Suggest New Bands and Artists - Robert Connolly for X-over or Eccelectic

Robert Connolly for X-over or Eccelectic

Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Suggest New Bands and Artists
Forum Description: Suggest, create polls, and classify new bands you would like included on Prog Archives
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126298
Printed Date: December 22 2024 at 19:17
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Robert Connolly for X-over or Eccelectic

Posted By: Sean Trane
Subject: Robert Connolly for X-over or Eccelectic
Date Posted: May 07 2021 at 00:39

RYM review from apps 79:

Robert Connolly's main occupations are author, film producer and journalist. Born in mid-50's in Hamilton, Ontario, he somehow made a little attempt on producing his own Prog opus, titled ''Plateau'', apparently a sci-fi concept, coming with a comic book around the story, with Connolly playing guitar, keys and bass and getting outside help by local friends.More or less a typical US/Canadian underground Prog album with lots of layered synths, cosmic movements of a spacious mood and some strong ELP-type of organ runs.Vocals are a matter of question, sound rather amateurish over a muddy production and low-cost effect distortions, after all this was a home production.Anyway, a nice Canadian Prog curio with interesting keyboard parts and some upbeat electrified solos on guitar.

https://www.discogs.com/fr/Robert-Connolly-Plateau/release/1641046" rel="nofollow - https://www.discogs.com/fr/Robert-Connolly-Plateau/release/1641046

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/robert_connolly/plateau/" rel="nofollow -

Review from Tom Hayes (Ashratom)

Even though Connolly is standing next to a double neck guitar on the back cover, I believe his true passion is keyboards (and he's loaded with all the fun analog stuff like Mellotron, Mini Moog and Hammond). The concept is pure 1970's space alien fantasy and comes complete with a goofy comic book (and any righteous CD label MUST reproduce this bad boy). For the album, Connolly put together two entirely different groups, each side represented. Side 1 mixes narration, female vocals, acoustic balladry and all out progressive rock that recalls Eloy's "Power and the Passion", but truthfully better. Side 2 is where Connolly hands over the guitar duties as well as brings on a male lead singer - while he focuses entirely on the keys. No question this side is the more traditional progressive rock, though the vocals tend towards the AOR side, typical of the region. Given this new outlook, I'm appreciating Robert Connolly's album more now than ever. It's the time and place.

From Gnosis2000net:

Somewhere next to Tolkien and Arthurian concept albums are those esoteric prehistory concepts like pages from Chariots of the Gods?. Robert Connolly's Plateau even has campy narration to help the storyline along, detracting from this analog-heavy symphonic music in a manner that even surpasses the Dark Side of the Moon or Renaissance-like vocals on the opening cuts. So in a way, Plateau could be a poster child for everything excessive about prog-rock - the esoteric subject matter, the heavy keyboards, the overwrought melodrama, and the stylistic nods to Yes and even the Alan Parsons Project. Obviously the compositional work of one guy, most of the themes don't even approach the intricacy of his influences, staying to either simple keyboard/organ romps or guitar-led ballads. And while the narration quickly becomes irritating, once the male vocals start up, you'll be praying for it to return. Yes, Plateau has some nice proggy sections, those overused minor key progressions with mellotrons and monophonic synth leads, but as late as 1978, this sort of mainstream/AOR tinged symphonic rock had lost any sense of freshness. While this is surely a better album than, say, something by Starcastle or Styx, I'd tier it underneath music by England or other standout late 70s symphonic artists such as Happy the Man. For proggy prog fans with their blinders stil attached only.

-------------
let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword

Replies:

Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: May 07 2021 at 01:24

quick check via our evaluation facility on progfreak:

the artist was rejected 11 years ago by the crossover team

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https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">

Posted By: yam yam
Date Posted: May 07 2021 at 04:18

This is a strange case indeed, since no member of the Crossover team actually voted 'no' for this guy (there were just three 'abstain' votes cast before he was rejected by them).

There were two previous suggestions in this forum - one in http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=78920" rel="nofollow - June 2011 , where former admin Alex (harmomium.ro) commented: "Good stuff, sounds like Genesis around 74-76. I'll notify the Symphonic Prog Team" - and then another in http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=106251" rel="nofollow - March 2016 , when another former admin David (Guldbamsen) commented: "He was suggested back in 2011, but I think he sadly fell through the cracks....I've tapped the Crossover team on the shoulder (Connolly was first rejected by the symph team and then passed onto Xover)".

