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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Patrick Krief Dovetale Review by Gary Hill I've put this set under progressive rock. If you come looking for 70s style prog, you will not find it here. The whole "progressive rock" banner has really expanded over the last couple decades. Schools of modern prog are often as tied to 80s new wave styled stuff as they are to bands like King Crimson or Yes. This is such music. There is an 80s vibe that permeates a lot of it. Still, there are some moments that land more fully under progressive rock. Even the least traditional prog stuff often has hints of it. Whatever you call this, though, it is a collection of effective music. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2019 Volume 6. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2019.

Track by Track Review

Daydream Lover The opening section of this brings a definite prog rock leaning. As it works out to the song proper, though, we get more of an 80s thing. Still, there is some prog in the mix. As the guitar rises up to provide soloing that prog thing is more insistent.

The Autumn Acoustic guitar based music is at the heart of this cut. The track has more proggy things in the layers of sound that come over the top to augment the basic concepts. It is a pretty and rather balladic number.

Idols Old time rock and roll merges with 80s New Wave textures on this piece.

Bless Modern Love The dreamy elements on this bring a bit of a shoegaze vibe. The song is another that channels old-school rock and roll, too.

The Moon Is On My Shoulder There is still a bit of rock and roll in the mix here. The overlayers of sound often bring prog tendencies. This is an energized piece with a real soaring nature. It has some killer guitar work, too.

Million Star A much mellower number, this has some hints of The Beatles. It has some psychedelia along with dreamy prog sounds.

Osaka As you might guess from the title, there are hints of Asian music here. This is built on a dreamy kind of balladic sound.

Take The Night More of a rocker, this has plenty of 80s music in the mix. The guitar brings some Americana to it. Some modern prog sounds emerge in soaring textures that come over the top on the chorus. The short mellow closing movement is decidedly proggy.

Tonight Speaking of decidedly proggy, the faster paced opening movement on this is full-on prog rock. The cut shifts out to more energetic pop rock with a vintage texture. This feels like something that would have been at home on the radio in the 1970s. There are parts of this that remind me a lot of ELO.

Dovetale The title track is so cool. It has a good energy. It is one of the most decidedly progressive rock based cuts of the whole set. It's also one of the highlights. It does drop to a mellower movement that has hints of the 80s music element that is present throughout much of the set. There is some guitar that calls to mind The Beatles a bit.

Venus The closer is a mellower cut in the early portions. It is also another that's decidedly proggy. There is a dreamy element at play throughout much of the cut. A smoking hot guitar solo rises up further down the road and drives the piece in different directions. This gets quite soaring at times. It's one of the standout pieces of the set, making it a great choice for closer.

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