Wow! What a first album. We reviewed Storia Di Un Minuto by Premiata Forneria Marconi this week. Italian prog. Who knew?
Every now and then we review an album that knocks me sideways. The difference between my expectations and what I actually heard were so different that I actually became excited. A band that had somehow managed to realise what music can be ... at their first attempt.
I have quite a wide palate of musical interests and Soria Di Un Minuto seems to have ticked all the boxes. My expectations of Italian Prog weren't very high. Maybe it's because I have an impression of Southern Europeans lazing around in hammocks waiting for the olives to fall of the trees. Prog is an act of arduous effort, laden with tension amongst band members. Not this though.
There is a refreshing vibe about the music. It feels light and busy without requiring effort. It is tinged with a relaxed and happy bounce. Not an easy thing to accomplish with so much going on.
My usual MO when reviewing an album is to listen to it whilst walking. Normally when the album is finished I will listen to something else. See how it fairs in relation to other things, what it inspires me to listen to. This time I listed to Storia Di Un Minuto then listened to Storia Di Un Minuto, The only thing I could put it up against was some Zappa!
But the real mark of how exceptional this album is that I was quite comfortably to play it to my girlfriend. Usually I am too embarrassed. The bit where I have to explain why the music is so special feels like a chore. It wasn't necessary this week. We had a relaxing Sunday morning listening to some nice music.
Sunday, 5 March 2017
Wednesday, 1 March 2017
Melodic Death
I had not heard of Melodic Death Metal. I am not a massive Metal fan but there are some bloody good bands out there - Pryapisme, Opeth, Gojira, Meshuggah, y'know that sort of thing. So when we were asked to review The Jester Race by In Flames I thought we could be in for another treat here.
If you want to know what can be good about Metal, watch this - Ron Jarzombek - 'Cretaceous Chasm' in 12-Tone Fragments. It's a pretty good primer on how experimental Metal can be.
So a band which were at the forefront of creating Melodic Death Metal should be good right? I think what we proved is how subjective music reviewing can be. Personally my ear just wasn't tuned into it. There are some metal heads out there who will listen to that and immediately get what the band was about. Personally if it hadn't been for Wikipedia I would have said Metal with some semi-normal, semi-boring guitar solos. Kev used the word homogenized a lot, because Metal can be that, and a Metal album can be that x 10 to the power of brain freeze.
The interest for me comes from the Nordic link. Death Metal seems such a natural fit for the Morbid Existentialists of Sweden and there is something very satisfying about this. What it has done has made me realise that we need to organise a Metal Special.
If you want to know what can be good about Metal, watch this - Ron Jarzombek - 'Cretaceous Chasm' in 12-Tone Fragments. It's a pretty good primer on how experimental Metal can be.
So a band which were at the forefront of creating Melodic Death Metal should be good right? I think what we proved is how subjective music reviewing can be. Personally my ear just wasn't tuned into it. There are some metal heads out there who will listen to that and immediately get what the band was about. Personally if it hadn't been for Wikipedia I would have said Metal with some semi-normal, semi-boring guitar solos. Kev used the word homogenized a lot, because Metal can be that, and a Metal album can be that x 10 to the power of brain freeze.
The interest for me comes from the Nordic link. Death Metal seems such a natural fit for the Morbid Existentialists of Sweden and there is something very satisfying about this. What it has done has made me realise that we need to organise a Metal Special.
Uriah Heep - Proving That Time Should Go Backwards
There are certain bands that crop up every now and then which are such an obvious fit for In The Court If The Wenton King that it almost feels like a cop out to review them. These are in fact the hardest bands to review - yes these guys play prog which is good - the album cover is nice - errrrr.
Uriah Heep were interesting in that I listened to the albums backwards (Demons and Wizards, Look At Yourself and Salisbury). So I started with Deep Purple and ended up at Prog.
Now as the Laws of Physics would have it, time travels forwards which would suggest that progress would be from Prog to Purple. This is not how it sounded to my ears. I started off disappointed and then slowly became excited!
