Show #96

On this week's show, more new releases! But first, the big news this past week was the announcement that Nick D'Virgilio was leaving Spock's Beard. This is the second major defection from this great band. This first, when Neal Morse left the music business, albeit temporarily, was akin to Peter Gabriel leaving Genesis. Nick came out from behind the drums, as did Phil Collins, to take over the vocal duties. Now, Nick has left, but his reasons are sensible, and it is without accrimony. Read more on his website. I wish Nick well in his future endeavors, and wish the rest of the Beard well in theirs.

With the coming of the first snow here in Montreal comes the new Kate Bush CD aptly named "50 Words for Snow". It is a wonderful album, and musically it is much more stripped down than what we had been used to by Kate. The consumate artist, Kate Bush has given us wonderful music through all these years, and today she brings us on a musical journey through snow covered landscapes.

After an absence of 8 years, Hungarian band After Crying has now released "Creatura", a wonderfully complexe album which I hope you will like. With four parts, each starting with the same leitmotiv, each song is titled on one of the cardinal points.

The Stevegane Project is the first CD by Pascal Stevegane, a french guitarist which shows a lot of promise as a solo artist. He says his influences are Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush, and Rainbow, but I feel his music is more in the vein of Mike Oldfield, in that it is richly textured and the guitar plays an important part. A great beginning.

As for the other artists featured today, Knight Area, Landscape, and The Psychedelic Ensemble, I'll have more to say later. As for The Anabasis, I refer you to the progmistress's review (click on one of the blogs I follow).

BTW, if you are living in the Montreal or Toronto area, Sun Domingo will be coming to town during the first week of December. Sun Domingo, as you all should know, is the band that has been opening for Marillion at most Weekends these past few years, and they are scheduled to open for Marillion on their North American tour next year. Now is your chance to see a whole Sun Domingo show, as headliners, playing their latest album, the excellent Songs for End Times, and playing the whole of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. This is a show not to be missed.

Now on with the radio show.

The playlist was as follows:

1- A Guy Named Sid, by Spock's Beard (Feel Euphoria, 2003)
2- Beautiful, by Nick D'Virgilio (Pieces, 2011)
3- Hold the Line, by Nick D'Virgilio (Pieces, 2011)
4- Egypt, by The Anabasis (Back from Being Gone, 2011)
5- Snowed in at Wheeler Street, by Kate Bush (50 Words for Snow, 2011)
6- Misty, by Kate Bush (50 Words for Snow, 2011)
7- Eszack (North), by After Crying (Creatura, 2011)
8- Summerland, by Knight Area (Nine Paths, 2011)
9- Wakerun, by Knight Area (Nine Paths, 2011)
10- The Green Eyes, by Stevegane Project (When Time Is a Present, 2011)
11- Glass Curtain, by Landscape (Outside of Nowhere, 2011)
12- Through the Prism of Time, by Landscape (Outside of Nowhere, 2011)
13- The Quest, by The Psychedelic Ensemble (The Dream of the Magic Jongleur, 2011)
14- The Secrets of Your Mind, by The Psychedelic Ensemble (The Dream of the Magic Jongleur, 2011)

As always, if you love the music purchase the CDs either through the artists (links above), or through your favorite retailer.

Show #95

Hello dear listeners. This week's radio show devotes itself to live releases. Usually I don't play live releases on the IPRS, devoting most of the 3 hour show to recent studio releases, but a lot of great sounding live releases have come out recently, of which the new Unitopia CD (and DVD, which is a must buy) One Night in Europe, chronicling the band's first european tour. Also, the Peter Gabriel New Blood CD and DVD which, regardless of what some think of his studio effort "Scratch My Back", brings new life, thus New Blood, to his musical legacy. Some artists do the "unplugged" album with acoustic equivalents to their usual instruments, as Marillion did on the "Live from Cadogan Hall", others use the full force of an acoustic orchestra, which Gabriel chose to magnificent effect.

