Symphony 2013

Not that those looking for plans on how to build a rocket ship out of 2X4s care, but my 2013 Symphony extravaganza is going swimmingly! I'm just over one third of the way done (currently listening to Tchaikovsky's 4th). I stripped out a bunch from the original list that weren't proper symphonies... perhaps I'll do a Symphonic Poem spree one day, though the next type will probably be concertos. I do so loves me a good piano or violin concerto. I'd love me a good accordion concerto but thems are rare birds. Electric guitar concerto, not so rare thanks to Yngwie. Also, I thought I liked the symphonies of Brahms more than I do, though I still like most of his first. And #9 by Schubert? I keep forgetting how killer that beast actually is. Now that I've got that out of my system, you may continue on with some other more-frequently-updated site.

Review - Phil Keaggy - Acoustic Sketches

Another one that hasn't lured me back since I reviewed it.

Phil Keaggy is one of those guitarists who are regularly listed in Guitar Player magazine in a "Best Guitarist" list or as someone's influence, and yet he has never achieved national recognition. On the guitar, he is more than good. He is a legend. Guitarists hear his music and openly drool at his impressive array of styles and techniques.

His latest release, the all-instrumental Acoustic Sketches, was originally offered as a fan club special. Recorded in his digital studio, the majority of the selections feature Phil improvising over rhythmic tape loops, much like he does in his solo concerts. Other selections are carefully multi-tracked excursions into flowing arrangements or jaunty Celtic melodies. While it is true that Keaggy can machine-gun out a flurry of notes, most of the pieces on this disc are on the mellow side, meditative without sacrificing musical content (John Tesh this is not). The pieces are tasteful, pleasant offerings that are free from the restraints of having to meet some commercial goal. And perhaps that is why I didn't like it as much as I'd hoped. While Keaggy can produce more musical colors out of an acoustic guitar than anyone I've ever heard, after an hour of ONLY acoustic guitar, my ear yearns to hear a different color. This is only a personal preference, however, as I've known guitarists and non-guitarists alike who happily immerse themselves into hour after hour of Keaggy's music.

Personal favorites include "Paka" with it's mind-blowing, playful picking; "Metamorphosis", a warm and friendly journey with Celtic overtones; and the jazzy "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" which contains the only other instrument on the CD, a tuba. Through the years, I have given many Keaggy CD's as gifts and this one will be no exception. Guitarists will enjoy the detailed liner notes, indicating the guitar and tunings used and non-guitarists enjoy the free, restful melodies. The only difficult part is finding it! I have found Keaggy's music categorized in the classical section, the rock section, and even in the inspirational section. But the music is well worth the search.

This article first appeared in WhatzUp, November 1998.

Review - Phil Keaggy - Underground

One of the first Phil Keaggy albums I heard... and it's still good. A bit rough sonically but tons of heart!

Way back in 1983 before every Tom, Dick and Jane had their own giga-track digital home studio, a persistent cabal of musicians and engineers hobbled together their own studios out of outdated studio gear, jute twine and sheer ingenuity.

One of these illuminati was world-renowned guitarist Phil Keaggy. Using the revolutionary Teac 144 Porta-Studio (a massive bit of machinery giving the user a whopping four tracks of glorious tape hiss) and a converted basement, Keaggy recorded his first “fan club” album, Underground. Being limited to four tracks (a bit more if you bounce, but this isn’t a technical manual) really makes the artist distill the music to it’s essence. Most of these songs consist of guitar, bass, keyboards, a few vocal parts and drum machine. Before you recoil in disgust, remember that it was 1983 and, although everyone was in fact doing it, Keaggy had the foresight to not attempt to make these early, limited rhythm machines sound like a drummer ... usually.

