The Prog Rock Album Club

Unknown Soldier · 11-27-2013, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Thanks guys! I think this is the way to go. If I really love (or hate) an album I'll more than likely review it for my journal, so shorter, snappier entries are probably better here than long-drawn or "Trollheart-style" reviews. Of course, if that's what you want to do you're perfectly welcome, but I'll probably follow the example of Ant and US and do a relatively short review of my album.

Which should be up tomorrow or Saturday.

Given the date, I'd say extend the deadline to the end of the month, after which the next person up should have their four choices ready for us. Naturally, the deadline is not carved in stone and if you miss it you can still post a review after it, but it would be nice to get everything tied up so that we can all concentrate on our next album(s).

Who's next anyway?

Just added the album cover to mine, so it looks neat like Ants

Trollheart · 11-30-2013, 11:19 AM

War and peace and other short stories --- Sean Filkins – 2011

I was never really supposed to hear this album. I had no idea who Sean Filkins was, but downloaded it on the advice of Progarchives, who included it as one of their top albums of 2011. It was only when I was out and looking for something new to play off my Zen that I came across it and thought “Ah sure why not? It'll probably be crap.” But it wasn't.

The voice of Sean Filkins, I later found out, can be heard on Big Big Train's albums from 2001 to 2009, including the excellent “Gathering speed”, and this is his first solo effort. Produced by Karl Groom, guitarist with Threshold, it features guest appearances from some of the cream of progressive rock, with the likes of John Sammes from Indigo Pilots on keys, John Mitchell from Arena and It Bites on guitar, Gary Chandler from Jadis and Spock's Beard's Dave Meros. There are only six tracks in all but he does not skimp on the length of tracks, with two twenty-minute tracks and another that runs for eleven. The opener is weird but once you get to know Filkins's music, typical of the man. Titled “Are you sitting comfortably?” it's literally an introduction to the album, with the sound of tea being poured, cups clinking and a televison or radio switching on, while in the background “Jerusalem” plays on a low organ. Quite Pink Floyd circa “The final cut” really.

There are some excellent tracks here, and Filkins makes great use of sound effects, particuarly in the third track, “Prisoner of conscience part 1: the soldier.” However it's in the almost-closer, the twenty-minute epic “Epitaph for a mariner” that we really see Filkins come into his own. With an opening from another hymn, “Eternal father, strong to save”, it sets the scene for the story of a sailor trying to survive a massive storm at sea, and goes through many different changes along the way. I think I would have liked the album to end on this but there is another track to close, and though it's good it's a pale shadow of “Epitaph”, which features some amazing guitar work and some quite stunning, almost electronica synth as well.

All in all, a pretty excellent album and one I'm very glad I got to hear, if only accidentally. Looking forward to his next effort, whenever that may emerge.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Trollheart · 12-01-2013, 05:50 AM

OK lads I know we're still waiting for a few reviews (Ninetales and DJ I believe: not sure if Big Ears is coming back?) but I'd like to move on with the next choices so whoever is up can you get your four albums together so we can select the one(s) we want to review for the first half of December?

Any reviews not yet posted can of course still be, but we need to move on and keep this going.

Thanks
TH

Anteater · 12-01-2013, 08:14 AM

I'll give the other lads another day or two to get their reviews up. Otherwise, I'll post up the next four albums at that point.

djchameleon · 12-01-2013, 01:18 PM

You can post up the next four albums. I don't know about Ninetails but I will have my review up either tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Anteater · 12-01-2013, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

You can post up the next four albums. I don't know about Ninetails but I will have my review up either tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Okeydoke.

Ninetales · 12-01-2013, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

You can post up the next four albums. I don't know about Ninetails but I will have my review up either tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Ya ill post mine tomorrow morning methinks. Sorry for being so late

djchameleon · 12-02-2013, 06:48 AM

Invertigo - Next Stop Vertigo

Take this mini-review with a grain of salt because I don't listen to prog bands regularly. I don't know why it bothers me but I know being in this club I will have to get used to listening to 7 to 9 min. tracks. I did like how easy they play on entire album transitioning from a very smooth mellow sound to a more metallized one at different times. Special ended up being my favorite track and I really loved the melodic solos in it. Take Your Time is also another track that really stood out to me. Sebastian Brennert's voice is very soothing and lends itself well to the dueling between keyboards and guitar playing. If I had to give this album a rating it would be 3.5 stars out of five. Overall it is a nice and catchy album with enough memorable parts to be fully appreciated by all prog fans I believe.

Trollheart · 12-02-2013, 11:25 AM

Nice one DJ, specially for someone who isn't really that into prog. I certainly found the album very relaxing; parts of it really reminded me of Supertramp. But yeah, long epic songs often go hand-in-hand with reviewing prog albums I'm afraid. Glad you got something out of it though.

Just to let you know though, we rate out of 10, so can we take it that's a 7/10 for you?

Ninetales · 12-02-2013, 12:32 PM

War and Peace & Other Short Stories by Sean Filkins

Aight let's do this biz. I should preface this by saying that kind of like dj i am in no way a veteran at prog listening. I wouldnt say i actively dislike it or anything, but i would rarely find myself pining for prog sans a few choice favorites. Thats probably the reason i wanted to join this club; it's a way for me to expand my tastes so to speak.

