PROG RELATED

Jon & Vangelis was a musical project formed by the lead singer of Yes Jon Anderson and the famous Greek electronic pioneer musician Vangelis, in the 80's. But this wasn't the first time the two had worked together. The first meeting between them took place in London, in the 70's. Vangelis was to be the natural replacement for Rick Wakeman on keyboards, on Yes, when Rick left the band after the release of their sixth studio album "Tales From Topographic Oceans". It would never happen especially due to personal reasons of Vangelis. However, the role went to the second choice, the Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz. Still, Jon Anderson has participated already, in the role of vocalist, on albums of Vangelis like "Heaven And Hell", "See You Latter", and played harp on the album "Opera Sauvage", too.

The pair worked together from 1979 to 1991, producing four original studio albums, "Short Stories" in 1980, "The Friends Of Mr. Cairo" in 1981, "Private Collection" in 1983 and "Page Of Life" in 1991.

So, "Short Stories" is the debut studio album by Jon & Vangelis and that was released in 1980. Jon Anderson was the author of the lyrics and performed all vocals and the music was all composed by Vangelis which performed all instruments, keyboards, synthesizers, piano and electronics. Beyond them, "Short Stories" had also the participation of Raphael Preston on acoustic guitars with some small contributions as a guest musician.

Originally, the vinyl version had ten tracks, but the CD version has only eight tracks. I have both versions but I'll review the eight tracks version. The first track comprises the first song "Curious Electric". It's a superb and brilliant opener for the album. This song begins to create the perfect musical atmosphere along the entire album created by Jon and Vangelis. On this track Vangelis is simply brilliant and this song is, in my humble opinion, one of the best compositions ever written by him. The second track comprises the second and third songs, "Each And Everyday" and "Bird Song". These are two beautiful love songs which are performed together such as a single one. These are two completely different songs from the previous one because here we have the music of Vangelis providing the musical ambient to Jon Anderson's voice, while on "Curious Electric" is the opposite. In other words, Jon Anderson provides the vocal ambient to Vangelis' music. The third track comprises the fourth song "I Hear You Now" which was also released as a single. It's another love song, very beautiful and melodic and it's also very delicate and vibrant at the same time. This song represents the perfect harmony between the two musicians which is, in my point of view, the main hallmark of this album. The fourth track comprises the fifth song "The Road" which is the only track to feature an additional musician Raphael Preston, who contributes with acoustic guitars. The song is very pleasant and contributes for one of the best and most beautiful musical moments on the album. The fifth track comprises the sixth song "Far Away In Baagad" and the seventh song "Love Is". Despite being performed together, these are two completely different songs. "Far Away In Baagad" always reminded me strongly the debut solo studio album Of Jon Anderson "Olias Of Sunhillow". It's an incredible song with beautiful and mysterious melodies and also with a great keyboard work. "Love Is" is the opposite. It's a nice and mellow love song but it's also at the same time to much sentimental and bore. This song represents for me the lower point on the album. The sixth track comprises the eighth song "One More Time". It's a very simple song with very beautiful and charming atmosphere created by Jon Anderson's voice. It's the type of the song that in the future would be adopted by the duo. The seventh track comprises the ninth song "Thunder". Despite be the shortest song on the album it has some beautiful and interesting musical moments. It's very short but very nice. The eighth and last track comprises the tenth song "A Play Within A Play". This is a sublime and dreamy song that represents with "Curious Electric" and "Far Away In Baagad" the three highest moments on the album. It's a song that starts slowly, it grows until reaches the climax and in the end it returns and dissipate slowly again. This is a great ending for the album.

Conclusion: I know this album since it was released and I always loved it. Of the four albums of them, this is the best, the most progressive and the only one where the communion between the incredible voice of Jon Anderson and the beautiful music of Vangelis is almost perfect. I'm one of those who think that the voice of Jon Anderson and the music of Vangelis make a perfect wedding. I don't share the idea that Anderson doesn't seem an integral part of the duo because on this album he only sings about the rules of Vangelis. I don't care if the music was composed by Vangelis and Anderson only sings his lyrics. In my humble opinion, here we can clearly see the both worlds and the perfection between them. "Short Stories" is a very beautiful album, well balanced, uniform and cohesive. In the end we may say this is almost a perfect music work. So, I've no doubt in saying this is a great addition to any progressive collection.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Back in the '80s, we were inseparable. I was 17 when we met, just trying to survive high school. He was two years older and in college pursuing physics. We had the most intense friendship, the kind where young men bond and surf the wave between adolescence and adulthood. We did it all: learned how to party, chase girls, build hot rods. We started a band. We spent many summer nights on the roof of his parents' house smoking and discussing weighty topics. We trusted each other with our fears. We became experts at the art of keeping 'adult considerations' at bay as long as possible. If maturity was sunlight, we were vampires. If you've read about Anthony Kiedis and Flea back in their youth, you'll have the picture, although we didn't achieve their level of mastery at music, partying, or girls. While our shared love of hard rock and metal was fierce, our mutual old faves were likely Heart and Zeppelin. The Song Remains the Same was my holy grail for certain, both the album and movie. It was the 1970s in one perfect symbolic artifact, and we were two young men who lamented missing that boat. We were trapped in the middle 1980s, hating that culture and wishing we were at Madison Square in '73 instead. (I'm more appreciative of the '80s music scene now, having far more expertise, but at the time and at that tender age, we were two proud, purist '70s freaks, two "throwbacks" as his sister called us.) More on us later.

