(31:46; Newdog Records) Eternal Return is a quintet which brings together various duos/trios that have previously recorded and toured together. Within this ensemble we have Dogon, the duo of Venezuelan Miguel Noya (synthesisers) and American Paul Godwin (vocals, piano) who first met at Berklee some 40 years ago. Alongside them is bassist Australian Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree, no-man, O.R.k.) and his frequent collaborator, Estonian guitarist Robert Jürjendal (Toyah Wilcox, Fripp’s Crafty Guitar School). To complete the line-up, we have Venezuelan drummer Miguel Toro, while they have a guest trumpeter in Damascus-born Milad Khawam and the album was recorded in Berlin. In other words, this is a truly international band bringing together a great many influences and styles. The best way to describe this is probably progressive ambient, with links to the likes of David Sylvain (especially, one can really imagine him performing on some of these) and This Mortal Coil. It is an album which goe...

(130:24; Open Sky) I am finding it hard to believe that here I am in 2022 writing about an album which was released in 2013, yet there is not a single review for it on ProgArchives. Recorded at different venues in the UK and Holland, here we have a double CD set capturing one of our finest prog folk bands in their natural environment, live on stage. I first came across them nearly 30 years ago with their second album, ‘Book of Kells’, and by the time they got to this recording there had been some significant line-up changes, but multi-instrumentalist Dave Bainbridge is still there, along with singer Joanne Hogg (acoustic guitar, keyboards) and drummer Frank Van Essen (also on violin) who was a guest back then, with the current line-up completed by Phil Barker (bass, electric double bass, darbuka) and Martin Nolan (Uilleann pipes, low and tin whistles). Strange to think that both Nick Beggs and Troy Donockley were involved on that album all those years back, wonder whatever happened to ...

(60:00; Talking Elephant Records [2021 Edition] ) To any fan of British progressive rock, keyboard player Jan Schelhaas needs little introduction given that he has played with both Caravan (twice, and with whom he is still playing) and Camel, as well as numerous other sessions. Here we have a remastered reissue of his 2018 solo album with three additional tracks. There is not much information out there about the album, so while I know Doug Boyle (guitar) and Jimmy Hastings (sax) are both involved, I cannot find any other information, so it is quite possible that the rest is undertaken by Jan, including the vocals. It is hard to imagine that this is a recent album, as this has far more in common with the laid-back Seventies sound of sanitised rock which, although it does have some similarities with The Moody Blues at times, has little with which I would normally associate progressive rock. This is straightforward relaxing middle of the road soft rock which is gentle, never threatening, ...

(136:00; Cleopatra Records)   What I have here is a recording of Joe Jackson, Todd Rundgren, and NY-based string quartet Ethel. I really was not sure what to expect from this, and I am sure the people there that night did not either, as while I thought all acts would be playing together onstage, I wasn’t aware that each would have an individual set and they would only come together for a few songs at the end. This means we start with a series of classical pieces from Ethel, which is very clever but not what I would expect at a rock concert. I played this part once and then found myself skipping the first five numbers and I would expect many others to do the same. To be honest, I was not sure what to expect from Jackson either and thought I would probably listen to his songs and then skip smartly to the main attraction, so I was amazed at just how good this section was and how much I enjoyed it. It has made me totally rethink my opinion on Jackson, (I used to see him on Top of the P...

(41:50; Snapper Music) Many years ago, I reviewed an album by a famous rock star, and back then I said the only reason people were even talking about it was due to who was involved as opposed to the value of the music it contained, and now here I am saying exactly the same thing again. While much may be made of singer Maiah Wynne, or that famous producer and engineer Alf Annibalini (guitar, keyboards, programming) is involved, or Coney Hatch co-founder Andy Curran (bass guitar, synthesized bass, programming, guitar, backing vocals, Stylophone), but this will be on the top of many people’s “must hear” list due solely to the fourth member of the band, one Alex Lifeson. Many people were wondering if Alex or Geddy would get back into the studio at any point, given they have spent virtually their whole musical lives wrapped up in Rush, but I am sure most people expected that something would happen at some point, but I never expected this. Firstly, Alex trod the boards in front of someone wh...

