By day, I'm a father of seven and husband of one. By night, I'm an author, a biographer, and a prog rocker. Interests: Rush, progressive rock, cultural criticisms, the Rocky Mountains, individual liberty, history, hiking, and science fiction.
IZZ just released Real Life is Meeting by John Galgano, check it out here.
“Doone Records is pleased to release, for the first time digitally, John Galgano’s solo album, Real Life is Meeting.
John Galgano is a founding member of art-rock group, IZZ, and has been one of the band’s primary songwriters and bass player since the band’s inception. Originally released in 2012, Real Life is Meeting presents nine tracks varying in styles and instrumentation, from the catchy, art-pop flavor of “Bigger on the Inside,” to the experimental, synth-based “The Only Thing,” to the bass-driven “Look Around” to the 19-minute piece “1000,” all the while taking the listener in unexpected directions.
Real Life is Meeting showcases Galgano’s humor, his introspective and confessional lyrics, and his surprising song structures. The result is a fluid and naked collection of philosophical musings set to music – meditations on what it means to be human in the 21st century.
Featuring IZZ mates Laura Meade, Brian Coralian, Greg DiMiceli & Paul Bremner. Produced & mixed by Shawn Bishop.”
Norwegian progressive rock group AVKRVST reveal details for debut album ‘The Approbation’.
New video for the first single “The Pale Moon” out now.Photo by Kristian RangnesNorwegian progressive rock group AVKRVST are pleased to reveal details on their debut album titled ‘The Approbation’, set to be released on June 16th, 2023. The album cover and tracklisting can be seen below. The band are also pleased to share the new video for the album’s first single “The Pale Moon” which you can see here: https://youtu.be/4PK7iiMYEwE
“The Pale Moon” is also available on all digital platforms here: https://avkrvst.lnk.to/ThePaleMoon-SingleThe band had this to say about the video: “The video for «The Pale Moon» is portraying a lonesome soul and his daily chores on a cabin far away from civilization – on his journey towards the end of life. All faith and hope is gone and the character is starting to lose his mind. Is he alone? Is there someone else present? Or is it just his mind playing games?
The video was directed by AVKRVST and co-directed, shot and edited by Simen Skari.The cover artwork for ‘The Approbation’ was created by Berlin-based artist and illustrator Eliran Kantor, who is well-known for his intriguing cover creations for metal bands.
Tracklisting: 1.Østerdalen 0:26 2.The Pale Moon 6:15 3.Isolation 5:41 4.The Great White River 6:30 5.Arcane Clouds 6:05 6.Anodyne 10:15 7.The Approbation 13:37Earlier this year the band shared a teaser video of them working in the studio which you can see here: https://youtu.be/8XtqA1aOqE8
At the young age of 7 years old, Martin Utby and Simon Bergseth made a pact that they would form a band when they got older. Now, 22 years later they’ve done just that. An album is ready – 55 minutes of music inspired by everything they grew up listening to – everything from Mew, Anekdoten and Porcupine Tree to Opeth, Neal Morse and King Crimson.
All the music has been written at a small cabin, deep into the Norwegian forests (Alvdal, Nor- way). Simon (composer, guitars, bass and vocals) and Martin (composer, drummer and synths) have later been joined by Øystein Aadland on bass/keys, Edvard Seim on guitars and Auver Gaaren on keys.
New US progressive rock group, Ascher, release their debut album ‘Beginnings’ today, March 16th. The album, containing five instrumental pieces and four songs, clocks in at fifty-seven minutes. From the opening instrumental title track to the bonus track closer, “The Instrumental Divide,” the album flows seamlessly through a sonic landscape of guitar-driven rock, vintage keyboard wizardry, and a lofty hook-laden ballad. The instrumental pieces power through enough time signature and meter changes to keep the die-hard prog fan happy while the thought provoking songs reveal a more grounded down to earth feel.
The band features Doug Bowers (Guitars/Keys/Bass/Vocals), Blake Dickeson (Rhythm Guitars), Rob Perez (Lead Guitar), and Kyle Graves (Lead Vocals).
