Progtopia is a podcast devoted to interviewing progressive rock, metal, and electronic artists from the past and present, featuring their songs and exclusive interviews. Artists interviewed on the show have included Steve Hackett, Sound of Contact, Larry Fast, Circus Maximus, Anubis Gate, Spock's Beard, and many more. http://progtopia.podomatic.com See you in a land called Progtopia!
I heard Al Stewart's Roads to Moscow on Deep Tracks today. I don't think I've ever heard that on the radio. If it's not Year of the Cat or Time Passages, it doesn't get radio play.
I don't usually have Sirius XM, but I have it for another 2 weeks (promotion). I have way too many cds to listen to again at least once before I croak to use it regularly.
Today I was pleasantly surprised to hear Terry Reid's version of "Bang Bang" on Deep Tracks.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Nothing SXM plays impresses me. On slacker radio I heard Caravan, KC, UK, HTM, ABWH, Vangelis, Wakeman, Zappa, .... today and the sound quality blows SXM away. You need to get a internet streaming capability on your phone and the ap, that's all. There are good internet radio stations, but slacker sound quality is better.
I'm very intrigued by this. How does this work? Some sort of internet radio streaming app on your phone that you connect to the car through bluetooth?
If that's how it works, how much data do you use in a month? I don't have an unlimited data plan on my phone. But I'd consider an upgrade if I could get better tunes. Sirius is better than commercial radio...but still needs more variety IMO.
How you connect in your car is put to you, possibilities:
1. Bluetooth
2. USB input
3. Aux connector
4. Custom (VW)
I have a 2 gbyte data plan on Verizon. If I stream a lot (vacation) I exceed that and 1 gbyte is added for $10.
On Slacker now : Porcupine Tree - Time Flies
Now Dream Theatre - Count of Tuscany
http://slacker.com/r/zwcwk
I'm listening to In a Perfect World Radio on Slacker. You should too.
This station plays songs from In a Perfect World and similar songs and artists
Slacker is the most complete music service. Enjoy millions of songs and hundreds of expert-programmed stations for free on any device.
Oops here is Iproggy2:
http://slacker.com/r/zwfSL
I'm listening to Iproggy2 on Slacker. You should too.
This station plays the best music from artists related to Pendragon like Spock's Beard, IQ, Arena, The Flower Kings, Marillion, Echolyn, The Tangent, Transatlantic, Camel and Fish
I could listen to streaming from my phone but it would just be too expensive. I like Sirius XM - I like Tom Petty's Buried Treasure show, I also listen to music stored on my phone in the car connecting with Blue Tooth.
http://slacker.com/r/zXdq3
I'm listening to The Ultimate Rick Wakeman Experience on Slacker. You should too.
This is a strange triple-CD compendium of Rick Wakeman's work, representing solo and group repertory from across his career. It isn't quite what it would lead one to think it was -- a compilation of his work from established recordings in his output; rather, it is apparently assembled from live performances, although there's no audience sound or talk between the songs (you can usually tell by the timbre of the drums, if nothing else); and the songs are not always listed in correct order, in addition to the fact that some are not listed at all; so in that regard, it reminds one of any number of early-'70s bootleg live albums, on which the producers couldn't be bothered to check the real titles of the songs performed, or break a medley down into its component songs. That said, it should also be stated that this is not a bootleg, though it is sort of "gray market." On the plus side, the selection of material includes music from virtually every corner of Wakeman's post-1970 career, even "Starship Trooper," which he really inherited from Tony Kaye on joining Yes; and speaking of Yes, one major surprise here is "Revealing Science of God" from what was reportedly Wakeman's least favorite classic Yes album, Tales from Topographic Oceans. And if you like Wakeman's playing, there's a lot to love in this set. We get fresh interpretations of early works such as "Catherine Howard" and "Catherine of Aragon" from The Six Wives of Henry VIII, plus bracing renditions of "The Myths and Legends of King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (sans orchestra) -- except on this last, the other musicians (all uncredited) are mostly not quite up to Wakeman's standard, but he is so much of the show that it hardly makes a difference, and even the absence of Jon Anderson on the Yes repertory vocals can be forgiven -- it's not like they've done "Revealing Science of God" in too many shows since the mid-'70s. And then there are the covers of repertory well outside of Wakeman's own orbit, including a synthesizer-driven "Paint It Black," which are as unexpected as anything else here -- the latter may not add much to the original, but it is great fun, and perhaps that's the real beauty of this collection, that it harkens back to a time when prog rock was as much fun as it was serious. Oh, and the notes are very thorough, even though they tell us nothing of the origins of these recordings. ~ Bruce Eder
iChris
http://slacker.com/r/zXFQR
I'm listening to Buddha and the Chocolate Box on Slacker. You should too.
