I love it when I can connect with an album. When I was cycling through "Stalagmite Steeple" by UK band Returned to the Earth for review purposes I felt a bond being established. It was probably the third time through when I had to leave the house... and I didn't want to turn the music off!

Right up front I will mentioned that "Stalagmite Steeple" is very much akin with Steven Wilson's softer side, (like Hand. Cannot. Erase.). I would consider it art rock for sure, definitely progressive-adjacent. There is a high-standard of tastefulness in production, atmosphere and composition. It's an intriguing listen. Singer composer Robin Peachey's voice also reminds me of Wilson's (Peachey also performs on guitar, piano and synths).

If this album were a book, it would be a page-turner. Each track feels intimately connected and companioned- it is a spiritually cohesive whole. One concept tying it together lyrically is Robin Peachey's musings on empathy, escape, compassion and perhaps tragedy.

The album is largely slow without being plodding or diluted. Nor is it slow in the romantic or love-ballad sense. Melancholic? Maybe, but for me it's not depressing. Its only shortfall is that it deserved an exorbitant studio budget like in the days of yore when labels would spend a million dollars to record an album. On this project it would have not been wasted. So in that sense the canvas is slightly modest or sparse in parts, but since the material is so powerful it stands on its own quite confidently- a testament to all of the strong-boned melodies and composition.

The album is airy and spacious, carefully laid out and allowed to breathe, pulse, unfold deliberately and unhurriedly. That's such a different vibe than is so popular in the world right now; a world of maniacal TikToks, YouTube Shorts, busily shuffling Spotify playlists et al. Perhaps Stalagmite Steeple is a musical remedy or salve of sorts for this modern age- a balm for souls being run ragged- being pushed and pulled from all directions at once.

It's also beautiful. In fact the friend who recommended I check this album out used the word 'gorgeous', and he's right. The paradox here is that the album is also emotionally deep-cutting, drawing its listener into musical depths of profound contemplation.

There are no 'skip-pers' on this obviously carefully and lovingly crafted album. It's a consistently enjoyable listen throughout and there's even a nurturing quality or vibe I get from it. It has a timelessness to it as well.

I'm a new Returned to the Earth fan now, so I can't compare this to any of their previous 4 albums- I've not heard any of them! However I am so curious to explore them.

Fave track: Dark Morality.

The Prog dog score is 4 1/2 out of five dog bones. It's a gem.

Review Nº 782

"The Miracle" is the thirteenth studio album of Queen and that was released in 1989. It was recorded when the band was recovering from Brian May's marital problems and Freddie Mercury's AIDS diagnosis. The album was originally to be called "The Invisible Man", but three weeks before its release, they decided to change the name to "The Miracle". The striking cover art utilized the Quantel Painbox, a computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics, which state of the art image manipulation technology, to combine photographs of the familiar faces of the four band members into one morphed image. The back cover of the album went a step further with a seamless of the bands' eyes. This album was considered their most energetic and interesting release of the 80's since "The Game".

