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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra Flirting with Chaos Review by Gary Hill I always dig Galactic Cowboy Orchestra albums. This is no exception. Their brand of crazed prog is always so cool and tasty. This disc features a great blend of sounds ranging from fusion to King Crimson and more. Most of this is instrumental, but a few songs have vocals. It's a powerhouse set that stands up next to anything they've done before. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2021 Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2021.

Track by Track Review

Flirting with Chaos This comes in noisy and fast-paced with a real driving musical concept. It drops to some Frippian guitar and rises upward from there. This instrumental is a real powerhouse.

All for the Taking As this comes in it makes me think of what you might get if you mixed Dixie Dregs with modern King Crimson. The vocals bring another angle to the piece. It's a real powerhouse prog cut.

Triple S This has a lot of fusion in the mix. It's a powerhouse instrumental piece that shifts this way and that. The violin work on this is purely on fire, but everyone puts in a great performance, really. It does lean more toward pure prog rock at times. There is a violin-led break about mid-track. From there the cut works to something more like Red era King Crimson.

I Got It Middle-Eastern sounds turned into a fast-paced progressive rock jam bring this into being. This cut again turns toward King Crimson-like zones as it continues. More of a mainstream prog rock, guitar-dominated movement is underway mid-track.

Unresolved Discrepancies The jazz stylings are all over this cut as it gets underway. This is another dynamic and potent instrumental, moving through some killer prog zones.

21st Century Schizoid Man This is a powerhouse version of the King Crimson classic. The female vocals are a nice touch, and the cut just plain screams.

Jazz Crimes Wow, the fusion on this cut is so classy. I love the unusual timing and the jamming is on fire. Not only is there some great guitar work here, but the bass gets a chance to shine, too.

Woodshred Here we get another screaming hot instrumental. This track has more killer jamming. As you might guess from the title, this track does include some shredding.

No Stranger to the Fall Another fast-paced and quirky tune, this is one of the pieces with vocals. It's a dynamic ride and an entertaining one. There is a killer guitar dominated instrumental movement later in the track.

Flirting with Oblivion The title track comes in with a rocking texture and quickly starts an exploration that is unusual and dramatic. There is a sense of mystery to it. There are jazzy elements along with more of those King Crimson like things. The guitar work on this really travels some unusual sonic road. There are some pretty amazing guitar things at play on the track.

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