"Fastest Trip to Cybertown" is the third full-length studio album by Austrian progressive rock/metal act Mayfair. The album was released through the King Pest label in 1998. As "Fastest Trip to Cybertown" is the only release registered as being released through King Pest, I suspect that it´s the band´s own label. "Fastest Trip to Cybertown" is the successor to "Die Flucht" from 1995 and it was the last album released during Mayfair´s original run from 1989 to 2000, when they disbanded the first time.

Although Mario Prünster´s Geddy Lee (Rush) sounding voice and delivery immediately gives away that "Fastest Trip to Cybertown" is a Mayfair release, all metal elements (which were already sparse) from the two predecing album releases have been stripped from the band´s sound, and "Fastest Trip to Cybertown" is instead a sort of experimental/semi-progressive rock album with strong alternative/indie rock leanings. It´s generally pretty odd sounding music and the emphasis is on groove, atmosphere, and weird/abstract songwriting ideas.

"Fastest Trip to Cybertown" is almost as thin sounding as the last two releases, and it would be a lie if i told you that it´s a particularly well produced release. But that´s nothing new when it comes to Mayfair. Upon conclusion "Fastest Trip to Cybertown" is an odd sounding rock album, and I´m not sure who would be the audience for this type of music. It´s occasionally interesting, but never really a great listening experience and a 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

Originally released on VHS in 1990, 'Chronicles' features twelve music videos by rock legends Rush. Totalling at just over an hour, these are all available on YouTube, and thus, makes this DVD redundant. However, with that said, it's Rush! While none of these videos are overly memorable, the music is absolutely fantastic, and in particular, focuses a lot on the bands' 80's synth-era material (my favourite Rush era). With hits like 'Tom Sawyer', 'Subdivisions', 'Red Sector A', 'Distant Early Warning' and 'The Big Money', there is no doubting the quality of the content here.

Still, the DVD format of these video compilations is obsolete, and only worthwhile to collectors like me. And while this one is heavily dated today, it's still a great watch for fans, and if you come across it cheap, it's more than worthy of being in your collection.

Review nº 847

The Doors was an American band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. The origins of The Doors emerged from a meeting between two UCLA film school students Morrison and Manzarek on the Venice Beach, California in July 1965. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and at a request of Manzarek, he sang "Moonlight Drive", a song that would appear on "Strange Days". Impressed by Morrison's lyrics, Manzarek suggested they could form a band.

"The Best Of The Doors (1973)" is a compilation of The Doors. It was released in 1973 and has eleven tracks. It features tracks from five of their six studio albums when Morrison was member of The Doors. It has three tracks from "The Doors" of 1967, three tracks from "Strange Days" also of 1967, one track from "Waiting For The Sun" of 1968, one track from "The Soft Parade" of 1969 and two tracks from "L.A. Woman" of 1971. Thus, it hasn't any tracks from their fifth studio album "Morrison Hotel". So, "Soul Kitchen", "Take It As It Comes" and "Light My Fire" are from "The Doors". "People Are Strange", "Love Me Two Times" and "Moonlight Drive" are from "Strange Days". "Hello, I Love You" is from "Waiting For The Sun". "Touch Me" is from "The Soft Parade". "Riders On The Storm" and "Love Her Madly" are from "L.A. Woman". But, it has also a track that never was released in any studio album of them, "Who Do You Love".

"Who Do You Love" appears for the first time on their live album "Absolutely Live", of 1970. It's a cover from an original song recorded in 1965 by Bo Diddley. This is a good song with a nice Krieger's slide guitar work. It sounds pretty, actually. "Soul Kitchen" is a tribute to the soul food restaurant "Olivia's" in the Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California, where Morrison and Manzarek met for the first time and represents the place where all began. It's a nice rock song played with energy. "Hello, I Love You" was a big commercial success. Despite be considered one of the most pop songs by The Doors and be frequently criticized, it's a great and catchy song. I never understood the dislike of many fans of the band about it. "People Are Strange" is about the alienation and be an outsider and a very loner person. This is another good and enjoyable song, but it's also at the same time a sad song with a dark musical atmosphere. It's a song with simple lyrics, ironic and sarcastic. "Riders On The Storm" represents, one of the greatest highlights of the band. This is a legendary track, which seems to be the last song recorded by The Doors, as well as Morrison's last recorded song to be released. It seems that it have been played live only once, on The Doors last public performance with Morrison, on the "L.A.Woman" tour at The Warehouse, in New Orleans, USA in 1970. "Touch Me" is a notable song for the extensive use of the brass and string instruments and also because the use of a saxophone solo by Curtis Amy. The orchestral arrangements work perfectly well and they accent Jim Morrison's vocals, even more. "Love Her Madly" became as one of the highest charting hits of The Doors. It's an interesting rock song with good lyrics, very good performances by all band's members, especially the guitar performance of Krieger is really amazing. "Love Me Two Times" is about a sailor and his last day with his girlfriend before shipping out to the Vietnam War. It's one of the most normal and typical rock songs made by the band. It has a slight touch of blues, which is a very normal common thing with many songs of The Doors. "Take It As It Comes" is a beautiful pop rock song, well made, highly attractive and which still sounds fresh and young in our days. We can say this song is so well written that sounds much better than many of the songs on the pop scene today. "Moonlight Drive" is known by fans as being one of the first songs written by Morrison, the song that started all. It's the song that Morrison sung to Manzarek in the Venice Beach. In many ways, this is the song that helped to form The Doors. It's a good song with a nice rhythm. "Light My Fire" was the first great success of them. It has brought the world fame and recognition to the band in the summer of 1967, bringing The Doors to the top of the charts and a symbol of that generation of the late 60's. It's one of the songs that immortalized the band.

