Liquid Tension Experiment Review by Gary Hill This album by Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe), Jordan Rudess (Dregs, Rudess Morgenstein) and Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci (both of Dream Theater), much like the Black Light Syndrome CD by Bozzio, Levin, Stevens was written and recorded over the course of six days (with the exception of some keyboard and guitar overdubs).
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Liquid Tension Experiment 2 Review by Gary Hill If you are into prog, and buy only one album this year, by all means, make it this one. The first Liquid Tension Experiment album was wonderful, and this one is even better.
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Jordan Rudess - 4NYC Review by Gary Hill Jordan Rudess writes in the liner notes to this CD that the concert from which much of the material on this disc is from was set to raise money for the Red Cross in the wake of September 11th, 2001.
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Stick Men is a unique power trio. Founded by legendary and still cutting edge bassist / Chapman Stick artist, Tony Levin, Stick Men continues to expand the horizons of modern progressive music. With the departure of fellow Stick artist Michael Bernier, Austrian touch guitar master, Markus Reuter, has joined King Crimson band-mates Levin and drummer Pat Mastelotto for one of the most impressive forays into modern music. Absalom represents the first recorded portion of a planned longer CD release from Stick Men.
My impression of Absalom is that with the first listen, you’ll likely immediately be drawn into the expansive diversity of styles, sounds, and textures spread through this highly enjoyable and musically advanced EP. I have been listening to this collection for several weeks, and I can only say that the songs are growing even more on me. Each listen gives the opportunity to hear a different relationship of sounds I hadn’t noticed on the prior listen. This is very, very good music of our era. I highly recommend this album.
This single from Anderson, Bruford Wakeman and Howe is out of print, of course, but these days, it’s not that hard (or sometimes expensive) to get your hands on something like this.
Rama - Andy West With Rama-Rama 1 Review by Gary Hill For this album Andy West (Dregs) has compiled an intriguing bunch of musicians who join him at various points on the recording. Among those he has a cast of drummers composed of Rod Morgenstein (Dregs), Jonathan Mover (GTR) and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater).
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This new five-CD collection is pretty amazing. I've said before, and will repeat it here, that this new version of King Crimson might well be the best lineup they've had, particularly in terms of live shows.
Various Artists - Back Against the Wall Review by Gary Hill There are few people who haven't at least heard of Pink Floyd's The Wall. I would hazard to say that those who have never heard the album are in the minority as well.
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King Crimson - Beat Review by Gary Hill Of the trio of studio albums originally released by this version of King Crimson, this was the middle child. It was also a little less adventurous than either of the other two.
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Bozzio, Levin, Stevens - Black Light Syndrome Review by Gary Hill This album by Terry Bozzio, Tony Levin and Steve Stevens is a very wonderful work. Combining elements of Red era King Crimson, jazz, and other sources,the musicianship is impeccable.
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Derek Sherinian - Blood of the Snake Review by Gary Hill Derek Sherinian always seems to be looking for new ways to stretch out musically and this time around he's brought a lot of friends on board to help him in that process. The end result is Blood of the Snake, a disc that is arguably his most diverse. It also might well be his strongest album ever.
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Bruford Levin Upper Extremities - BLUE Nights Review by Gary Hill This recording chronicles the live performances of Bruford Levin Upper Extremities from 1998. The disc showcases the band's unique blend of jazzy modes with Crimsonesque textures and, occassionally, just plain weirdness.
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This single from Anderson, Bruford Wakeman and Howe is out of print, of course, but these days, it’s not that hard (or sometimes expensive) to get your hands on something like this.
Bruford Levin Upper Extremities - Bruford Levin Upper Extremities Review by Gary Hill The musicians on this disc are Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson), Tony Levin (King Crimson; Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe; Bozzio, Levin, Stevens; Liquid Tension Experiment), David Torn (Mark Isham, Bill Bruford), and Chris Botti(Paul Simon, Blue Nile).
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Dream Theater - Bucharest, Romania 7/4/02 Review by Greg Olma Dream Theater have decided to beat the bootleggers by releasing their own material and cutting them out of the picture. Now, I know that you can't do that completely because the band tours constantly and they only have a limited amount of product on their label Ytsejam Records.
