I’m still pinching myself to prove it is no dream: an American label actually has released a CD collection of recordings by Miss Bittová, the Moravian violinist / vocalist...
» Read morePerhaps you’ve read some of the recent reviews we’ve posted of guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and composer Matt Smith of the 6 String Ranch in Austin, Texas. He’s...
» Read moreHere's a really unexpected surprise. The 5uu's used to be the epitome of overlyrical RIO mediocrity, a quirky semi-political group influenced by the Henry Cow / Art Bears sphere. While...
» Read moreEver wonder what some of the classic progressive bands would sound like today had they maintained their edge and not grown lazy and comfortable and become caricatures of themselves? Enter the...
» Read moreThe twisted family tree of the American bands U Totem, Thinking Plague, 5uu's and Motor Totemist Guild is perhaps representative of the challenging, ever-changing music that these four groups...
» Read more[Note: This review from 1994 refers to reissues on the TRC label. The albums involved have since been legitimately issued, and those releases are listed at the end of this...
» Read more[Note: This review from 1994 refers to reissues on the TRC label. The albums involved have since been legitimately issued, and those releases are listed at the end of this...
» Read moreIt's been a while since we've heard from former Kaipa guitarist Roine Stolt. This album received a lot of hype recently, and claiming to be a symphonic rock album from a member of Kaipa, I...
» Read moreMcLatchey's Second Tier
At the most pastoral, Arcadian side of Italian progressive rock we have perhaps as the archetype the great second album by Premiata Forneria Marconi...
» Read moreCeleste's first album, also known as Principe di un Giorno, is an absolute gem, an overlooked classic that deserves a place among the best Italian releases of the classic period....
» Read moreThis is the second offering by the Swedish five-piece Masque. This is a major improvement over their debut from '91, which seemed too derivative of Saga and other 80s neo-proggers. Here they...
» Read moreCast is a Mexican neo-progressive band who have been together for well over a decade, performing and recording. I'm assuming that up to this point in time they have released only cassette tapes...
» Read moreCast is a Mexican neo-progressive band who have been together for well over a decade, performing and recording. I'm assuming that up to this point in time they have released only cassette tapes...
» Read moreCast is a Mexican neo-progressive band who have been together for well over a decade, performing and recording. I'm assuming that up to this point in time they have released only cassette tapes...
» Read moreWhile Japan has always had its share of inventive new musics, the recent surge in this area has put the country on the map like never before. With Happy Family, Il Berlione, Ruins, Zypressen,...
» Read moreTwenty Sixty Six and Then's Reflections on the Future remains one of the most legendary German prog LPs. As the master tapes were lost long ago, a reissue didn't seem likely,...
» Read moreAnyone's Daughter was one of a group of late 70s German symphonic bands who brought forth a highly melodic rock, colorful and saturated with emotion. Their vocal harmonies were strong, and...
» Read moreI had almost left the Greek hero for dead following 1987's Direct, but five years hence Vangelis managed to rekindle the magic spark, and 1492 was the album to do it. A...
» Read moreThese being two of the three albums to date by this Seattle-based duo. The band is Dara Rosenwasser, vocals / lyrics and Eric Cooley, bass / lyrics. Both albums have several additional musicians to...
» Read moreHaving followed this band since their 1987 cassette release The Ritual Continues, I've always felt that their strongest suit was their ability to create atmospheres, emotional sonic...
» Read moreThe Spacious Mind is a contemporary Swedish band that wants nothing more, nothing less, than the opportunity to blow your mind with their authentic psychedelic rock. Layers of guitars echo in the...
» Read moreKingston Wall is a Finnish power trio who seem to operate outside the normal "progressive rock" distributors, yet would certainly be a crossover group of great potential. While the band...
» Read moreThe Grip Weeds are an American power pop band from Highland Park, New Jersey founded in 1988. Their first album, House of Vibes, originally released in 1994, has now been reissued on vinyl...
» Read morePhilharmonie was formed as an electric guitar trio by Frederic L'Epee, best known as the founder and leader of the brilliant 70s French group Shylock. After a relatively unknown self-released...
» Read moreIt seems like only about six months since the last Philharmonie disc, these guys are a hard working group for sure! The original guitar trio of Frederic L'Epee, Laurent Chalef and Bernard Ros...
» Read moreOriginally formed as an electric guitar trio, this French band led by ex-Shylock fretman Fredric L'Epee has expanded to a four-piece with the addition of Jean-Louis Boutin on drums for the...
» Read moreGialorgues is one of those classic prog albums from the 70s that sky rocketed in value in collector circles. In the typical Musea tradition this CD reissue includes all the tracks from the...
» Read moreMost prog bands that came out of France in the 70s had something stylistically in common: a minimalist approach. Not minimalist in the sense of Philip Glass, say, but rather a profound thematic...
» Read moreDe Ros is a three-piece (guitar / bass / drums) South American group led by guitarist Marcos V. de Ros. Their all instrumental album is a blazing shredfest! If Ad Dei Gloriam was released...
» Read moreThis disc is sectioned into three distinct perspectives of composition, using an unfamiliar primary instrument for each composer: the piano. First up is Steve MacLean, who in the course of four...
» Read moreCutting-edge, unpretentious and imaginative are three adjectives that describe this offering by Swedish multi-instrumentalist and composer Simon Steensland. Mixing elements of rock, neo-classical,...
» Read moreThis new release on Musea’s Parallele series is essentially a solo effort by Simon Steensland with a little help on guitar and keyboards from his friends Johan Boberg, Pelle Halvarsson,...
» Read moreGarmarna is doing its part to bring Swedish traditional music into the modern age, coupling the medieval sound of droning fiddles and folk melodies with energetic drums, electric guitars, and...
» Read moreThe band called Space Streakings didn’t last very long, with three years or so between their beginnings and splitting up, but the two albums they released, plus a collaboration with the...
» Read moreHeretic was a Japanese synthesizer / guitar based band from the mid-80s; this release collects three tracks from their first album Interface (1985) when they were essentially a three-piece...
» Read moreActive in Kyoto from 1984 until about 1989, Heretic was a trio which consisted of Hirofumi Kawahara, Toru Ohta, and Suguru Mori, performing on synths, guitar, and cello. For this CD release Belle...