Beginnings will be available via the band’s Bandcamp page as well as all digital music retailers and streaming sites. Lyrics are also available on Ascher’s Bandcamp page. https://ascher1.bandcamp.com/album/beginnings
To coincide with the release of the album, Ascher has released video for the track, “What the World Can’t Give,” which you can see here: https://youtu.be/_jEn-qJqKGs
The band released their first single, “The Great Divide,” in February accompanied by a video. https://youtu.be/sSYSEfy_u4c
Tracklisting:1. Beginnings (6:03) 2. In the Clear Distance (5:07)3. The Great Divide (7:44) 4. Ransom For the Righteous (6:19) 5. De Profundis (7:58) 6. Nail Soup (5:27) 7. What the World Can’t Give (6:03) 8. Wheels Turning Now (4:12) https://ascher1.bandcamp.com/album/beginningsDoug Bowers (Ad Astra, KDB3, Vertical Alignment) and Rob Perez (Visual Cliff, Bluesyndrome) have been collaborating on one another’s projects for years. A short-lived band formed in 2021 and disbanded in early 2022 yielded many co-written instrumental pieces that never saw the light of day. Toward the end of 2022, Doug began collaborating with guitarist, Blake Dickeson, fleshing out some musical ideas that Blake had developed over the years, Rob was brought in to add tasty lead guitar to the effort. When Rob suggested that the trio revisit some of the unfinished instrumental pieces, it was decided that a band might be the best expression of their growing repertoire. Thus Ascher was born. It quickly became apparent that Doug was not up to singing the melodies he was writing for his lyrics and the search for a proper singer was soon underway. Rob suggested a singer that he had recently encountered. Kyle Graves was writing lyrics for an upcoming album for Rob and Rob felt he would be a perfect fit for Ascher. Rob was right and the band was complete.
Steve Howe has no idea where the term progressive rock came from, but he makes one thing clear: It certainly didn’t start with him. “I never called us ‘progressive rock’ or ‘prog-rock,’” he says. “As I recall, when I first joined Yes, we all used to call our music different things.
“There was ‘orchestral rock’ and ‘cinemagraphic rock.’ We never argued about it, but there were a lot of names and terms being tossed about.” So what term did he use to describe Yes’s music?
Howe laughs. “I often called it ‘soft rock,’” he says. “I thought what I wrote was a sort of soft rock, but the phrase didn’t catch on, at least not with what we were doing. But progressive rock? Where that got started, I don’t know. I think it might have come after the fact.”
— Read on www.guitarplayer.com/players/fragile-at-50-steve-howe-tells-the-story-behind-yess-landmark-album
I loved Tad’s list of great albums of the year. I’m in agreement with most of them, and I’m proud to be Tad’s friend and ally in this crazy world. He’s a man of great insight.
I will admit, I didn’t give as much time to music in 2022 as I normally do. I was, for better or worse, spending almost all my free time on my own book manuscript, Tolkien and the Inklings: Men of the West (yes, this is a shameless plug! Please look for it sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2023). Whether such a use of my time was worth it or not, time will tell. In that book, though, I thank not only Tad, Kevin McCormick, Carl Olson, and Erik Heter of Spirit of Cecilia fame, but I also thank Greg Spawton of Big Big Train, Steve Babb of Glass Hammer, John Galgano and Laura Meade of IZZ, and Andy Tillison of The Tangent (and a few others) for inspiration. I couldn’t have written what I wrote during 2022 without such inspiration.
I would also note, importantly, that the website Progarchy reached its 10th anniversary. Carl, Kevin, Erik, and a few others helped form it in 2012. I’m very glad it’s thriving, especially under the loving care of Chris, Bryan, and Rick. I’m no longer a part of Progarchy, but I wish them the best.
When it comes to 2022, let me start with a few non-music releases. I absolutely loved Kevin J. Anderson’s (and Neil Peart’s) Clockwork Destiny. Because of my friendship with Kevin, I was blessed and read the book in manuscript form. I loved every moment of it, and I thought it was the perfect conclusion to the Clockwork trilogy. Kevin is an amazing writer, and his imagination really knows no bounds.
I also read, with great enjoyment, Steven Wilson’s Limited Edition of One. I still don’t quite get why he’s not totally satisfied with his community of fans, but the man’s “interestingness”, like Kevin’s imagination, knows no bounds. Wilson could write an album about the Hillsdale phone book, and I’d be interested. Remember phone books? Of course not. Regardless, Wilson’s Limited Edition of One (deluxe edition) was one of the greatest releases of the year. I even gave it away as a gift to two of my closest friends.
