Just dug this out again after a (short) hiatus. It's really going to be an enduring friend to me, I think. A real cathartic, feelgood record. Totally itself despite the lovely echoes of Yes, Moraz, Bruford etc. Can't wait for the next one. Or the tour!
"Where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest"
Goethe
I'd agree... It's hard to stop listening to this. A follow up CD would be great.
Yeah, I agree also. This one really has staying power.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
It's been a couple of weeks now, so I should listen to it again - was really enjoying it.
Not sure about the lovely echoes of Bruford. Uncle Bill was one of the jazziest drummers in the history of rock music (which shows in most of Bruford's post-Yes efforts, culminating in his jazz fusion solo albums and Earthworks), while Frosty's drumming is often described as "solid" and "steady", which is a politically correct euphemism for metronome-like. Not a bad album, by the way.Originally Posted by Corbie
Just dug this out again after a (short) hiatus. It's really going to be an enduring friend to me, I think. A real cathartic, feelgood record. Totally itself despite the lovely echoes of Yes, Moraz, Bruford etc. Can't wait for the next one. Or the tour!
Cheers Corbie.... The reviews have generally been most splendid ... this one also points to some nods to Yes...
I did actually discuss the album with Jon Anderson some years ago and he was very keen on the music but I felt the best way forward
was to have a brand new band and I think it turned out pretty well for a first effort :-)
http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=951612
You guys should be really proud of this one, John.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
Tied with Spock for album of the year so far
Thanx for the prompt, I still need to get this CD !
Thanks a lot guys very much appreciated. Prog is a funny thing some of the prog die hards who only buy albums from bands with no vowels in their names have accused us of not being prog. One guy said it's all very well but Carousel is in 4/4 when I pointed out there were two sections in 23/8 he was a bit bemused. I note on another thread someone saying prog isn't prog unless it has time and key changes well we have them in abundance.... we just didn't make it that obvious. The idea was to do it all subliminally so there was something new to discover in every listen...it's prog jim... etc :-)
Disappointed that Lifesigns wasn't available for sale at the Steven Wilson shows. There were several Chad Wackerman and Adam Holzman titles but none for Nick.
I've had a hard time finding Lifesigns in brick-&-mortar stores (and I have been to at least 10 different ones since the album came out). No Lifesigns, no Big Big Train. I guess I'll have to suck it up and buy them online.
It feels less than comfortable to voice a differing opinion here when the artist is involved in the thread. That said, I tried but it failed to grab me. At all.
Yes it seems to be mostly online sales sadly...hopefully one day it will move to bricks and mortar level. No probs bmooncd we understand that it may not be everyone's cup of tea...that's the same with any kind of music whether it's Steven Wilson or the Beatles.
If you are depending on brick and mortar shops for your fix then you will be stuck with a very limited prog diet. Plus you are a thief of your oen pocket because for instance with BBT the cheapest way to get their releases is direct from themselves.
can I just say here that most of Cherry Reds distributors are more than happy to stock most of the bricks and mortar stores--the issue is whether those shops will actually stock them. or order them In most its hard to to get anything other than the very biggest and most obvious releases--Ive been in plenty that dont even have the Steven Wilson album which is a very big seller. Some of our distributors also have been badly bitten payments wise with some bricks and mortar stores and sadly it appears much safer and more reliable payments wise to sell via Amazon , the mail order guys we know well or indeed our own web mail order. Personally speaking I would be perfectly happy if every single CD was sold via these sources. The territories we sell reasonably well in such as UK, germany, Japan, USA, Holland, Italy etc are all pretty used to buying online. I know its "not the same" as enjoying a good browse but it does enable realiable paid sales and a shop front whereas getting into the major stores is a herculean effort requiring much discounting and distro costs at our end (and big margins at thier end too) not to the label and hence not to the artist--and its nearly all sale and return as well, meaning you can be busy pressing extra stock to keep these stores supplied and then get large chunks back 5 months later.
Just listened to some youtube clips of this. Sounds very good. One section 'Time Wont Lie To You' nearly gave me chills. Good sign. I think I'm sold. Thanks for pointing it out.
Actually in my travels, I am able to find plenty of music in brick & mortars. SoCal has two premium destinations, Amoeba (Los Angeles) and Rhino (Claremont). The quality of these two shops makes up for the quantity that we used to enjoy back in the heyday. The bay area has even more with two Amoebas, Rasputin's, Streetlight, etc.
Call me old school but I still enjoy the thrill of the chase when it comes to thumbing through music in a store. I have bought so many titles sound-unheard out of cheapy bins (by reputation, having read about it, etc) which have led me to further explore said artist's catalogue further. I'd be much more unlikely to take such leaps when shopping online.
I agree with you about the love of the browse--the thing is though you cant "make" these shops take your stock and they often want only stock that can "either" be sale and return--which in the USA for us only means our releases such as Squackett or Todd R -that go via MVD and are made domestically--or they want "imports" ridiculoulsy cheap--which we cant do because of the kind of deals we have with artists (and which Cherry Red account to accurately) or they do have some of our titles --but in my opinion the margin they take is very very high indeed. I know what price the wholesaler buys from us and "roughly" what he sells them on at and find it hard to justify 50% or so mark up from that.
Record stores are suffering in the same way many other businesses are suffering these days - it's simply evil now to keep any sort of inventory. Inventory costs money, and businesses - especially in retail - are trying to shave any costs that they can. Yes, the Internet, legal and illegal downloads, etc. also play a large role, but record stores aren't the only retail businesses struggling in this economy these days.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
Well, yeah, I'm well aware of Bruford's music and legacy but the comparison to his namesake band wasn't aimed specifically at the drumming but rather at an elusive quality resulting from the combination of layered keyboard textures and Jakko's guitar parts. In my opinion al these comparisons are equally ephemeral and have nothing to do with any similarities between Lifesigns and the bands mentioned but more to do with - as I say - an ephemeral suggestion that this album comes from a landscape that occupies that same shifting borderland.
"Where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest"
Goethe
To me Prog is any music recorded in that same spirit of creative freedom and discovery that started to inform bands on the cusp of the initial "golden era", so sure... Prog! That subliminal effect you speak of is, I think, where those points of comparison we've been talking about stem from. Those little shreds of DNA that, in total, make the progressive idiom. Either way, it's great stuff and still alternating in my CD player with the latest Big, Big Train, Sanguine Hum's newbie and all the District 97 I've been spinning since Celebr8!
"Where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest"
Goethe
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