Speaking of symphonic, The Enid released Live at the Town Hall earlier this year, and my hope is that they release a recording of their own concert using a symphony orchestra. If their ever was one band who's style is perfectly adapted for this treatment, it's The Enid.

And on the "When is it too much" front, all members, save one, of Transatlantic have had live releases this year, either with their own bands or with the aforementioned super group: the Flower Kings, Marillion, Spock's Beard, Neal Morse, and... Transatlantic themselves. With an aptly titled "More Is Never Enough", they release yet another live album (with DVD) of their last tour, and this time it's two different shows with two different vibes. Hopefully this one, though good, is enough... for now.

The playlist was as follows:

1- The Sum of No Reason, by The Flower Kings (Tour Kaputt, 2011)
2- Daydreamer's Nightmare, by Mangrove (Live Beyond Reality, 2011)
3- Dark Hydrolic, by The Enid (Live at the Town Hall, 2011)
4- Signal to Noise, by Peter Gabriel (New Blood Live in London, 2011)
5- Intruder, by Peter Gabriel (New Blood Live in London, 2011)
6- This Is England, by It Bites (It Happened One Night, 2011)
7- The Garden, by Unitopia (One Night in Europe, 2011)
8- The Answering Machine, by Marillion (Live from Cadogan Hall, 2011)
9- Alien Messiah, by Pallas (High Voltage, 2011)
10 - The Light, by Spock's Beard (High Voltage, 2011)
11- Sola Scriptura, by Neal Morse (Testimony 2: Live in Los Angeles, 2011)
12 - The Whirlwind, by Transatlantic (More Is Never Enough, 2011)

As always, if you like the music, please purchase the CDs directly from the artists' web sites or through your favorite retailer. Keep music alive!

Show #94

Hello dear listeners.

The big news today that I didn't touch on during the radio show, since I learned about it after the show, is that EMI music has been purchased by Universal Music Group and Sony Corp. How is it important for us as prog fans? Well a lot of great prog bands started on EMI (or Harvest, which was a subsiduary of EMI), like Marillion, Pallas, and of course Pink Floyd. They were also the home of The Beatles! At one point in the 80s EMI was instrumental in the revival of prog, what we now call the Neo-Prog movement, by signing bands that had a certain following at the Marquee and elsewhere around the UK. Of course, as with any corporate music business, they dumped a lot of bands for lack of sales, but that is the nature of the music business... business!! They usually go where the winds of money go. Anyway, how will that affect us prog fans? Well, not much since most of the back catalogues have been sold with the company. Most of the profits from the recently released (and forthcoming releases) of the Pink floyd catalogue will go to the new Universal/Sony alliance. As for bands who still don't own the full rights to their own songs? I don't know exactly how that affects them... how that affects their future purchasing of their own rights. I will try and find out!

One last thing: next week's radio show will last 4 hours, and will concentrate on the live releases of 2011.

The play list was as follow:

1- Lentamente, by Doracor (La Vita Che Cade, 2011)
2- Settimo Cielo, by Doracor (La Vita Che Cade, 2011)
3- So Far and So Near, by Eternal Wanderers (So Far and So Near, 2011)
4- Mounds, by Eternal Wanderers (So Far and So Near, 2011)
5- The Wiki Man, by The Tangent (COMM, 2011)
6- Prologue, by Seven Steps to the Green Door (The Book, 2011)
7- The Empty Room, by Seven Steps to the Green Door (The Book, 2011)
8- The Green Door, by Seven Steps to the Green Door (The Book, 2011)
9- One Last Au Revoir, by Arena (The Seventh Degree of Separation, 2011)
10- Catching the Bullet, by Arena (The Seventh Degree of Separation, 2011)
11- Welcome to The Institute of Modern Love Part I, by The Institute of Modern Love (Welcome to The Institute of Modern Love EP, 2011)
12- Impression IV, by Lunatic Soul (Impressions, 2011)
13- Impression VI, by Lunatic Soul (Impressions, 2011)
14- Snuff, by Mogon (Colossus, Forthcoming 2012)
15- Enchanted, by After... (No Attachements, 2011)
16- Gone in the Blink of an Eye, by Unitopia (One Night in Europe, 2011)
17- Raving and Drooling, by Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here (Experience Edition), 2011)

As always, if you like the music, purchase the CDs by following the links or by going to your favorite retailer.