"The Miracle" has ten tracks. The first track "Party" written by Freddie Mercury, Brian May and John Deacon is a song built around disharmonic vocals and drum beat from the drumming machine. I really think that we are in presence of a very weak song, without any kind of creativity and imagination. In my humble opinion, this is one of the worst openings for a Queen's album, only superseded by "Staying Power", the song that opens their album "Hot Space". The second track "Khashoggi's Ship" written by Queen is another rock song like the previous one. Unfortunately, it has more in common with that song that it should have. So, despite be a little bit better than "Party" is, it's a very repetitive song also without any kind of creativity and imagination. The third track is the title track "The Miracle", which was written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. It was the fifth and the last song to be chosen as a single from this Queen's album. It was released six months after the album. This is a very good and interesting song that represents, for me, one of the highlights on the album. It's a very creative song with some very complex musical arrangements. If such thing existed, we could call to it a true great progressive pop song. The fourth track "I Want It All" written by Brian May was the song chosen to be the lead single of the album. This is a great rock song, with full of mood changes and some nice guitar solos. It's a kind of a classic Queen's hard rock song that satisfies almost all rock fans and represents the second highlight on the album, really. The fifth track "The Invisible Man" written by Roger Taylor was the song released as the third single of the album. This is clearly a pop song with a synthesizer bass driven. It's a very fast song and very repetitive too, so typical for that pop era. Sincerely, I don't like particularly of this song and, as happened with "Party" and "Khashoggi's Ship", it represents, for me, another weak point on the album. The sixth track "Breakthru" written by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor was the song chosen to be released as the second single of the album. This is a good rock song with a nice gospel vocal overture, which rocks very fast, indeed. Despite I prefer other songs on the album, this one represents one of the best musical moments on the all album. The seventh track "Rain Must Fall" written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon represents, without any doubt, one of the weakest musical moments on the album, despite it has some great guitar work. Sincerely, I don't like of this song. It has the power to annoy me a little bit and it makes me a bit nervous, really. The eighth track "Scandal" written by Brian May was the song released as the fourth single from the album. The song is about the attention that Brian May and Freddie Mercury received of the press, involving Brian May's divorce and Freddie Mercury's health problems. It's a great and brilliant dark song with some great musical moments. This is, for me, another highlight on the album. The ninth track "My Baby Does Me" written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon is almost the same of "Rain Must Fall" and represents, therefore, another weak musical moment on the album. Both songs represent, without any doubt, the worst tracks on the album. But, "Don't Try Suicide" from "The Game" is much worse. The tenth and last track "What Is All Worth It" written by Freddie Mercury is, fortunately an excellent track. But, unfortunately, this is the best and only truly progressive song on the album. It's a song with great musical moments that reminds the good old Queen, which closes the album perfectly and beautifully.

Conclusion: I can't agree with many of my colleagues here that consider "The Miracle" the best Queen's album of the 80's. By one hand, I'm absolutely convinced that Queen hasn't released any great studio album in the 80's. By the other hand I'm also absolutely convinced that "The Works" is their best musical studio work from that musical era. In my humble opinion, "The Miracle" is a non balanced album that oscillates between some very good songs and some very weak songs. "The Miracle", "I Want It All", "Breakthru", "Scandal" and especially "Was It All Worth It" are the only real good songs on the album. The other songs are average or even bad songs, really. Besides, on the subject of merely of progressive rock music, I can't see anything really progressive on it. In my humble opinion, after the 70's, the only great studio album from Queen is "Innuendo". However, "Made In Heaven" deserves also to be mentioned as an album with some great musical moments. So, this is another poor Queen's album that doesn't deserve more than 3 stars, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Proximity and Chance

The emergence of this new project from John made me both excited but nervous, much like the previous one. The reason is simple after being so thrilled by his previous work and his evolution as a musician I was concerned whether he could maintain the momentum and offer something new and interesting, which genuinely added to his canon. I need not have worried.

Rather than a track-by-track and musician call-out, I am going to offer a more organic less Germanic review, more about the themes that I hear in the music.

The music comes over as more dynamic and cuts through more than in the past and yet the arrangements with melody, counter melody and harmonics has more depth and weight. The bass playing, from the man himself, on the sub-Traffic opener, tracks and shadows Peter Jones, but equally offers some neat surprises and to my ears is more Roger Glover than the Late Chris Squire in terms of sound. Something else I noticed on this piece is Peter's voice is related to Steve Winwood's. I would not be at all surprised if he is a midland maniac.

The other standout feature which really shows John's developing skills is the quality of the orchestrations. I am old enough to remember The Nice, Deep Purple and Yes all using orchestras, for the most part, the judicious use of a Mellotron, which triggers string sounds, was much more dynamic and simpatico, the foundation stone of several bands' musical personality. In retrospect, the aforementioned projects sound naive, less a fusion and more a collision.

