The site is at www.lazland.org.

There are only a couple of album reviews at the moment, but one of them you will not see on PA because nobody wanted to add them to the site. In addition, there are book reviews, including Mark Kelly’s autobiography, and my top ten list for 2021.

It has taken me quite a bit of time to set this up and get it to something like the format I wanted (difficult as a bit of a technophobe), and I intend to update it with new reviews and new content at least twice weekly.

So, enjoy. Comments from PA colleagues are welcome. Just PM me - I will put some other contact details on the site shortly, including on Facebook. This will be an organic thing as I am still very busy with my day job and hectic social life, but I am pretty excited about it. Ego is a wonderful thing!

Enjoy!

^ Looks good! I'm not one who reads many reviews (not here not elsewhere), but I hope your blog will be read by many. Plug it here when there is something new! I also hope you will remain active here, because your contributions on these forums are much valued and appreciated.

Thank you, Kees. Yes I will carry on posting here. I just wanted the freedom to review and comment under my own rules and nobody else’s.

I'm looking up Mark Kelly's book now ... 

Many books reviewed, and check this link, and it has 3 sections, the bottom one being books of interest. The site also includes over 500 foreign film reviews with about 150 of them I have to redo by taking away the old settings.

https://pedrosena.com/musicreviews.htm

BTW, shouldn't the blog be moved to the BLOG section? I had not even thought about that, since it is not exactly a blog, but I suppose that all those reviews would make it a "blog" ... but I'm not sure that this site is as interested in film, theater and the musicians as artists.

P.S. My nearly-dear certainly-departed ex-wife is from Valetta.

Thanks John. I really appreciate that.

Thanks, Greg. I will be adding a “contact me” link probably at the weekend, mainly for artists wanting stuff reviewed, but also for anybody wanting to say anything about a review & etc. As far as a general comment section is concerned, so like a forum, that will require a lot more thought on my part. I will probably start adding a humorous “news of the week” section, but in terms of political comment I need to be very careful given my occupation and the fact that my name is on the site. Accepting some of the trolling comments that we see on PA, for example, could land me in some trouble, so I will probably keep it to the email address link and publish comments from friends such as yourself after I have had the chance to view them first (I know I don’t need to with you, but you take my point).

I didn’t realise you had been married to a Maltese lady. That photograph on my site is one of perhaps my favourite place in the world and where I want to spend far more time when I retire in a couple of years.

I love that. Hay on Wye is simply divine.

Very cool my friend and kudos to you for doing this, quite an undertaking I am sure. Will go and check it our for sure 

And I can confirm that the “Contact Lazland” button works! Thanks José!

Next album reviews, hopefully uploaded tomorrow, will be Nordic Giants and Toundra.

New book review, The Best Catholics In The World, real ale of the week, and a sports news post re Tiger.

Presently listening to new TFK, Tangerine Dream, and The Foxholes to review in the next week, I hope.

Bloody hard work this blog malarkey!

Hey John thank you so much for these comments. There are some cracking ales at The Mansel and what would be great if you ever found yourself over here in Blighty, then all you have to do is call.

Ohh great, interested in your TFK review. I've been spinning that album and I think it's an excellent pc of work.

I think some of it is, as the review makes clear. I would be interested in seeing your thoughts on it.

BTW, this is one of those album reviews where I am really glad I have not constrained myself by giving stars or ratings in numbers, because this one is challenging. I think when the album is excellent, it is mighty fine. However, there are parts I am really not liking at all. I think that describing this in words is far better than restricting oneself to having to give three or four stars and etc., and starting my site has made me far more understanding of the decision Jerry Ewing took to not have such ratings when Prog magazine started.

I read the review, it's quite honest. From my media world, it's their second 3-LP release . 

I enjoy it more than Islands and Waiting For Miracles. Lately I am more of a fan of TFK shorter pcs than the 25min epics, I don't mind them but this is a welcomed change. I sit and listen to them, I soak in the records and it becomes a very nice listen. 