» Read moreHeretic was a Japanese group that released two albums in the 80s. This CD combines these two albums and includes a bonus track recorded live in the studio. 1984-88 is interesting in that...
» Read moreThere are three prime figures in German music for the echo guitar: Manuel Göttsching, Gunter Schickert, and, here, Achim Reichel. A lot of great music was made with this technique of using...
» Read moreThe latest entry from the ever-growing Japanese zeuhl scene is Koenji Hyakkei, a four piece of guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, with male and female voice. Their sound lies firmly along the...
» Read moreHere we have domestic releases of the consummate Krautrock band’s early albums. Though not as quotable to neo-Kraut hipsters as Can, Faust, Kraftwerk and Neu! — Ash Ra Tempel were...
» Read moreWhen considering the finest releases of the Japanese symphonic rock scene, the first two albums by Mr. Sirius come to mind immediately, not only for their apparent absence of any immediately...
» Read moreThe brainchild of producer Jean-Pierre Massiera, Visitors was his project "band," intended to be a one-shot affair and go no further. Massiera utilized an expanded lineup featuring...
» Read moreFor the uninitiated, The Muffins were a Washington DC based band who existed from about 1973 to '81. Despite that many years, they only released three regular albums during their career...
» Read moreIl Berlione's eponymous debut was a sleeper-classic of 1992. Combining fusion, heavy rock, and avant/experimental music, they've forged their own path as unclassifiable instrumentalists....
» Read moreThis Japanese quintet has widened their scope a bit for this, their second regular release, bringing in some ethnic, folk, and jazz elements to share the already crowded space with their fast and...
» Read moreOne of the things I dislike about the CD revolution is the fact that many artists feel obliged to fill out at least 65 minutes of music on it, when it's obvious they don't have that many...
» Read moreMcLatchey's Second Tier
In the early 90s when Vinyl Magic was exploding onto the reissue market, there were still a number of Italian albums that weren't in that wave and...
» Read moreEver wonder what happened to progressive rock? Especially the rock part? Wonder no more. Mastermind has returned with a third album that is every bit as potent as one might expect after...
» Read moreDedicated to the memory of Frank Zappa, this Mexican RIO ensemble's superb new album is almost as reminiscent of another underappreciated influential innovator in rock music as it is of Zappa....
» Read moreI haven't much music coming from across the border recently. However, we are very lucky that Banda Elástica managed to record their third album before the peso crashed. Los...
» Read moreL was my first Hillage record when I was much younger, and I didn't catch on to it as fast as I did with Fish Rising, which in some ways was really the Gong album after...
» Read moreThe New Trolls always only seemed to flirt with the progressive genre, only in the early 70s and then not always consistently. To sum up their career with a mere description doesn't do them...
» Read moreAccording to the liner notes, Bedford composed these six pieces for the Royal Observatory Telescope room after a modernization upgrade. For those of you who’re unfamiliar with Bedford’s...
» Read moreOne of the better of the new Italian progressive bands, their eponymous debut just escaped the second part of our "New Italian Progressive Rock Scene" overview back in issue #4. So with...
» Read moreThe world’s premier symphonic group is reborn. With the release of this album, Robert John Godfrey opens up the third chapter in the now over twenty-year history of one of England’s...
» Read moreHere's yet another album with the Yes name on it that bears almost no resemblance to the band's classic period, essentially a Trevor Rabin solo album with Jon Anderson singing. First,...
» Read moreCircus 2000 is an entirely different beast from the rest of the Vinyl Magic catalog, falling more in the psych realm than in the more classically styled progressive genre. It's not to say they...
» Read moreCircus 2000 is an entirely different beast from the rest of the Vinyl Magic catalog, falling more in the psych realm than in the more classically styled progressive genre. It's not to say they...
» Read moreLike their name seems to imply, Barrock's music combines elements of Baroque and rock. The rock, in this case, is a modern Italian symphonic progressive sound with a clear allegiance to the...
» Read moreBarrock is a band I want to like very much. Their music is strongly reminiscent of classic early 70s Banco (one of my favorites), both in the fluid contrapuntal writing and creative orchestration,...
» Read moreMellotron fans take note. Unique and uncompromising music, this masterpiece of neo-classical avant-garde rock stands alone. Martz began composing "The Pillory" around 1976, assembling his...
» Read morePulsar was perhaps the best French band in the mid-70s. In fact they were the first French band to be distributed by an English label. From 1975 to 1977 they released three albums culminating with...
» Read moreAfter a less-than-spectacular live release a few years back, the Dregs are back with an all new studio release, their first in well over ten years. So what's new with these well known purveyors...
» Read morePlease spare me the preachy environmental awareness lesson; few things annoy me more than socio-political cause lyrics on top of otherwise excellent music. Once upon a time Gandalf created...
» Read moreCan you say Neo? Do you enjoy the music of bands like Marillion, Rush, Saga and Tears for Fears? Do Univers Zero, Area, Etron Fou and Il Balletto di Bronzo give you nightmares? If the answer to the...
» Read moreCan you say Neo? Do you enjoy the music of bands like Marillion, Rush, Saga and Tears for Fears? Do Univers Zero, Area, Etron Fou and Il Balletto di Bronzo give you nightmares? If the answer to the...
» Read moreAmazing when a new label takes off so well. Ad Perpetuam Memoriam has given the world both the powerful Kultivator and the hilarious Myrbein, both relatively unknown Swedish groups of high quality....
» Read moreLive in L.A. is taken from part of Sebastian Hardie's headlining Progfest 1994 set, and represents their first, and only, show since their previous "final performance" in...
» Read moreHaving defined themselves as the modern standard bearers of the Pink Floyd sound – a title rightfully deserved (save the Roger Waters psychosis), they have set about further refining that...
» Read moreTheir third full album, The Sky Moves Sideways is Porcupine Tree's strongest release yet. Featuring three long 17-18 minutes tracks, the album flows effortlessly from laid back...
» Read moreChuck van Zyl and his compatriot, ex-Nightcrawler Peter Gulch, continue to mature musically with each new release. Gone are the driving sequencers that have characterized much of their recent work....
» Read moreHere's one of those unbelievably powerful Magma concerts that's been circulating on cassette for years, finally cleaned up and transferred to CD. Hallelujah! This is one of the best live...
