Annual TFK recap and speculation thread - will the World of Adventures slow down or stop due to a global pandemic? Of course not! Another busy year with plenty of TFK projects and music to talk about. Here we go - in the order they showed up in my mailbox:
January:
Hannah Svensson - Places and Dreams - (TFK Connection: Zoltán Csörsz drums)
I think Zoltan's primary musical passion is still jazz and fusion. This is a wonderful album of mostly original tunes. It has a real late night jazz club feel, and a romantic feel. Zoltan has kept somewhat of a low profile lately, cool to see him back doing what he loves, while we wait with anticipation his return to prog as a new member of Lifesigns. Here is a link to one of the covers, the Fats Waller standard Honeysuckle Rose. Zoltan shines here and it will give you a good taste for how the album sounds and is mixed.
Jordan Rudess - Wired For Madness (TFK Connection: Jonas bass on Perpetual Shine)
Actually released in 2019 but I didn't get until later. Roller Coaster of styles. Not just technical show off playing which I thought it might be. Melodic and diverse album. Song based too. Nice surprise
March:
Randy McStine - Adopted Son - Live In Vancouver (Jonas fretless bass on bonus track)
This live album Adopted Son is an electrifying performance captured from McStine’s first North American solo tour as support act for The Pineapple Thief. Exclusive to the CD is Randy’s interpretation of the Tears For Fears classic, “The Working Hour,” featuring Jonas Reingold on fretless bass. Randy's version surpasses the original, imo.
July:
NDV - Invisible (TFK Connection: Jonas plays Bass/Fretless Bass on 5 songs)
Arriving as this did in early July this was my main album and soundtrack during the early days of the quarantine. This album now will always remind me of this time in history. Oddly it seemed to fit the mood perfectly, capturing the alienation, worry, sadness in some of the lyrics but ultimately hopeful and uplifting. Life finds a way. Loads of guests including Tony Levin, Randy McStine, Jordan Rudess, Paul Gilbert, Rick Nielsen and Jem Godfrey to name but a few. It is a diverse album with flavors of funk, rock, prog and soul.
Michael Lehrmann - Immer Nicht Ewig - (TKF Connection: Felix Lehrmann on drums)
An album from Felix's Father. How cool is that! All instrumentals, Michael is an accomplished guitarist and these original compositions range from blues/rock to jazz to acoustic. All with son Felix on the drums. This is their second offering together , the first album "Three Words Later" came out in 2012. Here is one video, it doesn't feature Felix but can give you an idea if this might be something you would like
Neal Morse - Inner Circle July 2020 "Covers & Encores" (TFK Connection: Roine, Jonas, Hasse, Tomas, Felix)
I recently rejoined Neal's Inner Circle in anticipation of a likely Transatlantic demos release. And I was pleasantly surprised to see the first release I got was this one also with a Transatlantic connection. "Covers & Encores" includes 4 covers (all Pink Floyd) and 2 encores. The first encore is from the Alive Again tour and the second encore is from the 2013 Neal Morse Band / The Flower Kings tour where both bands joined forces at the end and played a Transatlantic medley. This 'encore' is over 30 minutes long of greatness. and includes: Full Moon Rising/Whirlwind/A Man Can Feel/Rose Colored Glasses/Stranger In Your Soul. Jonas takes the place of Pete here.
In Neal's telling "we are putting the finishing touches on the new Transatlantic album! For this reason, I decided to include a recording of a Transatlantic encore. When we toured with the Flower Kings in 2013, with 75% of Transatlantic there, we played a 30-minute encore of that material, with guest spots from various Neal Morse Band and Flower Kings members, ending with a cast of thousands onstage!"
I'm familiar with the official live albums so this was really cool to hear the differences and how the songs are added a little more Flower Kings flavor with Hasse doubling on some of the vocals and Tomas soloing in some spots.
