Music Street Journal - Music News & Reviews

This is a reissue of an album released on ATCO records in 1970. I’m amazed I’ve never heard of this band before.

I previously reviewed a set by the Erik Dahl Ensemble, but this is a solo set. I landed that one under prog, although it wasn't a slam dunk.

The music here is based heavily on classical and jazz concepts. The instrumentation is in keeping with that.

I don’t know for sure where this group fits musically.

This disc really surprised me. It’s not exactly my kind of music.

This is an intriguing instrumental album.

This is a concept album, but I'm not really clear on the concept. I do know that it opens and closes in the same place, after taking a ride across two CDs.

The new set from prog act DarWin, this might be even better than the first one. In fact, this is likely to make my "best of 2020" list.

This album is an interesting and quite effective one. It gathers up instrumental and unplugged versions of several tracks from the previous two DarWin albums.

This new set from Alan Davey is supposed to focus on the trippy side of music.

Alan Davey served as the bass player in Hawkwind for many years. In 2014 he did some gigs with a band called "Psychedelic Warlords."

Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters is a 1974 album from Robert Calvert. Calvert was best known for his time with Hawkwind, and the album included appearances from quite a few Hawkwind members including Dave Brock, Nik Turner and Lemmy Kilmister.

This album is so intriguing. It features a live performance of music that has a lot of jazz at its core.

Here is quite an intriguing album from Days Between Stations.

This is definitely progressive music. It's also definitely not "rock" music.

I’ve included this new vinyl release under progressive rock.

This is a bizarre, and particularly cool album. It's clearly a unique experience.

This is not your father’s progressive rock. It’s closely related to things like Kraftwerk, but also to RPWL and Porcupine Tree.

This disc was recorded by a quartet of musicians led by Graham Dechter who plays some amazing guitar.

This is quite an intriguing set. It features a sound that seems to be a merging of world music of the Indian variety, fusion and progressive rock.

I definitely would not put every Deep Purple album in progressive rock. This one, though, certainly qualifies.

To make it back after seven years culminating into eight for a studio album at this stage in the Deep Purple legacy was a big risk, but one I find to be smaller than the last time the name went eight years in existence without an album, which was 1976 to 1984.

Sometimes space rock sacrifices the rock part of the equation for the space. That's definitely not the case here.

This act isn't precisely progressive rock. They do have a lot of prog tendencies, and there is a real art rock edge to this stuff.

There is a style of progressive rock that is exclusive to Italy. This album definitely fits within that zone.

This outfit is apparently billed as techno-pop. I consider them more instrumental prog.

This is a set that would be pretty hard to categorize. I've put it under progressive rock, but it's definitely more on the art side of the equation.

This is quite a strong release. The blend of sounds that Delusion Squared creates is familiar, but they way they combine things is unique.

This progressive rock outfit consistently produces strong albums. Their sound is more on the AOR mainstream prog end of the spectrum.

Joe Deninzon's music is always both entertaining and creative. I have to say that this might very well be the best Stratospheerius album.

It seems so appropriate that this review is running in MSJ's final issue of 2018 because the CD of this was reviewed in the first issue of the year.

This new disc features an intriguing sound. I could almost put this under heavy metal, but ultimately I think progressive rock is the right place for it to go.

I know virtually nothing about this artist. I know the album was released in 2022.

This group is an Italian prog band. That is significant because Italian prog is a sub-genre all its own.

I have gone back and forth on whether to land this under progressive rock or not.

The music of this act is described as being based on science and mathematics without being math rock.

Is this progressive rock? Well, it’s sure not rock. But, if something like Kraftwerk fits under progressive rock, then so does this.

Dwiki Dhamawan is joined here by Jimmy Haslip, Chad Wackerman, Dewa Budjana, Tohpati and Jerry Goodman.

I have landed this under prog rock, but it's definitely more fusion oriented.

You just can't go wrong with Dwiki Dharmawan. His brand of fusion merged with world music is always effective.

I've reviewed quite a bit of music from Dwiki Dharmawan, but this might be his most intriguing album. I'd consider it to be one of the most unique.

As you might guess from the album title, all of the music here was written by the composer Béla Bartok. These are rock interpretations of the pieces, though.

This new live album is pretty awesome. Dialeto plays with guest violinist David Cross.

This is really a masterpiece. The mix of sounds here is classic and modern.

There are a lot of Pink Floyd elements here. That’s not to say the whole disc resembles Pink Floyd, though.

I've landed this under progressive rock. I'm sure that's going to upset some prog purists.

You will note that I have included this album in the progressive rock section of Music Street Journal.

Apparently this act is considered some type of dance music.

I recently reviewed an album from this band and really liked them.

This is not decidedly progressive rock in nature. It is, however, definitely progressive rock.

This new live set from District 97 is pretty strong. The band is a unique one, combining fusion, traditional prog, metal and more.

Chicago's District 97 put out consistently strong progressive rock. It's often too metallic for some prog purists, but it's definitely prog.