One thing I had forgotten about this album is the number of intricate, very well recorded bass lines. “Paid In Full”, just one of many instrumental delights, is one example, as is “What A Love,” which features some great guitar work and Beatlesque vocal harmonies. It was good to hear such longtime favorites as “One In A Million,” a love song to his wife with a catchy chorus melody against some gritty rock guitars;,and “Think About It,” whose use of clinking bottles in the complicated rhythm section and spooky minor key melody will ensure a good crop of goose bumps. If any two songs are known from this album they would be “The Two of You,” a nice wedding song free of the usual clichés, and “The Survivor,” an epic pro-life song arranged with only voice, acoustic guitar and light keyboards.

Like any re-release worth its weight in plastic, two unreleased tracks are included: “A Glorious Sunset,” a pleasant instrumental straight off The Wind And The Wheat; and “When I Say I Love You,” a nice love song to his daughter.

For years I had to make do with a taped copy from a record borrowed from a friend, so having these gems in digital splendor is nice. It does, however, reveal the limitations of the source material, that being a standard cassette tape. This is not to say that the recordings sound awful, just a bit restrained in their sonic scope. This “limitation” may also result from the music not being squashed and processed “to the max” like today’s Pro-Tools-engineered music. Regardless of whatever sonic limitations may or may not exist, what really shines through is Keaggy’s warmth and enthusiasm. These songs were originally recorded at leisure as gifts to share with immediate family members and close friends. As such, there is a freedom and confidence within that gives them lasting appeal, even close to 20 years later.

While much of Keaggy’s music appeals only to guitarists, the songs on Underground are so fresh and accessible that I urge all lovers of classic rock to visit www.philkeaggy.com and order a copy for your collection.

This review first appeared in WhatzUp, August 2002.

Review - A Proggy Christmas

Great stuff herein! I'll be torturing my family with this one for years!

When I first learned that Neal Morse was joining up with a bunch of pals under the guise of The Prog World Orchestra and creating a Christmas album, I heard jingle of bells… or maybe that was the sound of money leaving my bank account. In either case it wasn’t long before A Proggy Christmas was delightfully massaging my ears.

As one might expect from Morse and co, the album is a mixture of reverence and fun, a kind of Mannheim Steamroller meets Trans-Siberian Orchestra with a bit more tasteful restraint. Or maybe not. Just listen to album highlight “Frankincense” and you’ll hear the maniacs mash the Edgar Winters classic with “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman”, “Deck The Halls” and others. Or watch the video online if you care to see Frankenstein’s monster and Santa duke it out in an 8-bit arena. Another personal favorite is “Carol of the Bells,” a metal magnet if ever there was. In this case they start it big and majestic with a massive string section which builds up to… a solo clavinet gettin’ funky! The song gets more wigged out as it progresses along its 7:40 length, weaving the familiar “Bells” theme around dissonant accompaniments, bass gurgles and hairy guitar tones. Of all the songs on the album this the one most likely to make unsuspecting holiday guests put you on the naughty list. But wait, there’s more! “Home For The Holidays” is done up in a playful, almost cheesy, country-lounge style and I’d bet a fiver that they are using a cheap Casio for the piano. Then there’s “Shred Ride – Sleigh Ride.” Guitar antics? Gratuitous drum fills? Glitzy showboating? The famous final piano chord from “A Day In The Life”? It’s all in there! There’s also “The Little Drummer Boy” with Mike Portnoy at the kit. It’s exactly what you would expect, if you are expecting complete prog-rawk awesomeness!

But it’s not all hot dogging and flash. “Joy To The World,” while allowing plenty of space for tasteful guitar solos, is majestic, powerful and orchestral enough to not offend anyone’s auntie. “O Holy Night”, “Silent Night / We All Need Some Light” and “The Christmas Song” are given traditional, acoustic treatments, providing relaxed counterpoint to the rocker songs around them. The yin and yang make for a very pleasant listen.

Most of the songs on A Proggy Christmas are instrumentals with Morse singing a verse now and then for variety. Joining Mr. Morse are such prog-rock giants as Mike Portnoy, Steve Hackett, Roine Stolt, Steve Morse, Randy George and Pete Trewavas plus talented members of Neal’s touring band whose names you might not recognize now but will in a few years. The combination of this group of friendly giants makes for one of the most original and enjoyable Christmas albums I’ve heard since A Kustard Kristmas.

