Ian Gledhill/ Catherine Motuz : the same

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   IAN GLEDHILL

NAME:  Ian Gledhill 
NICK NAME:  Vibrationbaby 
COUNTRY: Canada 
REVIEWS:  By ratings | Alphabetically| Chronologically 

BIOGRAPHY: 
I have always refered to Progressive Rock as experimental rock because that’s just what it is. Music in the rock genre which is a little bit more adventurous and full of suprises which borrows from many other pure traditional styles. Well, It all began for me one summer in the early 1970`s when I was given a small transistor radio for my birthday and the local AM station was playing the crap out of a hit single called Hocus Pocus by this Dutch band called FOCUS. Of course, I had to scrape up some money to buy a copy of the single and literally wore it out (as well as some of my parent`s nerves). Focus remains one of my faves to this day and thanks to them I introduced myself to many unique bands from the UK and continental Europe who were taking unusual musical directions and deviating from the norm during these glory years. When I was somewhat older I began to haunt the local used record shops and would buy anything that looked weird (especially if it had Roger Dean artwork on the cover!) and believe me it paid off. I would always look forward to discovering my next band and after a while I was listening to all kinds of crazy stuff not only in the prog rock vein but to jazz and classical music as well. Most of my friends thought I was out of my mind but I had a friend who was from Eastern Europe with whom I would listen to this music and he would always say "This music is only for the knowing ones my friend." And we were. I savour my record collection today, which numbers somewhere around 2,000-2,500 LP`s (about ¾ would probably fit into the progressive rock category) just as much as I did back then. However, I only have just recently entered the realm of the 21st century and have only about 120 CD`s. 

My ten favourite "Prog" bands would have to be, and not necessarily in this order GENTLE GIANT, FOCUS, KING CRIMSON, GURU GURU, GROBSCHNITT, THE STRAWBS, ANEKDOTEN, OMEGA, AMON DUUL II and JANE. 

Albums? There are so many great albums! GURU GURU-Dance Of The Flames, GENTLE GIANT-In A Glass House, GENTLE GIANT-Free Hand, FOCUS-Hamburger Concerto, GROBSCHNITT-Solar Music Live, HOELDERLIN-Clouds & Clowns, LUCIFER`S FRIEND-Lucifer`s Friend, BABE RUTH-First Base THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA-The Inner Mounting Flame & OMEGA- 200 Years After The Last War.

IAN GLEDHILL reviews 

 GENTLE GIANT - Octopus
Review by Catherine Motuz, Music PhD @ 1:26:52 PM EST, 5/29/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   [ANALYTICAL REVIEW] Gentle Giant's unique and crafty approach to making music guarantees one thing: that this band will always have a following. Their 1972 disc, "Octopus," features a wide variety of pieces, from ballads to experimental electroacoustic riff-raff to comments on other styles of music and poetry. Their willingness to have a lot of simultaneous musical events give a layered effect to their music: the listener has some choice what to listen to at any given time, and to hear something new each time they lay the recording. Cheesy instrumental solos occasionally make their way into the otherwise unique sound of the band, particularly in "The Boys in the Band" and "River," but are only a small percentage of the music on the disc and serve in any case to set off the more interesting moments.

The first track, "The Advent of Panurge" falls into the ballad category, but with a lot of twists. The first is one that permeates all of their songs: an innovative use of stereo for musical effect. Here, two singers singing at different times are accompanied each by a guitar, one at the far left, and one at the far right. We get the idea of a conversation here, even though both singers share the same text. Other twists that will come back include the alternation of time signatures, here between 4/4 and the jarring 11/8. The last twist is the virtuosic use of electronic devices from the time. Here, signal processing to change the sound of the singing voices give them a surreal quality, while different types of distortion at the same time give the listener many options what to listen to. As with most tracks on this CD, the end is not very satisfying, here not because of any musical deficiency, but because of a reticence to put enough silence between the tracks to clear the palate. The end of this song and the beginning of the next suffer both from this.