» Read moreA two CD set, this contains the second half of the concert begun on Theusz Hamtaahk. The first disc features a stunning and powerful rendition of "Mekanïk Destruktïw...
» Read moreHere is a short one-off Musea reissue that deserves some notice. Forget the tacky artwork of the alien invaders, Visitors contains some very strong music. Believe it or not, there are 20...
» Read moreThis year marks the 25th anniversary of the formation of Magma, without a doubt one of the most innovative and progressive bands of all time. Their music combined very intense and spiritual...
» Read moreThe second album culled from the 1980 reunion concerts is a double, and features breathtaking performances of two of Magma's epic live pieces. The first official release of "Theusz...
» Read moreFourteen years after releasing the album, Cyrille Verdeaux delivers a fine remake of Visions. On first listen it is evident that Verdeaux closely involved himself with this reissue. He...
» Read moreThe Smell of Incense is a Norwegian neo-psychedelic band inspired by Syd Barrett, the Kinks, Steeleye Span, Incredible String Band, and Peter Hammill, to name a few. Their debut CD, All Mimsy...
» Read moreDeus Ex Machina are in my opinion the pinnacle of the 90s Italian progressive scene, an outfit continually experimenting with sound and new musical ideas. Both Gladium Caeli and their...
» Read moreApart from the Tokyo scene in the 70s, there were many progressive bands operating in the Kansai region, outside of Tokyo and in the west of Japan, in places like Osaka, Kyoto, and elsewhere....
» Read moreReissued late last year without much fanfare, this was recorded by an early version of Gong circa Camembert Electrique, and was the score to the film by Jerome Lapperrousaz by the same...
» Read moreAlthough this live set would have been much more meaningful had it been released closer to when it was recorded in 1978, it stands today as evidence that this DC area quintet was as tight on-stage...
» Read moreWapassou was a unique classically influenced French band that existed from around 1971 through the mid-80s (their last release was in 1986). These three — their second, third and fourth...
» Read moreWapassou was a unique classically influenced French band that existed from around 1971 through the mid-80s (their last release was in 1986). These three — their second, third and fourth...
» Read moreWapassou was a unique classically influenced French band that existed from around 1971 through the mid-80s (their last release was in 1986). These three — their second, third and fourth...
» Read moreThe reissue of However's classic Canterbury inspired first album is one this writer has been anticipating for many years. The band at this point was a four-piece, featuring Peter Prince...
» Read moreHere we have the long-awaited CD release of one of the most collectible LPs of British psychedelia. Those of us who can’t shell out hundreds of dollars (or pounds) to hear the original can...
» Read moreWhen the band reformed to record "O Guarani" for use as a bonus track for the Snegs reissue, who would have thought a live tour of Brazil would have been the result? Those...
» Read moreThis was reviewed before, in issue #7. I'll admit to being not terribly impressed with this album upon first listen. But after several plays, the music got to me, and now I can't get enough...
» Read moreThese titles are all combined as these are all projects either including Beppe Crovella or being one of his projects. Crovella was Arti e Mestieri's keyboard player and is the resident producer...
» Read moreThese titles are all combined as these are all projects either including Beppe Crovella or being one of his projects. Crovella was Arti e Mestieri's keyboard player and is the resident producer...
» Read moreIf his name is a mite familiar, perhaps it should be. Biddulph is a multi-instrumentalist who had been a roadie and sound engineer for several Canterbury bands (Hatfield among them) before joining...
» Read moreThis five-piece from Massachusetts might be familiar to some who saw them open for Gong on their recent swing through New England. At the center of their sound are the soulful vocals of Lizzette...
» Read moreWhen I first saw this disc, I was a bit amused. On the cover of this independent release is a cheesy-looking picture of a ghost woman descending over lavender seating on to a stage inside a...
» Read moreDownes of course was a one-time member of Yes; in the absence of Wakeman and Moraz he took over the keyboard duties on their Drama album while former Buggles associate Trevor Horn did his...
» Read moreAnyone who attended ProgFest '94 in LA will find this last farewell hauntingly familiar. Buried Alive contains Änglagård's last live performance in its entirety, from...
» Read moreSomewhere within the seven pieces that comprise Rock ‘n’ Roll Station a sadly conformist aesthetic emerges, apparently in conformity with its own tradition of non-conformity....
» Read more[Note: This review was written regarding the original cassette release. - ed.]
A step on from their previous release Earthdance, Temple Ball Live ’94 is a...
» Read moreCafeine is a new band from France offering a nuanced music based mainly on keyboards and guitar. Melodic, La Citadelle offers seven compositions, three of them being in the ten to fifteen...
» Read moreI'd first heard of these guys a few months ago via their contribution to the A Propos d'Ange compilation, their song being one of the highlights of that disc. La Citadelle...
» Read moreRien is the first new Faust studio release in over twenty years and they have lost none of their humor over the decades. Rien is French for Nothing and that word sums up...
» Read moreKrokodil is a rock band — let's make no mistake. Their strong points are the guitars and vocals. However on An Invisible World Revealed they have mixed in two tracks with a...
» Read moreA year after their first release Carpe Diem issued their second LP Cueille le Jour. Now we find the band stretching and exploring the jazz territory of Zao and Soft Machine. The CD opens...
» Read moreRevisited Records has taken on the mammoth task of reissuing the entire Klaus Schulze back catalog, and these eight albums are what has been reissued so far this year. In addition to using...
» Read moreAfter every fifth or sixth release Musea issues a CD by a contemporary band. Ten Ways by Masque is one of Musea’s recent new music offerings. Masque is a Swedish band that plays...
» Read moreHere we have Carpe Diem’s long awaited excellent debut album from 1975, studio enhanced and reissued on CD. Despite the Camel and Genesis influences, Carpe Diem created a complex, lyrical,...
» Read moreThose of you long in the tooth might well think that the Heavenly Music Corporation is Robert Fripp and Brian Eno together again. How wrong you would be! The Heavenly Music Corporation is the solo...
» Read moreIf you enjoy British electronic music firmly in the vein of Mark Shreeve then you will surely love this debut release by the duo of Adam Britton and Iain Lowe. Corporation attempts nothing new or...
» Read moreOriginally recorded in July 1976 Messe en ré mineur is one of the best psychedelic / progressive releases of all time. This unsurpassed musical tour de force consists of one long...
