Rush - Fly By Night

This is another special edition review because I’m going to go see the much anticipated documentary, Rush Beyond the Lighted Stage on Tuesday at the Studio Movie Grill. After original drummer John Rutsey left the band in 1974 due to health problems after the release of their self-titled debut album, Rush knew they needed another drummer. They soon held auditions to replace Rutsey, enter Neil Peart. When he came in to audition, he blew Geddy and Alex away, but he felt that he blew it. He was wrong
He was now the drummer and lyricist of Rush as he made his debut with their second album, Fly By Night. With the second debut, this was the first time that Rush was moving away from the blues heavy metal sounds of the first album into the beginnings of Progressive Metal territory with lyrical backgrounds that showed a different background that wasn’t shown in the debut album. Fly By Night was recorded in Toronto by using 16-track master tapes that would allow the band to have creative freedom and total power in dubbing and mixing in different guitar parts and drum beats. And it was also the first time it was produced by Englishmen Terry Brown until Signals in 1982.
Alex Lifeson’s guitar work sounds very aggressive and Zeppelin meets Steve Hackett-like, Neil “The Professor” Peart, fresh from working in his father’s tractor tool shop, creates an explosive base on the drumkit like a torpedo flying out of nowhere and exploding while Geddy Lee’s bass work and vocals soar to the heavens. The trio who were following in the footsteps of Hendrix, Cream, and Blue Cheer, played as if they recorded it in an English Cottage that was ‘eavy and ‘umble: the roaring opening of Anthem in which is a tribute to controversial author, Ayn Rand, does guitar solos kicks ass or what? Featuring Geddy’s vocals sound like a volcano eruption, Alex’s heavy metal sneering guitar work that is magnificent as Neil’s power pounding drumming composition.
Best I Can sounds like early Judas Priest and the 8-minute epic of dueling guitar turned atmosphere and back into the block of war between By-Tor and the Snow Dog stay on the edge of their Hard Rock roots of British music coming from Great Britain as Alex takes the center stage with his shattering guitar work to have audience in awe of what he’s doing in ala Jimmy Page meets Pete Townshend style. Beneath, Between, and Behind has a raw and melodic pomp rock sound that has glorified chorus and energetic at the same time as they go should I say power pop meets melodic hardness with the title track that has become a radio favorite.
The band then go acoustic all of a sudden in the final three tracks, which is cool if you want to perform it at Tolkien’s birthday party or at an English Country Garden with energy. The acoustic homage to Zeppelin’s III sounds almost like an on the road song with Making Memories while the ambient/atmospheric tribute to Lord of the Rings, Rivendell, sounds very folksy and crisp of beauty. In The End, a 6-minute emotional heartfelt ballad turned Led Zeppelin influential rocker that could have been used in the Physical Graffiti sessions. Fly By Night is energetic and they mean it and that’s why they are one the most cult bands that rocked to their loyal fan base and delighting what they have up their sleeves.

Out of Town

Fellow Progsters and Symphonic Metal heads, I will be going out of town next Thursday with my Mom to go to San Antonio, TX for a business trip. But I will be back on next Sunday to continue writing reviews.

