Review Nº 867

"The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a compilation of Emerson, Lake & Palmer that was released in 2001. It's a compilation album with tracks from five of their works, two tracks from their eponymous debut album, two tracks from their third album "Trilogy", four tracks from their fourth album "Brain Salad Surgery", three track from their fifth album "Works Vol. 1" and two tracks from their debut live album "Pictures At An Exhibition". It has also a non-album's track.

"The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" has fourteen tracks. "Lucky Man" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's a ballad for acoustic guitar. It's a song with acoustic guitar, beautiful singing and a great synthesizer solo towards the end. It's one of the best songs written by Lake. It became as one of the band's most commercial and accessible tracks in their career. "Knife-Edge" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's based on the first movement of Leos Janacek's "Sinfonietta" classical piece. This is another piece with a fantastic showcase by all band's members, with particular emphasis to great bass lines. "From The Beginning" is from "Trilogy". It's a beautiful acoustic song featuring Lake on vocals and guitar with some participation of Emerson in the end of the track. It's a song with a simple structure. We can say this is one of the best compositions written by Lake for the band. "Trilogy" is from "Trilogy". It's one of the highest moments on that album, one of their best and most beautiful compositions. It's largely an instrumental piece much over piano in the beginning, heavily influenced by the classical music. In the middle, the music blasts with all instruments playing in continuo. "Jerusalem" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's a classical British church hymn. This is a band's arrangement of Charles Hubert Parry's hymn, based on the prologue of William Blake's poem "Milton". This is a great version of the original piece. "Toccata" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". This is an instrumental track based on the fourth movement of Alberto Ginastera's "1st Piano Concert". This is a modern classical piece created by an Argentinean composer and re- arranged by Emerson. This is a great interpretation by the band. "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 2)" is a track from "Brain Salad Surgery". "Karn Evil 9" is a great opus. It's divided into three movements or impressions. Here we have only the "First Impression Part 2". It's an instrumental track featuring Emerson on piano sounding like jazz and Palmer's drumming showing his percussion skills. "Still... You Turn Me On" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's the obligatory acoustic number of that album. It's a Lake's classic acoustic ballad in the vein of "Lucky Man" and "From The Beginning". It's one of Lake's best ballads, a big radio hit in USA. "Pirates" is from "Works Vol. 1". It was originally written for the soundtrack of a cancelled film version of the Frederick Forsyth's book, "The Dogs Of War". It's melodic, progressive, dynamic, charming and complex. It has a great mix of contemporary classical music with a nice keyboard work and it's sung by Lake with great passion. "Fanfare For The Common Man" is from "Works Vol. 1". It's a great interpretation of a classical piece of Aaron Copland re-arranged for rock. Copland's original is great and ELP didn't make a bad job on the arrangements. Synths are heavily used, especially in the later sections. It sounds like early ELP, being experimental and heroic. "C'Est La Vie" is from "Works Vol. 1". This is a well known acoustic song. It's probably the most similar in style to Lake's ballads on their earlier albums. I like it, especially of the amazing voice of him. "Peter Gunn" is a non-album's track. It's an instrumental by the American composer Henry Mancini. The song was written for the television program of the same name. Emerson, Lake & Palmer decided to release a cover of the song on their live album "Emerson, Lake & Palmer In Concert". This is a live version and is a great cover. "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It's a short and energetic melodic instrumental. It sticks solely to Mussorgsky without co-writing credits from Emerson and Palmer. This is a fast paced piece with bass and percussion supporting Emerson's Hammond. "The Great Gates Of Kiev" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It contains the most solemn moments of the opus, including some organ-toying by Emerson. The culminating climax generates an enthusiastic response from the audience. This is a majestic piece. It exposes the true sense of prog, which is, the classical music mixed with rock.