Raconteur Troubadour does a great job echoing different types of music, then blows it by announcing in their notes "we have tried to capture something of the medieval English troubadour..." The fiddle, while effective, is not a medieval instrument in the least, while the music after the second verse, the English processional, sounds like Edward Elgar, the late 19th-Century English composer, and not medieval in the least. I enjoyed this track for its tongue-in-cheek references, but when I got to the end and Gentle Giant's tongue came out of their cheek, I gagged. In terms of the actual playing, the trumpet playing on this track is very good indeed, though the fiddle can get thin sounding at times. I am not sure if this is the playing or the recording (or amplification?), as the string playing on all the tracks have a similar, bodiless sound. A rounder sound might have brought out better the clever mix of two main themes towards the end. I felt it a pity that with so many acoustic instruments and references to the troubadour's lute, that Gentle Giant didn't experiment with a more acoustic guitar sound. On the other hand perhaps the slightly distorted guitar was instead an effort to marry the old and the new into one song. I would give them this benefit of the doubt if only it weren't for those silly liner notes...

A Cry for Everyone is the first instance of text that is hard to make out – the balance is a little off on this track, with the instruments a little louder than the singer. The strongest part of this tune is the call-and-answer musical interludes where again we are treated to clever stereo effects. While there is a lot of rhythmic diversity, I felt that a bit more fooling around with unexpectable rhythms would have been appropriate. As it is, A Cry for Everyone is slightly overshadowed by the more sophisticated The Advent of Panurge, which uses similar techniques. 

Many composers experimenting with new sounds on synthesizers fall into the trap of thinking that the sound is interesting enough in itself to center the piece around. Not so with Gentle Giant, who weaves their electroacoustic experiments into working musical lines, and provides enough variety of sounds that we can appreciate them in contrast to one another. 

Knots is described by the notes as "something of a musical jigsaw." It works! Little segments of music and text repeated over and over again create a kaleidoscope of different events, highly distinguishable by their rhythms, different instruments and ranges. 

What is especially neat is that this jigsaw puzzle idea not only involves the tiny little segments, but the sections of the piece. In fact the very same music from the little contrasting bits are expanded to become sections in their own right: the xylophone that punctuates the opening finally takes off for a solo that moves back and forth through the speakers, while the longer lines become large intense blocks. These sections are most often marked by striking changes of time and rhythm, echoing a little the jazz "half-time" idiom used by artists like Dave Brubeck not long before.

Knots shows also that Gentle Giant is willing to play around with dynamics more than other bands – the extreme quietness and loudness serve to provide even more musical interest. I only wish they would have done more in their other pieces. 

Normally I like instrumental tracks a lot, and even skip over the vocals to get to them, but The Boys in the Band, the only instrumental number here, unfortunately disappoints. The rapidly changing characters of the piece don't really compare to Knots, and the solos border on cheesy. The ensemble is tight, but I would have sacrificed it for a bit more improvisation. The electronics would have been interesting here, but for once in the whole CD, Gentle Giant loses control and there's so much stuff going on its hard to pick out even when we try.

Dog's Life, on the other hand, revels in its own musical simplicity – a very poetic link to the lyrics. The instrumentation here is very appropriate: the extremely out-of-tune regal (like a cross between bagpipes and organ) also has semantic value: the dog doesn't care for little flaws, and why should we? The xylophone and regal in the middle is very creative, but again the strings sound a little bit too much like hired extras who normally play in some second-class orchestra somewhere. While the music enjoys its simplicity, its no reason not to have a little bit of soul. 

My favorite track on Octopus is Think of me with Kindness, though perhaps I am biased since I've heard its beautiful tune so many times before as the later Star Trek: Voyager opening theme music. Again, this pieces loves simplicity (as it redundantly points out in its notes!) The singing is honest, with not a lot of technique (he runs out of breath in places), but a lot of sincerity and overall good musicianship.

As a trombone player, I can only laud the trombone solo half-way through, trombone solo, though I would have kept the energy down a little to keep the beautiful simplicity that opens the work. For the first time on this CD, we have an effective ending, with the words "Think of me" echoing past an unfinished musical phrase.

