Neal Morse - New live album out next week

(from the press release)

Renowned as one of prog’s leading solo artists, Neal Morse is better known for his epic studio releases than for lengthy tours. His acclaimed solo live DVDs (Testimony Live, Sola Scripture & More) and CD set (Question Live) have captured amazing performances from his live North American and European bands, and performers from bands ranging from Dream Theater to Christina Aguilera. Never before, though, has there been a definitive live Neal Morse experience. Over almost 20 years, Neal has recorded 22 studio albums with Spock’s Beard, Transatlantic, and on his own. His career has followed an unconventional path, leading him to reject 10 years chasing a dream, and at another time, leave music altogether. His experiences and perspective have lead to some of progressive rock’s most memorable music.

The challenge of bringing these songs to life requires some of prog’s best musicians—a lot of them. In Europe, Neal came to know his band by chance email from an unknown Dutch drummer: Collin Leijenaar. Collin was trying to persuade Neal that his group of friends—all tremendous Morse fans—could not only play Neal’s material, but own it. Three and half hours worth. With one week’s rehearsal.

Morse was…skeptical, to say the least. The unknown performers were up against Mike Portnoy, Kerry Livgren, Roine Stolt, Steve Hacket, Jordan Rudess, Phil Keaggy, Randy George, Pete Trewavas, Kevin Gilbert, and the cast of Spock’s Beard. Neal had been down many roads he never expected, though, and something told him to take this one. The entire tour was booked before Neal even met his band.

The rest is history, of course, perhaps best illustrated by Neal’s comment on the Sola Scriptura &More Live DVD; before the band launched into a complete performance of the Sola Scriptura album, Neal says, “I hope you guys like this—it’s the second time we’ve performed it together.” And indeed, Collin and company owned every minute of it.

That was 2007. By the end of 2008, the now-seasoned band could tear through Morse’s material with confidence and creative improvisation. With changing material on different nights, the cumulative set is 3.5 hours long, encompassing Neal’s best songs and compositions from his 20 year career. This theme extends the recording engineering, mixing and production—resulting in studio-grade sound that whispers and thunders off the discs. At the center is Neal Morse, one of Classic Rock Magazine’s “100 Greatest Frontmen of Rock”.

With soaring vocals, virtuoso instrumentals, and a unique…sense of humor, Morse demonstrates why after 20 years, he remains one of prog’s brightest stars. Experience the definitive Neal Morse concert event—29 tracks released from the studio’s confines and into the living world of live performance. Discover new songs and rediscover familiar ones, evolved and arranged in unpredictable ways. From The Light to Lifeline, experience the extraordinary music at the end of a road less traveled.

SO MANY ROADS
CD #1 ~ 63:37 total
1. At the End of the Day 16:49
2. Leviathan 6:45
3. The Way Home 5:05
4. Author of Confusion/I’m the Guy 13:59
5. That Crutch 3:59
6. We All Need Some Light 4:24
7. Lifeline 12:33

CD #2 ~ 79:24 total
1. Question Mark Medley 31:25
2. Help Me 12:13
3. Testimedley 35:46

CD #3 ~ 71:34 total
1. Walking On The Wind 09:33
2. So Many Roads 30:17
3. Stranger/Bridge Across Forever 31:44

Recorded from October 23-30, 2008 at: De Boerderij, Zoetermeer (NL); De Reehorst, Ede (NL); Zeche, Bochum (DE); Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg (DE), Spirit of 66, Verviers (BE)

Mörglbl US Tour canceled

Hi everyone

Unfortunately, due to visa problems, our small two weeks tour, scheduled for the upcoming weeks, has been cancelled.
We will work within the upcoming weeks on planning a new tour and sort this out so it never goes that bad again.
We apologize for those who wrote to us to support us and planned to come to the shows, as well as to those who worked hard to book all the venues, our dear management, BMP, and our fine record company, The Laser's Edge.
Although we are upset and shocked, we will definitely be back...

Cheers
Christophe

Taylor's Universe news

Highly acclaimed Danish prog act Taylor's Universe have spent most of this year in the studios, recording what will become the band's 10th album. The title of the album is Artificial Joy, and according to the band's leader/composer Robin Taylor, this release will contain some of his most inspired music heard in several years. Newcomers among the players are guitar ace Finn Olafsson (from legendary 60s/70s group Ache) as well as saxophone wizard Jakob Mygind.