(38:14; Apollon Records) Track list: 1. Angra Paa 6:27 2. Alt Blir Verre 6:18 3. 1992 7:31 4. Muknado 4:26 5. Röd Bil 5:27 6. Beksvart Gull 4:13 7. Se Paa Me 3:52 Line-up: Johannes Drabl¨s Maaseide - vocals, guitars Edvard Bröther - guitars, piano, vocals Hogne Aarflot - keyboards, Mellotron, organ, vocals Erlend Alm Lerstad - bass, guitars, keyboards, Mellotron Jon Bolstad - drums, percussion, keyboards Iver Sandöy - percussion with: Alexander von Mehren - vibraphone, xylophone Prolusion. Norwegian band Knekklectric has a history that goes back at least a decade, and have been releasing music at a steady pace since 2012. This spring they are set to launch their third full length album "Alt Blir Verre" through Norwegian label Apollon Records in the second half of April. Analysis. Knekklectric is one of those bands that may well be hard to categorize by many reviewers I suspect, and perhaps Norwegian reviewers in particular. This is due to the band singing in a Norwegian diale...

(59:59; Apollon Records) Track list: 1. Lover, Lower Me Down 5:22 2. Black River 4:22 3. The Wheelbarrow 7:13 4. Beaks of Benevola 3:55 5. Strawberry Suicide 3:32 6. Isabel: A Report to an Academy 6:54 7. Baseball 5:26 8. Night Hitcher 6:35 9. Before the Helmets 7:00 10. Jonah 7:26 11. Heart of Hickory 2:14 Line-up: Jon Ivar Kollbotn - vocals Claudia Cox - violin, vocals Lars Christian Björkenes - piano Sondre Veland - drums Prolusion. Norwegian progressive rock band Major Parkinson have been around for a couple of decades by now, with four studio albums and two live albums to their name so far. "A Night at the Library" is their most recent production, and this live album was released through Norwegian label Apollon Records in the spring of 2022. Analysis. Major Parkinson strikes me as a band that really enjoys doing the unexpected, changing central aspects of their overall sound from one album to the next and not at all adhering to what one might describe as what is expected...

(65:35; Apollon Records [2022 Edition] ) Track list: 1. Snö 4:21 2. Nordlys 3:44 3. Istind 3:25 4. Stillhet 7:22 5. Havörn 7:40 6. Smeltevann 7:07 7. Fallvind 9:56 8. Uvaer 5:33 9. Snötind 5:42 10. Haredans 4:22 11. Fön 6:23 Line-up: Odd-Roar Bakken - guitars, keyboards Anton J. R. Larsen - drums, percussion Nils Larsen - bass Prolusion. Norwegian band Kornmo started out sometime around 2015 following the disbandment of long ongoing progressive rock band Morild. The band have three studio albums out so far, of which two have now been given an official label release. "Svartisen" is Kornmo's debut album and was first released back in 2017. The album has now been remixed and remastered, and then subsequently reissued through Norwegian label Apollon Records. Analysis. Kornmo's take on progressive rock is one that is distinctly retro-oriented, and then to a variety of the form that had its commercial peak back in the 1970's. Symphonic progressive rock is the name of th...

(37:37; Oddiyo Records) It took seven years for Cary to follow-up on ‘Blue Rain’, but in 2021 he returned with ‘Hourglass’. As with the previous album this is primarily a solo affair, with Cary providing the vast majority of the instruments but he does have a couple of bassists on different songs with the biggest difference being the assistance of drummer Grant Ball on many. Here we have an album which is out of time, and sounds as if it should have been released no later than 1972, and even that could be a push. This album is steeped in psychedelia, as well as bringing in some classic Mellotron and Moog sounds and comes across as Roy Harper crossed with Tyrannosaurus Rex (yes, the earlier variant). It is dreamy, full of space, without a care as Cary sings his love songs in an era when the world was full of peace and love. It is an incredibly relaxing album, full of space within the arrangements, which can be surprisingly complex even when coming across as being simple. The more this i...

(54:05; Freia Music) In some ways it is somewhat surprising that in the 70 years since Alan Freed started broadcasting what he termed “rock ‘n’ roll” on his radio show that we have not had more children following in their famous parents’ footsteps. Sure, it does happen, but not as much as one would expect, and it is even rarer for a parent and children to play in the same group, but that is exactly what we have here. When Erik Laan (keyboards, vocals, Silhouette) contacted me to see if I had heard about his new band, one could sense the pride in which he told me it also included his sons Bart (guitars, flute, vocals, Skylake) and Arjan Laan (drums, percussion, Skylake) with the line-up completed with bassist Mark Op Ten Berg along with a few guests. One of those is singer Suzan Van Den Enge who provides harmony vocals, also from Skylake (whose 2019 debut album I reviewed some time back). This band happily straddle the heavy prog and neo-prog boundaries, creating music which is immediat...