Here John does not add the strings, they are an integral part of the music, helping create the unique and singular atmosphere of pieces like "Burnt Cork" and "Agents" and because of the stories he is telling the orchestrations are often dark and spartan, Stravinsky like.

There are more gentle pieces, the instrumental "A Sense of Place." where Vikram Shanker duets with John Hackett. Vikram's ability to offer support to the tunes is well known from John's previous work, but again because of the more developed arrangements his accompaniment adds even more.

As well as Peter Jones and Sally Minnear, whose smiling alto delivery delights on Fini, a new edition is the Australian Tenor Shaun Holton. His sardonic delivery of the narrative on "Agents" is perfect but it took me a while to get used to him telling the story of Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King." Those Haggard, Kipling stories, set in a remote and unknown part of the world in the 19th Century, are propelled by a particular English heroism and some might argue delusions of grandeur. In the end, after listening to Shaun's performance several times, it does come off as heroic in the right way. The operatic delivery suits the hubristic story he is singing about.

There is a good deal to stimulate and repeatedly return to, but two pieces stand out for me. The fabulous evocation of Victorian Melodrama of Burnt Cork and the ridiculously joyous Chance (Under the Sun). They take you on a journey draw you in and get inside your psyche.

Burnt Cork begins evoking the atmosphere of the theatre where our protagonist is performing and then moves forward with a beautiful rhapsodic run from Vikram, wonderful, layered romantic strings, and then Mr Jones comes in with an intuitive, sensuous vocal. Throughout the orchestra is integral, sometimes, sweeping, full of pathos, and other times, dramatic jabs. This music is mature, considered and Peter narrates the antagonist's pain and suffering and developing hatred with a real sense of connection. This has that Progressive Rock Musical feel of KV62. It's in the middle of the piece the orchestrations go supernova, supporting Peter's vocal. The atmosphere is full of menace, the orchestrations communicate that with darting, determined, muscular pulsing. These are the sections that put me in mind of Stravinsky. The drama over, Peter takes us out through the angst and madness of the murderer. Such good storytelling and such simpatico arrangements.

Chance is probably John's first standard; I would expect people to cover this. It is a very strong piece. "A future yet to know the past behind us." My goodness we need that. Echoing rotating guitar, the glorious tune, the gorgeous chorus, a Ringo drum pattern and then Luke Machin's solo doing all the things a guitar can do to support and elevate a piece upwards. I am humming this constantly.

More vivid production, dynamic sophisticated arrangements and great vocal performances enhance a programme of music which includes a couple of pieces, which are his best work yet.

I had nothing to worry about. It's a privilege and a joy to say nice things about music from such a down to earth but very clever man.

After the versatile 'Houses of the Holy' and with overflowing popularity translated into extensive tours and packed stages around the world, Led Zeppelin, exhausted, took a break and only two years later released 'Physical Graffiti' (1975), their sixth album and the most extensive of their discography, mixing songs developed for the occasion with pieces discarded in previous years.

And it is in this context that the Englishmen sustain their unmistakable hard rock imprint with the undeniable blues influences in songs like the erotic 'Custer Pie' and its incisive guitar riffs, or the extensive 'In my Time of Dying' with Page using a 'bottleneck' to achieve that dense and slippery sound seconded by John Bonham's boxed percussion and Robert Plant's very successful singing, but above all with the hypnotizing and mysterious 'Kashmir' and its orientalized orchestrated melody, one of the best of the album.

The band also reaffirms their folksy leanings with Page's beautiful acoustic arpeggios on the instrumental 'Bron-Yr-Aur' (original from 1970) or the fractured 'Black Country Woman' (dropped from Houses of the Holy) with Plant and excellent harmonica playing, and they retain that laudable exploratory spirit with the progressive chords of John Paul Jones' hypnotic synthesizer and Page's bowing effect on the intriguing 'In the Light', the funky chords of 'Trampled Under Foot', Jones' electric piano on the melodic 'Down by the Seaside' and the refreshing 'Boogie with Stu' with the bluesy piano of esteemed sessionist Ian Stewart (both tracks recovered from 1971), before closing with the glam airs of 'Sick Again', a mention of Led Zeppelin's innumerable groupies.

