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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Michael Echaniz Seven Shades of Violet (Rebiralost) Review by Gary Hill This disc has a lot of jazz in the mix. It gets into fusion territory, though, and there is a lot of art music here. That, along with the fact that at times it even feels a little proggy got me to land it in the progressive rock zone. However you classify this, though, it's dramatic, and quite effective. It's also got plenty of surprises and a lot of magic. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2024 Volume 2 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2024.

Track by Track Review

Prologue Jazzy vibes get this going. It has some intriguing non-lyrical vocals, too. Less than a minute long, this short introductory piece feels a little like Frank Zappa.

Seven Shades of Violet Piano gets things going here. this feels jazzy as it works outward. The piano work on this thing is positively on fire. There is a drum showcase later in the track. A big section of the piece is sans vocals, but there are some particularly effective female jazz vocals later in the track. This has some great energy and groove.

Proxima Centauri Piano leads this track. The number works into some intriguing jazz territory that definitely gets into somewhat proggy areas at times. Vocals enter later in the track. There are some trippy, almost psychedelic things later.

Clockwork (Un carillon à musique dans la fumée poétique) At nearly 15-minutes of music, this is the epic of the set. It comes in energetic and quickly starts evolving with piano taking complete control for a while. This has some fairly stripped back moments, but gradually grows outward. This works through a lot of different modes. There are sections that are decidedly classical in nature. I love the multi-layered jazzy vocal arrangement later, too. There is also a spoken vocal section further down the road while some intriguing music and non-lyrical sung vocals are also heard.

Interlude More sedate and sparse piano is on the menu here. This does serve as a mellow interlude. It does get a little more energized, but never rises beyond solo piano or to the heights of other tracks here.

Prince of Darkness There is some killer jazz jamming built into this thing. It's more pure mainstream jazz than some of the rest, but it's also one of my favorites on the disc. It just has such a great groove to it. There is a definite movement toward a progressive rock kind of thing late in the run-time of the track, though. That part also features some particularly crazed drumming.

Edulretni The trippy introduction to this brings the prog right out of the gate. This has parts that are more pure jazz, but there is quite an adventurous spirit to a lot of it.

Everything Is Embarrassing (feat. Dann Zinn) This has some definite art music elements on the extended introduction, in part via the vocals. After that ends, it seems almost as if the track is over, but then it comes back out with more traditional jazz jamming at play. One section of vocals later bring an almost soulful vibe to it. The number keeps growing and evolving a number of different moods and modes at play. The opening part gets a short reprise at the end.

Gernika (Bask Balms) (feat. Silvestre Martinez) Powered up fusion styled jazz with some Latin vibes gets us underway here. This thing works its way through a number of intriguing sections. I really love the bass work in the showcase section later. This is a decidedly fusion-based track. This is another epic number, stretching out for just over 11 minutes. They put all that space to good use, incorporating a lot of varying sections.

Fantaisie 73 (feat. Friction Quartet) I really love the art meets classical meets jazz vibe of this number. There is some powerful jamming that manages to showcase each of those reference points, at times more than one at once.

Epilogue The opening of this is percussion heavy. The track works out to more of a mainstream jazz jam as it continues. There are some really powerful moments, and the vocals lend some magic, too.

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