I had bought it just because it was Rush and I wanted to have everything. For some reason, in the beginning only Distant Early Warning appealed to me (come to think of it, maybe because I had already listened to A Show of Hands and it was familiar) and now I feel appaled by my early judgment! In fact, if the overall quality was not watered down by The Body Electric and Kid Gloves (which I keep listening in case my judgment changes once again - it hasn't) it would be a top Rush album. Afterimage (written about Robbie Whelan, a tape operator at Le Studio who was killed in a car accident) drips with emotion, Red Sector A which speaks about the Holocaust imprisonment camps manages to convey a feeling of anxiety and desperation, Red Lenses is spectacularly groovy (thanks, mostly, to the bass lines). As a whole, Geddy Lee's keyboards have taken a more leading role and Alex Lifeson's guitar focuses on the rhythm where the reggae influence is kind of obvious (consider The Enemy Within - the first part of the trilogy The Fear which started on Moving Pictures and was presented in descending order). The music generally is permeated by a dark atmosphere (excluding Kid Gloves) and I have read this was because the band was thinking seriously to break up - in fact Distant Early Warning was about it and the picture of a C-clamp in the inner of the artwork hints at that, too.

It was an album that Rush had difficulty to do. It took them three months to write the material and then spent five months recording it and the sessions were pretty hectic. Many times they felt that they couldn't come up with what the song demanded. They wanted new challenges because they had achieved a certain level of proficiency in what they were already doing. Consider also that they worked for the first time with another producer than Terry Brown in order to go into other musical territories. Many fans miss their up-to-1980s sound, but to my ears the music is so good that quite a few times I get the goosepimples. Try Between the Wheels and hear for yourselves.

I'm finding this album hard to review. On the one hand, in 'Brave Captain', 'Meadowland' and 'A Mead Hall in Winter', it contains some of BBT's most original and riveting tracks. On the other hand, the album feels strangely didactic, and in spite of excellent musicianship throughout, the spark that characterised THE UNDERFALL YARD and ENGLISH ELECTRIC (pts. I & II) is sometimes missing. Songs like 'The Ivy Gate' and 'As the Crow Flies' just don't do much for me. As for the didacticism, Greg Spawton's liner notes contain the passage: 'Whilst the Enlightenment is undoubtedly a Good Thing, some Enlightenment thinking is quite austere, with an emphasis on knowledge above all other things. For me, the "sweet-spot" for humanity is in the crossover between the values of the Enlightenment and Romanticism...' All of which makes me want to shout, O.K. Greg, let's move on to the next slide - and could you perhaps develop those thoughts a little by Monday? Even 'Brave Captain' is, in a sense, a history lesson - but David Longdon (who wrote both the words and the music) clearly hadn't made up his mind if he wanted to compose a patriotic song (when I attended a BBT gig in London, there were quite a few military men in the audience) or an anti-war song (viz. the lyrics 'You were a poster boy / who shunned your own fame / who didn't take to the accolades / even when propaganda / screamed your name'.)

Enough with the moaning! Both 'Meadowland' and the title track I find deeply moving. (What other prog band would dare to write a simple hymn to all those who seek 'science and art / and beauty and music / and friendship and love'?) 'On the Racing Line' is a lovely instrumental, 'Experimental Gentlemen' is catchy in a TRICK OF THE TAIL kind of way, and all things considered we've got at least 50 minutes of superior 'symphonic prog' here, embellished with gorgeous solos on electric guitar (mainly by Dave Gregory, I suppose), Rachel Hall (violin) and various keyboards (Rikard Sjöblom and Danny Manners). Although BBT have released quite a few albums since GRIMSPOUND, I honestly cannot say (as of February 2025, when I'm writing this review) they've ever really captured the same heights again.