» Read moreHerr Schnitzler is probably the most prolific synthesist (we might as well say musician) on the planet. He has been around since the early days of Kluster and Tangerine Dream (he was a member of...
» Read moreToward the Within is a live disk that documents DCD's 1993 tour, ostensibly in support of their latest studio release, Into the Labyrinth. However, Brendan Perry and Lisa...
» Read moreVervloesem is a Belgian guitarist whose music is unique and attention grabbing. You have probably never heard anything quite like it, but it fits somewhere in the realm of progressive, fusion,...
» Read moreThis two-disc set collects both of Swiss band Debile Menthol's early-80s studio LPs (1981's Emile au Jardin Patrologique and Battre Campagne from '84) into a single...
» Read moreAs the debate over the meaning of the word "progressive" (as it applies to rock music) continues, the loosest interpretations generally define it as anything that eschews the mainstream...
» Read moreAlfredo Tisocco's solo career apart from Opus Avantra, began in 1975 with the release of...
» Read moreSome may have checked out Apogee's The Border of Awareness that we reviewed in the Musea overview a few issues back, which is essentially the solo project of Versus X bassist /...
» Read moreThis new Italian band has a sound that hails unmistakably from the early 70s heavy progressive scene. Though no guitar is credited in the notes, this is classic guitar and keyboard driven, mostly...
» Read moreMedina Azahara are one of the longest running Spanish symphonic rock bands. If I'm not mistaken, they may still be together. While most of their contemporaries disappeared due to the Spanish...
» Read moreSagittarian were a Japanese primarily-instrumental six-piece that put out one obscure album in the early 80s (in a limited edition of 100). The dominant sound is a Camel-influenced progressive...
» Read moreDespite a feel more reminiscent of the free-jazz of the mid-60s than of the 90s, Mujician's second all-instrumental release is a refreshing addition to the archives of improvised music....
» Read moreGwendal are an amazing group and one of my favorites of the severely underrated French / Breton folk-rock scene. Unfortunately the distribution of any of their albums is uncommonly poor and it...
» Read moreYs is certainly one of the more controversial progressive rock albums. Many people will tell you not only that it is a classic, but it's often quoted as being the very best of...
» Read moreIf you've ever heard Hecenia's first album, Légendes from a few years ago, with vocals, drum machines, and all, you might want to push all that out of your mind now. This...
» Read moreThe original lineup of Quaser, a trio led by (then bassist) T. Morita played throughout the late 70s, yet left behind no recorded evidence. With the help of Ain Soph guitarist Yozox, the album...
» Read moreThis Dutch four-piece produced a spirited instrumental rock during the mid 70s, leaving one album behind as the only recorded evidence. Their sound is very progressive, constantly changing tempo...
» Read moreShingetsu was one of the classic Japanese symphonic bands, and their self titled Shingetsu album from 1979 is highly regarded, and often compared to classic period Genesis, if only for the...
» Read moreIt’s been quite a long time since S. Chihiro (flip through an issue of Marquee, he's the one with the bass and the weird helmets) and company have released a full album –...
» Read moreLacrymosa is a collective of musicians loosely organized around bassist Chihiro S. (see also Golden...
» Read moreExisting from around 1986 through the early 90s, Golden Avant-Garde was formed around mainstays Chihiro Saito (bass) and Takeshi Naganuma (drums), the former having played with Katra Turana and his...
» Read moreFrom the ashes of Charisma, the duo of Mutsuhiko Izumi and Kenji Konishi – both on guitars and synthesizers – released two albums during its existence. Their 1978 debut, entitled...
» Read moreThere is little I can add to the other reviews regarding Il Berlione's follow-up album, In 453 Minutes Infernal Cooking. Il Berlione"s second comes across as more jazzy and zany...
» Read moreTogether in one form or another since the mid-70s, Ain Soph is one of Japan's premier instrumental progressive bands, drawing their influence more from the Canterbury scene than the usual...
» Read moreMako seems to delight in perpetrating an image of mystery and enigma. With a history going back to 1975, and a load of albums, he never seems to settle into a singular style. However, along the way...
» Read moreMako seems to delight in perpetrating an image of mystery and enigma. With a history going back to 1975, and a load of albums, he never seems to settle into a singular style. However, along the way...
» Read moreThe Japanese symphonic rock scene didn't really pick up steam until the mid-80s, at least as far as record releases were concerned. Numerous bands existed prior to that time but were generally...
» Read moreIn our last Lost Vinyl Update we covered Izukaitz' second album, Otzoa Dantzan. This is their first. Again, this was originally released on the Elkar label, which seemed to specialize...
» Read moreBased in the Seattle area, Gamelan Pacifica is a group of musicians in residence at Cornish College of the Arts. Their music – while not strictly traditional in itself – uses the...
» Read moreWith these two reissues over the last few months, Cuneiform have faithfully completed their exhaustive Pinhas/Heldon reissue series. While both of these albums are rightly considered transitional...
» Read moreJean Philippe Goude played keyboards in Bernard Paganotti’s band Weidorje until 1979. At that time he recorded Drones and involved the various musicians he had worked with: Klaus...
» Read moreHere's a welcome reissue indeed! My old cassette of this has done a full tour of duty, I don't think it could've lasted another six months... which is to say, this is one you'll...
» Read moreI've wished for a CD reissue of this — Patrick Gauthier's all instrumental post-Weidorje album — for many long years. Finally on December 24th I found it in a record store by...
» Read moreThis is the second reissue for this Greek prog-psych classic, the first being a horribly scratchy vinyl transcription on the Second Battle label about six years ago. This latest is from the master...
» Read moreHailing from the Basque country in northern Spain, Amarok is essentially keyboardist Robert Santamana and a rotating cast of other musicians on Spanish guitars, violin, oboe, and percussion,...
» Read moreCheika ("crazy") Rimitti began her musical career in about 1936. The horrors of war and the epidemics that ravaged her native region of Oran in Algeria gave the inspiration for her first...
» Read moreTisaris' debut, What's Beyond? from 1992, showed them to be a very capable band, but for the most part playing an embarrassingly commercial type of sound, hardly worthy of being...
» Read moreFor those who enjoy a dark and sinister progressive rock fronted by female vocals – in the vein of Tale Cue, Stromboli, and the like – these two releases are essential listening. Both...