See you later,

Zachary Nathanson

Steve Hackett - Voyage of the Acolyte

When you listen to this album, originally released in 1975, you could tell that since Genesis released The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Steve Hackett wanted to move away from the Genesis sound into a crystal avant-garde jazz fusion beauty that were at times instrumental, ambient, and lyrical boundaries that he was about to embark on a virtuoso journey. More surprisingly though, it would be the flowing river in which Voyage of the Acolyte (which was named after a Tarot Card) an album that embarked on the Floyd’s Ummagumma sessions with such magnitude that it could have been recorded by The Mahavishnu Orchestra – with a little help from vocals done by Phil Collins and Mike Oldfield’s sister, Sally and of course Steve Hackett himself to the mix – it is a perfect combination for Hackett’s compositions to be put to the test in his career with Genesis that he put to the table from Nursery Cryme to Wind & Wuthering. Amazingly, he wrote the music and the lyrics that are absolutely magnificently beautiful.
The evidence is here; classical, eerie, weird, time changing signatures, the fast guitar sounds of the Hackett’s playing, pastoral settings in an English Country Garden, emotional flows, and some of the best musical arrangements in some of Genesis hot cup of tea. The weirdness of the mind-boggling synth and explosive sinister soundings of A Tower Struck Down that makes it sound like a B-Movie picture set to an epic soundtrack while Hackett’s vocal debut on the fantasy folksy atmosphere of The Hermit sounds a little interesting with the acoustical overtones of Mike Oldfield’s Hergest Ridge. From the roaring opening of Ace of Wands, you’d have a bit of the Fusion sound gone haywire through Phil Collins shining vocals on Star of Sirius to the two-part segue Hands of the Priestess which has the prog classical touching overtones featuring Steve’s young brother John on Flute that gives it a Medieval storytelling in a mellotron way as he gives his brother a chance to shine.
The Lovers could have been a sequel to Hackett’s composition Horizons as Steve finger picks on the classical guitar to set a moody background in the sunset as it gets ready for the 11-minute epic, Shadow of the Hierophant. This is an Ambient Atmospheric beauty featuring Sally Oldfield’s angelic eerie vocals in which she is almost singing this in an enchanted forest as if she is the Last Unicorn singing to the outside world as if it were a musical done by Genesis. After she’s gives her beautiful singing, it’s Steve’s turn to take the band to a new Dimension with his guitar work as he works up like a thunderstorm as an homage to Robert Fripp’s Frippertronics or shall I say Hackettophonics by using pedals to give it that haunting moments on the chords and solo.
The two bonus tracks feature a gorgeous pastoral live version of Ace of Wands in Drury Lane while the extended 17-minute version of the closing number, Shadow of the Hierophant is more of Steve’s guitar work as if it was almost used for the Lamb sessions as he goes for more his compositions and his fretwork to show how damn good he really is. In reality, this is a must have for early Genesis fans and Prog Geeks to sink their claws into, which fans always prefer Hackett rather than ‘80s sounding version of Genesis

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

It’s impossible to say why Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most landmark albums of the 20th century. Everything about the album is unbelievable from the concept on dealing to live in the modern world, greed, death, war, suffering a nervous breakdown, and the afterlife. To it’s surround sound of layered ambient beauty and amazing sound effects that sets the whole tone of the album while skyrocketing to the Billboard charts at number one for 741 weeks which is a world record and still counting to this day.
Pink Floyd has spent so long going from the psychedelic pop sound to being Sonic space cadets in compositions such as; Atom Heart Mother, Interstellar Overdrive, A Saucerful of Secrets, and the live version of Embryo, but they decided they had done enough of that. They knew they couldn’t be in the same competition with ELP and Genesis as they were doing Fairy Tale story lyrics and flourishing prog magnetism, but they pay attention to the music rather than superstardom. After releasing Meddle in 1971 with the 23-minute epic, Echoes, it was up to them they had found their niche.
What they found would have a huge change in the Band’s direction, turning them into mainstream superstars and their relationship that would change the way they played music. From the dramatic opening of Speak To Me/Breathe with the heartbeat and a psychopathic Scottish voice saying “I’ve been mad for fucking years” the helicopters covering the sky and the angelic female vocals done by Clare Torry all lead up to the smooth introduction. They also became experimental by using the VCS3 by creating a rapid motion about traveling with On The Run as it segues into the explosive beauty of Time with the chiming clocks and you can tell they never missed a beat.
During Time, they go into the Solar system as Gilmour’s guitar solo just takes your breath away as a futuristic cleverness of the 21st century while the mourning and the sweet nature of The Great Gig in the Sky which has the glorious Clare Torry just coming up with amazing vocalization as the band just follows her goes from a hymn to rapturous ecstasy. The 7/8 time signature of the blues from the inspiration of the bass lick into the midsection which features the jazzy sax solo and the funky 4/4 sound by the wah-wah keyboard and Gilmour’s guitar breaking the door down into a surprising ending which would make it a hit single in the states which seemed impossible, but it worked. Us and Them deals with struggles for this unbelievable ballad with Rick Wright’s piano playing that sets the tone throughout the number as he comes up with some amazing compositions as an homage to Miles Davis.
But that’s not all. Any Colour You Like is a psychedelic instrumental jam beat as the piece deals with you can be anyone you want to be as long if it’s black which has the sharp guitar and keyboard work as Gilmour and Wright come up with some beauty as we go into the afterlife of the magnum opus of Brain Damage/Eclipse as it is a memorial to Syd Barrett as Roger sings the line “The Lunatic is on the Grass” and then Eclipse is a church-like epilogue as the heartbeat closes the piece with “There is no Dark Side of the Moon really, matter of fact it’s all dark.”
And still 37 years later, Dark Side remains one of the most quintessential Progressive Rock albums of all time; masterpiece, suites, successful, and ambitious. Even to this day, there is a 10-year old kid listening to Pink Floyd’s music for the first time as he embarks on a journey he’ll never forget.

Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You

From the beginning, Atomic Rooster embarked a metallic ride of heavy metal, blues, and jazz. But since forming in 1969 and different line-ups including Carl Palmer who left the band to pursue a prog supergroup with ELP and adding drummer Paul Hammond and guitarist/lead vocalist John Du Cann were born to blow out the roofs off. The second mark of Atomic Rooster was explosive with dynamic guitar solos, shattering organ solos done by the late Vincent Crane, and powerful drumming with a high voltage charge.
Atomic Rooster’s music was now trying to following in the footsteps of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, rather than the bluesy rock sound of Cream. Death Walks Behind You became the first album to be released in the States to try receive a following in America. And while it is the archetype of the Atomic Rooster sound and the essential classic album that is aggressive and sinister, the band almost sounded like they recorded this album in a dark Castle somewhere in the countryside of Wales.
Du Hann’s guitar and vocal arrangements is in the mind of Ian Gillan meets Tony Iommi meets Ritchie Blackmore, has definitely intellectually worked with organist Vincent Crane as if they were battling brothers to be a twister and fight to the duel to see who will win as Paul Hammond follows them into the battlefield with his fast-sped drumming to create a pounding and firework composition. The trio played their hearts out as if they performed the album like a horror film score: the dooming opening titled-track begins with Vincent’s eerie piano introduction and then the shrieking guitar sound from John adds to the fire – Jesus Christ! How fucking cool can an introduction be? – More devilish and very much into the hard rock composition as it the pre-sound of early Satanic Metal.
A speeding instrumental blues rock VUG stays on the forces of the rumbling powers of hell while the hit single, Tomorrow Night, which had a huge success in the UK, explores on the catchy tempo with a driven beat that is forceful and nightmarish of magnet metal. But the band’s touch of the beginnings of the Metallic boundaries and power is the real touch. Get your head into the air as if you can imagine Deep Purple’s Child in Time and Black Sabbath’s Wicked World had been remodeled and rebuilt into an uncharted shock of territory with Seven Lonely Streets as with Sleeping For Years which starts as Du Cann’s guitar going haywire as it leads into a twisted feedback-like guitar solo intro ala Blackmore style as it goes into the power rock sound as Vincent flourishes madly on the organ as he and Du Cann go at it to see who can win the race to this thorn-like collaboration.
When you hear I Can’t Take No More, the band is almost sounding like Budge meets Golden Earring as they make it very much giving the Motorcycle anthem songs the middle finger, this is the anti-motorcycle anthem that is again rumbling and at the same showing the material that is not pompous, but connected with Crane’s visual mind. Nobody Else is their attempt to do a jazz speeding funk while the 7-minute homage to Jon Lord closer on Greshatzer, which features Hammond taking over in the midsection as if he’s John Bonham stealing the show to close the album. Like the rest of Heavy Prog, it plays like the soundtrack to the horror video game of the year of 2008, Dead Space.

