Tag Archives: Prog

When Empires Fall

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Tim Hall

When Empires FallWhen Empires Fall is the latest addition to the incestuous York-based progressive rock scene. It’s the new project from former Stolen Earth and Breathing Space bassist Paul Teasdale. A sample track, “Call To The Night Watch” with vocalist Aleksandra Koziol appeared something like a year ago, but since then we’ve had a long wait for the album.

When Empires Fall consists of guitarists Stew King and Dave Hunt, and Paul Teasdale on everything else. Paul handles the majority of the lead vocals himself, with Aleksandra Koziol and Joanne Wallis appearing as guest vocalists, each singing lead vocals on one song. There is also an appearance from Paul Teasdale’s one time Breathing Space bandmate, guitarist Mark Rowen.

The two opening tracks set the tone. “Intro” with it’s birdsong, doomladen keys and Floydian guitar flourishes leads into the bass groove-driven rocker “Hurt”. The album is an interesting and very varied mix of indie-rock and progressive rock, uptempo rockers with trebly guitars sit alongside atmospheric keyboard-led ballads. There are certainly a few songs that would not have sounded out of place on a Stolen Earth album had the original lineup of that band stayed together. But other material, especially on the first half of the album have a strong Britpop flavour. A strong sense of melody that owes a debt to The Beatles is the glue holding it all together, and the album as a whole has something of the feel of mid-period Porcupine Tree.

Highlights include the Hammond-drenched ballad “Barricade”, the angry psychedelic rocker “14 Bullets” and “Under No Illusion” with a superb extended solo from Mark Rowan. “Call To The Night Watch” is the nearest thing on the album to a prog epic, with it’s pastoral opening and a spine-tingling vocal from Aleksandra Koziol. A few of the songs carry a strong political charge,

Never any more than a backing singer in Breathing Space or Stolen Earth, the soaring melodies prove Paul Teasdale more than up to the task of singing lead. His bass playing is as dependably solid as expected, but he also impresses on keys, especially the Hammond organ on “Barricade” and the electric piano on “Sinking Deeper”.

Much like another recent record from the York scene, Halo Blind’s “Occupying Forces” this is a record that has feet in more than camp. It has the depth, atmospherics and musicianship to appeal to progressive rock fans, but the straightforward and direct songwriting should also make this record accessible to more mainstream indie-rock audiences.

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The prog nostalgia shows have been drawing sizable crowds. The likes of Rick Wakeman reviving Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Steve Hackett’s Genesis Revisited tour, and Yes playing three classic 70s albums in full can fill venues as large as The Royal Albert Hall. But just imagine if everyone who went to one of those gigs also bought a ticket for one of the current prog bands.

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Tim Hall | 2 Comments

Hipster Prog? No Thanks!

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Tim Hall

Huffington Post’s William Higham asks if Prog Rock is the new Folk, and pens what has to be one of the worst music articles I’ve read on the interwebs for a long, long time.

When you read nonsense like this, it’s clear you’re facing someone who seems to think it’s 1994 rather than 2014

So, prepare to guffaw now when I suggest what the next wave of music and culture looks set to be. Are you ready? I believe it’s prog rock … (Okay, perhaps the headline spoilt the surprise). Yes, progressive rock. The kipper tie or puffball skirt of music. The genre that brought us Genesis and Jethro Tull. A genre so embarrassing to talk about that, in a recent documentary, Prog veteran and regular Grumpy Old Man Rick Wakeman likened it to pornography: *lowers his voice* “here mate, you got any, erm, prog rock?”

It gets worse…

This lot grew up on the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Game of Thrones? It’s like a Yes album sleeve come to life. Meanwhile, technical skills are being lauded. In an Emeli Sande-loving, talent show-filled, post-Strokes world, “they can actually play/dance/skate/dive” is a compliment not an insult. And what could be more fashionable right now than long greasy hair and double denim?

His failure to name a single new prog act demonstrates that he’s not only totally ignorant of the current grass-roots scene but too lazy to do even the most basic of research. No mention, for instance, of Steve Wilson’s ability to fill The Royal Albert Hall. Or the strong and undenied prog influence in bands like Elbow or The Decemberists.

And, for the love of God, spare us the prog equivalents of Ed Sheeran and Mumford & Songs, where were never “folk” in any meaningful sense of the word anyway. I would rather we didn’t see bands dressed in capes and wizard’s hats playing pedestrian indie-rock playing three chords on a Mellotron “ironically”.

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Is Rock Dying?

