TODAY'S ALBUM: No.25 (19th November 2011)

'Journey' 

by Journey

(1975)

Before dominating the world and the 1980's with their punchy brand of dollar-soaked, adult-orientated rock, American outfit Journey were highly-adept purveyors of slickly-produced progressive rock, something that doesn't come as a huge surprise when you learn that the original line-up of the group was comprised of, amongst others, former members of Santana.
The first incarnation of Journey came together in San Francisco, 1973, thanks to some shrewd matchmaking on behalf of Herbie Herbert, then the manager of said latin-rock sensations. With vocalist-and-keyboardist Gregg Rolie and teenage guitarist Neal Schon both leaving Herbert decided to pair the duo with The Tubes drummer Prince Prairie and two members taken from the local psych-rock outfit Frumious Bandersnatch, namely rhythm-guitarist George Tickner and bassist Ross Valory. 
After developing their own blend of high energy rock and jazz-fusion during a hectic six months of gigging and trying to snare a contract it was decided that Prairie wasn't up to the task and English drummmer Aynsley Dunbar, a former Frank Zappa alumni, was drafted in as his permanent replacement. Subsequently signed to Columbia Records and sporting possibly one of the worst sleeves of the 1970's, the group's first, self-titled album was released to fairly insignificant critical or commercial acclaim during the spring of 1975. As well as being their debut it would also be notably the most progressive and experimental of all Journey albums, showcasing a skilful quintet mixing elements of hard-rock, prog and even jazz with a touch of West coast balladry that seems a million miles removed from the anthemic soft-rock balladry of their commercial peak of A half-a-decade later. This was a much more adventurous outfit. 
Whilst 'Journey' does feature a slight mainstream rock edge, it also features several highly-complex pieces designed to display the various members instrumental abilities, none more so than 'Kohoutek', a sharp jazz-fusion number manifested by Dunbar's thunderous drumming, Rolie's wailing synthesizers and Schon's lightning fast guitar breaks. The style is also apparent on the tricksy 'Topaz', another pacey instrumental piece, though this time the fusion inflection is melded with blusier riffs and a more progressive instinct embodied by the smart juxtaposition of Hendrixian guitars and calm, jazzy interludes. 
Of a more melodic nature the mini-epic opener 'Of A Lifetime' also exhibits early Journey's progressive streak, whilst also providing a hint of the group's future with Schon's emotive strong guitar hooks adorning an atmospheric, Humble Pie-type stadium rocker that almost sounds as if it should be on a more successful record. Finally, on the pounding, organ-soaked, bluesy-rocker 'Mystery Mountain', Rolie lends real vocal power as the group jam with a deep groove into the album's rousing conclusion. Progressive rock very much the American way.
Featuring an accessible, streamlined-edge yet also very much an inventive and ambitious record, 'Journey' may be far removed from the surreal nature and arty ambitions of British prog yet theirs is a genuinely refreshing take on the genre, with an earthy, almost soulful ambience to much of their material. Like all the better progressive records, each track takes a few listens to fully appreciate, something that becomes apparent especially in the jazzy riffs and lightning fast tempo shifts that punctuate the group's basic, bluesy rhythms.
The first of a trio of prog-related albums - after that Steve Perry joined and the direction changed quickly - 'Journey' is probably the album that translates their eclectic style best.  It is 'Journey' that is the only group release to feature rhythm-guitarist George Tickner, an often overlooked figure in the development of their early sound, and most of all it is the album that fully showcases the group's fluid translation of progressive themes and melodies into an American FM format. 
Although a little too short time-wise and very much on the more maintream side of the genre, this is still a worthwhile and surprisingly impressive addition to the worldwide canon of progressive music.


Key Songs: Of A Lifetime, Khoutek, Topaz

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.24 (18th November 2011)

'Felona e Sorona'

by

Le Orme

(1973)

Originally a rather feeble psychedelic pop outfit with a couple of albums to their name, Italy's Le Orme made the smart move and chucked in the guitars, kaftans and beads and replaced them with an organ-led attack and a serious musical outlook when the early 1970's progressive rock movement was starting to reach full flow, leading the group to create a series of excellent albums under their new sonic guise that began with 1971's 'Collage'. The best, and most revered, of the these releases, however, was 1973's 'Felona e Sorona', an imperious, sci-fi-themed concept-album deemed by many as both the group's very own masterpiece and one of the finest examples of Italian progressive rock ever produced.  

Le Orme first came together in city of Venice during the summer of 1966, starting life as a Beatles-inspired, four-piece pop combo made up of Aldo Tagliapietra(guitar, vocals), Nino Smeraldi(guitar), Claudio Galieti(bass) and Marino Rebeschini(drums). The group produced a couple of fairly successful singles, including 'Senti L'estate Che Torna'('Come & Feel The Summer'), which featured on a national television show, and in 1967 the group started to gig regularly, often supporting minor visiting acts from other European countries, particularly England. By 1968 they had gathered enough momentum to warrant an album deal from their label, Milan's Car Jukebox imprint, and sessions late in the year with producer Tony Tasinato delivered the patchy 'Ad Gloriam'('To Gloriam'), which was released in 1969. 

By now Rebeschini had been replaced by incoming sticksman Michi Dei Rossi, and the Le Orme ranks had swelled to five, with Tony Pagliuca(organ, piano) joining in order to fill out the group's rather thin sound. This line-up would only stay together for the duration of recording 'Ad Gloriam', and the summer of 1969 saw yet more line-up shuffles as Galieti left to join the army and was followed out the door several months later by a departing Smeraldi. The remaining trio of Tagliapietra, Pagliuca and Dei Rossi quickly started moving away from their psych-pop origins, leaving the Car Jukebox label, signing for the Italian arm of Phillips, and producing 'Collage', an album that featured a more mature style and a complex instrumental element. The trend would continue on their next album, 1972's 'Uomo Di Pezzo'('Man Of Cloth'), the first to feature producer Gian Piero Reverberi. A lush, almost orchestral album, 'Uomo Di Pezza' was the trio's first truly excellent album, and a sizeable commercial success throughout Italy. The move to Phillips had granted the group greater access to better facilities, and as a result their music was becoming more expansive, with longer individual pieces and a greater emphasis on instrumentation.

After re-convening in the spring of 1973, and with Reverberi once again acting as producer, Le Orme started work on what would become 'Felona e Sorona'.  Based upon an obscure sci-fi story happened upon by the group, a cosmic tale of two disparate planets spinning in opposite orbit and their effect on one another, 'Felona e Sorona' would feature a much darker hue than it's predecessor, with Tagliapietra's rumbling basses and Dei Rossi's emphatic, almost militaristic drumming driving along a powerful, ominously-toned opus, with an aggressive style seemingly at odds with the fantasy tone of the story.

The album's peaks include Dei Rossi's drumming alongside Pagliuca's hissing synthesizers, with their instrumental interplay highlighting 'Felona e Sorona's best moments, such as when the thunderous opening track 'Sospesi Nell'incredible'('In Between') kicks into spooky gear, all the while accompanied by Tagliapietra's thrilling bass rumbles and sinister vocals. An incredible start indeed, 'Sospesi Nell'Incredible' is a moody, beautifully controlled piece of music and the group's premier composition.   

Elsewhere, lighter shades brighten up the glossy orchestral grandeur of L'iquilibrio'('The Balance'), Tagliapietra's metronomical bass-lines make a measured re-appearance on the staccato-undercut 'Ritratto Di Un Mattino'('Portrait Of A Morning') and the album finishes with a roar, the trio combining to wall-of-sound effect on the grandiose closer 'Ritorno Al Nulla'('Return You To Nothing'). 

With a grand, almost operatic sound drenching a selection of carefully-crafted symphonic pieces, Le Orme's 'Felona e Sorona' is yet another example of the richness and the diversity of Italian progressive rock. Alongside the likes of PFM, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso and Maxophone, the former psych-pop merchants have helped to take the sounds of the Italian set outside of the country, into markets such as Britain, Japan and the USA where they have each sold substantial amounts. During 1974, and after the huge domestic success of 'Felona e Sorona', the British, Tony Stratton-Smith-led label Charisma Records, home to the likes of Genesis and Van Der Graaf Generator, signed a deal with the group to release an English-language version of the album adapted by Van Der Graaf Generator's front-man Peter Hammill, both in England and throughout the USA. This 1974 version sought to lend the group an international profile, and the move would prove fruitful, both for a brief while in the USA and Central Europe during the mid-seventies and for a great deal longer in Japan, who's lucky fans would get the extraordinary, double-live album 'Live Orme' released in Japan only a decade later. Strangely, most of the group's foreign fans seemed to prefer the Italian language versions.

