Moody Blues. The - Days Of Future Passed (1967)

The second album from this band and the album which introduced mellotrons to the world. A historic album, in other words.

This album also owe The Beatles a big favour. It also owe the pre-Beatles pop crooners from the early 1960s a big favour too. The sound is a mix of those two periods. The sound also got a lot of mellotrons and classical orchestra (The London Festival Orchestra) too. The end result is an album full of mellow, symphonic prog. An album which complements the Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Band album by The Beatles.

The end result is a great album which rightly so has a massive reputation. Music from this album is also being used by BBC all the time as I recognise most of the stuff from this album from my TV. All songs here are great. The best song is the haunting beautiful Nights In White Satin. A couple of more songs like this and we would have talked an absolute masterpiece. I would still regard this album as a close to essential purchase.
It is a stunning album.

4.5 points

Yes - Time and a Word (1970)

The second album from this band after a very fine debut album.

I have to admit I had to take a double take on this album when I heard the music. The music is not particular Yes, to say at least. Only Jon's vocals alludes to the identity of this band.

This album has been over burdened with orchestras and orchestra arrangements. Some of the album sounds like a James Bond soundtrack. Most of it sounds like a band has got lost in a lack of good melodies and self control. Only Jon Anderson is doing a good job here on the worst Yes material I have ever heard. Even the 1980s albums is better than this one.

Thankfully, the final two tracks Astral Traveller and the great title track saves this album from being a total disaster. The six other songs are best forgotten though. This is a decent album I will never listen to again. Yes means more to me than this album. Much more.

2 points

XII Alfonso - Claude Monet Volume 1 1883-1889 (2002)

The third album from this very ambitious French band.

 This is an hour long album about Claude Monet's life between 1883 and 1889. # 2 of this two albums series was released three years later.

XII Alfonso's music is a blend of French folk music and rock. Their music is conceptual as in trying to be grandeur and symphonic. But the music is basically pastoral folk music performed with a variety of instruments. Mostly guitars, keyboards, piano and some male and female vocals. Most of the music is acoustic though.

The music is elegant. Elegant, conceptual with narrations and pretty dull throughout. There is not really enough variations in the music to keep the listener interested. This is a problem XII Alfonso had on their previous two albums too. The art of song writing is not something they have grasped on neither this and the previous two albums.  That is a shame because I sympatize with the band and wish them all the best. Unfortunate, this is not a good album. It may be worth checking out, though.

2 points

Spheric Universe Experience - The New Eve (2012)

The fourth album from these French prog metal merchants.

This album reminds me about why I am so bored about progressive metal. Spheric Universe Experience does a technical variation of the usual Dream Theater prog metal fare. This album starts with some deathcore and then move over to some ballads and more familiar prog metal territory. Very cleverly done. The band is very clever. The music is very clever. I also find this album and their music very boring. I have got my fill.

Their music is decent though. It is filled to the brim by cliches after cliches. This album gives the prog metal fraternity exactly what they want. This album is not my cup of tea though.

2 points

Threshold - Wounded Land (1993)

The debut album of this British band who has often been referred to the British answer to USA's Dream Theater. A bit of an unfair label. Threshold has very much stood on their own feet since the release of this album. They have very much had their own sound too. A big fat sound somewhere between neo prog and prog metal.

It is in this landscape we find this album too. Straddling the border between majestic neo prog and prog metal. The synths are very much neo prog. The guitars are firmly planted in the prog metal camp. Somewhere inbetween, we find Damian Wilson's excellent vocals. The bass and drums too is straddling this border.

I have always liked their pretty cheesy sound. A sound very much evident on this album. An album without any great or any good songs. It is a debut album where the band is announcing themselves to an appreciative world. But I can listen to their sound all night long. This is a good album and a good start to their career.

3 points

Luop Garou - Subliminal Naps Lazier Jams (2012)

This is an album given to me through the commentary field for another review in this blog. I said yes to review it and is hereby keeping that promise.

This is an album which makes the first Amon Duul albums sound like overproduced pieces of pure art. That says a lot because the first Amon Duul albums is very poor. But this album is even worse. I don't fathom how it is possible to get so bad sound in this computer age. Subliminal Naps Lazier Jams has a horrible sound and it is hard to even get an impression of the music. It feels like it has been recorded in an intoxicated past the planet Mars state of mind. The little I can detect of this music is some kind of vocals and some acoustic guitars. That is all. Avoid.

1 point

Syndone - La Bella E La Bestia (2012)

The fourth album from this Nik Comoglio lead Italian band.

Syndone can safely be labelled as an Italian symphonic prog band. A modern symphonic prog band, though. They draws a lot on the 1970s Italian symphonic prog scene and sound. They also incorporate a lot of jazz and some blues influences into the music on La Bella E La Bestia. The lyrics and this album are based on Jeanne Marie Le Prince de Beaumont's musings from 1756. That does not tell me anything. I have just copied over this from the blurb given to me.

There is no guitars whatsoever on this album. The role of the guitars has been replaced by a lot of keyboards. That and bass, drums, vibraphone, marimba and flute. The music is pretty varied with some jazzy parts and some more pastoral Italian symph prog parts. The sound is great. The vocals are in Italian and very good. The music on this album is pretty complex at times. Unfortunate without really including some great melody lines or details. This album meanders away without really taking off into the skies. The overall quality is good throughout though.

