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Progressive Rock CD Reviews
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Steve Vai - Real Illusions: Reflections
Review by Gary Hill
It seems Zappa alumni's make some of the most inspired and creative musicians. I suppose that makes sense consider the degree of talent necessary to get into that outfit.
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Vajra - Blind (Blood Remix) (Digital Single)
Review by Gary Hill
I previously reviewed Vajra’s last album.

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Judy Vamp-Shire - Beyond Imagination
Review by Gary Hill
While the music here might not immediately conjure up the spookiness of the Halloween season, the lyrics certainly do. From vampires to witches and more, this is spooky stuff.

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Van der Graaf Generator - Still Life
Review by Steve Alspach
 "At the time it seemed a reasonable course to harness all the force of life without the threat of death, but soon we found that boredom and inertia are not negatives but all the law we know, and dead are will and words like survival."
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Van der Graaf Generator - Vital Live
Review by Bruce Stringer
With the recording of this live performance in the care of drummer extraordinaire, Guy Evans, this incarnation of Van der Graaf Generator, as always, speaks volumes in it's work. With his ear, that of a seasoned engineer, the mix is bass-end heavy and has the dynamic control of expansive tension rarely heard on live recordings.
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Van der Graaf Generator - Present
Review by Steve Alspach
The Van is Back! Um, no.

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Van der Graaf Generator - Merlin Atmos: Live Performances 2013
Review by Gary Hill
This is a legendary band.

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Van der Graaf Generator - Do Not Disturb
Review by Gary Hill
This new disc from Van Der Graaf Generator is sure to please long time fans of the band. Personally, I don't think I'm the target audience for this.

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Van der Graaf Generator - The Bath Forum Concert, 2CD, Blu-Ray & DVD Box Set
Review by Gary Hill
This new box set documents a concert from March 1st, 2022. We get two CDs of audio, but this also includes both a DVD and Blu-Ray of the concert.

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Van der Graaf Generator - Vital: Van der Graaf Live
Review by Gary Hill
This 1978 live recording captures Van der Graaf Generator delivering a trademark set. There is really no other band who sound like VDGG.

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Vanden Plas - Far Off Grace
Review by Gary Hill
Although this band is heavily influenced by Dream Theater, they are definitely not a clone, as they do have their own sound.
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Toomas Vanem - 1
Review by Gary Hill
This is all instrumental music. It’s also guitar based and lands somewhat near folks like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani..

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Vangelis - Heaven and Hell
Review by Gary Hill
I like Vangelis' blend of electronic and symphonic music. This album features vocals from Jon Anderson on one song, a real bonus to me.

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Vangelis - Opéra sauvage
Review by Gary Hill
Vangelis is an artist who always does a great job of working within electronic elements to create something unique and rather symphonic. This album is no exception.

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Vanilla Bloom - Promise
Review by Gary Hill
I've landed this act under prog rock. That's largely because of the "art rock" nature of it.

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Vanilla Fudge - Then And Now
Review by Gary Hill
No one can fault the musical performances on this one. Vanilla Fudge has always been an incredible band capable of creating and producing incredibly complex and powerful arrangements, and this album is no exception to that rule. No, the real problem here comes in the form of repetition.
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Vanilla Fudge - Vanilla Fudge
Review by Gary Hill
The Fudge is back! I'm sure we can all sit around and debate for ever if they are truly prog or not, but the truth of the matter is, even if they weren't early prog, and I am not sure the answer to that, they influenced so much prog that they have earned an honorary mention.
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Vanilla Fudge - The Beat Goes On
Review by Steve Alspach
One criticism of progressive music is that it takes itself too seriously. This album is the poster child for that argument.
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Vanilla Fudge - Then And Now - 2021 2-CD Edition
Review by Gary Hill
What can you count on with Vanilla Fudge? Well, you can count on great music that qualifies at least as proto-prog, if not full prog.

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Vantomme - Vegir
Review by Gary Hill
Vantomme is named for its founder Dominique Vantomme. He is a keyboardist, producer and more.