For Le Orme, 'Felona e Sorona' remains the group's defining statement, both at home and across the world. The power trio format, the lack of lead guitars and the orchestrally-tinged sound provides a dramatic new twist on the symphonic progressive rock sub-genre, with Tagliapietra's basses creating an ominous undercurrent above which all else twinkles and the dark, deliberately confrontational nature of the compositions creating a powerful, lushly-realized atmosphere so typical of Italian progressive rock. 

Alongside 'Per Un Amico' by PFM, Maxophone's self-titled debut and Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso's 'Io Sono Nato Libero', 'Felona e Sorona' by Le Orme ranks as one of Italy's finest albums from the genre's golden days. The group's original, late-sixties decision to discard the guitar, slim down to a trio, and tackle original and much more complex material has paid off impressively.

Key songs: Sospelli Nell'incredible, Ritorno Al Nulla

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.23 (17th November 2011)

'Ballermann'

by

Grobschnitt

(1974)

Alongside such Teutonic luminaries as Jane, Eloy and Birth Control, Grobschnitt(loosely translated as 'Rough Cut') are one of Germany's premier progressive rock acts, having enjoyed a decade-spanning career that began sometime in the late-sixties and continues to this very day. 
One of the country's most popular live draws, the group built their colourful existence on a quintet of excellent English-language albums from the 1970's, all of which blended a rich, symphonic style with top-notch musicianship and the group's own, rather surreal brand of slapstick humour. Suffice to say, there have been very few rock groups like Grobschnitt.

The story of this most singular of progressive acts begins during the heady days of the late-sixties and in the German town of Hagen, an undistinguished place located not too far from the Western city of Dortmund. The group's original guise was The Crew, an outfit whose members absorbed a number of disparate influences during their formative years, from English psychedelic rock, classical music and even theatrical elements, which later on would come to play a big part in the group's make-up. After the usual frenetic bout of gigging and line-up shuffles, Grobschnitt was officially born in early 1970, with each member taking on a 'comic' nickname of his own choosing. Signed to the burgeoning underground label Brain Records, Grobschnitt's first, self-titled album would appear in 1972 and feature a six-man line-up comprising of Joachim Ehrig a.k.a. 'Eroc'(drums), Axel Harlos a.k.a. 'Felix'(percussion), Stefan Danielak a.k.a. 'Wildschwein'(vocals, guitar), Bernhard Uhlemann a.k.a. 'Bar'(bass, flute), Gerd-Otto Kuhn a.k.a. 'Lupo'(guitar) and Herman Quetting a.k.a. 'Quecksilber'(piano, organ, keyboards). Mixing elements of psychedelia, classical-inflected progressive rock grooves, a Wishbone Ash-style twin guitar attack and made up of four, mainly rather complex and lengthy pieces, 'Grobschnitt' was a bold debut release that made impressive use of studio gadgetry and sound effects whilst also featuring the opus 'Sun Trip', an intriguing composition that the group would notably develop over the coming years.  Though by no means a commercial hit 'Grobschnitt' managed to perform reasonably well, with the group cultivating a loyal live following thanks to their epic gigs, which were notable for featuring trippy lighting effects, a strong theatrical element(manifested by costumes, make-up etc) and the first signs of what would come to be the group's trademark loopy humour. However, whilst the songs were sung in English, the comedy was delivered strictly in German.

After the group went through yet another bout of line-up changes, which saw Herman Quetting and Axel Harlos leave to be replaced by classically-trained keyboardist Volker Kahrs(a.k.a. 'Mist'), the group released 'Ballermann' in 1974. A monumental double-album named after a particularly-popular roadie, 'Ballermann' would see a marked improvement in almost every area, with a fuller, slicker sound and less reliance on the guitars. The album would also see Grobschnitt starting to develop their lush symphonic sound of later albums, a move which came about thanks mainly to the presence of Kahrs, whose luminous keyboards dominate the album. However, the most impressive aspect of 'Ballermann' would be the thirty-three-minute-long composition 'Solar Music', namely a beefed-up version of 'Sun Trip', that took up the entire third-and-fourth sides of the original vinyl release. Perhaps the ultimate space-rock anthem, this epic, multi-layered progressive symphony would quickly become the group's crowning glory, with the piece played at the end of virtually every live performance from 1974 onwards in versions that could  last longer than an hour. Ultimately, 'Solar Music' would expand so much over the oncoming years that it would be given it's own double-album, helpfully titled 'Solar Music Live' and showcasing Grobschnitt at their imperious live peak.

The album version of 'Solar Music', however, is also itself a fascinating piece of music, one that builds effortlessly through various sections encompassing ethereal psychelic soundscapes, heavy rock assults, pulsating bass-lines, breathy vocals and yet more sparkling keyboards from Kahrs, before finally reaching it's explosive, guitar-blazed apex in a whirlwind of multi-coloured riffs and mystical melodies. Those who stay the course will be richly rewarded.

Although undoubtedly the album's thrilling highlight, 'Ballermann' does also feature a selection of excellent shorter tracks on it's opening half that tend to be overshadowed by 'Solar Music's glorious space-age excess. Namely, these take the form of the crunchy opener 'Sahara', which introduces the album with a series of 'funny' barked German voices, the delightfully symphonic, thirteen-minute rock-ballad 'Magic Train' which features another rich dose of Kahrs glistening keyboards and a decidedly anthemic finale, and last but by no means least, the percussive, pop-edged medley 'Drummer's Dream', a quirky piece that incorporates an almost jazzy feel into the album's powerful symphonic design. Elsewhere, 'Nickolodeon' provides more comedy, as well as lashings of thickly-layered keyboards and guitars.

Seen by many as the album where Grobschnitt's 'classic', late-seventies symphonic sound really came into being, 'Ballermann' would see Grobschnitt strike a rich vein of form precipitated by the group's decision to venture away from their psychedelic origins and into more symphonic territory. No doubt inspired by the albums of British symphonic outfits Yes and Genesis, 'Ballermann' is the album that confirmed Grobschnitt's status as a fully-fledged progressive rock outfit, and one of the finest in Central Europe. Sometimes bracketed within the paradigms of Krautrock but actually nothing of the sort, Grobschnitt are purveyors of the some of the richest, most symphonic progressive music of the mid-to-late-seventies, with 'Ballermann' their key album. Although later albums such as 'Jumbo'(1976) and the fairy-tale concept piece 'Rockpommel's Land'(1978) would see a much more refined symphonic sound produced without the psychedelic or space-rock touches, 'Ballerman's diverse mixture finds the group at their transitional point, borrowing liberally from their old psych-rock guise and blending carefully with their new progressive form. The sometimes rather strange comedy moments certainly aren't to every listener's taste, yet they don't intrude on the actual music, and the overall results of the group's playful melding make for a big, dense sound and a wonderfully diverse progressive rock album from an outfit who, for once, don't take themselves too seriously.

One things for sure: If you think Yes take themselves far too seriously, you'll simply love Grobschnitt.

Key songs: Magic Train, Solar Music Parts I & 11

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.22: (16th November 2011)

'Bitches Brew'

by Miles Davis

(1970)

Perhaps, alongside the likes of Elvis' Sun Recordings and The Beatles 'Revolver', one of the most important releases in the history of late-20th century popular music, 1970's 'Bitches Brew' marked a new chapter in the story of both it's genre and it's creator, simulteneously confirming the burgeoning fusion movement eminating from the USA whilst also preceding an incredibly fertile six-year period for it's maker. No more smooth late-night jazz or classical trimmings.

Miles Davis's extraordinary electric period had begun.