River came across as more of a collage than a piece of music, a lot of experimentation in electronic sounds, the most interesting of which was the flanging "wind" noises that moved from speaker to speaker creating the illusion of space. The music for the lyrics is extremely drab in contrast to the poetry, however, and the purely instrumental section falls back into standard-issue rock now and again with a not-varied-enough drumbeat and drum and guitar solos that are not particularly special. The ensemble lacks a little bit between the guitars on occasion, bits of feedback left in distract from the more purposeful electroacoustics, and everything has a veil of distortion that, while looking into the future, reminds us how bleak the music of the 80s really was!

While the quality shifts from track to track, overall Octopus makes for an excellent listen, one step up from the 1971 album Acquiring the taste, which also experiments with electroacoustics, simultaneous musical events, and interesting orchestrations, but to less of a degree. I sometimes feel that Octopus' tracks would be better served as miniatures – breaking into something a little more upbeat/standard-issue in the middle of most pieces risk taking away from the uniqueness of each work. Overall, however, Gentle Giant excels at never losing our interest by providing constant variety of sounds, effects, lyric style, texture and dynamics both within and between pieces. 

But do ditch some of the liner notes – they take what was clever and make it redundant...

Catherine Motuz, Music PhD 

 GENESIS - Second Out
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 3:07:03 PM EST, 4/30/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   The only reason mater drummer Bill Bruford appeared on this desparate Genesis tour was perhaps because his financial situation dictated it . Why this pathetic band didn't take heed and pack it in after Peter Gabriel was no longer committed artistically to the cause is beyond this reviewers comprehenshon. Go out and spend your hard eaned money on the latest Miriah Carey CD. I feel like Simon when rcommending people against the purchase of anything from this band. 

 GENESIS - Genesis Live
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 2:46:19 PM EST, 4/30/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   Next to Focus' dismal 1973 live album this must rate as a close second place for a top contendor for worst excuse and basically just worst live album. Another candidate in this category would perhaps be Nektar. I'm so glad that I am a Grobshcnitt fan. 

 GENESIS - Trespass
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 9:52:44 AM EST, 4/30/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   No. 

 GENESIS - Selling England By The Pound
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 9:46:43 AM EST, 4/30/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   Who would even permit themslves to expose themselves to such garbage i is beyond this reviewere''s belief. STAAAAAAAAAAY AWAY FROM THIS PRETENTIOUS MATERIEL 

 FOCUS - Live at the Rainbow 
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 7:02:45 AM EST, 4/29/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   Perhaps one of the worst excuses for a live album. Absolutely horrible performance which seems to rely only on the commercial success of Hocus Pocus which is poorly attempted here minus the wizardry of the studio. The band sounds totally burnt out. A real dud from an otherwise extremely talented and unique band from The Netherlands. 

 PORCUPINE TREE - Lightbulb Sun
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 10:12:25 PM EST, 4/27/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   Do not buy. Stay away from any material from this band. If I could have I would have given this a negative 5 star rating. I hope I can recover a fair portion of the $23 I wasted on this CD at the second hand CD shop. 

 MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA - Inner Worlds 
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 5:35:24 PM EST, 4/27/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   The dying moments of a once innovative and ambitious concept of modern music. John McLaughlin runs up the electricity bill for the last time before embarking on an exclusive 3 year East Indian acoustic sabbatical in the form of the beautiful Shakti . Why Mclaughlin even slapped the Mahavishnu title on this one must linger in the remote parts of his brain to this day. There are sad attempts which demonstrate McLaughlin's desparations towards the East Indian musical cause but fascinations with advancing musical technologies preclude these designs. If self indulgent guitar synth freakouts utilizing the fresh technology which was available in 1976 are your bag by all means be my guest, go for it. But it borders on noise and does no justice to McLaughlin's immense talent. It is rumoured that a very expesive double neck custom built electric guitar was smashed to bits back-stage at the final gig of this last hopeless incarnation of The Mahavishnu Orchestra which was accompanied with McLaughlin's complete denouncement of his guru Sri Chinmoy. Of all the inconsistencies of John McLauglin's career which were to ensue after this disaster this one can certainly be safely overlooked. 

