Anthony Phillips & Andrew Skeet – Seventh Heaven
CD1 & CD2 #VPD555CD: Total Times: 46:43 and 51:08 Released 2012
Artist Website: http://www.anthonyphillips.co.uk/
Artist Website: http://www.andrewskeet.com/
Record Label: http://www.voiceprint.co.uk/
Tracks CD1: 1) Credo In Cantus (vocal by Lucy Crowe); 2) A Richer Earth; 3) Under The Infinite Sky; 4) Grand Central; 5) Kissing Gate; 6) Pasquinade; 7) Rain on Sage Harbour; 8) Ice Maiden; 9) River of Life; 10) Desert Passage; 11) Seven Ancient Wonders (vocal by Belinda Sykes); 12) Desert Passage (reprise); 13) Circle of Light; 14) Forgotten Angels; 15) Courtesan; 16) Ghosts of New York; 17) Shipwreck of St Paul; 18) Cortege
Tracks CD2: 1) Credo In Cantus (instrumental); 2) Sojourn; 3) Speak of Remarkable Things; 4) Nocturne; 5) Long Road Home; 6) The Golden Leaves of Fall; 7) Credo; 8) Under The Infinite Sky (guitar ensemble version); 9) The Stuff of Dreams; 10) Old Sarum Suite (five parts); 11) For Eloise; 12) Winter Song; 13) Ghosts of New York (piano version); 14) Daniel’s Theme; 15) Study In Scarlet; 16) The Lives of Others; [sic] 18) Forever Always
When many think of the music of Anthony Phillips, often they first remember his association with the early days of the band Genesis, even though it has been more than forty years since he left that band. After formal music training in the early 1970s, Ant did continue to collaborate with Mike Rutherford on The Geese and the Ghost and Smallcreep’s Day, in addition to Ant’s other solo works such as Wise After The Event and Sides in the mid to late 1970s. Ant has released about thirty albums to the general public, in addition to the many compilations of his extensive catalog.
Anthony Phillips
The younger Andrew Skeet has worked as an arranger and orchestrator for George Michael, Suede, Unkle, Sinead O’Connor and Hybrid. Since 2004 Skeet has worked with Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy on three albums as musical director, arranger, and playing piano as well as touring throughout Europe. Andrew Skeet also established the music production company Roxbury Music with Luke Gordon (former Howie B collaborator) and together their music has been featured in film, television and commercials: The Apprentice, Dispatches, and Banged Up Abroad. Skeet has also orchestrated and conducted scores for The Awakening and Upstairs Downstairs. The album The Greatest Video Game Music was produced in 2011 by Andrew Skeet along with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and has been one of the most successful classical releases in many years.
Andrew Skeet
Ant and Andrew crossed paths when Universal Publishing Production Music commissioned Ant to write a collection of cinema-related music for UPPM’s Atmosphere label. Much of Ant’s music career for the last twenty or so years has been writing what is often referred to as “library music” or stock music composed for use in films, television or commercials in addition to other commisioned and self-produced works. Periodically Ant has collected these tracks, edited and in some cases re-recorded them for his Private Parts and Pieces, Missing Links or other album releases that are available to the general public (primarily through the Voiceprint and Blueprint labels).
It is always of particular interest to me to dig through Ant’s music to find the roots of some of his library work. I do miss the days of his more rock-oriented albums and singing, but recognize that getting that kind of work published these days is not easy or commercially viable. Ant goes through periods where his work is more keyboard oriented, but in 2005 he released a gorgeous double CD entitled Field Day filled with varying acoustic guitar work written and recorded from 2001 to 2005 (the exception being a re-recording of his 1975 piece Nocturne from PP&PP2 Back to the Pavilion…one of my favorite albums of his earlier solo works).
Field Day forms the basis for portions of Seventh Heaven where some of the solo guitar works have been orchestrated in addition to pieces that Ant and Andrew co-wrote later. Ant is credited with having written ten of the thirty-five compositions. The orchestrated pieces from Field Day that I can identify include: Credo, Nocturne, River of Life, Sojourn, Rain on Sag Harbour and the exquisite Kissing Gate. Each of these pieces is lightly orchestrated and perfectly complements the original to heighten the sentiments of the composition.
