(78:00, 3rdegree) There is no doubt in my mind that one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated progressive rock bands around is America’s 3RDegree. Over the years they have been incredibly consistent, and while I have not heard the debut album (so consequently have not reviewed it), I have given all the other five maximum marks, so it is safe to say I am a fan. There is something about their commercial progressive sound with wonderful harmonies which really gets to me and many others. The first album of theirs I heard was 2012’s ‘The Long Division’, and I was blown away by a sound which reminded me so much of City Boy – that review got the band to check them out as they had never previously heard them, and it also made sense to them! I also need to thank fellow beer aficionado and bassist/keyboard player Robert James Pashman for instilling in me a love of trappiest ales. So what is this compilation, and why does it say it covers the years 1990-2020 when it starts with a recordin...

(42:07; Norske Albumklassikere [2022 Edition] ) Here we have an underground album which was released back in 1977 and has now been made available on CD by a crowdfunded label run by Norwegian celebrity Christer Falck. Having looked through the site there certainly appears to be a demand for these rare items, and it is always nice to discover one which is worth hearing for its musical value and not just its rarity. This has been reissued in multiple forms over the years (including on CD by the excellent label APM back in 1995, not sure how I missed that one), and this version is in a gatefold sleeve with information in English and a page in Norwegian – I can’t say now much of this is new or was contained on the original. One thing I did see was that this is taken from a vinyl rip as opposed to the original tapes, which I presume are lost to time, and one wonders if that has something to do with the muddiness of the sound which obviously could not be cleaned up from that source. Musicall...

(61:00; Gravity Dream Music) I first came across Dave Bandana years ago when he was in Salander, followed him to his journeys with Birzer Bandana before he formed The Bardic Depths and released the debut album back in 2020. His colleague Brad Birzer was still involved, but he had brought in a group of stellar musicians and taken a huge step up in every way. Now The Bardic Depths are back with the second album, and this feels far more like a group affair as opposed to a project. History professor Birzer has again worked with Dave on lyrics to much of the material, and the core musicians have been brought back from last time, namely Peter Jones (Camel/Tiger Moth Tales/ Red Bazar), Gareth Cole (Paul Menel/ Fractal Mirror) and Tim Gehrt (The Streets/ Steve Walsh). There are a cast of thousands in terms of guests (especially for backing vocals), but it is the core quartet who share the vast majority of the workload, with others being brought in to add additional nuances and layers as oppose...

(45:50, Bubblemath) I was chatting to keyboard player Kai Esbensen recently and mentioned I had never heard their 2001 debut, and he said he would send me a copy. I demurred, saying a download would be fine, but he was keen for me to have a physical version and as soon as it arrived I could see why. The rear cover shows the periodic table, but some are missing, and by running a finger over it one can feel that it is not that they have not been printed, but rather they have been cut out. Turn the digipak back to the front and there are the missing elements making up the album title, and again when running a finger over the name one can feel they have been added, while the band’s name is also embossed. I was impressed and I hadn’t even opened it yet, let alone listened to it! A huge amount of work has gone into the booklet, with each page containing the lyrics but very different in style to the rest and if this amount of work had gone into the presentation what on earth would the music b...

(68:07; Glass Castle Recordings) Track list: 1. Silence Is a Statement 4:24 2. Back Where I Started 4:44 3. End of the Line 6:54 4. Perky Pat 6:03 5. World War Terminus 3:12 6. Pretending to Breathe 6:31 7. Another Plague 7:29 8. Refuge 10:23 9. Interlude 4:04 10. The Confidence Trick 6:31 11. Lava Lamprey 3:16 12. All Empires Fall 3:23 13. Cygnus 1:13 Line-up: Malcolm Galloway - vocals, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, programming Mark Gatland - bass, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, Chapman Stick, vocals Kathryn Thomas - flute, vocals Prolusion. UK band Hats off Gentlemen It's Adequate have been a going entiety for well over a decade at this point, and started to release material back in 2012. They have been a productive entity ever since, with a number of EPs and full albums to their name at this point. "The Confidence Trick" is their sixth full length studio production, and was released through their own label Glass Castle Recordings in the summer of 2022. Analysis....