There is nothing wrong with Deep Purple, they are one of the biggest bands in history for a reason. They wrote some bloody good rock songs. But I would much rather listen to a Spotify playlist of them, than an album in it's entirety. There comes a point when Deep Purple are just Deep Purpling and actually when we did our run of reviews I found it a bit frustrating.
So the perception that Uriah Heep had started off with Deep Purple and then expanded their musical palette was refreshing. How often do bands find a groove and struggle to get out of it? But as it turned out Uriah Heep had done what everyone else does and reaped huge financial rewards :(
Uriah Heep were interesting in that I listened to the albums backwards (Demons and Wizards, Look At Yourself and Salisbury). So I started with Deep Purple and ended up at Prog.
Now as the Laws of Physics would have it, time travels forwards which would suggest that progress would be from Prog to Purple. This is not how it sounded to my ears. I started off disappointed and then slowly became excited!
There is nothing wrong with Deep Purple, they are one of the biggest bands in history for a reason. They wrote some bloody good rock songs. But I would much rather listen to a Spotify playlist of them, than an album in it's entirety. There comes a point when Deep Purple are just Deep Purpling and actually when we did our run of reviews I found it a bit frustrating.
So the perception that Uriah Heep had started off with Deep Purple and then expanded their musical palette was refreshing. How often do bands find a groove and struggle to get out of it? But as it turned out Uriah Heep had done what everyone else does and reaped huge financial rewards :(
Close to the Edge by Yes. Making the Impossible, Possible.
I've recently re-reviewed Close to the Edge by Yes. It has been a running theme through our videos that I think Yes are completely overblown and that Jon Anderson is the anti-Christ.
The reason? There is a question surrounding Yes. Nothing to do with the music, more the subject matter. The question of the pretentiousness buzzes about the air. This album is 'inspired' by Siddartha by Herman Hesse.
To some people, like me, this is an unsurmountable problem especially considering this is the most sixth formery version of pretentiousness. What makes it worse is that Anderson sings/writes in abstract metaphor which only serves to give the impression of hidden depths of vacant ether.
It is perfecty feasible that what is actually going on is that Jon Anderson can't be bothered to write good lyrics that we can all relate to, that the music gives his genuine interest in Eastern stuff a real outlet but that would a personal thing. I like it when musicians pay a passing interest to the listener. A bit like an author thinking about the reader when writing his book. This type of music making is schizophrenic in nature. I'm not suggesting that Anderson is a loon or anything, but it is curiously self interested.
What surprised me was when I forced myself to listen, was the fact that all that stuff that got in the way started to fall away until eventually I could listen to the actual music which is a curious parallel to the supposed source material. Siddartha spends a lot of time listening to the river before he gets it. This is either downright genius, or fluke. I'm going with the latter out of spite more than anything else :) It's still impressive. A lot of inspiring artwork just kind of bubbles up by 'accident', out of the subconscious. Jon Anderson put himself there and achieved something truly interesting. I wonder if I could do the same ...
The reason? There is a question surrounding Yes. Nothing to do with the music, more the subject matter. The question of the pretentiousness buzzes about the air. This album is 'inspired' by Siddartha by Herman Hesse.
To some people, like me, this is an unsurmountable problem especially considering this is the most sixth formery version of pretentiousness. What makes it worse is that Anderson sings/writes in abstract metaphor which only serves to give the impression of hidden depths of vacant ether.
It is perfecty feasible that what is actually going on is that Jon Anderson can't be bothered to write good lyrics that we can all relate to, that the music gives his genuine interest in Eastern stuff a real outlet but that would a personal thing. I like it when musicians pay a passing interest to the listener. A bit like an author thinking about the reader when writing his book. This type of music making is schizophrenic in nature. I'm not suggesting that Anderson is a loon or anything, but it is curiously self interested.
What surprised me was when I forced myself to listen, was the fact that all that stuff that got in the way started to fall away until eventually I could listen to the actual music which is a curious parallel to the supposed source material. Siddartha spends a lot of time listening to the river before he gets it. This is either downright genius, or fluke. I'm going with the latter out of spite more than anything else :) It's still impressive. A lot of inspiring artwork just kind of bubbles up by 'accident', out of the subconscious. Jon Anderson put himself there and achieved something truly interesting. I wonder if I could do the same ...
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