Progarchives.com has always (since 2002) relied on banners ads to cover web hosting fees and all.
Please consider supporting us by giving monthly PayPal donations and help keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage") |
|
Post Reply 
|
Page <12 |
| Author | |
erik neuteboom 
Prog Reviewer 
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
 Posted: September 08 2007 at 17:19 |
|
A second Circle, that sounds interesting Bhikkhu and good luck with your progrock quest
 !
Edited by erik neuteboom - September 08 2007 at 17:21 |
|
 |
|
|
bhikkhu
Special Collaborator 
Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 06 2006 Location: A² Michigan Status: Offline Points: 5109 |
Posted: September 09 2007 at 00:00 |
It's called "Twist of Events" and was released in 1990. Sadly, as with "Foreign Skies," only 1000 copies were ever made, and neither is available on CD. Volker Stern was kind enough to provide me with digital copies of both albums. |
|
|
|
|
erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: September 12 2007 at 12:55 |
|
Today I had time to improve the lay-out and embellish the
specials with more covers pictures and live photos, I hope you like it
 |
|
|
|
|
Mandrakeroot
Forum Senior Member 
Italian Prog Specialist Joined: March 01 2006 Location: San Foca, Friûl Status: Offline Points: 5851 |
Posted: September 14 2007 at 06:14 |
|
In the special dedicated to the Italy there are some problems with the cover!
In every case the Mandrakeroot's team (Mandy, Ely78 and Lady In Black) thanks you for this summary, hoping than have all of the success that deserves. ...Would be lacking a special on the tribute album but... Ahhh, another interesting special (a product of Ely78) is this: The RPI (and related) live reviews special Edited by Mandrakeroot - September 14 2007 at 06:14 |
|
|
|
|
Rivertree
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Band Submissions Joined: March 22 2006 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 17629 |
Posted: September 14 2007 at 06:41 |
|
Compliments, Erik
 I wish the huge amount of informations could be formatted in a better way ... What I mean - like an electronic book as PDF for example with chapters and bookmarks  |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: September 14 2007 at 07:05 |
|
Thanks Mandrakeroot and Rivertree
Angelo has already proposed to help me with a better format for this thread, at this moment it's on the level of 'Caveman'   !
In the forthcoming week I hope to make a (prog) music docu-DVD special, including bands from Genesis and King Crimson to Wishbone Ash.
|
|
|
|
|
erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: October 25 2007 at 11:20 |
|
Instead of creating a new thread about interesting re-issue CD's,
I will use this thread to publish those re-issue CD's here, I would
like to start with two Italian Seventies Progrock re-issues I
received a few weeks ago:
I CALIFFI — Fiore di Metallo
 Review by erik neuteboom (erik neuteboom)
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Prog Expert
LUCIANO BASSO — Voci
 Review by erik neuteboom (erik neuteboom) SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Prog Expert
- Listening to his instrumental debut album Voci the music reminds me of keyboard oriented Seventies Prog bands like Trace, ELP, Le Orme and Triumvirat, also driven by virtuosic play on the Grand piano: from fragile (Voci) and sparkling (Promenade II and Voci) to jazzy (Promenade II) or wonderful interplay between Grand piano and the violin like in Preludio, Voci and the experimental Echo (lots of good ideas but sometimes it sounds a bit too fragmentic to me). Although the Grand piano is omnipresent, you can also enjoy a wide range of vintage keyboards, from the mighty Hammond organ and the unsurpassed Mellotron to the harpsichord, clavinet, string-ensemble and even a church organ sound. Some songs contain sensitive work on the electric guitar like halfway Preludio and in the final part of the Voci. The Vinyl Magic CD release features the poorly recorded bonustrack Mignon (almost 3 minutes), it is a bit disappointing end of a beautiful Seventies Italian Prog album, layered with great work on keyboards, especially in the titletrack Luciano Basso shows his skills in playing keyboards and writing compositions!
Edited by erik neuteboom - October 25 2007 at 18:24 |
|
|
|
|
erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: October 25 2007 at 18:24 |
|
And from the UK:
SOLSTICE — Silent Dance
 Review by erik neuteboom (erik neuteboom)
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Prog Expert
- Listening to the melodic and pleasant sound of Solstice, the folky elements are very obvious in often mellow climates with frequent use of the violin and acoustic guitar and lots of attention for the vocal parts. One singer often reminds me of Jon Anderson and the female singer evoked Annie Haslal (Renaissance), very beautiful. In the song Brave New World the band showcases their symphonic prog potentials in a very impressive way: interesting shifting moods, lush keyboards (including the distinctive string-ensemble), sensitive electric guitarplay, a nice synthesizer solo and those majestic Moog Taurus bass pedals, very compelling! I had loved to hear that symphonic prog side by Solstice more often, now it sounds a bit too folky for me (and many neo-progheads didn’t know what to think about Solstice). CD-2 contains music from the three ‘cassette releases’ (two from 1982 and one from 1983), a demo tape from 1983 (song Sunrise) and a BBC concert entitled Friday Rock Show (1983). On the first cassette Solstice plays in a four piece line-up with an omnipresent violin (not unlike German prog band Hoelderlin, although that’s a viola, haha) along some delicate guitar solos. The second cassette presents singer Sue Robinson with her Gaelic voice and on the third cassette we hear singer Sandy Leigh who also performed on the Silent Dance LP. To me the cassettes and demo tape no more or less than nice and especially interesting for the Solstice fans. Really interesting are the four songs of the Friday Rock Show concert, including the wonderful symphonic prog track The Sea, I don’t understand why it was deleted for the album! The final composition is the funny country & western sounding Cannibalistic Legalis delivering sparkling violin and propulsive rhythm-guitar.