As the 1960's wore on, it was becoming increasingly clear to some that traditional jazz music was being overshadowed by the emerging force of white rock. The English invasion, the rise of The Beatles and the psychedelic rock scene had brought a new experimental vigour into the music scene, and for most of the era's young people jazz was simply not the happening thing any more, chained down as it was by history and convention. Rock was more exciting, more visceral and more dangerous, and groups like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane personified both the brash excess and experimental mindset that lay at the heart of it's appeal. With this in mind, pioneers such as Tony Williams, Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders stepped forward, cooking up their own evolutionary brand of jazz, achieved by carefully incorporating various rock elements into their compositions. Thus the fusion movement was born. 

Though earlier works such as 'Water Babies' and 'Fillies De Kilimanjaro' hinted towards this new sound, Miles Davis was by no means the very first jazz name to began experimenting. With 'Bitches Brew' however, he made the movement a viable, critical-and-ocmmercial reality, brilliantly blending the colours, textures and tones of jazz within a heavy, dissonant, free-form spectrum, flecked all the while with the pinched strains of psychedelic rock, electric keyboards and Hendrixian guitars wailing away at Davis' instruction. This was both jazz and rock at the furthest limits of their respective sonic boundaries, and as progressive in nature and as the genre's other, more obvious, founding fathers, such Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Yes. 

The sessions for 'Bitches Brew' commenced during the summer of 1969 under the auspices of Columbia Records and producer Teo Macero, the noted saxophonist and composer who had already produced Dave Brubeck's seminal 1959 album 'Time Out'. Davis was loose and brash and up for the challenge, accompanied by many of his prodigiously-gifted cohorts. The likes of Jack DeJohnette(drums), Joe Zawinul(electric piano), Wayne Shorter(soprano sax), Chick Corea(electric piano), John McLoughlin(electric guitar), Dave Holland(bass) and Billy Conham(drums) numbering amongst his significant auditory entourage, playing off one another for hours on end. However, it would be the way the studio was utilised that made 'Bitches Brew' so remarkable. Using splicing techniques, tape loops, echo effects and double-and-triple-tracking, Macero and Davis shaped the album in a way that was, for the time, completely revolutionary. Influenced by the 'musique concrete' innovators of the 1940's and 1950's, tracks such as 'Pharoah's Dance' featured more than 18 different tape edits, with certain beats, loops and rhythmic sections fused to create a dissonant, multi-layered effect that lends the music an almost mystical electronic-and-experimental ambience. 
Recorded at New Yorks 30th Street studios and appearing in the spring of 1970, 'Bitches Brew' caused a storm of controversy upon it's initial release. Some saw it as a new path to a new music, an album brimming with innovation and style, whilst others saw it as nothing more than  flash betrayal of jazz's long and glorious past, the rock influences overshadowing all else. Certainly the musicians who performed on it had little or no idea what they were actually doing at the time, with Davis pulling together his cast of players at extremely short notice and giving few, if any, instructions, therefore adding to the album's overall mystique. He would oversee and perform on almost all of the material on 'Bitches Brew', with the exception of British guitarist John McLaughlin's brief, eponymously-titled, four-and-a-half-minute piece, though his reputation for producing cool, melodic compositions was nowhere to be seen; this was powerful, explosive, freeform music filled with passion and adventure, the very antithesis of his previous albums. 
The eventual legacy left by 'Bitches Brew' would be extraordinary, however, as Davis produced a series of scintillating electric jazz-rock odyssey's between the years 1969 and 1975, a period otherwise known as his highly-creative 'electric' phase which still to this day is the cause of so much debate and conjecture both inside and outside of the jazz and rock worlds. 'Bitches Brew' would be followed by the likes of 'On The Corner', 'Get Up With It' and 'Big Fun', whilst a host of incendiary live albums, many of which were recorded in New York(such as 'Dark Magus', 'Live At The Fillmore East' 'Live Evil' and 'Black Beauty') adapted the studio material into even longer, more progressive and more experimental structures that gave vent to Davis' everlasting urge to bush the boundaries of 'fusion' as far as he possibly could. In the wake of these recordings and performances, meanwhile, groups such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Nucleus and Weather Report sprung up on both sides of the Atlantic, displaying their own firey brands of jazzed-up rock music. For the third time in his career, Davis had forged yet another new movement.
A piece of incredible power, emotion and extreme instrumental prowess, 'Bitches Brew' is the big daddy of electric jazz albums. It is by no means a pleasant listen upon first inspection, yet, with subsequent visits, the music begins to take on it's own shape, with the twinkling keyboards, brief guitar rips, psyched-trumpet howls and improvisational brass bursts weaving a densely lysergic sonic pattern of colours and moods that sounds quite unlike anything else from the period. At the centre of this storm, of course, sits Miles Davis, the man effortlessly conducting patterns of musical energy like some strange jigsaw puzzle, moving the pieces around at his leisure whilst simultaneously pushing the incredibly flexible musicians at his disposal to places they have rarely been. A mixture of high talent and high ambition made at exactly the right time in history, this is undoubtedly one of the most iconic albums in both the jazz and the rock spheres. The striking cover art of German artist Mati Klarwein is almost a perfect testament to the music held within, and although Davis would regularly produce albums of stunning quality over the nest few years, none would quite match the achievements on offer here.
The very essence of 'progressive' music, 'Bitches Brew' is one of the defining statements of 20th century music from one of it's foremost creative minds, and an album which fully deserves its place in the gilded pantheon of sonic experimentation.

Key songs: Pharoah's Dance, Bitches Brew, Sanctuary

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.21 (15th November 2011)

'Starcastle'

by Starcastle
(1976)

Alongside the likes of Journey, Kansas and Styx, Illinois' Starcastle were one of just a handful of progressive rock acts to emerge from the USA during the 1970's, concocting a lush, gleaming and highly-symphonic brand of cleanly-produced prog-rock that owed a stylistic debt or two to both British pioneers Yes and their fellow countrymen Crosby, Stills & Nash. 
Although they were possibly the most adventurous and definitely the most Anglicized of the American set, and despite enjoying major-label backing from CBS and releasing a strong debut in the shape of 1976's self-titled 'Starcastle', they ultimately appeared far too late in the day to make any real lasting impression on either the European or American markets. Overtaken in  terms of both popularity and sales by the emerging soft-rock giants Foreigner, Boston, Survivor and REO Speedwagon as the 1970's turned into the 1980's, Starcastle would eventually split after being dropped from their label, leaving behind a frustratingly unfulfilled career that had initially promised so much.

Originally named St. James and formed in 1969, Starcastle were a hard-working outfit heavily influenced by the emerging British progressive rock scene. The group's early years were characterized by the usual intense gigging schedule, and, as the group relentlessly travelled the Mid-West club circuit playing a mixture of popular covers and original material, frequent line-up shuffles. The key turning point seems to have been the moment bassist Gary Strater joined, the newcomer swelling the Starcastle ranks to six and encouraging the rest of the group to adapt to a new, disciplined lifestyle that embraced vegetarianism and new age philosophy, all the while attempting to get his new band-mates to develop a more complex and adventurous playing style.

With a line-up now featuring Strater, Terry Luttrell(vocals), Stephen Hagler(guitar, piano, vocals), Matthew Stewart(guitar, vocals), Herb Schilt(keyboards) and Stephen Tassler(drums, vocals), Starcastle became an impressively-tight live unit, building up a large following throughout the Mid-Western states and eventually signing a deal with the Sony imprint Epic Records in 1975. Paired with producer Tommy Vicari, the group's glistening debut album 'Starcastle' was released a year later, just as punk rock was beginning to cast it's ugly shadow over Great Britain. Critical reaction was generally positive, especially throughout North America, though the group were often accused of borrowing a bit too liberally from their British cohorts, especially from the highly-influential, fellow symphonic outfit Yes, a frequently-repeated criticism that has some justification.

Putting the Yes-clone accusations to one side however, the music of Starcastle really does deserve to be experienced on it's own merit. The six-piece's debut album is a gloriously-upbeat and slickly-produced mixture of keyboard-drenched symphonic prog, highly-strung guitars and emotive AOR-tinged pop featuring some deceptively-complex vocal harmonies. The commercially-tinted blend isn't that far removed from, say, the hard-edged melodic rock of Anglo-Americans Foreigner bonded with the instrumental invention of Yes, only with that thoroughly anthemic American touch that would come to dominate the 1980's rock scene. 