Line-up for Artificial Joy:

Jakob Mygind saxophones
Carsten Sindvald clarinet/saxophone
Finn Olafsson electric guitar
Michael Denner electric guitar
Robin Taylor vintage keyboards, electric guitar, percussion
Flemming Muus Tranberg fretless bass
Klaus Thrane drums

with
Louise Nipper voice

Time of release: Later this fall (if nothing goes wrong).

Forgas Band Phenomena to perform at NF 2010

This from Ray Loboda, co-organiser for NEARfest 2010:

Jim, Kevin and I are pleased to announce that France's Forgas Band Phenomena will grace the NEARfest stage in the 2010 edition. Drummer and composer Patrick Forgas has been releasing jazz-rock gems that showcase his compositional and and arranging skills for over 30 years. Forgas, who has been hailed as "the French answer to the Canterbury scene" since he first burst upon the scene in 1977 with his "Cocktail" album, will present songs from his fourth album, Axis of Madness as well as others from his catalog.

In addition to the many Canterbury comparisons, also heard is a commonality with the band that Frank Zappa led with George Duke & Jean-Luc Ponty; great tunes and arrangements in a fusion style with excellent 'jazz' soloing. The group perform music that combines the most attractive aspects of jazz and rock composition with inspired solos. The quality of the music and performances is obvious from the first note and we are pleased that it isn't only us who noticed; press has been unbelievably enthusiastic towards this group's music! Please extend a NEARfest handshake to Cuneiform's very own, Forgas Band Phenomena.

http://forgasbp.online.fr/

3 Albums I am currently digging...

1) Doomsday Afternoon by Phideaux. This album was raved about by several of my friends last year. Sadly, I tend to give the opposite reaction to hype from what is expected – I run screaming. I have been burned by hype so many times that I just know that I’ll be burned again. Well, I was…but this time it was me burning myself. I finally legally downloaded a copy of this release and checked it out…and now I can’t get the damned thing out of my play list. This album is proof that there is still hope for chamber/symphonic prog to toss some curveballs and sliders into a mostly stale mix. The singing is interesting, the arrangements clever, the playing just right for the songs. Strings, layered vocals, harmonies…what’s not to like? I wish I had taken the dive earlier…but now at least I know I have a catalogue to discover and explore. Must acquire Seven now…and the rest of the back catalogue. My highlight – “Micro Softdeathstar,” a brilliant mini-epic.

2) 4th by DFA. Yeah, I know…it’s another 2008 album. I’ve dug this release ever since it came out, and a year later it’s still allowing me to discover little gems. It’s so enjoyable…a better mix of symphonic Italian prog and fusion I’ve not heard in a very long time. I am particularly enamoured by the album closer “La Ballata De S’isposa ‘E Mannorri,” with lyrics derived from the Sardinian oral tradition and with glorious female vocals courtesy of “Andhira,” three evocative singers telling a tale of romance and blood feuds in the late 1700’s. The band’s playing is as wonderful as ever, with a diverse selection of sounds and arrangements that make each song a different listening experience from the one before or the one after. This is probably one of my favourite Italian albums in my collection, and certainly one of the strongest modern Italian releases in general.

3) Imparis by Deus ex Machina. I decided last year I wanted to buy this when I saw the trailer for the DVD on the big screen at NEARfest. Sadly it wasn’t out at the festival, and I forgot about ordering it until I saw it on a vendor table this year. I still haven’t dug into the DVD much yet, but as for the album proper…wow. This is an impressive slab of edgy, angular Italian prog. Alberto Piras is the closest thing we have to a Demitrio Stratos today…while his range is certainly not as wide as Stratos’ was (let’s fave it…human voices do not come as flexible and amazingly unhuman as his was), he carries on the tradition of voice as instrument wonderfully well. The band is in fine form as well, navigating the complex and sometimes labrythnine arrangements with ease. It’s still a little early for me to select a highlight track on this release…there’s so much music here, and it’s all pretty dense…but that just means I have a lot of very enjoyable exploration to get going on!


Check these places for more info:
http://www.bloodfish.com/
http://www.dutyfreearea.it/
http://www.derepublica.com/

http://www.moonjune.com/
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/

DVD REVIEW: Renaissance, Song of Scheherazade (2009, Cherry Red/Hybrid)

Have I ever told you the story of how I discovered the band Renaissance?

