by progrock.com | Feb 11, 2017 | Prog Report
Mike Portnoy revealed his secret all-star lineup for the Shattered Fortress on the closing performance of Cruise to the Edge 2017 on Feb 10th, 2017. Opening the set was a line-up that featured Tony Levin on bass, Diego Tejeida on keys, and Eric Gillette on guitar, who performed the 3 Liquid Tension Experiment songs, including Paradigm Shift, Acid Rain, and Universal Mind.
Haken guitarists Richard Henshall and Charlie Griffiths, bassist Conner Green, and vocalist Ross Jennings joined Eric and Diego for The Shattered Fortress lineup. The group of stellar musicians ran through the heavy 5-song set of “The Glass Prison”, “This Dying Soul”, “The Root of All Evil”, “Repentance”, and “The Shattered Fortress”.
On the first day of the cruise, Feb 7th, Portnoy revealed a surprise sail-away set with the full Flying Colors lineup of Neal Morse, Steve Morse, Dave LaRue, and Casey McPherson and performed 4 songs, . Transatlantic followed as Pete Trewavas was introduced. Ted Leonard filled in for the absent Roine Stolt, and the Neal Morse Band’s Bill Hubauer joined in as well. Daniel Gildenlow appeared to perform his recorded part during “Into the Blue”.
The entire event was part of Mike Portnoy’s 50th birthday bash. You can see some of the footage from these shows below.
Setlist:
Flying Colors
Infinite Fire
A Place in Your World
Kayla
Mask Machine”
Transatlantic
Into the Blue
We All Need Some Light Now
Stranger In Your Soul
Liquid Tension Experiment
Paradigm Shift
Acid Rain
Universal Mind
Shattered Fortress
The Glass Prison
This Dying Soul
The Root of All Evil
Repentance
The Shattered Fortress
Flying Colors – Kayla
Transatlantic – Stranger In Your Soul
LTE – Paradigm Shift
Shattered Fortress – The Glass Prison
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by progrock.com | Feb 10, 2017 | Prog Report
For nearly a decade, Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy, along with bassist Randy George, had worked together on all of Neal Morse’s solo prog releases. But for his next album 2015’s The Grand Experiment, recent tour members and contributors Bill Hubauer and Eric Gillette were brought into the official writing sessions. Subsequently, the Neal Morse Band was formed. Bill and Eric would become integral members of the group and take on a lot of vocal parts adding to the overall sound. Highlighted by two epic tracks, the opener “The Call” and “Alive Again” along with the rocking title track, the album rejuvenated his fan base and would become one of Neal Morse’s best selling albums.
Neal Morse had this to say about the new working arrangement of the group, “It was really unusual. I felt like I should make a lot of room for the guys. Everybody contributed a lot. Everyone is well represented. Collaboration brings a freshness that you can’t put your finger on, there’s something about it. Whenever you’re working with people and they have these amazing strengths, you want to use them.”
The band has since released the even more successful album ‘The Similitude of a Dream’ in Nov 2016 and are currently touring in support of that album.
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by progrock.com | Feb 7, 2017 | Prog Report
After Marillion released Holidays in Eden in 1991 it was considered a very pop album for the group even alienating some fans. However, the group countered with what has since become one of their most celebrated albums, Brave, on Feb 7th, 1994. The album was based on news singer Steve Hogarth heard about a girl who was taken into police custody, after being found not know who she was, or where she came from. This concept album marked a return to the band’s progressive rock nature and earned the group tons of accolades among the music press and their fan base.
Bassist Pete Trewavas talked to The Prog Report about the band deciding to make such an ambitious record, “We’d just done Holidays of Eden and I suppose the adverse effect of being pushed into being a little bit more commercial than we really wanted by our record company made go into wanting to do Brave.”
“From a fan’s point of view it’s it was a great album because it kind of restored their faith in what Marillion was, you know which is nice. And yeah it was a concept album and I think it was the first concept album for quite a long time. It was great to have done that.”
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by progrock.com | Feb 6, 2017 | Prog Report
So far for 2017 Be Prog! My Friend have announced legendary headliners Jethro Tull and Marillion alongside Norwegian music collective Ulver, Anathema, Animals as Leaders, Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress and Caligula’s Horse.
Now Be Prog! My Friend’s line-up for this year is complete with the addition of the Devin Townsend Project, Leprous and Spain’s Jardín de la Croix.
