Anniversary Series - 1974!

Happy Leap Day!  It's kind of peculiar to think this year will be the last round of Anniversary Articles, as I will have done one for every year since 1970.  Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, as we have a solid year of rock music to discuss here.  1974 is a bit of a curious year, as we see the end of prog rock and the beginnings of arena rock.  Let's check out what was going on for 1974!

Right off, we get a handful of great hits, with "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers and Grand Funk Railroad's cover of "Loco-motion."  The Eagles give "The Best of My Love" and "Already Gone," while Rush's debut makes waves in Cleveland with "Working Man."  We also see the debut of Kiss, though still a few years off of their success, but their first record provides live staples like "Strutter" and "Deuce."

Things heat up as the year goes on, with Aerosmith's "Same Old Song and Dance," Bad Company's debut album with "Can't Get Enough," and Lynyrd Skynyrd giving us a Second Helping down in their "Sweet Home Alabama."  This is followed by Bachman-Turner Overdrive's Not Fragile, including hits like "Roll On Down the Highway" and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet."

While progressive rock was looking a little long in the tooth by now, it was still a standout year with some big, experimental albums.  King Crimson started things off with Starless and Bible Black, along with Camel's Mirage.  Rick Wakeman took listeners on a Journey to the Center of the Earth, Emerson Lake & Palmer said Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends with an epic live album, Supertramp committed The Crime of the Century, Genesis ended their Gabriel era with The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and Yes would get quite technical with Relayer.  King Crimson then came back with the much celebrated Red.  However, after this year, prog rock would really drop off, as tastes and trends were shifting away from extended songwriting and musical experimentation.

Still, the year ends strong with some solid rock.  Kiss comes back Hotter Than Hell, Sweet has the "Fox on the Run," Grand Funk Railraod returns with "Some Kind of Wonderful," and Queen teases their upcoming stadium rock prowess with "Stone Cold Crazy" and "Killer Queen" on Sheer Heart Attack.  It was certainly a busy year for some of these bands.  Even Deep Purple put out Burn and Stormbringer this year, before Ritchie Blackmore had had enough and left to start his Rainbow.

As you can see, this was another great year for rock music, even as styles and line-ups were changing.  Be sure to check out my playlist below for more classics, and if you think I've missed something, let me know in the comments below.  Until then, rock on!  \m/

Last Played - November 2021!

After doing some current releases, I decided I wanted to kick back and check out some older albums.  This one is all 80s, starting with some new-wave-y prog rock and following it up with a pair of epic metal releases.  Here's what I've been checking out lately!

King Crimson - Discipline

After 7 years of silence, Robert Fripp starting rebuilding his music career.  At first, he worked within the growing new wave space of the early 80s, then grabbed drummer Bill Bruford again for a new project that was going to be called Discipline.  They brought in Tony Levin for bass and Andrew Belew of the Talking Heads to sing, write lyrics, and play guitar along with Fripp.  The result is an interesting fusion of ideas, bringing over the 70s organized chaos the band was known for and meshing it with the more streamlined, new wave sound, making for quite a significant shift for the band.

I have to admit, this is still a pretty challenging listen, though.  I did like the complex melodies of tracks like "Frame By Frame" and "Discipline."  The way the guitars play off of each other is very fascinating.  Fripp in particular really pushes his math rock muscles with some complicated fretwork, and Belew backs him up, either providing more rhythm, or getting some wild animal noises from his guitar.  "Sheltering Sky" has a solid atmosphere, letting the solos just drift over it.  However, there are times with the band gets back to the 70s jam-heavy style, particularly on "Indiscipline" and "Elephant Talk", ensuring that this is still Fripp and company.  "Matte Kusadai" tries to be this proggy ballad, but doesn't really go anywhere, and the use of a frantic recording from Belew on "Thela Hun Ginjeet" makes the song hard to appreciate.  Levin does give the piece a decent funky groove, though.

This album is definitely much more accessible than most anything they have done before.  While there are plenty of proggy noodles and curious time signature shenanigans here and there, this album has a much stronger focus on organized song-writing and more repetitive and trancy segments.  Between the math rock and ambient side, we get an album that shows that prog rock is not a dinosaur, but has potential to move forward in its own way.  That being said, it's still a bit of a struggle for me to really appreciate overall, but I can't learn if I don't try.

Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead

After doing this band's first album earlier this year, I thought I'd check out their critically acclaimed second album to see if they had improved.  Right off, this one is much more consistent in quality and style, really settling into a unique metal sound.  I know other folks have often called this album a staple of early power or doom metal, but honestly, I hear a lot of 70s influences.  I know I mentioned early Rush in regards to the last album, and that tone is still there, but this one has some added power like classic Judas Priest, such as Sad Wings of Destiny or Sin After Sin.  However, it does benefit from a heftier 80s production, letting these songs sound pretty big and crunchy.

Tim Baker continues his iconic, gritty wailing, giving the songs a lot of melodrama.  He has a pretty epic scream towards the end of "King of the Dead" that stood out to me.  "Finger of Scorn" had an interesting doomy vibe, with the acoustic sections, big riffs, and a punchy chorus.  "Cirith Ungol" also brings the doom, with a long outro.  I also liked "Master of the Pit," as it had a proggier vibe, starting and ending with long, noodly guitar solos.  In fact, there's a lot of great solo work on this album, overall.  The Bach cover is interesting, as they're using some kind of pedal to make their guitars sound a bit like an organ.

I don't know if I was completely enthralled by what I hear.  The album has a bit of a lackluster start, and takes a while to really get going.  Once it does, though, it settles into a nice, mid-tempo groove with a lot of atmosphere and great guitar work. This is definitely an improvement over their first, and certainly has some interesting, epic moments.

Dio - Dream Evil

I'm surprised I haven't talked more about Dio's solo career, but it's another one I've been slowly working my way through.  At this point, listening to any of Dio's stuff feels like it's more about the mystique  of the man than the music itself, though he's certainly been responsible for many great songs.  Dream Evil feels like a general continuation of what he had built with the previous three albums, with maybe an extra layer of polish.

At this point, the group brought in Craig Goldy on guitars and Claude Schnell on keyboards.  While I don't know if I feel like the guitars are doing anything other than just being very 80s, the keyboards definitely feel stronger on this album, providing a lot of ambience and atmosphere that I don't exactly recall on the other albums.  While synths aren't anything new for Dio, their prevalence on this album does kick it up a notch in the epicness department.  Another thing I noticed this time was how each song's chorus is just basically repeating the title a lot.  Again, not a new thing for Dio ("Rainbow in the Dark" comes to mind), but the fact that it happened on every track made me wonder if things weren't getting a little too formulaic. If there is a shift from previous albums, I think there's a greater emphasis on anthemic tones, designed for stadiums.  I can easily see folks clapping and singing along to these quite easily.

That's not to say this is bad album, by any means.  This is definitely stronger overall than their last one, Sacred Heart.  "Dream Evil" is a very solid rocker, and "All the Fools Sailed Away" feels like a "Children of the Sea 2.0" and mostly works.  I particularly liked the proggy shift about halfway through, topped with some nice solos.  The rest are a bit of a mixed bag, but are mostly decent rock and metal numbers to support Dio's trademark vocals.  

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I admit things have gotten a little slow around here, lately.  There are still a handful of 2021 releases I want to try and get to before the end of the year, and I've got one more anniversary article coming up that I need to decide what I'm doing with, so I'll probably have at least two more articles this month, but I'm thinking about focusing less on the videos and more on the reviews.  While I do enjoy writing all these different articles, I certainly don't want them to become more work than they're worth.  Hopefully, I can find a good balance going forward.  Until then, rock on!  \m/

Last Played - June 2021!

I guess the heat has put me in the mood for some prog rock this past month!  I've got a classic, a new release, and something in between for this one.

King Crimson - Red

Finally, I’ve reached the end of this period of King Crimson’s history.  At this point, the band feels almost stable in its lineup, as it continues to focus on the core of Fripp, Bruford and Wetton.  As it would turn out, Fripp wasn’t as in charge for this one, letting the other two work out a lot of the details.  I don’t know if it’s a direct result, but I did feel this album was more coherent than the others I’d listened to so far.

Still, much of their style is here.  Bruford really gives his kit a workout, going for all kinds of jazzy fills and rhythms.  Wetton sounds more confident as a singer on this one, and his basslines really go all over the place.  Fripp is still here, but more focused on the atmospheric guitar-picking and mellotron keys.  The result is something more on the ambient side, with spicier parts that let Bruford and Wetton shine, along with a few saxophone solos from former members Mel Collins and Ian McDonald.

