Live albums are like souvenirs. If you were there, it’s a portal back to the magic and energy of the performance that beguiled you (hopefully). If you are only experiencing the performance second hand through the recording, its sort of…
View More Blue Öyster Cult – 50th Anniversary Live: Second Night
One of the best things about working with TPA is the opportunity to explore new bands. Funhouse Mirrors is a young group out of my home state of New Jersey that I first ran into while they were previewing their…
View More Funhouse Mirrors – Red Bird
The first I heard of Circuline was when they were added to the roster at RoSFest in 2016. Because I was unfamiliar with the band, I dutifully bought their debut album, Return, to see what they were all about. Nothing…
View More Circuline – C.O.R.E.
The Samurai Of Prog are one of the more interesting bands in progdom. It’s core members (bassist Marco Bernard and drummer Kimmo Pörsti, these days along with utility man Steve Unruh) use a talented stable of musicians from across the…
View More The Samurai Of Prog – A Quiet Town
My introduction to The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams came about five years ago through a friend who lived in New York’s Hudson Valley. He sang the praises of a local band out of Sleepy Hollow that I just had to…
View More The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams – A Good Thief Tips His Hat
When Connecticut band Mile Marker Zero took the stage at Progstock 2021, I had read a bit about them without actually having heard them. There was a sneaking suspicion that MMZ were just not going to be my cup of…
View More Mile Marker Zero – Coming Of Age
Nektar is one of those bands that have always intrigued me, but not always enthralled me. Having released their first album in 1971 (Journey to the Centre of the Eye), they hit their commercial peak two years later with the…
View More Nektar – Mission To Mars
Karl Eisenhart first came into view for me with the debut album by his band Pinnacle. Since then, he has performed with Simon Godfrey (Tinyfish, Valdez) as part of Tribe of Names and acoustic duo Red with Chris Michels. Although…
View More Karl Eisenhart – Lessons
Last year’s Inner Prospekt release, Canvas Three, was an unexpected surprise. Its melding of the pastoral sounds of early Genesis with the drama of classic Italian prog had me coming back again and again. The mastermind and keyboardist behind the…
View More Inner Prospekt – Unusual Movements
Listening to the Grapefruit label’s compilations of seminal years in rock is a lot like reading a history book. Much of it is boring and forgettable, some of it piques your interest, and occasionally there is something that just gobsmacks…
View More Various Artists – Can’t Seem To Come Down – The American Sounds Of 1968