Devin Townsend returns to Be Prog! My Friend for an exclusive performance of his 1997 album ‘Ocean Machine: Biomech’ in full to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Devin himself describes ‘Ocean Machine’ as ‘a labor of love that was born more out of adversity than almost anything else. I’m very proud of this album, and has a very obvious ‘blue’ feeling to me’.
Joining Devin will be one of the best progressive metal acts in the world, Leprous. The festival organizers comment: ‘we were stunned by their technical genius, the absorbing personality of frontman Einar and their almighty live shows’. At Be Prog! My Friend their performance will be a ‘By Request’ show, where all fans of Leprous can vote. The songs with the most votes will be played at the festival.
The complete line-up for Be Prog! My Friend 2017:
JETHRO TULL / MARILLION
MIKE PORTNOY’S SHATTERED FORTRESS / ANATHEMA / THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT / ULVER / ANIMALS AS LEADERS / LEPROUS / CALIGULA’S HORSE / JARDÍN DE LA CROIX
Tickets are on sale now at the fixed price of 130 Euros here.
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by progrock.com | Feb 6, 2017 | Prog Report
by Craig Ellis Bacon
“Some are born to move the world/To live their fantasies/But most of us just dream about/The things we’d like to be/Sadder still to watch it die/Than never to have known it” (Rush, “Losing It”)
With his brilliant new album, ‘Lost In The Ghost Light’, Tim Bowness explores an option perhaps overlooked by Mr. Peart: to have moved the world, lived the dream, to watch it die, and to know that it was, in large part, a sham. What is it like to have been a success, but to look in the mirror and see oneself as a failure?
The album follows an Aging Rocker (bandleader of a band called Moonshot) across dressing rooms and stages, casting an unrelenting, judging eye on his soul (or, secret lack thereof). Memories, fears, and regrets all make an appearance, each presented in unflinching second-personal language; this is a one-sided interior dialogue, and the Aging Rocker is not particularly kind to himself. However, Bowness’ restrained, almost-spoken vocals present everything so matter-of-factly—with only the occasional hint of a sneer—that pity and sympathy seem inappropriate. After all, there’s no hint that we are listening to an unreliable narrator. If the Aging Rocker chose glitz and glam over substance, and loved applause more than art, then that was his choice. It is what it is, and he is who he is. The narrowly-focused narrative is bit of fresh air. While robot alien apocalypses, environmental disasters, and literary adaptations supply a fun and legitimate canvas for conceptual albums, it’s nice to hear something a little more human with a lowercase ‘h’ that doesn’t take ‘Humanity Itself’ as the subject.
Musically, the focus throughout the album remains on Bowness’ vocals and the rich bed of keys. And there are a lot of keys, strongly reminiscent of Tony Banks’ work on ‘…And Then There Were Three’ and ‘Duke’. Bowness mostly sidesteps the busier side of prog virtuosity in favor of layers of different key sounds, including Moog synths, bright piano, Hammond, and various blips and bloops. Tasty kit work and lyrical fretless bass lend more than a hint of jazz to the rhythm section, while the guitars tend to add texture, such that the few times a solo cranks up, its impact is felt doubly. ‘Rich’ is the key descriptor for these arrangements, with the richness enhanced by Steven Wilson’s immaculate mix that simultaneously evokes late 70’s progressive music and creates a spacious, clean sound that few others have approached, in that decade or since.
“Worlds Of Yesterday” opens the album with this lush but subdued tone, trading off between acoustic guitar, ethereal electric leads, and myriad keys accents. Ian Anderson’s flute makes its first appearance here, providing a perfect marriage between airiness and earthiness. The second track, “Moonshot Manchild” provides more detail to the story, highlighted by a second half led by a gorgeous synth sequence that would please any Steven Wilson fan. “Kill The Pain That’s Killing You” finds the Aging Rocker on stage strutting his stuff, killer rock star guitar solos abounding to hide the broken emotions. The guitars are almost upstaged by a rhythmic, percussive string section before a phased-out electric solo steals the spotlight again. There’s so much to love in the arrangements on ‘Lost In The Ghost Light’, from the vintage synths to the sinuous bass and tone-perfect drum kit, but the orchestrations really push the album over the top. “Nowhere Good To Go” sounds like something Sinatra might have sung in the late 60’s, and the strings are absolutely gorgeous, giving Nelson Riddle a run for his money.
