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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Jeremy New Day Rising Review by Gary Hill Pulling off a fully instrumental album and having each cut feel fresh and unique is difficult. When you add in the factor of having all the music consists of acoustic guitar solos, that task is even tougher. Jeremy nearly pulls it off flawlessly. There are a couple points where the wait of too much similar music drags it down a bit, but for the most part this CD flows well and remains potent. He covers two songs, one from Pink Floyd and one from Genesis. While this disc probably doesn’t really qualify as progressive rock as much as it does folk music, since Jeremy is a progressive rock musician, I’ve included it under that heading. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2011 Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Desert Dreams Combining elements of classical music and folk, this reminds me at times of something we might have heard from Led Zeppelin. In fact, at points it makes me think of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.” It turns far more classical than that at points, though.

Green Fields If the last tune at times made me think of Jimmy Page’s acoustic guitar work, this one calls to mind Steve Howe quite a bit. Again, there are other elements at play, but in many ways this feels like something Howe might have created.

Timeless Much less complicated, this is a pretty and quite folk like acoustic guitar journey.

Secret Garden There is a lot of emotion and majesty packed into the beauty of this piece. It’s quite a pretty one and Steve Howe is again a valid reference, but so is Steve Hackett.

Child's Play Delicate and pretty, this has a nature all its own, but in many ways doesn’t differ all that much from the rest of the music on show.

Sand in the Sun Here we have an acoustic guitar solo that’s a lot more folk in nature. It’s still quite intricate and involved, but feels a bit like something Arlo Guthrie might do. It turns more involved later.

New Day Rising The longest piece on show, this weighs in at six-minutes in length. It starts feeling a lot like something we might have heard on a classic Genesis album. Jeremy takes us through a number of changes and alterations as the cut continues, but really it still maintains that Genesis-like texture throughout. If there is a complaint to be made about this one, it’s that it actually does go on too long.

Happy Daze This is far more folk oriented, but still in the intricate folk stylings. Still, Steve Howe influences can be heard at times. Then again, he was always fond of this style of folk music, anyway.

Story Time As the title would seem to suggest, this feels rather like a lullaby. It’s pretty and delicate, but the formula is beginning to wear a bit thin by this point.

Is There Anybody out There? Here Jeremy covers Pink Floyd with this acoustic guitar adaptation. It’s interesting to note that in this telling it feels a bit like James Bond music at times.

Horizons And, now Jeremy turns his attention to covering Genesis. As that sound seems a frequent visitor to this set, it’s appropriate. He puts in a great performance of this beautiful acoustic guitar exploration.

Sunset Gentle and pretty, while this is an original by Jeremy, it really feels familiar. Certainly Genesis (and Steve Hackett specifically) is a reference, but so is Steve Howe.

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