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I listened to Peter Gabriels's first album on a tape with no lyric sheet for a better part of the decade. Getting the sheet finally revealed to me that he sings "I don't know why they leave me in the...

Esa Kotilainen, keyboard player for Wigwam and Tasavallan Presidentti plus just about every other Finnish artist at some point, the first one to own a Minimoog and a Mellotron in this country and to...

Jukka Gustavson: Prognosis

Fortunately, Unencumbered Music Reviews has archived an English translation of those liner notes, made by some dilettante: https://unencumberedmusicreviews.blogspot.com/search/label/Fantasia

In a...

Medium atomic weights can no longer be used where there is life. Steel has been re-assigned.

R. I. P.

An ELP-influenced Japanese trio took that name in the 1990s, though I think they only ever released only a CD single, before keyboardist Mika Nakajima joined Ars Nova.

I've only heard Here It Is,...

I have no problems with the production of either albums, either, but it will be interesting to hear what Hammill has done with these tunes with his current technology (and personality and posture and...

From what I've gathered from Jackie Badger's blog and her chapter in Women Make Noise, it was the management that chose that title (the fact that the CD re-release eliminated the title might support...

"Lady Madonna" seemed ripe for ravishment back then. Mother Superior also covered the song around the same time, and while their version was more elaborate, it was still somewhat irreverent.

I agree that "Mars Detection" is different from much of Tritonus' mediocre ELPissing about, though of course the electronic sound appears elsewhere on Between the Universes. And yeah, the clumsiness...

There was one official, double-CD compilation called, appropriately, "Ma compilation" released in 1994. It compiles about half the tracks from six of her albums from 1976 - 1981. A no-frills...

If you allow electric organ but acoustic bass, Magma's Les Voix would qualify. I wish they had been able to do an MTV Unplugged session, if only to how see fast and far the regular studio audience...

They were right this time. It was a Lowrey Berkshire home organ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowrey_organ

Romano's book is not too bad, actually. It's fan-oriented rather than academic, but he does take the trouble to explore the background of the band and the context in which the album was created....

Yes, I was referring to that track and "Jeanne d'Arc" on Destination as the two tracks about her on Eloy's 1990s albums.

I'd say. Not only the last two albums and the two songs in the 1990s, but he already seemed to be thinking of her with the character of Jeanne on The Power and the Passion and Dawn. Even if 1358 was...

Yes, when it comes to books, 21 euros is quite reasonable, verging on affordable. Dead trees are getting more and more expensive all the time.

Which The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway book do you...

I have to say Light Up has turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It is basically more of the same thing, but there is more melodic spark here than on Sia or Prophecy. And the rhythm section have...

R. I. P. Jukka Syrenius. A musician and a music teacher with a long career, he was the most famous for being the founder, guitarist and main driving force of Elonkorjuu / Harvest. Dead at 71.

Yes, Toyah and GTR definitely benefitted from his contributions. And of course it's his bass on "Moonlight Shadow", so at least quite a few people got to hear his playing. Oldfield at least thought...

Arthurian lore probably was important in The Enid camp. At least Francis Lickerish was into it. To Wake the King by his later group Secret Green is all about Arthurian legends and the places in...

Not that brief, actually. He joined in May 1975, after Esa Kotilainen, who had played keyboards on Nuclear Nightclub, didn't care for the touring band life. He was in the band until October 1977, by...

That's right. Sloppy writing on my part. I shall now go hang my head. In shame, that is.

Interesting. I've understood that Stratton-Smith actually got the concept and the title from Robert John Godfrey, as that was Godfrey's vision for the first album by The Enid that he tried to get...

Well, every fad fades away eventually...

I just listened to it again to remind myself of what it was like. Unfortunately, I've already forgotten it.

No, I don't want to sound harsh. I agree that the group do what they do very well and...

This news certainly slipped by me. R. I. P. and bummer.

Count me as a philistene, as I'm largely lukewarm about Tarkovsky's work, including Stalker and Solaris. But Artemeyev's music and sound...

Obviously, the gods were not collaborating on that day.

Elsewhere in Europe too. And Australia, I gather. Though I remember her best from her single guest role as a psycho in an episode of Dempsey and Makepeace.

R. I. P.

The source: out of my head. As for it being a serious answer to the question, that was not my intention.

A tell is, in certain English dialects, a tale, statement, an account, or, in archeology, a mound formed by the accumulated remains of ancient settlements (OED).