I also read Rocket 88’s biography of Mark Hollis, A Perfect Silence. It was detailed and interesting, but not great. Hollis’s lyrics evoke imagination, but Ben Wardle’s book really just gave the nuts and bolts of the man’s life. What about his mind? His soul? His heart? He came from the lower class, but what did that mean about his faith and his view of the world? All of this was missing from this good but flawed work. It feels more like a reference work than a biography—with all due respect to Wardle, who clearly did his research. I just wish he’d stretched his biographical imagination.
Though I didn’t spend as much time on music, as I normally do, I did, however, think the world of the following, released this past year:
Tim Bowness, Butterfly Mind. Holy Moses, folks. What more do anyone want? Plaintive lyrics and progressive pop! Incredible material from a true master. Thank you, Tim. What beauty, you’ve provided.
Cosmograf, Heroic Materials. Admittedly, one of my all-time favorite artists is Robin Armstrong. The man is one of the greatest audiophiles (next to Steven Wilson) of our era, and everything he produces matters. This is an excellent release, a fine contribution to the Cosmograf discography.
Oak, The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise. Ok, exactly does one say? This is gorgeous music, whatever its genre (and, to be sure, I’m not sure what genre this is). I loved the band’s second album, and this one seems like an extension of that one. Glorious lyrics, glorious music.
Galahad, The Last Adventurer. Stu Nicholson is a master of lyric writing. Love this man, and his music. Nothing he writes is unimportant, and in collaboration with Galahad, freaking brilliant.
The Cure, Wish (30th anniversary edition). Supposedly, The Cure is about to release an album or two. What does it have to lose? Everything Robert Smith does is genius, and I’m sure that whatever new the band releases will be genius as well. Wish, though schizophrenic, is genius as well. So much prog, and so much pop—all mixed together in one brilliant release.
IZZ, I Move (anniversary edition). Along with Glass Hammer, IZZ is a favorite American prog band. Here, we have a re-release of a masterpiece—again, masterful in music as well as lyrics. Galgano and Meade sing their hearts out. IZZ also released a number of singles this year–all of which grabbed my heart and soul. Because they came as singles and not as a single album, though, they gone generally unremarked upon in the prog community. Please go to Bandcamp and give these beauties a listen.
Tears for Fears, Tipping Point. I’ve never hidden my love of Tears for Fears, probably my favorite pop band. I’ve been a rather diehard fan since first hearing them in 1985. This album is really good, but it’s not great. Had the band employed some proggy elements–especially in terms of song segues, such as they did on Songs from the Big Chair–this might very well have become their best album ever. As it is, Tipping Point feels like another collection of really good songs, but it doesn’t feel like a proper album.
Ultravox, Rage in Eden (40th edition). I didn’t come to this album until it was five years old. Yes, I heard it for the first time, sometime in the fall of 1986. My great friend (and fellow Spirit of Cecilia writer), Kevin McCormick introduced it to me. Wilson’s remix must be of the English version rather than the American version, for there’s at least one song missing. Still, Wilson’s remix is wonderful, and I’m very glad to own this anniversary edition.
Glass Hammer, At the Gate. What can I write about GH that I’ve not written before? Everything this band does is important. And, yet, each release—rather than fading away—becomes better and better. I love to see such evolution in a band. If critics identified early Glass Hammer, later ones might confuse the band with Rush. Yet, what can be said definitively is 1) Glass Hammer honors those it loves; and 2) by doing so, always creates its own unique thing. This is a superb ending to a recent trilogy. See, also, Steve Babb’s first novel, the irrepressible Skallagrim – In the Vales Of Pagarna.
Ayreon, Universal Migrator, Parts 1 and 2. I bought the deluxe (something, I’ve been doing more and more, as I get older) edition, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s nothing substantially new from the original release, but it’s great to hear what modern technology can do with the spacing of instruments and the flow of the music itself.
Gazpacho, Fireworking at St. Croix. I fell in love with this album on my first listen, and then I went a bit crazy. I bought the blu-ray, fell in love with it, and then I bought the deluxe earbook. It certainly vies as one of my two favorite releases of 2022.
Porcupine Tree, Closure/Continuation. I’m guessing that if I could calculate all the albums I listened to in 2022, this would rank as number one (or, two, given how many times I also listened to Gazpacho (just mentioned). I think it’s a great album, but I would rank it in the middle of Porcupine Tree releases. It’s neat, and it’s wonderful that PT reformed. But, this album, as good as it is, doesn’t come close to the wonders of Fear of a Blank Planet or Sky Moves Sideways.