Song Remains is Zeppelin's finest hour(s) captured, their live peak despite what they've said about being tired that night or what the blowhard critics think of it. Nonsense. The '73 tour was the band in perfect possession of their full rock powers. They had acquired and mastered the experience from the earlier tours, yet they had not lost an ounce of their edge to the factors that would begin to dog them with each tour thereafter. I can watch them in '75, '77, and '79 and see the slippage immediately in all of them except perhaps Jonesy. Age, substance use, vocal damage. Different factors affected the other three. Not horribly, necessarily. They could often do just fine on later tours, but it's still noticeable to my keen Zep eye. My only point is that '73 was the perfect crystalized moment where they could...do...no...wrong. Even the mistakes and missteps that did occur felt acceptable here, more charming than cringe. My favorite stuff here is the Houses of the Holy material which was the new stuff at the time. It's fresh and powerful, but most especially "SRTS/Rain Song, and Over the Hills and Far Away," all of which are have so much extra spark running through them as compared to the album versions.

Quite simply, these powerhouse live selections have become definitive versions of some of their best material, fleshed out and expanded with glorious interplay and personal prowess. I have nothing against the studio versions of these songs which are masterful in their own way, but these live versions are so on fire: there are songs within songs hatched of improvisation, much cool embellishment, and just sheer bravado on high. For me it is Jimmy I most connect with, the sheer beauty in his playing, especially the added luster and emotion of "Rain Song," the "golden" Les Paul hue to his sound, and the complete confidence he had on the harder rocking tracks. His playing is full of adrenalin and sensuality, masculine and feminine, the "light and dark" that he has often asserted were so important to the Zep canon. I understand the criticism some have of Page as "stumblefingers," and he is guilty of it sometimes, but he so transcends it. His runs, bends, his feel for the emotion, his service to the songs are ample reason so many consider him among the best. Pagey was certainly our hero for this album alone, and we tried to play like him in our band. My friend got way closer than I ever did. He could play anybody.

Our legendary friendship lasted into our early 20s before we took different paths and never reconnected, leaving all of that fire where it burned hottest, in our past. It was a beautiful thing that had to be short-lived because it was so fiercely a youth thing. I've been pretty cavalier about the lifestyle we used to lead, that partying is no big deal, that it never hurt us. But I can see now how it did take down some pretty cool people I've known, far too prematurely. Today I would tell young people to avoid abusing themselves and embrace healthier fun. But my dear friend who left us at age 57 was unrepentant to the end. He told me back in our youth, "There's an old saying that 'youth is wasted on the young.' They're never gonna be able to say that about me." And he was right. He hit the ground at 90 mph and never did slow down.

I loved him. Still do. After he died, they gave me his guitar which, as you can imagine, is an unreal emotional experience for me to play now. I strap it on only occasionally, and I swear I'm able to play better on his axe than I can on my own. I think that's his doing, and I can see him smile at the trick. The Song Remains the Same (along with Bebe Le Strange and Little Queen in particular) remains the soundtrack to every crazy night in our beloved suburban past, our youth pressed to a slab of vinyl. It remains a masterpiece to me. Similar to Yessongs and The Grateful Dead Movie, The Song Remains the Same is simply an absolute gift to fans, complete live shows captured in their prime so that people who were too young may experience them. It's a shame that the Floyd didn't have the foresight to do something this bold on the Dark Side or Wish tours. I don't really have the time of day for criticism of these documents as I feel privileged that they took the time to do them for us younger kids who couldn't be there in person. Cheers, mate. We'll jam again one day.

Still, it's a great DVD, and the band is on top form, with boundless energy and enthusiasm, we even see quite a few songs that hadn't been played live in a long time! And with a few added extras (interviews, extra footage etc), this makes for a worthy addition to any Metallica fans collection.