You know the difference I think for me is that I have to get up every 20-25 min and flip the record and that gives me a couple minute break. I first played the 2-CDs and found myself wandering since it is non stop. For me I think there is some really great music on this album, I'm enjoying it quite a lot.

A reason I first came to PA was because I wanted to review albums, but then I found the process to cerebral with the ratings and all, it was too much thinking.....I really prefer a review of just words and no rating system. But that's me.......

I think the strong points of this album are better than the preceding two, for sure. And we absolutely agree with each other regarding the short form - many bands can produce better music in six minutes than others in 20. Indeed, my main criticism of IQ’s Resistance was the fact that it was seriously overblown.

We were talking at the pub the other day about vinyl. I am jealous of you and my mate Paul, who has spent a fortune on his system. I couldn’t justify doing it and whilst I think the sound quality will always be better on that, I think the technology of digital formats and sound systems adequately fill my needs.

Ohhh yea, I have IQ Resistance bought the red vinyl variant on release. The good thing is it's worth more than dbl what I paid for it now, although I do struggle with the record now not as enjoyable as Road of Bones.

Well sound is one main reason, engagement, physicality, nostalgia, big a$$ artwork and fantastic packages as well. I have stated over and over that digital is theeee best way to capture a live recording in the studio. But what we as consumers end up getting once all the engineers do their thang' is not pleasing to the ear, for the most part with CDs and streaming files. And yes unless you wanna dump a load of cash on building a uber high-end digital playback system and spend $25-$50 on SACDs or DSD downloads it's really tough and expensive to enjoy digital. Very hard to explain analog LP playback, you really need to go in person and hear a system....I'm more than happy with my listening experience, besides chicks dig records!! 

New cds arriving in Lazland this morning were Dave Bainbridge and Jonas Lindberg and The Other Side. Will review after a few listens, but will hopefully post reviews sometime this week of Odin Dragonfly and Lalu

https://homerecordsbe.bandcamp.com/album/cronofon-a" rel="nofollow - https://homerecordsbe.bandcamp.com/album/cronofon-a

Hi Nick. No, I haven’t, but will be listening to this tomorrow afternoon. Sounds interesting, up my street, with some class guests, so thanks very much.

It really is excellent. I listened to it in full this afternoon, and will order the cd because this is rather special. Thanks Nick.

I knew you had the new review of Burntfield, because it was shared on FB by the band. 👍🏻

I like Burntfield, and pretty much most of the bands on the Progressive Gears label.

Glad you enjoyed Cronofonía. It’s a wonderful album.

Thanks Steve. John has pointed you to some potentials below to enjoy. I write this on Good Friday morning ever so slightly hungover - it was darts night last night, and I had far too many.

Thanks Nick. I joined FB the other day specifically to get in touch with bands such as Burntfield. They sent me a nice message in response to mine. The first attempt was with Lalu, but I think I cocked that one up  

There really is some fantastic stuff out there and that is the purpose of my site to celebrate that.

Thanks Chris. Glad you like it - loads more to come! Us “old” 57 year olds have to stick together!

1. Review of Jonas Lindberg and The Other Side new album, which incredibly has not had any reviews on PA. It is a damned fine effort

2. Review of new Odin Dragonfly which is not even on the site

3. New feature, namely Video Of The Week on the homepage, this week having as its star Merry Hell, a folk band from NW England. This feature will be prog, folk, punk, anything I enjoy at the time, really. No rules, see, aside from the fact I have to like it!

4. Beer of the week added. Nice one, too.

This evening, we are going to watch the Jimmy Saville doc on Netflix, and dependant upon what I see, I might post something about that in the week.

Enjoy.

Great tits?

Bloody big ‘un’s!

Indeedy! 

Beer and News Page updated with a restaurant review.

Without having visited the page yet to read the review, I would assume it is a bar that looks smart. Generally bars that look smart don’t serve the beers I don’t like to drink, so I don’t tend to frequent them.