Conclusion: "The Best Of The Doors (1973)", is really one of the best compilations released by The Doors. Seven of the eleven songs chosen to be part of it were taken from their three best studio albums "The Doors", "Strange Days" and "L.A. Woman". Only one was taken From "Waiting For The Sun" and one other from "The Soft Parade". None was chosen from "Morrison Hotel" and, fortunately, none was chosen from "Other Voices" and "Full Circle", the two albums released without Jim Morrison. Sincerely, I never got used to of hearing The Doors, without Morrison. Still, if you don't know The Doors very well and you need to by a compilation of the band, I sincerely advise you to buy "The Best Of The Doors", released in 1985, or the double CD compilation "The Very Best Of The Doors", released in 2007, because they're better and more representative from the career of the band when Jim Morrison was a member of The Doors.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

The wonderful debut album from Earth and Fire is a delightful collection of psychedelia and folk rock that clearly places this band in the big leagues. One could easily categorize the band in the proto-prog or the prog folk category if one were to base their categorization on just their debut album.

If I had to describe the music in one word, that word would be "fun". The songs on the album explore a wide range of musical genres, from folk rock to classic rock to catch jazz to pure psychedelia. With such a delicious first effort, it's no surprise their next three follow-up albums have rated so well.

— First review of this album —

40 years ago illustrator Martin Springett was asked to design the cover for a trilogy by a young Canadian author called Guy Gavriel Kay. That series was 'The Fionavar Tapestry', set in both contemporary Toronto and the secondary world of Fionavar. As the years went by Martin and Guy stayed connected and Martin created the maps for many of Guy's works, feeling so inspired by the words he was reading that over a 20-year period he wrote and recorded this album, which is mostly instrumental with the music taking us on the journeys travelled by the characters. To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the release of the first book, 'The Summer Tree', Martin has created the 'Summer Tree Portfolio' which led to label boss Nick Katona saying they ought to reissue this album as well to tie in with the celebrations.

Quick confession time, although I have been an avid fantasy reader since my teens, reading LOTR for the first time when I was 18 (decades before Peter Jackson awoke the whole world to Tolkien, in some ways it was nicer when he was a secret), I must confess to only knowing about this author through seeing Martin's posts on Facebook. That means that although this album is aimed at fans of the author to play and enjoy while knowing the back story, I am listening to this just for the music. Now, I have always thought of Martin's music as coming across with heavy influences from Roy Harper and Camel, but here we find him more in the world of Anthony Phillips and Gordon Giltrap: it is a delight to hear him providing so much acoustic guitar. It is interesting to hear him moving in quite different directions as well, as while there are times when he is in familiar territory there are others where he is taking a far more mystical and Eastern approach. His guitars are generally the focal point, but the use of flutes in particular are a wonderful aside and provides us with flavours and smells of the souk. This truly is a beautiful release, and I find it difficult to realise this is one of his older albums which I had not played until now. It is certainly very different to what I would normally expect from Martin and is an absolute joy to listen to from beginning to end.

From a purely musical perspective I thoroughly enjoyed this release, and I am sure that those who are familiar with the stories will get ever more from it. The final song is a new version of "Rachel's Song", with Danie Friesen singing and Kevin Laliberte producing, both of course current members of The Gardening Club. It is a very different take to the rest of the album, but it is nice to hear the contrast between this and the rest of the album. Highly recommended to fans either of Martin, The Gardening Club, or Guy Gavriel Kay

Georg Deuter is a talented multi-instrumentalist and composer who has been able to make a living with his music. His debut "D" from 1971 was a nice blend of krautrock and electronics, and he certainly was a pioneer at what he was doing. Things changed after the debut as he would go on a spiritual and music quest to India, like many 60's artists before him. He heard an Indian mystic preaching on the streets to thousands and was drawn to him, even though he had no idea what the man was saying in his Hindi language.