What Are Your Top CDs of 2011?

Yes, it's that time of year again! The time of year where I ask you to list your Top 10 or Top 20 CDs of the year. As I did on previous years, I will compile a list based on your lists and play the songs on the radio show sometime in January. So click on COMMENT and write down your lists, or send your list at progrockshow@hotmail.com. Prog On!!

IPRS 93

Hello dear listeners! First, a bit of news on the Prog front. Having announced their first North american tour since 2004 last week, Marillion tickets have now gone on sale in certain cities. Grab them while you can, I have a feeling they will sell like hot cakes! They have also announced that the setlists will change from show to show, sometimes even drastically, so that fans that didn't get a chance to see them live in a long while will at least get a taste of their large back catalogue of songs. That also means that real fans who go to two or more shows will at least hear different songs from one show to the next. I guess that they will make these live shows available to purchase throught their website as they did for the Less Is More and the Happiness tours, although that has not been confirmed.

As I mentioned during the radio show, this year has been a year of plenty when it comes to prog releases of quality, making it really really difficult to choose a Record of the Year. A lot of CDs are in my top of the year, more than 10... There are more than 20 that I consider "must buys" for any prog fan, a sampling of which you can hear on today's radio show. So this year I have decided that I won't make a distinction between the number 1 and the number 20 on my Top 20 list of 2011 that will be broadcast in January. Instead it will be titled "The Top CDs that everyone should have in his collection". That doesn't stop anyone from making a top 10 or top 20 list of their favorites of the year and send them to me. As with years past, I will compile a list from the listeners choices and play those songs on a special "Listener's Choice" radio show that will preceed my own list. So get going and send me your choices even though the year hasn't ended (You can ammend your list later).

The playlist was as follows:

1- Wild Man (Single Version), by Kate Bush (50 Words for Snow, Forthcoming 2011)
2- Reconditioned Nightmare, by Steve Hackett (Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, 2011)
3- Glove Box, by Astralia (Osmosis, 2011)
4- Dedalo's Torment, by Astralia (Osmosis, 2011)
5- Nothing Box, by Glass Hammer (Cor Cordium, 2011)
6- Salvation Station, by Glass Hammer (Cor Cordium, 2011)
7- Sectarian, by Steven Wilson (Grace for Drowning, 2011)
8- The Physics of Gridlock, by Pain of Salvation (Road Salt Two, 2011)
9- Eleven, by Pain of Salvation (Road Salt Two, 2011)
10- Island, by Gösta Berlings Saga (Glue Works, 2011)
11- The Great Divide, by A Big Goodbye (Sounds & Silence, 2011)
12- In My Dreams, by A Big Goodbye (Sounds & Silence, 2011)
13- When She Dreams, She Dreams in Color, by Discipline (To Shatter All Accord, 2011)
14- Circuitry, by Discipline (To Shatter All Accord, 2011)
15- Into This World, by Cosmograf (When Age Has Done Its Duty, 2011)
16- On Which We Stand, by Cosmograf (When Age Has Done Its Duty, 2011)
17- Sanctuary (The Return), by Alan Reed (Dancing with Ghosts, 2011)
18- Teardrops in the Rain, by Alan Reed (Dancing with Ghosts, 2011)
19- Baby Lulla Shadows, Parts I & II, by Loonypark (Straw Andy, 2011)
20- When Age Has Done Its Duty, by Cosmograf (When Age Has Done Its Duty, 2011)

As always, if you like the music purchase the CDs by following the links above. You'll be encouraging the artists and assuring that they produce more of the music we all love.