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Dream Theater - Chaos In Motion DVD Review by Greg Olma I like being a Dream Theater fan. Not only do you get great music, but they tour a lot and lately, they seem to put out a visual record of every tour.
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Dream Theater - Dark Side of the Moon DVD Review by Bill Knispel In an effort to provide more material to their fervent fan base, Dream Theater created their own label, Ytsejam Records, to release a series of “official bootlegs.” These releases include interesting live shows, collections of studio demos, and “making of” collections that present works in progress for past studio album releases.
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Stick Men - Deep Review by G. W. Hill I really like Stick Men. Sometimes their music can be hard to describe, though. More...
King Crimson - Discipline Review by Steve Alspach These were interesting times for Robert Fripp, ye olde scholastic of the progressive rock scene. In 1978 he had released Exposure, an album that he described as "A Day in the Life" for that period.
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Dream Theater has been releasing records for 30 years now, and I’m happy to say that while there has never been a bad Dream Theater album, this new one is one that I would rank towards the top.
Various Artists - Drum Nation Vol. 2 Review by Gary Hill The concept is simple but unique: put together a number of tracks from various artists showcasing influential and potent drummers. This was the concept for Magna Carta's first drum nation CD, and they continue it here - why mess up a good thing?
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California Guitar Trio - Echoes Review by Gary Hill California Guitar Trio are certainly well known for creating unique progressive rock instrumental pieces.
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Steve Thorne - Emotional Creatures - Part One Review by Gary Hill What a pleasant surprise this album is! I had never really heard of Steve Thorne before, but you can bet after this one I'll be keeping track on him.
Various Artists - Encores, Legends and Paradoxes Review by Gary Hill With a cast of players that reads like a prog "who`s who", this ELP tribute takes the classics and makes them fresh and new again. The result is an incredibly listenable piece of music that really entertains.
King Crimson - Eyes Wide Open DVD Review by Bill Knispel Following two plus years as a “double trio,” and nearly two years of fractionalization through a series of ProjeKCts, King Crimson returned to active duty in 2000 as a streamlined quartet with the album TheConstruKCtion of Light. A second album in this newer “double duo” format titled The Power to Believe, followed in 2003.
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Dream Theater - Falling Into Infinity Review by Gary Hill There are those who feel that Dream Theater is not a progressive rock band. However, this album contains many factors indigenous to progressive rock.
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Jordan Rudess - Feeding the Wheel Review by Gary Hill This solo release by keyboard wizard Jordan Rudess covers a lot of musical territory, ranging from hard edged prog and neo-classical to classic era jazz and fusion. The result is quite an entertaining work.
Flying Colors, for once in a long time prove that rock music can still be everything it's supposed to be in a landscape that constantly attempts to limit it.
Flying Colors, for once in a long time prove that rock music can still be everything it's supposed to be in a landscape that constantly attempts to limit it.
Un1son - Fountains of Gold Review by Gary Hill Actually a test pressing, this release by Rick Neuhoff`s project UN1SON is a solid prog album, although a bit roughly mixed at times. The lyrics to the album are poem`s from Wendy Vig`s Fountains of Gold book, which is illustrated by Yes` Jon Anderson.
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Tony Levin - From the Caves of the Iron Mountain Review by Gary Hill This album is an incredibly unique work, beautiful and very difficult to categorize. The musicians on the album are Tony Levin, Jerry Marotta and Steve Gorn.
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Peter Primamore - Grancia Review by Gary Hill This is an intriguing CD. It does a nice job of straddling the fence between jazz and progressive rock.
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Dream Theater - Images And Words Review by Gary Hill Images and Words marked the debut of lead singer James LaBrie to the DT fold and his performance here showed him to be a powerhouse of talent. This disc is arguably the most metallic in the DT catalog, certainly fueling the prog versus metal debate in progressive rock circles.
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King Crimson - In the Court of King Crimson written by Sid Smith Review by Steve Alspach Few bands in progressive rock have a more colorful past than King Crimson. As Sid Smith says in the preface, the history of King Crimson is the "triumph of spirit over adversity. And sometimes the triumph of adversity."
