Nine Short Films Review by Gary Hill Terry Bozzio wrote the lyrics to this and provides all the percussion and keyboard textures. The majority of the guitar sounds on this CD are not truly guitar but keys that sound like guitar provided by Bozzio.
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Billy Sheehan Review by Gary Hill Interview With Billy Sheehan From 2000
Explorer's Club - Age of Impact Review by Gary Hill This album could well be the most important progressive disc of the decade for two reasons. Firstly, by the sheer magnitude of performers on this CD.
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Glenn Tipton - Baptizm of Fire Review by Gary Hill This first solo album by Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton is a fine piece of work. It takes the Priest sounds one expects to find here and updates them, bringing new angles and directions to them.
Glenn Tipton - Baptizm of Fire Remaster Review by Gary Hill The debut solo album (first one released, not the first one recorded) by Glenn Tipton has just been reissued with two new tracks added on to the lineup. Since I reviewed the original release of the album, the majority of this review will be drawn and modified from that review.
Bozzio, Levin, Stevens - Black Light Syndrome Review by Gary Hill This album by Terry Bozzio, Tony Levin and Steve Stevens is a very wonderful work. Combining elements of Red era King Crimson, jazz, and other sources,the musicianship is impeccable.
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Billy Sheehan - Compression Review by Gary Hill Billy Sheehan is a bass legend, and, of course the bass work on this disc is very very good. Interestingly enough, so is the guitar, drums and vocal work. Even more interesting about that is the fact that Sheehan is responsible for the majority of that as well.
Billy Sheehan - Cosmic Troubadour Review by Gary Hill The bass guitar is an instrument whose players are often overlooked, relegated to playing the rhythm hidden behind guitar heroes, singers and keyboard wizards. A few bassists have managed to put together chops and performances that allow them to rise above this status.
UK - Danger Money Review by Bruce Stringer This being the only studio album from the scaled down, three-piece lineup of Eddie Jobson, John Wetton and Zappa alumni Terry Bozzio, there is so much to live up to and the obvious question is: does it? More...
Niacin - Deep Review by Gary Hill This album captures a nice retro and jazzy sort of prog texture. It does this, almost completely, without the addition of guitar and vocals.
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Various Artists - Drum Nation Vol. 2 Review by Gary Hill The concept is simple but unique: put together a number of tracks from various artists showcasing influential and potent drummers. This was the concept for Magna Carta's first drum nation CD, and they continue it here - why mess up a good thing?
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This various artists collection was assembled by Brian Tarquin. He's a guitar player who really seems to have a reverence for great guitar playing in all its various forms.
Bassinvaders - Hellbassbeaters Review by Mike Korn Pity the poor bass! Although it has its loyal devotees, it very much takes a back seat to its big brother, the lead guitar.
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The Lonely Bears - Injustice Review by Gary Hill The personnel on this album are Tony Hymas (Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Ian Anderson), Terry Bozzio (Bozzio, Levin, Stevens; Frank Zappa; UK), Hugh Burns (Gerry Rafferty, Steelers Wheel), and Tony Coe (Spencer Davis, Henry Mancini, Caravan).
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The Winery Dogs are back, and I couldn’t be more excited.It has been almost eight years since I saw them on stage, and I was lucky to catch them on this your for their latest release III.
Niacin - Live In Tokyo DVD Review by Gary Hill First, for anyone looking at this DVD and wondering, "what's different about this one from Live: Blood, Sweat and Beers that I bought a couple years ago?" - the answer is just the cover and the title, this is the same video.
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Various Artists - Magna Carta Guitar Greats – Volume I Review by Grant Hill These Magna Carta sampler discs serve as a great way for people to sample a number of their releases without having to shell out the cash for each and every one of them. I'd have to say that as these things go, this is one of the better ones – and they are all quite good.
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It is still pretty early in the year, but I'll be surprised if this release doesn't make my "best of 2020" list. The mix of sounds here includes metal, good solid hard rock and plenty of progressive rock.
Various Artists - Modern Drummer Presents Drum Nation Volume One Review by Steve Alspach If you want to know what the state of drumming is circa 2004, you would do well to check this CD out. These drummers are all at the top of the game, and the CD explores a rather wide range of styles and moods.
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UK - Night After Night Review by Gary Hill The third, and final album by what was probably the first prog rock super-group (OK, other than ELP), this is a live album. Although Bill Bruford had left the band after the first album, his presence is still felt in the composition of a few of these tracks, but Terry Bozzio brings in his own style as the replacement.