I don't know if any track really stood out (though "Providence" felt pointless until the last fourth of its runtime), but I could tell the band was gelling better than before, creating some interesting songs.  Of course, shortly after this album was released, Fripp would decide he'd had enough of the music industry, putting King Crimson on hiatus for 7 years, but one does wonder what they could have made had they stayed together.  Overall, it's an interesting collection of songs from a very influential band, and probably one of their better ones of this period.

Liquid Tension Experiment - LTE 3

While I'm familiar with some of Dream Theater's work, this prog-heavy supergroup hasn't really been on my radar until now, as the advent of a third album has been made to be quite the comeback.  Being a full instrumental album is always a bit of a struggle for me, as I tend to prefer more song-driven music structures, but Monkey3 blew me away two years ago, so I gave this the benefit of the doubt.

For starters, the talent is certainly here, which is to be expected given the lineup.  Featuring many manic note-laden shreddy sections and dual leads and other technical pyrotechnics, this stuff definitely falls on the solo-heavy side, with some extra experimentation to spice things up.  "Hypersonic" starts things off at high speed, "Beating the Odds" almost sounds like an AOR rocker (in a good way), and "Key to the Imagination" is an epic that has some interesting grooves and metal riffs.  I also liked "Liquid Evolution," which was a softer track that helped break up the high-speed chaos quite well.  However, the highlight is their cover of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," as it is a massive collage of styles and tones and textures.  Starting off with a modern smooth jazz vibe, it quickly shifts into jazz-fusion territory, adding in bits of metal and prog and even funk for good measure.  It also has an ambient section that made me think of the "Soon" section of Yes's "Gates of Delirium."  I was half-expecting Jon Anderson to suddenly start singing!  It's quite the ride!

That being said, while I liked what I heard, the band definitely pushes the "Experiment" part of their name, with all kinds of shifts in tone and energy, and I don't know if I really followed all of it. There is also a second disk of some improvised jams, but at the risk of cliché, it really is just more of the same.  Maybe LTE is a band that requires multiple listens to really capture what they're doing on a bigger scale, but it's hard for me to not write this off as (admittedly well-played) jam-heavy prog noodling that passes in one ear and out the other.  I understand that may be enough for folks, though, so if this is what you're looking for, then LTE has it in spades!

The Flower Kings - Retropolis

In anticipation for my next anniversary article, I thought I'd check out The Flower Kings's second album.  This album is a bit more of a concept album, focusing on a bizarre city that seems to fuse the past with the future, with all kinds of celebrities and historical figures in new contexts, with a dash of Christian theology thrown in for good measure.  However, the result is more of the band's trademark proggy/jazz-fusion sound.

To their credit, they do provide some decent variety.  It mainly stays focused on a lot of mid-tempo grooves, with some ambient parts here and there, but the various combinations between the synths, the guitars, and the occasional saxophone really stymy any monotony that might creep up.  If there is a problem, it's that the lyrics don't quite gel with the rest of the song (though this isn't a problem with the instrumental pieces).  Stolt sings them well, but once he's done, the song feels like it goes in a different direction.  I remember having this problem with their first album as well.

On the other hand, they sound tight, but relaxed, letting the jazzy grooves do the work for them, and despite their obvious Yes and Genesis influences, they succeed in building their own unique sense of tone and atmosphere.  I don't know if the concept provided really works, but I also get the impression that it might not be that important anyway.  I admit that nothing really stood out to me as above the rest of the album, but I enjoyed what I heard while I was hearing it.

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It's only the end of June and I'm already tired of summer!  Hopefully, things will cool off soon, as I know I'm not the only one sick of this heat!  In the meantime, I'll try to focus on some more new releases, as some pretty big ones dropped recently, and I need to get on them!  Until then, rock on! \m/

Anniversary Series - 1981!

Honestly, it can be difficult to adequately provide a recap for these anniversary articles, as sometimes there is just so much good stuff that comes out in a year.  Suffice it to say that 1981 is another stellar year with great music.  

Things kick off with April Wine's "Sign of the Gypsy Queen," a great rock song that's really grown on me, recently.  At the same time, we have Styx releasing Paradise Theater, featuring massive songs like "Rockin' the Paradise," "The Best of Times," and "Too Much Time On My Hands."  .38 Special would have their big hit "Hold On Loosely" come out this year, and Billy Squier had "The Stroke."

