Anekdoten Until All The Ghosts Are Gone Self-Released [2015] Fire Note Says: Anekdoten remain the champions of dark and brooding Prog. Album Review: There are a handful of bands that, way back in the early nineties, had the cojones to attempt a revival of the most scorned and hated genre of rock music ever: the … Read more
The Tangent A Spark In The Aether Inside Out Music [2015] Fire Note Says: Andy Tillison’s love letter to progressive rock hits all the right notes. Album Review: The Tangent is a strange beast of a band. If Yes were part of the Canterbury Scene of English bands back in the seventies (a clutch of … Read more
IZZ Everlasting Instant Self-Released [2015] Fire Note Says: IZZ continue making progressive dinner party music. Album Review: I imagine the place settings and flatware laid out just so. Fleshly cut flowers in crystal adorn the dining room table. The guests, carefully selected, have arrived and look splendid. They drove here in BMW’s and Audi’s. The … Read more
Glass Hammer The Breaking Of The World Sound Resources [2015] Fire Note Says: American Prog stalwarts use their increased exposure well. Album Review: Back in 2012 when Yes announced they had a new lead singer, Jon Davison from Chattanooga band Glass Hammer, few outside the tiny Prog community had heard of either him or the … Read more
Steven Wilson Hand. Cannot. Erase. Kscope Music [2015] Fire Note Says: Porcupine Tree frontman offers an inspired and introspective solo effort. Album Review: Steven Wilson is a busy guy. Besides working on his own music he has been on a crusade to remix some of the best-known and most beloved records from the classic era … Read more
Dave Kerzner New World (Deluxe Edition) eSoundz [2015] Fire Note Says: Dave Kezner’s rolodex is way better than yours and he proves it! Album Review: I became aware of Dave Kerzner through his association with Phil Collins’ son, Simon, and their short-lived band Sound Of Contact. That band released one terrific album, Dimensionaut, and then … Read more
The Neal Morse Band The Grand Experiment Radiant Records[2015] Fire Note Says: Ex-Spock’s Beard frontman puts the Christian themes on the back-burner to create a near masterpiece. Album Review: After six albums with the LA-based retro-prog stalwarts Spock’s Beard, Neal Morse underwent a conversion to Christianity and quit not only that band but supergroup Transatlantic … Read more
Beardfish +4626-Comfortzone Inside Out Music [2015] Fire Note Says: Eclectic Swedes take listeners on a strange and diverse journey. Album Review: Beardfish is, as their name might imply, one strange band. Through eight albums since their formation in 2001 they have never locked into one sound nor have they become beholden to any particular set … Read more
Yes Heaven And Earth Frontiers Records[2014] Fire Note Says: Legendary prog masters keep it simple on their 21st album. Album Review: Yes has survived so many personnel changes that it almost seems incredulous that, for many, the thought of the band continuing without singer and co-founder Jon Anderson is sacrilege. But that is, sadly, what … Read more
Progressive Rock has a bad, and for the most part deserved, reputation. Indulgent, pretentious, pompous, overwrought, self-absorbed, ridiculous – all adjectives that can accurately describe the genre. There’s a reason it more or less disappeared around 1980. Although there have been numerous revival attempts from Marillion in the eighties to The Mars Volta in this … Read more
Yes The Studio Albums 1969-1987 Atlantic Records [2013] Fire Note Says: A box set from progressive rock kings Yes – just in time for Christmas! Album Review: There is absolutely no need for this box set’s existence and yet I am overjoyed that it’s here. The only thing that’s new here is a re-mastered version … Read more