Back in 1991-ish, I had heard a song by a British group called Miranda Sex Garden, from their then current album Suspiria. I was completely taken aback by the layered female vocal harmonies (many of which seemed to me to be derived from traditional English and Italian madrigal…how right I was, I’d later find out) and the dark, almost orchestral nature of their metallic, industrial-esque musical backing. I was raving about the band to someone in my local record store (Alwilk in Flemington NJ, for those of you out there who may have frequented that chain in the NY/NJ area back in the day), and he mentioned to me that if I liked MSG (and I did, except for in my Chinese food) he had a band I might be interested in…with the caveat that they were lighter and more symphonic than MSG. I took him up on his offer to check the group out, and a few days later he had made copies for me of some material by a band called Renaissance. He felt OK in doing this as all their albums were out of print at that time, save for a pair of compilations which had come out in the US a few weeks prior.

I took the two tapes home and started playing them…and I was hooked. Glorious female vocals, orchestrations, beautiful classical guitar and piano, and a warm, punchy bass that was more a lead instrument than anything else. I spent the entire summer of 1991 seeking out their albums in second hand shops, lucky enough to acquire copies of Carnegie Hall, Novella, and A Song for All Seasons on vinyl. Soon these were joined by the two compilations on Sire Records, Tales of 1001 Nights I and II…and years later, by a mish mash of import CDs from the UK, Germany, and Japan (yes, I paid $40.00 US a piece for Novella and Song for all Seasons from Japan…and $50.00 US for a copy of Azure D’Or). I was completely and irrevocably hooked by this vastly overlooked, underrated British combo.

Only one thing has been missing over the years…a video document of the classic band (Annie Haslam, Michael Dunford, John Tout, Terrence Sullivan and Jon Camp) live in concert.

This missing link has been rectified thanks to the release of Song of Scheherazade, a 125-minute long DVD on Cherry Red/Hybrid that compiles footage from a pair of concerts in New Jersey (the band’s US home base for most of their career with regard to their fan base) in 1976 and 1979.

Many of the band’s better known works are covered here. 1976 was in many ways close to the peak of the band’s critical and commercial success…fresh off a series of successful dates at Carnegie Hall, WNEW radio out of NYC broadcast several Renaissance concerts as part of their regular concert series. Ed Sciaky in Philly and Alison Steele (the Nightbird) championed the band’s music in two of the biggest music markets in the eastern US. The band took the stage at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic NJ for a set that featured their epic masterwork “The Song of Scheherazade,”a 20+ minute tone poem based on the legendary tales of 1001 nights, and the title track to their fourth album. Also featured from that album is the elegiac and melancholic “Ocean Gypsy,” later covered by Blackmore’s Night on their debut release. Two tracks from their release Turn of the Cards, and one each from Ashes are Burning and Prologue (that album’s title track) round out the first half of the DVD contents. The band is in fine form, and Haslam’s voice has never sounded finer. Tout’s piano on “Running Hard” is as lyrical as ever, and Camp’s bass playing is precise and impressive; at this time, I’d say he was perhaps the most underrated bassist in all of prog music.

I wish I could say the same glowing things about the video quality. I know much has been said about this subject, and I have to reiterate it; the video quality is…well…passable. And I think I am being generous. I understand that budgets probably did not allow for an amazing level of restoration to be done on material that has more of a cult appeal, but honestly…I’ve seen Doctor Who episodes, unrestored, from the early 1960s that looked better. The picture is washed out/faded, grainy, and subject to bursts of interference and/or distortion throughout. It’s a shame…this is the first chance for many to see the band at their height, and, well…we can see the band, but not much more.

The 1979 footage (from Asbury Park NJ’s Convention Center) is better, but sadly not by much. Thankfully the setlist offers up enough gems to overcome this limitation for the most part. Jon Camp’s rocking out on a double neck on the opening piece “Can You Understand – Intro” is perhaps worth the cost of admission alone…though I continue to feel it looks odd to see an electric guitar being strapped around Michael Dunford’s neck. Still, we get a nice selection of material from the band’s then current Azure D’Or (which would be the last album recorded by the classic band, and their final release on Sire Records in the US). “Jeckyll and Hyde” and “The Flood at Lyons” are two of my favourite later Renaissance tracks, and both are performed admirably here. “Forever Changing” always seemed a bit twee to me (thought the performance is fine, featuring some gloriously bell-like Haslam vocals), and the less said about the song “Secret Mission,” the better. I’d sooner have had “The Winter Tree” or “Only Angels Have Wings,” but I suppose those are more minor quibbles. We also get fine renditions of “The Vuntures Fly High,” one of the band’s fastest, rockiest tracks, a second take on “Mother Russia” (written about the life of Soviet dissident and author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich), and a wonderful performance of their later day epic “A Song for All Seasons.” By this point, Renaissance had been implementing more amplified/electric instruments in their songs, arrangements and concerts, and this concert shows the band at the very end of their classic period.