For fans of Ant’s prog-rock work this album might be a stretch, but if listeners enjoyed the album Tarka (the orchestral collaboration with Harry Williamson released in the late 1980s) then I think this Phillips and Skeet collaboration will be well received. The orchestration and recording is lush yet is not overdone. Many of the compositions are quite visual and evoke certain moods or a sense of place. The orchestrations vary from solo instrument (guitar, piano) to full orchestra, chamber or ensemble.
There are some really gorgeous tracks, from the opening of CD1 Credo In Cantus (based on Ant’s Credo from Field Day) and the transition into A Richer Earth and the dramatic Under The Infinite Sky. Grand Central evokes a sense of motion as in a view taken from the station in New York on a busy morning. Desert Passage by contrast is a stark and dramatic piece based around (I think) a mandocello with Middle Eastern themes along with woodwind soloist (and collaborator from PP&PP6 New England) Martin Robertson.
CD2 opens with an instrumental reprise of Credo In Cantus and ties the two discs together. A spirited orchestral version of Sojourn follows and then the mysterious piano of Speak of Remarkable Things links to the poignant and beautiful guitar Nocturne from long ago—it has an ageless quality to it. Long Road Home has the image of a beginning (and it is quite cinematic in its breadth) with first full orchestra followed by solo woodwinds and closing with piano. The Golden Leaves of Fall continues a similar piano theme and to me the two pieces seem strongly connected. Mid-disc is Old Sarum Suite in five short movements and it has a brilliant range of instrumentation and themes, and shows the versatility of Phillips and Skeet’s collaboration. It has an historic feel to it similar to Henry: Portrait From Tudor Times from “Geese”. CD2 closes with an introspective piece Forever Always, (a common thread, reflection, in Ant’s own work since “Geese” Collections/Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West).
There are extensive liner notes with the CDs as well as photographs of the recording sessions with the orchestras and biographies on the soloists and principal players (John Parricelli, Belinda Sykes, Martin Robertson, Lucy Crowe, Paul Clarvis and Chris Worsey). The works were recorded in three phases (from 2008 through late 2011), with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in Prague, then with string section at Angel Studios and then some tracks were re-recorded at Abbey Road along with recordings at Ant’s studio. The only quirk that I noticed is that CD2 actually has seventeen tracks, although it skips from 16 to 18 in the liner notes (typo!).
Seventh Heaven is both a collaborative work with Anthony Phillips as well as a splendid introduction to the work of Andrew Skeet. Whether a fan of Anthony Phillips’s prog-rock, instrumental or library compositions, I think this is a great addition to his oeuvre. Seventh Heaven is an expansive, sophisticated, and elegant work.
Lorenzo Feliciati – Frequent Flyer
CD: RareNoiseRecords RNR023: 49:38
Record Label Website: http://www.rarenoiserecords.com/lorenzo-feliciati-store/frequent-flyer-cd
Album samples: http://www.rarenoiserecords.com/jukebox/feliciati/ff/
Artist’s Website: http://www.lorenzofeliciati.com
Italian bassist Lorenzo Feliciati is better known in European modern Jazz circles than in America and elsewhere. His previous solo albums include, Upon My Head from 2003 and Live at European Bass Day and More from 2006. More recently, he collaborated with English keyboardist Roy Powell, trumpeter Cuong Vu (who has worked with The Pat Metheny Group) and drummer Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson’s drummer in line-ups 5 through 7 and ProjeKcts) under the moniker of Naked Truth with a strong and intriguing album entitled Shizaru also on the RareNoiseRecords label.
Shizaru was crafted around no single voice—more like a musical conversation built around varying moods. For Frequent Flyer, Feliciati has not strayed from that concept, adding an even more diverse set of collaborators (many of whom are from the Italian Progressive Rock and Jazz scene). This is an album that blurs genres of Rock, Fusion, Funk, Jazz and includes the edges of Latin and Afro-Cuban sounds. Comparisons of Feliciati’s work have been made to bassists such as Jaco Pastorius and Percy Jones, but technically and stylistically, my vote is for Jeff Berlin (with some influences of Miroslav Vitous).
