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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Julie Tippetts

Sunset Glow

Review by Gary Hill

If you want to hear a 1970s album that is very hard to categorize or label, you might want to give this one a try. I've included it under progressive rock because it is definitely art music, and there are some particularly prog rock moments here, but this really is hard to pin down. Julie Tippetts was previously known as Julie Driscoll, and this is a newly remastered edition of her previously out of print 1975 album. It includes performances by Keith Tippett, Brian Godding, Nick Evans and others. This is a unique and intriguing album.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023  Volume 1. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

Track by Track Review
Mind Of A Child
Piano brings the album in, and the arrangement fills out from there. As this piece builds it works from mellower zones to more powered ones. There is a lot of jazz in the mix here.
Ocean And Sky (And Questions Why?)
A more powered up number, this has plenty of jazz rock in the mix. It get more bluesy. It's another powerful cut and has a different flavor. This gets pretty crazy as it continues. It definitely has more of an art rock or prog angle to it.
Sunset Glow
Not as powered up as the previous cut, the art angle is fully on display here. This is very jazz-like, but it has a more outside of the box approach to that concept. This gets tastefully weird and experimental.
Now If You Remember
This is a short song that is more folk prog. It serves as a nice respite from the craziness that was on display on the previous piece.
Lillies
Piano gets things going here. This rises up gradually with a rich jazzy prog styled arrangement. There is plenty of art music in the mix. This has an almost droning, hypnotic quality to it. It is not the most dynamic thing here, but it does grow and is a powerful number.
Shifting Still
Acoustic guitar and piano create tension and melody on this number. It has some intriguing interplay and unusual melodic choices. This instrumental piece gets pretty crazed at times.
What Is Living
Folk prog is on the menu as this gets going. The track has a multi-layered vocal arrangement.
Behind The Eyes
This begins with a piano and vocal arrangement. While this remains on the mellower side, it's explorative and artsy.
  
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