Georg would return and record this album "Aum" from 1972 and it's very much a transitional album as he scales the electronics way back and goes more for that meditative, transcendent sound he has embraced with his new found spirituality. He would change his name to Chaitanya Hari but keep his professional name DEUTER for his music. The cover art suggests this spiritual change as well, and of course that title Aaauummm... well would you believe that many feel that Deuter is the father of new age music. Following this record "Aum" he would go on to release well over 50 new age records during his career which sold fairly well.

So "Aum" for my tastes drifts into that new age territory too often. And that krautrock spirit is all but gone. Still, I can appreciate what he came up with here, it's just not nearly on the level as his debut. By the way Georg would move to India and work for that Indian mystic who would be known as Shomo. Deuter would live in an Ashram and create music for Shomo's active meditation sessions. You will see later Deuter albums with "reiki" in the titles etc. I have a daughter(now neutral gender) who is a reiki master, and lived on an Ashram for a few months here in Canada and in California. So "Aum" is mostly an all acoustic album with lots of strummed acoustic guitar, nature sounds, atmosphere, percussions and sitar. Meditation music.

If your a fan of krautrock or electronic music you really need to check out "D", but after that it helps to be into ambient or spiritual music.

This may be the best recording of the year. It achieves near perfection with hooks and great themes. Frost* is a vehicle to express a keyboard oriented group which always achieves a strong level of harmony. They are able to fuse together lyrics and arrangements with chord progressions that make a lot of sense and are very dense. The first album Milliontown set the bar very high and they couldn't quite reach the same level on subsequent albums. However, with Life in the Wires they have reached an even higher mark, musically. The album flows for over an hour and it doesn't let up at all. There is no filler on this album as everything makes sense and everything fits. This project has achieved what they sought. How they will top this is a mystery. 5 stars with no hesitation.

Emerald City Council, a progressive rock band formed in 2021, offers a dynamic and genre-blending experience on their debut album Motion Carries. The album features a mix of saxophone and guitar-driven compositions, influenced by classic and modern progressive rock. With a lineup including Jake Livgren (Proto-Kaw), Noah Hungate (Team Illuminati), and the multi-talented Brent Bristow (saxophone/keyboard), Motion Carries is both immersive and energetic.

The album blends various styles, from the high-energy opener Realize I ? Escape from the Ancient to the moving Mortal Game, showcasing Jake Livgren's powerful vocals and Bristow's expressive sax. The epic Platforms of Illusion stands out, a 20-minute prog masterpiece that combines intricate time changes and stunning musicianship, reminiscent of Kansas and Spock's Beard. The album also features standout tracks like the single Ice Thinning, with its modern Kansas-like sound, and No Thanks to You, which leans towards hard rock.

With fantastic guitar work from Seth Hankerson and contributions from guest musicians, Motion Carries offers an exciting mix of styles and emotions, filled with soaring melodies and stunning instrumental passages. This album is a must for any progressive rock fan (especially in the green vinyl).

Released: January 19, 2024 Order from Bandcamp: Motion Carries | Emerald City Council Signed copies: Emerald City Council Online Store

Absolutely electric live set from ELP - it's announced as being their first, actually it was their second, but either way it shows just how good they could be when they cut the novelty songs and concentrated on their technical mastery. The centre of gravity here leans towards the darker tones of their debut album, as expected, and includes a blistering workthrough of Pictures At An Exhibition. There's an energy and ferocity here which ELP never really quite managed to capture in the studio, and between this and the excellent Welcome Back My Friends To the Show That Never Ends I'm beginning to come around to the idea that ELP were a better live act than they were a studio one.

Drifting Sun's debut album finds the band presenting a hard-rocking, energetic, accessible style of neo-prog, sounding a bit like a more commercially inclined IQ at points. Theatrical flourishes on pieces like Communication and intriguing lyrical narratives on songs such as Jamie Was a Vampire come across as entertainingly cheesy, and the production values, whilst not astonishing, are pretty impressive for a self-released album of this vintage from an act just starting out.

With Karl Groom making a guest appearance and Clive Nolan helping out with the mix, it seems like the band had some pretty useful connections in the neo-prog scene who were eager to help them out. Alas, 1996 wasn't exactly a fruitful period for the subgenre; established acts who'd solidified a loyal fanbase in prior years were doing fine, but new groups were struggling to gather enough of a following to sustain them. They'd have one more album, On the Rebound, which would shift to a more Marillion-influenced sound but otherwise maintain the approach of this debut, and then they'd have a long hiatus before reconvening and reconfiguring in the mid-2010s. As far as this first album goes, it showcases a distinct sound which will appeal to neo-prog fans without necessarily making lots of new converts.