Now it's important to mention K.G. came under fire from some fans and critics of the band for sounding like the band was treading water and repeating themselves. Personally though, I just thought musically start to finish the album was really solid and at the end of the day, I had a lot of fun with it. I don't think such complaints are unfounded, as when I listen to a song like Some of Us or Straws in the Wind, it sounds comfortably King Gizzard to me, but this certainly wasn't something I felt across the whole record. Personally I always judge an album on its own merits, if I like the songs, than we're chillin! Now the reason I bring all of this up is because this record is coming under even more fire from some camps for apparently being a worse offender than the last one and i'm seeing a lot of people completely write it off for this reason. However... I don't know.... I just think this album is pretty... awesome honestly! After several listens I absolutely prefer this one to K.G. and I think this delivers on the same level as many of the high points of K.G. but on a very consistent basis between its 9 songs. The tracks all jive really well together for me and it makes a really groovy, fun and relatively easy listen. This record falls heavily into their psychedelic rock camp, while still carrying some of the odd times and unconventional riffage they've picked up over time. I love the production value here and all the super psychedelic ear candy sounds scattered throughout the songs. Listening through, I just feel like I've delved into a big dusty cloud of psychedelia and I love it.

Getting into the songs now, opening up is the aforementioned "If Not Now, Then When?" It opens with somewhat of an abrasive transition from The Hungry Wolf of Fate, K.G.'s closer. But it all fizzles out as this real crunchy clavinet comes in. When the rhythm section fires off it's a super groovy and satisfying payoff that I just have to move to while listening. Lot's of great melodies throughout, just a super solid opener and a pretty unique one for the band at that. Following that is O.N.E which reminds me of Automation off the last album because I feel they both serve a similar purpose, and that being getting the ball rolling and getting some momentum kicked off for the next suite of songs. This one opens with a bit of a hypnotic and floaty start, before kicking into that very driving rhythm section. Lot's of stuff to grab onto within this song with a cool little guitar breakdown in the middle. "Pleura," follows this up and this has a real headbanging riff to it, you kinda have to headbang in a weird rhythmic pattern though but it works. This ones got a pretty frantic feel to it, towards the middle it settles down a little into a slightly toned down sounding spin on the verse before calming completely down right before we hear a good ol' "woooOOOO" bringing us right back into that main riff coming through at full power. Awesome, high energy song. Supreme Ascendancy is where the album actually steps thing up a little bit for me, and I really feel it keeps the bar at this high level for the remainder of its runtime. It's got this super upbeat psychedelic Anatolian rock instrumentation opening things up, i'm actually having a little trouble describing it but for what that's worth, I think that's the mark of something pretty cool! Just a great vibe to this one, the instrumentals here are some of their most textured if you ask me with some nice organ coming through to accompany the main hook. The following track Static Electricity is easily one of the best songs, arguably the best for my money. It opens with this super menacing guitar riff backed by a real brooding electronic soundscape. The vocals got this ghosty tone to it while in the rhythm department I really feel the now singular drummer has really stepped things up and distinguished himself as a very key member of the band now that the two drummer dynamic is no more. Everything about this song just touches all the bases for me, I love the super earthy sounding passage at the 3:00 mark, the song reaches a sweet crescendo and playout towards the end, great stuff.

