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). More...
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. More...
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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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. More...
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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This anthology of songs from John Wetton is quite strong. It’s not all progressive rock, and for the most par even when it lands there, it’s more in the AOR end of the spectrum.
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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Derek Sherinian - Blood of the Snake Review by Gary Hill Derek Sherinian always seems to be looking for new ways to stretch out musically and this time around he's brought a lot of friends on board to help him in that process. The end result is Blood of the Snake, a disc that is arguably his most diverse. It also might well be his strongest album ever.
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Ryo Okumoto - Coming Through Review by Lorraine Kay One of the most sought-after musicians in the prog-rock scene and then some, keyboardist Ryo Okumoto has earned a global reputation performing with some of the biggest names in music, including Kitaro, Natalie Cole, Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin, and Roberta Flack.
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Toto - Falling In Between Review by Greg Olma Falling In Between is the first new material from Toto in almost 8 years. Was it worth the wait, you might ask?
Toto - Falling In Between Live Review by Gary Hill I’ve never seen Toto live, but I’ve always enjoyed their music. I’ve only ever owned a handful of the albums and had kind of written them off, but I’ve always respected them as musicians.
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I reviewed the actual concert here in more detail in the CD review that is also included in this issue, so this review will focus more on the DVD itself.
Derek Sherinian - Inertia Review by Gary Hill With this CD Sherinian continues his tradition of creating hard edged prog that is quite firmly rooted in fusion. The disc succeeds very well in creating an energetic and considerably potent instrumental mode that sends the listener on a major journey.
Toto - Live In Amsterdam Review by Greg Olma I remember hearing Toto's "Hold the Line" on the radio back in the '70s. Here we are 27 years later and Toto are still going strong.
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Toto - Live In Chicago, IL, November 2006 Review by Greg Olma I was lucky enough to catch Toto in Milwaukee this last summer. It has been so long since they played the states that I felt a little spoiled getting to see the band twice in less than 6 months.
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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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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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You can always count on Dewa Budjana to deliver high quality and inventive fusion, no matter who he's playing with. This album fulfills that promise with style.
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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Terry Bozzio & Billy Sheehan - 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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This is a concept album, but I'm not really clear on the concept. I do know that it opens and closes in the same place, after taking a ride across two CDs.
Robert Berry - Prime Cuts Review by Gary Hill The latest release in the Magna Carta series Prime Cuts, this time the attention is turned on Robert Berry's considerable work on the label. The first point I need to bring up is somewhat of a mixed one here.
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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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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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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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Various Artists - Steinway To Heaven Review by Gary Hill It seems like a rather novel, but still somewhat obvious concept. Take various keyboardists, mostly from the world of progressive rock and have them record various classical piano pieces.
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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.
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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