The subtitle of Frequent Flyer also reveals, I think, something more about the background of the music: Diary of a Traveling Musician, not only documenting the quotidian aspects of diaries, but perhaps disclosing thoughts and desires related to the foundations the work. Musically, Frequent Flyer is as diverse as the moods one might find within a written diary. Feliciati has noted that, “I wanted to do an album with all the wonderful musicians during my traveling around for gigs, festivals and sessions.” Portions of this album had actually been recorded prior to the start of the Naked Truth project.
There are many strong pieces in Frequent Flyer, some more favorable to my ears than others. Two tracks (as noted below) seem a bit underdeveloped in structure, and thus held my interest less. But as with all music, first impressions of an album are often not the lasting impressions after repeated auditions. This album has grown on me as I have listened to it in different environments (home, car or walking). What I appreciate the most is the range of explorations in addition to Feliciati’s musicianship.
****
The Fastswing Park Rules: At first I was fooled–by the mournful saxophone opening (being reminiscent of Bill Bruford’s Earthworks’ It Needn’t End In Tears), only to be lured into a dark and industrial atmosphere of expansive saxophone, bass and percussion improvisation.
Groove First: Is a very playful, funky and cheerful piece, with melodic and rhythmic shifts reminiscent of Percy Jones and Stanley Clarke and quite similar in many ways to the spirit of some of Brand X’s Moroccan Roll mixed with some Return to Forever and Weather Report. Fender Rhodes and congas provide vigorous and upbeat counterpoint throughout.
93: Is a really great and lyrical piece with dense textures and a deliberate syncopated rhythm that is reflective yet mysterious and is expansive in its arrangement (with a touch of melancholy, in instrumentation, akin to some of the work of the late Mark Linkous, AKA Sparklehorse).
Riding The Orient Express: Percussion and guitar are used to represent the presence of a train and there are breaks where the bass takes the melody. This has some of the feel of Steve Hackett’s recent work in his album Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth. The development of this piece, however, seemed a bit plodding and thin–one of the weaker pieces on the album, for me.
Footprints: Is a very inventive, and fun (yes, I said fun!) arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s piece from the album Adam’s Apple originally by the quartet of Shorter, Hancock, Workman and Chambers. It really shows Feliciati’s quick-hands, musicianship and interpretive skills quite well. In this version, Feliciati takes the Shorter sax melody on bass and is supported by spirited Brazilian-like ensemble percussion. I found a video version of this piece—a great illustration of the spirit of this track.
Footprints Video
Never Forget: Is mysterious, edgy and atmospheric. Bass and electronics punctuate as Cuong Vu’s trumpet floats between diaphanous spirit and sinister animal. This is another great track with expansive cinematic qualities.
Gabus & Ganabes: Is spunky and rhythmically driving with bass chordal and melodic drifts and violin work by Andrea Di Cesare reminiscent of Jean Luc Ponty’s mid-career works.
Perceptions: Is contemplative with a piano opening similar in spirit to some of Harold Budd’s work and forms a backbone for this meditation with fluid bass improvisation and sound samples by DJ Skizo.
The White Shadow story: Is funky, visual, electronic, buzzing and starts off brooding, then goes up-tempo with a ripping guitar solo.
Law & Order: This track is the other weaker piece on the album (and that’s my opinion only), it’s rather plodding and a bit too methodical despite the challenging bass and organ runs, which are supported by percussion and guitar. Some might see some similarities with works of Emerson Lake and Palmer.
Thela Hun Ginjeet (for those in-the-know, an anagram of Heat In The Jungle, the story of street encounters with authority): Is a driving cover from the 1981 King Crimson album Discipline. The story I’ve read is that this piece is often played by Feliciati and band mates during sound checks. I’ve always loved this KC album, and this is a great interpretation of the original with some incredible handwork by Feliciati, Gualdi and Block.
****
Frequent Flyer is an energetic, musical and diverse album to explore. It has great dynamics and a solid sound throughout. I always enjoy being pushed into new musical territories and Lorenzo Feliciati’s travels with a talented group of musicians is a great introduction to his work and influences.