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On the one hand, Nick D'Virgilio has been out of Spock's Beard for a while now. That means that perhaps the mentions of the band and comparisons aren't entirely appropriate.
This would land under progressive rock under just about any circumstance at MSJ because of the fact that it's a project by Jordan Rudess. That said, while this is not rock music, it is progressive.
Rymo is a shortened form of Ryan Moran's name, and he's best known as the drummer for Slightly Stoopid. This solo album finds him joined by a number of musicians.
There is certainly something to be said for truth in advertising. Looking at the group name and the album title, really sets the stage for the music within.
Dream Theater - Live At Budokan Review by Greg Olma Dream Theater have always made a point of only releasing quality product. Whether you like it or not, you always have to admit that the recordings and videos were done in the best possible way.
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Dream Theater - Live at the Marcus Amphitheater-August 24th, 1998 Review by Gary Hill Dream Theater proved that, even as an opening act, they are to be taken seriously in the prog world. In fact, they made a very strong argument for deserving to be placed at a higher point on the bill, meaning no disrespect to the other bands that performed at the show.
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Dream Theater - Live at the Riviera Theater, Chicago IL, August 12, 2000 Review by Steve Alspach Dream Theater were on their Metropolis 2000 tour, and they performed a number of songs from their latest album, "Scenes From a Memory", but they performed a solid two hour-twenty minute show that never let up in intensity. The band opened with "Metropolis" from their most recent album.
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Paul Simon - Live From Philadelphia DVD Review by Gary Hill Let’s get one thing out of the way right off the bat. If you are a Paul Simon fan and own the Live at the Tower Theater DVD you have this.
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Transatlantic - Live in America Review by Steve Alspach It takes cajones to record an album consisting of your fifth or sixth performance ever as a band. But if you're as talented as the guys in Transatlantic, nerves are perhaps the only problem.
Peter Gabriel - Live in Athens 1987 DVD Review by G. W. Hill So, I’m going to go about this backwards. Normally I talk about the main course of a DVD release first and then look at the bonus stuff.
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I had never seen the mighty King Crimson play live before - not surprising, as I was only ten years old when the band last played my home town in 1974!
Dream Theater - Live in Boston, MA, August 2005 Review by Josh Turner Dream Theater was pretty good, but not excellent. With the exception of a couple songs, most of them have been performed untold times in past concerts.
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The excellent “Two of a Perfect Trio” tour was a well-publicized and equally well received series of concerts featuring the bands of King Crimson legends Tony Levin and Adrian Belew.
Dream Theater - Live in Chicago, August 2009 Review by Greg Olma If you are a Dream Theater fan then you know Mike Portnoy takes a lot of effort in making sure that each time the band visits a city, they play a different show. More...
Dream Theater - Live In Chicago, February 13th, 2000 Review by Gary Hill When a band releases a concept album, there is always the temptation to come out on tour and do the entire album from beginning to end. Quite a few bands have tried it.
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Dream Theater - Live in Chicago, July 19, 2003 Review by Gary Hill As someone who has seen Dream Theater live quite a few times, let me say that this show has me a little perplexed. First, I was never one to fall into the bandwagon of their detractors who said that they were all about playing millions of notes with no passion or musical theme.
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Tony Levin - Live in Chicago-June 23rd, 2000 Review by Gary Hill Tony Levin and company did two shows for Chicago on June 23rd. The set consisted mostly of material from his new release Waters of Eden.
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This two disc set wasn't an easy pick between the three Transatlantic DVD's on the market, but ultimately I chose this one because I could review it at MSJ as it hadn’t been covered yet.
The Winery Dogs are back, and I couldn’t be more excited.It has been almost eight years since I saw them on stage, and I was lucky to catch them on this your for their latest release III.
Dream Theater - Live in Rosemont, IL May 13, 2008 Review by Greg Olma Dream Theater hit the road again but this time it is more of a tour package instead of the usual concert with a support group. Titled Progressive Nation 2008, Dream Theater headlined a four band bill that consisted of bands hand picked by Mike Portnoy.
