-pop. Somewhat interesting on the first listening, then annoying thereafter. Very unusual, distorted and agressive sounding vocals. Apparently some of their other stuff is more ambient.

Links

Click here for Controlled Bleeding's discography on their web site

A L'affut D'un Complot (77), Le Bureau Central des Utopies (79)

Unusual band, complex musical constructs like Gentle Giant, but entirely acoustic. Worth searching out.

[See Duchesne, Andre]

Discography

Rags (83, Recorded 1979-80) The Golddiggers (83) Music for Other Occasions (86) Oh, Moscow (91, Recorded 1991) An Angel on the Bridge (91) Schroedinger's Cat (91) Sahara Dust (93) Pia Mater (97, w/ Charles Gray) A View from the Bridge (98)

Reviews

Cooper was a member of the tremendous Henry Cow. A wind and reed player and brilliant composer, her solo work is very much in line with Henry Cow's more melodic work. She writes wonderful textures and striking melodies unlike anyone else I can think of. Rags and Golddiggers are both film scores -- the first for a film about female garment workers in London circa 1840, the latter for an all woman film directed by Sally Potter. Potter sings on both scores and Fred Frith, Chris Cutler and Phil Minton all appear on this disc. The music to Rags is based on traditional London "broadside ballads" and does a great job conveying a traditional feel to very avant-garde composition. Golddiggers is less historical but still great. Oh Moscow is a live recording of a Potter/Cooper extended piece about the Cold War. The music is incredible and features Potter, Alfred 23 Harth, and Minton. Cooper is truly a gifted composer and musician whose work is essentially ignored and unknown!

Links

[See Frith, Fred | Henry Cow] Click here for further info Click here for further info

Discography

Music Madness From the Kinetic Kid (80, as Klark Kent, EP) Rumblefish (83) The Rhythmist (85) The Equalizer and Other Cliffhangers (87) Wall Street/Talk Radio (88, Side A—Talk Radio, Side B—Wall Street) Wall Street/Salvatore (88, Side A is by a different artist, Side B is the same as previous) Noah's Ark (90) Highlander I,II, and III (91, I and III are by other artists) Rapa Nui (94) Silent Fall (94) The Leopard Son (96) Little Boy Blue (98) Pecker (98, 8 songs by Copeland + 8 by other artists) Four Days in September (98) Simpatico (99) others