****
Tracks and players:
1) The Fastswing Park Rules with Bob Mintzer (saxes) and Lucrezio de Seta (drums)
2) Groove First with Roy Powell (Fender Rhodes and Moog) and Paulo La Rosa (percussion)
3) 93 with Pat Mastelotto (drums) and Aidan Zammit (Wurlitzer and strings)
4) Riding The Orient Express with Pat Mastelotto (drums) and Phil Brown (guitar)
5) Footprints with Robert Gualdi, Stefano Bagnoli and Maxx Furian (drums)
6) Never Forget with Cuong Vu (trumpet), DJ Skizo (turntables) and Pier Paolo Ferroni (drums)
7) Gabus & Ganabes with Patrick Djivas (bass solo) and Andrea Di Cesare (violin)
8) Perceptions with DJ Skizo (turntables) and Pier Paolo Ferroni (drums)
9) The White Shadow story with Daniele Gottardo (guitar), DJ Skizo (turntables) and Pier Paolo Ferroni (drums)
10) Law & Order with Jose Florillo (Hammond organ) and Daniele Pomo (drums)
11) Thela Hun Ginjeet with Roberto Gualdi (drums) and Guido Block (bass, lead and backing vocals)
****
This is a solicited review.
Steve Hackett – Beyond the Shrouded Horizon
InsideOut – 0505630 – http://www.insideoutmusic.com/
Extended Version 2 CD with hardbound booklet with lyrics, credits and photos
(Also available on vinyl): http://www.hackettsongs.com/
CD 1: 1) Loch Lomond; 2) The Phoenix Flown; 3) Wanderlust; 4) Til These Eyes; 5) Prairie Angel; 6) A Place Called Freedom; 7) Between The Sunset And The Coconut Palms; 8) Waking To Life; 9) Two Faces Of Cairo; 10) Looking For Fantasy; 11) Summer’s Breath; 12) Catwalk; 13) Turn This Island Earth
CD 2 (Limited Edition Bonus): 1) Four Winds: North; 2) Four Winds: South; 3) Four Winds: East; 4) Four Winds: West; 5) Pieds En L’Air; 6) She Said Maybe; 7) Enter The Night; 8) Eruption: Tommy; 9) Reconditioned Nightmare
Released in the Fall of 2011, “Beyond the Shrouded Horizon” is an album that has been in steady rotation in my music room and on my iPod since that time, but I wanted to have some time to better absorb the album before writing about it.
Since the release of his last introspective album, “Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth”, there have been many changes in Steve Hackett’s life, he has married his collaborator/partner Jo [Lehmann] Hackett, gotten the rights back to his recording studio as well as his musical works. My impression is that “Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth” is a deeply personal work and somewhat a reaction to his divorce during that period. “Beyond the Shrouded Horizon” [BtSH] is a departure from those inward themes and seems to be more outward looking, explorations and is a journey of discovery and reinvention that Hackett has been known for over his career. Hackett doesn’t stay still, musically for too long, although his work is immediately identifiable—a blend of the familiar along with the new. I wouldn’t necessarily label “BtSH” a concept album, but the pieces are thematically linked.
Aside from his roots being dipped in the blues, Hackett has always been an experimenter with sounds, effect & guitar techniques (he is credited with the fretboard “tapping” style he first introduced on the Genesis album “Nursery Cryme”). It has also been written that prior to his audition for Genesis, SH was preparing, not by playing songs of the day, but exploring new sounds with his guitar, amp and equipment.
SH has released nearly 40 studio and live albums since his departure from the band Genesis in 1977. Sadly, many still associate his musical identity largely with his work with Genesis (though his work with them was an essential part of their output from 1971 through 1977). Hackett, however, has had a rich solo career delving into many genres of music: electric and acoustic, blues, progressive rock, classical and including eastern Europe to the Middle and Far Eastern musical influences. He was also one of the first rock artists to release an “unplugged” album, “Bay Of Kings”, in 1983 (leaving his then label, Charisma Records, to do it). The music press has labeled some of his work as more heavily produced or commercial progressive rock (and was quite successful on the Billboard Charts), like the 1986 eponymous album “GTR” with Steve Howe, Max Bacon, Phil Spalding and Jonathan Mover (produced by Geoff Downes). He has collaborated with a broad range of artists: his brother John Hackett, Nick Magnus, John Wetton, Ian McDonald, Djabe, Chris Squire, Julian Colbeck, Anthony Phillips (and I have left many names off this rather short “long” list), and his current live band including: Roger King, Gary O’Toole, Nick Beggs, Amanda Lehmann and Rob Townsend.