Conclusion: "The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is one of the many compilation albums of the band and as happened with many of them, it's also a good compilation album of ELP. It revisits some of the best tracks of them that belong to some of their best albums. I'm especially talking about some of the tracks that were taken from their albums, "Emerson, Lake & Palmer", "Pictures At An Exhibition", "Trilogy" and "Brain Salad Surgery". They're all great but with an especial emphasis to their most elaborated tracks, "Knife-Edge", "Toccata", "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 2)", "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" and "The Great Gates Of Kiev". But, even the three tracks from "Works Vol. 1" are all great, especially "Fanfare For The Common Man". Finally, the non-album's track "Peter Gunn" is a nice addition to this compilation too. So, "The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a good compilation album that deserves 3 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

CAROL OF HARVEST were a five piece band out of Germany who released this one album in 1978, then after a few gigs disappeared. The drummer recalls "We were influenced by CAMEL, GENESIS, PINK FLOYD... but we made our own style, developed in our own feelings and influences... we didn't care about musical trends at the time. We just tried to express our feelings and emotions in our own musical way." And no I don't hear these bands in their sound.

And while this is a Folk album for sure, the use of moog, electric guitar solos and upfront bass is the draw for me here. Oh, and of course the beautiful vocals of a then 16 year old Beate Krause. She has such a pure voice singing in flawless English. We get five tracks worth around 39 minutes. I originally spent time with this almost 5 years ago. And after a couple of spins I could tell this had quality written all over it, but it wasn't until after 6 listens or so that I started to love every song.

My favourite is "Somewhere At The End Of The Rainbow" smack dab in the middle. It was the first track to really move me. The lyrics throughout are so well done. And what a way to open the album with the 16 minute "Put On Your Nightcap".

This will no doubt be on my "best of" Folk and related list when I do it. One of the best Folk albums that I have heard.

2024 is quite a year for Ms. Vylet! The music never stops, no! Released only months before Monarch of Monsters, Pony's ambitious first foray into true progressive rock music, Girls Who Are Wizards presented the world with an absolute EDM masterpiece.

1. "Girls Who Are Wizards" (5:58) What?! Really?! We're going to start like this: like the music for some Russian doll's skating party. And then the DJ jumps in and ramps things up--to levels I never expected! Wow! She wants us to dance! The strobe lights make it impossible to distinguish ghosts from people, animals from fantasy beings. And then Vy moves us yet again (already!) into new and different sensory experiences as she eventually smooths it out for vocals, humanoid, and voices, android/robotic/faerie. "The music never stops, NO!" she lets us know. The dance music to follow is more sedate and straightforward (the calm before the storm) but then Vy unleashes a barrage of absolute banger dance themes, here allowing the humans on the dance floor to remain coordinated and rhythmic (as opposed to robotic and syncopated). (9.5/10)

2. "The Story of DJ Goober" (3:48) to me this is the central theme to this whole album, and perhaps to Zelda Trixie Lulamoon's entire life: "The music never stops, No!" It's definitely the overwhelming favorite chant or slogan that the fan base has latched onto when discussing this album. (9.5/10)

3. "The Queen Is Back" (3:47) an absolutely awesome squeaky-snarky OZRIC TENTACLES-like dubstep palette that serves as a set up for a killer rap. How can such a beautiful voice produce such a scary rap? And the samples dropped seamlessly into the mix are out-of-this-world perfect! Amazing! Such a cool song! (10/10)

4. "The Wizard of Wubz (Wub Anthem)" (3:38) more amazingly-quilted dub stop! No! The music never stops! You go girl! I'm just in awe watching from the sidelines! (And exhausted for the ride you've taken me on!) (9.375/10)

5. "There's a Menu Theme Nestled Within Us All" (3:32) the first seam in the album flow finds us in a resting pool between waterfalls and class five rapids. But then things pick up: the raft is flowing again--moving down the stream into the bigger, faster river, heightening our vigilance so that we're ready for and aware of the possible obstacles ahead. But it's safe! The river widens, we lie back and bask in the high midday summer sun! This is heaven! It's like taking a trip back to the techno R&B hits of the mid 1980s--the songs that the Black-music oriented stations used to play (Janet, Stephanie Mills, Cherelle, Karen White, Rene & Angela, Deniece Williams, Teena Marie, etc.). And it's all so effortless! Thank you, Pony, for being such a master adventure planner! (9.125/10)

