Ever wanted to find out about a band or artiste, but lacked the time --- or inclination, or money ---- to listen to all their albums, or click every video of them on YouTube? Here's where my “Beginner's Guide” may come in handy. Although my other section, “Taking centre stage”, goes deeply into an artiste and talks a lot about them, how they started, their successes and failures, lists their albums and showcases some of their work, they're a little detailed for someone just wondering if they'd be into this artiste.
So this is hopefully a quicker, snappier way of making that decision. I'll choose an artiste, write a
little about them and post what I consider to be their best (and perhaps worst) output. That way you can get a feel for them, see if they may be worth checking out, or if you should probably steer clear of them after all. Needless to say, these will all be artistes I am myself into, and ones I know about and can feel somewhat qualified talking about.
Threshold
So our first Beginner's Guide is to Threshold, whom a lot of you may not know. They're an English prog rock band who have been going for over thirty years now, and have released, to date (2011) nine albums, as well as four live ones and a video. The current lineup of the band is as follows:
Andrew “Mac” MacDermott --- vocals (see note 1)
Karl Groom --- lead guitar
Richard West --- keyboards
Johanne James --- drums (see note 2)
Steve Anderson --- bass (see note 3)
Nick Midson --- guitar (see note 4)
After three decades of recording, Threshold have gone through some staff changes over the years, including some who have left and come back, as explained in the notes below, but here we're just concentrating on the current incarnation. As I introduce each album below, I will note any changes in membership.
Note 1: MacDermott is the current vocalist, but prior to 1998's “Clone”, his duties were performed by Damian Wilson, who was there at the inception of the band. He sang on both debut “Wounded land” and “Extinct instinct”, their third album, with vocals on the second one, “Psychedelicatessen”, being handled by Glyn Morgan.
Note 2: Johann James plays drums for Threshold now, but has only been with them since the fifth album, “Hypothetical”. Prior to that, there have been a succession of occupants of the drumstool, including Tony Grinham, Nick Harradence and Mark Heaney.
Note 3: Although Steve Anderson is the current bassist, he has only been with Threshold since the last-but-one album, “Subsurface”. Before that, bass duties were carried out by Jon Jeary.
Note 4: Midson left after “Subsurface”, and Groom became the sole guitarist in the band.
Wounded land (1993)
Threshold's first album, “Wounded land”, was released in 1993. For a debut it's quite incredible, with only nine tracks but no duds. Two of the tracks are over ten minutes long, the best of these being the amazing “Surface to air”, and then there's the gorgeous little two-and-a-half-minute ballad, “Keep it with mine”. Being the debut album, “Wounded land” features original vocalist Damian Wilson, drummer Tony Grinham and bass player Jon Jeary.
The first track I want to feature from this wonderful album is the already-mentioned “Surface to air”. Over ten minutes long, it's a real
tour-de-force, starting off like a ballad, almost Rushesque, with powerful string section on synth. Ninety seconds in it explodes into a full-blown rocker, very epic and dramatic, great guitars from Groom and Midson. Halfway through it gets very bluesy, with some great solos, then picks up again for a boppy, prog-rock ending.
The other extreme then is the shortest track, a ballad with no intricate sections, no convoluted playing, nothing but the acoustic guitar and synth backing. “Keep it with mine” still stands, even after all these years and nine albums, as one of my favourite Threshold tracks.
Psychedelicatessen (1994)
Only a year later and Threshold were back, with “Psychedelicatessen” (cool title!), which while no “Wounded land”, has some great tracks on it. I've chosen “A tension of souls” as a real example of how heavy and powerful Threshold can get (sorry about the anime video!).
The other example is another heavy song, the closer, “Devoted”. Vocals are different on this album, as it's Glyn Morgan doing the singing. In addition, the drummer is Nick Harradence.
Extinct instinct (1997)
That takes us three years into the future, and they released “Extinct instinct”, their longest ever album, with twelve tracks, clocking in at just over sixty-seven minutes in total. There are loads of good tracks to choose from, but I've gone for the heavy, almost doom metal “Lake of despond”
and the acoustic ballad closer, “Mansion”.
A return to vocal duties for Damian Wilson, with Mark Heaney occupying the drumstool.
Clone (1998)
Only a year later, again, and 1998 saw the emergence of Threshold's current vocalist, Andrew “Mac” MacDonald, for their fourth album, the brilliant “Clone”. I've purposely restricted myself to two tracks per album in this section, and it's just as well, as to be fair I could feature the whole thing, it's that good! But which to choose? Well, without question, one of my favourite Threshold songs of all time, the closer “Sunrise on Mars” has to be one of them,
and I'll go for, let me, see... hmm. Ok, well let's try the powerful “Goodbye mother Earth”.
Phew! Okay, that's
that decision made! Take my word though, and seek out the whole album. It really is worth it.
Hypothetical (2001)
Another three years then to the next Threshold album, but wow, was it worth waiting for! After the opus that was “Clone”, they were going to have a lot to live up to. And they did. “Hypothetical” is a great, great album, and again it's really hard to choose just two tracks to represent it, but choose I must. So I'm going for “Keep my head”, a ballad
and another of my favourites, and definitely my favourite on the album, the ten-minute epic “Narcissus”.
Again though, check out the full album if you can.
Oh yeah, this album marked the end of drummer Mark Heaney's tenure on the stool, and he was replaced by Johanne James, as the true lineup of Threshold began to coalesce.
Critical mass (2002)
Threhold seem to go on a basis of an album this year, another next year, and then next three years later, and this is borne out with the release of “Critical mass”, which hit the shelves in 2002, one year after “Hypothetical”. This album marks the last contribution of bassist Jon Jeary. He would be replaced on the next album by Steve Anderson, who then completes the current lineup.
From this album I've chosen the heavy opener, “Phenomenon”
and the thirteen-minute closing title track.
Subsurface (2004)
2004's “Subsurface” breaks the chain, being released only two years after “Critical mass”, and I have reviewed it extensively, so I'll just say it's one of Threshold's best albums, and here I'll feature tracks that are not included in the review. Bass player Steve Anderson joins up, to give us the lineup we have today.
Starting off then with “Opium”
and ending with “Pressure”,
but if this interests you do go back and read the full review of “Subsurface”.
Dead reckoning (2007)
And that brings us to the latest album, 2007's “Dead reckoning”, which re-establishes the practice of leaving three years between albums. The only lineup change for this album was that longtime rhythm guitarist Nick Midson left, so that Karl Groom took over all guitar duties.
From this album I'm featuring “Hollow”
and the excellent “Safe to fly”.
So that's your introduction to Threshold. I hope it's been of use to you, and may encourage one or two of you to seek out the albums, or at least some of them. Threshold are something of an underrated band, but they don't deserve to be. They have a new album scheduled for release next year, and I for one can't wait.