The Chronicles of Father Robin - Progressive Rock Music Forum

omphaloskepsis wrote:

Well, what do expect from Norway? Wink

I take that as a jest. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, but I’ll answer too.

I don’t know what I expected, but not that. They have wowed me with Wobbler before. Still did at times with the books, but scattered.

I’ll make a playlist and see how that works out for me.

Norway surprised me when I first discovered Norwegian prog. I’d not been much of a fan of Norwegian music before listening to Wobbler, Susanne Sundfør, Jordsjø, Aurora and others, but once I got over that idea and looked, there was quite a lot of amazing music.

I guess I expected something else.

Edited by Zeph - February 29 2024 at 11:26

omphaloskepsis wrote:

Well, what do expect from Norway? Wink

Fjords.

I was looking at the reviews and ratings at PA of the third last night and do find the spectrum of ratings quite interesting. I have not heard it but will sample some of it anon.

Edited by Logan - February 29 2024 at 10:23

Zeph wrote:

edefakiel wrote:

They ruined this project by releasing three subpar albums instead of one strong one. They have material to make one good album instead of three short ones. But I guess that this way they can charge you three times instead of one, and money threw artistic integrity out of the window.

The more I listed to this project, the more disappointed I am. I have enjoyed, Wobbler, The Samuel Jackson Five and Jordsjø in the past (I never cared about Tusmørke), but my interest in them certaintly took a hit after what they have done here.

I was also thinking that they could have made one 40-60 minute album instead. There are a lot of easy going tracks across all three volumes. They belong together, but listening to them in order is two hours of music, which struggle to keep my attention even when I find it more varied and engaging. I very rarely use playlists, but I am tempted to create my own mix of the books. It’s likely to get more playtime than the albums as a whole. It’s got some good tunes, but there’s too much between.

Well, what do expect from Norway? Wink

I love all three Books. Different strokes for different folks. Wink

Pete- from Sea of Tranquility- gave Book III a 4.5/5.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv6ws-UUsmY&t=2s

Edited by omphaloskepsis - February 29 2024 at 06:39

I>>II
waiting to order the third

I love all three!!!

The Prog Corner

The other day I listened to Book III. Definitely a lot better than Book II. If I had to rank the albums I would say

3. Book II
2. Book III
1. Book I

Pretty high quality band imo

D~B

Book III is certainly more ambient and folk based but wouldn't call it a 'snoozefest' as was suggested earlier in the thread. Enjoyable at least.

edefakiel wrote:

I enjoy some of Wobbler's music. Particularly, their first album Hinterland, which showcases clear influences from Gentle Giant. However, I did not find Afterglow to be as impressive, as it sounded thin and unusual to me. Similarly, Rites at Dawn seemed like a weak imitation of Genesis. From Silence to Somewhere left a lasting impression on me, I consider it their most successful effort and a classic on its genre, but Dwellers of the Deep, while still a good album, did not quite measure up to its predecessor.

Having this in mind, I listened to The Chronicles of Father Robin. I did not enjoy the first one much. I had recently heard Fire Fortellinger and found it more engaging, although it had a similar sound. I enjoyed Book II, which sounded fresher, more concise, and interesting. On the other hand, I was completely unimpressed by Book III, which, in my opinion, should not even exist.

From my perspective, only the existence of Book II is justified, the rest of this project is pretty much redundant.

In my opinion, none of the Chronicles of Father Robin matches the excellence of Wobbler's best moments. Additionally, Book III is the weakest release from this "band/collective/gang".

Finally! It's so refreshing to find someone else who isn't on the Wobbler worship train. (I do most of my music discussion over on Reddit, and the prog rock subreddit goes *hard* for Wobbler.) Like, I enjoy them, but my views are pretty close to your own. They're so heavily inspired by Yes and Genesis, it often borders on feeling like regurgitation. Plus, Dwellers of the Deep was just a spotty record overall.

I agree that Book II is the most original of the trilogy, but it just takes so, so long to get going. And it's not that long a record. That's probably why I prefer Book I. It's a bit more bloated, but it doesn't spend a quarter of its runtime slowly introducing things.

And to answer Cristi, I got Book III early because I've got a music blog, and Karisma Records sent me the files for a review. I've got my review scheduled to go up on Monday 2/26.

Check my reviews of recent prog releases!

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