While Foreigner was Cat Stevens' fifth consecutive gold album and his fourth straight Top Ten hit, it actually marked a small drop commercially and encountered critical resistance for the lengthy suite that took up all of side one. Eight months later, Buddha and the Chocolate Box found Stevens back in England and back with producer Paul Samwell-Smith and second guitarist Alun Davies. It also marked a return to the simpler style of earlier albums. No song ran much over five minutes, the arrangements were sparer and featured more acoustic guitar, and the lyrics did not take off into discursive ruminations about the state of the universe. It was very much as if Stevens was deliberately trying to make an album like Teaser and the Firecat, his commercial and artistic apex. Having begun the album with an ode to "Music" and its potential for reforming the world, he ended with "Home in the Sky," in which he sang, "Music is a lady that I still love." Such statements of renewed commitment added to the sense that the album was consciously crafted as an attempted second wind for the singer, who had been recording and performing at a torrid pace since returning to the music business full-time four years before. But that was not to say that he had abandoned the spiritual nature of his creative quest, and the songs were, as usual, littered with religious imagery. Stevens' fans responded warmly to Buddha and the Chocolate Box's stylistic return to form. "Oh Very Young" became his first Top Ten hit in two years, and the album was held out of number one only by The Sting. The album's tone, however, suggested that Stevens was once again wearying of being a pop star, even as he delivered a record that maintained that status. ~ William Ruhlmann
Slacker is the most complete music service.
http://slacker.com/r/zX19X
I'm listening to Tales of Taliesin: The EMI Years Anthology 1975-1981 on Slacker. You should too.
When it comes to Soft Machine, it seems like Karl Jenkins can never catch a break -- even here. Open up the booklet accompanying this double-disc compilation taken from the group’s Jenkins-led Harvest/EMI years, and you are greeted by the package’s largest photograph -- of Mike Ratledge. A photo of Ratledge would make perfect sense on any Softs compilation covering the band’s entire history, but this comp is about Jenkins more than any other single musician, and, in fact, Ratledge only features on the first five out of 25 tracks here, since he departed after the 1975 Harvest LP Bundles. So how about a Jenkins rather than Ratledge photo, at least this one time? As far as the music -- the most important thing here, obviously -- and especially Sid Smith’s “set the record straight” liner notes are concerned, the comp does a better job, but there are still problems. Smith effectively counterbalances the often prevailing notion that the Jenkins-led Softs were Soft Machine in name only, and when Allan Holdsworth unleashes his utterly relentless guitar solo from Bundles’ “Hazard Profile, Pt. 1,” the introductory salvo that introduced Holdsworth to his largest audience thus far, you are likely to be as wowed as any mid-‘70s Softs fan who was willing to give the band’s then-newest lineup a try. And there are certainly key tracks here -- “Bundles,” “The Tale of Taliesin,” “Out of Season,” the live “Odds Bullets and Blades, Pts. 1-2” and “Huffin’” -- that demonstrate not only the skill of the musicians, but also how Jenkins tailored his composing, with its tricky meters, thematic and melodic sensibilities, and spacy floating synth interludes, to a Soft Machine sound that arguably harked all the way back to the landmark Third. But as is often the case with compilations linked to a specific label above all else, there was apparently a perceived need to touch upon all four of the Softs’ Harvest/EMI albums, including 1981’s Land of Cockayne, a rather bloated and ponderous effort that saw even fans of Jenkins’ ‘70s Softs work begin to kick around that “in name only” phrase. By featuring four tracks from Land of Cockayne -- and also including fully 11 tracks from 1978’s Alive & Well CD and its 2010 expanded edition -- Bundles and the 1976 John Etheridge-showcasing Softs are arguably given short shrift on Tales of Taliesin. And in fact, some of the few tracks that were included from Bundles and Softs might’ve been traded out for others (“The Man Who Waved at Trains,” “Ban-Ban Caliban”) to improve the variety and quality of the comp overall. Still, there is some killer idiosyncratic jazz-rock here, and it’s good to see positive attention directed toward a Soft Machine era that is often unjustly dismissed. ~ Dave Lynch
Yesterday I heard a nice Christmas trilogy on Deep Tracks:
Tull - Solstice Bells
The December People - Carol of the Bells
Proto-Kaw(!) - Gloriana
And I heard By-Tor and the Snow Dog!
It's not Christmas...but it does have snow in it.
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