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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Marty Thompson

My Kind of Woman

Review by Gary Hill

This is such an intriguing set. It is perhaps not a perfect fit under progressive rock, but the non-mainstream approach with space rock and psychedelia as driving factors clearly aligns it there. While this has a bit of an awkward edge at times, it's actually one of the charms of it rather than a detriment. There is nothing here that's weak and there are a few pieces that are particularly strong. If you have a taste for adventurous music that's packed full of proggy psychedelic elements, you need to give this a try. I bet you'll dig it. It's also worth noting that other than drums, Thompson does pretty much everything on this disc all by himself. That's impressive.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2019  Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2019.
Track by Track Review
Hope Is A Waking Dream
The rhythm section leads the album out of the gate. The cut works out from there with a cool, jazzy, psychedelic rocking jam that's actually quite proggy. This is like a slightly weird, but very accessible, psychedelic prog jam. It has definite space rock in the mix.
Paint What You Think

Coming in a bit harder rocking, early Pink Floyd is merged with space rock and more here. This is energetic, trippy and so cool.

My Kind Of Woman
I dig the cool jazz meets rock groove on this cut. The bass line is so cool. While this is more of a mainstream rocker than some of the others here, it still manages to bring some psychedelia and proggy elements to the table. I love the exploratory instrumental section. It makes me think of The Grateful Dead's Terrapin Station era quite a bit. I'd say that it's no accident that this is the title track because it's one of the strongest pieces here.
Lush (feat. Chris Zimmerly)
There is some funk and blues rock built into this thing. It's an energized jam that's quite classy. This shifts out to sort of a Zappa like jam. The vocals are spoken over the top, creating a cool art rock kind of vibe. The bass gets a bit of short showcase section along this ride.
Patience
On the one hand, this is at times sort of a straight-forward but rather odd jam. At other points, though, the psychedelia meets space rock really takes control. This is energetic and so cool. The swirling bits of guitar really make it for me, but the cut is tasty beyond that, too.
To The Pebbled Shore
A slower grind opens this. It has some hints of an almost metallic edge. Yet, it's space rock oriented at its heart. This is dramatic and a bit mysterious. It's also one of the highlights of the set. I really dig some of the guitar soloing a lot.
M.C. Zebra
Waves coming into shore open this. Some whistling comes over the top before a full prog arrangement takes control. There are definitely hints of Zappa here, but with plenty of other stuff, too. This is the most straightforward prog rock based number of the whole set. It's also a highlight. This instrumental works its way through a wide range of sections and really works so well. The waves return at the end to bookend the piece.
  
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