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Dream Theater - Live in Rosemont, IL, August 2007 Review by Greg Olma I was surprised when I bought my ticket for this Dream Theater show. The past few tours that I saw them, they were the only band and it was billed as “An Evening with…”
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It seems that there is quite a bit of live material being released from this version of King Crimson. That's a great thing because this line-up might be the best ever.
Dream Theater - Made in Japan Review by Rick Damigella There are only a handful of bands with the boldness, chutzpah and talent to record and release a series of official live bootlegs where they cover another well known band’s album.
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Various Artists - Magna Carta Guitar Greats – Volume I Review by Grant Hill These Magna Carta sampler discs serve as a great way for people to sample a number of their releases without having to shell out the cash for each and every one of them. I'd have to say that as these things go, this is one of the better ones – and they are all quite good.
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Dewa Budjana is one of those artists you can count on for consistent quality. In terms of style of music, he's less consistent, but that's actually a good thing.
Dream Theater - Master Of Puppets Review by Greg Olma From the beginning, Dream Theater always gave the fans something special. When they go out on tour, if they have a 2 night stay at any venue, the second night becomes “cover” night.
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Dream Theater never do anything half way.They created the masterpiece Metropolis: Scenes From A Memory and then decided to play the whole thing on tour.
It is still pretty early in the year, but I'll be surprised if this release doesn't make my "best of 2020" list. The mix of sounds here includes metal, good solid hard rock and plenty of progressive rock.
In 2015 Neal Morse put together Morsefest. It was a two night event. On one night of the show, he performed his ? album, while the second night they did Solo Scriptura.
I have to say that for my money, the modern incarnation of King Crimson really is probably the best. The reason I say that is that there are distinct periods of the band throughout their history.
King Crimson - Neal and Jack and Me DVD Review by Bill Knispel King Crimson’s ‘return to the throne’ in the 1980’s must have been viewed with a degree of skepticism. The band made a name for themselves in the 1970’s with their dark blend of symphonic grandeur and intense heaviness, mixed with an improvisational spirit that would drive them to push every song and performance into parts unknown.
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Dream Theater - Once In A Livetime Review by Sean Faust For the past 9 years, progressive virtuosos Dream Theater (currently Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, John Myung, James LaBrie and Derek Sherinian) have been blessing the music world with their highly textured (and sometimes ethereal) music and thought-provoking lyrics.
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Tony Levin - Pieces of The Sun Review by Gary Hill Tony Levin consistently puts out musically strong, artistically driven albums, and this one is no exception. Pieces of The Sun does differ in some ways from his previous releases, though.
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Mike Portnoy - Prime Cuts Review by Gary Hill Mike Portnoy now has his own entry in the Magna Carta Prime Cuts collection. This disc, as the rest of the series, features selected tracks from albums that the artist has contributed to, presented here as sort of a slice of some of the best of the work from him.
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Jordan Rudess - Prime Cuts Review by Josh Turner Jordan Rudess is "technically" the best keyboardist in the business. When you limit this contest to progressive rock, it's a no-brainer.
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Billy Sheehan - Prime Cuts Review by Steve Alspach Ever play a bass guitar? "Strings" are a misnomer - they use great big, fat, wires. You have to work up some muscle in your fingers to aptly play a bass.
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Explorer's Club - Raising the Mammoth Review by Gary Hill Explorer's Club is in session once again. This time Trent Gardner has assembled a different group of musicians that includes drummer Terry Bozzio (UK, Frank Zappa, Bozzio Levin Stevens), bassist John Myung (Liquid Tension Experiment, Platypus, Dream Theater), Kerry Livgren (guitarist for Kansas), Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery) and keyboardist Mark Robertson (Cairo).
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Jordan Rudess - Rhythm of Time Review by Josh Turner Jordan Rudess is a virtual virtuoso. His must be an android based on the way that he plays.
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Simon Apple - River to the Sea Review by Gary Hill So many people these days give lip service to this charity or that, but you really have to admire the people who put their money (literally) where their mouth is. Such is the case with Simon Apple as they are donating a portion of the sale of each CD to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory Review by Vivian Lee Since 1985, the five-man outfit named Dream Theater has offered progressive rock fans thoughtful and emotional music that makes them marvel and ask, how do they do that? DT's brand of prog vividly shows eclectic, hard-to-place influences, which include jazz, neo-classical, and ethnic music forms.