Since his first solo work from 1975 (while still with Genesis), “Voyage of the Acolyte”, each album has included an inventive range of sounds and emotions from the most tender to the ferocious and dark. More recently, keyboardist Roger King has been a close collaborator, co-songwriter, and technical advisor with Hackett. Jo [Lehmann] Hackett also co-wrote some songs on SH’s previous album “OOTTM”, but for “BtSH” most of the songs are written by the trio of SH, RK & JH with two song credits added for Steve Howe and Jonathan Mover.
In many respects this album and back to his albums including “Dark Town” from 1999, have a strong cinematic quality—very visual and punctuated with scene and mood changes and transitional links between pieces. Many of the breaks and tempo changes during a given song are similar to cuts in a film, shifting from broad to intimate scenes (from full orchestra to lone nylon guitar). The contrasts throughout the album (to heighten dramatic effect) are not unlike those techniques used by Robert Fripp et al in many earlier King Crimson’s albums, up to the album “Red”.
“Beyond the Shrouded Horizon” is a journey (but there is a sense of a shifting timeline and locations). The album opens with a broad electric anthem, “Loch Lomond” (the largest freshwater lake in Great Britain, north of Glasgow, Scotland). It appears to be a departure, leaving the old behind to seek the new. There are alternating sections of fierce electric guitar choruses and acoustic accompaniment during the verses that documents the journey outward. The next two pieces “The Phoenix Flown” and “Wanderlust” serve as first a majestic transport to the next destination with an acoustic six-string pause before the next piece.
“Til These Eyes”, I think, is one of the most beautiful ballads that Hackett & Co. has ever recorded. It has a sense of reflective melancholy. It is a song of a mature voice and clearly speaks from a life of experience. SH’s vocals are sung in a low (almost weary) register and are well suited with the symbolism of the lyrics and accompanying music. It has the feeling of a ship’s captain, reviewing his life in a logbook, mulling over the mistakes, the losses and what is sought upon arrival at the ultimate destination: “…til these eyes have seen love.”
The journey continues and is announced by the instrumental “Prairie Angel”. The piece begins with a first languid and then rhythmic electric guitar and then transitions to a raucous blues chorus (with SH playing harmonica) and this leads to a not entirely clear but distinct western destination, “A Place Called Freedom” and a love seen and sought. The original “Prairie Angel” electric guitar theme returns to close the song.
“Between The Sunset And The Coconut Palms” is a lullaby of sorts, a dream while traveling into the night with an orchestral interlude reminiscent of the waves carrying the ship into the next port. “Waking To Life” is the arrival in a different land (and Amanda Lehmann sings vocals). The piece is a cross-fertilization of Middle and Far Eastern music influences (even a sense of a Bollywood production) with an expansive orchestra following an electric guitar solo. The closing instrumental passage and guitar solo appears to be homage to the 1978 piece “Please Don’t Touch”.
The ominous transitional flute introduction to the “Two Faces of Cairo” is reminiscent of John Hackett’s opening to “The Steppes” from the 1980 album “Defector” and then the scene is that of (and almost presages, given the time this album was recorded) the political upheaval of the recent Egyptian revolution. An ensemble of percussion beats out the protest and is accompanied by a searing guitar solo by SH with an intermingled orchestra. “Looking For Fantasy” seems to be another point of reflection from a different point of view and during another time, a Camelot of sorts.
“Summer’s Breath” is a nylon-stringed interlude with distant voices on the beach. Hackett has such a gift for expressing emotions through his guitar. This transitions into a moody and raucous blues piece, “Catwalk”, which recalls his album “Blues With A Feeling” from 1995. One section has a fret board tapping run and solo that just rips a hole in the shifting time window of the journey (louder is better here).
“Turn This Island Earth” is the result of the collaboration of the three main songwriters along with Howe and Mover. It is the portion of the album where the travel is science fiction. It is the broadest, most orchestral, and dramatic piece on the album. It is certainly taking cues from the days of GTR. There is a middle section following an orchestral catharsis that borrows the theme of “Leaving” from the album “Defector” before moving to a dreamy march section with vocals. The mood shifts in this piece are quite dramatic and the musical scenes are as broad as the distance traveled (even with a snippet of Greensleeves) as the journey closes.