'Starcastle' begins with the sweetly-toned ten-minute fantasy epic 'Lady Of The Lake', very much one of group's signature tunes and a staple of their live show. 'Lady Of The Lake' features all the hallmarks of Starcastle's richly-symphonic early sound, with Hagler's affective guitar curling delicately over Strater's galloping bass whilst lush keyboards and lightly-drummed percussion bubble away underneath the boyish vocals of Terry Luttrell. 

The obscure fantasy theme continues deep into the album, and the fanciful faux-astrological names also continue, with 'Lady Lake' backed by the drilled guitars and dancing keyboards of 'Elliptical Seasons', the overtly neo-classical lilt of 'Stargate' and the jaunty instrumental filler 'Forces'. 'Sunfield', the album's second-longest piece, is less cohesive, featuring an awkward vocal chorus tracked over a jerky celestial melody, thus making for a rare duff moment, though the bulk of the album's second-half does manage, for the most, to retain the wide-eyed appeal of the first, with the Crosby, Stills & Nash-style harmonizing getting a funky accompaniment on 'To The Fire Wind', a mellow, space-age rocker fused with yawning synths, twinkling electronic pulses and chiming keyboard effects. Finally, the album closes with the brief, brisk 'Nova', as yet more slinky synths and crisply-laid guitars swirl effortlessly over the Strater's clipped bass-lines.
After middling success 'Starcastle' would be followed up by a further three albums before the Illinois group were finally forced to call it day sometime during the early 1980's. Their second album, 1977's 'Founatins Of Light', saw the group paired with Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker, though faced by the rising tide of Punk in the East and AOR in the West, the group were, by the fourth final album 'Real To Reel', forced to abandon their progressive principles in order to broaden their appeal, a move which saw the group produce an awkward brand of keyboard-heavy pop that pleased no-one. Even with Baker's assistance, none of their subsequent albums attained the same kind of commercial or critical success as their debut, and the usual rash of line-up changes, management issues and contractual squabbling typical of American record companies negated any progress the original six-piece had made during their time together. However, despite a short and, overall, unsuccessful career, Starcastle will always be remembered for their first two albums, and in particular their self-titled debut, an album brimming with hope, passion and genuine charm. And one really does wonder how their career arc would have developed had they started five years earlier.
Definitely on the lighter side of rock and with a carefully-layered symphonic sound based on complex keyboard patterns, high-pitched counter-melodies, three-part harmonizing and metronomical bass-lines, Starcastle's debut album was probably the most unashamedly progressive of all the decade's American output, featuring all the hallmarks of the genre both instrumentally and lyrically. A wonderfully naive set of songs tinged with fantasy-inspired themes, 'Starcastle' is the very essence of North American progressive rock. Despite their shortcomings, these were a group who really did deserve better.

Key songs: Lady Of The Lake, To The Fire Wind

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.20 (14th November 2011)

'H To He Who Am The Only One'

by Van Der Graaf Generator

(1970)

On the darker side of the Progressive rock genre lie Van Der Graaf Generator, a decidedly different British outfit who were one of the first groups working in the 'rock' idiom to partially eschew the use of the guitar as the leading instrument, instead choosing to replacing it as the main weapon of attack with either squawking saxophones, heavily-treated organs, deeply-toned basses or the wailing vocals of lead-singer and chief lyricist Peter Hammill. Very much the arty upstarts to Pink Floyd or Yes' popular symphonic reading of the genre, Van Der Graaf Generator failed to achieve the kind of commercial success enjoyed by many of their peers, yet they are still, despite their relative inaccessibility, regarded by critics and fans alike as one of the era's most challenging and iconic outfits. 

The 'classic' Van Der Graaf Generator line-up featured Hammill(vocals, guitar), David Jackson(saxophone), Hugh Banton(organ) and Guy Evans(drums), with all but Jackson initially coming together to play on 'The Aerosol Grey Machine', a 1969 album that was meant to be a Hammill solo record, yet because of various legal wranglings, label interference and contractual stipulations, was released under the Van Der Graaf Generator name. Not exactly a hit record, 'The Aerosol Grey Machine' was a USA-only release and received minimal promotion from Mercury Records. Despite this, however, the group had found an admirer and manager, in that order, in British entrepeneur Tony Stratton-Smith, an avid fan of the emerging new progressive rock sound. After setting up the Charisma label in 1969, Stratton-Smith subsequently made Van Der Graaf Generator his first signing(quickly followed by Genesis) and the group, who had by this point yet to find a settled line-up, were shoehorned into London's trident studio's just before the Christmas holidays of 1969 to record 'The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other', the album regarded by many as the group's debut album proper. It would also be the last Van Der Graaf Generator album to feature both a full five-man line-up and a full-time bassist, with Nic Potter, who had himself replaced original member Keith Ellis a year earlier, eventually leaving the fold midway through the recording sessions for 'H To He Who Am The Only One' and going on to become an in-demand session musician, playing with the likes of Chuck Berry, Steve Swindells, Jeff Beck and fellow Charisma act Rare Bird. Potter's absence left a big gap for the group to fill, and after extensive discussions regarding a replacement, it was eventually agreed that organist Banton would double on bass pedals.
Produced by John Anthony, who had conducted the sessions for 'The Aerosol Grey Machine', and completed in time for a Christmas 1970 release, the physics-themed 'H To He Who Am The Only One' marked another evolutionary step in the group's rapidly developing sound, with longer instrumental sections, a fuller mix and more composed performances from each band member contributing to a dense and powerful overall album. This is manifested in a slight about-change from their previous two efforts, as the guitar is given momentary centre-stage on the brooding two-part mini-epic 'The Emperor In His War Room' thanks to King Crimson's founder and leader Robert Fripp, who adds the distinctive tones of his trusty electric six-string to proceedings, momentarily replacing the sharp saxophones and menacing organ breaks with a less abrasive element. Indeed, the group's softer side(if you could call it that) is briefly-glimpsed on the proceeding track, the maudlin, piano-led ballad-of-sorts 'House With No Door'. Featuring just Banton's understated keyboards, gently-plucked bass and Hammill's carefully-restrained vocals, the album's third track almost harks back to a kind of late-sixties pop-psych style, with the expected blast of discordant instrumental power never materialising as, instead, the song gradually fades into a calm and quiet nothingness. This lull doesn't last long, however, as the opening strains of fan-favourite 'The Emperor In His War Room' rumble into life soon after.
A radical slice of darkly-wrapped post-psychedelia, Van Der Graaf Generator's third album finds the foursome at their most instrumentally-expansive, adding welcome touches of colour to their often hallucinatory music with the addition of flutes, guitars and mellotron's. Although by no means an 'accessible' slice of progressive rock, 'H To He Who Am The Only One' is remarkably less abrasive than their earlier material, blending King Crimson-style orchestral grandeur with their own, deliberately-mysterious, almost avant-garde sound to create a somewhat difficult spin on the symphonic prog style that seeks to almost confront the listener with it's wall-of-squealing-sounds and oblique lyrical content. However, although it may take several listens to fully grasp, 'H To He Who Am The Only One' is an album filled with fascinating moments that showcases both of the group's artistic ambitions and their ability to 'rock out' when need be. 
One of the few progressive groups to truly stand alone, Van Der Graaf Generator are purveyors of strange, beautiful and utterly beguiling music that truly has to be heard to be (dis)believed, with this carefully-composed and semi-experimental album the pick of their early works. 


