It appears as if Ground and Sky is going/gone

[Facelift]

Not that Ground and Sky (progreviews.com) had been updated in awhile, but I thought there were some good reviews there.

However, all of the review links are now empty.

[taliesin]

I know - I was hoping they'd be left up as an archive but it doesn't look like it.

[ChrisXymphonia]

Maybe this helps:

http://web.archive.org/web/201209201...ogreviews.com/

[ItalProgRules]

They had the best...and I do mean BEST Prog reviewers I've ever read. Joe, Heather, and Brandon himself...almost all of them over there were brilliant review writers. I discovered many, many incredible albums due to the evocative reviews at G & S. Pulsar's HALLOWEEN, POPOL VUH...the list goes on and on.

So many sites have such poor, misleading, just plain stupid reviews (for example, I just learned today, over at ProgArchives that WOBBLER are American) that it was a treat to read intelligent, well-informed reviews like those. They made you feel and hear the music using just words. Great site in its time.

[mellotron storm]

I'll miss Ground & Sky as well, i haven't been dropping by like i used to in the past but it was an excellent resource.

[Prehensile Pencil]

I'll miss G & S, as well....The site gave many artists a great amount of exposure.

But beyond that, Brandon W. is a righteous bro - sharp as a whip - who, for years, put his money where his mouth is. And a helluva lot of efforts, as well, which is more than most people will ever do for the music or art they love. If, for some reason the site was no longer sending his dog a bone (perhaps his tastes simply changed, as he is a guy whose aesthetics truly DO progress), then personally I wish him all the happiness in the world, and good luck in all of his new endeavors.

Thanks, man, if you are reading this, for a great deal of indefatigable work !!

[Karda Estra]

Great shame - I agree about the overall quality of 'prog' review sites / reviwers - I've read few equal to G&S. Joe definitely got the heart of the matter. Anyone know what happened to him? Love to get back in touch.

[ItalProgRules]

Just for old times' sake, here's Joe at his best, quoted in full.:

Pulsar's third album, and their finest hour. A review I once read of this album (from Matthew Martens, of the sorely missed prog store New Sonic Architecture) perfectly described Halloween as one of the few albums that manages to be "harrowing and soothing at the same time." Look no further than the album cover to see exactly what you will feel listening to this disc: the man's smile, as if mercifully spared from an overwhelmingly melancholic state while conscious, as he rests in the lap of the woman with a chilling, mannequin-like stare.
A suite broken into two, side-long parts, the album opens with a child vocalizing the melody of "Londonderry Air" (most popularly recognized as "Oh Danny Boy") to modest solo piano accompaniment. While this sounds ridiculous in print, it is in reality immediately effective in setting right off the bat the album's mood of sighing nostalgia intertwined with ghostly disorientation.

After this strange, elegiac prologue, the band begins the suite proper, with an autumnal introduction theme played on flute mellotron. After being briefly interrupted twice with the stirrings of Gilbert Gandil's acoustic guitar, the same theme is played once more, but this time subtly shifted into the real flute of Roland Richard and polyphonic synths instead of mellotron. From here, the storm clouds roll in much the same way they did on the title track of Strands of the Future, building tension with chromatic chords on string mellotron, ominous stings of electric guitar and gong strikes, until exploding into a magnificent instrumental section. Vocals don't even enter into the picture until around the twelve minute mark, but by then if you are a serious symph-head, the music will have successfully hooked your interest already.

The second part of "Halloween" begins with percussive drips in a dank corridor, before dissolving into the sorrowful "Lone Fantasy" in full symphonic mode: acoustic guitar, string mellotron, percussion, vibes, and engineer Jean Ristori's (perhaps recognized for his work with Patrick Moraz) doleful cello. The suite moves evenly to the rapturous climax in "Dawn Over Darkness," in which the doomed, Romantic vocals of Gandil now project in unforgettable carthasis against the hypnotic web created by the band. It's one of the few unadultered moments of sunlight in the album, the power of the section underlined from the fact that it arrived there from a pervasive, slowburn aching. But to there it will return, and with Jacques Roman's keyboard cascades and the return of Ristori's cello, the light begins to fade. From here, the band gets in one more up-tempo passage, leading off with spooky theremin-like effects, and blasting off into a 13/8 jam.

