Last year, Robert Berry released one of the best albums of 2018 in ‘3.2: The Rules Have Changed’. Combining prog rock grandness with Berry’s usual knack for hooks and melodies, the album presented various unrealised ideas from Keith Emerson, discussed with Berry before his passing.
Tag Archives: prog
Massive Pink Floyd “Later Years” box set coming soon
A newly remixed vinyl version of Pink Floyd’s 1987 LP ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’ is something that’s been long rumoured for release at some point, but fans are soon going to receive more than they ever hoped for with a multi-disc, multi-format box set rounding up a whole host of late 80s recordings.
Dubbed ‘Later Years’, the huge box is set to truly be the ultimate release for fans of the band’s first post-Waters work.
DAXMA – Ruins Upon Ruins EP
Two years on from their devastating ‘The Head Which Becomes The Skull’ Californian doomsters Daxma (pronounced Dahk-ma) unleash a career best with the ‘Ruins Upon Ruins’ EP. Their first release for Blues Funeral Records, it might look like a stop-gap since it features just two songs but the reality is somewhat different. Each of the featured pieces stretches beyond ten minutes (one even fills a full quarter of an hour), meaning that, combined, the two riff laden offerings actually have a running time that’s almost as long as various rock LPs from the late 60s.
BILLY SHERWOOD – Citizen: In The Next Life
Billy Sherwood’s 2015 album ‘Citizen’ looked at the world through the eyes of various historical characters, both real and fictional. He drafted in a few friends to make his vision a reality: Yes men Jon Davison and Geoff Downes lent their vocal and keyboard skills; other keyboards were added by sometime Yes members Rick Wakeman and Patrick Moraz, John Wesley, Steves Hackett and Morse each brought their distinctly different guitar chops to the recording sessions but, perhaps best of all, Colin Moulding (one time of XTC) came out of retirement for a guest vocal appearance. In many ways, ‘Citizen’ felt like an all star epic.
NEAL MORSE – Jesus Christ: The Exorcist
Back in the 90s, Neal Morse was one of the most talented people to emerge on the prog rock scene. With elements of Gentle Giant and Yes mixed with the Morse Brothers’ distinctive own style, Spock’s Beard gave prog a real kick up the arse with their first three albums. Their third album ‘The Kindness of Strangers’, especially, marked the band as one of the new breed of greats since it blended some great proggy ideas with the pop charms of Jellyfish and Crowded House to create a record that mixed excess with a truckload of melody. It was a disc they would never better. In the early 2000s, Neal found religion and left the band for a solo career. His albums from then on featured some reasonable music but divided fans due to some very heavy handed and preachy lyrical concerns.