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Tim Hall

Fozzy at Reading Sub89

In the editorial of Classic Rock Magazine, Scott Rowley asks “Is Rock Dying”

“Rock’n'roll has died,” former Buckcherry bassist Jimmy Ashhurst Facebooked recently, “and nobody’s really that pissed because we caught it in a box and can look at it whenever we want.” Ginger Wildheart posted similar sentiments days after the Sonisphere headliners were announced. “It would appear that rock music is finally on the machine that goes bing,” he wrote. “The revolving door of (fewer than 10) worthy festival headliners indicates, to me anyway, that we have outlived the era of ‘big rock’.”

The cracks aren’t just beginning to show, they’re as wide and deep as the lines on Keith Richards’ face. The legends are getting older and, let’s face it, dying. In a decade’s time, can we reasonably expect to see tours from Bob Dylan (aged 72), the Rolling Stones (oldest member: 72), Motörhead (Lemmy is 68), Lynyrd Skynyrd (Gary Rossington: 62) or ZZ Top (Billy Gibbons: 64)? Who will fill the country’s stadiums, headline our festivals and fill our arenas then?

One problem is that many classic rock fans are just too conservative, expecting pastiches of their old heroes rather than giving bands with a newer sound a chance. Another is a “mainstream” pushing too much watered-down mediocrity and calling it “rock”. And the rock/indie tribal divide has a lot to answer for as well. How many of the people complaining that rock is dying also insist that Muse are not a rock band?

If rock is to have a future, it won’t sound like copy of its past. I’m sure that there’s a place for exciting new rock bands who have ambitions of being more than glorified Thin Lizzy tribute acts. When I hear young bands such as Haken, I’m sure rock does have such a future.

Whether any of these bands will be part of the mainstream in the same way Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were in the 1970s remains an open question. Artists like Steven Wilson, Opeth and Nightwish can fill venues like The Royal Albert Hall or Brixton Academy, but their music is probably too dense and sophisticated for the average daytime radio listener. Do they not represent the real present and future of rock, free from having to confirm to mainstream fashion?

In the end, if ambitious and creative bands can find a big enough audience for them to continue making music on the scale that they want to make it, does it actually matter whether it’s on the mainstream radar or not?

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Daily Mail Prog

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Tim Hall

A recent Guardian Music Blog post asked for examples of really bad lyrics about current affairs. I nominated Pendragon’s Green and Pleasant Land, and it predictably made some other Guardian commenters’ heads explode.

I knew the song was controversial, but until I googled for the lyrics I didn’t realise quite how vile they were, with their references to Sharia Law and far-right urban myths about not being allowed to mention Christmas. The whole thing reads like a parody Daily Mail bingo card set to music. Except it’s not supposed to be a parody.

I remember when I saw Pendragon live a couple of years back, a poor gig ruined by terrible sound. Nick Barratt was complaining about the reactions to the song, and seemed to take offence at being called a bigot. Nick, if you don’t like being called a bigot, you could always stop behaving like one.

I guess it’s easier to be critical of a band’s lyrics when you’re not a big fan of their music. I always thought Pendragon were one of the least interesting of the 80s crop of neo-prog bands. Like contemporaries Marillion and IQ they started out wearing some obvious influences on their sleeves. But unlike those bands, who merely used those influences as a starting point to develop their own musical identities, Pendragon seemed content to continue sounding like a derivative pastiche of their 70s heroes; indeed some of their songs contain whole sections lifted from Pink Floyd and Yes.

Anyway, here’s a link to the song itself, so you can make up your own mind about it.

Pendragon have been around a long time, and have gathered themselves a loyal fanbase. But for me there are more than enough great bands in the progressive rock scene nowadays to feel any need to bother with bands that write such “problematic” lyrics.

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Prog Magazine Poll – The Worst of 2013

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Tim Hall

I haven’t seen the full results of the Prog Magazine readers’ poll, but the scan on HeKz’ Facebook page (in which they made the top ten tips for 2014), also includes the Best and Worst Prog Events of 2013

The Worst list make very interesting reading.

I can’t disagree with #1. High Voltage 2011 and 2012 were great festivals which put the best the scene has to offer with a great mix of old and new in front of big audiences. So the cancellation of HV2013 as a consequence of sponsor HMV going into administration was a great disappointment. No word yet on whether or not there will be a High Voltage in 2014, though if there was going to be one I would have expected some sort of announcement by now.

As for #2, HRH Prog being both 2nd Worst Event and 7th Best Event does imply that it has divided people’s opinions. I wasn’t there, but I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the venue from friends who were, both fans and artists, citing the fact that it was absolutely bloody freezing. HRH Prog 2 this March moves to an altogether different venue in a completely different part of the country. I’m looking forward to this one a lot, even though it’s going to take a very long train journey and a rail replacement bus to get there.