It is again a shame that the video quality can’t match the performance passion and quality. A release like this has been eagerly anticipated and longed for by the Renaissance faithful for quite some time…and while I can play the DVD, and enjoy the excellent live renditions of some of my favourite Renaissance songs…I just can’t watch it. While Song of Scheherazade is far from a failure as a release, it’s also far from an unmitigated success.


Capitol Theatre 1976:
Running Hard
Ocean Gypsy
Carpet of the Sun
Mother Russia
Prologue
Song of Scheherazade

Asbury Park Convention Hall 1979:
Can You Understand - Intro
The Vultures Fly High
Jeckyll and Hyde
Northern Lights
Forever Changing
Secret Mission
Mother Russia
A Song for all Seasons
The Flood at Lyons


Annie Haslam – vocals
Michael Dunford – acoustic and electric guitar
John Tout – piano and keyboards
Terrance Sullivan – drums and percussion
Jon Camp – bass guitar and vocals

NEARfest 2010 dates announced

"Where to begin? With the first of many NEARfests under our wings, one thing is apparent: It ain't easy puttin' this thing together!!! A Salud to Chad and Rob for all the wonderful years of hard work and great festivals. A gargantuan thanks to you, the audience, the music fan, the beer lover for helping bring such a fine festival to fruition once again, we do it for you, for anyone who is passionate about their music. All the bands deserve a big hug for making the first NEARfest under the new guys, a rousing success. So many performances not soon forgotten, yet it's time to look to next year, which brings me to part two of this prose; NEARfest 2010 will be held on June 18th, 19th and 20th, 2010 - same great venue, same great people. Keep an eye out for more information, there's even a band announcement imminent. Jim, Kevin and I look forward to seeing you all back with us next year. It wouldn't be the same without you.


-------------
Ray Loboda, Festival Co-Director, NEARfest '0"

Cuneiform Records artists on tour

Info courtesy of label president Steve Feigenbaum:

BIRDSONGS OF THE MESOZOIC (special tour to promote "Dawn of the Cycads", so founding member Roger Miller (Mission of Burma) is performing with the group in place of current member Ken Field, and all material will be vintage - 1988 or earlier)
July 23 - AS220 - 115 Empire St. - Providence, Rhode Island 02903
July 24 - Mercury Lounge - 217 E. Houston St - NYC, NY
July 25 - Kung Fu Necktie - 1250 North Front St. - Philadelphia, PA
July 26 - Talking Head - 407 East Saratoga St. - Baltimore, MD 21202 - buy advance tix
July 30 - Johnny D's - 17 Holland St. - Somerville, MA 02144

DAVID BORDEN/MOTHER MALLARD [40th anniversary celebration]
July 26 - Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art - Cornell University Campus - Central & University Ave. - Ithaca, NY. 14853-4001

CHEER-ACCIDENT
October 24 - The Philadephia Experiment: New Music Festival - The Rotunda - University of Pennsylvnania - 4014 Walnut Street - Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215) 573-3234 (with CHEER-ACCIDENT (headliner), Fern Knight, The Red Masque and Make A Rising) all ages - FREE but donations for the bands requested.

THE CLAUDIA QUINTET
July 8 - Barbican Hall - London, UK (opening for Medeski, Martin and Wood)
October - west coast USA touring

DJAM KARET
August 22 - Crescendo Festival - Saint Palais-sur-Mer, France

DOCTOR NERVE
July 12 - Le Poisson Rouge - 158 Bleeker Street, NY, NY (7:30pm Todd Reynold solo violin and electronics / 8:30pm Doctor Nerve / 9:30pm Dither Guitar Quartet)

ERGO (our latest signing! CD out in September!)
September 22 - Sonic Circuits Festival - Washington, DC

FORGAS BAND PHENOMENA
September 30 - Sunset Club - Paris, France
December 5 - Theatre de Sens - Sens, France
June - NEARFest - Zoellner Auditorium - Bethlehem, PA

GUAPO
September 18-20 (Guapo meets GMEA) - Rock in Opposition Festival - Maison de la Musique - Cap'Découverte - 81450 Le Garrick (Carmaux), France

GUTBUCKET
June 27 - Danger Danger Gallery - 5013 Baltimore Avenue - Philadelphia, PA (CD release show!) (with Elliot Levin Trio)
November 10 - Lemoyne College - Syracuse, NY