La Bella E La Bestia is one of those slighly frustrating albums I really want to say is great. But it is not. It is an almost-there album. The same can be said about their previous album too, if my memories serves me right. Frustrating, but still a good album.

3 points

Fairport Convention - What We Did On Our Holidays (1969)

The second album from this band.

I watched an one hour long TV programme about this band on BBC last week. I have a handful of their albums, but has never bothered to listen to them. The TV programme made me dig out these albums. This is the first of them.

What We Did On Our Holidays is the first Fairport Convention album with the ethereal voice of Sandy Denny. One of the finest voices ever to come out of the rock/folk/jazz scene. I mostly know her from the Robert Plant duet The Battle of Evermore from the Led Zeppelin IV album. A truly wonderful song. Her vocals for Fairport Convention and on this album is also truly remarkable. The same goes for Richard Thompson's guitars. There are two geniouses at play on this album. Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson.

Unfortunate, the songs here are not that great. Not in the beginning. The best song by many miles is She Moves Through The Fair. Sandy Denny's vocals here is excellent and gives me goosebumps. That song and the two remaining songs Meet On The Ledge and End Of A Holiday is truly great songs. In particular Meet On The Ledge. The rest of the songs are decent to good.

I would still recommend this album though because it showcases a bloody good band. A band who is still going strong and deserve all plaudits coming their way. I will listen to the four other albums and perhaps raid Amazon for more albums too.

3 points

Epsilon - Epsilon (1971)

The first of three albums by this rather obscure German band. I got this album in a twenty albums plus krautrock collection I bought in an online auction.

The label Krautrock is not entirely telling the truth about this album. They sounds a lot like an early version of The Who on this album. The vocals are in the Daltrey vein. Powerful bluesy vocals in other words. I would label this album as hard rock with some krautrock influences. In particular the keyboards which sounds like Jon Lord in Deep Purple. Early Deep Purple is a good reference too. The version of Stones hit song Paint It Black is an oddity on this album and should not give you any false hopes about the band leaning on Rolling Stones.

The sound is very good throughout. The songs are decent. The music is good and the musicians does a very good job. There is no really good songs here and their version of Paint It Black is at best an oddity. It is frankly speaking not a good idea. This album is pretty obscure and it will forever remain so. If you are into early krautrock with a lot of blues, this album may rock your rocking chair. Mine is not moving, though.

2 points

Eversham - Eversham (2012)

I got this album from a friend and I have heard this is their second album or so. I don't know where this band comes from either. I am in the dark and can only go by their music.

The music is heavy shoegazing post rock, bordering to experiemental metal. The music is instrumental and in it's entirety performed with guitars, bass and drums. It is also the normal shoegaze fare with lots of guitar cascades with lots of half acoustic guitars lead pastoral parts. Introvert shoegazing and very touchy feely stuff. The only thing that breaks up the post rock are some detours into metal now and then.

The music is well done and pretty much in the middle of the road when it comes to hard post rock. If you like this kind of music, you cannot go wrong with this album. You may even love this album. I though does not find anything unusual or new on this album. It is middle of the road and it is safe. And there is nothing wrong with that. I kind of like some excitement in my music and this is not really moving my earth. This is a decent album though. I will give them that. Download the album yourself.

2 points

Breathing Space - Below The Radar Live (2011)

Breathing Space was Ian Jennings band after he broke out of Mostly Autumn. Breathing Space was disbanded after three studio albums and this live album. They have now reformed again under the Stolen Earth monic and released their debut album A Far Cry From Home earlier this year. I gave their album a good rating in August this year.

Breathing Space was a pretty decent female fronted band in the indie/prog rock vein. Mostly Autumn is a good reference. Breathing Space was one of many bands in that scene and did not really have any success. During their Below The Radar tour or gigs, someone taped one of their gigs. The sound quality was dubious, but they still released it as a live CD and DVD. The bad sound quality really hides their music. The music is rather good though. But the value for money is rather poor. Avoid this live album and go for one of the three studio albums if this band interests you.

2 points

Area - Caution Radiation Area (1974)

The second album from this avant-garde Italian prog/jazz band. A highly influential band.

Where their debut album Arbeit Macht Frei had a lot of Soft Machine and sane moments, the band has gone all out for the lunatic asylum on this album. The album title does not lie. This album comes with a warning. A justified warning.

The music is scattergun avant-garde jazz with a lot of melodies. Scattergun because the melodies and ideas is scattered around this album as if distributed by a scattergun. There is method in this madness though. It takes the listener some patience and some listenings to get the concept. A concept delivered by hammond organs, woodwinds, guitars, bass, drums and Demetrio Stratos madman vocals. Or voice, as his vocals is just voices added on the top of the other instruments.

The result is a bewildering, but still a good album. It is also a good funny listen too. Most of the ideas and melody lines are good to great. Others again are pretty poor. Hence my good rating. This album never becomes boring though and it is worth checking out for all those of you with a robust mental health.

3 points

Anekdoten - Nucleus (1995)

The second album from this Swedish band. A band who was and still is important in the revival of the Swedish prog rock scene.

Anekdoten's sound is pretty dark and gloomy. It is indeed the sound of the Scandinavian depression. Dark forests and darkened minds. This is the sound of this album. It has been created by lots of mellotrons. That gives this album both a vintage and a gloomy sound. They are supported by vintage half acoustic and electric guitars. The vocals, bass and drums are in the indie rock vein. Radiohead is an obvious comparisson for this album. Anekdoten has also introduced a lot of King Crimson type of melodies on this album too.

