The Chronicles of Father Robin
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
Forum Description: Discuss specific prog bands and their members or a specific sub-genre
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=132188
Printed Date: November 21 2024 at 18:13
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: The Chronicles of Father Robin
Posted By: Frets N Worries
Subject: The Chronicles of Father Robin
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 09:22
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Since today marks the release of two great albums, (Himlabacken Vol. II and Songs and Tales of Airoea Book II) I thought I should make a thread about the wonderful Chronicles of Father Robin. I thoroughly enjoyed their first album, and as I'm currently listening to the second one, it doesn't let down. It sounds like an album that took 30 years to make, so only the best stuff got in. BOOK I: 1. Prologue (1:06) BOOK II: Songs / Tracks Listing 1. Over Westwinds (3:59) BOOK III: (Not released at time of posting) Songs / Tracks Listing 1. Magical Chronicle (6:09) Line-up / Musicians - Andreas Wettergreen Strømman Prestmo / vocals, guitars, bass, synth, organ, glockenspiel, percussion For those of you who already have the wonderful box set (I don't) it seems Book III is the weakest, which is interesting. What's also interesting is each book gets shorter. ------------- The Wheel of Time Turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time... |
Replies:
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 10:50
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Book II might just have been released by Wobbler. (no less brilliant though) |
Posted By: Error Code 864G
Date Posted: December 08 2023 at 15:58
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Book 1, 2, and 3 are all amazing. I have the box set so I have heard all three books. ------------- A Human Being, Existing. |
Posted By: TheEliteExtremophile
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 10:28
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Book I was pretty good, but Book II left me a bit unimpressed. It just felt a bit blander. ------------- https://theeliteextremophile.com" rel="nofollow - Check my reviews of recent prog releases! |
Posted By: Octopus II
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 10:35
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I loved Book I, and have yet to hear Book II. I have ordered it and expect to receive it soon!
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Posted By: Lesanderd
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 13:29
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I really enjoyed the Book I , Book II is somehow less adventurous |
Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 14:09
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I am not as impressed by any of the afore-mentioned albums or artists as the rest of the world seems to be--including Wobbler and certainly not Moon Safari. I know retro-prog--the imitation of old sounds and styles--has become all the rage, but it's an art form of imitation, not innovation, and lacking any kind of "progress" in it--it's a movement fueled by nostalgia and comfort, bearing no relation to the creative spirit of prog rock's original pioneers except to perform sham covers of their original styles and sounds. It's like the nonalcoholic form of a favorite beer you grew up with: tastes great but has none of the intoxicating effect. ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |
Posted By: essexboyinwales
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 15:57
I find this to be a very sad post. What’s wrong with nostalgia and comfort? Not everything has to be progressive. Not everything has to progress. If you’ve eaten great fish’n’chips in a Cornish town, would you not enjoy the same in a town on the North East coast?…. ------------- Heaven is waiting but waiting is Hell |
BrufordFreak wrote:Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 18:17
I like Book 2. It's different than Book 1, but on repeated listens...I found I liked it almost equally.
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 21:17
this yet again? It's just music and you don't have to like anything when it comes down to it, your choice.
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Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: December 13 2023 at 21:20
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I think that you always need some degree of familiarity to evoke any kind of emotions with your music. The key is to find the perfect balance between "imitation of old sounds" and new, innovative stuff. But of course that balance varies from listener to listener. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ------------- “On the day of my creation, I fell in love with education. And overcoming all frustration, a teacher I became.” — Ernest Vong |
Posted By: Zeph
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 03:07
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I appreciate input from those who didn't like an album as well as those who did. We can't all like everything and personally I find it helps me think differently about music. I still enjoy these albums for what they are. I agree that they are not particularly progressive or break much new ground, but most music out there doesn't. Each album that is released makes it harder to invent something new. It was a lot easier to make progressive music in the 70's when there didn't exist as much music.