A trap album.. The last Tim Morse! At the beginning yes it's them finally their grandsons. THE BEATLES you understood, and then the machine starts up.. melodic, ethereal, finally not too much, and then electro but just in snowy layers, and then variations.. progressive yes the word is out... and then these jazzy atmospheres... but from afar with this piano that smells good. In short some would say Art Rock.. I say it's a beautiful progressive album. 1. Blueberry Way for the Beatlesian sound 2. Remembrance for the interlude coming from limbo, challenging 3. Cityscape goes on VANGELIS, CARPENTER, threatening, dark synth, towards a submerged city 4. Broken Compass for the bucolic, contemplative ballad, pop rock from the time when one could travel without fear and without effort 5. By The River interlude with the trumpet coming to crash on your ears, delicate sweetness 6. Balance between the acoustic guitar, the banjo and the accordion, for the southern melody with this final slide spleen guitar that warms the hairs 7. Eponymous soundtracks, majestic, a solemn zest of VANGELIS, YES, voice-overs, a vocal in the distance, a funeral march worthy of a BOWIE; the first sung title

8. Empty Vessels with vibraphonic or xylophonic bells, a burst of cat with fleeting flute and a synthetic spatial outro that makes you jump 9. As Yet Untitled for the riff à la BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST, in symphonic redundancy, the illuminated vocal and a beautiful final keyboard layer 10. Solar Flare for its jazzy soft, twirling approach 11. Deidra for its delicate piano and its crystalline guitar arpeggio, a timeless variation 12. Mind Games oriental intro before leaving on a sung piece from the 80s, with lightness and shamelessness, almost soul-funky with this dancing groove à la EARTH, WIND & FIRE; a moment with another keyboard from the 3rd period of GENESIS 13. Lullaby for the marshmallow title with the little train that passes, your monolithic tone that unfolds like an endless rail 14. Musical vortex with the ambient moment that lets go into another world riding bubbles, passing from one to the other before they burst.

I believe this is the true start for the band and for good reason. Genesis I believe were a supergroup for their time and on later albums even upgrading the roster on "Nursery Cryme" with Steve Hackett and Phil Collins. One of my favorite Genesis opinions is if Anthony Phillips had not had stage fright he would have been better than Steve Hackett :). But I digress this album deserves cheers for it having true roots of prog elements Peter Gabriel's artistic vision amplifies the music and gives insight for the talent of the band. two highlights I have from this album are the tracks "White Mountain" and "The Knife" the Knife is possibly one of the heaviest songs put out by the band and Anthony Phillips' talent shows through the song with the epic guitar solo half way through the song. after this album Anthony went on to do solo work along with some Genesis members. Throughout the entire album Tony Banks keyboard gives Genesis their symphonic prog sound and on "Dusk" shows their folk prog side

When it seemed that the Queen story had come to an end after the passing of Freddie Mercury in 1991, four years later Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon regrouped to record "Made in Heaven" (1995), the band's fifteenth and final album. A work of poignant sentimental as well as musical value, it is the result of a decision by the surviving members of Queen to share Mercury's posthumous vocal recordings with the public, combined with tracks that for various reasons were never released, others released in different arrangements, and previous solo initiatives.

A permanent halo of melancholy and sense of loss surrounds the work, very present in tracks like the delicate "It's a Beautiful Day" (taken from the recording sessions of 1980's "The Game"), the lilting "Made in Heaven" (adapted from Mercury's 1985 solo album "Mr. Bad Guy") and the very dark "Mother Love" (the last track Mercury was able to record but May had to complete vocally). A lot of emotion also with the gospel "Let Me Live", the beautiful "My Life Has Been Saved" (B-side of the single "Scandal" from 1989's "The Miracle") and the thunderous ballad "Too Much Love Will Kill You" (from May's 1992 solo album "Back to the Light").

Some of the enthusiasm that Mercury always conveyed, however, can be found in the radiant, rocking version of "I Was Born To Love You" ("Mr. Bad Guy") and the dance pop "You Don't Fool Me" adorned by May's magnificent and hurtful guitar solo. And the peaceful and elegant "A Winter's Tale" (the last song composed by Mercury) is the step before the reprise of "Its a Beautiful Day" concludes the album.

As a curiosity, for the Cd version, a relaxing instrumental piece of more than 20 minutes was included, created between producer David Richards and the band.

The great emotional effort involved in the careful recording process and the respectful arrangements of 'Made in Heaven' resulted in the best album possible under the circumstances, and its worldwide acceptance allowed it to sell more than 20 million copies.