HAMSTER THEATRE
July 3 - Trident Booksellers and Cafe - 940 Pearl Street - Boulder, CO
October 17 - Edgefest - The Firefly Club - 637 South Main Street - Ann Arbor, MI : 9:00 PM

LED BIB
July 1st - rebroadcast of their gig at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam. It was recorded for NPS Radio 6 in Holland. It will be broadcast in it's entirety on at 22:00. You can listen on the radio in Holland or on www.radio6.nl everywhere else.
October 2 - The Vortex - 11 Gillett Square - London, UK
October 14 - tba - Barnstaple, UK
October 23 - tba - Derby, UK
December 10 - tba - Nottingham, UK

THE MAHAVISHNU PROJECT
July 7 - 8 - Vishnufest - Le Poisson Rouge - 158 Bleecker St - NYC, NY
The three part program will consist of:
PROGRAM 1. "The Best of Mahavishnu" - Highlights from Birds of Fire, Inner Mounting Flame and The Lost Trident Sessions; PROGRAM 2. "Before & After Mahavishnu: The John McLaughlin Songbook" - Featuring music from Extrapolation, Devotion, Electric Guitarist and the WORLD PREMIERE of several really cool, newly discovered CHORAL WORKS, setting the poetry of guru Sri Chinmoy; PROGRAM 3. "Return to the Emerald Beyond" - The 11-piece band plays the complete Visions of the Emerald Beyond plus "Smile of the Beyond" and a few fan fave encores.

MATS/MORGAN BAND (Mats Öberg and Morgan Ågren with former Meshuggah bassist Gustaf Hilem)
August 16 - 20 - Zaapanle - Germany (with Denny Walley)

MIRIODOR
July 10 - Festival d'été de Québec - Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (outside show - opening for Van der Graaf Generator!)
September 12-13 - FMPM - The Gesù - 1200 De Bleury Street, between St-Catherine Street and René Lévesque Boulevard - Montreal, Quebec, Canada

THE MUFFINS
September 12 - Orion Sound Studios - 2903 Whittington Ave., Suite C - Baltimore, MD
September 18 - Rock in Opposition Festival - Maison de la Musique - Cap'Découverte - 81450 Le Garrick (Carmaux), France

PRESENT
September 19 - Rock in Opposition Festival - Maison de la Musique - Cap'Découverte - 81450 Le Garrick (Carmaux), France

RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL
October 31 - Hampshire Jam - Millenium Hall, Liphoo - Hampshire, UK

REVOLUTIONARY SNAKE ENSEMBLE
August 15 - Salem Jazz & Soul Festival - Salem, MA

UNIVERS ZERO
September 20 - Rock in Opposition Festival - Maison de la Musique - Cap'Découverte - 81450 Le Garrick (Carmaux), France
October 13 - Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival - Nancy, France

ZEVIOUS (our latest signing! CD out in September!)
August 14 - Yippie Cafe - 9 Bleecker St - Brooklyn, NY (with Third Space)
August 15 - Avant Gentleman's Lodge - 4028 Filbert St - Philadelphia, PA 19104 (with Make A
Rising, Hume)
August 16 - Galaxy Hut - 2711 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA 22201 (703) 525-8646 (with DCIC)
August 17 - Nara - 1309 W. Main St - Richmond, Virginia (w/ The Wayward)
August 18 - DIVEbar - 3 Glenwood Ave - Raleigh, North Carolina - (Free show)
August 19 - BoBo Gallery - 22 Lexington Ave - Asheville, NC (with Shane Perlowin, King Tut)
August 21 - Dada Dollhouse - Winston Salem, NC (with St. Peter Pocket Veto)
August 22 - Hexagon - 1825 N. Charles St - Baltimore, MD (with Expanding Man, others tba)
September 16 - Monkeytown - 58 N. 3rd St - Brooklyn, NY 11211 (with Father Figures, Little Triumph)

Some scattered thoughts about the Prog magazine top 50 list...

The top 50 all-time prog albums list solicited by Classic Rock presents Prog has been released. As one could have probably predicted, the list is…

a) primarily bands from the UK
b) primarily melodic/symphonic
c) dominated by Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd (30% of the list is these three bands)

What can we derive from this list?

Not a whole lot.

We can get a good guess at the readership of this magazine. We could probably put together a decent picture of their age, (25-55), gender (male), and place of residence (the UK, duh). We can tell that as expected the most popular bands still tend to be the so called Big Six (add in ELP, Tull and Crimson and 40% of the list is the Big Six). We see a dearth of non-UK bands (Rush, Dream Theater, Spock’s, Queensryche, Tool, Gong, Opeth). We see, in general, a decent snapshot of what is most accessible and easily digestible. And if we look at the publication, we see that in general it is this music that gets the bigger features, the most wordage, the most focus.