» Read moreVander's most recent release, and perhaps the most surprising. This is music dedicated to children, and written with the child in mind. The whole package is basically a children's book,...
» Read morePackaged in a 40 page hardbound CD size book, A Tous les Enfants... is essentially a Christian Vander children's album. Playing keyboards and contributing vocals, Vander is joined by...
» Read moreA children's album from Magma founder and leader Christian Vander? Precisely. I was more than a little skeptical when I first heard about this, and was even more hesitant to buy it when I heard...
» Read moreHow many songs can you get on one CD? Well, the Residents did fifty on their Commercial Album, and Doctor Nerve came close to sixty on Beta 14 OK, so Klimperei with thirty-five is...
» Read moreArgentinian group El Reloj was one of progressive rock's best kept secrets, releasing two albums in the mid 70s, one in 1983, and now their first new album in quite some time. Their second self...
» Read moreThat just has to be Max Bacon on vocals! It must be – you know that singer guy from GTR, the most progressive rock band that Steve Howe and Steve Hackett were ever in? If I had to pick out...
» Read moreMcLatchey's Second Tier
When I first heard about this band, the rage seemed to be all around their debut album Sea Shanties and by the descriptions I read, I badly...
» Read moreWhy do they do that? I hate that! On Sublime Dreams, Marathon commits the cardinal sin of having vocals in a language that they don't quite have in their grasp. The lyrics appear to...
» Read moreAlthough Richard Bone may be best known for his forays into the alternative techno-pop realms in the mid 80s, his work of late, while still being very electronic based and often poppy, has been far...
» Read moreFor those who like the hard metal edge of progressive rock (Dream Theater, Asgard, Vienna and such) and those who like that style with Spanish lyrics, the debut album by this Argentine four-piece...
» Read moreFantasy are probably best known for their 1973 debut, Paint a Picture, a song-orientated but strikingly beautiful and melodic classic of British progressive. More recently, Audio Archives...
» Read moreOnce in a while comes a disc that is surprising by its nature. Magicorò is issued on the Italian Kaliphonia progressive label, but it is a gripping work of chamber music and...
» Read moreTibet is another one of Musea’s reissues of obscure 70s bands. Unfortunately for Musea, the master tapes were lost over the past 15 years. They had to remaster the CD from a vinyl copy using...
» Read moreLunar Chateau is a new band from the United States formed by the Sekulovich brothers, Novak (keyboards and vocals), Paul (bass guitar and lead vocals), and Milo (drums). Based on this information...
» Read moreThree recent albums by three different unrelated bands on Music Is Intelligence. All three released very promising debut albums in the early/mid-80s, these being somewhat belated follow-ups (to be...
» Read moreThree recent albums by three different unrelated bands on Music Is Intelligence. All three released very promising debut albums in the early/mid-80s, these being somewhat belated follow-ups (to be...
» Read moreOriginally on the Magma label, Pholas Dactylus recorded one album with two side-long suites called Concerto delle Menti. Obviously a concept of some sort, my Italian is much too shabby to...
» Read moreEmpire are another of Vinyl Magic's high tech neo groups with a strange concoction of bombastic progressive and ultra-mainstream keyboard pop. A three piece, led by keyboard maestro Edo Rogani,...
» Read moreNext is Ricky Mazza who controls all of the keys, drums, programming and any combination of those three. He is joined by guests on sax and guitar on this, his debut album. Next is in the vein of...
» Read moreBedford reached a new high with The Odyssey from 1976. It's based upon the Odyssey which Odysseus undertook in the eponymous book from Homer. When you look at the back of the CD, among...
» Read moreOn the Fonit-Cetra label, Vinyl Magic reissued Scolopendra, an album from 1972 led by Patrizio Alluminio in the well-known keyboard-trio format. Gli Alluminogeni's music on that album...
» Read moreAlthough Il Castello only released their first proper album in 1993 (Sono il Signore delle Torre a Nord, see review in issue #3), they have actually been together continuously since the...
» Read moreStormy Six are perhaps better known for their involvement with Rock In Opposition in the late 70s and early 80s. Their later output such as Al Volo were interesting pop rock albums with an...
» Read moreAnother album sure to please the keyboard fanatic is this, another great one-shot from the mid 70s. Corte dei Miracoli's one album is similar in many ways to Italy's other big two-keyboard...
» Read moreAt last, a reissue of Pinhas' first and certainly most purely electronic album recorded under his own name. It also marks a time when this was the distinction between Pinhas' solo material...
» Read moreMastermind's third album is the first to see release on a major label. Mastermind are Bill and Rich Berends (brothers from New Jersey) who continue on in Volume III much as they did...
» Read moreUpon first hearing "Tiger! Tiger!" (a neo-prog/hard-rock adaptation of the famous William Blake poem and the first song on the album), I didn't have high hopes for the rest of the...
» Read moreIf this trio of all female musicians were a pop group, I doubt if anyone would think twice, but in the testosterone driven underground of Prog, the idea is practically a novelty (at least for...
» Read moreThis, the second album from the Japanese keyboard-led trio Ars Nova, comes as perhaps the biggest surprise of the year. It would be all too easy to rest that statement on the fact that this is a...
» Read moreTransi is the second release from this Japanese trio, fronted by talented keyboardist Keiko Kumagai. Writing all the music and commanding an arsenal of analog and digital keys, she leads...
» Read moreThis latest offering from this Japanese power keyboard trio is a bold step forward from their 1992 debut Fear and Anxiety. For starters this one is a full length disc; more to the point,...
» Read moreThis is the second album by this outstanding Estonian ensemble, probably better known as The Girl on the Beach (based on the photo on the front cover, all information on the original LP...
» Read moreBill Laswell has been the driving force of Material for about ten years now. Heavily involved in the NYC scene, Laswell has become a highly respected producer; on Hallucination Engine,...
» Read moreThis is the compilation/companion to the Cleopatra book of the same name. In my opinion, this (and the music herein) speaks for Space Rock a lot more effectively than the book, as when it comes to...
» Read moreIn the middle of his work as a keyboard player (with Queen, Mott the Hoople, and others) and as a producer (Allan Holdsworth), Morgan Fisher came up with two albums worth of oddities called...