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Niacin - Organik Review by Gary Hill Niacin just keeps getting better. While all their albums are entertaining, the earlier ones seemed to be a little more low key in some ways - leaning more on the smooth jazz than the prog.
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Terry Bozzio - Prime Cuts Review by Gary Hill This disc by drum great Terry Bozzio is by definition a compilation album. Still it does include two previously unreleased numbers, one of which was recorded specifically for this CD.
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Steve Morse - Prime Cuts Review by Gary Hill Joining Magna Carta's Prime Cuts series is this release of music by Steve Morse. The majority of the material comes from three solo albums of his, Split Decision, Major Impacts 1, and Major Impacts 2.
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Mike Portnoy - Prime Cuts Review by Gary Hill Mike Portnoy now has his own entry in the Magna Carta Prime Cuts collection. This disc, as the rest of the series, features selected tracks from albums that the artist has contributed to, presented here as sort of a slice of some of the best of the work from him.
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Billy Sheehan - Prime Cuts Review by Steve Alspach Ever play a bass guitar? "Strings" are a misnomer - they use great big, fat, wires. You have to work up some muscle in your fingers to aptly play a bass.
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Explorer's Club - Raising the Mammoth Review by Gary Hill Explorer's Club is in session once again. This time Trent Gardner has assembled a different group of musicians that includes drummer Terry Bozzio (UK, Frank Zappa, Bozzio Levin Stevens), bassist John Myung (Liquid Tension Experiment, Platypus, Dream Theater), Kerry Livgren (guitarist for Kansas), Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery) and keyboardist Mark Robertson (Cairo).
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Steve Vai - Real Illusions: Reflections Review by Gary Hill It seems Zappa alumni's make some of the most inspired and creative musicians. I suppose that makes sense consider the degree of talent necessary to get into that outfit.
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Frank Zappa - Sheik Yerbouti Review by Gary Hill Outside of Zappa fandom the big claim to fame of this CD (other than the controversy which we’ll get to shortly) was the song “Dancing Fool.”
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Bozzio, Levin, Stevens - Situation Dangerous Review by Steve Alspach Red-era King Crimson's may claim to being the best guitar-bass-drums setup in progressive rock, but Terry Bozzio, Tony Levin, and Steve Stevens are more than willing to challenge that assumption with their latest work, "Situation Dangerous". The album shows three musicians at the top of their games.
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Vapourspace - Sonic Residue from Vapourspace Review by Steve Alspach Here's an interesting concept - take songs from various releases from a progressive rock record label and let the music be transformed by a techno mix until it's nearly unrecognizable from the original source.
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Willie Oteri - Spiral Out Review by Bruce Stringer Produced, recorded and mixed by Ronan Chris Murphy, "Spiral Out" is an extension of the improvisational outings that made acts like John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra and Tony Williams Lifetime, King Crimson and even Frank Zappa the uniquely memorable experience that made musical history.
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The Lonely Bears - The Bears are Running Review by Gary Hill A new release in that it is only now being released in the US, this album has been available in Europe for quite some time. The Lonely Bears catalog is just now being released in America on the Magna Carta label.
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The Lonely Bears - The Best of the Lonely Bears Review by Gary Hill The personnel on this album are Tony Hymas (Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Ian Anderson), Terry Bozzio (Bozzio, Levin, Stevens; Frank Zappa; UK), Hugh Burns (Gerry Rafferty, Steelers Wheel), and Tony Coe (Spencer Davis, Henry Mancini, Caravan). T
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Various Artists - The Drum Pad's 20th Anniversary Show Review by Gary Hill Drummers and drum fans unite and purchase this DVD! It features a number of world class drummers and you just don't get any better than this if your musical passion is geared towards percussion.
The Lonely Bears - The Lonely Bears Review by Gary Hill Featuring modes that are both prog and traditional jazz, this is a strong CD by a talented bunch of musicians. The melody seems to be a very important part of the music on this album.
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Various Artists - Working Man Review by Gary Hill One of the early Magna Carta tribute CD's, this one is definitely not one of their finest. It does have some strong points, though, and the main area in which it is lacking is vocals.
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Frank Zappa - Zappa In New York Review by Bill Knispel The separation between live album and studio album has always been a fuzzy one when it comes to Frank Zappa. As so many of his “studio” albums were created through the use of individual instrumental tracks (or wholesale lifting of full band tracks) from live performance, it’s often difficult to tell on LP what was recorded in thew studio and what was recorded live.
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