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Dream Theater - Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live With the Octavarium Orchestra DVD Review by Bill Knispel Dream Theater has heavily embraced the home video/DVD market over the years, releasing five full-length videos over the past 12 years. Their latest video release, Score, celebrates the band’s 20th anniversary with a full headlining set recorded live at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall on 1 April 2006.
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Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live DVD Review by Gary Hill This video was originally released in 1994. It actually won a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. The sound and video quality are exceptional.
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Bozzio, Levin, Stevens - Situation Dangerous Review by Steve Alspach Red-era King Crimson's may claim to being the best guitar-bass-drums setup in progressive rock, but Terry Bozzio, Tony Levin, and Steve Stevens are more than willing to challenge that assumption with their latest work, "Situation Dangerous". The album shows three musicians at the top of their games.
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I am a big fan of pretty much anything Billy Sherwood is involved with and I love Supertramp, so when I heard Sherwood was in charge of assembling an all star tribute to Supertramp, I was excited.
Vapourspace - Sonic Residue from Vapourspace Review by Steve Alspach Here's an interesting concept - take songs from various releases from a progressive rock record label and let the music be transformed by a techno mix until it's nearly unrecognizable from the original source.
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Willie Oteri - Spiral Out Review by Bruce Stringer Produced, recorded and mixed by Ronan Chris Murphy, "Spiral Out" is an extension of the improvisational outings that made acts like John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra and Tony Williams Lifetime, King Crimson and even Frank Zappa the uniquely memorable experience that made musical history.
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Various Artists - Steinway To Heaven Review by Gary Hill It seems like a rather novel, but still somewhat obvious concept. Take various keyboardists, mostly from the world of progressive rock and have them record various classical piano pieces.
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I generally like things like this where an album is created by taking the track list of a famous album and having different artists reproduce the songs.
Transatlantic - STMPE Review by Gary Hill and Steve Alspach When you talk progressive rock and the term "supergroup" comes up, this band will certainly come to mind. The band is made up of Roine Stolt of Flower Kings, Pete Trewavas of Marillion, Neal Morse of Spocks Beard and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater.
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John Petrucci - Suspended Animation Review by Josh Turner I'm not one for instrumentals, but I'll make an exception for this one. John Petrucci is one of my favorite guitarists, and I'm curious whenever his name is on the credits.
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Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos Review by Bill Knispel Dream Theater really needs no introduction. As perhaps the foremost and best-known proponent of progressive metal, they have forged a more than 20-year career.
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Tony Levin - Tales From The Widow Jane Mine VHS Review by Gary Hill When Levin chose to record an album in the unusual venue of an old cave, it seemed a very strange choice. This video chronicling the process of creating that music goes a long way to making it look pretty obvious.
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Neal Morse - Testimony Review by Steve Alspach Neal Morse's first post-Spock's Beard album is a big pill to swallow - over two hours' worth of music that document Morse's conversion to Christianity.
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What is life? Are we just pawns in someone’s game of chess? These are just two of the life mystery questions posed in the epic album, The Suffering Joy, by Norwegian progressive rock band, Magic Pie.
Neal Morse - Testimony DVD Review by Josh Turner If there is one music DVD to get this year, I have the one for you. There is no doubt in my mind that I would choose Neal Morse: Testimony Live as DVD of the year.
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Transatlantic - The Bridge Across Forever Review by Steve Alspach Prog's premier supergroup (Neal Morse, Roine Stolt, Mike Portnoy, and Pete Trewavas) strike again with this 2001 release. This album sounds similar to their first effort, but there are many differences that set this album apart.
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Dream Theater - The Dark Side of the Moon Review by Bill Knispel As a way of providing something different and special to their fans, Dream Theater began a series of cover shows in 2002. Whenever the band were scheduled to perform two nights in the same venue/city, they would dedicate part of their second show to a performance of a classic album, covered in its entirety.