» Read moreBondage Fruit were formed in 1989, and have finally released their first CD. Leader Natsuki Kido is also a member of P.O.N. (and other groups unknown outside Japan). Like other bandleaders he...
» Read moreHaving first heard about this band in the fading weeks of 1994 via a bootleg tape of one of their live shows, I was, needless to say, duly impressed, and spent most of '95 looking for a copy of...
» Read moreFor those of you wondering who in the world is Fred Baker with the familiar middle name, please allow me to provide background on the educated virtuoso. He’s a Birmingham College of Music...
» Read moreThe incarnations of Genesis P-Orridge continue to manifest in many different and sometimes compelling ways. Two of the composer’s spoken word series are reissued here by Voiceprint in part to...
» Read moreAt least ten years before music journalists coined the term "world music," Jon Hassell was developing his fourth world music concepts. Most prog fans are familiar with Jon Hassell from...
» Read moreSometimes one gets totally caught off guard. I'd hadn't even heard of this excellent band before I received a promo of their latest Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte. Further...
» Read moreCafewien, a four-piece of guitar, drums, keys and bass, with a guest player on saxes, and any way one looks at it, Terrae Motus is an impressive album of sparkling jazz-rock fusion, the...
» Read moreNot too many groups these days play in the late 60s early 70s classic blues rock style, and fewer yet do it with an inventive outlook. Courtyard Moth are from Leicester, England and play somewhere...
» Read moreAfter a fairly long stint with Magma (from Attahk thru the Merci period), Jean-Luc Chevalier has also chosen to pursue the pure jazz avenue recently, much like many other Magma...
» Read moreWell the name may cost this group some listeners, but I guess it could be said that anything in the Art Zoyd / Univers Zero axis may do the same anyway! Fukkeduk sure aren't shooting to be...
» Read morePrometheus is led by the dual guitars of Steve Ball and Sanford Ponder. Although Ponder was one of the original "Private Music" gang, don't let that fool you into thinking that this...
» Read moreEpilogue sounds like a combination of more accessible current neo-prog bands and mid-80s synth-rock bands. I can easily envision many of their tunes having videos on MTV back during the Adam Curry...
» Read moreQuest is a new five-piece from Cleveland, Ohio, whose sound will immediately remind one of Rush. Lead vocalist Allen McKenzie sounds amazingly like Geddy Lee, and the music bears many similarities...
» Read moreComes a time when folks have to decide if they want to keep following an artist after they stop making music in a particular style – in this case progressive rock. Wetton and many like him...
» Read moreAndy Latimer's Camel Productions have already put out two high quality live shows, one recent and one from the very early years of the band, but this is the first from the mid-period in the...
» Read moreA quartet from Santa Barbara, CA, Headless Household have been together for over a decade, and released their first, self titled, album in 1987. Inside / Outside USA finds them teeming up...
» Read moreAsk any Phish fan and they'll tell you that the band's natural habitat is most definitely on stage, in front of a live audience. So after five studio albums, Phish finally present a...
» Read moreFor those of you still uninitiated, Canterbury was a place in the UK where a music scene originated in the 60s (complementary to that of San Francisco Haight-Ashbury). Several known European groups...
» Read moreFor those of you still uninitiated, Canterbury was a place in the UK where a music scene originated in the 60s (complementary to that of San Francisco Haight-Ashbury). Several known European groups...
» Read moreThis sonically rich recording strongly evokes mid-70s era Hawkwind, with an updated sound that takes advantage of 90s recording techniques. They're not nearly as strange as Hawkwind, but the...
» Read moreReady for something different and very original? First off, forget the Squonk, it's not a reference – these guys sound nothing like Genesis! In fact they are a totally new six-piece from...
» Read moreFor those of you disillusioned with the lack of early Frohmader / Nekropolis reissues on CD (whatever happened to the plans on the Sensorium label?), here's the reissues of Nekropolis' live...
» Read moreThis long awaited post-mortem artifact of Zappa's work is indeed a fine addition to his catalog. The music is almost entirely realized on a Synclavier, yet this is not the sterile robot-music...
» Read moreIconoclasta's latest release carries on in this Mexican band's readily identifiable symphonic fusion style. A mostly instrumental album, De Todos Uno focuses strongly on the...
» Read moreIn the time since their first albums in the early 80s, Iconoclasta has been gradually assimilating a greater diversity of ideas into their musical pallette. Long Mexico's premier progressive...
» Read moreIconoclasta's 1985 debut was one of the crowning achievements of Mexican progressive rock, heavily influenced by Genesis (or rather, solo Steve Hackett) and possibly some of the less angular...
» Read moreWith their first two albums, Deus Ex Machina quickly established themselves as the darlings of the Italian prog scene, blending heavy rock and complex music in a most original way. Those two...
» Read moreAn old book, dating from as far as 1800 BC, was found recently in good condition by an archeological search. A treatise superficially presented as ways to acquire power and glory over people. Some...
» Read moreDeus Ex Machina has hit the bulls-eye with their third album. De Republica is an absolutely brilliant masterpiece of Italian progressive rock, exquisitely manifesting all the elements of...
» Read moreHere is the latest release from Mike Oldfield and what an innovation it is! The Songs of Distant Earth is the first CD I've encountered that marries CD-ROM with audio CD. In addition...
» Read moreTheir logo looks like the Gentle Giant guy got a hair transplant and was so happy that he shaved his beard. Pretty cool! At any rate, Ten Ton Tide's album is an interesting combination of...
» Read moreAppropriately named, this all-instrumental outfit from Indianapolis plays a driving rock-fusion that is at once complex, energized, and accessible. The lineup varies from track to track, but...
» Read moreCorte dei Miracoli only released one album on the short lived Grog label in 1976 (reissued on Vinyl Magic) and like Museo Rosenbach, left a series of poorly recorded demos, of which Dimensione...
» Read morePart of what makes certain 'progressive' music interesting, especially that which hails from areas outside the US and UK, is the amount of the local culture that is applied to the music...
» Read moreIt's amazing how many great albums are still being reissued from Germany from the early 70s. It seems at times that there is no end to the wealth from that period. Eiliff was another gem of a...
» Read moreIt's amazing how many great albums are still being reissued from Germany from the early 70s. It seems at times that there is no end to the wealth from that period. Eiliff was another gem of a...