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Vapourspace - Sonic Residue from Vapourspace
Review by Steve Alspach
Here's an interesting concept - take songs from various releases from a progressive rock record label and let the music be transformed by a techno mix until it's nearly unrecognizable from the original source.
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Various Artists - Working Man
Review by Gary Hill
One of the early Magna Carta tribute CD's, this one is definitely not one of their finest. It does have some strong points, though, and the main area in which it is lacking is vocals.
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Various Artists - Subdivisions - A Tribute To Rush
Review by Gary Hill
Subdivisions is a new Tribute album devoted to the music of Rush from Magna Carta Records. Those paying close attention and with a good memory, may be saying now; "didn't they do one before?"
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Various Artists - All Good People (An Evening of Music From Yes Fans)
Review by Gary Hill
This disc is an interesting compilation. The only tie that binds all these musicians is that they are Yes fans who post to the AOL Yes Bulletin Board.
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Various Artists - AMY-Cyberian Khatru
Review by Gary Hill
Out in cyberland there lives a news group called "alt.music.yes". It is one of the oldest of its kind, and one of the most lively. It is known to its members as "AMY".
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Various Artists - Back Against the Wall
Review by Gary Hill
There are few people who haven't at least heard of Pink Floyd's The Wall. I would hazard to say that those who have never heard the album are in the minority as well.
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Various Artists - Encores, Legends and Paradoxes
Review by Gary Hill
With a cast of players that reads like a prog "who`s who", this ELP tribute takes the classics and makes them fresh and new again. The result is an incredibly listenable piece of music that really entertains.

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Various Artists - Kinections: The ProgDay Support CD
Review by Josh Turner
There are two great things about this release. First off, it's for a charitable cause. Second, it is truly great music. Lew Fisher (on behalf of the ProgDay foundation) is the mastermind behind this project.
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Various Artists - Leonardo The Absolute Man
Review by Gary Hill
This is a rock opera based on the life of Leonardo da Vinci. Although this album says "original cast recording" and I have (as does Magna Carta on their website) listed it here as by "Various Artists", it is probably closer to the truth to say that it is by Trent Gardner and friends.
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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.
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Various Artists - The Moon Revisited
Review by Gary Hill
Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon was more than likely not only the best selling prog album of all time, but definitely the album, of all albums (not just prog) to stay on the charts the longest. From that point of view this tribute disc makes sense.
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Various Artists - The Show That Never Ends
Review by Gary Hill

This album is a compilation of various progressive rock performances that were presented on the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio show. All of the outings are quite good, and the selection of artists is also. 


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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 - Supper`s Ready
Review by Gary Hill
A tribute album devoted to the music of Genesis, Supper`s Ready is a strong work. The renditions here stay more true to the original performances than on some similar albums, but this does not take away from the relevance of the CD.
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Various Artists - Tales From Yesterday
Review by Gary Hill
A tribute to the music of Yes, Tales From Yesterday, features some very fine renditions of Yessongs performed by a variety of artists (including several past and present members of Yes). This is a mixed bag. Some of the tracks are quite faithful to the original, while others represent major reworkings.
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Various Artists - To Cry You A Song: A Collection of Tull Tales
Review by Gary Hill
One of the first tribute albums ever done by Magna Carta, this one includes some intriguing arrangements of Jethro Tull songs. There are some definite winners here (witness Aqualung, To Cry You a Song, and Locomotive Breath) and no real losers.
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Various Artists - Live Kraut - Live Rockexplosions From The Heyday Of Krautrock
Review by Gary Hill
These live recordings are all quite good.

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Various Artists - Fly Like an Eagle - An All-Star Tribute to Steve Miller Band
Review by Gary Hill
Cleopatra Records loves doing these tribute albums, typically with Billy Sherwood in charge.

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Various Artists - Possible Worlds Vol. 2
Review by Gary Hill
This collection is pretty strange.

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Various Artists - Son of Kraut – The Next Generation of Kraut Rock
Review by Gary Hill
This is quite a strong set. I’d say that pretty much everything here lands in progressive rock, but some is closer to psychedelic than others are.