The Cambridge Rock Festival at #3 does come as a surprise. I know I wasn’t the only person who thought the bill was very disappointing from a prog perspective, with no more than a token presence on the main stage compared with previous years. But though I didn’t go myself, everyone I’ve spoken to who was there told me they had an enjoyable time. So voting it worst even of the year does seem a little harsh. My guess is most of those negative votes came from people who didn’t actually attend. But I do think the organisers need to recognise they didn’t get the balance quite right last year. They have yet to announce the 2014 bill, and I for one am waiting for that announcement with great interest.

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When a major prog website’s annual end-of-year poll has ten slots for album of the year, three for DVDs but just one for gig of the year, it does leave you wondering if some people need to get out more.

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

2013 – A Year In Music

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Tim Hall

Marillion at the 2013 UK Convention in Wolverhampton

As my end-of-year album list ought to show, 2013 has been a great year for music in this little corner of the world.

My own year in live music started out with Blue Coupe in Banbury and ended with Mostly Autumn in Bilston. In between those were so many gigs I lost count somewhere mid year. It’s gone from Swallow playing covers in Reading pubs to Iron Maiden playing the O2 Academy. As usual, it all went bonkers towards the end of the year, with a mad half-week in November that saw four gigs in four days separated by a lot of miles, taking in Fish, Mr So and So & Also Eden, Marillion and Crimson Sky. Sometimes I think the prog world should be sponsored by Arriva Cross-Country Trains.

Writing for Trebuchet has seen me get press and photo passes for some high profile gigs, including UFO in Oxford and most significantly Steve Hackett’s sold-out show at Hammersmith Apollo, with Anne-Marie Helder as support. It’s also meant seeing a few things outside my normal comfort zone, including old-school blues rock and flamenco-flavoured alternative metal.

I passed on The Cambridge Rock Festival this year because I just couldn’t get excited about the bill, and sadly some prog-specific festivals collapsed due to lack of ticket sales. One of those was Y-Prog in Sheffield in March, which ended up leaving me seriously out-of-pocket due to non-refundable hotel reservations. Definitely not one of 2013′s personal high points.

So the two big events for me were The Marillion convention at Wolverhampton in April which saw one of my all-time favourite albums “Brave” played in it’s entirety, and Celebr8.2 in Kingston in May. The latter featured a whole slew of great bands I’ve never seen live before, including the mighty Threshold, and one of the year’s discoveries, the Spanish/Dutch band Harvest.

2013 has been a bit of an Annus Horribilis when it comes to band lineups, with many of the bands that feature regularly on this blog losing key members, or in the case of Stolen Earth, splitting up entirely. And there are a few acts who have been missing in action for much of 2013; hopefully we’ll see them all bounce back strongly in 2014 with new music and a revitalised live performances.

Sadly every year sees some goodbyes, something which happens more frequently as the heroes of your youth get older. This year we lost Blue Öyster Cult multi-instrumentalist Allen Lanier and Uriah Heep bassist Trevor Bolder.

What 2014 has in store is anyone’s guess, but I think there are plenty of good things in store. We’ve got new albums by Morpheus Rising and Panic Room to look forward to early in the new year, and Heidi Widdop’s new project Cloud Atlas is sounding very promising. Not forgetting Mostly Autumn and Karnataka, both of whom are also working on new albums.

There are bound to be some exciting new developments in the prog world,, but one of my personal musical resolutions for 2014 is to expand my horizons beyond prog, metal and classic rock and explore the world of contemporary jazz.

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Prog Conservatism?

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Tim Hall

I remember a discussion a few months back with The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis where I suggested that the aggregated best-of lists that appear in many music publications tended to be boring and predictable. They often end up reinforcing a lowest-common-denominator consensus, and frequently exclude the more eclectic choices of individual contributors. For example, none of Dom Lawson’s excellent choices made The Guardian’s top 40 of 2012

The top 15 of 2013 from The Dutch Progressive Rock Page seems to bear this out. Despite containing many great albums that also appear on my own best of the year list, it does give the impression that it takes a very narrow definition of “Prog”. It’s true that Riverside, Steven Wilson, Haken and Big Big Train have all made great albums that deserve to be honoured. But there’s no place for the likes of The Fierce and The Dead, Luna Rossa, Ihsahn or even Fish, all of which fall under the broad spectrum of progressive music, but don’t fit a narrow neo-progressive template. It’s also notable how male the list is; only one band out of the 15 (Magenta) have a female lead singer.

It would be easy to blame this on musical conservatism on behalf of the site’s contributors, but I strongly suspect that when a list is defined by what it excludes, it merely demonstrates that such aggregated lists are of limited usefulness.

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On listening to the cover disk for the current Prog Magazine, I get the impression that 90s Dream Theater is the new 80s Marillion when it comes to new prog bands whose technical skill exceeds their creative imagination.

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Tim Hall | Comments Off