East West Link follows that awesome track up and keeps the album moving carrying a similar drive to Static Electricity. We see more nice subtle rhythmic choices with some bongos? Hell yeah! There's a really cool instrumental section around the halfway mark. On it's own, this is a song I have a little less to say about, but it fits like a glove in the context of a full album listen. The following track "Ataraxia," is another highlight and contender for the best song. The riffage in this song is tied for the best on the album for me, more on that later! When the full band comes in the main riff is just absolutely filthy and once again, I think a lot of credit for this can be placed on the drumming. When it suddenly moves right into the verse like a light switch, it's just so satisfying, pardon me for sounding like a broken record here but once again, the stars of the show here are the drums and bass seamlessly playing around the riffs and vocal melodies. I just cant rave about this track enough, a real mastery of rises and falls, build ups and payoffs. Now in the final stretch, "See Me" comes through next taking you through a dusty maze of music. It has a pretty bouncy feel to it with more of those uhhh... hard to describe psychedelic chiming instrumentals taking the lead. I'll group this one with East West Link as being less of a track you'll just throw on out of context, but in a full album listen, this is a nice bridge between two of the goliath songs. That brings me into the closing track, the familiarly titled "K.G.L.W" which ties these two albums all together. This song, clocking in at over 8 minutes King Gizzard pulls through with in my opinion, one of their best songs ever. Combing elements of Prog Metal, Doom/Stoner Metal and Pysch Rock, it's like a fever dream for me. I'd have to argue it's much more successful and original on all fronts than K.G.'s closer "The Hungry Wolf of Fate." The riffs are so crunchy throughout and these eight minutes and change just melt away as King Gizzard takes you on a hellish tour through evil L.W. land or.... something? One thing I really like about this song is that there's very little downtime and they come at you basically right out the gate with an aggression. At 2:07 it drops into this awesome rhythmic riff and I think the fact that it comes out of a stretch of 7/4 into this 4/4 section makes it a very enjoyable and hard hitting transition. Some of the more doomy elements follow with larger than life walls of muddy distortion followed by some sweet slow and fiery riffage. The band has proved to be more than competent at this style, and I'd love to see them embrace it more on a full album basis, even the fact that you could classify parts of this song as Progressive Metal makes me very excited. The prospect of King Gizzard tackling that style.... oh man.

So yeah, I just really love this record and I really can't really get behind some of the flak getting thrown its way. There's been times in the past where I feel like the band has missed the mark or undelivered a little bit, but that's just not the case for this album. Every song hits the mark, I have a ton of fun listening to this record on repeat and I think it stands sturdy and comfortably against some of their other really good albums! Thanks for reading, giving this one 4.5 stars. Am I going against the grain here? If so, that's okay, this bands got something for everyone in my opinion and I'm just happy that they're one of the premier modern rock bands and I get to be a fan during their reign! Cheers!

(For progarchives sake, I'm going to begrudgingly round down to 4 stars, time will tell where it ultimately falls!)

First: Foxtrot - Genesis 

 Foxtrot is my favorite album ever made, period. My list of top 10 changes quite frequently but in all my time listening to prog, this has remained constant

We open with the soaring Mellotron of Watcher of the Skies, if this isn't the best use of a mellotron in prog, I don't know what is. The band progressively joins in and holds no punches. It's also worth noting Collins also has some carpel-tunnel inducing drumming going on.

The production on Collins drums and the album overall is fantastic as well. Gabriel sounds great and everything has a punch behind it

We have two softer tracks with Time Tables and Horizons. Time Tables is more of a banks song, it has a real comfortable old-english vibe, it's got a nice hook. While horizons is Hacketts classical inspired piece. Makes me feel like in sitting on a beach all alone during the sunset.

Get em Out By Friday has always been a favorite, awesome explosive intro (drumming is worth noting) with a hard hitting verse. It's a song in the same style as Epping Forest or Hogweed where gabriel plays several different characters. My favorite part is when it turns to acoustic ("After all this time...") Gabriels vocals actually have some real emotion behind it in this section.

Can Utility and the Coastliners is a real gem. It starts light and builds into a heavy song with the dark organs found throughout nursery cryme. The band plays with such a great intensity throughout the song

Well... you already know Suppers Ready im sure!

I'll keep it short but it is never boring and the climax at the end is chilling. Its perfection, and I'll leave it at that.

In my opinion, this is the best album ever made, a few come close for me (Animals, Court of the Crimson King, Moonmadness) but I doubt that in my lifetime i'll hear an album better than this.

We've come a long way, foxtrot is no longer my favorite prog album ever made :) I think over the last couple years i've really improved my writing quite a bit, likely through reading others more descriptive reviews.

The new LP is right up there with Brave and Marbles, two works of utter genius, and by far the finest works by the band. Happiness Is The Road comes at a particularly creative period for the band.

I will not review track by track - it would take too long.