Is this that shocking?

Not really.

In the golden age of prog, bands like Yes and ELP did more than create some of the more complex rock music…they sold millions of records. Tull were much the same, while in many ways Crimson would be the odd man out…complex walls of sound, a propensity for improv and angularity…they are perhaps the most difficult band of the big six. Floyd came to prog via psychedelia, and their emphasis on soundscape, mood and texture puts them at odds with the rest of the batch. Yet there was always melody and structure guiding all of these bands (and yes, Crimson definitely dabbled there as well…Book of Saturday, Cadence and Cascade, The Night Watch…Fripp and co. could craft a hell of a catchy song when they wanted to).

What we miss on a list like this is the truly world based nature of prog. Where are the Italian bands…Banco, PFM, Le Orme, Area, Goblin. What of the German groups like Kraftwerk or Tangerine Dream…the eastern European bands like Solaris or Collage or SFF? There’s a huge Scandanavian prog scene typified by bands like Kaipa, Trettioariga Kriget, Samlas Mammas Manna and carried on through White Willow, Anglagard and Anekdoten. Likewise, there are large numbers of important and influential Japanese bands like Kenso, Gerard, Ain Soph, Vermillion Sands, and countless others. We don’t see anything truly avant garde…no Rock in Opposition, no Zeuhl…almost no fusion or Canterbury, and nothing that to my mind pushes any limits or stretches boundaries.

I am not trying to say that in order for an album to be worthy of being in a top fifty list, it has to be by nature difficult and/or edgy. There’s nothing difficult or edgy about an album like Darwin! By Banco…unless you find gorgeous melodies, delicate arrangements, and passionate operatic Italian vocals difficult or edgy. My complaints with lists like the one put together by Classic Rock presents Prog is that it represents a narrow slice of the prog listenership/fan base…and as the magazine is on newsstands all over the place, it will tend to help ossify a general impression that this is the prog that matters. I could list a dozen or more albums equally worthy of being on this list that would both widen its characteristics and present a more complete view of what progressive music is…albums that are the equal to, if not superior to, those listed by the readership. But what would this solve? It’d be yet another narrow slice of what prog music is. I’d think it more complete and more enveloping…but it’d be just one person’s viewpoint.

Frankly, progressive music is insular and ghettoised enough as it is. Limiting it to a selection of melodic albums sung in English only marginalises it further than it already is.

CD REVIEW: Dream Theater, Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009, Roadrunner)

There are some things in this world more life threatening than reviewing a Dream Theater album. I’d try to list them, but as most of them deal with handling toxic or nuclear waste, and/or wrestling large wild animals, I’m not sure such a list is necessary or desired.

I exaggerate some, but not much. In the world of progressive music, not many bands have a fan base as…well…fervent and devoted as Dream Theater does. Quite a bit of this is warranted; the band does go it of its way to give their fans as much as possible, with constantly revolving set lists in concert, a regular series of official bootlegs containing demos, alternate tracks, and live shows. From their 3+ hour ‘evening with’ sets to the last two Progressive nation tours, they make every effort to give the fans as much bang for their buck as possible. So their fan base is well deserved.

The down side to this, if I am to be perfectly frank, is that the fan base tends to turn on its own. The majority has a tendency to eat the minority at almost every juncture. If an album is loved by the majority, no criticism, no matter how intelligently spoken, will be tolerated…until such time as time allows people to look back at the material without the freshness of newness and see it more accurately…then the tables may turn (or, of course, they may not). If band member A says song B sucks, all of a sudden song B sucks, even if the week before people were raving about how wonderful it is.

And so it goes.

I am not trying to denigrate the DT fan base…I am a fan of their music. But I don’t follow blindly. I like what I like because it resonates for me, not for any other reason. And so it is with trembling fingers that I begin to type out a review of Black Clouds & Silver Linings, the 10th studio album from Dream Theater. Like their last release (Systematic Chaos), the album has been released in two basic editions to retail; a standard single disc and a special edition. This year’s special edition is a 3-CD set; the first disc is the album proper, the second is a selection of 6 newly recorded cover versions, the third disc is the album in instrumental mixes. This is the edition I am reviewing.