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Various Artists - Light My Fire - A Classic Rock Salute To the Doors
Review by Gary Hill
I’ve always been a big fan of the Doors.

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Various Artists - Smooth Jazz Café
Review by Gary Hill
When I hear the term “smooth jazz,” I tend to think of the elevator music variety of jazz.

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Various Artists - Spirit of Sireena Volume 9
Review by Gary Hill
These collections are always interesting. This one is no exception.

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Various Artists - Howard Phillips Lovecraft – Fungi from Yuggoth: A Sonnet Cycle
Review by Gary Hill
I’ve listed this under “Various Artists” at Music Street Journal, although technically it’s not listed that way on the CD.

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Various Artists - H.P. Lovecraft's Fungi From Yuggoth and Other Poems
Review by Gary Hill
I recently reviewed another release from this outfit (Fedogan and Bremer). This could be seen as a companion to that release, which was a reissue of an older set with additional material.

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Various Artists - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - The Black Room
Review by Gary Hill
There are times when I wish I had never started MSJ with the whole concept of track by track reviews. This album is a daunting one to do in that way.

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Various Artists - Devil's Domain: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Review by Gary Hill
While not everything here lands under progressive rock, there is a lot of prog in this set. There is also a lot of artsy soundtrack music that fits under the prog banner.

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Various Artists - The Rift - Dark Side of the Moon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Review by Gary Hill
This new soundtrack album features some killer music. It leans on the space rock, trippy side of the equation.

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Various Artists - 8 Assassins - Beautiful the Bad & The Ugly Soundtrack
Review by Gary Hill
This new soundtrack album has some cool stuff on it. Personally, I think that it would be stronger if it was just the first disc.

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Various Artists - Let the Electric Children Play: The Underground Story of Transatlantic Records 1968-1976
Review by Gary Hill
This new three-CD set showcases a number of songs that were originally released on the Transatlantic Records label. There is an intriguing range of music here.

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Various Artists - One Way Glass: Dancefloor Prog, Brit Jazz & Funky Folk 1968-1975
Review by Gary Hill
This is a killer collection of music. It's a great way to sample a lot of fairly obscure acts without having to commit to a full album by any of them.

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Various Artists - The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft - A Synphonic Collection
Review by Gary Hill
While this set was released several years ago, I've just recently found out about it.

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Various Artists - Guitar Masters Collection
Review by Gary Hill
This various artists collection was assembled by Brian Tarquin. He's a guitar player who really seems to have a reverence for great guitar playing in all its various forms.

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Various Artists - Prog Box
Review by Gary Hill
I've been looking to do a retro review of this box set for a while. I finally had the opportunity this time around.

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Various Artists - A Life in Yes: The Chris Squire Tribute
Review by Gary Hill
I grew up as a Yes fanatic from the age of 12. As a bass player myself, Chris Squire was a huge part of my own growth as a musician.

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Various Artists - Stay Tuned – Bernhard Welz - All Stars Charity Album
Review by Larry Toering
Stay Tuned is the third album in a charity series by Bernhard Welz.
Various Artists - The Spirit of Sireena 13
Review by Gary Hill
This sampler disc gives a varied look into a number of releases from the Sireena label. While it's not all progressive rock, there are enough prog leaning things here, and real prog, for me to include it under that heading.

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Various Artists - Yesterday and Today: 50th Anniversary Tribute To Yes
Review by Gary Hill
This new various artists collection, as you would imagine, pays tribute to the music of Yes. It's an intriguing set.

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Various Artists - Jirga (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Review by Gary Hill
This soundtrack is clearly not actually progressive rock. I would argue that it is progressive music, though.

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Various Artists - Heavy Christmas
Review by Gary Hill
This is a Krautrock compilation album from 1971. It was reissued on CD in 1997.

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Various Artists - Kraut! Die innovativen Jahre des Krautrock 1968-1979
Review by Gary Hill

This is a new set that's part of a new series. It gathers up krautrock songs. This first set is a double disc set that's very strong.