Hence we have mound that is big...

It's heartening to know that we are ever closer to the day when technology will liberate the human race from the degrading, soul-destroying drudgery of having to make and discuss music.

Oh. Echo the surprise and sadness. I knew about her fight with cancer a decade ago but nothing about her more recent health issues.

She was the pop diva of the neo-prog scene in the 1990s. A...

I actually filed them under A when I first started acquiring APP albums, because I saw it as a name of a collective rather than the individual. Since then I have moved them to P, to keep the in line...

The dustbin. ;)

A fair question. I actually have a La Düsseldorf release, and it goes to L, as it seems to go in almost every filing system I have seen. My logic is that it has no grammatical...

Mellow, laidback, beautiful, with a very stylish orchestrations with strings and winds along with the "classic" keyboards. Has none of the darker edges of their first one, but the overall style is...

First: Abbhama: Alan Raya. If I gave preference to the dash, as my Discogs database does, it would be Hunting High and Low by A-ha. Or rather, it would be Welcome Home by 'Til Tuesday, but I...

This mirrors almost exactly my history with Goblin (and Tangerine Dream). Really sad. When thinking about the Goblin "sound", I often first think of keyboards and the work of the rhythm section, not...

I suppose the old swan metaphor might be appropriate: gliding gracefully on the surface, but paddling (pedalling) furiously below. :)

It is indeed amazing how he could pull this stuff seemingly...

My first contact with "Alpha" was Ed Starink's (Star Inc.) cover version on one of his Syntheszier Greatest compilations. It's not bad, actually.

Well, let's R. I. P. it here too. Vangelis certainly deserves it.

Covid-19, a shit that keeps on giving...

Crikey. Just today I started watching Vangelis and the Journey to Ithaka on DVD I got from my library and wondered how long he would be with us. Obviously, I shouldn't ask. I remember something...

In the liner notes of Repertoire's re-release of Last Autumn's Dream, Glyn Havard is quoted: "They got back together, retained the name and did several exceptionally good albums. It was the stuff I'd...

I never knew him, but he appeared to be a genuinely nice person and a true Banksite. What a loss.

R. I. P.

Dialog s vesmírem by the Czech group Progres 2 is a concept album about the first interstellar space traveller who uses his flight to Proxima Centauri as an opportunity to escape the materialistic...

I understand the court ruled against Logarides in his claim of plagiarism by Vangelis. Certainly, you can hear part of the theme in Logarides' piece but you can essentially hear it almost complete on...

I have the self-titled album from 1978, and it is certainly a mixed bag of songs and instrumentals. While there is an unfortunate tendency towards disco and rather pedestrian rock, I've always...

I have to say that there are so few vocal sections in comparison to the endlessly mutating and exhilarating instrumental parts that the lack of comprehension doesn't seem to matter. The libretto...

I've only had Smallcreep's Day on Virgin CD, so the original order is the way I've come to know the album. But it was amusing to find that when I played it on my computer, Windows Media Player would...

In January 1991, a mainstream Finnish magazine ran an article about Phil Collins following his 40th birthday. It recounted his joining a progressive rock group called Genesis. ”King Crimson, Yes and...

A third unrepentant fan of 80s Japanese symphonic rock here. While I agree that some of the exoticism and patina has worn off with some releases in twenty-odd years, I still adore the works of Mugen,...

R. I. P.

I think Béatrice Tekielski is almost as powerful a vocalist as Ribeiro, but her material is less distinctive. Ribeiro’s work with Alpes had some really avant-garde instrumental work to compelement...

Looking at somewhat later groups, it's interesting that Dutch neoprogressive bands Flamborough Head, Egdon Heath and Sinister Street all had, at least during some stage of their careers, two...

That's the only other one of his albums I have. More epic, yes, but not as engaging as Rebel, IMHO of course. Still a fine work.

R. I. P. David Duhig, and yes,

Guitar is at peace
Jade Warrior reigns supreme
Get Haiku out now!

I knew Miles from his work with the Alan Parsons Project, but his solo work I managed to hear over the years didn't really connect with me. Until I heard "Music" about six years ago. At the time I...

Yes, Hüség is East's one brilliant bullseye. Simple enough symphonic rock, but with great melodic sense and stylish use of textures. As JKL2000 said, it manages to straddle the divide between the...

I'm just glad that this didn't turn out to be a sneak "RIP Carl Palmer" thread, which was my first thought when reading the title.