The result is a pretty gloomy and complicated dense album which does not offers any free rides. Unfortunate, the music here is not that great either. It gets bogged down in repeated mellotron and KC copycat runs. The lack of great melodies is the problem with this album. An album with a great sound, but not much else. This is a good album though from a good band.

3 points

Ange - Tome VI (1977)

Their first live album. The first of many live albums.

Many Ange fans would argue that their finest albums was their first five albums. I don't know about that. Those five albums though is really great. This live album covers those albums and the stuff is really great. For those who does not really know this band, it is worth mentioning that Ange does a theatrical version of Genesis like prog. The Peter Gabriel era Genesis, that is. The French vocals is really important here and Ange really have this French culture feeling throughout. There is a lot of keyboards and guitar runs in Ange too and their music is really special.

And so it is here too. My main gripe is the bad, almost bootleg sound on this album. Tome VI screams out for a remaster with a cleaned up sound. That is a massive disappointment with this album. It serves as a good intro to Ange though.

Half a point deducted for the sound = .........

3.5 points

Subtilior - Absence Upon A Ground (2012)

The debut album from this Areknames side project.

We are talking RIO here in the vein of Aranis. A clean break with Areknames, in other words. All instruments are acoustic as in a chamber orchestra and the music is instrumental throughout.

The music is neither light or dark. The music is somewhat lacking in nerve and cohesion. It is somewhate pedestrian too and does not really break into a coherent unit. The masters of this genre, Aranis & Co, has mastered the art of making beautiful/disturbing pieces of music within the chamber orchestra genre. The same genre as Subtilior has broken into. It seems like Subtilior has not really grasped the nerve and the concept which makes Rio and avant-garde great when it is done by the masters in the genre. Absence Upon A Ground is just aimless meandering away. The result is a pretty poor album which is barely saved from they turkey farm by a couple of decent tracks.

This is by no means a good debut album and I would suggest try harder next time. Or rather; concentrate on Areknames full time.

2 points

Iron Duke - First Salvo (1974)

Dredging up a really obscure album and band.

Iron Duke was from Denmark and this is their debut album. Maybe their only album too. I am not sure. Their music is bombastic organ driven rock, somewhere between ELP and space rock. It is rock anno the 1970s with plenty of Hammond organs and guitars. Add bass, drums and vocals to the mix too. This music is heavy inspired by the rock scene anno 1970.

The music is decent throughout without really becoming good. The ELP copycat hammond organ is too strong to be ignored. This album is sorely lacking from both a lack of quality and originality. Sorry.....

2 points

Fates Warning - Best & More (2012)

A kind of a best off and some previously unleashed live tracks from this band. A double album and I got it directly from their record label as a promo.

I have never really been into this band at all. I am not a heavy metal fan. Neither am I a power/prog metal fan. Fates Warning straddles all these three genres. They have to a large degree invented the prog metal genre together with Dream Theater. Where Dream Theater has always been more symph prog orientated, Fates Warning has been leaning heavy on the heavy metal tradition. Hence, they are not a band which interest me.

Best & More is a two CDs album set and I guess their fans will lap this one up. I find this a pretty decent collection of songs and a reminder why I don't like this genre.

2 points

Renaissance - Prologue (1972)

The third album by the band called Renaissance and the first album by the Annie Haslam setup. The setup that made Renaissance famous and hugely loved. That by myself included.

"Transitional" is the word. Transitional between Jane Relf's Renaissance (later renamed Illusion) Annie Haslam's Renaissance. There is still a lot of the flower power and hippie Relf era (from the two first albums) hanging around on Prologue. There is also a lot of Annie Haslam and in particular Michael Dunford on this album. That is the more clean hybrid between classical music and female lead prog which Haslam's Renaissance was all about.

The result is an album which two great songs in the title track and Kiev. The other songs are more a mixed bag with some good and some more less satisfying stuff. I rate this album as a transitional album and a debut album. I think this is a very good album.

3.5 points

Amon Düül II – Wolf City (1973)

Their fifth album.

Amon Düül II was through a pretty creative periode with a lot of changes during this period. Each album sounds different from each other. Wolf City follows this trend. And this album is not easy to describe either.
Amon Duul II originated in this free improvisations anything goes commune Amon Duul. They thankfully gradually moved away from that philosophy and both went more artistic and commercial over a period over several albums. On Wolf City, the band implements a lot of theatre music in addition to Indian music and spaced out krautrock. Add some pretty David Bowie'esque music too and some commercial rock too and you get this album.

The quality is good throughout. This album has their trademark stamped all over it. An Amon Duul II album never really gets dull. It is just that this album never really gets going in my estimation. I like most of the music here, though. Some more spaced out krautrock would had been great, though. Wolf City is worth purchasing, nevertheless.

3 points

Akt – Déntrokirtòs (2007)

The debut album from this Italian band who has chosen to offer their albums for free. Link at the bottom of this review.

Their music is based on half acoustic and electric guitars, samles, bass, keyboards and drums. That and some good vocals. Akt's music has been described as eclectic prog. That normally means lots King Crimson and Gentle Giant references. In the case of Akt.... no. Their music is very difficult to describe. But yes, it has a lot in common with King Crimson. Both their philosophy and the guitars. Some of the music on this album is also very post rock like. Other parts of this album is very Italian too. The vocals are in Italian and Akt is clearly influenced by the Rock Progressivo Italiano scene too. Add Porcupine Tree and the post millenium prog rock sound too. That probably describe this album.