Throughout the album, there is a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, extensive keyboards (with digital orchestral sampling), woodwinds and strong support from the rhythm section of the band. Unlike the last release (where the drums were digital samples) “BtSH” includes both digitally sampled and actual percussion by Gary O’Toole and Simon Phillips. The recording varies from broad to sharply compressed (heightening the scenes) and from densely layered to the intimacy of a single guitar (that sounds as if SH is playing in one’s room). It’s an exciting journey and I hope SH continues to record and tour, for many years to come.
****
The bonus CD includes an interesting collection tracks (and well worth the added expense, although the track “Eruption: Tommy” is dropped on the LP set). A four-part suite entitled “Four Winds” (North, East, South and West) co-written by Hackett and King (except part three by Hackett and Benedict Fenner). The fifth piece “Pieds En L’Air” is movement five of the Capriol Suite written by Peter Warlock in 1926 and beautifully played by the trio (as a quartet) of Dick Driver on double bass, Richard Stuart on cello and Christine Townsend on both violin and viola. From this piece, it is not difficult to hear where the flowing lyrical quality has influenced SH’s work, especially his acoustic guitar pieces. “She Said Maybe” by Hackett and King is a Jazz-like piece that (for me) recalls some of Allan Holdsworth’s or Jan Akkerman’s work, a steady rhythm section and musical improvisations by both Hackett on guitar and King on keyboards, both solo and together. “Enter The Night” is a vocal version of “Depth Charge” from the 1991 live album “Time Lapse”, but this appears to be a re-recording of the piece (credited to Hackett, King and Jo Hackett). It is difficult to pick a stand out in this second CD, but “Eruption: Tommy” (actually written by Tom Barlage of the band “Solution”, not Thijs Van Leer as credited) made famous by the Dutch band “Focus” on their 1971 “Focus II” album is an absolutely splendid cover of this work. The CD closes with a re-recording of “The Air-Conditioned Nightmare” from the 1981 album “Cured”, recast as “Reconditioned Nightmare”.
Note: This article will be published shortly at an online music and audio equipment-related e-zine.
From the recording of Loch Lomond:
In Rotation
Various albums are in rotation here at the moment, with some “classical” recordings (Bernard Herrmann, Aaron Copland and a Karajan rehearsal) on the way from an auction I recently bid on at Polyphony:
http://www.polyphonyrecordings.com/
Printed and online catalogs become available (every two or three months) and Lawrence Jones (the proprietor of Polyphony) conducts auctions as he has since 1978 (reel-to-reel tapes, LPs, books and other items). The recordings are each graded for condition (as well as the covers) and auditioned by Larry, so one can rest assured that they arrive as described and carefully packaged. Larry has many rare items and often entire recording collections become available, like a recent, almost complete collection of Camden label LPs, here:
http://www.polyphonyrecordings.com/camden_gallery.php
******
Before anyone thinks I’m listening only to ambient music these days, here’s a brief overview of things moving between turntables and CD players:
Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood – In Case The World Changes Its Mind (Live) – fabulous recording!
Van Der Graaf Generator – A Grounding In Numbers – It’s surprisingly good…and gritty.
Drums Between The Bells – Brian Eno and Rick Holland – The piece “Glitch” is remarkable, among others.
Nicholas Szczepanik – Ante Algo Azul – A twelve part suite of recordings along with artwork, custom sleeves and poetry that I am delving into now, fascinating.
Steve Wilson – Grace For Drowning – Excellent
Carolina Chocolate Drops – Luminescent Orchestrii (10″ 4 song vinyl EP)
Elizabeth Fraser – Moses (12″ vinyl EP) – I miss her voice from the days of Cocteau Twins
James Blake – his first eponymous double vinyl LP–really interesting and a (dynamically) challenging recording of great depth. With thanks to my son for getting this for me.
The Black Keys – El Camino – kicking some rock and roll and blues butt.
Yellow Birds – The Color
Fountains of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes – More finely crafted songs.
Tom Waits – Bad As Me – This album just rips.
Wire – Chairs Missing (revisiting a great album from 1978)
Montt Mardie – Skaizerkite – Really energetic songs (AKA David Olof Peter Pagmar) from Sweden.
