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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Lica Cecato and Paolo Baltaro Orchestra Call Porter Review by Gary Hill This is an unusual set to say the least. The music here is all based on Cole Porter's songs, but the arrangements are all new and original. You might expect this to be jazz-based, and some of it is. However, the set includes plenty of progressive rock, electronic music and much more. It even gets into heavy metal zones. There are a lot of valid comparisons to Frank Zappa to be made. Whatever you call this, though, it's unique and very cool. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2020 Volume 1. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2020.

Track by Track Review

Time Machine (Intro) This has plenty of classical music along with other elements built into it. It's a classy and short introductory piece.

Let’s Misbehave I dig the mix of electronic and jazz on this cool groove. The tune is a classy and quite effective one. There are some definite progressive rock tendencies here, too.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin There is a weird bit of answering machine oddity built into this cut. The cut powers into some cool jamming that's pure prog rock. It grows out from there to something with a bit more jazz in the mix for the song proper. This is a powerhouse number that works quite well. It has hints of Frank Zappa in the mix, too. This is packed full of intriguing shifts and changes. It's one of the most dynamic and intriguing pieces here, really.

Everytime We Say Goodbye With some exceptional piano built into it, this is more of a pure old-school jazz arrangement. That piano really brings a lot to this thing, but there are other intriguing elements, as well. It does work out into a killer proggier jam later in the piece as it works through all kinds of shifts and changes. It really does go from a rather balladic piece to a powerhouse. It drops to piano and (male) voice bring for a bit of a false ending. As the female vocals rejoin the cut has a bit of a torch song sort of vibe to it. There is a strange little thing at the end.

Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) Now, this is a huge change. This is a fierce, metal stomper. If the whole set were like this, it would land under heavy metal with no issue. As it is, this is a bit thrashy and definitely crazed. It does shift to a bit of King Crimson-like stuff later in the piece, though. That crazed section takes it to a weird, but mellower outro.

It's All Right with Me Here we get some smoking hot funk rock. The main riff makes me think of Jimi Hendrix. The cut has plenty of jazz in the mix, too, though. This gets into some smoking hot prog jamming further down the road.

Love for Sale Jazz with a real weird trippy element is the concept here. This is one of the strangest pieces here, but it's also somehow effective in a weird way. The arrangement is more sparse than a lot of the stuff here.

I’ve Got a Kick out of You This brings a real old-school rock and roll vibe to the proceedings. It's a big change, but it's also a lot of fun. Or should I say that I get a kick out of it?

Night and Day Some serious artsy weirdness is on display on the introduction here. The cut shifts to more of a jazz rock groove from there. This is another with a lot of Frank Zappa in the mix.

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