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 04:15
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I had a look online to see if the triple coloured vinyl was still available but it's now sold out (all 500 copies). It looks very nice and would have ordered as a Christmas present to myself! I wonder if they might to do another production run, anyone owning this has a very nice thing that's for sure! |
Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 04:48
Sure, but what's great about beer - the taste or the intoxicating effect? Imagine separating them. What would you prefer: A non-alcoholic beer or the extracted alcohol without the taste? Presuming you like beer of course ------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to: 
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Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 07:38
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My Review: ------------- The Prog Corner |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 07:39
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And yes, it was my AOTY!!! ------------- The Prog Corner |
Posted By: Frets N Worries
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 10:47
And very deserving of it! ------------- The Wheel of Time Turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time... |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 14 2023 at 19:32
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God Save King Chuckie!! |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: December 15 2023 at 12:26
| So far I only heard the first one and only listened to it once. I thought it was very strong and can't wait to hear the others. |
Posted By: Prog-jester
Date Posted: December 15 2023 at 13:28
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didn't like the first one, too safe and predictable. It feels strangely artificial, like they were trying TOO hard to make a Perfect Scandinavian Prog Album is the second one different or mostly the same? |
Posted By: Zeph
Date Posted: December 15 2023 at 14:09
Definitely in the same vein. |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: December 15 2023 at 14:56
------------- 
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: December 16 2023 at 10:31
I'm not sure but based on what you said I'm guessing you wouldn't like Wobbler then.
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Posted By: Prog-jester
Date Posted: December 16 2023 at 14:12
| true, I don't like Wobbler but I really like Sinkadus, Anekdoten, Landberk, Gargamel and, to a lesser extent, Anglagard |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: December 17 2023 at 14:00
I think that Book Two is much more adventurous!!! Still very much in that same vein though... ------------- The Prog Corner |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: December 17 2023 at 19:15
I like the analogy even though I find beer to be gross and can't even remember the last time I drank one but that's the thing we all have different tastes including in music which is based on a lot of things. I love retro and psychedelic two sub genres I find get dismissed by a lot of people, but oh well. It's been a great year for me music-wise. Like old times(2017  ).------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: dauinghorn
Date Posted: January 19 2024 at 13:23
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"Retro Prog" is just a silly label. But as with metal music, people always have call it something. I think some of you need to consider what this band is: A group of friends who met in their late teens with a shared love of literature, art and a variety of music, and finally we can hear the sounds they created in the mid 90s and started recording about 20 years ago. It's not trying to be retro, it's their music and vision. I absolutely fell in love with them when I heard them live in 2013 and got their first EP. Then I heard them again "warming up" for Anekdoten a few years later. Amazing, and I had to leave after two Anekdoten songs because it could not match the energy or the vibe. Disclaimer: I play live with them these days and have contributed a few small parts on a couple of songs. I should probably keep my mouth shut.
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Posted By: Dapper~Blueberries
Date Posted: January 25 2024 at 21:34
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You know I have been kind of eyeing this band a bit, since I love Wobbler. Might check them out, especially that new release on the horizon. ------------- D~B |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 25 2024 at 22:19
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^ don't forget Lumsk and Jordsjo as well, they are superb (related) bands that both released great albums last year. The Norwegian prog scene is very hot at the moment with the likes of Seven Impale, Agusa and Ring Van Mobius also knocking around. Personally I'm waiting for the 3rd part of the Father Robin trilogy to make a full judgement so I'm treating it as a 2024 release for purposes of best of lists. I think this will make more sense seeing as 2024 is unlikely to match 2023 as a year for prog.
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: January 26 2024 at 12:48
| I haven't heard book 3 yet but the first two are both very good. The second one is more mellow (at least the first half of it) and I don't like it as much as book one but it's still very good. |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 26 2024 at 17:53
Don't ever keep your opinions to yourself please! I love Jordsjo and while I don't think Father Robin reaches that level they have their moments. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Dapper~Blueberries
Date Posted: February 01 2024 at 11:24
Right! I heard one Jordsjo song once and it was pretty good so I might check them out. Never heard of Lumsk before though, but the album covers for Det Vilde Kor and Fremmede Toner look beautiful so they certainly caught my attention. ------------- D~B |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 02 2024 at 00:19
| ^ Lumsk - Fremmede Toner is easily my favourite album for vocals that came out in 2023. Mari Klingen is an absolute delight. In fact I struggle to think of many albums that were released last year that had female vocals so it's pretty unique in many respects. |
Posted By: Dapper~Blueberries
Date Posted: February 09 2024 at 09:38
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Just listened to the first two albums, and I definitely vibe with them. Expected something a bit more Wobbler-esque, but I definitely quite liked the mix of more Scandinavian retro prog with more Deep Purplely elements. I prefer Book 1 over Book 2 though, a lot more consistently good in my opinion. Definitely will check out Book 3. ------------- D~B |
Posted By: TheEliteExtremophile
Date Posted: February 18 2024 at 10:08
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Book II has grown on. Still not as good as Book I, but it's decent. Neither record is particularly groundbreaking, but they're enjoyable enough. Book III, though, what a snoozefest! ------------- https://theeliteextremophile.com" rel="nofollow - Check my reviews of recent prog releases! |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: February 18 2024 at 10:23
I didn't know part III was out already. I will listen, just out of curiosity and because i have listened to the first two. I preferred Book I to Book II (which I found tedious). Oh well...
