Posts Tagged ‘progressive rock’

A Collaboration of 2 Prog Rock Legends: 1 Past 1 Present

Posted: August 17, 2016 in progressive rock music
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stoltanderson

It’s as if Jon Anderson, former leader of YES and Roine Stolt, guitarist extraordinaire for Flower Kings and Transatlantic met in some sort of hot tub time machine or tele-transporting phone booth like in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and created the music for this release.  Well although it didn’t exactly happen that way the two masters did exchange musical ideas while being world’s apart.  And the result, The Invention of Knowledge, Anderson:Stolt coverharkens back to a YES masterpiece from yesteryear, “Tales from Topographic Oceans,” with a healthy dose of Swedish progressive that only Roine Stolt can provide.

This 3 suite, 9 track performance reflects an attitude sorely lost on today’s musicians. According to Stolt, “It was like going back to the 70’s in one way.  Because there were no rules.  We were drawing inspiration from all sorts of musical heritages across the world.”  Besides the 2 acknowledged progressive rock legends the musicians  include Jonas Reinhold on bass; Felix Lehrmann on drums, both from Flower Kings; and Tom Brislin, who toured with YES on their 2001 Symphonic World Tour, on keyboards.

The song titles themselves suggest Anderson penned lyrics; “We Are Truth,”  “Chase and Harmony,” and “Golden Light” to name a few.  And that voice! Approaching 72 years on this 3rd planet from the sun, Anderson is in fine vocal form.  The musical suite I would like to highlight here is also the third one on this wonderful recording, “Everyone Heals.”  Part 1 of this 3 song suite concludes with a jazz influenced passage featuring Stolt’s fine lead guitar work and the electric piano of keyboardist Tom Brislin.  It’s a bit reminiscent, at least to this listener, of Chick Corea’s 70’s era fusion band, Return to Forever.  Part III, “Golden Light” concludes the suite with the especially enjoyable refrain “To the gift of giving you love” accompanied by a middle eastern influenced keyboard backdrop.

In the end, even after repeated listenings, I can’t decide if the music created here more closely resembles 70’s era YES or the modern wave of progressive rock of Flower Kings.  You’ll just have to listen and decide for yourself.  The music created on this satisfying collaboration doesn’t stray too far from the influences of Anderson and Stolt respectively.  It showcases a shared appreciation of a musical genre that 1 legend helped to create (Anderson) and the other (Stolt) has revitalized for the foreseeable future.

Check out the teaser below taken from the opening 3 part suite, “The Invention of Knowledge.”

The Latest Chapter for ASIA, the band

Posted: January 3, 2015 in progressive rock music
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In 1981 the British progressive rock supergroup ASIA was born.  Featuring one of the best voices in rock music of any kind, John Wetton (King Crimson, Uriah Heep, UK & others ) along with Steve Howe and Geoff Downes (Yes), and Carl Palmer (Emerson Lake & Palmer).  asia Whereas some fans of the movement may have considered their music closer to the arena rock sound of bands like Journey and Styx, here in the states their debut sold over 4 million copies.  In 1982 it was named the #1 album of the year by Billboard and Cashbox. ASIA debut LPThough they would never reach those dizzying heights again they continued to record, tour and change personnel. Fast forward to 2014.  ASIA released by what is my count, their 7th studio album, Gravitas.  This marked the official retirement of Steve Howe from the reunited original line-up of the band and the introduction of new guitarist Sam Coulson who was basically discovered on YouTube. There are 2 cuts on this release I would to like to highlight.  The first being the lead track, Valkyrie.  It opens with an a cappella intro followed by a subtle bow of a cello that is as much a part of the chorus as the vocals themselves.  Wetton’s voice sounds as strong as ever.  The track chugs along teamed with the understated keyboards of Geoff Downes.  And finally toward the end of the song we’re introduced to the lead guitar work of new guitarist, Sam Coulson.  ASIA has released a video for the lead track that I’ve included here. Now the video doesn’t break any new ground but does include some beautiful time-lapse cinematography of clouds interspersed with shots of band members.  In a sense the video is much like the genre of progressive music itself, created for the ears and not necessarily the eyes!

http://youtu.be/CIpmYEYC2rU

The second cut I would like to comment on is Nyctophobia.  For those of you trying to figure out “what kind of phobia is that?”  It’s the extreme or irrational fear of the night of darkness.  Now that we’ve got that established let me riff on the track itself!  It features the familiar warmth of John Wetton’s vocals with some tasty lead guitar work by new member Sam Coulson. What you get on this track is “comfortable as your favorite chair” progressive rock ASIA style.  The title and subsequent chorus are repeated enough times that’s it’s sure to stick in your head.

So if you were ever a fan of ASIA, and maybe you didn’t want to admit it, their latest release Gravitas follows the formula.  After over 30 years of recording for a band to still be true to their signature sound, in the humble opinion of this blogger they deserve an audience.  With this latest release you won’t be disappointed.