Key songs: Killer, House With No Door, The Emperor In His War Room

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.19 (13th November 2011)

'Released'

by Jade Warrior

(1971)

A curious three-man outfit that sought to fuse harsh and angular Western 'rock' guitars with soft, Oriental-style rhythms, percussive effects and modalities, Jade Warrior were the type of group who could only have existed in the heady atmosphere of the early-seventies British underground. 
Whilst they never enjoyed genuine commercial success in their original guise, between the years 1970 and 1972 they did manage to release three unique albums, tour the USA with ex-Traffic guitarist Dave Mason, and in the process become one of the key influences in developing the burgeoning New-Age music scene that would peak in popularity during the 1980's. 
Drawing their inspiration from the world's of Japanese, Chinese and Latin music, as well as jazz, folk and the blues, Jade Warrior's sound was unlike anything else found in the progressive rock genre.
Featuring Glyn Havard(bass, vocals), Tony Duhig(guitar) and Jon Field(flutes, percussion, congas), Jade Warrior first came together as a unit sometime during the first few months of 1970. Whilst Havard at this time was part of the blues-rock outfit Unit Two Plus Four, Duhig and Field had been the lead-guitarist and drummer respectively in the cult British psychedelic rock group July, a group that also featured future Mike Oldfield-collaborator Tom Newman. Despite boasting a talented young line-up July produced just a single, self-monikered album before splitting in 1968, with Unit Two Plus Four faring little better. Upon the demise of both bands Havard and Field, who had been friends since the mid-sixties after a spell working together as fork-lift truck drivers, started to piece together a new outfit based on their shared love of Latin and Oriental music, eventually inviting Duhig to become the third member by the start of the new decade. Soon enough a recording contract with Vertigo Records was signed and 1970 would see the group's self-titled debut issued, complete with Oriental-style artwork, to generally positive reviews. 
Featuring a slow, careful, semi-psychedelic and fairly exotic sound peppered with Eastern elements and oblique lyrics, 'JadeWarrior' was a remarkably fresh, if somewhat unfocused set of songs that nevertheless sported a thoroughly soft-toned, organic flow. It wasn't exactly rock, yet it wasn't folk music either, and if anything the buying public weren't quite sure of what to make of this interesting new style. However, the album proved successful enough for the trio to record a follow-up, and in preparation the line-up was expanded to include drummer Allan Price - another former member of Unit Four Plus Two - plus guest saxophonist David Connors. It was this line-up that recorded the group's second collection 'Released', the album that saw Jade Warrior's singular East-meets-West musical vision at it's most impressive, aggressive and ambitious. 
Filled with a range of moods and emotions, 'Released' exuded a much more confident streak within the group than found on 'Jade Warrior', featuring harsher guitars, intense moments of tribal percussion and the group's innovative soft-loud tonal technique, which saw mellow, organic melodies married with moments of blasting rock. This exciting brew of sounds and styles is best summed up on the extraordinary, Fela Kuti-style, sixteen-minute psychedelic jam 'Baranzibar', an intense and thoroughly exciting slice of Afro-Japanese rock fusion that seamlessly integrates bassy horns, wailing saxophones, pulsating percussion effects and Duhig's feedback-treated guitar to impressive effect. At the other end of the scale meanwhile lies the sun-kissed ballad 'Bride Of Summer', a composition that again finds Duhig running his guitar through tonal juxtapositions and effects pedals, just this time amid a serene sonic back-drop of gentle conga's and graceful flutes, showcasing Jade Warrior's habit of exploring various moods and textures. 
After 'Released', the original version Jade Warrior recorded one more album - 1972's 'Last Autumn's Dream' - which toned down the jagged guitars and rasping vocals in favour of a more serene and delicate approach. However, despite offering up a truly different and gentle style of world-influenced jazz-rock, the album proved a relative commercial failure. The group were on the verge of splitting when Traffic's vocalist Steve Winwood, an avid fan, introduced Jade Warrior to Island Records head Chris Blackwell. Blackwell liked what he heard but insisted that the group would be better off as an instrumental outfit, meaning there would be no place for Glyn Havard. Despite this, Duhig and Field signed a deal with Island and Jade Warrior released a succession of albums throughout the seventies and eighties that blended their previous exotic sound with an ambient tempo. Lacking the strong rock dynamic and the group's trademark experimental touches, these albums featured a slightly more commercial angle that insured the name Jade Warrior enjoyed a longevity within the music business that few bands ever experience. 
Despite the commercial appeal of these later albums, it is the first three Jade Warrior albums that are best examples of the group's pioneering fusion sound, with 'Released' the undoubted pick-of-the-bunch. Those who enjoy the brazen experimental flavours of Miles Davis' electric period, Herbie Hancock's blistering fusions albums 'Crossings' and 'Sextant' or the striking sounds of Fela Kuti's afro-rock, should definitely investigate the wonderfully peregrine experience that is Jade Warrior.


Key songs: Three-Horned Dragon King, Bride Of Summer, Baranzibar

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.18 (12th November 2011)

'Roller'

by Goblin

(1976)

Best known for their series of soundtrack albums that adorn the blood-soaked films of acclaimed horror film directors Dario Argento and George A. Romero, Italy's Goblin have certainly trodden one of the more unusual career paths found within the progressive rock spectrum. 
Formed in 1972 by founder members Claudio Simonetti(keyboards), Massimo Morante(guitar) and Fabio Pignatelli(bass) under the name Oliver, the fledgling group started life as a symphonic-styled outfit influenced by the music of British groups such as Genesis, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Gentle Giant and Yes. After an unsuccessful spell spent trying to find a recording deal in London the group eventually won a recording contract with the European label Cinevox Records, and, after returning home to their native Italy a self-titled debut album was released under the new name of Cherry Five. Featuring a fluid, fast-paced, keyboard-dominated sound 'Cherry Five' nevertheless failed to make much of an impact, and it wouldn't be until the group met up with composer Giorgio Gaslini that they would finally stumble across their big, career-defining break. Gaslini, a veteran Italian film music producer, had been hired by Dario Argento to provide the original score for the director's upcoming film 'Profondo Rosso'('Deep Red') a horror-tinged mystery starring English actor David Hemmings. However, impressed by Cherry Five's instrumental abilities, Argento decided to let the group write some of their own compositions and, subsequently, Gaslini was replaced by the inexperienced outfit at the last minute. After changing their name to Goblin(so as to differentiate their film work from their earlier Cherry Five material) both the film and the atmospheric soundtrack album 'Profondo Rosso' were released to huge critical and commercial acclaim. 'Profondo Rosso' would go on to become one of the most successful Italian horror films of the decade, turning Argento into a household name, whilst the album sold over one million copies worldwide, placing no.1 on the Italian charts and garnering Goblin an international profile that would see the group cultivate cult followings throughout Europe, the USA and Japan.
Following the success of their collaboration with Argento, Goblin would go on and enjoy possibly the most successful period of their career, starting with the release of their first full-length studio album 'Roller' in 1976. Much closer in spirit to the sound found on their Cherry Five material, 'Roller' would marry the group's atmospheric soundtrack style with highly-symphonic keyboards, funk-tinged bass-lines, screeching guitars and complex melodies, all within a slick and shiny progressive rock framework. An entirely instrumental affair, 'Roller' featured five tracks, all of which featured the original trio of Simonetti, Morante and Pignatelli augmented by Agostino Maragolo(drums) and Maurizio Guarini(keyboards), the new additions thickening out the already glutinous Goblin sound. Pieces such as the thunderous eleven-minute epic 'Goblin' showcased the group's trademark funk-prog sound, with Pignatelli's quicksilver guitar-playing, Simonetti's glistening keyboards and Morante's metronomical bass-lines brewing up a highly-original sound that seemed to combine elements of Yes and James Brown with the orchestral grandeur of their 'Profondo Rosso' work. This unique style is most evident on the funk-driven 'Snip Snap', a track driven along by Marangolo's groove-laden drumming that must surely be one of the few examples of danceable prog. A very popular piece amongst fans, 'Snip Snap' would soon find itself being re-recorded for inclusion on Goblin's next album, the soundtrack to Argento's seminal 1977 fantasy horror film 'Suspiria', though the newer version would unnecessarily bog down the clipped rhythm with the addition of some eerie sound effects. 
'Goblin'(the track) and 'Snip Snap' aside, 'Roller' would also see Goblin explore Pink Floyd-ish soundscapes with the dripping-water effect-filled 'Aquaman', a surprisingly-emotive, slow-paced, dreamlike number featuring delicately-strummed acoustic guitars, bubbling synths and a sizzling Massimo Morante guitar solo denouement, and krautrock-tinged electronica on 'Dr Frankenstein', a truly odd number with a distorted keyboard melody and syncopated drum effects. 
Mixing elements as disparate as funk, synth-pop, prog and psychedelic, 'Roller' is a truly odd yet utterly compelling release filled with strange little effects and coated with a slick, diamond-sharp sound that brings out every sonic syllable the highly-strung guitars and glistening keyboards have to offer. Lying somewhere between a jazz-funk odyssey, a late-sixties underground film soundtrack and 1980's synthesized rock, Goblin's first studio album is a glorious exercise in cinematic genre-blending and a remarkable piece of progressive rock. Those with a penchant for analogue keyboards, a love of horror and an ear for the symphonic should immediately seek out the sounds of Goblin.