While each song develops the lyrical theme from a slightly different angle, “You’ll Be The Silence” encapsulates the Aging Rocker’s situation: “You caught the music of the moment by accident/You caught the moments in the music by chance/You would love, oh how you’d love/Oh how you’d love/To do that now.” One of two longer tracks on the album, this sprawling musical space highlights the growing loneliness and insignificance of the fading star. “You Wanted To Be Seen” continues in similar fashion, with a reminder that the Aging Rocker was once driven by some kind of genuine inspiration, but traded it for the illusion of The Crowd’s approval. After a more somber beginning, the second half of the song takes a darker, up-tempo turn that practically screams “Rutherford, Banks, and Collins” in the best possible way.
Tim Bowness has set an early high water mark for symphonic progressive rock this year. ‘Lost In The Ghost Light’ works well for the car, but it rewards repeated listens through a good pair of headphones. The music is lush, the mix and artwork perfection, and the theme is tight. There’s a lot of great progressive music available these days, but this is one to not only not miss—move it to the top of your ‘to listen’ list.
Released February 17, 2017 on Inside Out Music
Key Tracks: Kill The Pain That’s Killing You, Moonshot Manchild, You’ll Be The Silence, You Wanted To Be Seen
1 Worlds Of Yesterday 05:41
2 Moonshot Manchild 08:58
3 Kill The Pain That’s Killing You 03:44
4 Nowhere Good To Go 04:46
5 You’ll Be The Silence 09:01
6 Lost In The Ghost Light 01:41
7 You Wanted To Be Seen 05:32
8 Distant Summers 04:06
Line Up:
Tim Bowness
with a core band of
Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree)
Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief / Katatonia)
Hux Nettermalm (Paatos)
Stephen Bennett (Henry Fool / No-Man)
Andrew Booker (Sanguine Hum / No-Man)
Guests on the album:
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)
Kit Watkins (Happy The Man / Camel)
Andrew Keeling (Hilliard Ensemble / Robert Fripp)
Steve Bingham (Ely Sinfonia / No-Man)
David Rhodes (Peter Gabriel / Kate Bush / Scott Walker)
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by progrock.com | Feb 3, 2017 | Prog Report
Today sees the release of the remastered editions of Haken’s first two albums ‘Aquarius’ & ‘Visions’, as 2CD Digipaks and for the first time on vinyl.
Vocalist Ross Jennings commented on the releases: “As advocates of the physical format and fellow record collectors, it seems almost criminal that our first two albums have never had a vinyl release until now, so we are thrilled to finally give these albums a fresh presentation on the format they deserve. We have taken this opportunity to polish the sound of our beloved concept albums without going back over every little detail and rewriting history. In essence we wanted to give these albums a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder in sonic quality with “The Mountain” and “Affinity”. In addition to this and due to popular demand, both releases will also be available again on CD with instrumental, or “Karaoke” versions of every track. This release marks 10 years since we formed the band and started putting together our first demos so it’s a perfect time to reflect on these releases and appreciate what we’ve achieved so far.
The “Aquarius” concept was drawn from conversations about our favourite albums and the way in which the songs flow that make those particular records work. This lead to ideas about having our album be about the flow or journey of water from mountain spring to oceans and evaporation, which in turn lead on to a deeper concept about human life and reincarnation. The themes of water helped us to create aqueous soundscapes and as the music and lyrics started coming together a narrative was formed in the shape of Mermaids & natural disasters. “Aquarius” will always have a special place in our hearts. It’s where our journey really began.
When writing for “Visions” came around, we set about the process with the same formula, although we hadn’t set out to write another concept album at the time. As themes found themselves recurring in the music it only felt right to go in the narrative direction, although this time around we drew from our science fiction influences such as Minority Report and 12 Monkeys and was inspired by real recurring dreams I had been having around the time. It’s always a joy to revisit these tracks in our live sets, so much so that we will be performing it in its entirety later this year at ProgPower USA, Atlanta!”
Newly remastered by the renowned Jens Bogren (Devin Townsend Project, Between the Buried & Me) both are available as 2CD Digipaks, digital album including the entire albums as instrumentals, and on vinyl, arriving as Gatefold heavyweight 2LP editions with the full album on CD included.
You cab check out the new version of ‘Deathless’ from Visions here:
and “Streams” from Aquarius here:
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