I Recommend...

^^^

Read your reviews of today, Micky and enjoyed them very much.

I see you like Italian prog...   

Hi all,

Only to inform you that this EXCELLENT thread is now Sticky which means that it'll never leave the first page.

I hope the high standards observed until now here be kept. Good luck and congrats to the starter and participants.

1. La Maschera Di Cera:  LuxAde,  Italian bands new release and its incredible.  This band plays a retro symphonic prog reminiscent of Banco.  They definitely add their own flavor and I never grow tired of their music.  All three of their studio releases are excellent with their latest being the best.  I can't say enough good things about this band.  Excellent analog keyboards, tons of flute, great rumbling bass, good drums and very good to excellent singing.  Very much in the classic 70's Italian sympho vein.  A mixture of Banco, PFM, Il Balletto Di Bronzo, and most important their own flavor.  Long epic songs full of passionate playing by all band members.  I just love the analog symphonic keyboards.  Great stuff!!! 
2. SBB:  Pamiec,  Classic Polish prog band playing an exciting mixture of symphonic/jazz fusion prog, if you can imagine that.  Their first three releases are excellent and you can't go wrong with any of these.  A three man band with incredible musicianship.  I'm still in the process of getting all their releases so I can't comment on other releases only to say stay away from their release called Welcome which is more commercial.
3. Exodus: The Most Beautiful Day.  Another Polish band from the 70's like SBB.  They play an exciting mixture of symphonic/space-prog.  I have their box set entitled "The Most Beautiful Dream Anthology 1977-1985."  Excellent 5 CD set full of above average unreleased material along with all their previous studio releases.  Definitely worth it if you can find it.  These guys are very original sounding and like SBB sing in their native language, though most of their stuff is instrumental.  Comparable too Floyd and Eloy to some extent. 
4. The Tangent:  A Place In The Que.  Excellent English band playing in the style of Caravan.
5. Ozric Tentacles:  Jurassic Shift.  Excellent English band playing space/psychedelic rock.
6. 35007:  Phase V.  Another excellent space/psychedelic band playing in the style of the Ozrics with tracks running longer.  Excellent stuff well worth your hard earned cash if into long psychedelic spacey jams full of excellent musicianship.
7. Anekdoten:  From Within.  Awesome symphonic prog in the style of King Crimson only more melancholic and definitely not a clone or neo band.  All of their albums are essential in my book.  These guys are from Scandanavia and play dark, compelling, melancholic symphonic prog full of melletron and cello.  Also excellent guitar in the style of Robert Fripp, heavy distorted bass, and the drummer is very good.  Other great releases include Vemod, Nucleas, and Gravity. 
8. Sinkadus: Aurum Nostrum.  Another excellent Scandinavian band much like Anekdoten but more like Anglagard.  Long epic songs full of alternating heavy mellow passages. 
9. Uriah Heep:  Salisbury.  Great hard rock/prog from England.  Wonderful choral like vocal harmonizing and excellent vocals from David Byron.  Great  symphonic keyboards and Hammond organ from Ken Hensley.  Awesome band.  You can't go wrong with any of their releases up to and including The Magicians Birthday.
10. Mezquita:  Recuerdos De Mi Tierra.  Great great Spanish prog.  These guys just cook on their instruments.  Very original including ethnic influences I find wonderful.  Great vocals in Spanish. 
11. Granada:  Espana, Ano 75.  Another excellent Spanish prog band with wonderful ethnic touches.
12. Gualberto:  Vericuetos.  Excellent Spanish prog.
13. Finisterre:  La Meccanica Naturale.  Excellent Italian Symphonic prog in a bit more of a modern style but keeping all the good attributes of the classic era.  Great band with very relaxing electronic atmospherics added to the background of much of the album.  A class act.

          These are releases I purchased recently which I can wholeheartedly recommend.  I didn't want to compile a "My favorite Releases" list because I find this boring and redundant.  I wanted to put a list together of bands I just recently got into or albums by them I just recently purchased.  I find it harder and harder to find bands I really enjoy since I have a rather large prog collection.  I've had to expand my listening to other countries and other genres of prog.  I've come to find many excellent bands from countries I'm not used to and much of this list reflects this.  There's some excellent prog out there with singing in other languages than English, my favorite being Italian.  I've acquired over 100 Italian prog releases in the last two years and theres got to be well over 100 more on my wish list.  Two more countries with more and more releases I'm acquiring are Sweden and Spain/Spanish related(South America).  More recently I've gotten into Polish bands.  I'm also getting more and more bands from France.  I've always been into German bands, hence I haven't mentioned them.  I hope someone finds a new band from this list to enjoy. 

Paulieg wrote:           These are releases I purchased recently which I can wholeheartedly recommend.  I didn't want to compile a "My favorite Releases" list because I find this boring and redundant.  I wanted to put a list together of bands I just recently got into or albums by them I just recently purchased.  I find it harder and harder to find bands I really enjoy since I have a rather large prog collection.  I've had to expand my listening to other countries and other genres of prog.  I've come to find many excellent bands from countries I'm not used to and much of this list reflects this.  There's some excellent prog out there with singing in other languages than English, my favorite being Italian.  I've acquired over 100 Italian prog releases in the last two years and theres got to be well over 100 more on my wish list.  Two more countries with more and more releases I'm acquiring are Sweden and Spain/Spanish related(South America).  More recently I've gotten into Polish bands.  I'm also getting more and more bands from France.  I've always been into German bands, hence I haven't mentioned them.  I hope someone finds a new band from this list to enjoy.

I can only agree with you on expanding our prog collection to borders previously not breached.

Atkingani wrote: Hi all, Only to inform you that this EXCELLENT thread is now Sticky which means that it'll never leave the first page. I hope the high standards observed until now here be kept. Good luck and congrats to the starter and participants.

Great job, Assaf   

Geck0 wrote: I would also like to say a thank you to Sean Trane (aka Hugues Chantraine) and Jim Garten on their wonderful posts in the Collaborators Only section, they're doing a wonderful job.  If I only could add my own contributions.

Ah, yes. I am wondering why Sean hasn't shown up here yet? And Jim as well? And others?

BTW, thanks to Bryan for his post. There are two bands he mentioned I will definitely hunt down and listen to.