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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

The Two's

Push On

Review by Gary Hill

If you just listen to the first song here, you won't understand why I landed this set under progressive rock. Stepping past that one, though, there is a prog angle on every single track. When you look at the bios of this duo (Ruby Rendrag and Suki Kuehn), you will find that cellist Kuehn is a real progressive rock fan. That influence is clearly heard on this disc. This music is acoustic and has elements of folk, country, jazz and more in it. It has enough progressive rock and is experimental enough, though, to appeal to fans of prog. It is entertaining enough that it's appeal should stretch beyond that section of music aficionados, though.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2019  Volume 3. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2019.
Track by Track Review
Ms. Jones
Acoustic music opens this with a lot of style. The vocals come in over the top, lending some country and folk magic. I love the cello on this cut. It brings a sort of class and style. There is an Earthy kind of feeling here that works well, yet the tune also manages to soar. It has some blues and jazz in the mix later, too.
City of Gold
Now this cut is a big change. It's a lot more powered, both in terms of volume level and tempo. It has a driving prog rock sort of element to it. There are some decidedly soaring moments here. There are still Americana elements at play, but they are further back in the arrangement. Overall, this really lands more in the vein of folk prog.
Lullaby
I can make out some hints of The Beatles sort of psychedelia. Yet the arrangement really has so much progressive rock built into it. This is driving and powerful. The cello creates some killer melodies, but the whole song is so intriguing, really. It's complex and varied, too.
The Letter
I dig the rocking groove on this cut. There are some hints of jazz in the mix. The whole piece works well. It's perhaps less proggy than the two cuts that directly preceded it, but there is still quite a bit of that element at play here. It does get soaring and proggier later in the track. Some Americana leanings also show up at points on this number.
Baked
This instrumental (well, there is one word as more of a gang-chorus kind of thing) really does a great job of creating melody and energy. It's fun and quite proggy. It's a great way to end the disc in style.
  
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