The six songs on BC&SL can each basically be broken down to single sentence descriptions:

A Nightmare to Remember (ANTR) – this is a song about a car crash and its aftermath.
A Rite of Passage (ARoP) – this is a song about Freemasonry.
Whither – this is a song about writer’s block (seriously).
The Shattered Fortress (TSF) – this is the final part of Mike Portnoy’s 12 step suite.
The Best of Times (TBoT) – this is a song about Mike Portnoy’s dad who had recently passed away.
The Count of Tuscany (TCoT) – actually, I am still not sure what this song is about.

Of course, the songs deserve more than a single line of description. ANTR, as I will abbreviate it, features some relatively heavy DT playing, along with one of the prettier mid-tempo ballad sections I have heard from them in some time. Like many recent DT songs, the structure is somewhat abrupt, going from the quiet, restrained Yes like passage to pretty straight ahead metal thrashing with wild, widdly Petrucci and Rudess solos that at times almost feel out of place. Yes, we know they can play…they have proven it time and time again. The more sustained lines around 10:20 in or so, followed by Wakeman like synth runs, are far more enjoyable than the out of control sweeps and arpeggios that usually feature in instrumental sections.

The wah-ed out bass opening of ARoP (again with the abbreviations) is pretty interesting and enjoyable, but the song then settles into a mid-tempo Megadeth type groove (my girlfriend, in fact, called to me ‘Hey, I didn’t know you were listening to Megadeth’ as it played). James LaBrie sounds quite good, and the playing behind the vocal passages is solid and tightly arranged. As far as the lyrical content is concerned, well…as someone with more than passing knowledge of eastern esoterica and metaphysics, I’m not sure that the lyrics tell a very accurate story of freemasonry, but at the very least I can say that they don’t seem overly negative. Each of the last two Dream Theater albums has seen the band moving toward more of a metal sound rather than progressive, and this song is no exclusion.

TSF completes Mike Portnoy’s epic 12 Step Suite. I have to give him major commendations…across the five songs that make up the suite (nearly 60 minutes of material), he’s spilled his heart and soul out more than the rest of his prodigious lyrical content combined. Addiction is a horrid beast to overcome, and the fact that he has allowed his listeners in to his process is pretty inspiring. The suite has had high points and somewhat less high points, but TSF wraps them up pretty nicely. After the much more restrained and sombre “Repentance” on Systematic Chaos, I had a feeling the final movement would have to up the ante some energy wise, and I was not wrong at all. Heavy double bass drumming, slabs of metallic playing, gruff LaBrie vocals…all are here in spades. There are plenty of musical quotes and repeated motifs tying this into the rest of the suite…an arranging toy that some may find weak, but I feel was almost necessary. Is this my favourite movement in the suite? Not by a long shot (that acclaim is directed toward “Repentance,” in case you are truly curious), but I think it’s a solid conclusion.

I am not going to touch TBoT. I think it’s a pretty song, it feels a little lightweight musically, but I won’t deny the personal lyrics or the fact that some of Petrucci’s most lyrical playing in years can be heard here.

This brings us to The Count. Where to begin? I think musically this is the most solid piece of material the band has put together in the last ten years. I think it features some of the most progressive rock sounding stuff the band has issued since “Octavarium.” I think it shows that when the mood strikes them, they can create a piece of prog rock that shows they can be more than just a metal band. I think in a lot of ways this song rivals some of the material Dream Theater released on their first few albums (yeah, I went there…). But then we come to the lyrics. I am being honest here…I really don’t know what to say about them, mostly because I am still unsure what the song is about. It is apparently, from what I have read, inspired by an event that happened to John Petrucci in Italy…but what? Was he taken to some palatial estate where wine is made from the bodies of the dead? Did he fear that the same fate was going to befall him? I don’t know. I know, as a prog fan, that I have to really take lyrics with a grain of salt…after all, this is a genre where mountains come out of the sky and then stand there…but I just don’t know what to make of the story this song is telling. Instead I listen to the music and am satisfied that the band wrote a 19 minute epic that sits alongside their best material musically.

Moving on…

Disc 2 features, as mentioned above, 6 specially recorded cover songs. We start off with a solid take on Rainbow’s “Stargazer.” I am a huge Rainbow fan, and I was satisfied by this rendition. LaBrie is no Ronnie James Dio, but he acquits himself well here. The same can be said of the band’s so-called Queen ‘medley,’ actually a very nicely done take on “Flick of the Wrist,” “Tenement Funster” and Lily of the Valley” from the seminal Sheer Heart Attack album by Queen. This was one of two covers that caused my nerves to go through the roof, but DT came through with a great cover that even caught the ear of Brian May. “Odyssey” follows, originally performed by the Dixie Dregs (Steve Morse’s original band). Thankfully DT invited Dregs’ violinist Jerry Goodman to guest here, and so we’re treated to real organic violin rather than keyboard samples.