Heavy metal would also have some big releases this year.  Iron Maiden would pick up of their popular debut record with Killers, expanding on their noodly style of metal.  Judas Priest had at tougher time, following up British Steel with Point of Entry, often regarded as a weaker entry, but I still enjoy "Heading Out to the Highway" as solid Priest song.  Ozzy Accept would come into their own with Breaker, which I reviewed earlier this month.

Prog rock may not have been much of a force by this point, but there still some significant albums, though Rush's Moving Pictures certainly stands out, with big hits like "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight," as well as the fan favorite "YYZ."  Genesis would continue their pop-transition with Abacab, and King Crimson would suddenly reform for Discipline, ensuring that at least someone was exploring the boundaries of rock music.  

As the year goes on, we get even more great rockers.  Blue Öyster Cult recorded Fire of Unknown Origin, with the big hit "Burnin' For You," Journey provided "Don't Stop Believin'" and the epic ballad "Open Arms" from Escape, The Rolling Stones asked to "Start Me Up," and Def Leppard's High 'n' Dry gave us "Let It Go" and "Bringin' On the Heartbreak."  However, the big record for the summer was Foreigner's 4.  With massive tracks like "Waiting For a Girl Like You," "Jukebox Hero," and "Urgent," they showed they were the rock band to beat that year.

Even at the end of the year, it doesn't stop. The Police released Ghosts in the Machine, Loverboy sang out "Working For the Weekend," J.Geils Band had "Freeze-Frame," and The Cars used combined '50s kitsch with new wave sensibilities to Shake It Up.  Metal titans Black Sabbath would follow up their comeback record of Heaven and Hell with the equally solid Mob Rules, Ozzy also had a sequel record in Diary of a Madman with "Over the Mountain," and Saxon provided the NWOBHM anthem with "Denim and Leather."  The year would conclude with AC/DC's follow up to Back in Black with For Those About to Rock We Salute You.  Perhaps not as strong overall as their first with Brian Johnson, but that title track still gives me chills.

So there it is: 1981 in a nutshell.  I know I skipped over a ton of good stuff, and I tried to include them in the Spotify playlist below, but be sure to let me know if I've missed anything.  

Anniversary Series - 1971!

Yup, we're back with these again!  I just want to say up front that 1971 is an incredible year for rock music.  Lots of great stuff came out this year, and now we get to celebrate the 50th anniversary of these iconic and excellent albums!

The year starts off with a lot of solid progressive rock.  Yes brings in Steve Howe for The Yes Album, writing the first of many epics in the form of tracks like "Yours Is No Disgrace" and "Starship Trooper," while "Your Move" (the first half of "I've Seen All Good People") found success on the radio.  Jethro Tull would follow up with Aqualung, the title track of which having one of the best opening riffs in all of classic rock.  Emerson Lake and Palmer released Tarkus, and the middle of the year would see albums from Caravan, The Strawbs (then featuring future Yes member Rick Wakeman), and Gentle Giant.

Of course, bands from the 60s were still rocking into the new decade.  The Doors released LA Woman, with big hits like the title track and the epic "Riders on the Storm."  The Rolling Stones were right there with them with Sticky Fingers and "Brown Sugar."  Then The Who released Who's Next, with the massive tracks "Baba O'Riley" and "Wont' Get Fooled Again."  

Hard rock and metal would be busy this year as well.  Alice Cooper released "I'm Eighteen," T. Rex would encourage us to "Get It On," Deep Purple sent out their Fireball, Uriah Heep produced two albums in Salisbury and Look at Yourself, and Black Sabbath would get even heavier with their third album Master of Reality, featuring great riffs with "Children of the Grave" and "Into the Void," and setting the template for many metal bands to follow in the future.

At the end of the year, prog would take over again, as Pink Floyd finally put their melancholy stamp on the genre with Meddle, Genesis told us us a Nursery Cryme, King Crimson had Islands, Emerson Lake and Palmer finally got to release their live interpretation of Pictures at an Exhibition, and Yes would also release a second this year, this one being the renowned Fragile, not only featuring their big hit "Roundabout," but also my favorite Yes track "Heart of the Sunrise."  I absolutely love how it shifts from chaos to peaceful moments, along with Chris Squire's iconic bass solo.  A masterpiece from the band that has been a staple of their live shows for many years to come.

Of course, any discussion of this year wouldn't be complete without Led Zeppelin's epic and mysteriously title fourth album.  Massive tracks like "Black Dog," "Rock & Roll," and "Stairway to Heaven" would become staples of classic rock stations to this very day, and the bane of guitar stores across the country.  Often considered of the one greatest rock albums every recorded, and it's hard to argue against it.