From the surrealist cover where a disintegrated Eddie from the waist down holds an encapsulated baby (or something like that.... ) in an aseptic and icy setting, "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" thematically recreates the eternal dispute between Good and Evil with the seer and chosen 'Alvin Maker' as the protagonist, starting from his birth and the course of his life, fighting against evil powers and his own inner demons in a story inspired by the fantasy novel "Seventh Son" (1987) by the American playwright Orson Scott Card.

And even though the tone and power of the guitars drop a few decibels in "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", the band does not renounce to them in songs of great effect like "Can I Play with Madness" and its catchy chorus, the energetic "The Evil That Men Do", or the galloping "The Clairvoyant", intertwining them with songs of greater structural complexity like "Moonchild" and its initial acoustic guitars and meandering keyboards decorating the flowing instrumental base, "Infinity Dreams" with Bruce Dickinson's powerful vocal register and stupendous middle section, and what is surely one of Iron Maiden's greatest intersections with progressive rock, "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", a mixture of guitar riffs and solos from the Dave Murray/Adrian Smith tandem, middle sections and shifting time signatures from Steve Harris' incredible bass and Nicko McBrian's percussion, and atmospheric synthesizers. Finally, "Only the Good Die Young' rounds off the conceptual character of the album with the same acoustic sonorities of its beginning.

"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" was the pinnacle of the Englishmen's experimentation, and moved the band's central axis a few degrees, not to get out of their seminal genre, but to extend its limits.

Excellent.

4/4.5 stars

"Powerslave" flows with enormous energy and an unusual forcefulness, between the most aggressive "Maiden" sonorities, like the powerful and direct "Aces High" and "Two Minutes to Midnight", obligatory pieces in the live performances of the band, the suffocating urgency of "Flash of the Blade"' and the rawness of the early years in "Back in the Village", combined with the more elaborate metal of the instrumental "Losfer Words (Big "Orra)" and "The Duellists", a piece inspired by a knightly fight in the Napoleonic era that was made into a film by Ridley Scott in 1977.

However, the album's highlight clearly shines towards its final stretch, with the primal progressive metal emanating from the robust and mythic "Powerslave" (the solos and guitar duel between Dave Murray and Adrian Smith are formidable), and the stellar progressive exploration of the immeasurable "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", a vigorous sea epic inspired by the 1798 poem of the same name by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and masterfully sustained by Steve Harris' piercing bass, especially in the gloomy middle section accompanied by the plaintive creak of a ghostly ship, and topped off by the blast of the galloping guitars of the Murray/Smith duo supporting Bruce Dickinson's excellent vocal performance, in an unbeatable close.

"Powerslave" elevated Iron Maiden to worldwide megastar status, leading to the mammoth "World Slavery Tour" between August 1984 and July 1985, with almost two hundred shows in Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Oceania, and over 3.5 million people in attendance.

Excellent.

4/4.5 stars

All nine tracks were composed by Salonen, some of them together with Leppänen. The lyrics were written by Wigwam's Jim Pembroke, except for the songs of the preceding single ('Playground' / 'Lighthouse') that had lyrics of Peter O'Neill, Irish troubadour living in Finland at the time. Musically the album more or less continues in the fairly straightforward rock style of the disappointing second album Boogie Jungle (1975) and yet it sounds stronger as a whole. The moods are generally darker, understandably so after the accidental death of Kurkinen.

'Silver Fish' is a sweaty, fast-paced rock'n'roll song. Leppänen's raspy vocals remind me of FAMILY's Roger Chapman without the lamb-like vibrato. Neither 'Lighthouse' is highly progressive as a chorus-repeating composition, but it sounds pretty good and has great Moog parts by Karimo. 'Forever Train' is a fast, semi-proggy and very dynamic rock song full of energy in the playing.

The album's undeniable highlight is the spiritually inspired, two-part title piece (6:40) which has the clearest prog tendencies and the most powerful emotional feel. Quite beautiful especially on the slower moments. Backing vocals are provided by Marianne Nyman and Jim Pembroke, the latter also playing piano on this piece only. Leppänen is admittedly a strong vocalist who is equally convincing on the rock intensity and on the calmer expression.

The album's references to drug abuse are at their clearest on the rocking 'Brown'll Might Suit You' and the slightly RUSH-reminding instrumental 'Panamian Red'. The remaining three rock oriented vocal songs are pretty average.

The album sold very weakly in Finland but it was marketed into several continental countries, helped by the band's touring with Poland's SBB and later with the French prog legends ANGE. Kalevala disbanded in 1978 -- but not entirely for good.

