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Thanks. Basically the Fates members were the ones I knew. It'll be interesting to learn about the others.. I trust these guys know what they're doing when it comes to casting.

Don't care if I don't recognize half the names in that announcement--this is fantastic news.



Seconded. It's hard to believe the first is several years old already, but it's had serious staying...

Trey talked about the band having a post-show "completion fisting" ritual back during the Double Duo days. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes back a long way before that too.

I quite like it on first spin (which is all I've had so far). It's dramatic in a picturesque movie-soundtrack kind of way. The classic-rock cover is a 'wtf' kind of moment, but not enough to derail...

http://www.johnmclaughlin.com/project/live-in-san-francisco/

As with many computer things, restarting is my first step (hold the menu & center button together for a few seconds). There was one time when that wouldn't work and it was completely frozen showing...

I'm not a big fan of rating things in order, but this looks about right. Fanfares is a "good potential but they're not quite there yet" kind of debut (probably one factor in the subsequent lineup...

Yes, that's why BR-only material is next to useless around my house. I'll watch a video now and then, but listening is for the car/bus/train, walking, working, puttering around the house etc etc. I...

Is he sure about this? It sounds awesome, but it's not a quote, just a secondhand description. If they seriously do it all, it'd have to be Blu-ray only and thus pretty much useless until somebody...

Yeah, I don't hear it either. You can hear a through line when following the albums in sequence, sure, but there's a definite (if gradual) progression. Each one's a shift from the last.

Agreed. This one is just fantastic--a big highlight of the year for sure.


Those are minor-to-nonexistent flaws for me. I have just enough OCD that I sometimes trim applause and chatter in my...

"Virtuosity and variety"--yes, that's a good phrase for it. All hung on great writing, more importantly, so the virtuosity isn't just for its own sake. I'm still big on this one too.


Funny, I...

Somewhat agree. I rate Tick Tock as their best, partly because it's got a good mix of hooks and groove... i.e. they do some drifting but not for quite the long stretches of Night.

Soyuz seems like...

Fwiw I wasn't trying to be critical or pedantic, just observing how funny or misleading those ratings can be, especially considering how so many things change with time and context. Nothing against...

Back Door - Activate (never on CD, even when BGO reissued the three that went with it)

Dixie Dregs - The Great Spectacular. I think there was a CD run once, but even secondhand it may as well not...

Or an exciting sign that the affair might not be disappointingly predictable after all.

Not that I had much hope of anything fresh from this crew anyway... and from the later comments it seems...

Oh right, but this was about Gone to Earth. The second disc can definitely be considered ambient, but it's the kind you can introduce to listeners who don't generally like ambient/new...

That's sort of the point--it's very much in the experimental vein of Holger and Can, though closer to the abstract/ambient side without the more abrasive weirdness they could get up to. There's a...

Wow, that e.s.t. is exquisite--wonderful sound and the performance is out of this world. Hope the rest of you get to enjoy it soon if you aren't already.


Well, you can also tell they were shaped...

I've gotten to like this more, though I still think it would have been better not being a sequel. It could stand on its own just fine with a different title and without the sample snippet of...

I always hesitate to predict what experience someone else will definitely have, but that's a good bet. e.s.t. was absolutely that kind of mind-opening discovery for me (and of course many others)....

Probably not really. It was always an acoustic piano trio underneath. They dabbled with some amps/effects (mainly to the double bass) and some electronic drum/beat rhythms toward the end, but nothing...

Lucky dog. This was one of those wish-I-discovered-'em-years-earlier things for me. Don't know if I would have gotten the chance to see them live even then (did they come to the USA much?), but I...

Next week:

https://www.actmusic.com/en/Artists/Esbjoern-Svensson-Trio-e.s.t./e.s.t.-live-in-London/e.s.t.-Live-in-London-CD

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Hmmm, this means they're both a step below Live at the Orpheum. That can't be right.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dixie-dregs-at-the-boulder-theater-by-geoff-anderson.php?page=1

Meanwhile in my book, TtB is the first one that's had any staying power since Insurgentes. Funny how these things go.

Hey, it looks like this short leg isn't the end. AAJ's interview has Nik saying that they're coming back later in the year and hitting the west coast.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoayGjBdBF0

I'd agree. They were seriously tight and heavy. (Alex's hat and Adam and Craig's hair really reinforced the PT vibe too.)

The infamous pre-"Permanating" speech didn't feel like berating of...