(51:29; Progressive Promotion Records) I’ve said this many times in the past, but it is worth repeating, and that is I don’t read press releases until after I have played the music. Although to be honest, even if I did, I am so far behind that I would have forgotten what they said by the time I got around to the album, so consequently it is only just now that I have realised who is involved in this project, namely Thomas Thielen (t) and Dominik Hüttermann (Virtual Moon, Imatra). Dominik provides guitars while Thomas does everything, as usual, but here he is working with someone else who has had major input into the album. Apparently, they recorded together back in the Nineties before Thomas decided to work as t, and it was that which led to Thomas doing his own work. With only a couple of songs just breaking through seven minutes, and a style which contains some more popular elements, such as a chorus, the result is something which is more crossover than neo-prog. In some ways this is ...

(55:42; Comedy of Errors) Back in 2014 I stopped all reviewing to start collating 15 years of reviews into a book, which seemed like a good idea at the time! Not only did it take far longer than I ever imagined getting everything collated, but it meant that when I started reviewing again I had a massive backlog which still lasts to this day. However, I have vowed that whatever it takes I will get through them all, which is why I am now listening to an album which came out all the way back in 2015. Whenever I think of Comedy of Errors, I get a clear memory in my mind of being in the car with Mark Colton (Credo) who at one point seemed unable to drive anywhere unless we were listening to “The Student Prince Part One”. By this time in the early 90’s the band had already broken up, and no-one believed they would ever play again, but in 2011 two of the founder members, Joe Cairney (vocals) and Jim Johnston (keyboards) got back together with Mark Spalding (bass, guitars) who had been there s...

(55:59; Progressive Promotion Records) German outfit Cromwell were formed in 1993, releasing their debut ‘Burning Banners’ four years later. Back then they were a quintet with a female singer, but by the time they came to release their second album in 2016 they were a quartet with a male singer. Original band founders Eric Trauzettel (drums) and Wolfgang Täffner (keyboards) had now been joined by Holger Weckbach (vocals) and Frank Nowack (guitars, bass) while the album was mixed and mastered by Martin Schnella (Flaming Row, Seven Steps to The Green Door).   The result is an album which is basic neo-prog which sounds as if it had come from the Nineties as opposed to a much more modern release. Also, I actually thought the drums had come from a machine as opposed to a human, and the result is something which may have been influenced by bands like IQ, Pallas, Jadis, Enchant or Saga (according to the band themselves), but has little in the way of power or drive of any of them. It has f...

(49:43; Daniel Eliseev Project) Bulgarian guitarist Daniel Eliseev is back with the second album from his project, following on from 2018’s excellent ‘Night Shadow’. That was an album of songs with a singer, but here we have moved into instrumental territory with complex guitar at the forefront of it all. We have three bassists, two drummers, two saxophonists and a percussionist while Daniel himself provides guitars, keyboards and programming. Long before the album was released Daniel contacted me to ask for some advice as he was worried that if he released this under the DEP name that people might well be expecting a direct continuation from the debut, but this was not only very different to that album but also, he felt it was more aligned to what he was trying to achieve so what to do? I counselled that he should keep the name as I personally expect artists to change and “progress”, and hopefully listeners will go back and investigate the earlier release, even though it is quite diff...

(46:15; Coalshed Music) Earlier this week I was talking to Wellington-based folk musician Nigel Parry, and he was amazed that I knew Red Jasper, and he told me he had previously recorded a song called “The Magpie” by Davey Dodds! I told him that Davey and I first came across each other in the early 90’s (at Whitchurch initially), that I had reviewed Red Jasper back in the day and not only did I introduce DC to Angel Air when they were looking to reissue the albums but had also written the booklets. After those reissues, Davey and I got in touch with each other again – he had long given up music and become an in-demand fly fisherman, guide, and author, but through a series of unplanned events he was again performing and now recording. This is his third solo album since then, one which should not have been recorded when it was as Davey was touring with Pendragon when the shows were cancelled due to COVID, and he ended up at home where he decided to sit down and finish writing a piece he ...