This is how the ship seated on the turbulent waters of its time, and began to do a difficult sailing, rolling and bumping with the (not so friendly) waves ahead. And that dizzying perception of coming up and down with the boat really comes through the heavily psychedelic sound of this, their discographic debut. The initial trio of Spinetta, Frascino and Amaya just went to the studio, and tackled the new challenge by unleashing the intoxicating cadence they had perfected in an extensive live duty. Probably, that was their glory, and their sin too: Too heavy to be easily accepted by the progressive tribe, but also too progressive for the typical heavy audience of yore, with tastes anchored in a rather squared blues-rock template, they kept rolling and bumping, leaving their own wake.

The album opens with Blues De Cris, a teaser of zeppelinesque manierism in the vocals, yet mounted in their own kind of sway. Great guitar break, too. Track 2, El Jardinero, grows infectiously like a maze of riffs and winding guitar lines, sublimating the initial nightmare into a more abstract scape of counterpointing arpeggios. Track 3, Dulce 3 Nocturno is the overnight sweet relief, an acoustic gem of unique vocal textures, including a rare lead by Frascino in the bridge. Track 4, Algo Flota En La Laguna, goes for a mutant blues-rock groove, rapidly corrupted with sharply bending guitars in a oh-so-tasty early seventies mix, and unexpected interlude of vocal splendour.

After that, Spinetta brings in Cutaia, just in time to cut Track 5, Serpiente, which he wanted to be given a Hammond C-3 laden treatment, after being impressed by ELP's Tarkus. Being the tale of a serpent that "travels through the salt" (don't ask - early 70's), the marvellous mini-suite got an accordingly winding lead from the keyboard, and Cutaia, of course, earned a place on board.

Two out of the three bonus-tracks make a worthy addition to the remastered reissue: Track 7, Despiértate Nena, with rare (and excellent) vocals by Lebón (Frascino's replacement) soaring over an acid-jazz groove embedded with great guitar fills. And Track 8, Post-Crucifixión, is one of those hipnotic riffs that, without being overly sticky, stays with you forever once heard. And don't forget the amazing vocals, distantly mirrored with echo for greater aural pleasure.

Perfectly useless, as a love letter or the buzz at your fingertips can be, and equally essential. Imperfect hearts will love it.

First Cutaia, then Lebón and finally Amaya himself, who had been on board since the very inception of the band. Left alone, and owing one more album to the Microfon label, Spinetta recruited two of his former mates in the band Almendra, plus his own brother Gustavo, and did Artaud with those same songs.

How could result, from such a turmoil, a recording in state of grace? Who knows, the songs were amazing, that helps. Working at home, with brother and old friends, that too. But in the end, there's no explanation for beauty, if true. And no need for one either, just wide open eyes and ears are required.

The cover sleeve was designed with an irregular edge, by Spinetta's request. It wouldn't fit any standard rack, because, you know, art shouldn't fit. From the edges to the inside, on the other hand, the album flows seamless, yet through very different moments. Even the acoustic songs are each one of a kind. Todas Las Hojas Son Del Viento, with tender innocence and anti-drug message. Por, almost a symbolist stream of consciousness, slipping through naked acoustic beauty. La Sed Verdadera, presumably inspired in Rimbaud, serene, contemplative, soaked in delicious lo-fi electronica towards the end. Cantata De Puentes Amarillos is the piece de resistance for acoustic guitar and vocals, but with the most amazing electric and percussive incrustations, turning it into a joyous ride, focused in the hope for a better tomorrow.

The electric element of the equation blossoms in Superchería, walking a fine line between the melodies of Spinetta's old band Almendra, and Aquelarre's rythmic drive, contemporary by then. That drive mutates at the end of the album, in the fascinatingly bouncing riffage of Las Habladurías Del Mundo. Bajan used to jump the airwaves in different times, thanks to a graceful melody, supported by catchy drums, courtesy of Gustavo Spinetta. Can Artaud poetry be set in a cheap horror comedy scenary? Don't know really, but that is what it seems to take place in the other piece with Gustavo in drums, Cementerio Club, and it's delightful. If, besides progressive, the term art-rock can (and should) be applied to this album, that is in A Starosta El Idiota, with a rare performance in piano by Spinetta, existential lyrics, and delicious bassline in the middle section, preceded by a concrete music incursion loaded with references.

After this, García and Del Guercio resumed their day job playing drums and bass in Aquelarre, and Spinetta went to form Invisible.

A delicate record that screams "Play me loud!", and never dissapoints.