I just got turned on to this group and is it just me, or is this band AWESOME!!! I got my hands on My River Flows, The Darkened Room and Crush Of Night and I love all three. Am I missing something? Why aren't these guys bigger? Your thoughts...
I just got turned on to this group and is it just me, or is this band AWESOME!!! I got my hands on My River Flows, The Darkened Room and Crush Of Night and I love all three. Am I missing something? Why aren't these guys bigger? Your thoughts...
The Prog Corner
Their 1st, Sliver of a Sun is also extremely good. I think that and I Move are superb. There's not a subpar effort among their releases. I have them all.
Saw them twice at CalProg. Percussionist Brian frequents this forum often. Fantastic band and fantastic people.
My River Flows is my favorite, with the closing 21 minute-epic 'The Deafening Silence' as their classic track. Here's the entire: http://www.deezer.com/track/9392183.
Great band especially live, if these were the 70's they would be superstars!
I saw them at Nearfest and once with a couple of other bands in Brooklyn. I think they're very good, my favorite is off Darkened Room, the 3rd track ,Regret. Nice bass work. Why aren't they bigger? No radio outlets , the new music industry landscape allows fresh bands that have something going for them get an audience following via the net, but to get to the next level its almost a requirement to have radio play and the backing of a label. So we the listening public, get way more choice but way less bands that enjoy wide acceptance and success than pre-net digital.
BTW Izz kicks ass live.
"Late Night Salvation", from My River Flows is absolutely stunning. It was my #1 prog track from 2005.
I love Izz, I agree they should be way huger, and I agree that as great as their albums are they are even better live.
When they played ProgDay 2002, which was indoors at a local high school due to rain, they had technical problems at the start of their set (power went out briefly, iir). The Galgano bros and one of the girls, I think, made the best of it by playing a few songs unplugged, from the front of the stage. It was quite moving - they are really, really good singers, all of them.
All that said, I wasn't crazy about John Galgano's solo album, but maybe I need to give it another spin or two.
Gerhard beat me to it as I was going to post about the same thing. The ProgDay 2002 show was really amazing. The power went out, but the band did not miss a beat. They grabbed their acoustic instruments and did an impromptu ass kicking session.
The band played ProgDay again outdoors a few years later and totally killed it. I have also had the privilege of seeing them at a NEARfest pre-show and at NEARfest proper. Both shows were great. A very underrated band for sure.
I'm trying to remember...I was at the NEARfest pre-show they played, but I can't remember if I actually saw all of their set. That might have been the year that my ride wanted to leave early, and they were the last band playing, so I only got to see the first part of their set, but I remember liking it a lot.
I better remember their actual NEARfest performance a couple years later. It was nice to hear a band that had actually retained the ability to rock out. Some good songs, as I recall, and a very fine performance.
I think I have I Move, Sliver Of The Sun and My River Flows, all of which are good records. My River Flows is probably the one I've listened to the most. For awhile, I had Abby's Song on my mp3 player, which I still think is a very lovely tune. I need to get those albums out and rip them onto the hard drive again.
Even "Ampersand", which seems to be an odds and sods record of some kind, is pretty great.
It has my favorite of their songs. Fits more music into 6 minutes than a lot of bands fit into 78 these days.
Great band. First time I saw them was at the 1st Rosfest in 2004. Saw them again several other times, always a great show. My favorite is Coming Like Light:
Took me seeing them live a couple of times (MarProg, NJ Proghouse Homecoming) and grabbing their live DVD to really click, but when they did...great band. "Crush of Night", their latest, is a fantastic album.
I find great stuff on all their albums but my fave is I Move because of its diversity from song to song.
I've got Sliver of the Sun and My River Flows. Both are quite excellent.
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
IZZ rocks!
Great chops all the way around.
See 'em live, that's when they are at their collective best.
Quite good, I think. This isn't my usual kind of "prog" at all, but I keep finding myself listening to My River Flows. Nice.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
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