Yes, it is, indeed, a very fine looking bar, as opposed to an artificially clever or one that serves decent beer bar.

BTW, I had a choice of four different ales this evening, and it was rather difficult to choose an ale of the week. I might need to expand this to ales of the week! 

Not sure whereabouts in Carmarthenshire you are, but being as it must be on your door step, I was wondering whether you'd be posting a review if you went?

If it doesn't sell at least a couple of good quality real ales (preferably local), then it isn't worth walking in to...

No, I didn’t go Jared. I actually found out about it a couple of weeks ago, but we had arrangements to see a couple of friends before that, so we couldn’t go. It was a real shame, because Pontardawe is only about 20 minutes up the road. BTW, as a point of interest, it is where the choir on Roger Waters Radio KAOS was recorded. 

Hopefully, Ian and Karnataka will be fully functioning again and it will not be too long before we get the opportunity to see them.

Word!

BTW, cool website. 

But I have had a lot of NZ craft beers, and a lot of NZ brewers tend to take after the US style of craft brewing than the UK, which does give me a little more basis on which to feel more confident about saying I prefer UK style beers to US style beers.

The best beers I have tasted are either UK beers, or NZ beers in the UK style. I have tasted some mighty fine US beers, and NZ beers in the US style - but the best UK beers beat the best US (or US style) hands down.

The funny thing, to me, about UK and US beer styles is that it is similar to so much else between the two countries. The UK conforms to the stereotype of being subtle, and the US to the stereotype of being in your face. Depending on what flavour you like, and how you want to taste it, has a lot to do with whether one prefers UK or US beer.

I like the beers of Malta a great deal, both the lager-like Cisk (perfect in the midday sun) and the more hoppy Hopleaf, a rather good ale and the only decent one I have had outside the UK.

My experience of American beer is very limited. I have never been there. All I will say is that I hate the corporate “beers” such as Budweiser and that bloody awful Canadian goose piss whose name I forget. However, I am absolutely confident that my very learned and tasteful friends here on PA will be drinking proper beers, brewed in proper ways.

Brewers have always experimented and innovated, but the difference between craft beer or not in the UK is often a similar difference between subtlety and over the top flavours that I already alluded to in the difference between many UK and US brewers. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it, by the way. There are some craft brews in the UK that I love, but they also tend to be the ones that may well have crossed the line, but haven’t left it too far behind.

When people speak about US beer tasting like piss, they tend to mean the mass-brewed lagers like Bud - which do tend to be pretty gosh darn awful. I’m yet to taste one of those that I like. But lagers brewed by micro-brewers and craft-brewers tend to be full of flavour.

I’ve met a lot of US craft beer drinkers that find a lot of UK real ales flavourless and/or bland, simply because their palate is used to the full on flavours of so many US craft beers. When you say craft beer to you is a brew with flavour, then you seem to be leaning towards what I already said is the difference between UK and US tastes, when it comes to beer. Craft brewers definitely make you notice and appreciate the art taken in the brewing process - but UK drinkers tend to like subtlety, and US drinkers in-your-face. All taste for beer is subjective by nature, but that subjectivity can be affected by a number of things outside an individual’s control, and the brewing trends of where in the world one drinks is one such thing.

Thanks Steve, very much.

I think you will enjoy later this week my report of our”taproom takeover” by the founder of Evan Evans brewery. This was supposed to be last week, but somebody cocked up the beer delivery. Anyhow, we will be sampling five ales. I will be asking the missus to keep copious notes in case I become incapable of doing so! 

Can't help feeling you've got a good one there, Steve! 

Absolutely Jared. In all seriousness, I count my blessings each and every day.

I can only drink beer that is very pale in color and that does not measure an 11 in bitter taste scale of 1-10. 

You’d quite possibly like some more UK-style beers. Definitely a lot of US brewers tend to focus on the hops and bitterness, and there are a fair few beers out there measuring at least 11 on a scale of 1-10.