6. "Musicians of Ponyville (Horse Friends Pt. 3: Return of the Dreaded Vy Scratch?)" (4:35) opening with some electric piano riffs from the lexicon of Western Classical music, Pony expertly works them into a nice off-road dirt-bike ride that soon turns down some rather treacherous hill and woodland trails. The open air scenes are again themed by a return to those classical riffs (in their EDM dubstep forms, of course). The insertion and placement of EDM noises, shifts, and sampled voice and oddities is nothing less than a display of absolute genius! And it all SOUNDS SO GOOD! Adrenaline junkies beware (or be aware) of this song! (9.125/10)

7. "Reflected in the Eyes of the Cavern Lurker" (4:25) okay, the bike trail ends at the beach, at Pacific Coast dusk and sunset. The view is almost astral as time and events slow down to a nanocrawl, the creatures and beings of subspace flowing in and out of our awareness, moving like spectres in a YES song. "High vibration go on, to the Sun, oh let my heart, Dreaming! Past a mortal as me. Where can I be?" Brilliant and, for me, very nostalgic. (Could you tell?) (10/10)

8. "Creature City" (4:27) a kind of jazzy electronica song that reminds me of something that could've come off of a BUGGLES album . . . in 2010. Or one of Rebecca Sugar's cartoon tracks . . . if only she were a better music maker. The cartoon voice lead vocal is a bit out of my taste palette--as is the stop-and-wait Saturday morning simplified music, but it's still a display of genius and ubertalent. (8.875/10)

9. "Potion Seller" (5:41) oh! moving to the funk-R&B side of the EDM electronic dubstep world. The music does not stop! With the female vocals it even works like something from one of the hit-wonder divas of the top of the charts like Janet Jackson, Beyonce Knowles, or Christina Agulera--at least until the dubstep instrumental takes over, then it becomes the property of some DJ for a dance remix. Not my favorite but by no means poor or much of a let down: this artist is so impressive! (9/10)

10. "Sacred Dragon" (5:30) stepping down to lo-fi for the vocal-serving EDM music here, Pony sings about the power inside that is making her stronger and stronger. The music is quite a bit smoother and more radio- and pop-friendly here--at least until the third minute when the instrumental section takes over. The innocent/ethereal/breathy vocals distract and deceive us a little from the power message. (8.875/10)

11. "Battle! Against the Banished Sorcerer Knight, Stinklebug" (3:40) jumping now into some more serious testosterone; is MLP world in danger of being tsunamied? So, who is performing in this battle? The DJ seems to have everything under her control: listening to all of the offensive epithets being thrown its way but then deflecting and cleansing the dance floor palette with some badass waves and grooves of its own. Awesome! (9.5/10)

12. "Facing Oblivion to Become the Lode Star" (7:00) some variations on and recapitulations of previous themes--both musically and lyrically (The music never stops!), Vylet seems to be tying up loose ends, mending broken ties, winding down toward an end. Even the lyrics of this song seem to be retrospective and wistfully reflective, while the music is slightly more subdued, linear and controlled. I don't know if Vy's done this intentionally or even knowingly but even if it's all intuition, it's sheer genius. (14.25/15)

13. "In the Name of Friendship" (6:43) the sun comes shining through after the cold night of stars and mystical adventures. Beautiful finish to an absolutely stunning album. (9.25/10)

Total Time 62:44

It is SO GOOD to hear Vylet Pony return to the dub-step EDM palette that she explored earlier in her career with such impact and success. Her range is so much broader and her sound and track selections so original and unique--and yet still embedded in her own voice, her own earworm chord progressions--it's just a wonder to observe (this unfolding of higher and higher levels of mastery). It is OBVIOUS that, for Ms. Zelda Trixie Lulamoon, the music never stopped: it's all been inside her, festering, stewing, taking its time to emerge as yet another James Beard Award winning recipe! And each side dish arrives with seamless timing and perfect palette flow for my taste buds! I am in the stupor of a gourmand's post-meal coma! And I LOVE the new-found DEEP wellspring of power (and self-love) DJ Luigi has found! The incredible talent I've felt in this artist is finally being tapped to its fullest potential! Yeah! Long live the Pony!