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Various Artists - Kraut!: Teil 2 - KRAUT! - Die innovativen Jahre des Krautrock 1968-1979
Review by Gary Hill

As you might guess, this is the second part of a series of various artists releases focusing on Krautrock. I reviewed the first one previously.


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Various Artists - Living On The Hill: A Danish Underground Trip 1967-1974
Review by Gary Hill
This collection of music is very cool. Not everything here is prog, but the vast majority is at least proto-prog.

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Various Artists - Kraut! - Die innovativen Jahre des Krautrock 1968-1979: Teil 3
Review by Gary Hill
I really like this set from Bear Family Records. As you might guess, it collects a lot of tracks that fit under the kraut rock heading.

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Various Artists - Kraut! - Die innovativen Jahre des Krautrock 1968-1979: Teil 4
Review by Gary Hill
The latest in a series of discs from Bear Family Records focused on the kraut rock movement, this is a bit different from the rest.

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Various Artists - Still Wish You Were Here: A Tribute to Pink Floyd
Review by Gary Hill
I generally like things like this where an album is created by taking the track list of a famous album and having different artists reproduce the songs.

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Various Artists - Animals Reimagined - A Tribute To Pink Floyd
Review by Gary Hill
Animals is, without question, my favorite Pink Floyd album. it's actually pretty high up on my list of best albums of all-time, too.

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Various Artists - Space Opera
Review by Gary Hill
This various artists collection is definitely not a tight fit under the prog heading. Probably the two biggest impediments to that categorization are the final two tracks.

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Various Artists - Dave Brock Presents This Was Your Future
Review by Gary Hill
This three CD set is pretty amazing stuff. It was compiled by Dave Brock, and as such you have to figure that it's packed full of space rock.

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Various Artists - Dark Exotica: As Dug By Lux & Ivy
Review by Gary Hill
This is an unusual double disc set. Let me say, right at the beginning, this is not progressive rock in a traditional sense

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Various Artists - OST-KRAUT! - Progressives aus den DDR-Archiven 1970-1975 - Teil 1
Review by Gary Hill
This album chronicles a lot of the early progressive rock scene in Germany. It's a double disc set and has some great music.

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Various Artists - OST-KRAUT! - Progressives aus den DDR-Archiven 1976-1982 Teil 2
Review by Gary Hill
Much like the previous edition of this series, this double disc collection gathers up some great German prog music.

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Various Artists - Wind Of Change – Progressive Sounds Of 1973, 4CD Box Set
Review by Gary Hill
This four-CD set has some great music contained within. We get some of the bigger prog acts in terms of songs from Renaissance, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Electric Light Orchestra, Procol Harum and Yes.

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Various Artists - Meddle Reimagined: A Tribute to Pink Floyd
Review by Gary Hill
Tribute albums like this are always interesting, but also often disappointing.

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Various Artists - Abbey Road Reimagined - A Tribute To The Beatles
Review by Gary Hill
The whole get a bunch of musicians together and record covers of an entire album thing is something I really like.

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Various Artists - sadness and oculi melancholiarum - springgarden
Review by Gary Hill
I need to get some conventions out of the way at the start of this. 

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Various Artists - Reimagining The Court Of The Crimson King
Review by Gary Hill
It's hard, in retrospect, to understand the importance of King Crimson's debut album. It really did set a new standard for what would be known as progressive rock.

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Vast Caldera - Vast Caldera 1
Review by Gary Hill

This new instrumental set is perhaps not the tightest fit under progressive rock, but I can't think of anywhere else it belongs. There is a real exploratory, freeform nature to much of this music.


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Cyrille Verdeaux Pascal Menetrey - Tribal Hybrid Concept
Review by Gary Hill
This isn’t progressive rock in the classic sense, but it does have ties to that sound.

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Carl Verheyen - Mustang Run
Review by Gary Hill
Carl Verheyen is probably best known for his tenure in Supertramp.

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Carl Verheyen - Alone: Solo Guitar Improvisations Volume 2
Review by Gary Hill
I don’t know if this fits into progressive rock. I’d say some of it does.