(51:52; Peacock Sunrise Records) Track list: 1. No Deposit, No Return 6:15 2. Highway 27 4:14 3. The Old Canyon Road 5:26 4. Southern Slide 4:48 5. Hardtailed Knucklehead 5:45 6. Donuts & Fishtails 5:18 7. Beyond The Milky Way 1:23 8. Brass Saddles & Steel Trees 2:36 9. Three Way Switch 5:31 10. Crash Bar 5:26 11. Trail Dust 5:10 Line-up: Gayle Ellett - guitars, organ, piano, ebow Craig Kahn - drums, percussion Mark Cook - bass Prolusion. US composer and musician Gayle Ellet has a long history in multiple fields of music, as a creator of score music and soundtracks just as much as being a band member and a band leader. In progressive rock circles he is probably best known for being a member of veteran band Djam Karet, but he has released a bit of solo material over the years too in the list of more than 100 album releases he has been a part of one way or another. Gayle Ellet & The Electromags is a new venture of his from what I understand, and "Shiny Side Up" is t...

(38:09; Apollon Records) Track list: 1. Drive Pt. 1 6:40 2. Drive Pt. 2 7:29    3. Alybt 5:19 4. Sun 18:41 Line-up: Thomas Bergsten - guitars, harp, percussion, lap-steel, sound manipulation Tore Ljökelsöy - drums, percussion, fiddle Arnfinn Langesaeter - saxophone, flute, percussion Jakob Eri Myhre - trumpet, piano, effects, percussion Simen Wie - bass, percussion Öyvind Heilo – piano, percussion with: Björn Klakegg – guitars Prolusion. Norwegian composer and musician Thomas Bergsten have been nurturing a solo career for a bit over a decade, with his first solo production released back in 2011 from what I can see. His latest album is called "Thomas Bergsten's Kosmos", and was released through Norwegian label Apollon Records in the summer of 2022. Analysis. While the music on this production revolves around a couple of different orientations, with psychedelic tendencies being the red thread throughout, my impression is that as a total album experience this production actu...

(42:00; Apollon Records) Track list: 1. The Edinburgh Suite Pt. 1 Old Town 20:30 2. The Edinburgh Suite Pt. 2 New Town 21:30 Line-up: Anders Buaas - various instruments with: Marco Minnemann - drums Tony Franklin - bass Christian M. Berg - mallets, percussion Richard Garcia - keyboards, piano, accordion Prolusion. Norwegian composer and musician Anders Buaas has been releasing solo material at a steady pace for the past five years, with a new album appearing just about every year. "The Edinburgh Suite" is his most recent solo production, and is set to be released through Norwegian label Apollon Records in early September 2022. Analysis. Buaas' take on the progressive rock genre is one that is a bit hard to pin down, as he does explore a rather appealing variety of the style on one hand, but may explore these tendencies in a manner that is a bit more niche-oriented. Perhaps first and foremost in that the music is instrumental. While there are aspects that doesn't reall...

(47:29; Inside Out Music) I always find it interesting when musicians are brought together by someone working in the industry who feels there may be a spark. I remember the guys at Silhobbit being responsible for introducing Mick Pointer to Clive Nolan, the result being Arena, and now Nick Shilton (who may these days be a band manager, but I will always think as being behind the wonderful Frontiers magazine) put Ian Crichton (Saga) in touch with Robert Berry (3 etc) who then reached out to his ex-GTR colleague Nigel Glockler (Saxon) and a new supergroup were born. There are so many elements here which make this such a fun album to listen to, so let’s start at the foundation. Glockler has long been a fan of progressive rock, but for most of the last 40 years he has been the beating heart of one of the top metal acts around which means he is used to making himself heard and brings into this a progressive style which is heavily influenced by his more metallic tendencies. Ian is a revelati...

(48:03; Soniq Theater) Track list: 1. The Time Machine 5:23 2. Light Years from Home 4:55 3. Time Traveler 6:34 4. Space Time Continuum 5:26 5. The 5th Dimension 5:54 6. Jazz from Outer Space 4:27 7. The Cosmic Jungle 4:26 8. Spaceflight 6:03 9. Eternity's Breath 4:55 Line-up: Alfred Mueller – all instruments Prolusion. Time and Space is the 21st studio work by Soniq Theatre, a solo project from Germany based entirely on one person, Alfred Mueller. This is so far the musician’s last but one album released in 2021, on January 1 – the release day for almost all Alfred’s works except for, perhaps, a couple Analysis. There are solo projects with one obvious leader, which, however, involve several other people all together making up a band and contributing to a varying extent to the writing and production of music. There are also other solo musicians, like Mueller’s compatriot Arne Schafer – very versatile ones, using only their ideas, playing most instruments themselves, doing most of ...

