August 2019 – Page 2

Freedom to Glide – Seed

I have spent the majority of my working life in higher education. For the best part of 35 years I have grappled – and have been a guiding companion in helping others to grapple – with the ways in which…

Steven Wilson – Hand. Cannot. Erase. [2019 CD/Blu-Ray Re-release]

Let’s not beat around the bush – when Hand. Cannot. Erase. was originally released in 2015, it immediately became one of the finest progressive rock albums released in the 21st Century, and must rank amongst the truly great albums of…

Simon Phillips – Protocol Box Set (Part Two)

In my previous review (HERE), I covered the first three CDs of this six-CD box set of the complete works of Simon Phillips’ Protocol project. This review will conclude that set with my reviews of disc four – Protocol 4…

Simon Phillips – Protocol Box Set (Part One)

Simon Phillips is a legendary drummer in modern music, his résumé features a staggering list of greats, including Jeff Beck, Judas Priest, Michael Schenker and many others, but his 30-plus years as the drummer for Toto (after the gardening accident…

North Sea Radio Orchestra with John Greaves & Annie Barbazza – Folly Bololey: Songs from Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom

Quite a while ago, I noticed that the quite wonderful London based chamber rock group North Sea Radio Orchestra plus guests were performing a live version of Rock Bottom, the 1974 first post-accident solo album from the now British National…

Elephant9 – Psychedelic Backfire I / Elephant9 & Reine Fiske – Psychedelic Backfire II

The Norwegian powerhouse trio Elephant9, after releasing five studio albums, take the opportunity to document their live experience, with not just one but two special releases. The act of releasing live albums often instigates debate about the purpose, with comments…

The Tea Club – If/When

Music tightly bound to the term Progressive Rock often shows the tendency of sounding generic. The same old Mellotron thickening curvy harmonies, a syncopated 7/8 meter driving down the same old lanes toward a dramatic chorus or a complex hook…

Magma – Zëss

Since the dawning of the new millennium, Christian Vander has been quite content to rest on his laurels, only re-entering the studio to re-record pieces that never made it to the studio back in the ’70s (and even some that…

We Are Kin – Bruised Sky

It’s been a long long time, hasn’t it? A good couple of years, which saw Emma Brewin-Caddy working with Cantor Semper in the hiatus. A close harmony group with musical accompaniment, in my view, and very nice it is too.…

Loomings – Hey Weirdo!

You called…? Hey Weirdo! is the strangely gentle and gently strange second album from multi-national outfit Loomings, now based in Strasbourg. The album arrives a mere four years after their debut, which was on the now seemingly sadly defunct AltrOck…

T P A

Month: August 2019