The Bruford Tapes – From 1979, a reissued 2 channel FM broadcast by Bill Bruford and band.
Long Way Down – Soundtrack to the African motorcycle adventure taken by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman.
Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas – His 12th studio album…I’ve only heard excerpts and so far and I’m looking forward to this.
Michael Franks – Time Together (released in the summer of 2011) – some great songs from the humorous “Mice” to the heartfelt farewell to his family’s pup, Flora. Gil Goldstein’s arrangements on this are absolutely magical.
Trombone Shorty – For True – Get your funk on!
Taylor Deupree – his albums Shoals and Northern (on his 12K label), electronic/acoustic explorations, beautifully packaged.
Tomas Phillips + Mari Hiko – Prosa (on M. Ostermeier’s Tench label) – Dynamic recording and imagery.
John Zorn – The Gates of Paradise – inspired by the works of William Blake with John Medeski, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn and Joey Baron – A really beautiful, lyrical and mysterious work inspired by the mystic.
Martin Schulte (Marat Shibaev) – Silent Stars, Odysseia and Treasure – Atmospheric Techno
bvdub – Then – House, Techno, experimental and ambient
There just isn’t enough time in the day (nor money in the music budget). Anyone else have suggestions?
Forthcoming Reviews
“Winter Garden”, the new instrumental CD by Eraldo Bernocchi, Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie on the RareNoiseRecords label: http://www.rarenoiserecords.com/ The album is also available at Darla Records: http://darla.com/ This IS a solicited review, but I already owned the recording.
“Beyond the Shrouded Horizon”, Steve Hackett’s new album available on the InsideOut label and through the artist’s website: http://www.hackettsongs.com/
My Online Reviews Currently Appear At…
http://affordableaudio.org/Affordable$$Audio/Current_Issue.html and http://www.hifizine.com/ Stay tuned for additional online locations.
Nick Magnus – Children of Another God – CD
Magick Nuns Records – MNCD 1002: http://www.magnus-music.com/coag.htm
1) Children of Another God, 2) Doctor Prometheus, 3) Twenty Summers, 4) Identity Theft, 5) The Colony is King, 6) Crimewave Monkeys, 7) The Others, 8) Babel Tower, 9) Howl the Stars Down
Short version: Buy this CD; it’s one of the best progressive rock albums, front to back that you will ever hear. It’s beautifully produced, packaged and recorded and the videos at Nick’s website work very well with the story of the album.
Long version: Nick was first a student steeped in analog synthesizers and keyboard works with progressive bands such as The Enid and Autumn. The latter band made a recording in 1977 when Nick was a mere 22 and it was released privately as a CD entitled “Oceanworld” in 1999 on Autumn Records. Before his solo career started Nick was best known as a long time collaborator with Steve Hackett until the late 1980s. There’s a very good history of Nick’s career at his website. He has also recorded as a guest musician with Renaissance, China Crisis and many others.
Nick is also a pioneer in the transition from an analog to digital recording studio and keyboards. He was also largely responsible for what’s probably the first recording of the Linn Drum on Steve Hackett’s LP “Cured” in 1981. For some, this was Steve’s most pop LP, but it established Steve as more of a songwriter, in addition to his well known instrumental works. Nick’s playing, engineering and production work had a great influence of Hackett’s sound during that period. Nick over time has also created an almost flawless analog “sound” to digital recording and sampled instruments. Since the early 1990s he has been sought out as a consultant on digital recording techniques and electronic percussion. And although in the earlier days he worked with one of my favorite keyboard instruments, the Mellotron (and successor Novatron), his work continues to feature this instrument in a sampled digital form. He was also a large force behind the now out-of-print and much sought-after 1993 CD on the Voiceprint label, “Rime of the Ancient Sampler”, which features the Mellotron and Chamberlin recorded in many forms in original works by a well-known cast of progressive artists from Wooly Wolstenholme (Barclay James Harvest) to Michael Pinder (Moody Blues). Nick’s recording on this CD is an alternate mix of his piece “Night of the Condor” from his 1993 solo Voiceprint CD (VP142CD) “Straight On Till Morning” (“SOTM”).