I also want to note, that I’ve very much enjoyed all of Roine Stolt’s remixing and systematic reissuing of albums of The Flower Kings throughout 2022. The latest—which just arrived and which has made me very happy) is the remix of Unfold the Future. I hope that Stolt has a chance to reissue the whole catalogue.
I would also like to note, I’ve really not had time to check out Dave Kerzner’s The Traveler, Shearwater’s The Great Awakening, or The Tangent’s Songs from the Hard Shoulder. I very much look forward to doing so.
Finally, I must also note that in 2022, I had a front-row seat to the making of Promises of Hope by the Bardic Depths. I never cease to be amazed by the creativity and imagination of Dave Bandana. So wonderful to see that man make brilliant things.
Here’s to a great and glorious and proggy 2023!
P.S. I want to thank, especially, Burning Shed and Bandwagon USA for feeding my prog habit!
HAKEN announce release of seventh studio album ‘Fauna’; new single ‘The Alphabet of Me’Following weeks of teasing, progressive rockers HAKEN are pleased to announce their seventh studio album ‘Fauna’, their most genre-busting and conceptually fascinating album to date. The album will be released on March 3rd, 2023, and following the release of ‘Nightingale’ earlier this year, they are pleased to present “The Alphabet of Me”, the second track taken from the record.
Watch the video for ‘The Alphabet of Me’, directed by Crystal Spotlight, here: https://youtu.be/LQJ-e75ZSj8Vocalist Ross Jennings comments: “When composing and presenting initial song sketches, we very much had an “anything goes” mentality, and whilst sounding atypically Haken, it was a piece that was all exciting us to explore and integrate into our song canon.
Where the lyrics are concerned, I leant heavily on one of my favourite writers Philip K Dick, for inspiration. Keeping our loose concept of spirit animals in mind, I re-read ‘Do androids dream of electric sheep?’ (Which would later be adapted into the 1982 film ’Blade Runner’) knowing symbolically that animals played a key role in the story. This, along with revisiting both movies from the Blade Runner franchise, opened up some deeper philosophical topics about the nature of identity which have served as a backbone for the lyrical content”
‘Fauna’ sees the band exploring new ideas conceptually as Ross continues. “The premise of the album when we started writing it was that every song would have an animal assigned to it. They all have something related to the animal kingdom that we could write about, but they also connect to the human world. Each track has layers, and some of them are more obvious than others.”
“It reminds me of ‘The Mountain’,” adds guitarist and fellow founder Richard Henshall. “There, we had the idea of not really a narrative-based album, but more the concept of climbing a mountain and overcoming the obstacles along the way. Then we took that and thought about how it could relate to our everyday lives. All of Fauna’s animals relate to us, personally.”
‘Fauna’ also marks the return of keyboard player Peter Jones, whose sounds can be heard permeating the entire album. “What Pete’s brought sonically to the band has played a massive role in why we do have a lot of new sounds on this record,” says Ross. “It’s always a new dynamic when there’s a change in personnel, and this is a fresh and reviving one. It’s certainly helped proximity-wise, with Pete being in the country: Pete and Ray [Hearne, Haken’s drummer] would be at Rich’s place and they’d just start jamming. That’s really key to how the songs start.”
Hello! I posted this on my Facebook and I realized it doesn’t always reach everyone. I wanted to make sure everyone knew about this sale I’m doing this weekend. It was for Black Friday but I extended it through Cyber Monday so that no one misses it! This is Squids Saturday (a lesser known holiday) so here’s the info for you. It’s really simple. HALF PRICE ON EVERYTHING! Best deal I’ve ever done on Bandcamp. Enter this code on check out on my Bandcamp page: bf2022
You save 50% off ANYTHING from CDs to downloads to Blu-Rays to box sets to T-shirts to posters to coasters (ok I don’t have coasters… but I should! Traveler coasters would look nice along with a Traveler mug!). Cheap shipping world-wide (often less than the actual cost we pay). Click HERE to have a look at what’s on my Sonic Elements Bandcamp Page!
I know some of you live in different parts of the world and this half off deal might be a good time to buy anything you were thinking about from my solo albums to In Continuum to SOC, Mantra Vega, tribute albums and more!
Special downloadable album only available this weekend!