Less than two minutes in length, the final movement of the album, "Time," is one of the most beautiful and enigmatic conclusions I've heard in a symphonic prog album. Here, the wordless vocals of Jean-Louis Rebut, like a voice imprisoned behind a wall of ice, reverberate against an ever-modulating progression of chords that sound straight out of a Dr. Phibes movie. 'Haunting' is an overused adjective, I know, but "Time" is haunting in the truest sense of the word. Whenever I turn the volume up and really listen to it, it never fails to make my hairs stand up on end. It's something David Lynch should use to close out one of his future movies. The chord progression gradually leads to a final C major, which to me is the chord representing an ultimate clarity and release, as if Gandil's forlorn character has reached an final state of peace.

In summary, one of the finest symphonic prog albums to come from outside the U.K. in the 1970s. A work of atmosphere and feeling that with increased listens stays with you and doesn't relinquish its hold.

[Kai]

Hats off for Ground and Sky from me too, and especially Joe McGlinchey and Brandon Wu. Their reviews were extremely useful, even if you approached a review as more than a simple consumer aid. Beyond reading them to decide whether to buy something or not, I also found many of them entertaining and insightful about albums I already owned and knew well. They could inspire me to dig back into albums with new vigour and offer new perspectives on those works, even if I didn’t share all the views they put forth. In fact, I think Brandon’s tastes coincided with mine rather rarely, but his reviews could make a compelling case to check out albums that were out of my comfort zone. That kind of reviewing was and is rare.

While easy digital access to just about all music has sidelined review sites, – and perhaps also contributed to the ossification of discussions on this site – Ground and Sky was one of the most useful resources during their heyday. It’s still worth a look, so crank up the Wayback Machine.

[Seven8]

Geez, that's a shame. The domain is still active so hopefully it is just a temporary glitch. G&S was/is still my favorite review site.

[strawberrybrick]

http://www.progreviews.com/

[Pr33t]

Geez, that's a shame. The domain is still active so hopefully it is just a temporary glitch. G&S was/is still my favorite review site.

Seems like there's an issue with the database and bringing the reviews up. Maybe if someone drops a line to Brandon he can fix it.

Ground and Sky, along with the GEPR, was easily one of the best resources out there when I first stumbled upon the scene right around 2000. The best part for me, whether I agreed with the reviewer or not, was the consistency. You really got to know their personal taste, and it made the review that much more helpful.

It's been ages since I let my site, (progweed.net - for those of you who remember) lapse because we all ran out of time/interest in writing. For me personally, looking back at some of my reviews a decade on makes me cringe, but keep an eye out for Greg Northrup's reviews when they pop up quoted from time to time - they're still pretty great.

[Kai]

Ground and Sky, along with the GEPR, was easily one of the best resources out there when I first stumbled upon the scene right around 2000. The best part for me, whether I agreed with the reviewer or not, was the consistency. You really got to know their personal taste, and it made the review that much more helpful.

It's been ages since I let my site, (progweed.net - for those of you who remember) lapse because we all ran out of time/interest in writing. For me personally, looking back at some of my reviews a decade on makes me cringe, but keep an eye out for Greg Northrup's reviews when they pop up quoted from time to time - they're still pretty great.

I certainly remember The Giant Progweed. It was another very useful resource at the time. I would single out Alex Temple as another very knowledgeable and readable reviewer, whose tastes were almost completely opposite to my own. And I think you’re being too harsh about your own reviews. I’ll say thank you for the good work you put into that site - a decade after the fact, but hey, better late than never.

The GEPR was the first online progressive-rock resource I encountered, when I got online in 1996 and it was certainly an eye-opener about the true extent and state of progressive rock. Later it seemed natural to write reviews for it – at that time both the site and reviewing actually seemed viable and useful.

Another important site in 1999 – 2001 was Prog-Net, which allowed anybody to post reviews of prog albums. I think many future reviewers cut their teeth there, and when the site owner Chris Dixon decided to freeze its operation in July 2001, many of them went to found or contribute to new progressive-rock sites.

[Cats On Glue]

Brandon Wu is a cool dude.

[ItalProgRules]

Brandon Wu is a cool dude.

Word. He posts here occasionally, or at least he used to. I believe he moved on to his photographic interests, and the website was getting to be too much to handle.

Sure glad to have had G & S though. During the Dark Ages of prog, he was a rock.

[Pr33t]

I certainly remember The Giant Progweed. It was another very useful resource at the time. I would single out Alex Temple as another very knowledgeable and readable reviewer, whose tastes were almost completely opposite to my own. And I think you’re being too harsh about your own reviews. I’ll say thank you for the good work you put into that site - a decade after the fact, but hey, better late than never. .

Thanks, much appreciated!