“Children of Another God” (“COAG”) is the follow-up to Nick’s previous solo works “SOTM”, “Inhaling Green”, “Hexameron” and collaborations with Pete Hicks (former Steve Hackett vocalist) “Flat Pack” and John Hackett’s (Steve’s brother) marvelous CD “Checking Out of London”. “COAG” has some familiar guest artists: Steve Hackett, John Hackett, Tony Patterson (Re-Genesis and solo works), Pete Hicks, Linda John-Pierre, Andy Neve and Glenn Tollett.
“COAG” is (as many progressive works are) a concept album; it tells a story, but it is subject to the interpretation of the listener. Nick’s other collaborator is lyricist Dick Foster, who has contributed lyrics and the back-story to some of Nick’s other solo works. Briefly, the story is contemporary and plausible; ten cloned brothers are violently separated at birth and are drawn together later in adult life. The album has a motto, “Conformity is Power, Diversity is Progress”. I’ll let the listener draw their own conclusions on the outcome of the story and the social commentary, but these are certainly issues that we face as a society as science races ahead of public policy.
The CD starts with the anthem and story “COAG” (video at Nick’s website and youtube along with two other videos). Tony Patterson is the vocalist and everything that a solid progressive album should have is present: guitars, keyboards, Mellotron strings and choir and bass pedals—the song and story builds and then will fill your listening room. “Doctor Prometheus” with Pete Hicks providing vocals, follows with an instantly memorable rhythm and Greek story line that parallels the concept and adds wit (for those not familiar with the myth of Prometheus, search the web or reach for your Greek mythology books!). As is the case with many of Nick’s works, he often pays an homage to other progressive artists and “Twenty Summers”, which serves as an instrumental link to the fourth track “Identity Theft” includes rhythms and sounds that will be familiar to many from Yes to an instantly recognizable homage to the short-lived band UK (“In The Dead of Night”) from their 1977 eponymous LP. “Identity Theft” is, I think, Nick’s solo vocal debut (video also at Nick’s website) and once the song begins he is joined by ex-Enid bassist Glenn Tollett who provides a sensual jazz-like acoustic bass line that intertwines with sonorous wine-glass sampling and vibraphone throughout the song—the story of the clones continues. “The Colony is King” includes chilling vocals by Andy Neve and features sweeping flute from John Hackett and screaming riffs from Steve Hackett’s Fernandes guitar, paralleled with haunting Mellotron—this is a beautiful recording and pulls one into the emotion of the story; a nightmare soundtrack of sorts.
Pete Hicks returns for “Crimewave Monkeys” with a musical introduction that will challenge the sonic and dynamic capabilities of any audio system—a broad and sweeping recording that quickly transitions into a tight rhythmic riff and the vocals depicting a fast-paced hyped twenty-four hour news cycle reporting violence; strong social commentary here. Next is Linda John-Pierre’s emotional vocal presenting a mother’s story of receiving a son and then how the boy is taken by “The Others”, the song’s title. The sentimental power of this piece is very evident and some may criticize it for not being truly a “progressive” work, but the lyrics provide the guidance for the treatment of the music and for me it works very well with the whole.
More history books required along with contemporary parallels in the next track “Babel Tower” sung by Tony Patterson (with his Peter Gabriel-esque vocal treatment); this is where the story, like the tower, falls and we are returned to a reprise of the opening theme of “COAG”, more stirring and sonically broader than the first, but this is not the end. There is a postscript: “Howl the Stars Down” is a somber conclusion to the story, brilliantly sung by Tony Patterson; the song, the vocals and the lyrics are raw, tragic and have the feeling of being in slow motion. This is Tony’s own vocal sound, no imitation here. Nick’s piano and strings paint a stark reality and the vocals are nothing but beautiful.
This work is the complete package; in music and story, from beginning to end, beautifully recorded, played and told. Listen to it over and over; it will be well worth your time.
More on Nick Magnus: Although not well known for this, Nick and Dick Foster recently (and quietly) released an album of “pop” songs in 2009, available only as a download from his website, under the moniker “Magnus & Foster – Don’t Look Back”. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like beautifully crafted songs, catchy tunes and thoughtful lyrics, it’s well worth it!
This review was first published at Audiokarma.org in 2010
wajobu 