Goodman also guests on the group’s cover of another seminal prog instrumental, King Crimson’s “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part II.” It’s a solid enough cover, but sadly the mix doesn’t push bassist John Myung high enough up. Wetton’s driving bass was what propelled the original, not Bruford’s drums or Fripp’s searing guitar, and without a similar punchy Myung bass, this cover feels a bit flat and lifeless. Zebra’s “Take Your Fingers From My Hair” precedes the Crimson cover, and…well, I’m not too familiar with the original, so I can’t vouch for the integrity of this cover. This also means that in some ways this cover should be the more intriguing one to me, yet it does little. I’d perhaps have liked to see DT cover another Z band, like a Zappa song, but this would probably mean another instrumental, and that’d not be overly fair to LaBrie.

The set is closed out by A solid performance on the Iron Maiden tune “To Tame a Land.” This is the only cover not specifically recorded for this set, having been issued on a magazine cover disc in the UK as a tribute to Iron Maiden. DT has proven in the past that they are more than adequate Maiden interpreters, and they do not disappoint here. In fact, one might be tempted to say that Dream Theater may well be the pre-eminent active cover band, but I am sure that is an appellation they’d not be too proud of having, as it certainly overshadows the quality of their original work.

Finally…

Disc 3 features the original studio album in its entirety a second time, this time without any solo performances. This, there’s no guitar soloing, no (or minimal) keyboard widdly widdly, and no LaBrie singing. Ever wanted to solo along with your musical faves in Dream Theater? Here’s your chance! Have a DT karaoke party! The options and opportunities are only as limited as your imagination. Honestly, I think the idea of the instrumental disc is a good one, and I’m glad in a way that they didn’t just remove the vocals. This gives listeners a chance to check out some of the stuff you’re not usually listening to as the rest of the band flies wildly up and down their respective instruments over these musical backings.

“Now wait a minute, man…”

In the final reckoning, where does BC&SL lie? Is it a return to Dream Theater’s progressive roots? Is it a release riddled by the band bowing to label pressure to write a dark, spooky, metal album with 3 discs, each with 6 songs on them (oh my god it’s 6-6-6) to appeal to the black clothed metal masses? It’s not really either. The days of Dream Theater releasing material like they did on Images & Words or Awake are as long gone as the years 1992 and 1994 are. That band is gone…they have grown, changed, and this is the band the way they are today. Taking the cover songs out of the equation (as one should), I look back at the albums the band has released following their creative rejuvenation (which I date to 1999 and the release of Scenes From a Memory) and tally the number of songs I still feel are fresh and playlist worthy today:

6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence: 2 (The Glass Prison, The Great Debate)
Train of Thought: 2 and sometimes 3 (Vacant, Stream of Consciousness, sometimes In the Name of God)
Octavarium: 2 (The Root of All Evil, Octavarium)
Systematic Chaos: 3 (In the Presence of Enemies…yes, despite the cribbed lyrics, Forsaken, Repentance)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings: too early to tell after 1 week, but “The Count of Tuscany” will likely be one despite the wonky lyrics…

In the end, it’s a Dream Theater record. I know this is a cop out. But let’s face it…you’re either going to like it, or you’re not, and there’s not a blessed thing I will be able to do to sway your mind one way or the other. “All the finest wines improve with age,” but only time will tell if this album is a fine wine or destined to be little more than vinegar…


Studio album tracklist:
"A Nightmare to Remember" 16:10
"A Rite of Passage" 8:35
"Wither" 5:25
"The Shattered Fortress
X. "Restraint"
XI. "Receive"
XII. "Responsible" 12:49
"The Best of Times" 13:07
"The Count of Tuscany" 19:16

Cover album tracklist:
"Stargazer" 8:10
"Tenement Funster / Flick of the Wrist / Lily of the Valley" 8:17
"Odyssey" 7:59
"Take Your Fingers From My Hair" 8:18
"Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two" 6:30
"To Tame a Land" 7:15

Instrumental Mixes tracklist:
"A Nightmare to Remember" 15:39
"A Rite of Passage" 8:36
"Wither" 5:28
"The Shattered Fortress" 12:47
"The Best of Times" 13:20
"The Count of Tuscany" 18:47


James LaBrie - vocals
Mike Portnoy - drums, vocals
John Petrucci - guitars
John Myung - bass guitar
Jordan Rudess - keyboards