The LP is produced magnificently and the soundscapes and atmosphere are intriguing and beautiful. Mark Kelly's work is particularly to the fore in this LP and Steve Rothery is used somewhat sparingly, but, as ever, adds so much. And yes - Steve Hogarth dominates with his vocals, and rightly so. Listen to Essence to see why I regard the man as the greatest vocalist in modern day progressive rock.

So....you will not get any early Genesis sounding tracks (and I love these, by the way). What you get is a modern band still pushingthe boundaries of progressive music and creating true radical music - surely what we are all after?

Download this from the Marillion website. You will not regret it.

My latest of 343 reviews is Steven Wilson’s latest.

The answer to the (as far as the so-called hardcore fan base is concerned) "sellout" electronica pop/rock album that is The Future Bites is yes. I do like it. It is clever conceptually regarding rampant commercialism and its use of technology (Follower is a very clever commentary, as well as including a fantastic guitar riff). Musically, it is as tight as one would expect from a maestro musician. In terms of its sound, it is as polished as one would expect from the man most in demand for remixes on the planet. And in the 10 or so listens thus far, each time I find myself foot-tapping and head-nodding in appreciation at what I am hearing, most definitively on the quite marvellous 12 Things I Forgot, which, perhaps deliberately, reminds one strongly of my favourite Porcupine Tree track, Lazarus. 

Elsewhere, we have a guest slot by Elton John on Personal Shopper, an extremely clever exposé of all those utterly inessential "essential" items of shopping we are so addicted to, showing if nothing else that Sir John has a nice sense of irony about himself. The passage where he reels out the list of items is a dreamy sequence in stark contrast to the relentlessly upbeat opening themes, and this continues before the corporate electronica reasserts itself.

Most of the music here is beat driven and electronically upbeat, and certainly a massive contrast to the relentless, if brilliant, gloom of Hand. Cannot. Erase, although there are a couple of tracks which can be identified as natural progressions from that album in their melancholy, namely Man of the People and Count of Unease.

All in all, I admire this album and the driving force behind it. Wilson is progressing, and taking his musical vision to places he wants them to go, rather than the somewhat obsessive minority who demand a repeat of In Absentia every time he records something.

In closing, I might also add that this album reminds me quite a bit of that period in the early 1980's when every "proper" Genesis fan decried the commerciality of ATTWT and Duke, and wanted Collins strung up after the massive success of Face Value. Let me tell you something. There are a great many people about now who love a lot of the music we hold dear on this site because of the accessibility of those albums, and others such as 90125. They listened, and thought, "this ain't half bad", and explored further.

Steven Wilson is a man who I think is becoming more and more like the man he obviously holds in the highest regard (and it is reciprocated), namely one Robert Fripp, an artist and leader who spent an entire 50+ career reinventing himself and his music.

I for one look forward very much to the next instalment of Wilson's journey, because The Future Bites is an excellent album those with an open mind to class pop/prog/rock will take a great deal of enjoyment from.

And you know what? As much of a masterpiece I regard aforementioned Hand....this one will be on the deck quite a bit more often, even if it is as background whilst I work. Yep. Accessible. Easy to listen to, but still oozing intelligence in every note and word. That will do for me.

Here we have the humble beginnings of what will become one of the greatest prog bands of the 1970s. It's basically a collection of mellow 1960s pop songs, sorely lacking the musical and lyrical skill of Trespass and all other albums that followed. Still, you can hear potential here and there on this oddity of a record. On some of the songs, Gabriel's voice carries that raw energy he would be widely known for on later recordings, especially on the song "In the Beginning." The music though, has an almost demo feel to it.

Not the best place to start if you want to get into Genesis. I would recommend starting with Trespass and then acquiring each album chronologically after that. Only for the curious, thus two stars.

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Latest review was Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets - Live at the Roundhouse, December 3, 2020:

 This review is for the 2 CD/DVD version.