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Various Artists - The Drum Pad's 20th Anniversary Show Review by Gary Hill Drummers and drum fans unite and purchase this DVD! It features a number of world class drummers and you just don't get any better than this if your musical passion is geared towards percussion.
In a snap, Neal Morse took center stage behind his keyboards with an arsenal of guitars in tow. Modeled after most of his creations, the music began with an overture.
This band seem to be very pumped, and it could be coincided with the Morsefest coming on, as announcements have been going out about it while NMB are on tour.
The album, "Similitude to a Dream," is nearly two hours of seamlessly integrated music. The Neal Morse Band played it in its entirety with a single intermission where the discs split.
Dream Theater - The Number Of The Beast Review by Greg Olma Dream Theater has never been a band that does things without giving 110% effort and value. To beat the bootleggers, Dream Theater has created its own label to release live shows along with studio demos and assorted material otherwise unavailable to the public.
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While this is released under Xavi Reija's name, the full lineup here is full of exceptional musicians. Reija handles the drums while Tony Levin delivers bass, standup bass and Stick.
King Crimson - Three Of A Perfect Pair Review by Gary Hill When King Crimson reformed in the 1980’s to create the Discipline album the sound they presented was quite different from the classic Crimson of the 1970’s. While I liked all of the discs from this Belew, Bruford, Fripp and Levin lineup, I still preferred the “old school” stuff.
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Tony Levin - Tony Levin Band - Double Espresso Review by Gary Hill Tony Levin and his band tour fairly frequently, bringing their unique show to enthusiastic fans on a regular basis. It wasn't until recently, though, that those fans could have a musical documentation of that group at home.
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Dream Theater - Train of Thought Review by Gary Hill When I heard Dream Theater was releasing another album, this immediately piqued my interest. Dream Theater had been my gateway into the Progressive Metal genre.
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Dream Theater continues to release great CDs through their Ytsejam Records label.They have released live discs and demos but this one is kind of odd as it is a compilation of songs from different sources.
This album is fully instrumental. It’s a great disc, too. Some of the music here has appeared elsewhere (although most of the time in different arrangements)
King Crimson - VROOOM Review by Bill Knispel 10 years following the dissolution of King Crimson following a trilogy of world and gamelan influenced albums, the band quietly rejoined forces in a small studio in Woodstock New York to create a new band and a new sound. Expanding beyond the quartet that created those 1980’s albums, the core group (Robert Fripp. Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Bill Bruford) was joined by new members Pat Mastelotto (drums, formerly of Mister Mister) and Trey Gunn (Stick) to create what founding member Robert Fripp called a “double trio.”
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Steve Hackett - Watcher of the Skies Review by Gary Hill Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett has assembled a wide variety of musicians to rework many classic Genesis songs. The end result is quite interesting.
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Tony Levin - Waters of Eden Review by Vivian Lee Since the age of ten, bassist/stick-player Tony Levin has been a chameloid powerhouse in the world of music, having played with artists like Seal, Peter Paul and Mary, and Andy Summers; or with supergroups like King Crimson, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities and Liquid Tension Experiment.
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Alice Cooper - Welcome to My Nightmare Review by Gary Hill To many this classic album represents Alice Cooper at his theatric best. It is a loosely knit concept album that at times is a bit weak, at times a bit over the top, but in many ways a spooky masterpiece.
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Dream Theater - When Dream And Day Reunite DVD Review by Greg Olma Dream Theater is truly a prog band of the people, by the people, and for the people. I can’t think of a band that really has such a close tie with their fans.
I know Judy Collins might not seem like the kind of artist that a prog and metal fan like myself enjoys. I've always liked her music, and especially her voice, though.
California Guitar Trio - Whitewater Review by Gary Hill The first thing that I feel compelled to say is that I love the cover of this disc. It is arguably the best album cover of the entire year.
Tony Levin - World Diary Review by Gary Hill Featuring a large number of diverse musicians, this album is a considerably varied work. Released in 1995, jazz, art rock, and world textures dominate in this unique and intriguing CD, Tony Levin`s first solo album and the first release on his Papa Bear label.
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