It seems there was no response to David's tap on the shoulder from the Crossover team in 2016 (no further updates appeared on progfreak), so it doesn't seem to me as though this guy was really given a fair crack of the whip.

It certainly sounds like late 70s progressive rock to me, so I wonder if it might be worth passing the suggestion over to the current Crossover team for a final decision regarding his suitability for inclusion here? Embarrassed

Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: May 07 2021 at 05:57

^yep, that's a bit curious indeed

this will probably open a new option to pick this up once again ...

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https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">

Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: May 07 2021 at 17:01

Yeah, not a fan of the music in itself, but it clearly belongs in PA's DB

it doesn't have to be X-over, though.

Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: May 07 2021 at 18:07

Someone recently mentioned this band on PE.

Posted By: Gordy
Date Posted: December 22 2024 at 08:15

A friend recently asked why Connolly wasn't here, and I've been doing my best to dig through the forum archives to look for evaluation progress.

If Symph and Crossover won't have him, I personally wouldn't mind seconding Hugues' suggestion and auditioning him at Eclectic, aka "Leftover Prog."

Posted By: yam yam
Date Posted: December 22 2024 at 10:04

Only one song was available when the Crossover team evaluated him back in June 2011, though it was the main song on the album, accounting for almost 14 minutes of the 35 minutes of music that the original vinyl LP contained. The members of the Crossover team all abstained due to the lack of any other samples, but that's no reason for rejection, so there's no reason why he couldn't be evaluated properly in Crossover now - with the full album now being available on either Spotify or YouTube.

'Plateau' on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k51yr-lHjqT9Mx5clhIYSjEPSI-8qO76E" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k51yr-lHjqT9Mx5clhIYSjEPSI-8qO76E .

And on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0qKc4HbYuW00d3LJZ5OhuB" rel="nofollow - https://open.spotify.com/album/0qKc4HbYuW00d3LJZ5OhuB .

I added the Spotify, RYM, and Amazon links to the album's entry on Awesome Prog. The link to the actual artist is https://awesomeprog.com/artists/10650" rel="nofollow - https://awesomeprog.com/artists/10650 .

Listening now, and I can understand why he was originally sent to the Symphonic Team to be evaluated.

The current digital version of the album only runs to around 33 minutes, with all songs being shorter than the times given on the https://www.discogs.com/release/1641046-Robert-Connolly-Plateau" rel="nofollow - Discogs page for the original vinyl, but I expect there were long gaps between the tracks on the vinyl (and also at the end of side 1) which probably accounts for that.

This guy definitely belongs here, and it might even be worth giving the current Symphonic team the chance to run the rule over the album in the first instance, now that full samples are available.

Edit: No artist photo in the thread at the moment, so let's fix that:

That came from Robert's https://www.bobconnolly.com/" rel="nofollow - official website , where his full biography can be found.

Another possible photo that could be used can be found https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:2000/1*5uKfR-61IJeUWm-Pi0rm-g.jpeg" rel="nofollow - here .

Or if you don't mind a grainy monochrome one, here he is as a twenty-something in the mid-to-late seventies:

As an aside, and for possible inclusion in the eventual biography, in 1975, there was a 45rpm single released by the original band known as 'Plateau' called 'My Life', written by their vocalist Howard Strutt, and with a Robert Connolly composition called 'Under the Big House' included as the 'B' side. 'Under the Big House' was later renamed 'The Oracle', and subsequently included on the 1978 Robert Connolly solo album, but it is the same recording which was later remastered by Robert for use on the album. The track 'My Life' did not appear on the 1978 album however, since it wasn't a Robert Connolly composition.

The band Plateau played live at various clubs and bars in the mid seventies, and recorded the song 'Journey' in a professional 24 track studio, but gave up their efforts a couple of years later when no record companies were interested in signing them, and Robert disbanded them. He then recorded enough additional songs at his Cosmic Sound recording studio in Hamilton, Ontario to produce that one LP as a solo artist. The original members of Plateau agreed to allow him to use the music they had previously recorded as a band on his solo album because they did not want to see it go to waste.