The music is intriguing complex and dense. It takes a lot of strange journeys. Too many journeys for my liking. My other gripe is the lack of a killer track. There is no doubts that this is one of the better free downloads albums around. I rate it as very good and one well worth checking out. Recommended, in other words.

3.5 points

Aqua Nebula Oscillator - Aqua Nebula Oscillator (2008)

The second album from this band whose the brand new album really impressed me. So I got their other three albums too. Accidentally, I thought this was their debut album. But they released another album a couple of months before this one. I will get back to that one in due time.

Aqua Nebula Oscillator's music on this album is a blend of raga/Indian music, garage and space rock. This is krautrock, in other words. The sound is dirty and garage like. The music is being performed by guitars, bass and drums. The vocals are clear and not particular distorted. The music is trippy at times. The music can be compared to Amon Duul II and Can.

The quality is good throughout. No songs stands out as either great or bad. This album is a good krautrock workout which would appeal to krautrock fans.

3 points

Akron - La Signora del Buio (1999)

The debut album from this Italian band. A side project of The Black, a doom metal band. Akron is the brainchild of  Elio "Akron" Nicolini, the bassist in The Black.

The music on La Signora del Buio is pretty dark too. Dark as in a dark splatter movie. It is also pretty heavy and theatrical with a lot of haunting soundscapes. The music is performed with mainly a lot of Hammond organs and other keyboards. They are supported by some guitars, bass and drums. That and some vocals of the theatrical sort. They are a bit one dimentional brutal and screamo like at times.

The music is good throughout. The music is not an easy ride, though. This is not easy listening stuff. Neither is it particular great music either. It feels a bit light on contents and is has too many cliches for my liking. It is a good album though and on the heavy fringe of the Italian prog scene.

3 points

Abacus - Abacus (1971)

The debut album from this German band. A band who had a seven albums long career. Their last album was released last year. It seems like they are still very active. Good !!

Their 1971 album is very much influenced by ELP, Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Genesis. The sound is typical krautrock and there is a lot of krautrock in the music too. The music is performed with plenty of keyboards, guitars, bass and drums. The vocals are in English and very good.

The end result is very pleasant to the ear. There is no great songs here though and that is my main gripe here. The sound is great though and I really like this good album. This is a very good album and a hidden gem.

3.5 points

Ninth Moon Black - Chronophage (2012)

The third album from this north-west coast US band. All albums released through Bandcamp as "name your price". Reviews of the two other albums somewhere else in my blog (google them).

Ninth Moon Black is playing instrumental experimental, post rock like metal with a pretty gloomy sound. They are far more gloomy and introvert on this album than on their previous two albums. We are not in sludge or doom metal land yet, though.

Ninth Moon Black's music is pretty atmospheric and full of soul. Very post rock too. Most of the music is pretty pastoral. Which explains the gloom. The music is performed by guitars, bass and drums. That works perfectly in the case of this music.

My main gripe with this album is the lack of any good melodies. I feel this album is a step backwards from their Kalyug album. The music on Chronophage feels a bit narrow minded and claustrophobic, I am sad to report. This album falls somewhat short and into the ocean between decent and good. Sorry.

2.5 points

Acute Mind - Acute Mind (2011)

Progressive metal is not high on my list of favourite genres. Too many Dream Theater clones, in my view. The debut album from the Polish band Acute Mind neatly falls into this category.

Take a large chunk of Dream Theater, a couple of power ballads from the 1980s and some more metal from that era. The end result is this album. The music is very competent played. The vocals are good. The music too is at times good. The lack of any originality is a problem. In particular in a scene overflowing with the same kind of bands.

...When that is said, I pretty much like this album. The power ballad is pretty horrible and drags down this album. This album has a lot of pretty interesting details and hooks. It is in a desperate need of some good songs, though. It falls somewhere between decent and good in my estimation. A bit more soul and originality next time, please.

2.5 points

Titanic - Titanic (1970)

One of the first ever successful Norwegian acts. Actually, Titanic was the first and the most successful Norwegian band until A-Ha arrived on the scene, fifteen years later.

This is their debut album though and it is a mix of hard space rock and some cringe worthy pop ballads. The album opens nicely with the hard rocking Searchin. A good song which should had set the tone for this album. A couple of songs later and Titanic hits the iceberg (sorry, I had to get that one in). The iceberg is the horrible, strings soaked German schlager sounding Mary Jane. From there on, we are treated to some Beatles sounding music and some more hard rockers.

I am all for variations on albums. But this album is all over the place and has no real overriding concept. It is like the band is trying out a lot of ideas to see where it brings them. Some of the songs are very good. The album is destroyed though by the likes of Mary Jane and Cry for a Beatle. Those tracks are lumped together in the middle of the album and the album really never recovers after that. Neither does the listener, btw.

This is a debut album with all it's ills and diseases. It is a decent album, though.

2 points

Amon Düül - Psychedelic Underground (1969)

Legendary cover art work and the first ever album from the Amon Duul & Amon Duul II constellations.

Amon Duul were a pretty loose and free flowing collective. They managed to release four albums from the Psychedelic Underground jam alone. If the three other albums is as bad as this, I will give them a miss.

Psychedelic Underground is a very badly produced, free flowing jam with no structure and no particular purpose. It is open microphone in a room more than a proper recording session. The result is pretty poor, to say at least. The instruments are hardly audible at all. This is much more a drone album than a krautrock album. It is far removed from anything Amon Duul II did. Thankfully, I have to say.