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets had its origins not with Nick Mason, but with guitarist Lee Harris (formerly with the new wave, post-punk band Blockheads). Harris realized that no one asks Nick Mason to do anything anymore and no one was really performing the ancient stuff from Pink Floyd's oeuvre. Harris happened to be good friends with bassist Guy Pratt, Pink Floyd's bassist since the A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour. Harris didn't think Mason would ever consider his idea, so he sold it to Pratt and Pratt loved it. And so Pratt took it to Mason and the idea took off.

So, Pratt was also friends with Gary Kemp, lead guitarist and backing vocalist of new wave band Spandau Ballet, and Dom Beken, keyboardist from The Orb and collaborator of Rick Wright who is responsible for maintaining Wright's archive. He suggested them to Mason and they started rehearsing just to see what would happen. A rehearsal with family and friends was well-received and then a sold-out test show at Dingwalls, a 500-seat club in London in May 2018. A couple more small shows eventually led to a European tour in September 2018, followed by a North American tour in 2019.

This package contains 2 CDs of the live set recorded from concerts held at The Roundhouse in London, on May 3 and 4, 2019. It also includes a DVD of the performance. The live set included performances of selected songs from Pink Floyd's albums from 1967 to 1972, all pre-Dark Side material. The only album that no material was taken from was the studio portion of Ummagumma. The set list also included the singles Arnold Layne, See Emily Play, and Point Me at the Sky. It also included the song Vegetable Man which was considered for either their second album or as their third single, but was scrapped (it later appeared in the The Early Years box set).

So, Mason didn't want this to be just a covers band. He let the members add their personalities to the songs. Some of them were extended, some of the bass lines were modified, additional guitar solos were added, more modern keyboards were melded into it, and slight rearrangements here and there. But although they had this freedom to put their own stamp on these early songs, they tried to be respectful of the originals. The end result is a refreshing experience giving us not just a taste of what these might have sounded like back in the day, but bringing them into the present in a very tasteful manner for newer generations to hear.

One thing that really touches me with this one is it's diversity. They pulled a wide range of different types of songs from a five-year period in which Pink Floyd was experimenting in many ways just find who they were as a band. From dizzying psychedelic wipeouts using many interesting effects, to whimsical fairy-tale psychedelic pop songs, to heavy rock and rollers, to grandiose and pompous displays of instrumental prog rock. The gang here really put some thought into these selections so that they would gel together in a seamless manner,

Highlights for me were performances of Astronomy Domine; the amazing riff of Lucifer Sam; the very robotic and electronic feel they gave to Obscured by Clouds/When You're In; a stunning performance of Remember a Day that would make Rick Wright proud; the seamless integration of the first part of "If" with selections from the Atom Heart Mother suite, ending with a reprise of the second part of "If"; the wonderfully complex bass riff of Let There Be More Light; an extended performance of Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (complete with gong); the whimsical Bike; the fan classic One of These Days; and an amazing performance of the band's namesake, the instrumental A Saucerful of Secrets.

The band is tight, plays well together, and plays off of each other skillfully. Lee Harris is no David Gilmour or Syd Barrett, but he pulls off all the solos with grace and skill. Pratt's bass playing is, in my opinion, an improvement over Waters. Kemp's guitar work is also skilled and definitely has the effects down pat. Both Kemp's and Pratt's vocals are no replacement for the originals and that might be the only thing somebody might have something negative to say. However, they made these songs their own and stamped their personalities on it. The harmonies the two do together are a nice fit. Beken very much nailed Wright's style of playing and you even hear a little bit of his experience from The Orb here and there. He keeps with the original sounds when it seems right and ventures off into new territory in places where it seems to make the songs better than the originals. It's a nice and refreshing touch.

The star of the show is of course, Nick Mason. The pre-Dark Side period of Pink Floyd has some of the most complex and adventurous drumming Mason did during his career. At the age of 74 (at the time of the recording of this concert), he can still perform this amazing stuff in all its glory. I was quite impressed with his performance. And he hasn't forgotten how to use the mallets.