» Read moreThis new Norwegian band are already eliciting comparisons to White Willow, but that is actually a somewhat superficial comparison used for lack of a better one. The Third and the Mortal bridge the...
» Read moreHigh Wheel is a relatively new German outfit with two albums solidly in the neo-progressive vein. While both are private releases, the band would fit very comfortably on the SI label as the music...
» Read moreBlack September is a four piece from Trenton led by keyboardist Michael West (of "God Sex Money" fame), the instrumentation consisting of violin, sax, and drums, with bass duties shared...
» Read moreThis Basque folk group offers multi-guitars, violin, flute, tin-whistles, some keyboards, percussion and two singers (male and female), with occasional saxes and pipes. Their musical concept...
» Read moreAnother obscurity originally released on the Elkar label, Haizea were a five-piece from the Basque area of Spain. Sporting a sound that could best be described as psychedelic electric folk, the...
» Read moreAtila dates back to 1973, when guitarist Eduardo Alvarez Niebla formed the band as a trio with two of his friends, Paco Ortega (keys) and Juan Punet (drums). This, their first album – so rare...
» Read moreGood old hard rock with Hammond! The Storm was a Spanish four-piece from the early 70s, playing in a style similar to many of their British counterparts of a few years earlier – singing their...
» Read moreLost Vinyl has a knack for unearthing rare Basque rock groups. The only catch is that you have to be careful to check out what axis they fall in. For all intent and purpose, Enbor is a straight...
» Read moreLost Vinyl has a knack for unearthing rare Basque rock groups. The only catch is that you have to be careful to check out what axis they fall in. For all intent and purpose, Enbor is a straight...
» Read moreAs you may recall, the first self-titled Itoiz album was more of a progressive rocker, while the second Ezekiel could best be described as a rich blend of electric folk. On their third...
» Read moreAtaraxia were one of the more obscure of the original Made in Japan labelmates, back when they were still affiliated with the now-defunct Edison label. The band made one album in the mid-80s and...
» Read moreKeyboardist Toshio Egawa is one of the prime movers in Japan's progressive rock scene since the late 70s – originally with the band Novela, then splitting in the early 70s to form his own...
» Read moreOK, here's the deal: Musea has collected thirteen tracks of symphonic progressive rock sung in French, and put it on this low price (70 Francs) sampler CD. If you've been hesitating to take...
» Read moreTake two moderately decent, although thoroughly modern sounding 10+ minute rock opuses, and sandwich a bunch of mediocre-at-best pop tracks between them, and you come up with something like this...
» Read moreGualberto is Gualberto Garcia, a young guitarist and songwriter who recorded two albums in the late 70s. The first album was A la Vida, al Dolor ("To the Life - To the Pain), and...
» Read moreLike Banco and Corte dei Miracoli, Italian's Biglietto were a dual-keyboard led group although their music was a much heavier affair than either of those two bands, with a style influenced by...
» Read moreVinyl Magic's first CD was a great pick – the very obscure and dreadfully underrated Panna Fredda. One of the most refined bands in Italian progressive, Panna Fredda are certainly a hard...
» Read moreAt some point in the past I had heard this obscure Danish five-piece compared with IQ. In fact, after finally hearing it, that assessment seems to be quite inaccurate. Yes, there are some...
» Read moreFrom 1968 to 1974 the Swiss Gypsy Walter Wegmüller and Austrian writer and story-teller Sergius Golowin traveled Europe in search of gypsy legends. In 1973 they collaborated on a series of...
» Read moreThis reissue is probably shaky in the legitimacy area, getting hard to find, and has a "Japanese" price tag on it. It is also transcribed from vinyl but it's a good job and chances...
» Read moreMarco Antônio Araújo was an accomplished Brazilian cellist/acoustic guitarist, much inspired by classical music. What strikes me in Araújo's work is the seemingly intemporal...
» Read moreMarco Antônio Araújo was an accomplished Brazilian cellist/acoustic guitarist, much inspired by classical music. What strikes me in Araújo's work is the seemingly intemporal...
» Read moreMarco Antônio Araújo was an accomplished Brazilian cellist/acoustic guitarist, much inspired by classical music. What strikes me in Araújo's work is the seemingly intemporal...
» Read moreMarco Antônio Araújo was an accomplished Brazilian cellist/acoustic guitarist, much inspired by classical music. What strikes me in Araújo's work is the seemingly intemporal...
» Read moreHere's another one of those "I never thought they'd release that on CD" reissues. San Francisco's late 60s legacy left behind a volume of obscure bands, many with...
» Read moreThe Coenobite, besides being a clever variant on the hideous demon from Clive Barker's novella "The Hellbound Heart," is the one-man project of Dutchman Coen Vrouwenvelder. Primarily...
» Read moreKleber Vogel, ex-Quaterna Requiem violin player, is all over with his expressive violin playing, be it acoustic, electric or MIDIfied. He wrote all compositions, except one he co-wrote with bass...
» Read moreThe spirit of the original German space rock "untirirdisch" lives on in the musik of S/T. This 10" mini-klassik of neo-psychedelic, space rock flashes back to the early days of Amon...
» Read moreMcLatchey's Second Tier
One of the impressions I came away with after the Deutscherock nights aired hours of prime 70s German video material was that even though the...
» Read moreOn the superior German counterpart to SI, WMMS, comes this debut album of six long cuts by the German four-piece known as Tea in the Sahara. It is immediately apparent that this is not your...
» Read morePoor Person Productions is an admittedly amateur label dedicated to psychedelic music heavily influenced by the contemporary British scene (Ozrics, Mandragora, Magic Mushroom Band, Freakbeat/...
» Read morePoor Person Productions is an admittedly amateur label dedicated to psychedelic music heavily influenced by the contemporary British scene (Ozrics, Mandragora, Magic Mushroom Band, Freakbeat/...
» Read morePoor Person Productions is an admittedly amateur label dedicated to psychedelic music heavily influenced by the contemporary British scene (Ozrics, Mandragora, Magic Mushroom Band, Freakbeat/...
» Read moreA good first effort from this Norwegian five-piece featuring two guitarists, as well as bass, keys and drums. Vocals are handled by both keyboardist Siri Seland and drummer Pål Søvik,...