A/five stars; a true masterpiece of incredible music. Call it prog if you can, if you will, (I wish you would!), regardless of its categories, this is one amazing album, from perfect start to perfect finish and everything in between. As much as I love and respect Vy for aiming "high" for success and notoriety in Prog World (i.e. with Monarch of Monsters), I really think her talents and skills lend itself to something bigger and more modern than that old Dinosaur World; in the world of EDM and dubstep and whatever else this is (supposed to be), Vylet Pony reigns as a god(dess)! Which is to say, I like this album MUCH more than her 2024 alternative (Monarch of Monsters). In fact, this is definitely one of my five favorite albums of 2024--right up there with Terrapath, Twenty Pills Without Water, Cold Waves Divide Us, and Tarot Part I. Based upon ratings and metrics alone (the Fishscales) this would be my runaway Album of the Year and the ONLY album to earn true masterpiece status from the 2024 releases I've heard.

the 3rd studio album made in 1972 by Wishbone Ash I'm gonna rate a 5 star. As a big fan of Wishbone Ash and a big fan of Andy Powell and Ted Turners lead guitar this album demonstrates some of the best guitar solos I think I've ever heard and I'm here for more!! But seriously I cant count the times I've listened to this album from fast paced tracks like "Blowin Free" to "The King will come" that displays pastoral messaging. The whole album offers powerful guitar solos that give this album a rocky perspective.

1. Starting off slower with the 9 minute song "time was" which starts off with vocals that lay back the tune of the song until the guitar solo.

2.Sometime world represents the same formula of great vocals by Andy Powell and the Turner brothers

3. Hearing this on the radio on the way to church one day I was amazed by the paired guitar work by Ted Turner and Andy Powell on the track "Blowin free"

4."The King will come" being my introduction to the album put the thought in my head that Wishbone was a Christian band with the Christian messaging of this track. Once again great guitar work and to mention Martin turners bass.

5. The album slows down with "Leaf and Stream" and features softer vocals by Martin Turner.

6. the song "Warrior" starts off with a Joe Walsh-esque guitar style of playing. The vocals chime in with lyrics with a medieval theme.

7.Coming home one day in the pitch black dark In the car I almost shed a tear to the solo presented in this song. The song starts off with a drum roll into guitar that transitions into beautiful vocals that tie in the first half of the song. The Duet Guitar solo is the staple of this song and possibly of the album. this solo it ends the album perfectly.

Even if this isn't so much of a prog album this album is for appreciated by people who love long guitar solos and vocals that start off a song as it transitions into instrumentation. also I thank the people who like my reviews through the Facebook plugin, I seriously appreciate it.

Studio album #10 by Porcupine Tree is often seen as divisive, repetitive, exhausted or maybe even clumsy at times - all pieces of criticism that are completely lacking substance and opting for careless neglect rather than engaging in a more profound way with what represents the last great release by a band in its classic period, for what concerns PT's history before their long hiatus. 'The Incident' is a concept album released as a double by Roadrunner Records in September of 2009, and famously features the 55-minute-long title track, the centerpiece of the entire LP, and a second disc with four more songs that do not relate to the main story but complement (and represent) the musical pursuits of the band at the time. While it is true that stylistically we could not speak of the odd one out as 'The Incident' exhibits a style similar to preceding albums, it is the volume, the architecture and the songwriting as well as the emotive nature of the composition that comes to be the most striking feature of the album.