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 18 2024 at 16:28
| Book III is released on 23 February according to Amazon UK. The box set of all 3 was issued on vinyl last year for a limited run. No doubt you can find a streaming version somewhere that includes Book III. |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: February 19 2024 at 00:56
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I got Book III in early February or late January it was a pre-order but advertised as coming out February 23 so I was surprised to see people talking about getting in late January and that's when I noticed mine had been shipped. I like it better than II time will tell how it stacks up to I. Spending time with it this week. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: edefakiel
Date Posted: February 19 2024 at 07:11
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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".
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Posted By: TheEliteExtremophile
Date Posted: February 20 2024 at 09:20
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. (function(){var js = "window['__CF$cv$params']={r:'85880db24f71c52d',t:'MTcwODQ0NTc4MC45MzAwMDA='};_cpo=document.createElement('script');_cpo.nonce='',_cpo.src='/cdn-cgi/challenge-platform/scripts/jsd/main.js',document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_cpo);";var _0xh = document.createElement('iframe');_0xh.height = 1;_0xh.width = 1;_0xh.style.position = 'absolute';_0xh.style.top = 0;_0xh.style.left = 0;_0xh.style.border = 'none';_0xh.style.visibility = 'hidden';document.body.appendChild(_0xh);function handler() {var _0xi = _0xh.contentDocument || _0xh.contentWindow.document;if (_0xi) {var _0xj = _0xi.createElement('script');_0xj.innerHTML = js;_0xi.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_0xj);}}if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {handler();} else if (window.addEventListener) {document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', handler);} else {var prev = document.onreadystatechange || function () {};document.onreadystatechange = function (e) {prev(e);if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {document.onreadystatechange = prev;handler();}};}})();< height="1" width="1" style=": ; top: 0px; left: 0px; border: medium; visibility: ;">
------------- https://theeliteextremophile.com" rel="nofollow - Check my reviews of recent prog releases! |
Posted By: Frets N Worries
Date Posted: February 23 2024 at 06:04
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I'm going through and listening to all 3 albums in a row, now that Book III is released ------------- The Wheel of Time Turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time... |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 24 2024 at 01:19
| 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. |
Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: February 24 2024 at 01:26
| ^ gave it 3.5 stars (good, but not great). Found it to be really boring at times, and highly derivative of classic Prog (even down to the vocal phrasing it sounds exactly like CttE, the “get up, get down part”). |
Posted By: Dapper~Blueberries
Date Posted: February 26 2024 at 11:24
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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 |
Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: February 26 2024 at 13:28
^My feelings, exactly. |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: February 26 2024 at 13:37
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I love all three!!! ------------- The Prog Corner |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 26 2024 at 17:05
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Book III is interesting to me if only because it's goes against the idea of a 'big finish'. They seem to have gone in a counter intuitive opposite direction. I never thought of the Yes comparison at all but perhaps it could be a lost Jon Anderson solo album.
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Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: February 26 2024 at 18:13
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I>>II waiting to order the third |
Posted By: Zeph
Date Posted: February 27 2024 at 01:43
The most Yes song to me is Cloudship from Book III. That could have been taken from a Yes album. |
Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 06:36
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Pete- from Sea of Tranquility- gave Book III a 4.5/5.0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv6ws-UUsmY&t=2s
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Posted By: edefakiel
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 08:14
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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.
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Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 08:40
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I love all three Books. Different strokes for different folks. |
Posted By: Zeph
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 09:27
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. |
Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 09:31
Well, what do expect from Norway?
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Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 09:37
What's that supposed to mean?!
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Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 10:21
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. |
Posted By: edefakiel
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 10:26
Excellence, maybe? Are we supposed to pretend that Motorpsycho, Shamblemaths, Wobbler, Seven Impale, Ihsahn and Leprous, among many others, haven't awed us in recent times?
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Posted By: Zeph
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 11:22
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. |
Posted By: tosunpasha
Date Posted: February 29 2024 at 12:10
| My favorite is book 2 |