» Read moreWhile not of a nature traditionally covered by this publication, Branca's seven-movement symphony "The World Upside Down" is of some relevance simply because of his history and...
» Read moreTwo things should immediately give this one away: (1) it's on the SI (Sans Identity) label; and (2) the cover art featuring a mighty sea serpent, a large and fantastic castle, and a wizard king...
» Read moreThis new release by Il Berlione is a mosaic feast to the ears. The soundscape is quite colorful, ranging from piano and drum solos to electric and acoustic guitar duets, the works. Not all of it...
» Read moreWhen is essentially a solo vehicle for Lars Pedersen (half of The Last James duo) in which he explores dark ambient realms. It's pretty hard to believe that this is the same guy who worked on...
» Read moreFour years in the making, and no less than seven years after the second album, this latest offering by Louisville's French TV is certainly worth the wait. One unanswered question is why it took...
» Read moreIn their early years, the Swedish band Kaipa were a quartet playing music in the symphonic rock vein as typified by Yes or Genesis. Vocalist/Keyboardist Hans Ludin is nearly a dead ringer for a...
» Read moreJust in time for their recent performance at Progfest, Musea has finally reissued the Halloween back catalog. Their second Laz, originally released on vinyl in 1990, probably should have...
» Read moreJust in time for their recent performance at Progfest, Musea has finally reissued the Halloween back catalog. Their second Laz, originally released on vinyl in 1990, probably should have...
» Read moreFor anyone not yet familiar with the name of Pekka Pohjola, he is a Finnish composer, bandleader, and bassist among bassists primarily, but also fluent on piano, synthesizer, and trumpet as well....
» Read moreFor anyone not yet familiar with the name of Pekka Pohjola, he is a Finnish composer, bandleader, and bassist among bassists primarily, but also fluent on piano, synthesizer, and trumpet as well....
» Read moreUnlike the recently released PFM shows (Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 1995-03-01)
Before hooking up with Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause to form Slapp Happy, Anthony Moore was experimenting with some very innovative musical techniques. Reed, Whistle and Sticks is one of...
» Read moreHere's the summary — this is easily one of the best 10 CDs claiming the progressive rock title to be released, well, since they invented the medium! How could any music live up to such lavish...
» Read moreArtman's Lard Free project has received considerable amount of documentation in progressive periodicals, so I won't bore you with the details. Here's a quick overview; all are essential listens —...
» Read moreEveryone should at least be aware of who Kit Watkins is. His first gig was keyboardist with the acclaimed Happy the Man, who released two outstanding albums in the late 70s, for which Kit penned...
» Read moreThe second and third albums from Dutch band Finch have recently been digitally remastered and reissued on CD, closely following the reissue of their debut album Glory of the Inner Force....
» Read moreDécamps is, of course, the longtime lead vocalist and rock-poet emeritus of Ange, returning here to solo-career status (technically, Ange is still together - sort of - I have an album titled...
» Read moreIn the history of French rock, two names stand out among all others in terms of leadership, originality of style, and influence over all that would follow. Magma's contribution is well known,...
» Read moreAfter a decade and a half, the zeuhl-fusion ensemble Zao are back with a release that is a real treat. While the lineup has changed from the classic formation which included Didier Lockwood on...
» Read moreIf this band sounds familiar to you, it's probably because Jadis are usually touted as the alter-ego of IQ. With half of Jadis also members of IQ concurrently (Martin Orford, keys;...
» Read more
2021-02-14
SoundQuest Fest 2021 –
SoundQuest Fest, first experienced as a live festival in Tucson Arizona in 2010 was created by ambient music pioneer Steve Roach. This 2021 event will unite a worldwide gathering of artists and audience members together for a 3-day online event unique in the realm of ambient music. From March 26-28th a continuous flow of streamed performances, audio-video wonder worlds and deep immersion zones will burn bright on Roach’s YouTube channel. »
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2021-02-10
Chick Corea RIP –
The sad news has reached us that Chick Corea has Returned to Forever, so to speak. The innovative keyboardist and composer died on February 9 at the age of 79. With a career that spanned from the 60s until shortly before his death, Corea touched many listeners with the incredible variety of music he produced in his lifetime. »
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2021-01-18
Asia Minor Third Album on the Way –
On January 29, AMS records will be releasing the long-awaited third album by classic Turkish-French band Asia Minor. Released last year in Japan, this will be the widespread debut of Points of Libration. The album features original members Setrak Bakirel (vocals, guitar) and Eril Tekeli (flute, guitar). »
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2020-12-09
Harold Budd RIP –
Harold Budd, one of pre-eminent American composers of avant-garde and minimalism, has died of complications from the coronavirus. Budd came to prominence in the 70s, championed by Brian Eno on his Obscure Records label, with music that blended academic minimalism with electric jazz and electronic music. Much of Budd's best known work was done in collaboration with other artists, including Eno, Daniel Lanois, Robin Guthrie, Andy Partridge, John Foxx, Jah Wobble, and many others. »
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2020-11-20
25 Views of Worthing Finally Gets Released –
A while ago, we wrote about the discovery of a "long lost" Canterbury-style gem by a band called 25 Views of Worthing. And now we're pleased to find out that Wind Waker Records has released their music on an LP. »
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Barock Project - Misteriosevoci – The Barock Project is the name of a relatively new Italian progressive rock band led by keyboard virtuoso Luca Zabbini. Their desire is to promote baroque music in a progressive rock context with a... (2008) » Read more
Novalis - Novalis – Novalis was a Krautrock band from Hamburg, Germany and their self-titled second album is part of Revisited Records’ reissuance of the Brain back catalog. This album is an amazing mixture of folk... (2008) » Read more
Various Artists - The Moon Revisited – Let me start off by saying that if I never heard Dark Side of the Moon again in my life, that would be perfectly fine by me. This totally commercial piece of flashy overproduction, posters and... (1996) » Read more
Rhesus O - Rhesus O – A lost relic from the early zeuhl period, Rhesus O was a band formed by keyboardist Jean-Pol Asseline and drummer Thierry Blanchard in 1971, along with five other musicians — among them Magma... (1997) » Read more
The Black Noodle Project - Eleanore – Sometimes I put the CD in the car stereo without looking at the titles, and that’s what I did with Eleonore. I like to keep my eyes on the traffic. As the disc played I found a lot of the music... (2010) » Read more