(38:09; Marcello Paganini) Released towards the end of 2020, this fusion album from guitarist Marcelo Paganini features a host of guests including Billy Sherwood (Yes/Asia), Adam Holzman (Steve Wilson Band), Rachel Flowers, Lenny White (Return to Forever), Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa Band), Jan Dumée (Focus), Marc Madoré, Karla Downey, Jamison Smeltz, Damilton Viana, Esdras Ferreira and Adriano Campagnani (Beto Guedes Band). Here, Sherwood has been employed for his vocal skills, only playing bass on one track, but singing on all of them. Paganini also deliberately changed his guitar tuning so he would not repeat what he had done previously, and except for acoustic 12 string intros, he only used one guitar throughout with no vibrato bar, and only one guitar per track so that it could be played live. There are six songs, 38 minutes in length, and given who is involved there is no surprise that the musicianship is top quality. Paganini and Sherwood are the only constants on every track, b...

(216:18; Think Like a Key Music) Nektar have always been one of those progressive bands who found more fame outside their own country than inside it, and when I was growing up I had never even heard of them even though I thought I knew what was going on and certainly don’t remember them being written about in the music papers. Although they were a musical quartet of Roye Allbrighton on guitar and vocals, Derek “Mo” Moore on bass and vocals, Allan “Taff” Freeman on organ and vocals, and Ron Howden on drums and percussion, they always described themselves as a quintet as Mick Brockett provided the visual tapestry that was such a key component of the “Music and Light Theatre”, and that was part of the complete package. Musically they took pieces of Uriah Heep, Yes and other symphonic bands to create something which was embraced far more by German audiences than those in the UK. This 2xCD and 1xDVD set are taken from long lost audio and video recordings from 1973, recorded in Switzerland, ...

(105:55; Moonjune Records) When it comes to metal, there is no doubt that one of my favourite bands is Testament, whose live album ‘Dark Roots of Thrash’ is never far from my player. Why do I mention this when reviewing an album from jazz/fusion/avant/progressive label Moonjune Records? Because one of the members of this supergroup is none other than the mighty Alex Skolnick, and although he is best-known for his role in Testament and others, he has also been playing jazz in his own project for many years and originally studied under Joe Satriani. Here he is playing alongside bassist Percy Jones (Brand X, as well as extensive studio work with Brian Eno, Kate Bush, Suzanne Vega, David Sylvian), drummer Kenny Grohowski (John Zorn, Brand X, Imperial Triumphant, Kilter, Felix Pastorius & Hipster Assassins, John Medeski, Lonny Plaxico, Tony Levin, Beledo, Markus Reuter, and many others) and fellow guitarist Tim Motzer who has a long background in free improvisation as well, including th...

(84:08; Moonjune Records) Nearly a year on from the recording of their debut album, PAKT performed four shows in front of an audience, each of which was recorded and has been made available by Moonjune Records. As each set is fully improvised, all four concerts are very different, apart from the musicians involved, and this was the first of the four which were recorded on consecutive nights in different venues. Markus Reuter again undertook the mastering, and the result is an album which showcases a quite different side of the band. When there is an audience, things change, and one of the most notable is the change in approach from Jones who is far more active, and his sound much higher in the mix. The different styles of Skolnick and Motzer are again apparent, and while Grohowski is also much busier, it is to those two which the ear is most aware. The two very different musicians have such contrasting approaches as to be playing unrelated instruments, with one having a much cleaner ap...

(34:52; Friends of the Fish) Here we have the second album from Italian art rock/trip-hop project Pinhdar, which features Cecilia Miradoli and Max Tarenzi. It attracted the attention of Fruits de Mer, who published the album on their Friends of the Fish imprint, even though the label is best known for psych/prog/krautrock. Apparently, head honcho Keith Jones has long been fascinated by the work of producer Howie B (Björk, U2, Tricky, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many others), and when he heard the mix of genres and styles, he knew he had to be involved. This is all about music which is heavily atmospheric, often bringing in strong elements of dream pop, while at others it is far more jagged, and I can imagine those going down well with audiences who are into Jazmine Mary while the more abrasive elements may find a place with those into krautrock. However, there are also elements of electronica, and while the vocals are often interesting, I found that there is something about this whic...

