Most PE'ers concur relative to the debut album not being that impressive, however I actually liked it a lot and give it solid rankings. I do think they improved on their sound with time and their subsequent work is outstanding. But considering the debut album was a formative work and had them "cutting their teeth", I enjoy it more with each listen as I can hear the work in progress aspect.Originally Posted by Sputnik
Well, no surprise, but Five Rooms is outstanding!
Yes, I do believe they were programmed drums for the demos.
I'm psyched, I just got a promo download of the entire new CD. Will be spinning it tonight.
Bill
Where did you preorder? I preordered a while ago but didn’t get any link for that.
I didn't preorder. I plan to buy the CD when it hits the domestic vendors. I got a sample sent to NewEARS because I've recently become involved in their radio program. I've been asked to review it, and I will. I'm about halfway through, and to my ears this is far and away the strongest Wobbler album, and I'm already familiar with the last track because of the sample. So it will be an easy review!
Bill
Oh, that's sick. Can't wait to hear your thoughts once you've had time to digest it.I didn't preorder. I plan to buy the CD when it hits the domestic vendors. I got a sample sent to NewEARS because I've recently become involved in their radio program. I've been asked to review it, and I will. I'm about halfway through, and to my ears this is far and away the strongest Wobbler album, and I'm already familiar with the last track because of the sample. So it will be an easy review!
Bill
I'm two full listens in now, and I agree with you! Outstanding. I'm trying to finish my backlog so I can get to reviewing this, because I'm very excited about it.I didn't preorder. I plan to buy the CD when it hits the domestic vendors. I got a sample sent to NewEARS because I've recently become involved in their radio program. I've been asked to review it, and I will. I'm about halfway through, and to my ears this is far and away the strongest Wobbler album, and I'm already familiar with the last track because of the sample. So it will be an easy review!
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
That's goode gnus!!
Do the vocals on the tracks other than "Five Rooms" differ from the Jon Anderson like style heard on that sample track? Also, are any of the tracks instrumental only? Doesn't sound as if it matters, though, because this release promises to be a Wobbler masterstroke based on what we are hearing from the pre-order reviews.
I don't believe there are any purely instrumental tracks, but I listened while eating dinner so I wasn't watching the tracks change. There are lots of instrumental sections. The vocals do pretty much seem to be in that Jon Andersonish style, much more so than the previous album. More like Rites at Dawn. It doesn't really bother me. I mean, if Yes made an album 1/1000th as good as this since 1980, I'd be thrilled. So, it sounds like what I've wanted from Yes since Drama. That's the dude's voice, I accept it.
The music is Yes-like in the sense that any classic-leaning Prog will have hints of Yes, Genesis, KC, ELP. There's a part in one track on Dwellers of the Deep that I swear was lifted directly from GG's I Lost My Head. I could even sing that "took my time and I didn't rush into anything," lyric right along with it. But other than the vocals, I don't feel Wobbler are particularly aping Yes. I actually think they did a great job on this one to be creative, and most important intricate and exciting, within the parameters of classic 70s Prog. This is exactly the kind of stuff I like best.
Bill
^^^^^
Thanks for the recap and thoughts on the music itself.
I think it's quite possible that the singer Andreas' falsetto range happens to land in the same region as Jon's. Even Bob Drake's vocals land in the same area as well, its not 'aping' as much as just having a similar range.
Thanks for the update Bill....this LP is gonna fit perfectly with the forthcoming autumn crispness.
I must be deaf because until this thread I’ve never listened to Wobbler and thought “Jon Anderson.” His voice just sounds fuller and, I don’t know, different. Hell, I’d say it sounds closer to someone like Francesco Di Giacomo sans the operatic vibrato.
I can’t seem to think of any — does Andreas even go into falsetto ever? He seems to sing high into his chest and mix voice always.
I'm hearing some glorious Caravan influence (Nine Feet Underground) in the Five Rooms track just released. I dig it.
Cannot wait for this LP. Glad to hear that you’re enjoying it, Bill.
Those cheap Yes clones - 5uu's!!!
The Prog Corner
Pär Lindh's drummer on Time Mirror (Al Lewis) has the same kind of voice. Although I must admit it's a bit more Rod-Stewart-y-Jon-Anderson-y-like.
I like Wobbler's vocals better. Looking forward to the album.
HuGo"Very, very nice," said a man in the crowd,
When the golden voice appeared.
She was gold alright, but then so is rust.
"Such a shame about the beard."
Neither clones nor cheap, but the Drake-rendition of 5uu's were highly influenced by Yes, yes. And just like the promise of the 'progressive' ideal so obviously postulated, the uu's actually did something different, other and more advanced with it.
Wobbler aren't really doing any of this with any of their influences/sources, but they're alright either way. I mean, we're all gonna die soon oh soon and no one will remember us or even want to. I think it's pretty important to keep that in mind. That death is coming soon.
"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
You know I was kidding, right?
I love Thinking Plague and 5uu's.
And Yes.
And I am not going to die.
I am not human.
The Prog Corner
“Unbeing dead isn't being alive.”
― e e cummings
You don't have to be human to die. Luckily.
But Yes, I knew you were kidding about the 5uu's. They stretched their influences far off, obviously - pretty much transforming the clues of their sources into something new and other. Wobbler aren't doing that, but like I said: I still like them - not for what they're not doing but for the very fine arrangements and tuneful melodies of jolly fun and rumplebum.
"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
There's no way to top that.
I like comfort Prog so you know I love Wobbler!!! Listening to them is like slipping into the warmest, softest, fluffiest robe imaginable. Just mindless pleasure!!! (See Also: Neal Morse, The Flower Kings, Big Big Train, Transatlantic, etc.)
The security of the familiar.
The Prog Corner
If Wobbler is mindless, what do you consider intelligent?
^ Presumably the "mindlessness" was a token of his own zen process of listening, in which he doesn't necessarily crave "challenge" - it was obviously not an accusation against the music itself.
There's admittedly a lot of far more challenging (progressive) rock music out there than Wobbler.
"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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