- This 2-CD version is a good opportunity to discover Solstice their unique sound, especially if you like folk. My rating: 3,5 stars.
|
|
|
|
|
erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: October 27 2007 at 10:14 |
|
TWELFTH NIGHT — Voices In The Night (***)
 - For me Twelfth Night is the maverick within the neo-prog movement: their sound is not really rooted into Seventies Genesis and they looked more like Glam-proggers than inspired by Peter Gabriel his stage antics. On the booklet of this 2-CD I read : “For a band known for their instrumental prowess throughout their carreer to have had a number of different vocalists is perhaps rather strange – or possibly the reason for it!” ... Well, very soon on this CD you will be confronted with singers who are a reason to play instrumental! CD-1 Studio: The first appearance (in 3 tracks, 1980) is by Electra, born in New York and a 3 year art student. Twelfth Night is her first experience in rock music, her voice is pleasant but she lacks power. After one album and one tour she left and then (1981) there was Ian Lloyd Jones, he is present in the track Late Night TV, a very mediocre performance. Next is the acclaimed singer annex vicar Geoff Mann, he immediately gives the music an extra dimension with his distinctive and emotional voice in Human Being, Fact And Fiction and Art And Illusion, quite raw versions, taken from a CBS demo tape. Because of the stress and family circumstances, Geoff left the band (later he formed his own band, I was lucky to witness this in Holland but unfortunately I have never seen Twelfth Night in concert). It is 1983 and the new singer becomes a certain Axe, his vocals in the track Don't Make Me Laugh and the music remind me of the Eighties synthi-pop. In 1984 Axe is replaced by the other known Twelfth Night singer Andy Sears (also to be seen on the Marquee DVD) who can be heard on the songs I Am, South Of The Wind, White Glass and Piccadilly Square with a bit theatrical voice but it fits perfect to the sound of Twelfth Night. Finally Twelfth Night recrutes Martyn Watson in 1987, in the songs Truning, Happening, A Tiny Everything and Zootime he delivers a pleasant vocal performance, meanwhile the music has moved more towards pop rock/New Wave than prog. CD-2 Live: No Electra and Axe live, this CD starts with 3 tracks featuring Geoff Mann: Art And Illusion, Aspidentropy (captivating guitar and keyboards) and Not On The Map. This is the typical Twelfth Night sound: a bit raw and fiery guitar, a thin synthesizer sound and a progressive blend of rock, New Wave and symphonic but not like Pendragon, Marillion or IQ, the other neo-prog legends. Next Andy Sears with 3 songs, these sound more like rock but the guitar and keyboard work is interesting. Then Martyn Watson in 5 tracks, the recording quality is a bit poor, his vocals are hard to hear. The final track Love Song is very special because it features Andy Sears and Geoff Mann on stage, they sing together and Martyn Watson is on bass. It’s great to notice that both singers have their unique style and expression and I also love the wonderful volume pedal drivenguitarplay. This 2-CD is not the perfect start to discover the unique sound of Twelfth Night but it will be an interesting item for the fans.  Edited by erik neuteboom - October 27 2007 at 10:14 |
|
|
|
|
Post Reply
|
Page <12 |
| Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |
My Progrock Specials Database
Topic Options
erik neuteboom wrote:
This Italian formation made two LP’s in the Seventies, this is their second effort, quite a varied one! First dynamic rock songs with pleasant keyboard colouring like Nel Mio Passato (subtle harpsichord and fluent synthesizer flights), Varius (bombastic church organ sound, organ, synthesizer and a jazzy piano solo) and the compelling Campane (Keith Emerson-like Moog solo). Then more dreamy songs like Alleluia Gente (wonderful Italian vocals and Moog solo), Felicità, Sorriso E Pianto (again wonderful Italian vocals) and Madre, Domani ... (twanging guitar, organ and fluent synthesizer runs). And finally pure rock tracks like Fiore Finto, Fiore Di Metallo (propulsive climate), A Piedi Scalzi (up-tempo with raw guitar sound) and Col Vento Nei Capelli (fiery guitar runs). This is not a classic, there are so many better albums but I love the variety, the typical Seventies atmosphere and .. the Italian vocals! My rating 3,5 stars.
Luciano Basso is a classically trained and experienced musician, specialized in Grand piano and writing compositions, he has made 4 LP’s (source: book Progressivo Italiano by Barotto & D’Ubaldo): Voci (1976), Cogli Il Giorno (1978), Frammenti Tonali (1979) and Luciano Basso (1980) on the Ariston label. Later he released 5 CD’s and nowadays he is a music teacher in the known Italian city Padua.