Despite the enormous wear and tear caused by the self-demanding nature of the band on their way to the top, which left some after-effects in terms of the intensity of the proposal, 'Physical Graffiti' is a very good work and surely the last great album by Page and company.

3.5/4 stars

I did not expect that an album full of covers would work so well for me. There is one original though and it's the closer and one of my favourites on here. And while I want to say this is my number one Brian Auger album, I need to here the followup to this "Oblivion Express" which sounds more like what I'm into, but for now this is the Auger album I prefer.

And what a lineup with Gary Boyle on guitar and he would have his own band ISOTOPE plus he played live with SOFT MACHINE. Clive Thacker on drums and he would replace John Marshall in NUCLEUS. David Ambrose on bass from THE JEFF BECK GROUP. So we have some players with Auger playing the organ here and being the most prominent sound. And he sounds amazing. It's just such a warm and melodic tone much of the time bringing Marc Moulin from PALCEBO/ COS to mind.

This doesn't all work in my opinion like the TRAFFIC cover "No Time To Live" but I love that he went old school Jazz covering an Eddie Harris tune "Listen Here" and Boyle keeps busy on this one. Also "Maiden Voyage" by Herbie Hancock and it's a rare mid 60's Jazz album that I can handle and this is a shortened version of the title track from that one and it's great! There's a couple of Classical numbers they cover plus SLY's "I Want To Take You Higher" to open the album with vocals and energy.

It's the original track though "Just You Just Me" that makes me sad only because this is such an incredible song and more original numbers would have been appreciated. The organ sounds beautiful on here when the song goes instrumental, and the guitar deserves a mention as well. Just such an uplifting piece. The first 2 minutes are vocals, drums and bass leading the way then the vocals step aside for the guitar which is then replaced by Auger's handy work.

I'm glad to own this but it's not the cream of the crop when it comes to my Jazz and related music. A solid 4 stars for this 1970 release.

The general formula of the first three albums of British space rockers HAWKWIND was to deliver a pummeling series of guitar riffing with a bass and drumming intensity to match accompanied by slinking swirlies of synthesizers that offered a psychedelic whirlwind affects over a well established rhythm section. After three studio albums and a phenomenal live offering, HAWKWIND experienced a major shakeup in its lineup with the loss of Robert Calvert who stocked the band with an ample supply of creative poetic prose and lyrical brilliance including his spoken word interpolations. If that wasn't bad enough, long time synthesizer wizard and production pioneer Del Dettmar also jumped ship thus leaving HAWKWIND in a most awkward position - either reinvent itself or perish.

Well up to the challenges of the world of change, HAWKWIND emerged all the better for it with its fourth album HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL which took its inspiration for the title from the 1875 Edvard Grieg score titled "In The Hall Of The Mountain King." The new lineup featured Simon House who was a classically trained violinist and keyboard player and had played with both High Tide and the Third Ear Band. The new lineup meant a new chapter and the band expanded its musical repertoire with gusto. The album showcased a considerable expansion not only compositionally but sonically and creatively with the use of new instrumentation and a focus on more diverse tracks that allowed hitherto suppressed elements that were insinuated but never really fully explored to find a new lease on life and became a major aspect of the the new HAWKWIND sound.

Starting off with the exceptionally strong track "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)" the HAWKWIND stylistic approach became much more song oriented with extremely catchy melodies and a less bombastic backing of the guitar, bass and drums. The music exhibited a more balanced feel between the uptempo rock aspects and a symphonic keyboard backing that also found moments of jazzy saxophone squawking, flute runs and oboe. While the general HAWKWIND rhythm section had stayed pretty much in tact, the sophistication of the composition was allowed to step things up a few notches with lead vocalist Dave Brock offering a more diverse vocal style and lyrically speaking the band did not suffer one iota from the loss of Robert Calvert's departure. Taking things in a totally new direction began with the second track "Wind Of Change" which shifted the focus on an ambient instrumental space rock section before breaking back into the more rock oriented "D-Rider."