(50:46; QuiXote- Music) Back in 2006 this was the first album I came across from Poor Genetic Material, although it was in fact their sixth full-length. These days it is viewed as one of their best albums, but the band were never happy with the sound so decided to remix it for a 15th anniversary release. However, nothing is ever as simple as it seems with the drum tracks having to be transferred from technology no longer available while the keyboard tracks could not be rescued at all and would need to be re-recorded. If they wanted to reissue this on vinyl there was another challenge in that it was too short for a double album yet too long for a single, so what should they do? In the end they decided to go for a re-imagining, so we have here a shortened resequenced version of the album with new flute and keyboards, with the whole thing then being remastered. The result is something which of course is very closely related indeed to the original, but to my ears is somewhat punchier, whil...

(77:00; Esoteric Antenna) There is no doubt that one of the most important progressive bands to come out of the scene in the 80’s was Solstice, but due to multiple reasons they never really managed to maintain the consistency of membership to allow them to be able to build their reputation as they should. However, with the release of the excellent ‘Sia’ in 2020 they are finally getting the recognition from a wider base than they have previously enjoyed. ‘Prophecy’ was the album which preceded that one, only seven years earlier, and this was the first time they had released two studio recordings within three years of each other and the only time that consecutive albums featured the same line-up. Even though the album itself is more than 50 minutes long, comprising five songs, this CD also features three tracks taken from 1984’s debut, ‘Silent Dance’, which have been remixed by Steven Wilson. Guitarist Andy Glass is the mainstay of the band, ensuring that the musical legacy and style is ...

(40:34; Fruits de Mer Records) Following on from their two studio albums, ‘It is Dark, But I have This Jewel’ (2014) and ‘All Will Be Golden’ plus a few vinyl singles, this Finnish band have released extracts from a concert recorded at the beginning of 2020, just before the world went weird. Improvisation in live performance has always been an important aspect of the band, as they balance between composed and improvised, and this release finds them very much concentrating on the latter. Consequently, we have three improvised pieces called “Moments” as they are literally moments of the gig although while the word “moment’ makes one think of a small unit of time, each of these is more than ten minutes in length, plus a track which originally appeared on their last album, “Rainbow”. Interestingly the way this has been edited we have “Moments 2” gradually segueing into that track and then segueing back out again to “Moments 3”. To provide musical reference points the band themselves sugges...

(40:22; Cold War Records) A while back, Steve Leigh and I got back in touch with each other again. Some 30 years ago we were swapping letters (back in the days before email) about Landmarq, of which he was keyboard player, and I soon discovered his previous band, Quasar, but while I knew he had been in Tamarisk I did not hear any of that material until fairly recently. With the excellent ‘Breaking The Chains’ compilation being released, there is now a new Tamarisk on the block which features not only Steve but original singer Andy Grant, Steve’s Quasar and Landmarq bandmate, drummer Dave Wagstaffe, along with Ed Rome (who had been guitarist on one of their early cassettes) and guitarist Tom Yetton. What we have here is unabashed neo-prog, and genre which even some progheads look down on, but for those of us who threw ourselves into that scene in the 80’s and 90’s it contains a wonderful naivety with that mix of rock and prog which is a delight. Unlike some neo-prog acts who have moved ...

(56:08; Layered Reality Productions) I have been a fan of Tom de Wit for a few years now, and even took part in a documentary which was included in his last release, the excellent ‘The Day The Clock Stopped’, and any new album is always going to be of great interest. He decided to record this album quickly, and once again utilised the Annihilator rhythm section of Rich Gray (bass, backing vocals) and drummer Fabio Alessandrini, with Tom providing vocals, guitars, synths, and orchestrations and then bringing in multiple guests who each added some parts/solos to one track each as well as using some singers to act as a choir. The concept behind this album is also an interesting one as it is possible to describe this his eight release was an album made by the fans, for the fans. He used song input from fans who pre-ordered the previous album to write songs based on those concepts, and six of the songs contained on this album are taken from these ideas while he then wrote another four to ti...

(46:02; Dusan Jevtovic and Vasil Hadzimanov) In 2017, guitarist Dusan Jevtovic and pianist Vasil Hadzimanov released ‘No Answer’ with drummer Asaf Sirkis, and during those sessions and subsequent tour they realised they had such a wonderful and instinctive relationship that working as a duo could well produce some interesting results. Four years on and they realised those imaginings with the release of ‘Duo’, which captures the two of them in an intimate setting, bouncing ideas off each other and then adding additional nuances and touches at a later date. Without any percussion or bass, there is plenty of space between the two melodic players, as each of them is taking lead and providing support, and at times it is just one or the other as they wait to come in at the right moment. It is a very reflective album, and one where the listener gets the most out of by playing on headphones when there is the time to sit quietly and let the music just wash over. Both player are inventive, yet u...