Prog Britannia - Album Reviews

TIGER MOTH TALES     Chocks awaaaay! It's time to take flight with Tiger Moth Tales, a squadron of Neo Prog aviators from the county of Nottinghamshire and captained by squadron leader Peter Jones - not the guy from Dragons' Den, but a blind singer and multi-instrumentalist who's probably best-remembered now for appearing in the 2015 remake of Steve Hackett's Spectral Mornings with David Longdon of Big Big Train and Christina Booth of Magenta, but if you don't recall that momentous event in the progosphere, then here's a timely reminder. 

THIEVES' KITCHEN    Not a den of iniquity, but an eclectic Neo Prog trio from Swindon. Thieves' Kitchen's albums are priced at around £12 on Amazon, which isn't exactly a steal, but it's not daylight robbery either. 

MICHAEL ALAN TAYLOR     "A great battle is a terrible thing," the old knight said "but in the midst of blood and carnage, there is sometimes also beauty, beauty that could break your heart!"...... And so it is with the beautiful music of Michael Alan Taylor, who's taking a break from Neo Prog band Nth Ascension to present this magnificent swords and sorcery epic of Arthurian legend, where gallant knights in white shining armour come to the rescue of fair maidens in distress. Surely the most epic tale since Rick Wakeman presented King Arthur on Ice, but at a fraction of the cost. 

  2012: Tamarisk - Frozen in Time - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mDGQ5wci0V67zeEx8x66gcrmVTGM7zcSo

  2018: Tamarisk - 332018LIVE! - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m98NxSkePGUL0Ii3p42g2A84M_i-ACIS0

  2021: Tamarisk - Suspended Animation - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nSC0D_R6r6TdChQN3vk_E-lzonReup1OE

SONIC TAPESTRY     Oh, what a tangled web we weave..... Why not explore the warp and the weft of Sonic Tapestry as they take us on a musical journey of discovery. Definitely not an album for the cloth-eared. 

  2015: Sonic Tapestry - Aftermath - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nXmLy1o0z1uub6GK3nmZIFe5e3C7LzD44

SHADOWLAND    The grand wizard of prog strikes again! The omnipresent Clive Nolan is a man of many bands, having been a regular presence in Pendragon, Arena, Strangers on a Train, Caamora and Casino. In the magical realm of Neo Prog, you just know without a shadow of a doubt that any band Clive Nolan is involved with will be a surefire winner. Shadowland are no exception, so set phasers to stun for some outstanding keyboard wizardry from Clive as he delivers another masterclass of technical ecstasy and perfection 

I had you in mind whilst listening to Sanguine Hum this morning. I remember you mentioning previously that you're a fan of theirs. 

SANGUINE HUM     And now for something completely different.... Sanguine Hum might be a strange name for band, but not nearly as strange as their previous incarnation as Antique Seeking Nuns. Their bizarre band name is merely a reflection of their offbeat music though, as Sanguine Hum are unlike any Neo Prog band you've heard before, or will ever hear again. Just in case you were wondering, Sanguine Hum is a cryptic reference to the four humours (or temperaments) of proto-psychological theory, first hypothesized by the ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates (the Greek scholar who gave us the Hippocratic Oath in medicine). He postulated that there are four fundamental personality types. Namely, sanguine (optimistic), choleric (grumpy), melancholic (sad), and phlegmatic (calm). But how does this apply to music, you may well ask? Well, if you're sanguine - as I am - then you may listen to an entire discography, hoping against hope that an artist's  albums will get better as they go along, which they often do, especially in the case of Opeth and Therion. Alternatively, if you're choleric, then you're most likely a grumpy prog fan who's notoriously hard to please, but at the same time,  someone who has endlessly diverse tastes in music, liking anything from Allan Holdsworth to Steely Dan to Dream Theater. Thirdly, if someone is melancholic in their musical tastes, then I'm guessing they'd be a fan of Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, maybe the Cocteau Twins, or even Current 93. Lastly, we come to a phlegmatic personality, where some calming and reflective Post Rock may be in order, or even better, the deep and meaningful music of Sanguine Hum!  

STEVE ROTHERY     This town, is coming like a ghost town..... This is the long-awaited debut album from Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery. The Ghosts of Pripyat was inspired by the abandoned ghost town of Pripyat in the Ukraine, which is a stone's throw from the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986. It's rumoured  there's still enough deadly radiation around to make you glow in the dark like a Ready Brek kid if you spend any length of time there. You may not have heard of the long-abandoned Clune Park Estate though, which has been described as Scotland's Chernobyl, and where just eight residents remain. You can still buy a flat there for a paltry £7,000, but as Lloyd Grossman would say, who would want to live in a place like that!?? 

Let's take a look now as we go Through the Keyhole. 

RIVERSEA    A nautical Neo Prog duo for your delectation and delight. Local radio personality Alan Partridge seems to be in a spot of hot water again too when he's all at sea with a group of angry local farmers whilst filming a promotional video for Hamilton's Water Breaks, in the episode "Watership Alan". Alan Partridge now hosts Mid-Morning Matters on BBC Radio Norwich, because mid-morning matters!