Anyway on to the album at hand. This album actually surprised me quite a bit. I have this strange habit of predicting how much i will like an album based solely on its cover and and like i said previously, I dont think this one is very good (Is that Ron Jeremy sitting on the bench?!). But, well, I dont think this is album is bad. The first half of The English Eccentric reminds of Genesis (something from Selling England by the Pound maybe??) and may be my favorite part of the whole album. It's extremely catchy and the vocals came it at the perfect time to compliment it. One of the biggest criticisms I have of this and prog in general is that it has a tendency to drag on too long. I am a fan of long songs, many of my fav songs are 10+ minutes, but I found that a lot of Filkins' songs seemed to veer off in a whole bunch of directions without much closure before a new song started. Both The English Eccentric and Prisoner of Conscience (i did like the beginning of walking through leaves with birds chirping tho) end on these guitar solos that wouldve rathered not be there and Epitaph had this long grandiose intro that was haulted by the awkward transition to his vocals. That being said, the rest of Epitaph was very good. I actually quite like how the album ended too. A very mellow ending to an album full of excitement.

I found myself liking the vocal parts of this album more than the instrumental parts, which is odd since I usually find myself latching onto the latter. The only track I didnt really like was Prisoner of Conscience pt 2. It sounded eerily similar to Dont Stop Believing by Journey *shudders*. Still this album did exceed my expectations and maybe I should stop judging a book by its cover (unlikely though haha). Id probably give it a 7/10 if forced to rate it.

11-30-2013, 11:19 AM	#542 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	War and peace and other short stories --- Sean Filkins – 2011 I was never really supposed to hear this album. I had no idea who Sean Filkins was, but downloaded it on the advice of Progarchives, who included it as one of their top albums of 2011. It was only when I was out and looking for something new to play off my Zen that I came across it and thought “Ah sure why not? It'll probably be crap.” But it wasn't. The voice of Sean Filkins, I later found out, can be heard on Big Big Train's albums from 2001 to 2009, including the excellent “Gathering speed”, and this is his first solo effort. Produced by Karl Groom, guitarist with Threshold, it features guest appearances from some of the cream of progressive rock, with the likes of John Sammes from Indigo Pilots on keys, John Mitchell from Arena and It Bites on guitar, Gary Chandler from Jadis and Spock's Beard's Dave Meros. There are only six tracks in all but he does not skimp on the length of tracks, with two twenty-minute tracks and another that runs for eleven. The opener is weird but once you get to know Filkins's music, typical of the man. Titled “Are you sitting comfortably?” it's literally an introduction to the album, with the sound of tea being poured, cups clinking and a televison or radio switching on, while in the background “Jerusalem” plays on a low organ. Quite Pink Floyd circa “The final cut” really. There are some excellent tracks here, and Filkins makes great use of sound effects, particuarly in the third track, “Prisoner of conscience part 1: the soldier.” However it's in the almost-closer, the twenty-minute epic “Epitaph for a mariner” that we really see Filkins come into his own. With an opening from another hymn, “Eternal father, strong to save”, it sets the scene for the story of a sailor trying to survive a massive storm at sea, and goes through many different changes along the way. I think I would have liked the album to end on this but there is another track to close, and though it's good it's a pale shadow of “Epitaph”, which features some amazing guitar work and some quite stunning, almost electronica synth as well. All in all, a pretty excellent album and one I'm very glad I got to hear, if only accidentally. Looking forward to his next effort, whenever that may emerge. Rating: 9 out of 10 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-01-2013, 05:50 AM	#543 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	OK lads I know we're still waiting for a few reviews (Ninetales and DJ I believe: not sure if Big Ears is coming back?) but I'd like to move on with the next choices so whoever is up can you get your four albums together so we can select the one(s) we want to review for the first half of December? Any reviews not yet posted can of course still be, but we need to move on and keep this going. Thanks TH __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-02-2013, 11:25 AM	#549 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Nice one DJ, specially for someone who isn't really that into prog. I certainly found the album very relaxing; parts of it really reminded me of Supertramp. But yeah, long epic songs often go hand-in-hand with reviewing prog albums I'm afraid. Glad you got something out of it though. Just to let you know though, we rate out of 10, so can we take it that's a 7/10 for you? __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-02-2013, 12:32 PM	#550 (permalink)
Ninetales Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: livin wild Posts: 2,179	War and Peace & Other Short Stories by Sean Filkins Aight let's do this biz. I should preface this by saying that kind of like dj i am in no way a veteran at prog listening. I wouldnt say i actively dislike it or anything, but i would rarely find myself pining for prog sans a few choice favorites. Thats probably the reason i wanted to join this club; it's a way for me to expand my tastes so to speak. Anyway on to the album at hand. This album actually surprised me quite a bit. I have this strange habit of predicting how much i will like an album based solely on its cover and and like i said previously, I dont think this one is very good (Is that Ron Jeremy sitting on the bench?!). But, well, I dont think this is album is bad. The first half of The English Eccentric reminds of Genesis (something from Selling England by the Pound maybe??) and may be my favorite part of the whole album. It's extremely catchy and the vocals came it at the perfect time to compliment it. One of the biggest criticisms I have of this and prog in general is that it has a tendency to drag on too long. I am a fan of long songs, many of my fav songs are 10+ minutes, but I found that a lot of Filkins' songs seemed to veer off in a whole bunch of directions without much closure before a new song started. Both The English Eccentric and Prisoner of Conscience (i did like the beginning of walking through leaves with birds chirping tho) end on these guitar solos that wouldve rathered not be there and Epitaph had this long grandiose intro that was haulted by the awkward transition to his vocals. That being said, the rest of Epitaph was very good. I actually quite like how the album ended too. A very mellow ending to an album full of excitement. I found myself liking the vocal parts of this album more than the instrumental parts, which is odd since I usually find myself latching onto the latter. The only track I didnt really like was Prisoner of Conscience pt 2. It sounded eerily similar to Dont Stop Believing by Journey shudders. Still this album did exceed my expectations and maybe I should stop judging a book by its cover (unlikely though haha). Id probably give it a 7/10 if forced to rate it.