(36:22; Derev) When I realised this was the debut EP from a Canadian prog metal trio I was somewhat confused, as I was convinced they came from an Arabian background while the singer also reminded me of Serj Tankian in the way her performed some of the songs. So when I discovered that Armando Bablanian (guitar) is of Italian/Armenian background and drummer Michel Karakch is of Syrian/Armenian background and they met while at school in Kuwait, it started to make some sort of sense. Armando emigrated to Canada and immersed himself in the scene there, and he was followed by Michel, after which they joined forces with bassist Liam Horrigan to form Derev. The songs came from jam sessions from the two childhood friends, but somewhat strangely the vocals were recorded by a guest, Adel Saflou (Ambrotype, originally from Syria) in his home studio in Amsterdam which probably means the opportunity for live gigs to be somewhat limited. The backgrounds of the main players is important as it has a m...

(64:32; Strung Out Records [2022 Edition] ) It is incredibly rare for me to review an album more than once, and generally there needs to be something very special for that to take place. Given that this is, in my opinion, one of the most important progressive rock albums to come out in the Nineties by one of the most innovative and important bands ever to surface in the States, this is not something I do lightly. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of this incredible release, the guys convinced Terry Brown to undertake a new mix, and that is what I am now playing. In this heavily connected world of ours it is often difficult to remember that it was not that long ago when music only existed in physical form, the internet was new and not many people had email. Although by 1999 I had already built a reputation in the UK for writing about progressive rock music, and was well-known by various European labels, it was more difficult to get material from the other side of the Atlantic just due t...

(34:03; Apollon Records) Track list: 1. Undertow (Slight Return) 0:23 2. The Shadow of the New Praetorian 12:35 3. Supernova 3:45 4. Beehive 8:31 5. Chiaroscuro 5:50 6. Dunes 2:59 Line-up: Ole Jörgen Bardal - saxophone Öyvind Nypan - guitars, electronics, soundscapes Per Harald Ottesen (RIP) - bass, guitars, electronics Jan Inge Nilsen - drums, percussion Prolusion. Norwegian band The Tronosonic Experience have been around since at least 2017, and have four studio albums to their name so far. "The Shadow Vol II" is the most recent of these albums, and the second of the two albums released in 2022 through Norwegian label Apollon Records. Analysis. As with the first part of this album series, the music on this production comes with multiple reference points to improvised music, to the point that this is how I would categorize this album overall. In a bit more detail I would specify that this is an instrumental variation of the form, and that the music overall fits nicely into a...

(26:15; Apollon Records) Track list: 1. Pharaoh 4:19 2. Marathon 5:17 3. Focus 5:39 4. Silverwave 7:14 5. Non-Zero-Sum-Game 3:45 Line-up: Cato Olaisen - drums Baard Kristinson - bass René Misje - vocals, guitars with: Kjartan Grönhaug - guitars Prolusion. Norwegian band Trust Us is a fairly new formation, operating from their home turf of Bergen since 2020 or thereabouts. The mini-album "Non-Zero-Sum Game" is their first official release, and this mini-album was released through Norwegian label Apollon Records in the spring of 2022. Analysis. Trust Us is a band that takes a different route into the progressive rock universe, and they aren't among the bands that a majority will find to be a purebred progressive rock band either. If they should be sorted under rock or metal is another question as well, the answer to which I guess will differ depending on your age. They do have a dimension to them that makes them interesting also from a progressive rock perspective though, a...

(327:12; Unicorn Digital) Track list: CD 1 1. Looking for Something Else 16:09 2. The Scarlet Eye 5:40 3. Come to Me 5:09 4. The Willow Tree 17:48 5. How Do You Feel? 4:48 6. Shadow of the Lake 13:53 CD 2 7. Delusion Rain 10:24 8. Dare to Dream 6:33 9. Where Dreams Come Alive 7:32 10. The Sailor and the Mermaid 4:56 11. Wall Street King 6:17 12. Pride 7:58 13. Something to Believe In 7:47 CD 3 14. Travel to the Night 10:15 15. A Song for You 14:40 16. Chrysalis 16:38 17. The Preacher's Fall 8:12 Blu-Ray 1. Looking for Something Else 2. The Scarlet Eye 3. Come to Me 4. The Willow Tree 5. How Do You Feel? 6. Shadow of the Lake 7. Delusion Rain 8. Dare to Dream 9. Where Dreams Come Alive 10. The Sailor and the Mermaid 11. Wall Street King 12. Pride 13. Something to Believe In 14. Travel to the Night 15. A Song for You 16. Chrysalis 17. The Preacher's Fall Bonus Video 1. Time-Lapse - Something to Believe In 2. A View from the Balcony - Travel to the Night Line-up: Jean Pageau - voc...