3 stars

This is an anomaly both in the RENBOURN catalogue and for a prog rock audience, the first of 2 collaborations between American born British based folk singer DORRIS HENDERSON and the master fretter. The subsequent year saw "Watch the Stars", in which Renbourn received credit but not even second billing. Henderson has a stirring soulful voice with a hereditary gospel panache that is a fascinating when applied to the more folky pieces ("Sally Free and Easy", "The Water is Wide") but unremarkable in the bluesy covers ("The Lag's Song", "American Jail Song"). With Renbourn's stellar accompaniment on all, it could be postulated that this seemingly insignificant work motivated him to favor British Isles folk over his early American blues excursions going forward in his solo career, just as PENTANGLE was assembling and occupying a third half of his brain. There you go!

Haasta is an instrumental rock trio from Gdansk, Poland. They describe their music, can be viewd on their bandcamp as "Emotionally rich music, full of intriguing rhythms and captivating melodies" can not be more then agree with them.

Debut album saw the light in september 2024 after releasing an EP in 2020, named Gyddanyzc. Well, worth to have this release because everything you will hear is damn well played from start to fisnish. Complex passages, all albums is instrumental, but that is not a problem every pieces is a winner for sure.

Personally I admire Aleksandra Ciecierska type of playing the guitar, very solid from start to finish, imagine a King Crimson type guitar wizardry in a jazz fusion coat, well worth your attention. Just to be checked the splendid and aI mean super splendid piece named Wiosenny, god damn that is a brilliant tune, so well constructed, my fav from the album. The keyboards are only as supportive instrument, there are no fast solos, but when this instrument is integrated in overall sound the atmosphere created is more then ok.

And this manner of playing is on all tracks, complicated rhythms, syncopated parts in a very progressive rock atmosphere.

I must add that also the other two musicans involved done a great job for sure, the bass is omni present and full of funky stuff and integrated very well with the drummer who is competent musician.

So, overall , in my opinion better then thier EP, this debut Gyddanyzc is a fine instrumental effort. Recommended 3.5 stars easy.

This band and this album is way to low rated without reason. Really, we taking about 1986 type of symphonic prog with some AOR a la Asia, well the result is not bad at all. All members involved are super musicians and is shown on every track here, Cozy Powell is the master on drums and respected among all musicians of any genre and the other two are from famous ELP, the keyboard wizard Emerson and the bass machine Lake.

Simply named self titled issued in 1986, this is a solid album all the way to my ears, instrumental greatness, 80's keyboard driven prog rock as must sound this type of music for that period. All pieces are strong. Simply and well worth 3.5 stars from me. A nice forgotten one. Similar to some Rick Wakeman albums around that era

To quote the liner notes... "This project began when we randomly stumbled upon a YouTube video of PRIMUZ CHAMBER ORCHESTRA performing one of our songs, as reimagined by composer/arranger Wojtek Lemanski. Their flawless execution of a highly challenging arrangement(which was startlingly inventive and yet remained entirely faithful to the spirit of the original composition!) inspired us to reach out and propose a collaboration."

Before I purchased this cd I did read that quote above which was enough for me to take a chance on this. I'm just not the biggest fan of orchestral music in my cereal. The band picked nine tracks, three compositions each from this trio, from earlier albums. Then they were given the makeover. "We are truly proud of the way this project turned out... and we're profoundly grateful that serendipity somehow brought us all together for this collaboration. Enjoy!"

There's an insert with a picture of Wojtek on his keyboard composing, as well as Lukasz Blaszczyk the orchestra director. Then photos of 22 string players, both male and female all looking like students. Wearing black and holding their instruments. Plus a separate picture of an oboe player, and some pictures of them performing in the studio. A project like this just makes me smile. Like the collaboration of two different musical worlds. Still, the question is, is this any good?

Well I checked five of the nine songs as being outstanding, so yes! I'm not big on the 69 minute running time, but minor flaws aside this really worked out well. In my mind I was hoping that THE ARISTOCRATS would be themselves here, and that the orchestra would match their intensity blow for blow. I was thinking what if the string players from RATIONAL DIET'S "At Work" album played with this trio. Imagine the fire! The intensity would be off the charts. No this doesn't live up to that dream, but it gets close at times.

My top five includes the two closing songs pus tracks three to five. The opening two along with tracks six and seven are good, but not on the same level in my opinion of the five. I really enjoyed this, this past week. In fact I played it back to back a couple of times. I think the pig likes it too! I was surprised to see Darran Charles mentioned in the thankyou section. It's the only name I recognized, and he's the lead guitarist for GODSTICKS, and he has collaborated with THE PINEAPPLE THIEF.