The beauty of the album is how it alternates between the heavier rockers and the softer pieces such as the piano-based "Web Weaver" which tames the guitars into the backing piece of unpredictable psychedelia while a piano roll provides the main melody and the band engages in some beautiful vocal harmonies followed by some bluesy guitar soloing and all accompanied by the same synth swirls that the band had become synonymous with. While the band engaged in a total remake of its sound, tracks like the heavy hitter "You'd Better Believe It" kept the past firmly placed in the present with an emphasis on the Lemmy fueled guitar riffs and bass and drum action however this time around it also featured Simon House's exquisite violin playing emphasized rather than the spacey synths of previous releases. The title track tames it all down again with a short orchestrated classical piano piece before unleashing the boogie rock guitar riff heavy "Lost Johnny" courtesy of Lemmy who would later cover in Motorhead.

The album perfectly ends with the strange short ambient meets flute track "Goat Willow" followed by the extremely addictive rocker "Paradox" with its perfect chord progressions, bass groove and contrapuntal synthesizer parts. The vocals are also of classic HAWKWIND mode and provides the most satisfying conclusion to what many consider one of HAWKWIND's highlights of its career. HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL has always been a love at first listen sorta album but after time it really sinks and showcases how the band stepped everything up in the absolutely perfect way by keeping the album well balanced, by offering totally new aspects to the band's sound without jettisoning everything that came before. In the time of great change HAWKWIND displayed on their fourth album a phenomenal step up in maturity in terms of songwriting, compositional arrangement and instrumental interplay. This is perhaps my favorite of all their albums but the entire early 70s stock is so beautiful it's hard to pick on any given day. Any way you slice it this is a HAWKWIND masterpiece.

IRON BUTTERFLY is synomous with being one of the most famous one-hit wonders in the entire history of rock music. IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA, the band's second album and surprise hit single is perhaps a testament to how an endless series of mishaps, happenstance and unplanned moments conspired into capturing the zeitgeist of an entire generation and somehow against all odds ended up becoming one of the biggest selling albums in all of music history. The San Diego based IRON BUTTERFLY was just another acid rock band that permeated the late 1960s led by organ player and vocalist Doug Ingle who was the primary songwriter and lyricist. The band was fairly typical of the era and delivered a rather average garage band style of psychedelic rock. Like many bands IRON BUTTERFLY was also plagued by lineup changes and after the release of the band's 1968 debut "Heavy," things got even more turbulent. The band was part of the L.A. psychedelic scene along with bands like The Seeds and The Strawberry Alarm Clock but never really stood out in any particular way.

It actually seemed like a sophomore album might never materialize due to the fact guitarist Danny Weis quit the band just before the recording sessions were due to take place. In a state of desperation the band replaced him with Eric Braun who had started to learn how to play the guitar three months prior. The title track was also a pure fluke in its creation. It's peculiarity was the result of nothing more than Doug Ingle going on a drunken binge one evening and uttering unintelligible lyrics to drummer Ron Bushy who misinterpreted what was supposed to be "In The Garden Of Eden" that he could only make out as IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA. If that wasn't strange enough, after writing five songs that would become the A-side of the original vinyl LP release, what would become a huge hit was nothing more than a soundcheck never intended to be recorded but by sheer chance was accidentally caught on tape while the band was waiting for their producer Jim Hilton to arrive at the studio.