The lighting at the show was in the true Pink Floyd fashion. The Victorian features of The Roundhouse give it an almost surreal atmosphere. The building was originally constructed in 1847 and it contained a railway turntable inside of it. It reopened in 1964, first as a cultural centre with a theatre, and in 1966 as an arts venue. Both Pink Floyd and Soft Machine performed on its opening night. Performances were on a makeshift stage with power running from nearby buildings. So in a way, this 2019 performance was a way of making a full circle back to the beginnings of Mason's career.

The DVD also has some bonus features. There is a short film of some of their band rehearsals. This was nice and all that, but it was too short and not enough band banter to make it interesting. The meat of the bonus features are interviews with each of the band's members. This was a joy to watch to learn about how they all knew each other and how the band evolved and some of the history of Pink Floyd.

So, in closing, a big thank you to Lee Harris for having this gem of an idea. And a big thank you to Nick Mason for having the guts to bring this early period of Pink Floyd back to life and presenting it in such a refreshing and tasteful manner.

A well deserved five stars.

These Jersey boys really know how to Rock!! The album opens in barnstorming style with the rip-roaring Jazz-Rock number "Forgotten Dreams". There's no chance of sleeping through this song though. It's a Hammond organ driven blast from the past (with shades of Brian Auger) that barrels along relentlessly for nearly three incredible minutes. The peaceful island of Bergerac and Beaujolais and Jersey cows will never be the same again. Onto Song No. 2 now and we're about to meet the "Pretty Haired Girl", a bright and bubbly Pop concoction about a girl who's sweet and nice, which sounds as warm and refreshing as a glass of pink champagne on ice. You can take comfort in the next lovely song too because it's "Springs' Sweet Comfort", a dreamy psychedelic flowers-in-your-hair number that's just as gently laid-back as the song title implies. You can almost smell the aromatic incense wafting over you in a purple haze of smoke. This song's as psychedelic as an explosion at a paint factory. After that dreamy song, it's time now to wake up and smell the coffee for "Early Morning Eyes", a lively jingly-jangly guitar number that's very reminiscent of the high- flying Byrds, and very good it is too. You can Turn Turn Turn and shake your Tambourine along to this danceable early morning wake-up call, or if you're not feeling that energetic, you can simply tap your feet along to the beat. It's all aboard the train now for "Follow Me", another catchy upbeat song to close out Side One, where the singer repeatedly urges us all to follow him around the mountain, until he finally runs out of steam.

And now we arrive at the big production number and the highlight of the album so far: "Evening". This gorgeous song features heavenly harmonies to die for, dynamic power chords and soaring vocals backed up by the tremendous sound of the Hammond organ. In fact, it's everything you could wish for in the best of Prog-Rock and had the potential to be a huge hit, if only... Sadly, the song was never released as a single, so it wasn't even a hit in Jersey, never mind the rest of the world. Anyway, don't be sad, because as Evening draws to a close it's time for some midnight romance with "Don't Be Sad". It's a gently lilting Folk refrain, so just lie back and relax and let this beautifully-crafted mellow ballad carry you away on a sea of blissful sweet dreams. This very impressive album continues with "Little Goldie", a warm- hearted song that sounds as sweet as honey and features some simply sublime guitar vibes. The penultimate song is an uplifting salute "To Happiness", when you're already halfway to happiness if you're lucky enough to have this wonderful long-lost album in your treasured prog collection. And finally, "Home" is where the prog is for an epic 3- piece suite to close the album. This sweeping seven-and-a-half minute long masterpiece is very reminiscent of The Beatles and makes a suitably fitting tribute to a marvellous album.

The Parlour Band's superb one-off album Is A Friend that deserves a warm welcome in any Prog-Rock fan's home.

At the very first listen I had to wait for this song before something clicked in my mind, but I don't regret having waited enough, as with the following listens all the tracks deserved to be listened to.

What clicked is the similarity, at least what I think is a similarity, with the experimental side of Franco BATTIATO. So, having in mind something to be used as a key for the listening experience, I later appreciated the whole EP.

I (still) don't know the previous works of Metronhomme, so I can't say if this is different. For sure having composed, performed and recorded it by exchanging files via network during the lockdown must have had its impact on the overall process.

