So members of Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings, Dream Theater, and Marillion got together at the turn of the millennium and made the proggiest of prog rock albums. It's an interesting assortment, but one that certainly has plenty of potential. 20 years later, I'm giving it a spin.
The first thing I noticed was just how much jazz-fusion it had. The band is much more interested in jazzy grooves and jams more than anything else. The album opens with a 31 minute epic called "All of the Above" that exemplifies this, going through some interesting moodshifts and throwing in a few nods to other prog greats of the past. However, it does go on for a bit too long, especially at the end. The shorter songs show different sides of the band, with "We All Need Some Light" being a anthemic and uplifting acoustic ballad while "Mystery Train" is a very quirky and weird piece. As for the other original epic, "My New World" draws more from Sgt. Peppers-era Beatles before eventually falling back into a jazz fusion groove. The album ends with a cover of Procol Harum's "In Held 'Twas In I" (often regarded as the first prog rock epic), and it's a curious arrangement. They sing the spoken part of "Held", and skip "Twas" entirely, instead adding in more jamming and even a free jazz section. Needless to say, it's a bit all over the place.
Overall, it's some pretty decent stuff, but it does lack a little in energy, mostly content to sit back and soak in it's jazz/rock tone that rolls back and forth, but never really rocks. Fans of Stolt and Morse will find plenty of familiar sounds, and the production is very clear, but it really doesn't do anything that I would call great.
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Finally, I decided to give this a listen through, after liking pieces of it last year. It's kind of an interesting follow up from that Transatlantic album, given that PSA is made up of different Spock's Beard members, current and former. The tone of the album is also pretty similar: proggy, but rather laid back, content to just kinda wallow around its moody atmosphere.
The album starts off with the solid "No Burden Left to Carry," with some nice mood shifts, some solid guitar work. The follow up of "The Same Mistakes Again," is a nice, softer piece. However, the album just kinda meanders around those same moods. It doesn't even try to spice things up with jazz-fusion, going for a more straight-forward, somewhat plodding songwriting. A little quirky, sometimes light, sometimes dark, but never straying too far from their soft, prog rock style. Despite not really knowing these artists' heritage, I'm sure fans of Spock's Beard will find plenty to like.
So in the end, it's album that's nice while it's on, and is clearly well-played, but none of it really sticks with me, unfortunately. It rocks a little here, does a soft-jam there, has plenty of layers of keyboards and synths, but like Transatlantic's debut, never really seems to push it to that next level at any time.
Now this is prog rock!
Okay, I admit that I'm not being fair, here. I'm a diehard Yes fan, so I've been anticipating Wakeman's new solo album for a while now. He's gone full-on Six Wives mode here, with a band backing him up, and tons of layers and ideas all blending together.
The song titles are thematically appropriate, all based on various landmarks of Mars. Otherwise, each song is a little prog epic that stands on its own, featuring a variety of moods and tempos. Songs like "Pavonis Mons" and "Ascraeus Mons" are upbeat and driving, while "Tharsis Tholus" and "South Pole" offer more mellow sounds, with the former going for a dark, jazz-fusion vibe, and the latter being more chill and well-paced, with some soft piano in the middle section. Then there are songs like "Arsia Mons" and "The North Plain" that shift around quite a bit, with "The North Plain" drifting from thick rock organs to ambient soundscapes. It also features a great guitar solo from Dave Colquhoun at the end.
Overall, compared to the other two in this article, this just has more energy. A lot of that simply might have to do with Wakeman's electric synth runs, his fingers not having aged a day since the 70s. The band almost makes Mars itself seem varied and magical in comparison to the rust-colored and largely empty planet that it is. Solid work from top to bottom, this album is proof that Wakeman is still the wizard at the keys and as imaginative as ever.
Well, I'm still plugging away around here. Getting out more articles than I would have thought. I'm not sure what the rest of the year will be like, but I'll continue doing what I can. I should probably get into more current year releases. I'm running out of time to include them in a best-of article!!
Until then, rock on! \m/
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