[Chris Kemp]

Yeah. GEPR was the big gateway site, but I agree that Ground and Sky had the best reviews. Other review sites, and you know who they are, aren't very discriminating to say the least. Plus the quality of writing is often less than adequate. Way less. Those were exciting days for me back in the late 90's finding out that all this music existed...new and old. Lately I have to admit I find myself more and more progged out. Too much of a mediocre thing, I guess.

[arise_shine]

It'd be sad if the site died. I wrote a few reviews for the site, but like a lot of projects I undertake, I lost interest and I lapsed into inactivity. I agree that the site's [other] review[er]s were pretty great, and Brandon seemed like a good guy.

I *devoured* the GEPR back in the late 90s when I discovered progressive rock, but a lot of that site's contributors seemed kinda negative on some of the stuff that I enjoyed. But then again, my likes & dislikes seem somewhat random compared to others everywhere else I've looked too (of a given genre I like some records that other fans of the genre seem to like, but not others).

[Kai]

I *devoured* the GEPR back in the late 90s when I discovered progressive rock, but a lot of that site's contributors seemed kinda negative on some of the stuff that I enjoyed. But then again, my likes & dislikes seem somewhat random compared to others everywhere else I've looked too (of a given genre I like some records that other fans of the genre seem to like, but not others).

I can relate to your experiences about negativity and not being in tune with the majority of fans in a given genre (and of course about devouring of the GEPR, as well ). I had spent years searching for any information on progressive rock bands from encyclopaedias, magazine articles or New Age compilation liner notes, and had in the process got rather tired with magazines like Q dismissing many albums I kind of liked as “horrible, pretentious, overblown art-rock abortions”. It was somewhat dispiriting to find a source generally sympathetic to the music I liked savaging these same works for being “horrible, watered-down, commercial sell-out crap”.

But negativity is natural, exactly because we don’t and can’t all like the same things. Furthermore, I still believe a well written and argued review can be useful and/or enjoyable, even if it gives a thumb down to an album I like or would like. For example, I didn’t agree with many of the negative reviews written by the GEPR’s original prime mover Mike Taylor, but he almost always balanced his opinions with excellent and vivid descriptions of the actual music, so that I could see that the album might well appeal to me, even if it didn’t appeal to him. Again, that is a skill, and I tried to emulate his approach in my own reviews.

It’s that “randomness” of my own tastes that partially explains why I don’t get much out of ratings-oriented sites like Gnosis. Even finding raters whose tastes generally seemed to match my own, – and they were about as populous as unicorns back when I most used the site – I found that their tastes might differ very much in details. Though we may like the same sub-genre or style of progressive rock, the same artist or even the same album, we don’t necessarily like them for the same reasons, and hence trying extrapolate from that one intersection point is not necessarily of much use. But that's just the way it goes, I suppose. The plurality of progressive rock seems to offer quite enough interesting music for those of use, whose tastes are a bit more "random" than average.

[JAMOOL]

We'll always have Starostin....

[Facelift]

We'll always have Starostin....

I remember discovering his self-important, english-as-a-second-language screeds back in 2001 or 2002. Can't deny his passion for music, but the manner in which he expressed it (and cultivated a small herd of high-school-aged groupies who idolized him) was rather distasteful.

[JAMOOL]

He's gotten better since! (not by much, granted...but some of his old pages were really cringeworthy)
it's easy to rag on the guy but he really did a lot to help me discover some great stuff (prog and otherwise) as a 16 year old. there's always that.

[ItalProgRules]

OMG, Starostin!!! I had to Google him, wasn't sure who you guys meant. After Googling it all came flooding back!

Good Lord, his reviewing style drove me freakin' crazy.

If you ever wondered how often a single person could beat some stock phrases to death, there you go.

[Facelift]

Good Lord, his reviewing style drove me freakin' crazy.

If you ever wondered how often a single person could beat some stock phrases to death, there you go.

He loved to complain about "Banksynths" when discussing Genesis, yet he often used this term to describe music which was recorded before Tony Banks started using actual synthesizers.

[ItalProgRules]

Yep, Facelift, he HATED Tony Banks with the fire of a thousand suns. It's funny, the first review I just pulled up, he's ranting about how "Anthony Banks ruined Genesis, not Phil Collins," preceded by some rant about how Tony Banks isn't fit to bang Keith Emerson's piano with his dad's slipper, or some crap like that.

More than anything else, it was the arrogant, bigmouthed persona that ruined any use I might have had for his stuff. Dude literally thinks he's the arbitor of taste for the whole Prog world.

Tony Banks, of all people to hate!