Metal music or aggressive music would only agitate my situation so I stayed clear ....but not for lack of trying. Here are some thoughts on discs that have been already talked about, so I won't put up links as I'm sure everyone has what they need at this point ..... just wanted to throw in some thoughts to make me feel better ......finally getting back to enjoying some Prog music !!!!NEAL MORSE / The Dreamer - Joseph Part 1 -
What looks to be a trilogy concept from Neal Morse starts here with this one. Having started to get a feel for Neal Morse music in general over the past few years, I like The Neal Morse Band with Portnoy the best. This concept disc here is well done, epic in parts, but some of the vocals are too ... cheesy for lack of a better word ? I'm sure it's due to the writing of the disc, but about halfway thru this one starts to get on my nerves and quickly hit STOP. I think I would have enjoyed this maybe 10-12 years ago, but I need it a little heavier in the Morse dept .......
SIEGES EVEN / The Art of Navigating by the Stars -
Yeah - I missed this one many, many moons ago ......I was never a Sieges fan, but I remember back in the day when everyone said I needed to get this one because of it's Neo-Prog qualities .... I passed. Now, The Lasers Edge has the re-mastered version in stock, and I jumped. I had forgotten that the great Arno Menses (Subsignal) is the vocalist here, so I got a bonus with the disc. I pretty much like what I'm hearing - this isn't their full on prog stuff from other discs, but it isn't the melodic straight forward disc I remember being told it was. It is somewhat disjointed, and will take many listens to appreciate this. I do like it enough to keep coming back to it, and the re-master sounds great although I don't have the original to compare. I forget the year this came out, but I don't care for the drum sound which was prevalent back then .. sort of a dry, cardboard type snare sound which drives me nuts. The vocals and quality of sound will keep me coming back to this one.
MYSTERY / Redemption -
Nothing much to add here from when this first came out ....quality Mystery, that somehow gets better as the disc plays on. It's got quite a nice build up to an epic ending....vocals are top notch as always, and it's got that pristine, Mystery production .... I love this band.
PENDRAGON / North Star - (EP)
Key word here.... EP. Let's start with the good. It's Pendragon and it's superbly done. Stop. At this point in their career, or mine for that matter, there is no need to put out an EP. These songs sound like leftovers from the brilliant Love Over Fear, and should have been included on that disc. I get the time thing, but 24:00 is easy to add to a disc #2, and then throw in a 20:00 epic to end it and voila - you have a brilliant 2-disc set. I freely admit to being a chump for Pendragon and I couldn't help myself with this one - it really comes down to the fact that I'm a lazy SoB and I don't want to have to get up so fast and change the CD. Come on Nick - consult with me next time. No EPs needed from Pendragon at this point.
KARNATAKA / Requiem for a Dream -
In a word: stunning. I'll bet most have forgotten this band, especially since the great Secrets of Angels many years ago ...... armed with a new female singer, and a superb one at that, this disc is a dramatic, epic and melodic syrup fest that reminds me of how Mystery would sound with a female singer. It's hard to believe that one guy is mostly responsible for the whole disc musically, but the production, the epic vibe, the emotion, and the vocals that come from this disc is astoundingly good. I had to play it back again after it was over to see if I was imagining something else. Nope - brilliance in every way. Lots of us have moved on from this style of music, but I still like to hear what some of them are still doing, and Karnataka has come back with a monster. Simply stunning for what it is.
LEGACY PILOTS / Helix -
LEGACY PILOTS / Con Brio -
I've said enough about this band so I will keep it short. To me, the easiest way to put it is a more progressive version of The Alan Parsons Project, although each disc comes up with other influences as well like Kansas, ELP, The Moody Blues and the prog sound in that vein......everything this band does is magic to me, and Helix the new one is no exception. Con Brio, is their first disc released, and I want to thank Ken Golden for grabbing this one for me. I love this band.
AVKRVST / The Approbation -
This one will end up in my Top 3, if it doesn't make #1. Just a killer disc combining the sounds of Porcupine Tree, Riverside, Opeth and Pink Floyd .....there is something magical about a band who puts out a debut like this one, and not many people are talking about it. If you like any of those bands mentioned, and want to know what they sound like combined, check this band out .....
SILENT SKIES / Dormant -
I bought this for two reasons .... Tom Englund singing this style of music, and the title track -- which describes me as of late. I'm familiar with S-Skies, but I needed that atmosphere to bring me back to life and it helped a great deal. I just picture Tom singing on a shoreline, with these atmospheric keys behind him and finding some meaning to life at that moment. Normally, a disc like this would serve to keep me down, but at the time, I needed something to remind me of what I love about music, and something that wouldn't knock me over like metal ..... this served it up perfectly.
VOYAGER / Fearless in Love -
I had the "anti" reaction to this disc that most people didn't have. I couldn't handle it when I got it, but upon revisiting it again made me feel the same way. It's Voyager, but I think after that last brilliant blu-ray show they released, I think I've had my share of buying more Voyager. I either didn't care for the more "poppy" feeling to this one, or it is as I feared, that I've got my fill of Voyager on my CD rack .......
RAY ALDER / II -
Simple. I love the first Ray Alder release, this one is harder to get into. It's got a more "industrial" vibe to it if you will where the first one had a more emotional vibe to it .... the melodies here are a bit hard to uncover, and while I admire the guitar work, the chords just don't grab me the way they do previously.....Ray sounds fantastic here, and the lyrics are killer ..... the music is just a bit more difficult to get into, and I don't want that from a Ray disc. This is no way a bad disc - in fact, it's great. I just want the previous vibe over this one ......
UNITOPIA / Seven Chambers -
Thanks to Claus for making sure I didn't miss this one .... If you had been missing your Arena since their last disc, or didn't care for that disc like me, then look no further than this band. I dare say that if Arena had written this disc - those large divided discussions we had about the disc wouldn't have taken place .....
This band floored me with their Arena-like style and approach. Perfect for me.
NOSPUN / Opus -
Missing your early Haken days ? Look no further .....here they are. Excellent prog metal like early Haken makes this one more than enjoyable. Although the vocals here aren't quite what I normally like, I think back to what we all said about Ross Jennings and how it faded after the greatness of their music hit us ..... I feel that is the same here with Nospun although the singer is much more pleasant here to listen to ......if I didn't know better I would say that Haken just released a new concept disc with a new singer. It's that good.....
THE NEAL MORSE BAND / An Evening of Innocence & Danger -
A 3-disc masterpiece live show of the above disc, and 2 others combining a 2-song disc and disc #3 called The Great Similitude Medley ..... this is about as good as it gets for me ....I've been enjoying the Moresfest shows which are all magic, but this one just takes the cake in its scope of music and performance. If I read between the lines, this could be the last disc from The NM Band is some time, if not ever. I think NM wants to concentrate on the Neal Morse music, such as the trilogy of Joseph I mentioned above ...hopefully I'm wrong. What sucks about this is that there isn't a blu-ray of this show....of all the ones to put on a blu-ray, this one would be it .....so I'm confused and maybe it is pointing to the final show of the NMB ......in the end, if it is the end, this is a brilliant way to go out and this is an absolute killer of a show......at least we have a 3-CD of it. Brilliance in every way.
I'm sure I'm missing more discs to talk about .... but for the moment that's the pile that was sitting before me waiting to enjoy when I got back into my groove .....