While the usual method was for IRON BUTTERFLY to write structured psychedelic pop rock songs, the band just decided to improvise for over 17 minutes with the results being the entire B-side of the original album. The band's ATCO Records for some reason thought that all the mishaps would make a great B-side and took the chance releasing the unedited 17-minute track as a raw performance that included all the unintended mishaps but somehow thought it might resonate with the psychedelic haze that permeated the summer of 1968. The gamble obviously paid off and the album became a massively huge hit outselling every other album for the next year and by 1969 had surprised a million copies in sales. The title track was released as a single but butchered down to a mere 2 minutes and 52 seconds. Since the appeal of the track was the long jamming session that featured trippy organs, impromptu drum solos and a repetitive psychedelic guitar riff with mumbled lyrics, the album was instantly endearing to the post-flower power crowds that wanted a bit more acid fuzz in their rock music.

Likewise the rather pop oriented five tracks on the A-side also appealed to the hippie crowd with short tributes to "Flowers And Beads" and the flower power themed "Are You Happy" which provided the perfect gateway to the unconventional title track that followed. Due to the fact the appeal in the album was the 17-minute title track which was never released as a single in its entirety, the only way to obtain it was to buy the album thus the album for a brief moment became the biggest thing in the USA outperforming bands like The Doors, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and the biggest names in the world of psychedelic rock. The fact that the album has gone down in history as both a critical step towards the later world of heavy metal and progressive rock has only cemented its status as one of those essential albums that one must hear and own despite the fact the album really doesn't exhibit any particular traits of a classic band that stands the test of time. The album basically was a complete surprise hit that absolutely nobody could've planned if they tried and proof that sometimes fate determines things more than any amount of calculated planning. To date IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA has sold more than 30 million albums! Amazing!

Perhaps if i was there in the summer of 1968 and in the midst of the hoopla i would be as enamored with the whole IRON BUTTERFLY thing but honestly i can't say find this album as anything more than an average standard psychedelic pop rock album of the era. It's true that the phenomena of the title track does indeed make this a legendary release and for that reason i do own a personal copy because after all the title track is a part of the overall culture for better or for worse. From a critical point of view the first side of the album is decent with catchy psychedelic hippie songs that are quite listenable if rather unremarkable but there's no denying that the legendary title track was and remains unlike anything that came before or came after and serves as a significant musical milestone as far as experimenting with rock music is concerned. The sloppiness and rather amateurish performance really only highlights the slacker drop out and do your own thing ethos of the era. After all 1968 was a very turbulent year politically across the world so a nonsensical anthem that was nebulous and could be interpreted differently by individuals and still resonated collectively was obviously exactly what the doctor ordered. A true anomaly of history yet will be in the collective consciousness for eons to come. This has to be one of the most unlikely hit albums of all time!

As one of the most popular progressive Polish bands to emerge in the last few decades, the Warsaw based COLLAGE was also one of the very first to jump onto the second wave prog revival with its own brand of neo-prog in the vein of classic Marillion, IQ and Pallas. The band underwent many changes during its initial years before settling on a lineup that would include Tomasz Różyckid as the band's first lead vocalist who appeared on an album. While Różycki would only stick around long enough to record the band's debut release "Baśnie," the band would go on to release the internationally popular "Moonshine" as well as making a surprise comeback in 2022 with the band's first album in over two decades with "Over and Out."

After going trying out vocalist Zbigniew Biniak for a couple years and then allowing original vocalist Jarosław Wajk to rejoin, the band wasn't satisfied with the results and eventually settled on Robert Amirian as the permanent vocalist who fit like a glove and has been an essential member of the band ever since he joined in 1993. After a successful debut that not only propelled COLLAGE into national stardom as one of Poland's most successful and radio friendly modern prog bands that surprisingly translated into international success across not only Europe but overseas, COLLAGE's next move was one of the most head-scratching decisions that a band could make for a release of a sophomore album and one that remains a mystery as to why the band thought it was a good idea in the first place.