But regardless of where you are drinking, there is an enormous difference in flavour profiles both between the various types of beer, and even within them. That difference is even greater when seen between geographic regions. Generally speaking, for example, I don’t particularly like UK brown ales, but I almost always love Belgian brown ales.

And to add to this, I cannot abide stouts or porters, the really dark ales. Guinness disagrees with just about every cell in my body. I will drink Newcastle Brown Ale if there is nothing else on tap, only the utterly undrinkable and disgusting keg creamflow processed bitters.

I love stouts and porters, but not Guinness. But then again, the Guinness you get in bars is nothing like any stout you’d get from a real ale brewer. Like the creamflow bitters, it has nitrogen added (to give it the creamflow), and it just tastes….meh. Newky brown disagrees with me as much as Guinness does with you. It’s the most horrendous example of a brown ale, and almost put me off the style entirely.

Probably because of what I grew up drinking, some of my favourite beers are UK ales brewed with NZ hop varieties, giving me flavours of the beers of both countries. Shepherd Neame makes some really nice beers using NZ hops, and one of them tastes very similar to one of my favourite NZ beers.

But really, I am no great connoisseur. I like loads of different beers from loads of different breweries across the country. So long as they don’t experiment too much with flavour (I don’t need a hazy ipa flavoured with guava, thank you very much), I tend to find some degree of enjoyment. What I do find frustrating, is when one brewery is bought up by another. My most local big brewer, Greene King, is the worst for this. As much as they might claim that the taste is the same, it never is. GK make some alright beers, and some of the beers they brew under the name of the breweries they’ve taken over aren’t too dissimilar - but there are some beers I really enjoyed before they became GK, that really don’t taste the same at all now.

Yes, Bass has not been the same since it was taken over by Marstons. 

Re Shepherd Neame, the only one we see around here is Spitfire, which I have always liked. We did have a holiday in Kent a few years ago and sampled some different brews from them which were great.

With regard to nitrogen infested sh*te,absolutely. In fact, this will be the only question I will ask of politicians who come to m6 door grubbing for my vote in future - when will you ban this awful crap? 

Thanks Steve. In fact, it was the VM&J album which got me to set up the website in the first place. I had another of my occasional contretemps with PA Admin over them refusing to add them to the site. One of the great and the good suggested very kindly that I take my reviewing business elsewhere if I wanted to review them. So I did. He did me a huge favour by doing so, and I am extremely grateful because my site runs by my rules and is done my way. I answer to nobody barring the wife and the dog!

There most certainly will be non-prog reviews going forward, and funnily enough Saxon will be one of them, hopefully at the weekend. I am off work this week which means that I actually have less time to listen to music than usual - chores, gardening & etc. and I also have a couple of albums to listen to that Nick very kindly alerted me to.

Basically, the site is my vehicle to do what I want. Whilst I adore my prog, it is not the only genre or show in town.

Finally got a chance to peruse the Blog Steve, looks fantastic!.

My only question is...when are you going to resurrect your Birthday of the Day write-ups?

They were so good, I really miss them. I have a particular interest as the month of May approaches.

You could rename one of your pages Beer, News and You's.

I could not for the life of me remember what it was, but I did enjoy some beer I had while in NZ, this was many years ago. Business trip for 2 weeks, the bulk on the south island in Blenheim, also in Otautau......I don't remember what it was though. 

Yea I hear ya!!  Forestry.....the oysters were good too.

Maybe so, the wine was much better 

By the end of the week, I will have done a report on last night’s brewery talk and sampling night at the pub, with some exciting news about how friends will be able to order said beer!

 

Yes, indeed it is! 

Also, Top Ten of 2015 added.

I think that should change in the summer, John. I imagine it will be available on Amazon with the rest of them. 

I will, of course, post the news about Amazon when I get it.

lazland wrote: [EDIT] - basically, you can enjoy beer whilst helping out our Ukrainian comrades

Ok, now I know there is a familiar relationship between Ukraine and Russia, but using this term to describe Ukraine friends...that just seems wrong to me.