Forget this album.

1 point

Sinister Street - Trust (2002)

The second & final album from this Dutch neo prog band.

Their debut album The Eve Of Innocence was released in 1992 and that was a pretty standard neo prog album. Sinister Street has developed that concept a bit and made their music a lot darker and gloomy. I would call it mature neo prog.

They still use the usual keyboards, guitars, bass and drums setup. The vocals are great and the best thing about this album. An album with neither any bad or any great songs. This is gloomy neo prog. Some may even describe this as art rock.

This is a good album. The best song is the Irish folk music influenced Through The Looking Glass. A song which is a pause from the usual neo prog fare on this album.

This is a free download album through bandcamp and it is well worth checking out. Those who hates neo prog may get their views affirmed by this album though.

3 points

Earth And Fire - Atlantis (1973)

The third album from this female fronted Dutch band.

There is no denying that this band sounds like Renaissance. Both the Jane Relf and Annie Haslam versions of the band, to be precise. On this album, they have retreated to the Jane Relf version of Renaissance, though. Plenty of funky keyboards, vocals and bass can be found on Atlantis. This is a concept album, no less. It is about this world who sunk into the ocean some thousands of years ago. A myth and perhaps a truth, too. Nobody really knows as nothing was recorded back then.

The music is pretty concept like, too. Plenty of grandeur keyboards & guitars driven melody passages intertwined with more female vocals lead pastoral passages. The rather naive sounding music is good throughout without really impressing me. Atlantis though is a good album which will appeal to everyone who likes vintage sounds and female vocals.

3 points

Soft Heap - Soft Heap (1978)

The only studio album from this Canterbury super group. With a name with "Soft" incorporated, comparisons with Soft Machine is automatic made. Soft Heap consisted of Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Alan Gowen and Pip Pyle though. Only Hopper and Dean played in Soft Machine. Gowen and Pyle played in other bands though. All of them very gifted musicians. Sadly, all of them has passed away now.

This album starts out like an avant-garde jazz album where Hopper is probably the biggest driving force. This album is a slow, slow starter which promises nothing. It opens up though after the first two compositions and the Gowen - Dean solo team really gets going with some very good solo runs. The album turns into a pretty intense groovy jazz album from there on. It never gets easy accessible or even melodic, though.

Unfortunate, this album does not turn out any really great melodies either. It is only saved by some really great musicianship. Musicians which does the best out of a pretty barren material. This is one of my least favorite albums from the "Soft" family. A very weak good award is awarded.

3 points

Vajra - Pleroma (2012)

Vajra is Annamaria Pinna's project and is heavy influenced by her stay in India. Vajra was sold to me as the next big thing in west meets east fusion.

Vajra is really female vocals fronted art rock & neo prog with some eastern/India influences. Think Touchstones and Panic Room with some Indian influences. You have the typical keyboards, guitars, bass and drums setup backing uo Annamaria's very good vocals and some Indian instruments infrequent scattered around. That is all to this exciting east meets west project. It is like a Glasgow invented curry on a late Friday night. Most of the Indian curries which is eaten in the Western world was invented in Glasgow. That's Glasgow in Scotland, United Kingdom. That's where I am now, btw. I am not in India and Pleroma is not an Indian album. Pleroma is fifty minutes with commercial and easy accessible music which is not taxing on anyone's heads in Europe and America.

When that is said, the music on Pleroma is really good. It is a bit on the heavy side as in prog metal though. I am not a big fan of female fronted neo prog. But this album is going down well in my place. Which reminds me that I should really get myself a curry tomorrow night. Long time since the last time I have had this Glasgow culinary speciality.

3 points

King Crimson - Red (1974)

King Crimson's seventh album and one of the seminal albums in the annals of eclectic and progressive/art rock. Millions of words has already been written about this album so I will be pretty brief.

King Crimson was Bill Bruford (drums), Robert Fripp (guitars) and John Wetton (bass, vocals) on Red. They were helped by some guest musicians on woodwinds.

The best songs here are the title track, Fallen Angel and the monumental Starless. The latter one is hypnotic and incredible where some minimalistic melody lines is intertwined with Robert Fripps avant-garde guitar runs. He cements his position as one of the best ever guitars on Starless. The song is a masterpiece.

The more avant-garde stuff on Red is also good and I really like this album. It is not a masterpiece, though. A couple of nodding off moments drags it down a bit. Most homes should have this album, though.

4 points

Hostsonaten - Mirrorgames (1998)

The second album & the follow up to the excellent self titled debut album.

Plenty of moog and mellotron heralds a symphonic prog album. Well, sort off... A mix of neo and symphonic prog to be more precise. The songs are very long and the album is built up as a concept symph prog album. The music is more in the neo prog vein, though.

The great things here are long instrumental, mainly moog and melotron lead passages. The not so great thing about this album is the very weak vocals and the feeling of having heard most of the stuff before. Even the celtic flutes stuff. Mirrorgames is a very safe product where no chances has been taken and no decent vocalist put in the front of the microphone (sorry, Fabio).

This is though a good album and I like most of it. The instalment of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is good too. This album is a big let down though compared to the debut album. I hope this is a blip and nothing more.

3 points

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping (1974)

The second helping from Lynyrd Skynyrd and the follow up to the massive important debut album.