Of all the possibilities of delivering a second album and showcasing a new vocalist to the band's fanbase, the band chose to release a cover album titled NINE SONGS OF JOHN LENNON which as the title states pretty much sums up what this album is, namely a collection of nine songs written by John Lennon and reinterpreted into the world of COLLAGE's neo-prog lens. A very bizarre move indeed and although everyone was inspired to embrace a musical career based on the music they love from their youth, to crank out an entire album of covers so early in a fledgling band's career seems like a death wish. Despite this rather peculiar decision COLLAGE managed to move on and release their internationally revered third album "Moonshine" the following year but wow. This one really could've ended it all.

Now bad ideas aside i have to admit that the music contained on this album is not nearly as bad as i possibly could've imagined and while i rarely find myself warming up to albums of only cover songs of popular pop artists of yore, amazingly COLLAGE did a decent job of adapting these classic Lennon songs into the context of their spacey neo-prog sound that they had established over their career. Somehow despite all odds the band breathes their own creative forces into the unthinkable act of tarnishing one of the great rock and roll legend's most celebrated tracks ranging from "Power To The People" to the impossible to top classic "Imagine." While the band remains faithful to the overall melodic lyrical structures, where the band takes liberties in the extended jamming extensions that add keyboard-rich neo-prog glory to otherwise straight forward pop rock songs.

This album also found the band shifting from its lyrics sung in its native Polish to becoming an internationally recognized band that used English for its second chapter. Somehow the band pulled it off to a certain extent with an interesting mix of remaining faithful to the original songs while adding its own progressive rock stamp to the mix. I can't even imagine the number of fans who found the entire thing sacrilegious given John Lennon's rock god status across the entire world but i have to give these guys credit for just doing what they wanted with really no consideration for the ramifications of their decision making. Clearly this was fueled by a giddy idealism rather than actually considering the implications of such a move. Overall this is not really a bad album at all and quite pleasant as far as cover albums go. While a far cry from the band's best efforts it's actually listenable and actually quite creative on tracks like "Give Peace A Chance" which also finds a surprise foray into Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" guitar riff as well as a short vocal snippet from Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll!"

Sure most everyone loves John Lennon, his music, his passion and his phenomenal legacy in The Beatles and as one of the most beloved solo artists of all time. He is sorely missed for his down to Earth political views and dedication to peace on planet Earth with his relentless stance that continued up to his unfortunate assassination in 1980. COLLAGE may have made a strategic faux pas as far as furthering their career with NINE SONGS OF JOHN LENNON but given the careful dedication paid during the renditions carried out on this album it's easy to give it a pass as nothing more than a bad business move. The tracks are actually more creative covers than 90% of similar albums out there and to my surprise the mix of neo-prog and psychedelic space rock in the vein of Pink Floyd coupled with classic John Lennon songs turns out to be not as horrible as my imagine led me to believe. Not essential by any means but this honestly is a what i'd call a very good album. I'm utterly shocked that i like this to the extent i do!

BE BOP DELUXE had a relatively short five year career but they released five studio albums during that time in the 70's. It's been interesting going through their albums chronologically although I'm missing the debut. Bill Nelson the guitarist, vocalist and composer seems to throw everything at us here as we get a bunch of short tracks. Fifteen songs over 42 plus minutes, and "Modern Music" the next to final recording by them is full of variety and it's interesting that Bill the excellent guitarist that he is, seems to keep backing away from the spotlight as I go further into their discography.

And while I'd suggest "Futurama" their second record is my favourite it's also an immature work where we get flashy solos or Bill singing but it works to my ears better than the three albums that follow. It may be more about the songs after "Futurama" but I'm just not into the music. So while "Modern Music" and the previous record "Sunburst Finish" stand as favourites among the Prog crowd, this Prog fan just can't get into them, this not my music. So of course we get some half decent tracks here among the fifteen but this is consistently doing little for me. I like "Twilight Capers" and "Down On Terminal Street" quite a bit, especially the latter as the former is inconsistent. Some samples to open the title track which is different.

Almost half the tracks are around 2 minutes or less. 3 stars.