Key songs: Roller, Snip-Snap, Goblin

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.17 (11th November 2011)

'The Power & The Glory'

by Gentle Giant

(1974)

The British group's sixth studio release and a fan favourite amongst the group's cult following, 'The Power & The Glory' would find this most intriguing of progressive rock outfits and it's phenomenally-talented line-up of brothers and multi-instrumentalists producing some of the most complex, dissonant and ambitious material of their whole careers. 

With a discography that can basically be divided into three distinct stylistic phases(we'll come to that later) 'Gentle Giant' have throughout their decade-and-a-half existence shaped some of the most fiendishly intricate music of the entire progressive rock genre. 

Centred around the three Schulman brothers, Gentle Giant's origins can be traced back to the summer of 1966 when they were originally known as the orchestrally-flavoured, psych-tinged pop-act Simon Dupree & The Big Sound. Based in the Southern coastal town of Portsmouth, the group, like many others before and after them, began their musical life as a covers band, playing soul, R'n'B, and pop covers of the day at small clubs and bars. Their big break came when they were spotted by talent-scouts from EMI's off-shoot Parlophone Records, who subsequently offered the group a short-term recording deal during the final months of 1966. Positioned as a straight pop act just as psychedelia was starting to grow in popularity, Simon Dupree & The Big Sound briefly flirted with chart success when their trippy single 'Kites' reached the top ten of the UK singles chart in 1967. It would subsequently be followed by two further singles but both failed to scale the lofty heights reached by 'Kites, leading to a change in musical direction spearheaded by the three brothers at the group's core.

Surrounded by music from a young age Phil, Derek and Ray Schulman could very well be described as musical prodigies though somehow that accolade doesn' seem quite lofty enough. Each brother was a capable vocalist and proficient on a number of instruments, with Phil Schulman, the oldest of the trio by a good ten years, a consumate saxophonist and trumpeter, middle brother Derek handling bass duties and lead vocals, and baby-brother Ray a highly capable violinist and guitarist. Feeling restricted by the limited pop format being forced upon them by their label, Simon Dupree & The Big Sound was subsequently dissolved in 1970 and their deal with EMI/Parlophone terminated. Impressed by the emerging progressive  sounds of King Crimson and Yes and wanting to flex their considerable instrumental muscles, the brothers started to piece together a new outfit dedicated to producing only original music. After many auditions(including working with a then little-known pianist called Reginald Dwight) the trio hired Gary Green(guitar, flute), Kerry Minnear(keyboards, bass, cello, vocals) and Martin Smith(drums), named their fledgling group Giant and signed to entertainment svengali Tony Visconti's newly-minted Vertigo imprint. During the summer of 1970 Giant entered London's Trident studio's to record what would become their eponymously-titled debut album, though thinking that the name 'Giant' was more suitable for heavy rock group, Visconti persuaded the brothers to insert the moniker Gentle and thus the final piece of the puzzle had been located. Gentle Giant were born.

The group's first album displayed the impressive instrumental chops of not only the brothers but also of their new found bandmates, with 'Gentle Giant' exhibiting a folk-tinged and slightly medieval sound. A moderate success in the UK, 'Gentle Giant' was followed by the similarly-styled efforts 'Acquiring The Taste'(1971), 'Three Friends'(1972) and 'Octopus'(1972), before Phil Schulman, tired of the relentless merry-go-round of writing, recording and touring, decided to quit. After determining not to replace their big brother, Gentle Giant started to develop a harder, darker and less whimsical edge that relied less on acoustic instruments and saw heavier guitars added to the mix. The first album developed without Phil was 1973's 'In A Glass House', a radical slice of symphonic prog showcasing a new found confidence that saw the group's already highly-complicated style take on an even more complex angle. 'In A Glass House' would mark the beginning of a new phase for Gentle Giant, the group's second phase, with their new, diamond-sharp style making better-known and more commercially-successful contemporaries such as Pink Floyd, Genesis and Van Der Graaf Generator seem tame and mundane in comparison, no easy trick. 

Following on in 1974, 'The Power & The Glory' arguably represents Gentle Giant at their creative, if not commercial, peak. Recorded in London's West End, at Advision studios, and produced by the group themselves, album number six eschewed almost entirely the whimsical story-telling that had been such a feature of the group's earlier material, with the quaint medieval undercurrent that characterized critically-lauded albums such as 'Acquiring The Taste' and 'Octopus' replaced by a dense tapestry of experimental instrumental passages, grazing guitar riffs and fiendishly complicated time signatures layered over one another with frightening dexterity. Indeed, although there were only five members in the group, the music often made it sound like there were many more.
Nominally a concept album-of-sorts, 'The Power & The Glory' is based on that age-old moral warning: 'Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely', as the eight individual tracks chart the various quandaries facing a political figure who initially tries to use his power for good but ultimately begins to abuse his status the more prominent he becomes. This cautionary journey is described such tracks as the rambling opener 'Proclamation', the album's longest piece at just under seven minutes, the awkwardly-structured 'So Sincere' and the almost anthemic 'Playing The Game'. 
Introduced by the sound of a vast, roaring crowd, 'Proclomation' features a delicate keyboard melody slowly building up, in typical Gentle Giant style, to something much more grand as incongruous percussion skitters around the tune's edges with jazzy intent. It's a difficult, jerky piece, almost tuneless in some of it's darker moments, that never really settles into a single rhythm, though Gary Green's menacing guitar breaks give follow-up 'So Sincere' slightly more focus. The album really bursts into life, however, on the awesome 'Playing The Game', a stone-cold Gentle Giant classic featuring an outrageously catchy central riff conjured up between a clipped vibraphone chord, impressively byzantine guitar licks - again courtesy Green - and some lightly funk-dipped drum rhythms.  In what seems to be a stylistic theme running through all of 'The Power & The Glory', 'Playing The Game' momentarily interrupts it's slick flow to allow a brief, almost ethereal respite of vocal harmonies before the vibrant guitar licks reappear accompanied by a hail of impossibly-intricate drum rolls and chord changes. 
Finally, on the album's metallic closer 'Valedictory', bar-room pianos, echo-drenched vocals, chiming guitars and dancing synth runs combine for a last, epic assault of experimental discordia and progressive noodling, closing the album with a sense of unease that is merely amplified by the group's absolute refusal to settle on a single chord, melody or rhythm for a few seconds without injecting it with their brazen and highly-creative habit of multi-layering almost every decible with a opposing line. The effect can be somewhat jarring, yet the sheer complexity on offer can also be truly awe-inspiring.
Although, commercially speaking, Gentle Giant failed to hit the heights of their more popular contemporaries, the group's music is considered by many fans and critics to be amongst the most important and influential within the progressive rock genre, with 'The Power & The Glory' finding the remaining Schulman brothers and their talented accomplices at their most deliberately ambitious. Showcasing a highly-evolved tapestry of sounds and colours, this is music-making in the boldest sense of the term, unafraid of commercial constraints or stylistic trends. Despite the occasional indulgence this is an enthralling ride of an album that, even within the paradigms of prog, somehow defies description. It's certainly rock, but not as we know it... 