Second Helping starts with the hit single and very influential Sweet Home Alabama. A song which was a direct answer to Neil Young's Southern Man epos. A song from a northerner which did not paint the southern states of USA in a positive light. I have read both lyrics and I have to admit that Lynyrd Skynyrd has a valid point. Sweet Home Alabama is a very important identity building song and a badge of pride. It is also by many miles the best song on this album.

The rest of the album features a triple assault guitars attack. The songs are less immediate than the Alabama song. They are still good though. The music is typical southern rock with the basis in gospel, blues, rock and country. An eclectic mix, but it works.

Ronnie Van Zant is brilliant as usual and the guitars is also excellent. The rest of the band does a brilliant job too. The songs are good, but nothing more. This albums says U S A and the southern states in big letters. It is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

Ornithos - La Trasfigurazione (2012)

The debut album from this Italian band. Ornithos though consists of three Il Bacio Della Medusa members and can hardly be called a new band.

Ornithos was set up as a side project to break free of any musical conventions. The music is indeed free flowing and a break with narrow music conventions. The music ranges from heavy rock to prog, pastoral folk, rock, space rock and jazz. This album is everywhere at the same time. It does include every sub genre in the Rock Progressivo Italiano genre.

The music is being performed with a lot of vintage keyboards, woodwinds, guitars, bass, flutes and drums. There are both male and female vocalists on this album. The music is great throughout with a lot of great melody lines.

This is not an easy album to get into because it is so diverse. But it is still a very rewarding listen at the end. I give it a weak great status.

4 points

Castello Delle Uova - Appunti Sonori Per Una Cosmogonia Caotica (2007)

The debut and so far only album from this very quirky Italian band. Italy has given us a lot of strange quirky bands and albums. This is one of the more strange one of the strange ones.

The music is a sort of funky jazz with frequent detours into both progressive Italian music and avant garde music. Mostly jazz, though. King Crimson is a good reference, though. It is the same kind of mindblowing philosophy behind both bands.

Mindblowing can also mean out-of-your-mind and braincells scattered around without making much of a sense. The latter one is true here. The narration like vocals on the top of some woodwinds (trumpets ?), distorted guitars, bass and drums is a bit of an aqcuired taste. The music itself is good though.

This is not the easiest album to digest. But it has it's qualities and charms. I give it a weak good status and conclude it is not entirely my type of pasta.

3 points

Pierrot Lunaire - Gudrun (1976)

The second and final album from this Italian band.

Their music is very difficult to pinpoint. A mix of RIO, eclectic prog, folk hall music and folk rock is what I get out of their music. They experiement a lot on this album and also drags in some well known pop songs into this album. Very odd.

Jacqueline Darby's soprano vocals is what I will remember from this album. The use of organs is also very interesting. There are also a lot other instruments here too. Most of them acoustic and chamber orchestra instruments. The list is too long to include in this review.

Gudrun, the album, most of all sounds like ideas thrown together and not really developed well enough. There should be material to at least two albums on this album if the ideas was developed. This though is a good album. Very eclectic and introvert, but still good.

I think this album would appeal to those who are looking for quirky albums. It is a bit too quirky for my taste, though. Still.......

3 points

Sula Bassana - Dark Days (2012)

Sula Bassana is Dave Schmidt's solo project. He is involved in some other German space rock projects too. Dark Days is the fifth Sula Bassana album.

Space rock in the vein of Hawkwind is what we get treated to here. Very dense space rock jams with plenty of keyboards, guitars, bass and drums. A seventy minutes long excursion to outer space, no less. I don't have to say anything more, really. Album track titles like Surrealistic Journey explains everything about this album.

The sound is excellent. Ditto for the musicianship. The average track/journey length is elleven minutes. The first five tracks is good hard core space rock. The final track Arriving Nowhere is starting out as a raga rock track before it offers up a sublime space journey. It is the best track here by many miles.

Dark Days is a very good space rock album and space rock fans should really get this album. I am not entirely won over. It is still a very good album, though.

3.5 points

Vortex - Vortex (1975)

"Sounds like Soft Machine" is a sure way to get me to splash out hard earned money on an album. Which I did in the case of this album and their two other albums.

Vortex from France started out as a Soft Machine cover band and it is not surprising that their first album has taken a lot from Fifth and Six. The music throughout this album is Soft Machine like, but with a French twist and flavour. Saxophone, flute, bass and drums is the instruments here. The bass sometimes sounds like keyboards and is  pretty dominant here. This is an instrumental album.

The quality of the music is very good throughout. A truly great track is missing and the band is never reaching the mezmerising heights of Soft Machine. But this is still a very good album and well spent money. I like this album.

3.5 points

Cosmic Jokers. The - The Cosmic Jokers (1974)

The debut album from this German band who went on to releasing five albums.

The Cosmic Jokers was more a collective of musicians than a band. Just like Amon Duul I and II, then. The music is krautrock too and it was created through LSD trips, if their biography is to be believed.

The LSD trip that created this, their first album was evidently not a good LSD trip. I am tempted to say the trip was more like a trip on sleeping tablets than LSD. But this album is not that ambient new age. The music is spaced out and in touch with the martians. But the ideas banded around in outer space really never develops into good melodies and coherent music. The ideas is not bad, though. It is not a good album for a stone cold sober reviewer whose only drug is black coffee. This album still has some of the qualities of a good krautrock album from the 1970s. But not enough quality to cover the full album, though.

A decent album, nevertheless.