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Carl Verheyen - Sundial
Review by Gary Hill
Let me just say at the start that this is landed under progressive rock because Carl Verheyen, through his work with Supertramp and other projects is considered a prog artist, not because of the music here.

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Vertacyn Arc Materializer - Phlodd
Review by Gary Hill
This act is not precisely a progressive rock outfit. They are definitely art rock, though.

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VHF - Very High Frequency
Review by Gary Hill
What an amazing set this is. In fact, it is likely to make my “best of 2014” list.

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Mark Vickness - Places
Review by Gary Hill
Mark Vickness is being billed as progressive rock in some materials. If you compare him to California Guitar Trio, that label fits.

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Mark Vickness - Interconnected
Review by Gary Hill

I previously reviewed another disc from Mark Vickness. I put that one under progressive rock.


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Mark Vickness - MVI (Mark Vickness Interconnected) - In the Rain Shadow
Review by Gary Hill
The mellow sounds here are in keeping with the kind of music I've learned to expect from him. World music, new age and fusion are all at play.

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Vie Jester - Cognisense EP
Review by Gary Hill
I know I’m going to hear it over this one.

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Vie Jester - Etches in Aether
Review by Gary Hill
I consider this progressive rock, but it’s definitely modern prog.

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Vie Jester - All in Jest
Review by Gary Hill
I previously landed these guys under progressive rock. I'm going to stick with that decision here.

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The Vigilance Committee - Exit a Hero
Review by Gary Hill
This is definitely progressive rock as far as I’m concerned.

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Viima - Väistyy Mielen Yö
Review by Gary Hill
Viima always deliver strong music. Their sound lives somewhere between folk music and symphonic prog, at times encompassing both.

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Vincent Van Beethoven - Needle and Thread
Review by Gary Hill
I saw the name of this artist and immediately thought of Camper Van Beethoven because I am such a big fan of that band.

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Vinyl Floor - Apogee
Review by Gary Hill
This isn't the best fit under progressive rock. Some of it definitely does not fit under that category at all.

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Vinyl Floor - Funhouse Mirror
Review by Gary Hill
I've reviewed several albums from Vinyl Floor over the years. I generally land them under progressive rock, despite the fact that it's not what I'd consider a tight fit.

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Vinyl Soup - Chasing Yesterday
Review by Gary Hill
Vinyl Soup is another of a growing list of bands that incorporate jam band stylings into their music, but the influences definitely don't stop there.

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Violents - and Monica Martin - Awake and Pretty Much Sober
Review by Gary Hill
This is an intriguing project. Violents is Jeremy Larson.

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Violet Rose - Plastic EP
Review by Gary Hill
The mix of sounds here hasa lot of pop music in it. It's definitely electronic music more than anything else.

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Vipid - Memories
Review by Gary Hill
If you are a fan of instrumental electronic prog albums by artists like Synergy, this should feel familiar to you. It's very much in line with that school of music.

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Virgo - Four Seasons
Review by Gary Hill
Virgo was a German fusion band from the 1970s.

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Visionoir - The Waving Flame of Oblivion
Review by Gary Hill
The music here lands somewhere between progressive rock and heavy metal. At different times it seems to lean more in one direction than the other.

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Vitral - Entre As Estrelas
Review by Gary Hill
This is an instrumental album from a Brazilian band. There are three songs here.

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VIVIAN - Pressure Makes Diamonds
Review by Gary Hill
You might expect, from the name of this act, that it's a solo artist. That's not true.

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Von Zamla - 1983
Review by Gary Hill

A compilation of live performances from 1983, this disc is a great prog jam type of album with definite King Crimson leanings. It is also very jazz oriented, and has some considerably strong material on it.


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The Von - Ei8ht
Review by Gary Hill
You might disagree with this landing in the progressive rock section. There is definitely plenty of psychedelia and seven stoner rock here.

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The Von - 3Nity
Review by Gary Hill
Perhaps this one's not the tightest fit under a prog rock heading.

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Vowws - The Great Sun
Review by Gary Hill
I don’t know if this is progressive rock or not.

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