I think that wraps up 1971 pretty well, and I've put them all (along with a few extras) in the playlist below.  If I've missed any, be sure to let me know.  Certainly a great year, and full of albums that I go back to regularly.  Until then, rock on! \m/

Last Played - April 2020!

I'm not sure if I'll get a new videos article out this month, but I'm still spinning all kinds of stuff from the past.  I've been listening to all kinds of stuff, as the albums for this article is all over the place.  Let's get into it!

King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black

I'm never really quite sure what to make of King Crimson.  They do have moments of brilliance, but they're often separated by long passages of jazzy mellow ambiance or chaotic noise that never quite gel with me.  I've been slowly working my way through their material over the past few years, and decided to listen to this one at the beginning of the month.

Things start off alright with the "The Great Deceiver," but then gets pretty disorganized from there.  "The Night Watch" and "Trio" are of the mellow variety, with "Lament" "We'll Let You Know" on the more chaotic side.  "The Mincer" takes a more ambient post-rock approach, almost sounding like a 70s Tool!  The title track feels like a combination of all their styles, choatic, mellow, with psychedelic leads and organs carrying things along like early Pink Floyd.  "Fracture" features Fripp flexing his fret-work with some light, rapid-fire passages, making it the most dramatic and technical piece of the album, which eventually builds into classic Crimson's organized mayhem.

Much of this album was recorded live, as the band was very much into improvisation at the time, which resulted in the rather pretentious liner-note where Bill Bruford gets song-writing on the song "Trio" without actually playing anything (which strikes me as a very King Crimson idea!).  This band was the epitome of experimental song-writing and performance while still retaining elements of rock, making it a challenge to listen to.  However, this noise-rock approach would make them very influential and iconic!  Definitely not for the easy-listening crowd, that's for sure!

Metalium - State of Triumph

Metalium is one of those German power metal bands that was part of the explosion of the genre in the late 90s and early 2000s. As a band, they don't deviate much from the style of the times, full of high-charged choruses and fantasy lyrics.  The main thing that makes them stand out is an emphasis on bass in the production, making their power metal approach sound very gritty and grounded.

Their albums tell a story, much like Rhapsody of Fire or Dragonland, and State of Triumph is the second chapter, mostly focusing on a chosen one mastering the elements and leading an army called The Metalians to save the world.  Nothing remarkable, but it gives the lyrics a reason to be huge and triumphant, which I'm sure was the main point of them anyway.  For what it's worth, Henning Basse does give a great performance, hitting high notes and melodies with a vigor that one expects from such energetic music, and their rhythm section matches that vigor by sounding quite massive.

Their first album has a few stand out moments, but can come across as clunky and uneven.  State of Triumph has smoothed things out, making sure each of their double-kick speedy anthems are consistent across the board.  However, this also makes the album pretty samey, resulting in a album that's quite fun while it's on, but you probably won't be humming anything once it's over.  That being said, it's still solid stuff, if you're looking for something older in the vain of classic Primal Fear or Iron Savior.

Candlemass - Nightfall

Doom metal is a genre that doesn't come up here very often, but it's one I definitely like, especially the way that Candlemass plays it.  Most bands in the genre often feel like an early Black Sabbath clone (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but I do feel like Candlemass builds on that sound to make it their own, something bigger and broader, more epic.

Nightfall is classic Candlemass, but also serves as their first album with the titanic vocalist Messiah Marcolin, whose operatic style just makes the band sound all the more melodramatic compared to their first album.  Given that all the lyrics this time deal with a lot of Christian iconography (angels and devils, sin and redemption, heaven and hell), it makes the album feel like Marcolin is giving an epic morality play, singing with authority and power.

The rest of the group aren't completely overshadowed, with the band's iconic slow and crunchy riffs plowing their way through it all.  While I don't think this as good as their later album Tales of Creation, it does have some decent variety, with "The Well of Souls," "At Gallows End," and "Dark Are The Veils of Death" experimenting with different tempos and moods, and "March Funebre" being a curious cover of Chopin's "Funeral March."  More solid doom metal from a band that doesn't disappoint.

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It's definitely been a quiet month for a number of reasons, so I apologize that I don't have more to share with you.  I'll see if I can do better for May, especially since I have plenty of ideas for articles.  Just gotta buckle down and get them done.

In any case, I hope you and yours are doing well in these unusual times.  Until then, rock on! \m/