2 points

Silhouette - Across The Rubicon (2012)

The third album from these Dutch neo-proggers. Across The Rubicon is also one of the most talked about and highly acclaimed prog rock albums this year. It has already earned an astonishing amount of raving reviews and a cult following.

Listening to this album, I understand why. First of all, forget the neo-prog label.  Across The Rubicon is a symphonic prog album. References ? A bit Genesis, Yes, Anglagard...... Well, I am not sure. I would rather label it as dense symphonic prog which is not immediate melodic, but which really grows on the listener. The best label I have seen so far though is majestic symphonic prog. That is spot on. The bombastic for queen & country factor is high throughout this album.

The music is performed with hammond organs, melotron, moog, guitars, bass and drums. That and some really good vocals. Vocals which suits this music. The musicians does a brilliant job.

The songs are not immediate hits and this album requires a lot of time. Majestic symphonic prog is never immediate hit and easy listening. Give this album some time. When this rose opens up and let's all it's fragrances loose in your room, you will find a lot of joys in this album. You will find a truly great album. My only gripe is the lack of a brilliant song. One that would give this album a classic status. Besides of that, this is a truly great album and deserves all the praises coming it's way. I sincerely hope this up to now pretty much ignored band will get the recognition and status it so richly deserves.

4.5 points

Stolen Earth - A Far Cry From Home (2012)

The debut from a band with four members from the now split up Breathing Space. What this really means is that Stolen Earth is the continuation of Breathing Space.

Stolen Earth ? Breathing Space ? We are talking female fronted art rock here. Neo prog, most will label it as. OK, it is neo prog, then. Stolen Earth (and Breathing Space) has been compared to the first Mostly Autumn albums. I am not so sure about that. But Mostly Autumn is the reference point for 90 % of all the new female fronted bands these days so they may be in the right ballpark, after all.

Stolen Earth does not really score many points in the originality stake. Nill points, more or less, to be precise. Their music is leaning towards country & western with Olivia Sparnenn's vocals. Very good vocals, but she sounds like she has a background from country & western. The guitars too is leaning towards this direction.
This album is surprisingly pretty much dominated by guitars where keyboards is only playing a secondary role. That is what I really like about this album. That and some good songs.

The overall quality is good throughout and my cynical approach to this album in the beginning was blown away pretty early on in my listening process. This is an album I really like. It is solid, good craft from a band I hope will fare a lot better than Breathing Space. Keep an eye out for Stolen Earth as there is a lot of potential here.

3 points

Caravan - Cunning Stunts (1975)

The sixth album from these Canterbury scene masters.

I don't really know the background for this album. So interesting stories, then. The music is a deviation from the ususal Caravan pop-jazz fusion their previous albums had. The sound is very American and AOR. The songs are also a mix of their usual pop-jazz and AOR. A pretty OK mix and the musicians does a good job here with this big American sound. A sound not particular good, though.

The same can be said about the quality of the songs here. An eighteen minutes long track called Dabsong Conserto falls pretty much flat on it's face. This album is somewhat good when the band goes back to their usual pop-jazz and becomes proper Caravan again. The sound is all wrong and the songs are sub-standard. This is a decent album and nothing more than that. It is so far my least favorite Caravan album too.

2 points

Anaid - Belladonna (1989)

Anaid is a largely overlooked zeuhl band from France. Those who are ignoring this band is doing themselves and Anaid a disservice.

From the first tone, Emmanuelle Lionet very beautiful vocals becomes the focal point for this album. Her soprano operatic vocals is being supported by ex Soft Machine bassist, one of the best ever bassists, Hugh Hopper. Other instruments are vibraphone, drums, woodwinds and keyboards.

Reference points are Pierre Moerlin's Gong, Cos and Zao. Anaid also reminds me a lot about the Norwegian band The Third And The Mortal in their way of building songs around a soprano vocalist. Anaid is though a jazz/zeuhl band. Not really hardcore zeuhl, but with enough zeuhl in them to be labelled as a zeuhl band.

The music is jazzy and slightly avant-garde. The first two tracks Belladonna and Clementine is really superb. Both has superb zeuhl vibes. The album largely fizzle out in vibraphone and vocals after those two tracks. Gong springs to mind. The end result is a very interesting, good album which deserves a bigger audience. I give it a good rating.

3 points

Branduardi. Angelo - Va Ou Le Vent Te Mene (1980)

The ninth album from Angelo and he had retreated from his all too brief venture into Italian progressive rock.

Angelo found fame, fortune and a grateful audience in sugar sweet commercial folk pop. Music the audience could sing to and hum along with. The music on Va Ou Le Vent Te Mene is this type of music. Easy listening and very cheesy at times. Very dated too.

The only saving grace here is Angelo's vocals. The rest of this album is too sugarsweet for me to swallow and devour. Half a point for the vocals is awarded.

1.5 points

Amygdala - Complex Combat (2008)

The second and so far final album from this Japanese band. A band listed in most archives as zeuhl.

The music is dark as the devil's paintkit. Dark and very claustrophobic one dimentional. It never breaks out of this pattern throughout it's forty-six minutes. Forty-six minutes of unrelenting instrumental RIO in the vein of Univers Zero and Present. The harsh music is performed with hammond organs, bass, guitars and drums and synths. I would not label this album as zeuhl at all. Neither would I label their self titled album from 2004 as zeuhl. Amygdala is a rio band.