The side project of German guitarist Hans Otto Blanke when not working with Jasper Van't Hof or with Pierre Courbois' ASSOCIATION P.C. This album finds the European virtuosi playing with Philadelphia expats John Lee (bass) and Gerry Brown (drums).

1. "Lady's Bicycle Seat Smeller" (7:00) sounds very much like RETURN TO FOREVER (in no small part due to Gerry Brown's pre-RTF drumming). The drums, bass guitar, and electric guitar play are so closely fitted to the RTF style, it is only the presence of Carmin Ugo Mariano's flute and Joachim Kühn's more Herbie Hancock-like keyboard playing style. (13.5/15)

2. "Intermission" (6:58) another song styled very closely after some of RETURN TO FOREVER's more quirky and dynamic constructs, this time with keyboard player Joachim Kühn's stylings sounding more akin to those of Chick Corea. (13.75/15)

3. "Rocbaron" (2:45) a Django Rhinehardt-styled acoustic guitar song solo by Toto definitely takes on a non-Django sound and style (and more Al Di Meola- and acoustic John McLaughlin sound) as it goes on. Excellent virtuoso guitar play! (9.75/10)

4. "Toto" (6:22) opens with two concurrently played tracks of Toto's electric guitar(s) playing wah-wah-ed arpeggi, soon along with John Lee's bass and Gerry's syncopated drums. Very cool! (Very "Discipline" like!) At 1:08 the hypnotic weave is broken by a crash into a slower procession of chunky-funky effected-bass, syncopated almost-military drums, and electric guitar arpeggi with Fender Rhodes electric piano support. (I hear no saxes or flutes.) The guitar soloing in the fourth minute reminds me very much of Larry CORYELL while Gerry Brown's drumming is like a mirror copy of the style and sounds of Lenny WHITE! In the fifth and sixth minutes the guitars return to two tracks weaving opposite one another, eventually speeding up to signal the band's transition into decay and finish. I really love this song--from multiple perspectives--maybe the drumming the most! (9.5/10)

5. "Spider's Dance" (4:33) a protracted Mahavishnu-like progression of chords from guitar and bass while Joachim's clavinet and Gerry's drums sky rocket all over the place beneath and around the plodding oddly-time-signatured stringed rhythm section. Charlie Mariano's flutes and saxes as well as another track devoted to Toto's lead guitar carry the smooth melody line to the song's conclusion. Quite exciting and noteworthy. (9.33333/10)

6. "Prelude" (0:58) strumming acoustic guitar receives some flange treatment. (4.5/5)

7. "Slight Touch Of Hepatitis" (14:28) using a sparse and rather spacious rhythm section from the bass à la Bitches Brew and the early Mwandishi albums, drummer Gerry Brown is free to explore wherever Spirit guides him as Charlie Mariano and Joachim Kühn go wild and crazy over the top--for the first five plus minutes, that is. Toward the fifth and sixth minutes John Lee's bass begins to become quite adventurous and interesting while Toto Blanke's lead guitar and Joachim's wah-wah-ed Fender Rhodes become increasingly angular, key-bending, and at times outright dissonant. The band reigns it in and thins out in the eleventh minute to allow for some pure Fender Rhodes solo time (though John Lee's very active bass is still unavoidably noticeable just beneath). Gerry's drumming is solid and fluid but feels, compared to the creative freedoms he was given in previous songs, more constrained and liming. I'm sure this was a very cerebral and liberating song to perform--and the performances are certainly impressive for their virtuosic creativity--but my puny little brain happens to prefer the melodic commitments of the previous songs. (27/30)

Total Time 43:04

Quite an excellent and creative album despite the obvious emulation and inspiration from Chick (and Herbie), Stanley, Al (and Larry), and Lenny. Evenso, these musicians are all at the top of their games--given further freedom and expressive boosts by wah-wah pedals and multiple track recording.

A-/five stars; a remarkable masterpiece of high-powered Jazz-Rock Fusion--one that every prog lover and J-R Fuse lover should experience! Four of these musicians should be household names on the tips of everybody's tongues.