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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Elizabeth Geyer The Bridge Review by Gary Hill I am pretty sure this isn’t progressive rock. It’s probably not even rock. But, it’s definitely progressive music. It has a lot of jazz in the mix. Yet, it’s not jazz. This is mostly piano based, but it gets powered up into really proggy territory. The thing is, it doesn’t matter where you think this fits in terms of genre, it’s just powerful music that works exceptionally well. Paul Adams was sort of a co-creator on this set, too. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016 Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

The Bridge Starting with a dramatic atmospheric movement, this works to a piano based arrangement from there. The cut builds gradually from that point. The arrangement gets a bit jazzy further down the road.

Waterfalls and Rainbows The piano is quite prominent here, too. This has a cool jazz meets psychedelic rock vibe in some ways.

Goodnight Romeo There are no big changes here. Yet, perhaps this is a bit more purely jazz than the first two cuts were.

Home Now, this energized cut really does have some progressive rock in the mix. It’s also built on plenty of jazz for sure. This is a classy song that’s one of my favorites here.

Perfect Life A more balladic piece, this has a lot of jazz in the mix.

Rain Falls Somehow the melodies on this work really well. This is another of my favorites. It has something in common with the folk prog of the 1970s, particularly on the more soaring movements. There is a lot of jazz in the mix here, too.

The Party This is an expansive cut. Parts of it makes me think of Renaissance just a bit. Yet there is a lot of jazz here. There are some bits of psychedelia here, too. This is another highlight of the set.

The Jewel Another mellow tune, this has some great melodies and textures built into it. It does have some proggy moments in the mix.

I Weep There are some great melodic sections on the earlier portions of this. It gets into some full on prog rock when it powers up later in the track. Sure, there is still jazz in the mix, too, but it really is powerful, soaring prog in those later segments.

Postcards from Paradise Here is another with definite prog rock in the mix. I suppose the rock part might be a bit lacking, but it is progressive music for sure. It’s also quite powerful and soaring in a lot of ways.

The Wall This one gets into more proggy territory a lot of the time, too. It’s another potent piece of music.

Place to Fly The more powered up parts of this are again quite prog-like. Of course, they have a lot of jazz in the mix, too. It’s another winner, too.

Rose This is a big change, based on acoustic guitar elements. There are some non-lyrical vocals, but otherwise this is an instrumental.

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