Inspired by a road incident and further informed by other similar occurrences, Wilson masterfully recreates the dazzling and terrifying atmosphere of such events - the contrast between the heavy guitars and the menacing, punctuating synths and effects added by Barbieri are once again central to the successful Porcupine Tree formula. Needless to say, the rhythm section is stellar as usual but what comes to the fore is the intelligent, nearly perfect sequencing of the separate tracks making up the mammoth piece (among which we may find classics like 'The Blind House', 'Time Flies', 'Octane Twisted' and 'I Drive the Hearse'). The music is further enhanced by the soloing as we hear some of Wilson's finest playing and some of the most inventive riffs in the entire catalogue. Each of the bonus tracks on the second disc is quite unique in terms of mood and rhythm and the entire album could only be seen as a solid continuation of a sound already established on previous releases - definitely an underrated canon album.

An exploration of music in free form, we have the excellent seventh solo studio album by David Sylvian - 2009's 'Manafon'. This is a sonically intense and claustrophobically intimate album that dares to wander across the territories of avant-garde music and presents several pieces that can be described as sonic collages, full of discrete sounds and cryptic playing, all of which happens solemnly in the background, while upfront we have the majestic voice of David Sylvian delivering the lyrical content of an album that dares to be delicately conscious about social issues and rather intelligently mysterious, philosophical, and evocative. 'Manafon' is definitely an experimental project that may often remind you of the music of Andrew Liles and Ryuichi Sakamoto as one may discover an artistically selfish element to the album that renders it both slightly challenging yet indefinitely rewarding and spacious as a continuous listen - one that offers an engulfing ambience intertwined with vivid imagery.

Inspired by the life and poetry of Welsh poet Ronald Stuart Thomas, 'Manafon' is indeed heavily informed by the themes dealt with by the Welshman, with the captivated Sylvian penetrating his art and re-proposing it in improvised musical form. Brief glimpses of acoustic guitar and a piano, a nearly complete absence of percussive instruments and an extensive personnel of collaborators, a carefully curated cast of musicians selected for particular reasons by Sylvian, the entire album might seem a puzzle, but it is actually a very fine work, in which each element plays a vital role. After all, the whole is made up of the sum of its parts and each part represents the sum at the smallest scale - this rule has to be valid for the boundary-breaking 'Manafon', in which improvisation and chamber music creep into the sonic palette. The listener will quite literally experience glitching, slurping, knocking and abrupt sounds that imitate both nature and the realm of ghosts perhaps - an engaging, haunting, intimate listen that should be taken in its entirety. Definitely one of Sylvian's strongest and most daringly bizarre albums.

Armed with an actual band lineup for the second studio album, Gong released their fabulous 'Camembert Electrique' in 1971 and adopted the smart sales strategy of selling the album for the price of a single (taking the example of Faust and Virgin Records from the year before), expecting greater exposure to their work. Daevid Allen, Gilly Smyth and Didier Malherbe are joined by drummer Pip Pyle and bassist Christian Tritsch, forming the first proper incarnation of Daevid Allen's Gong. In comparison to the trippy debut album, 'Camembert' is a much heavier, focused, and risky release, with a greater focus on guitar work, composition, texture and album flow, as Gong released their first true classic in terms of overall quality and impact of the music. We have a much more diverse array of influences, with a taste for hard rock and avant-garde mixed with a spacey ambience. We must also mention the obvious focus on songcraft and the drastic improvement in production from 'Magick Brother'.

The silly short opener leads to the energetic and heavy track 'You Can't Kill Me', a playful piece that offers a very dynamic atmosphere contrasting with the mellower passages from the second side of 'Magick Brother'. Adopting more peculiar guitar techniques, a wider range of instruments and elevating the taste for the absurd even more, the album passes through the shapeless track 'I've Bin Stone Before' and the delirious 'Mister Long Shanks'. Another surreal entry follows in the face of 'Dynamite/I Am Your Animal' where the idea of creating noise and chaos prevails, allowing the listener to breathe in some of that psychedelic madness that surrounds Gong. The extended lengths of the songs is also noteworthy, with some of them reaching five or seven minutes, and while the winding fusion-y chops are not yet present, there is an idea of the experimental that is simply daring and unique. The tracks 'Fohat Digs Holes in Space' and 'Tropical Fish / Selene' exemplify exactly this, with the whole of 'Camembert' being a rather whimsical and fantastic introduction to the more serious musical side of Gong.