This is an album that shows David's growth and maturation as a songwriter and band leader: the music here is much more full and sophisticated than the work he did in the 1960s that led to his fame. He has figured out how to blend his orchestral with the laid back, jazz-rock funk that he burst onto the scene with on his famous tribute to works of William Blake in Song of Innocence. The bass, guitar, keys, and horns are definitely offered much more freedom to be creative, to be flashy, and to show off their own skills and ideas here than they were the albums from a decade before. While I miss Carol Kaye (who wouldn't?), the bass playing by JIm Hughart is quite exceptional. As with Song of Innocence, David's genius for spreading the melodies of his music across the entire band is displayed here--maybe at times even more successfully (like on the amazing "Terri's Tune"). At times the orchestrated approach makes one feel as if you're listening to a film or television soundtrack, but that doesn't matter because it's just great, eminently enjoyable music! Period! Definitely my second favorite of David's discography (which includes the two Electric Prunes liturgical renderings in 67 & 68).

A1. "Aunt Charlotte" (4:46) a long strings intro is slowly joined by bass, funky clavinet, and trumpet with horn section support and a near-disco Rocky-like palette (and feel). It's peppy with that clavinet and Rocky-like trumpet, but perhaps a little too cheesy. (8.875/10)

A2. "Mujer Extrana (Strange Lady)" (9:18) a gentle, slow and steady melodic build (coming from the militaristic drum-paced rock combo) that feels a lot like a kind of bluesy R&B "Thrill Is Gone" like song. It then shifts at the 90-second mark with the addition of some new, discordant/counterpoint chords from the orchestra that bring in a little tension build up. The bluesy-rock Latin funk music continues with Don Randi's keys providing the most dominant forward momentum despite feeling a part of a whole-band weave throughout. A bass solo ensues for about 45 seconds before guitar, Rhodes seem to vie for the next solo but are then overthrown by loud orchestra swells and a rather insistent flute. At 7:20 a little reset lull allows everyone to kind of congeal into a whole-band march toward the finish line where it seems that only the snare and bass are strong enough to cross the finish line. Cool song! (18/20)

A3. "Tony Poem" (4:50) Jim Hughart's funky Anthony Jackson-like bass along with Earl Palmer's expert drums and Don Randi's clavinet and electric piano along to reinforce it make for quite an introduction to this wonderful album's great sound and comforting groove-cruisin'. In the end, though, it just might be a little too cheesy in the way it pulls at the listener's "white man's overbite" dance strings. (8.875/10)

B1. "Mrs. O.J.A." (5:38) more of the gentle funk from the studio band is led this time around by the chord play of Don Randi on the Fender Rhodes, then a great little bass solo from Jim Hughart before the horn accents enter in the second minute. This is great use of the horns to amplify and contrast with the song's awesome funk chord progression, followed up by a great Jay Graydon's guitar solo as the spacious play of Don Randi's Fender Rhodes continues to steer the song down the river. The trumpet solo in the fourth and fifth minutes is a little over the top, but the entry and weightiness of the string and horn sections' chords help to offset it. (9.125/10)

B2. "Terri's Tune" (6:44) an absolutely perfect piece of music: I am amazed how smoothly David spreads his melody-carrying work among the entire ensemble. Then in the middle of the fourth minute there is a curious pause--which lasts a little longer than is normally comfortable--but then sees the best of the song rising out of its reset--with some great clarinet soloing from Jackie Kelso in the sixth minute. The final two minutes of the song offer what feels like the album's very best music and motif. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful. (10/10)

B3. "Sandy" (5:44) long solo bass intro is eventually joined by finger piano-like acoustic guitar, doubling up the bass's near-classical melody line. Second time through the guitar breaks off to make its own harmonizing melody line before the orchestra's flutes and winds take over to claim their own melody. Strings-backed rock combo then pick up a a gentle, slow and steady melodic build that feels a lot like a kind of Jimmy Webb song. Beautiful! Acoustic guitars remain the lead instruments--working in tandem--until the four-minute mark when Don Randi's Fender Rhodes takes a turn. Here the rhythm section does an excellent job of support as the guitars turn into the accent-providers while the soothing strings float around in the heavens above. Nice! (9.125/10)

Total time: 37:00

91.43 on the Fishscales = A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of masterful blending of jazz-pop combo and full orchestra. Awesome and highly recommended.