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Storia Di Un Minuto

Italy, home for Classical Music and Opera, it appears to be one of the effects to meld them together seriously that was coming out of the pond in Great Britain: Progressive Rock. With Van Der Graaf Generator’s Pawn Hearts album sky rocketing to the Italian Charts at number one and Genesis, ELP and Gentle Giant were receiving word of mouth. Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) knew they wanted to hit the International market. When they formed in 1970 in Milan and taking their name from a small bakery in Brescia which is called “the Lioness of Italy” between Lombardy on the north side of Italy and situated at the foot of the Alps near the commune of San Zeno Navigilo, the group won a contest at the first music festival in Viareggio and signed with the Italian label, Numero Uno as they began to work on their debut album.
With a touch of Classical Guitar-swayed in Moog and Mellotron story-telling songs that paid tribute to Lewis Carroll, Antonio Vivaldi and Claudio Monteverdi rather than the so-called rockabilly sounds of the ‘50s. Their first album, Storia Di Un Minuto (History in a Minute) was recorded in 1971 as they began to show they were creating magic just as the United Kingdom had a heart of gold with their Prog scenery that was spreading like hotcakes. When they were working on their debut masterpiece, they knew they had something up their sleeves and the Italian charts were on the spot, already with a hit single also to keep the beast awake and the beat flowing.
There were surprises, also: not to mention the band’s momentum and five centerpieces that will blow Yes away. The segue of the mourning guitar done by Franco Mussida as he sets an folksy turned eerie glorified moog introduction of Introduzione while Impressioni Di Settembre becomes a dramatic/classical piece that is set in a church that has a perfect atmosphere with the structures that is mind-blowing than ever featuring the keyboards doing a beautiful solo. The piece is much in the range of Genesis meets Barclay James Harvest that closes with a finale that will surprise you.
E’ Festa in which later it would become Celebration, shows the band going high voltage, medieval, and hard rock with time changes, a humor of opera vocals and then it calms down and then goes back into the punch. More of the dramatic mountain top is La Caorzza di Hans, another twisted tune, that starts out very hard rock mixed with Baroque Classical Music sounds of the 15th century, Spanish guitar finger picking techniques tossing it up with a Jazz fusion boogie with a violin shriek solo done by Pagani as it goes into a Gentle Giant mode as if he is Darryl Way to create a sequel to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Grazie Diverio, sounds similar to an Italian version of Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage which the guitars and the band come to the Symphonic mode of treatment as the vocals sound as if they were double-tracked and then it becomes a twisted Broadway finale with an orchestra under the podium following the band to close the track to understand PFM’s mode of Orchestral rock.
PFM soon took notice with a little help from Greg Lake of ELP fame, who admired PFM, signed them to ELP’s label Manticore in 1975 and recorded English versions of their songs – which is soon got them into the mainstream, but a cult following they deserved. Though they took a long break in the late '80s, they came back in the late '90s and releasing Stati di Immaginazione in 2006, it seems very well and straight on top. Storia Di Un Minuto might be the album to get you started on the history of Italian Progressive Rock

Renaissance - Prologue

This is another special edition review due to Renaissance celebrating their 40th anniversary while embarking on a new concert tour date this summer and working on a new album and an EP called, The Mystic and the Muse. Their third release in 1972 was the album that finally put Renaissance on the map, with the help of new female vocalist Annie Haslam. The band were almost in limbo due to new management disbanding the first mark of the lineup which featured Keith Relf of the Yardbirds fame, and featured new members Annie Haslam on vocals and keyboardist John Tout to create a new sound while the band were starting to get up to move from the psychedelic sound into more of a Classical Rock band.
While Ashes Are Burning got them recognition, Prologue was only the beginning for Renaissance in which would be their “debut” album. Formed in 1969, Renaissance was coming out of the ashes of the mod band The Yardbirds as two of the members Keith Relf and Jim McCarty wanted to start a new group that was experimental from the sound of Folk and early Symphonic back in London, England. The band consisted bassist Louis Cennamo, pianist John Hawken and Keith’s younger sister Jane as backing vocalist as they were about to embark on a tour in the summer of ’69, but only with Festivals in two countried at Belgium and France. As they were getting ready to go the United States, they knew they could not bring the sound to a wider audience as they dissolved, thus MK I was done, MK II was just the beginning.
Prologue was recorded during only new members with; guitarist Rob Hendry, bassist John Camp, and drummer Terrence Sullivan. Featuring a gorgeous piano introduction on the opening title track as an homage to Chopin’s Etude Op. 10, No. 12, is a dazzling symphonic passages that Tout does in this magnificent instrumental number that would mark the band into Symphonic territory. The introduction of Annie’s voice is heaven in the perfect sense of the word, touching while lyricist Betty Thatcher’s gorgeous songs fills with emotion and beauty including the love song boundary of Spare Some Love and the oceanic mood piano from Sounds of the Sea. Kiev introduces some of Tout’s piano compositions, reminiscent of Keith Emerson as John Camp makes his vocal debut with help from Annie as Hendry’s guitar almost sounds like a violin on this romantic story with a style of an eerie version of Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
There is very much a folksy crisp on Bound For Infinity on which the instruments are very calm and quiet as the album closes with the climatic 11-minute epic, Rajah Khan. It starts off with Hendry’s guitar playing similar to Jimmy Page’s White Summer/Black Mountain Side as he takes over with a Middle-Eastern dramatic solo for the first two minutes as the band embark on an ambient Egyptian haunting instrumental with Annie’s vocalization coming up with an mourning organ solo and a dynamic VCS3 solo that won’t scare you, but will take your breath away for a mind-boggling jam. Prologue didn’t charted, but they received radio airplay in the states in Cleveland with the song Spare Some Love and soon they received word-of-mouth from Prog fans. Prologue still sounds amazing and ahead of it’s time, the influences continues especially from Welsh female progsters, Magenta.