Let's not forget that Gong were one of the earliest, with the band's debut album recorded in late 1969 and released in March of 1970 - following Daevid Allen's short tenure with Soft Machine, the artist established himself in Paris (being unable to remain in the UK), living with his girlfriend Gilli Smyth, and this is precisely where 'Magick Brother' was conceived and constructed. Written by Allen who also performs the vocals, guitars and bass on the album, this is a tantalizing LP rooted in the psychedelic tradition and presenting the first glimpse of the Gong mythology, with several references made to the trippy universe of the peaceful planet Gong. And while all that made-up folklore might seem a bit over the top, I believe that one goes to Gong mainly for the music and the band does present plenty of impressive avant-garde pieces.

Now, this very first album from Allen, Smyth and Co. is a somewhat rough and ingenious creation, with quite a dilettante approach, yet there are some really good moments that indicate what future direction the band may take. Of course, there is a mesmerizing element to the spacey music as the album is divided into two thematic sides - "Early Morning" and "Late Night", indicating not only a recommendation on the listening hours and the textural differences of the two sides of the album, but also a conceptual side and a desire to present a piece of art that does not follow a standardized formula and dares to offer something with a twist. There are ostensible differences in the music on the two thematic sides but common to both of them are the hissing, jangling guitars through which Allen's old man voice makes his way, delivering some of the goofiest but most socially conscious lyrics. Didier Malherbe plays some flutes and sax as well, forming a nucleus of the band that would go on to break musical boundaries and experiment with genres and techniques. Some really fine, experimental entries on here include 'Glad to Say to Say', 'Chainstore Chant', 'Fable of a Fredfish' and 'Gong Song' as the prevailing element of absurdism captivates the listener.

Progressive electric music is unique as just one of the prog realms in the universe of prog music and Cybotron's debut album definitely puts that in spades. The energy put through sax and other instruments by Steve Maxwell and Geoff Green put a electronic spacey sense of sounds on the album. This style of music resembles Tim Blake of "Clearlight"s work on the synth. This album is a cosmic 70's musical odyssey.

1.The opening of the album "Arrakis" features synth by Steve Maxwell strolls deeper into the album. 2. The sophmore track "Mumbo Jumbo" brings in more percussion .3 "gods of Norse" presents a laid back melody that resembles the electric prog band "Tangerine dream"s sound with talent behind the synth and other keyboards. 4. the fourth song drags on and it starts to become unsettling but its pacing for the final track. 5. The ending to this album involves a 10 minute medley of electric prog fusion that in other words is the "echoes" by pink Floyd of the album concluding the sci Fi esque album.

1976 was a golden year for music and this is just one of the great albums that came out that year.

I hate to do this, but this has been on my playlist for, I've lost track, maybe two or three years now, and as much as I love Enchant, it's time for me to just let this one go and move on to the next. The third album by progressive rock band Enchant, 'Time Lost' was released in 1997, and has been on my playlist since what feels like approximately 1997. I was determined to make something click, but sadly, this just hasn't happened.

I can't even give criticism constructively, this album just isn't working for me. The musicianship is of a high standard and the production is good for a 90's prog band, everything is as it should be. But for whatever reason, the songs just aren't hitting their mark. With the exception of two? opening track 'Blind Sided' is an absolute banger, and closing track 'Mettle Man' has some great melodies and instrumental performances in it.

Sadly, the rest of the album is very forgettable to me. I love Enchant, I really do, but I don't think I'm likely to come back to this one anytime soon. Sorry guys!