The quality of the material is good throughout. The music is very technical throughout. It is not easy to grasp it. It is by no means a great album either and I very much prefer the debut album to this album. I award it a weak good status, but nothing more.

3 points

Sun Devoured Earth - Sounds of Desolation (2012)

A Latvian one man project with a lot of releases through Bandcamp. This is his thirteenth or so release under the Sun Devoured Earth name.

They describe their music as a mix of black metal and shoegaze. The black metal bit has gone on this Sounds of Desolation. What remains is...... well, sounds of desolation. The music is very bleak, set in a desolate landscape. Yes, it is shoegaze/post rock and it is post rock in the Icelandic tradition. Sigur Ros springs to mind. The music is driven by piano, synths and a faint vocal used as a sound effect.

Through it's barren landscape, the music on this album is actually pastoral beautiful. Very beautiful at times. As a sound painting, it works very well. A couple of great melody lines would not go amiss and that is my only gripe here. This though is a very good album and one I can recommend. Maybe I should check out those twelve other Sun Devoured Earth releases too.

3.5 points

Weend'o - You Need To Know Yourself (2012)

The debut album from this French band.

Neo-prog is the music and they are very much in the vein of the female-fronted neo-prog bands from across the English channel. The likes of Panic Room etc etc etc.
The vocalist in Weend'o is Laetitia and she is doing a great job. Her voice is sometimes similar to Sinead O'Connor. The music is run of the mill female fronted neo-prog and the band does not really stand out from the rest of that pretty overcrowded scene. No matter how much the band claims to be "different". This is a run of the mill band.

Original, their music is not. This is still a good album though with some very good songs. The music is pleasing to the ear at the same time as it also sometimes gives my brain cells a bit of a gentle workout. The music is not too taxing on my few remaining grey cells, though. A weak three stars is awarded and a gentle reminder to the band that identity and originality is not such a bad thing. Try that on all further albums.

3 points

Runemagick - Enter the Realm of Death (1998)

The second album from this Swedish death/doom metal band.

Their first album was a pretty OK death metal album. They have moved a bit closer towards melodic death metal on Enter the Realm of Death. They have also started to incorporate a lot of doom metal influences.
The Swedish death metal sound (Nihilist, Dismember, Grave) is still present here. Some synth are used as sound effects inbetween the slabs of death and doom. The sound is OK and the two musicians does a good job.

The result is a pretty decent album. Decent, but not really that interesting. They are not breaking any new ground with this album and that's it, really.

2 points

Puzzle King - Anna (2012)

This review is also incorporating the English version of this album called Anna's Revolution from the same year.

So, why two albums ? Puzzle King is the brainchild of François Puzenat. His background is from the French jazz/fusion band Vertigo. The Anna project is his first solo project and has been fermenting in his head for fifteen years. I have been in touch with François on email to get more info about this split into two albums. His answer is that Anna is the French language version. I first got Anna's Revolution, which is the English version and François were kind enough to send me a link to a promo copy of Anna.
Why an English version of the same album ? Unfortunate, this is an English speaking world and Anna is a concept album about Anna and Antonie being caught up in the Russian revolution between 1913 and 1917. The lyrics is important and he felt that the English audience would not grasp the French language Anna album. Which indirectly or even more directly is discrimination based on language. The unfortunate discrimination of the French and other languages by the English speaking world. I understand where Francois is coming from.

I think it is now pretty well known that I am a big fan of French prog and I don't speak a word French. I love bands like Ange. Not to mention Magma and the zeuhl genre. I also happens to really like French people as I happens to like any other decent human beings. Discriminations towards French people because of their lovely language is something I find abhorrent and very offensive. I also happens to believe that Ange's and Christian Descamp's music is great, largely because of the French language. I would never ever want to hear Ange's songs in English.

Speaking of Ange....... Ange is very much in my mind when listening to Anna. François Puzenat has though listed a lot of classical English bands like Genesis & Co as his inspiration. Ange is not mentioned, though. Ange was the first name I knotted down on my notepad when listening to this album. And that is paying François a compliment, btw. That and a reasonable objective observation. Puzzle King and Ange shares a lot of the theatrics and the French folk rock (Brel & Co) which has made the French scene so vibrant and exciting.

The music on Anna is being performed on guitars, keyboards, drums and bass. The music is very flowing and dynamic throughout. It has this great French scene feel from the 1970s which should make every fan of this scene throw money at this album. The overall quality is very good throughout. Anna does not have a great song though and that is my only gripe with it. I am an unrepentant Ange fan and finds a lot of similarities. A half a point upgrade to a great album status may be coloured by my Ange & French prog scene fanboy status.

Four stars for the French language version Anna.

Moving on to the English language version Anna's Revolution. That was the version I heard first and it immediate hit me how unnatural it was. No dynamics and no fluency. This culprit was evident and raised it's ugly head pretty immediate. It was the change of the vocals from French to a pretty bad English (sorry, Francois). It is not a pretty listening and I was cringing many times after been listening to the French version half a dozen times. Yes, I now get the concept story. But this is a story which I gladly would had been happy to read in English if Francois had put it out on Bandcamp as a pdf or straigth out there together with the French version. Anna's Revolution is not a good album and it looses one and a half point from the French version. I can safely say I will never ever listen to that album again.

So, let me repeat this: Anna in the French version is a great album and one every fan of Ange and French symph prog should get. On the other hand; forget Anna's Revolution.

Both albums are streamed and make up your own mind.

4 points (Anna)
2.5 points (Anna's Revolution)