August:
The Tangent - Auto Reconnaissance (TFK Connection: Jonas Reingold bass)
I loved this CD - probably my favorite since their first one. Everything works on this one . The nearly half hour "Lie Back and Think of England" is without a doubt the best epic of the year I have heard. One of Andy's best songs. I teared up during sections of it. As years later the UK is still dealing with Brexit - the emotional plea for understanding between people was so moving. The uilleann pipes, the call back to "In Earnest" from "A Place in the Queue" and the closing section where Earnest repeats his plaintive "I beg you in earnest for nothing more" - What an amazing composition and album.
September:
Pain of Salvation - Panther (TFK Connection: Daniel Gildenlöw)
First off this comes in a super nice Double CD Media Book - Big booklet with lots of comic book style artwork. Wonderful design and packaging. Follow up to 2017 In the Passing Light of Day - the very successful collaboration with Ragnar Zolberg. After their falling out Daniel has firmly taken control back of his band with this album and pretty much plays everything here, including drums on one track. Johan gets the albums only guitar solo on "Icon" but I think every other instrument except drums is played by Daniel. Great album with all the hallmarks of PoS (raw emotions, anger, sadness, energy in the lyrics and music) "Wait" seems like a semi-sequel or companion piece to The Sea Within song "Time".
October:
Steve Hackett - Selling England By The Pound & Spectral Mornings: Live At Hammersmith (TFK Connection: Jonas Reingold bass / Nad Sylvan (Agents of Mercy)
Before it was hard to keep up with the Hackett live albums but now who knows when we will ever get another one. So with live music on hold we are thankful to get this one. This is the second one with Jonas on bass and the first one with Craig Blundell. Enough different songs here to make this well worthwhile "Epping Forest", "More Fool Me" "Deja Vu" "The Virgin and the Gypsy" and new album songs like "Under the Eye of the Sun" Nicely filmed, great sound, bonus footage backstage with all the band.
The Backstage - Isolation (TFK Connection: Jonas Reingold, Roine Stolt guest on one song / Lalle Larsson (Agents of Mercy) guest one song
Tons of guests on this one - others are Steve Hackett, Andy Tillison, Marco Minnemann, Randy McStine, Tom Brislin, Nick Beggs, Luke Machin, Pat Mastelotto, Theo Travis, Carl Orr, Roger King - Mixed by Chris Lord Alge
With no Hackett touring to keep them busy Jonas, Rob and Craig did this cool project. Taking their backstage jam sessions and sound check jams and converting them into an album of 70's style jazz fusion. Very cool stuff here and the huge parade of guest stars allows for plenty of top soloing. Modern production of vintage fusion sounds. This was an independent release by Jonas so if you collect any of these musicians you may want to get this sooner rather than later. When it is gone it will be gone. The CD is pretty unique too in that it looks like a mini vinyl lp.
The Flower Kings - Islands (Roine, Hasse, Jonas, Zach, Mirkko)
Only a year removed from Waiting for Miracles we have another TFK double. This sounds nothing like the prior album. Even more song based and focused album. And sonically it feels totally different. Recorded separately in each persons home studio. But it all depends on if the songs are good and in this case they certainly are. And Zach is contributing some really strong material again as we start to see a more developed Stolt/Kamins writing partnership. The instrumental "A New Species" is one of the standout tracks on the entire album. I'm still absorbing this one but Disc 1 is strong from start to end. Time will tell where this ranks in their catalog, I do miss some of the long extended instrumental excursions - "Solaris" is an exception here. It is a tough call for album of the year for me. Between this and The Tangent one. And a year later I recently revisited WfM and found I loved it even more than I remembered.
November:
Transatlantic - Inner Circle November 2020 "Live at Wetlands Preserve NYC 2000" (TFK Connection: Roine Stolt)
an audience recording from the very first Transatlantic tour. It’s a bootleg, but because this was a small club, the performance is very clear. You can hear some audience chatter in the background. Same setlist as "Live in America" except for a little longer Genesis medley (including the only attempt at "Back in NYC," given they were in NYC) plus the closing medley of TFK, Spock, Marillion and Dream Theater because their own catalog of music wasn't big enough to fill out a setlist - they have no such problem now! Great piece of history here.
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Originally Posted by SRS
The Backstage is a cool album! hope you enjoy it
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