But let's speak about the music: Quarantine is a short instrumental mainly based on electric piano and keys. A bit jazzy with electronic percussion which are not sequenced but "played by hands" as the drummer Andrea GHEZZI proudly states on the bandcamp page. Short and light, not as dark as a quarantine can be. Come La Neve (As the snow), has lyrics and a lazy tempo. It gives me the idea of a naif painting or a b&w photograph. Very atmospheric.

As already said, "..di una moneta che cade" is my favorite track here. Experimental in the choice of sounds, with that bit of electronic which is not too invasive, so that the track can show its structure and continuity. But there is continuity throughout the whole EP. The sounds and the lazy tempo of the tracks, even when it gets more rhythm as in this one, are consistent with a dreaming soundscape. It gives the idea of a very unusual situation, like in some dreams, but far from being a nightmare.

"Supermarket" is very interesting. Experimental again, with the weird female voice speaking of trivial things like her favorite supermarket. The banality of daily life even during the pandemic.

Arkhe' is a greek word, meaning "beginning" or even "ancient". "Ark" derives from it. A piano based track, similar in some ways to the album opener. I'm not able to say what language is spoken below the music. Arabic or Russian?

Il rumore del Mare (The sound of the sea) is a proper song and the lyrics are about the strange summer of 2020. "L'estate dipinta su un muro" means "Summer painted on a wall". Curiously, "Son y Myr" (sound of sea) is one of the few things that I know in Welsh. Nothing to do with the album, which is closed by the darkest track: La citta' di K. (The city of K,) which I suppose has something to do with Franz Kafka. I wonder whether the SciFi sound in the first part of the track is a theremin.

Not "essential" in the progarchives sense, but surely not wasted time. About 25 minutes of dreamy soundscapes and the intention of digging the Metronhomme music further.

Note: 3 PA stars can have a different meaning if instead of "good but not essential" it's read as "not essential but good". And good is what I mean.

Compare this review to my recent review of To A New People. Most of what I wrote there applies, except that the two tracks here: Arabesques and Up the Pass, are quite a bit harder rocking! They have a similar sound to some more heavy Post/Math rock (such as Russian Circles). The longer track, Arabesques, has a hypnotic deep beat and melody, switching in the middle to a quicker bridge with an amazing bass-line. There are no vocals, but some cool vague talking at the end. Up The Pass has an up-tempo complex rock beat with some spacey-jazzy synth lines and a bit of funkiness.

Quite an enjoyable "album", (except, too short to be a real album). In spite of the length, I like it quite a bit more than To a New People (though mostly listen to them together, like they're a single album). 4.3 stars for sure. Recommended If you like heavier spacy, jazzy-rocking instrumentals.

My first review was this, for Shadowfax, (a band that had very few reviews/ratings at the time in 2013). Looks like I'm still the only non-collaborator to have reviewed it.

Review for Watercourse Way:

For my very first album review on Progarchives, I've decided on one of the better albums I've heard that seems to be less well-know and perhaps doesn't get quite the attention it deserves. In fact, I'm a little surprised, as this is just such a great album; one of the better jazz-rock/symphonic albums that I have heard to date. True, Shadowfax is classified as "crossover", and considering their later career, I suppose they are. But Watercourse Way is much heavier, and to my ears, sounds more passionate than at least some of their later albums (four of which I have heard as of writing this review). Shadowfax went much lighter, more like New Age music after this album. I wouldn't say the band's path was necessarily a mistake , as I don't know the details of their history and can't judge. However, after hearing Watercourse Way, I can't help but wonder if they could have become one of the more preeminent Prog acts had they chosen to continue with a similar sound, rather than moving into new agey territory.

In any case, Watercourse Way is worth a listen for anyone who really likes jazz/rock, symphonic, and/or eclectic prog. It just sounds so progressive, with all the elements: multiple instruments, (including ethnic ones like the sitar), shifting time signatures, a mix of harder and softer tunes, and complex arrangements, which are, IMO, very good ones, on par with many of the best Prog bands of the 70's. As it is, I suppose the album could be classified as a "hidden gem". A solid 4.2 stars.