Key songs: So Sincere, Playing The Game

TODAY' ALBUM: No.16 (10th November 2011)

'Fact & Fiction' 

by Twelfth Night

(1982)

One of the prime-movers of the neo-progressive scene that developed in Britain during the early 1980's, Twelfth Night fashioned some of the genre's most eloquent and arresting music during a turbulent and all-too brief career that yielded just a handful albums prior to their 1987 split.
Whilst they would never generate anything near the kind of commercial success enjoyed by fellow neo-prog outfit Marillion, they would manage to produce one of the sub-genre's iconic albums in the shape of 1982's excellent 'Fact & Fiction'. 
Hailing from Berkshire, a pleasant county North-West of London, Twelfth Night first came together as students at Reading university, officially forming sometime during 1978. Slowly building up a small-but-loyal fan-base in the local area the early version of Twelfth Night sported a rowdy brand of angular, Genesis-tinged prog that featured, dare it be said, an ever-so-slight punk resonance. 
A feature of the group's formative days were frequent line-up shuffles, and after several male-and-female lead-singers failed to suitably impress, the group settled on roadie, back-drop painter and budding poet Geoff Mann as the man for the job. A gifted vocalist with an eclectic range, Mann's first appearance with the group came on a series of tracks recorded by the group at Woodcray Manor Farm studio's in 1981 that would become the low-budget, cassette-only album 'Smiling At Grief', a selection of demo's with an ever-so-slight new wave edge designed to drum-up record label interest in the budding group. Following on from the group's first release, the impressive instrumental album 'Live At The Target'(1980) 'Smiling At Grief', the first recorded Twelfth Night material featuring vocals, saw the group record early versions of many of the songs that would eventually appear on 'Fact & Fiction', including sparser versions of fan favourites 'This City', 'Human Being' and 'The Creepshow', whilst the exercise also allowed the group to develop their own signature style. Thoroughly Impressed by the surprise success of Marillion's 1982 single 'Market Square Heroes', Twelfth Night subsequently decided to pursue a more overtly progressive style, a phase that began with yet another change in personel as keyboardist Rick Battersby quit, leaving the quartet of Mann(vocals), Andy Revell(guitar), Brian Devoil(drums) and Clive Mitten(bass, keyboards) to re-group and spend most of 1982 writing and recording what would eventually become their first proper full-length studio album. Released in December, 'Fact & Fiction' drew some admiring glances from the press and even sold out it's initial limited run of one-thousand pressings within a month, though it failed to cross-over into the mainstream in the same manner as Marillion's more melodic and commercially-angled material. The release of 'Fact & Fiction' was followed by an intense period of gigging and 1983 would see Twelfth Night win a residency at London's Marquee Club, playing nightly to packed-out audiences with a returning Rick Battersby, who resumed keyboard duties. It would, however, prove to be the high watermark for the five-piece in terms of popularity, though at the time of course they weren't to know.
A dark, lyrical and sometimes rather mysterious release, 'Fact & Fiction' features impressive content yet the album suffers from poor production values, reflecting the inadequate production facilities the group's lack of finances dictated they use, a situation which came about after the group bought the master tapes from original production company Devo so as to ensure full artistic control over their own material. Despite this, however, 'Fact & Fiction' remains an atmospheric affair that slowly unfolds over the course of it's eight tracks before finishing on a powerful note with the dark rock operatics of 'The Creepshow'. Starting with an alluring acoustic intro and Mann's mournful vocals slowly working their way up to a wailing howl, 'The Creepshow' is ten minutes-plus worth of grandstanding neo-prog theatrics of the highest order, featuring surging keyboards, throbbing bass-lines and strange, dream-like, spoken-word interludes that combine and build to a rousing climax courtesy of Andy Revell's blistering guitar solo. A Twelfth Night signature piece, 'The Creepshow' was meant to close the album, but at the request of Mann and because of the heavy, moody nature of both the music and the lyrics the group rush-recorded the simple ballad 'Love Song', a pretty, mainly-acoustic number that once again showcased Mann's unique vocal skills and closed the album on a sweeter, more hopeful note.
Other tracks, such as the cryptic, ten-minute opener 'We Are Sane', the mournful 'Human Being' and the fast-paced instrumental piece 'The Poet Sniffs A Flower' each contribute to a concept-style album, with Mann providing a genuine tour-de-force vocal performance that distracts from the slightly muddy quality of the sound. Imagine Marillion without the accessible pop-hooks and you have progressive rock 1980's style, with a darker, more oppressive atmosphere permeating each song. One criticism of the album as a whole is the rather slow pace, with the group never really building up a proper head of steam(something partially remedied on the charging 'The Poet Sniffs A Flower' and towards the end of both 'Human Being' and 'The Creepshow') yet one has to remember that this was very much a self-financed project made without major label assistance. Despite these drawbacks however, 'Fact & Fiction' remains one of the neo-prog scene's most expressive, and vivid, albums. Sadly though, it would also be their one-and-only truly progressive release; one wonders what they could have achieved if luck(and the music industry) had actually been on their side.


Key songs: Human Being, The Poet Sniffs A Flower, The Creepshow

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.15 (9th November 2011)

'Mirage' 

by Camel
(1974)

Producing several albums worth of lush and melodic music during the genre's peak years, Camel, a talented outfit who have enjoyed a career spanning thirty-plus years, were perhaps the atypical symphonic-styled progressive rock group. Unlike many of their colleagues they used both guitar and keyboards with equal measure, and their sound is probably best described as a variation on the Pink Floyd school of rock, with emotive themes and long instrumental passages a feature of much of their best work.
Formed out of the ashes of The Brew, a Guildford-based trio featuring Andrew Latimer(guitar, vocals), Doug Ferguson(bass) and Andy Ward(drums), Camel would come into being with the addition of Peter Bardens(keyboards), a former solo artist with an American-only release on his resume who had also played with Van Morrison's pop-psych group Them. After signing to MCA Records in 1972 the group issued their self-titled, London-recorded debut before supporting Wishbone Ash on a brief British tour designed to take their music to a wider audience. 'Camel', however, was not the kind of success the label were hoping for and MCA quickly lost interest in the foursome, who subsequently joined Decca Records progressive imprint Deram the following year. Deram, a label designed to look after rock groups with a more leftfield approach, seemed to take better care of their charges and, wisely pairing the group with producer David Hitchcock, who had previously overseen albums by the likes of both Genesis and Caravan, resulted in the group producing 'Mirage' in 1974, an album often ranked as one of the finest expressions of symphonic progressive music and, alongside the following years 'Moonmadness', one of the undoubted highlight of Camel's career. The fact that 'Mirage' was the first Camel album to chart in the USA, where it reached the-not-so-lofty position of 149, showed that there was an appetite for the group's music outside of their home nation, whilst also demonstrating a new found confidence in the group that was not apparent on their moody and introspective debut, an album that featured some fine individual pieces yet somehow lacked the fire and energy of 'Mirage'.
This new found streak is best exemplified on such tracks as the pacey, Bardens-penned opener 'Freefall', a track that emerges after a few seconds of mystical effects with a driving beat and fragmented guitar breaks courtesy of Latimer, and the sumptuous 'Lady Fantasy Suite', a four-part epic that breathlessly gallops through a medley of shifting tempos and time signatures. All the while underscored by a deceptively-heavy rock style, 'Mirage' equally displays the individual members impressive skills, breaking from moments of grand instrumental verve into lighter, more jocular sections without scuppering the overall symphonic feel. The group's softer, more psychedelic side also comes out on the mid-paced 'Supertwister', a song that showcases Latimer's classy flute runs floating over droplets of Bardens gently-played keyboards. Towards it's denouement 'Supertwister' briefly picks up the pace before marching band music interrupts, builds slowly, and finally makes way for another dreamy guitar solo on  'Nimrodel', a nine-minute two-parter backed with the elegiac 'The Procession' that features enough sections to fill an album, never mind a single song. However, it is the aforementioned 'Lady Fantasy Suite' that finds Camel at their most impressive, weaving an ambitious multi-part composition that, for the most, eschews the part of vocals and instead concentrates on atmosphere, delivering a scintillating twelve minutes filled with vibrant alchemistic rock.
From beginning to end 'Mirage' resolutely refuses to settle into one single mood or tempo, the foursome constantly linking together disparate sections of symphonic rock with psych-tinged medley's and bluesy embellishments whilst never losing focus of each individual pieces structure. A refined and highly-melodic brand of progressive rock, 'Mirage' is a prime example of the genre at it's most adventurous and accessible, and an album that from beginning to end shines with the luminous appeal of lushly-produced psychedelia. Drenched in flowing keyboards, sumptuous guitars and spiked with a boundless energy typical of youthful and highly-creative musicians, 'Mirage' is very much Camel's most complete performance.


