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Non-Prog CD Reviews

Doug Wahlberg Band Flying Under the Radar Review by Gary Hill I came close to putting this under progressive rock. There are definitely prog elements in most of the songs here. There are a couple tunes, though, that are pretty much sans prog. This has a bit of a punk edge in some ways, but is perhaps closer to power pop. It’s great stuff that feels both modern and classic. 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

Love When It Rains The opening section here contains atmospherics with vocals over the top. Eventually it works out to a pretty mainstream rock jam. That said, the chorus brings it further into modern AOR oriented prog territory. I love the smoking hot guitar solo. The cut works out to more proggy territory after that point, too.

The Lake The verses on this are more straight rock and roll, but the choruses bring some psychedelia and prog elements. I particularly dig the rocking guitar solo.

Broken More like a power ballad, this is very much AOR prog in nature. It’s an effective cut with a catchy vocal hook that even feels a bit like Cheap Trick to me.

What If Hard rock is mixed with an AOR sound here. This is very classic in nature, really. There are some proggier moments on the chorus. There is a cool left turn change here that’s very much prog rock.

Waiting On the Sun This rocker is more mainstream and less proggy. It’s a good tune and does still maintain a little prog.

Can't Wait Hard rock merges with power pop here. This really makes me think of Enuff Z’Nuff quite a bit.

Nothing Strings and other elements over the top of this balladic cut bring some prog elements to the table. It’s quite an effective number with a real soaring AOR prog sound.

Torture This is another mellower piece. It’s more straightforward rock, though. It’s a cool tune, with some strong vocal hooks.

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