Just For My Brother

I have decided to list what I consider to top be some of the top prog rock albums of the 70's. Here we go

ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
King Crimson - Red
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Yes - Relayer

Wot! No Dark Side of The Moon, Close To The Edge, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway etc.
No, as I consider the list above states each of these bands best efforts.

Fanfare For The Comman Man (The Best of ELP) by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

I have been listening to this little sucker of late and thought that I should give a write-up about it.

This compilation covers a range of tracks from all their studio albums (except "In The Hot Seat" and the live album "Pictures At An Exhibition"). Most heavily represented albums are "Emerson, Lake &Palmer", "Tarkus" and "Trilogy". I think that the selection offers a good representation of their work and probably most are fans favourites. Some tracks like "Jeremy Bender" and "The Sheriff" show the lighter side of this group.

Probably for me the inclusion of "Take A Pebble" and the Track "Tarkus" are most pleasing. On the downside, the long version of "Fanfare For The Common Man" is most displeasing. Why not use the single edit of "Fanfare..." which gets straight to the point and does not meander on. I also find it quite puzzling that "The Endless Enigma" only includes the first two out of it's three sections and therefore finishes jarringly in mid-air.

The package comes in a slipcase which includes a booklet comprising of two essays and a full discography with single and album illustrations. Also included is a fold out of a Pete Frame drawn family tree which amazingly stops at 1992 (this album came out in 2001) - strange!!

For somebody who wants a small taste of this group this is a good choice to go for, but this album can also be enjoyed by the fan who has everything.

Earthbound by King Crimson

I only purchased this album as it was going cheap at a fiver. I was not bothered if I possessed this album as I had read many reviews that the production was awful and that the actual songs were not up to scratch.Those reviews were partly true. The production is not actually that bad, but it certainly helped when Robert Fripp did a bit of cleaning up on the tapes.

The only decent song on the whole album is "21st Century Schizoid Man". Well you can't go wrong with this song can you, no matter what state it is in. The rest of the tracks are mainly jams that noodle aimlessly and really don't seem to have any point to them.

This is KC's worst official release which is a shame as there are better live recordings of this version of the band. I believe that some of the club releases are pretty poor as they eminate from bootleg sources (I don't possess any club releases).

In general, I would say this is one album that should be avoided at all costs. Only purchase if you are an avid completist.

Kiss - All American Men

I Thought than rather do just prog rock reviews, I would also add my musings about other groups from time to time.

After seeing Rock School featuring Gene Simmons, I got to thinking about what in my opinion are the best Kiss studio albums ever. So here goes in release order.

Kiss (first album)
Destroyer
Creatures Of The Night
Lick It Up

and

Revenge

Script For A Jester's Tear by Marillion

I originally purchased this album upon release March 1983 and at the time we had just moved house and because we were upside down a bit, I had to wait a few days before getting my ear'oles accustomed to it. When I did, I thought the songs were majestic, Fish's singing was quite provocative and loved the samples they used to accentuate the songs . It did help a lot that it had a very similar sound to 70's Genesis.

Moving forward to now, I haven't played this album in a very long while. I bought the remaster cd and listened to it a couple of times and thought at the time that yes, it is a very good album but how the production and sound makes it sound very dated.

The only track I do not like is "Garden Party". Didn't like it then, don't like it now. For me, the best track is the title track and I find that now and again I will sing the first few lines to myself.

Not a good choice for a first time buyer, but well worth a listen to gather the initial roots of the original group with Fish.

Deadwing by Porcupine Tree

The latest installment in the musical array of Steven Wilson's merry men.

I have lived with this album since it's release early on in the year and find that I am warming to it more now.

When I originally spun the disc, I listened to it a handful of times and was quite bewildered as It was to my mind not very good. I was bewildered as I wanted to really like it a lot especially as I have been a fan for quite a long time.

Initially I liked the tracks "Deadwing", "Shallow", "Halo" and "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" and thought that the rest of the tracks were poor. But since then I have grown to like "Start Of Something Beautiful" and dismissed the title track as being overtly long and not really going anywhere. The B side tracks on the "Lazarous" single should have been added to the cd version of the album to give a more balanced view (running time being the shortest since their second album from the early nineties.

I have played the 2002 release "In Absentia" and apart from a couple of so-so tracks, it Walks over "Deadwing" by miles.

I Have Been Listening to Music for Many Years

My first recollection of music was during 1967 when as a young lad I used to watch the US series "The Monkees". I used to think the series was great as well as the music. I still like some of the songs, but when I saw the series on Channel 4 a few years ago, I thought it was dated and very, very silly.

In the early to mid seventies, I got into heavy rock. I still like this type of music in all it's various forms but have not left it at that as I listen to all types of wonderful music as I am always seeking a new slant on what I like to hear.

As promised in my other blog, I have decided to write about a number of various prog rock groups. The ones I have decided on are:-

King Crimson, Marillion, The Mars Volta, Meshuggah (not strictly prog rock but progressive), Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard (inc. Neal Morse & Transatlantic)and Tool.

First posting

Well, I reckon that there's gonna be tons and tons of writing on this site.

Come visit, stick with us and you may found something enlightning or maybe not.