 GILMOUR, DAVID - About Face 
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 12:24:49 PM EST, 4/23/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   A thoughtful album which reveals the heavier component of Pink Floyd released shortly after Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour decided that their artistic differences were hopelessly irreconcilable. One song on the album definitely reflects Gilmour's sentiments on this issue in the form of You Know I'm Right. It could be literally interpreted as boy/girl bickering but even Gilmour himself admits the piece was directed towards Waters. Moving on toward the future Pete Towshend of the Who is invited to contribute some lyrics on Love On The Air and All Lovers Are Deranged. Gilmour effectively transforms Townshend's thoughts into a couple of great melodic arrangements. On other tracks such as Cruise and Murder Gilmour voices his personal attitudes towards nuclear weapons being based in his home country of England as well as the irrational mindset of one who commits murder with a possible reference to the murder of John Lennon in 1980. Throughout the work Gilmour utilizes different instrumentation approaches. On the recommendation of producer Bob Ezrin a horn section is heard on Blue Light while a full orchestration can be heard on Let's Get Metaphysical. The fretless bass is an ubiquitous ingredient on all tracks with the exception of Until We Sleep where it is interestingly replaced by a Fairlight synthesizer. The employment of the fretless bass in the expert hands of Pino Palladino adds an overall captivating feeling and depth and connects the work, (Gilmour himself played the bass parts on the demos). When this album came out in 1984 it was refreshing to see a more upbeat and fluid Gilmour working outside of the confines and restrictions of Pink Floyd. Guest appearances are made by Steve Winwood, Jon Lord as well as The National Philharmonic Orchestra. 

 MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA - Inner Mounting Flame 
Review by Ian Gledhill @ 12:31:16 PM EST, 4/22/2004 
PROG REVIEWER
  —   Having done musical apprenticeships with the likes of Miles Davis and Tony Williams John McLaughlin had also played with rock musicians Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and others in the London music scene during the 1960's. He also had a series of solo albums performed with a variety of session musicians including the magnificient jazz masterwork Extrapolation in 1969. By 1970 Mclaughlin was indulging in the sensibilities of East Indian culture and spirituality which had led him to his guru and mentor Sri Chinmoy who christened him Mahavishnu meaning " Divine compassion, power and justice." Upon Chinmoys insistence Mclaughlin formulated a musical concept for his own group and set out to recruit musicians stateside. On drums he had the Panamanian-born Billy Cobham whom he had previously worked with on a solo project, czek-born keyboardist Jan Hammer ( later known for his Miami Vice television work), Irish bass player Rick Liard who had previously played with the likes of Buddy Rich and ex-progressive rock band The Flock violinist Jerry Goodman who added a Folky edge to the line-up. As you might expect the resulting music is almost beyond rationalization whose most obvious element was McLaughlin's distorted, phase-shifted, escape velocity guitar riffing which was cmplemented by Cobham's forceful drum accents and sympathetic responsiveness. The Inner Mounting Flame features musical elements which range from East Indian ragas, rock rythms, Robert Johnson blues, improvisational jazz techniques, European classical music as well as John Coltrane modal stylings played at intensely high volume and speed. Do not expect this gem to be a go nuts John album as was the case with Jimi Hendrix whose influences also show up in McLaughlin's playing. As the title suggests it is the orchestral concept which really makes this album sizzle and everyone gets to demonstrate their individual virtuosity and the harmonies and melodies found on this album are simply mind-blowing. Listen to tracks like Meetings Of The Spirits, Awakening and The Noonward Race to see for yourself. There are breaks in the unrelenting maniacal 17/8, 9/8, 20/4 time signatured and exotically minor keyed tracks in the form of the pastoral Lotus On Irish Streams and You Know, You Know. The only caution this reviewer has for the new listener is that he/she must bear in mind that it was recorded in 1971 and still sounds rather raw even on the re-mastered CD which is the recommended purchase. This album is the template for what was to come in the 1970's as far as Fusion-Jazz was concerned. Essential and definitive. 