Key songs: Nimrodel, Lady Fantasy Suite

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.14 (8th November 2011)

'Io Sono Nato Libero' 

by Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
(1973)

One of the premier Italian groups of the 1970's, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso at their peak created some of the most intricate, elaborate and adventurous music within the entire progressive canon. Featuring a triple-layered keyboard sound that saw the multiple use of pianos, organs and synthesizers within almost every composition and the classically-trained vocal skills of former opera singer Francesco Di Giacomo, the group were formed in Rome during the early-seventies by the formidably-talented Nocenzi brothers Gianni and Vittorio, both of whom had been playing the piano since childhood. 
Also featuring guitarist Marcello Todaro, bassist Renato D'Angelo and drummer Pier Luigi Calderoni, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso's self-titled debut was released in 1972 on the small Ricordi label. No doubt partially influenced by the huge success British outfit Van Der Graaf Generator enjoyed in Italy during the early part of the 1970's, the group's ambitious sound featured a carefully-balanced mixture of electronic and acoustic instruments that displayed a prodigious complexity that occasionally bordered on the discordant, the unique piano, organ and synthesizer combination creating an intense, multi-layered effect tinged with operatic grandeur. A second, longer album, also released on the Ricordi label, followed later the same year, only this time the group were entering the realm of the concept album. Named 'Darwin!', the album was another densely-layered progressive opus, with the grouop's main writers - Di Giacomo and the Nocenzi brothers -  exploring the theory of evolution and it's various effects on the timeline of natural history. Once again it found all five musicians skilfully blending disparate musical ingredients and once again the album found favour in the Italian album charts, bettering their debut by a single place and reaching the lofty heights of no.4.
Released in 1973, again on the faithful Ricordi label and produced by Sandro Colombini, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso's third album 'Io Sono Nato Libero'(translation: 'I Was Born Free') followed on stylistically from it's predecessor, only with that album's intense edge smoothed slightly by a welcome symphonic edge that lent the material an even more expressive ambience. Although only reaching no.10 on the Italian album charts, 'Io Sono Nato Libero' was the album that alerted the Emerson Lake & Palmer-owned label Manticore Records to the group's cause, and just like fellow countrymen PFM, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso signed an international deal with the imprint. After shortening their name to just Banco(PFM had been known by their full moniker of Premiata Forneria Marconi in their homeland) the group started to re-work many of their original compositions to include English lyrics. However, unlike PFM, the decision to engineer Banco's material for an international audience only succeeded in blunting the group's formidable sound, and the subsequent series of albums failed to reach the lofty musical heights achieved on their earlier releases. However, in Italy, the group would remain a popular outfit throughout the rest of the decade, both in the studio and as a live attraction.
Of Banco's early releases it is perhaps 'Darwin!' that is the most famous, maybe due to it's concept-album status, yet it is 'Io Sono Nato Liberi' that features the group at their complex and challenging best. A perfect example is the fifteen-and-three-quarter-minute long opening gambit 'Canto Nomade Per Un Prigioniero Politico'('Nomad, By Hand A Political Prisoner'), a stirring and grandly-operatic progressive symphony filled with arresting instrumental passages that scales the full range of Banco's stylistic ouevre. This is progressive rock at it's richest, eschewing traditional base elements - such as the blues and traditional R'n'B - for a full-blown classical-inflected rock fusion that leaves no room for commercial sentiment. The nearest British touchstone is most probably Van Der Graaf Generator or King Crimson, yet even their at times aggressive music feels restrained in comparison. Perhaps the most notable aspect of Banco's luxurious-in-scope sound is the warbling vocals of Di Giacomo, whose impressive range segues seamlessly with the furiously ever-shifting musical patterns being weaved by the Nocenzi brothers deeply-textured approach. There is also a notable lack of a strong guitar presence, the keyboards, synthesizers and organs that dominate the group's sound leaving little room for an instrument obviously deemed surplus to requirements, a factor which again points to the subtle influence of Van Der Graaf Generator. 
Trying to describe the music of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso is a difficult task for anyone, the complexity of the sound, the constantly changing textures and the instrumental dexterity creating a highly-progressive style of music that is a world away from the mainstream sounds of Britain and the USA. However, those with an enquiring mind and the stomach for a challenge will discover one of the genre's most exhilarating and uncompromising outfit's whose albums push against the very boundaries of what is accepted as 'rock' music. Highly-charged and relentlessly-inventive, 'Io Sono Nato Libero' is certainly progressive music at it's most difficult, yet for those who persevere the rewards are exceptional. 


Key songs: Canto Nomade Per Un Prigioniero Politico, Traccia II

TODAY'S ALBUM: No.13 (7th November 2011)

'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' 

by Hawkwind
(1975)

The sixth album from underground psychedelic rockers Hawkwind, 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' would prove to be one of the outfit's key transitional albums, linking the group's early, proto-metal, chug-a-chug space-rock sound with the more refined, ambitious and new wave-spiked material of their mid-period years. 
Featuring one of the all-time great progressive rock sleeves courtesy of French artist Pierre D'Auvergne, this 1975 album would see Hawkwind beginning to expand their sound, including more overtly symphonic elements, krautrock-style beats and, additionally, more focused and streamlined song-writing. The album would prove a success, especially amongst the group's loyal fanbase, though the gradual move away from the earlier and heavier sound featured on albums such as 1972's 'Doremi Fasol Latido' and the double-live set 'Space Ritual' wouldn't please everyone, with bassist Lemmy,  making his last appearance with the group on 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time', announcing his dis-pleasure at the resulting product and eventually leaving the group altogether, going on to form the early metal pioneers Motorhead. For many, however, 'Warrior At The Edge Of Time', which features lyrics written mainly by sci-fi novelist and part-time member Michael Moorcock(who would go on to become a permanent member after the album's release) would find Hawkwind at their most imaginative. The album featured two drummers, with Alan Powell augmenting regular drummer Simon King, with Lemmy(bass), Dave Brock(vocals, guitar, keyboards), Nik Turner(sax, flute, vocals) and Simon House(violin, keyboards) completing one of the more short-lived Hawkwind line-ups. The increased use of sweeping synthesizers and keyboards is notable, especially on tracks such as the mystical psych-rock opus 'The Golden Void', whilst Neu!-style motorik-grooved drumming impressively adorns the outstanding Alan Powell-and-Simon King-penned 'Opa-Loka', one of the tracks that got Lemmy's knickers in such a twist. The group's trademark fuzz-toned and dirty riffs are still present, though here they sound cleaner and tighter, allowing more space for other instruments such as Simon House's skittering violins to add a new dimension to Hawkwind's overall sonic palette.
Recorded at the isolated Rockfield studios nestled deep in the Welsh countryside and released on the United Artists label in a deluxe, gated, limited-edition fold-out sleeve, 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' reached an impressive no.13 on the UK album charts. A single, titled 'Kings Of Speed and co-written by Dave Brock and Michael Moorcock, was issued a couple of months before the album's release and was notable for featuring an original Lemmy composition on the B-side called 'Motorhead', a track that in time would become a live favourite for both Hawkwind and Lemmy's hard rockin' group. 'Motorhead' the song featured sci-fi inspired lyrics similar to the ones found on 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' though the actual music was mush more 'classic'-style Hawkwind, all raging guitar riffs, dirty fuzz-toned melodies and battering drums, marking the last hurrah of the group's older, more simplistic sound. 
Interestingly, Hawkwind would be one of the few 'progressive' groups to escape the late-seventies musical cull conducted by the emerging punk-rock set, thanks mainly to their far-from-melodic approach, their uncompromising brand of heavy-rock, their proto-punky aggression, and, finally, their semi-legendary underground status. However, not many rock groups can continue to remain successful by constantly churning out the same old stuff again and again and the synthesized-glaze of 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' was Hawkwind's own way of adapting to the new musical climate of late-seventies Britain. It was also the album that showed the group growing in terms technical proficiency, with group-leader Dave Brock beginning to utilise the full potential of both the recording studio and advances in musical gadgetry to enhance their once primitive sound. Later albums would be drenched in an array of special effects and shiny keyboard tricks, diluting the raw power that gave Hawkwind's music such exciting vitality and therefore blunting their once unique edge. This exhilarating and surprisingly complex album, however, blends the two different sides of Hawkwind, finding the group at an interesting musical crossroads that combines the imaginative experimental side of progressive rock with the pounding effectiveness of punk, the whole neon-tinged collection wrapped in the group's trademark cosmic musings and highly-psychedelic design. Definitely one of their more unconventional early albums, 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' is very much the sound of Hawkwind at their most progressive. Sorry Lemmy.


Key songs: Assault & Battery (Part 1), Opa-Loka, Dying Seas