Reviews

Stewart Copeland Ex-Curved Air and Police drummer, released an album The Equalizer and other Cliff Hangers on the IRS No Speak label, I think it's mostly soundtrack stuff, electronic oriented, some of it pretty good, other stuff leans towards lame. Overall not an exceptional album. I found Rumblefish interesting the first couple times. But then, I'm a drummer and was very much prejudiced favorably to like anything Copeland might do. However, it didn't hold my interest for repeated listenings. Though formerly a member of both Curved Air and Frolk Haven, [and, of course, The Police -- Ed.] in my opinion Stewart Copeland is more of an avant-garde instrumental artist than a prog artist. His work is extremely interesting, however, and his first 4 albums are highly recommended to those who can enjoy non-traditional progressive. A sense of humor, playfulness, and humility is saturated throughout his work, yet Stewart maintains a high artistic standard and creates some very unique emotions. His style is distinctly his own, and while several songs show influence from Curved Air (e.g."The Mud Lions" from The Leopard Son sounds much like "Cheetah"), there is really no artist to compare him to. His album debut is the EP Music Madness From the Kinetic Kid under the name of Klark Kent, his fictitious alter ego. All 8 EP songs, plus 5 non-album single tracks and 2 previously unreleased tracks, are included on Kollected Works, which is easier to find. All the tracks are written by Stewart (who also plays all the instruments). Most are humorous rock tunes posing as punk(exceptions being the 3 instrumentals and "Guerilla") which, while not remotely progressive, are musically clever and lyrically witty (most of them satirizing adolescence and its foibles). Stand-outs include "Away From Home" with its gangly punching, the blitzing "Thrills", the powerful "Love Lessons", and "Guerilla" (which features some startlingly sinister kazoo work and arabic vocals). But by far the best is the prog-ish instrumental "Theme For Kinetic Ritual". Boogie-ish piano and drums weave behind a soul-healing piece of guitar and an excellent kazoo solo. Rumblefish is my favourite instrumental album. A concept album based on the book, Rumblefish is a quirky and unconventional mix of clever riffs and fascinating moods with prominent elements of classical, rock, folk, and punk. Apart from the brasses and a Stan Ridgeway guest appearance, Stewart plays all the instruments (which include not only drums, guitar, bass, double bass, piano, kazoo, banjo and synthesizers, but also typewriter, door chimes, jackhammer, pool table, motorcycle, and more!) Stewart wrote, arranged and produced all 13 tracks himself-yet the album is infinitely unpretentious and elegantly composed. Though the haunting "Don't Box Me In", the complex "Tulsa Tango", the blossoming "Our Mother is Alive", the metamorphizing "Party at Someone Else's Place", the foreboding "Father on the Stairs", and "Personal Midget" with its stunning climax are stand-outs, every track-all the way to the melancholy epilogue "Motorboy's Fate"-contributes to the album's genius. Rumblefish is not just a statement of a great drummer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist's talent, but a masterpiece in and of itself. The Rhythmist is another concept album accompanied by a movie, written by and starring Stewart himself as a black clad figure journeying across Africa in search of the secret of "Rhythmism". The album is a blend of assorted African styles and Copeland-style rock. Side A is often weak and is equally written by Stewart and guest vocalist Ray Lema, but side B is consistently strong and entirely written by Stewart. Highlights are the immensely creative and delightful (though often grim) instrumentals "Coco" and "Franco", "Gong Rock" with its wonderfully uplifting backing track layered beneath superb guitar work, and the swiftly moving "Serengeti Long Walk" with humorous vocal from Stewart. Stewart dropped his instruments for a time to create 3 generally serious, computer-generated albums. The first, appropriately titled The Equalizer and Other Cliffhangers, is even more magnificent and surreal than the bizarre cover. The careful approach of "Lurking Solo" leads into a flourish of powering rock rhythms. The delightful chimes and toots of "Music Box" are a joy, while "Screaming Lord Cole and the Commanches" leads a conquest of your musical mind with each instrument carefully placed in the campaign. "Green Fingers (Ten Thumbs)" is a brilliant, unconventional piano piece; "Flowershop Quintet" is touched by strange and friendly woodwinds and wonderful keyboards; and the wild yet majestic and often moving "Rag Pole Dance" finishes the album. While the playing isn't impressive, it is good enough that the astounding composing more than makes up for it. Stewart's consistency ended with his fifth, Wall Street/Talk Radio. Side B is quite good, but side A is a boorish nightmare. The album is the first of several that Stewart has made which serve strictly as soundtracks and are incredibly boring to sit and listen to. The last of his computer-generated albums is Noah's Ark, which includes a 25 1/2 minute instrumental, "The End and the Beginning". It suffers from being not ambitious enough and the computer programming, but there are definitely enough sparks of originality in it, and it maintains consistent purpose (something not true of many side long pieces). The album's other two songs are noticeable mainly because James Earl Jones narrates over them. Rapa Nui is an unusual part of SC's catalogue in that it is dominated by a truckload of percussion. Stewart also plays the bass and most of the synths. The album has lots of strange tribal chants and hauntingly reeks of dark pagan rituals and human sacrifice. Particularly noteworthy are the lengthy "Training" with its frightening outbursts of percussion and vocals and the searingly beautiful "Sail Away". Good atmospheric stuff. Still, SC has continued to make some brilliant albums, among them The Leopard Son, which consists solely of a 36-minute, 12-part classical suite. A couple of key themes are echoed throughout the work, including a clarinet riff that is pure childlike innocence. Stewart plays drums, percussion, and piano while accompanied by a full orchestra and Stanley Clarke (ex-Return to Forever) on acoustic bass. There are marvelously playful moments, thrilling rides, and pieces of sublime beauty. Not to mention some good rock influence: in particular, the concluding section is one of the most successful melds of classical and pop/rock I've heard. Overall a must for the classical-phile. Incidentally, Pecker is an album that should be avoided at all costs. Stewart's contributions consist of 5 pointless, pithy jazz instrumentals and 3 horrific rap numbers. The last of SC's albums which I've heard is Simpatico. Aside from a Petula Clark contribution to this soundtrack, the album consists of a 29-minute, 15-part suite. Stewart plays the percussion and bass, plus some synthesizer. The music is tremendously ethereal, yet has an eerie and compelling feel which somehow draws you in, despite the incessant repetition of the suite's central themes. The finale, "Free of it All", features Stan Ridgeway on vocal and harmonica and is quite good with dark and metaphorical lyrics. Though largely lacking in ideas, Simpatico may interest the lover of electronic music. Stewart Copeland is in my opinion one of the greatest composers of this age, and a phenomenal multi-instrumentalist as well. His songs are not so much individual entities as part of a larger tapestry (the album to which they belong). While those which are too closely linked with movies show great misdirection and should be avoided, most of Stewart's albums are at least worth investigating, particularly for those who favor both classical music and avant-garde instrumentalism. Not for those who like their music hard and serious, thanks to Stewart's often childlike approach to songwriting and his fondness for playing typewriter, kazoo, and computer-generated dog barking. The exceptions to this last statement are The Equalizer and Simpatico. -- Robert Orme

Links

[See Curved Air | Frolk Haven]

Discography