I'd bet you've never heard anything quite like this. I also won't be surprised at all if it makes my "best of 2019" list.

I previously reviewed an album with these two artists. On that one Hackett got the first billing.

When Life Is a Journey, the studio album released by Djabe and Steve Hackett came out recently, it made my best of the year list. So, I was anxious to hear this live set.

There is always something special about the music Djabe makes. They have previously made my "best of the year" list, and they just might land on my "best of 2020" list with this new release.

This new live album continues the trend of quality stuff from Djabe. Their music generally tends to land in the fusion zone, sometimes with healthy helpings of world music.

Djabe and Steve Hackett have worked together quite a bit over the years. The world jazz act and former Genesis guitarist who has pursued a brilliant solo career for a long time work really well together.

A few albums this time around have been mildly disappointing to me.

The one thing you can always count on with Djam Karet is quality.

While this is not necessarily progressive rock in the classic sense, it definitely fits. It's an instrumental set with two epic (the shortest of which is almost 14 minutes long) pieces.

I reviewed the first set in this series a while ago. I apparently made a mistake when I did that one and put it under OSC.

Dr. Space is otherwise known as Scott Heller, and he's the main guy behind Øresund Space Collective. He's always been involved in other projects, too.

When it comes to Dr. Space and his band Øresund Space Collective (or any of his other projects), you know you will get space music at least to some degree no matter the release.

Dr. Space is a busy guy. In addition to his main act Øresund Space Collective, he seems to appear and work on all kinds of other projects.

Dr. Space is probably best known for Øresund Space Collective, but he's really involved in so many projects.

Doctors of Space is Dr. Space (Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle and more) on synthesizer with Dr Martin Weaver (Wicked Lady, Dark) handling drums, bass and guitars.

You can't go wrong with projects from Doctor Space. That's the pseudonym used by Scott Heller in his musical projects.

While musically, not everything here is a slam dunk under progressive rock, this is billed as progressive pop rock. Additionally, there are some guests who have some serious prog pedigrees.

I suppose it might make sense to land this under non-prog because it’s jazz.

This is the latest album from Downes Braide Association.

I have to admit that I was initially drawn to this act because of Geoff Downes. As a fan of Yes and The Buggles, I follow his work.

You really can't go wrong with Downes Braide Association. This new album is a great example of that fact.

This is quite an intriguing set.

This album was Geoffrey Downes first foray down the New Dance Orchestra trail.

Some might consider this album to be full on jazz rather than fusion or progressive rock.

I almost landed this under "non-prog" because of the EDM characteristics of the set. The thing is, those are tempered by textures that are closer to things like Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and Synergy.

This set is intriguing. It has a lot of groove built into it. Space music, jazz and a lot more are part of the equation.

Terry Draper is probably best known as part of Klaatu.

Fans of Klaatu will want to pick this up pronto.

It’s a safe bet that most people know of Terry Draper from his work with Klaatu. This album in many ways feels more like his old band than some of his other solo albums have.

I've been noticing a trend in music lately. When CDs were first released their was a movement to fill up every bit of their additional space.

The latest album from Terry Draper of Klaatu fame, much of this feels as if it could have been released under that band name. There is a wide range of stuff here.

Terry Draper is probably best known as one of the members of Klaatu, and one of their songwriters. He's got quite a catalog of solo releases, though.

You can never go wrong with releases from Terry Draper. Draper first came to fame as part of the band Klaatu, but in more recent years he's released quite an impressive catalog of music.

I reviewed an earlier disc by this outfit and liked it a lot.

This is a double disc retrospective from Dreadnaught.

I really like Dreadnaught.

Here's what I can tell you about this band. You can't go wrong with their music.

Already a contender for best album of 2014, this is a series of mini-suites with the first two songs grouped together and then the next and so on, until the last three that make the longest suite of the bunch.

I discovered Dream Theater very early and became a big fan.

This is such a great album.

This isn’t a favorite Dream Theater album for me.

Dream Theater has been releasing records for 30 years now, and I’m happy to say that while there has never been a bad Dream Theater album, this new one is one that I would rank towards the top.

Looking at Dream Theater's back catalog, I decided to turn my attention to the final album to feature Kevin Moore as their keyboardist.

This British outfit has released quite an intriguing album.

Bass is the instrument of choice here. In fact, it's the only instrument.

I’ve reviewed the first album from these guys.

Is this progressive rock? Well, surely it’s not progressive rock in terms of the old school prog.

This album could land in the territory of electronic music. It seems a bit too organic for that, though.

This double CD compilation has some great music built into it. It focuses more on the soul side of George Duke's solo career.

I see this listed as "new age music." I'm not sure that's even still a thing.

I put the last set from Jon Durant that I reviewed under progressive rock, and I think this one belongs there, too. This is restrained and slowly moving music.

This is quite an intriguing set. While from a "describing each track" point of view, some of this sound pretty similar,

This release is dramatic and unusual. It’s also very entertaining.

At first I wasn’t going to put this into the progressive rock heading.

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