Speaking of SOC, also just for this weekend only I’ve made disc 10 of the Corners of the Mind 10-disc box set a downloadable album. It’s listed at $20 but with the “bf2022” discount coupon applied it’s only $10! It has brand new previously unreleased recordings of songs I wrote with Sound of Contact like “Closer To You”, “Not Coming Down” and “Realm Of In-Organic Beings” plus songs from Dimensionaut I’ve done live and in the studio on various albums. In addition to those, I included some bonus tracks of alternate versions of songs from The Traveler that were originally worked on around the time of Dimensionaut!
Have a great safe weekend of music and fun! Thanks as always for your support for not only my music but the many progrock music makers, bands and artists that you love so we can keep this ship sailing! – Squids
We know that it’s not been long since the last news update, thus we could be likened to buses (Galabus anyone!?) i.e. nothing for a long while and then a couple in quick succession!
Firstly, we would just like to thank everyone who has supported and shown so much faith in us by purchasing, downloading or streaming our new album. It means so much as it helps to keep us motivated to keep writing, recording and hopefully performing again at some point, once Spencer, our wonderful drummer, has fully recovered from the return of his brain cancer, for which he has had to endure two long rounds of chemo therapy in the last couple of years. Hence why the lack of live activity as a full band on our part.
On a very positive note though, our new album ‘The Last Great Adventurer’ does which seem to be going down very well in ‘prog’ circles and beyond and has garnered some very positive reviews and responses for which we are very thankful.
Obviously, we’d like to keep up the momentum for as long as we can by trying to increase and maintain a higher profile which isn’t that easy for a smaller band like us with limited financial and marketing resources and no back up from a large record company as such. In fact, after 37 years on the ‘scene’ as it were there a still many prog/music fans who don’t appear to have heard of us at all!!
However, although as a rule we are not really bothered about band polls as such….BUT…because of the timing and the fact that we do have a new album out there we would be incredibly grateful if you were to support us just a little bit more by voting in this year’s annual PROG Magazine readers poll, which means even more as it is voted for by actual fans. This would no doubt help to increase awareness of the band as PROG Magazine is easily the highest profile publication covering our type of music in the UK and maybe even Europe.
It would be good to give some of the ‘big guns’ of prog a run for their money for a change.
Obviously, it’s up to everyone to decide whether to vote or not and who to vote for if they do but it would be appreciated very, very, very much by the band if you were to vote for us.
Choices/votes can be sent by email using the subject header ‘Readers’ Poll 2022′ to: prog@futurenet.com. Last day for voting is 28 November.
Thank you so much in advance to those who will support us in this way and please spread the word if you can and feel so inclined.
Karl Groom will shortly commence mixing our next studio album which is provisionally titled ‘The Long Goodbye’. This was recorded during the same sessions as ’The Last Great Adventurer’ and should be released later in 2023.
‘THE LAST GREAT ADVENTURER’ LPs
Work is on-going to finalise the LP versions of the new album. We understand from Oskar/Music Mart in Poland that there will be three vinyl versions of this album available, one standard black version plus two limited edition colour versions.
More details will follow on the above as soon as we know, so please keep your eyes peeled on our official band website as well our Facebook page.
I thank that is all for now…..apart from mentioning that we’ve included an MP3 above of a little something that Dean and Stu have put together. J
Robert Nisbet (1913–1996) was an American sociologist, conservative thinker, and the author of dozens of books over the course of his long career, including …
— Read on www.youtube.com/watch
Photo by Kristian RangnesNorwegian progressive rock group AVKRVST are pleased to reveal details on their debut album titled ‘The Approbation’, set to be released on June 16th, 2023. The album cover and tracklisting can be seen below.
The cover artwork for ‘The Approbation’ was created by Berlin-based artist and illustrator Eliran Kantor, who is well-known for his intriguing cover creations for metal bands.
HAKEN announce release of seventh studio album ‘Fauna’; new single ‘The Alphabet of Me’
Following weeks of teasing, progressive rockers HAKEN are pleased to announce their seventh studio album ‘Fauna’, their most genre-busting and conceptually fascinating album to date. The album will be released on March 3rd, 2023, and following the release of ‘Nightingale’ earlier this year, they are pleased to present “The Alphabet of Me”, the second track taken from the record.
The tracklisting is as follows:1. Taurus 04:49
Spirit of Cecilia 
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