There's no reason FC wouldn't be considered a proper album as much as the others. It was most disappointing that was the only one not represented on the Dawn tour. Never had a problem with the sound...

Yeah, I knew about the streaming thing, but didn't think ECM had worked out a deal for actual digital sales (outside the most obvious spots like Itunes). I figured it'd be much more complicated to...

Favorite? "Moe Down" for me, though "Pride o' the Farm" is very close behind.

Huh. Here's a preview. I don't think I've ever seen an ECM release on Bandcamp before.

https://roninrhythmrecords.bandcamp.com/album/awase

They probably don't own those albums. I'd say that anthology is just as good, though--all the highlights, improved with the subsequent recording, without so much roughness around the edges.

Hey, no reason they can't be both...


Fair enough. I wouldn't be opposed to instrumentalizing more things, but that has as much to do with my own preference for non-verbal music as anything else....

Agreed on all counts, and that's really all I was getting at. There's something naturally special the likes of Lake and Wetton seemed to have beyond their technical ability, imperfect as that could...

Well, there are some interesting thoughts. Thanks as always for engaging in such detail.


Oh, I didn’t mean it’s bad value at all. The thing is probably underpriced in light of how much work went...

Shrug. With US shipping it's close to $20. I wouldn't rule it out, but things are tight these days. It'd be different if this one also included "Discipline" instead of that godawful take on...

I wish there was a way to just buy disc three by itself. Hard to justify the overall price when the actual show is the part I'd (I suspect) barely touch.

To be fair, mediocrity in the vocal...

Can't think why either one would be surprising, though option #2 would have to be the more uncommon one.

Maybe. I suppose I'm guessing, based on what I know of SW's views and the fact that people have been finding his comments annoying. We'd have to read/hear the words to form an actual opinion.

There are always some of them, sure, but my view above was that catering to that viewpoint does nobody any good. Some of that crowd might change their minds or learn to like [insert catchy thing...

Hell, I remember a similar speech during his solo opening set on the first Blackfield tour in ‘05. He played the song he’d recorded for Cover Version, and took a minute to briefly explain that ABBA...

JP didn't appear on the third Liquid Tension release. IIRC, it was compiled from jams the other three made during the LTE2 sessions when John was away with his family.

Where'd you gather that? Simply curious; I don't think I've seen much commentary on Connecticut one one way or another.

I quite like it, though this show is a bit more of a grab bag since there...

May 4th.... with US dates to come.

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I was joking. I'd just been browsing a torrent or two before checking this thread, so....

Anyway, no need to apologize. I think the other thread got buried already. It'll be great if those...

There are several already. If you mean the official kind, then someone mentioned on the other thread that there are plans afoot for when they get to Boulder.

I say King Biscuit. My favorite tends to alternate between Bring 'Em Back Alive and CA Screamin', but the KBFH set is possibly the purest distillation of what makes them awesome that you can find in...

They're the kind of slow ballad that run a risk of schmaltz, sure, but I don't hear it in these cases. Maybe "Hollow Years" comes closest with the lighter-waving chorus, but it's such a refreshingly...

Well, of course we knew the guy could play fast (it's one of the main things he's known for). His opening slot for Blackfield on the '07 (?) tour was pretty much nothing but lightning solo piano,...

http://www.elmoremagazine.com/2018/03/reviews/shows/dixie-dregs-at-town-hall-nyc

I dunno, was it an early midlife crisis that spurred the first heavy pop phase in 90-91?

When Raven was new, I remember Steven observing that such an uncommercial package was a fairly...

Different songs, different players, different musical sensibility & writing sensibility, different degrees of virtuosity, different possibilities for where it can go, for a start.

I'll accept it. I just don't have to be happy about it. I would have loved to hear them in action again, and no, it wouldn't have had to be just a step back.

Oh well.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-dixie-dregs-at-scottish-rite-auditorium-by-geno-thackara.php

Thanks. Too bad about Theo, though. I'm sure I'll miss him too if I can make it to the show here in April. (Hell, he's only got a one-off gig during this tour. I say he'd still fit fine with the Bone...

And I'd rather devote set time to any Porcupine Tree song over anything from Grace or Raven. You can't please everyone.

It is funny to hear about the proportion of PT stuff. On principle I'd see...

I had no idea wireless gear had gotten so smart. So much simpler and more reliable than plugging in a cable after all, innit?

Not much, on the basis of last night in Collingswood. I noticed he had some kind brace on his right wrist and used his forearm more than in the past, but the actual guitar parts didn't suffer. He...