Review - Stolen Babies - Naught

As much as I listened to their first album I'm surprised that I haven't returned to this one even once since I reviewed it. Sure, I'm making a conscious effort to avoid darker music but this one had it's light and fun moments. Maybe it's a summer album...

The first album by Stolen Babies, There Be Squabbles Ahead, was my top album in a year filled with very strong albums. The bass-centric songs were heavy on melody and a carefree, slyly winking attitude permeated the entire album. A mere half-decade later the band has completed Naught and was picked to join Devin Townsend on the road.

The first thing I noticed on Naught is that it is quite a bit darker, both in tone and subject matter. Songs like “Dried Moat” open with elastic guitars and lyrics of “The entrance to Hell is right outside my window / I stay in / It’s no better inside.” “Don’t Know” is a dripping, musty root cellar filled with lyrics of “You don’t know what pain is yet / But in time you won’t remember how you lived without it”, giving me the same icky goose bumps as the music of The Paper Chase. And then there’s the industrial-tinged “I Woke Up” with freaky, screechingly whispered lyrics and sounds right out of the original Evil Dead movie, all with a few Black Sabbath nods.

To offset the dark the band really digs deep into their love of Danny Elfman. The mournful “Swimming Hole”, although eerie, adds a hint of Edward Scissorhands as wonderous, magical bells lead up to a dramatic, cabaret-influenced second half. “Behind the Days” is filled with unusual instrumentation including a violin, bells, clarinets, and a bevy of voices that give this unnerving song a feel as if it was lifted out of Nightmare Before Christmas, perhaps an outtake of the occupants singing on a fog-filled cobblestone street. “Mousefood” brings in some of their heavier sound with machine gun kick drums, discombobulated meters, and disjointed call and answer vocal parts sung in such a variety of voices that almost feel like a play mashed down into a song. “Never Come Back” and “Civil Disguise” also hit you like a brick, if that brick just happens to be shaped like an accordion. Have I forgot to mention that the female lead vocalist, who easily flips between silken and screamo, also plays an accordion? Don’t worry: in this bizarro avant-garde world where any musical style goes the accordion fits right in. Nowhere is this more explicit than in “Splatter,” perhaps my favorite song on the album where Japanese pop meets disco and bubbles over into an industrial noise rock brew that peels paint from the walls. “Prankster” starts with spooky haunted house music that becomes an ambling corpse shambling to techno rock while “Birthday Song” is a simple, jaunty, nearly silly take on twisted surf music with a party of uniquely vocalized guests.

All in all, the main songwriter has been doing quite a bit of all-out composing and it gives the album an orchestrated, lush feel. There are so many differing musical styles and enough tonal variety to populate a midnight carnival that things are bound to sound a bit thrown together but somehow Stolen Babies makes it all fit into one tent. But no matter how weird, heavy, light, dark, playful, or menacing the songs are on Naught they are always catchy enough to be quarantined by the CDC.

Review - Heather Miller - Send Me An Angel

I liked the last song so much that I bought the single years after giving away the CD. Is this artist even still around? It seems to me that this was a case of a rockier songwriter who management tried to fit into a glossier, radio-friendly, soulful style.

For me, this album is quite a mixed bag. To begin with, Heather Miller has a solid, strong voice that is capable of great emotion. For the majority of the album, however, she slips into an urban style (which I find whiney) that makes her difficult to distinguish from the mass of singers who also use this style. Even so, her voice is never thin and she exerts great vocal control. Miller co-wrote almost every song on the album, songs which demonstrate her mastery of the contemporary pop/urban genre. The songs are mostly straight-forward, as pop songs should be, with some really good melodies to stick in yer craw. For example, "If She Could See", a song about a lost friend, has a great uneven chorus melody and the radio single "We Will See Him" has the requisite singable anthemic chorus. The majority of the songs are geared for MOR radio play, which doesn't give it a lot of credence in my book, but again if I heard these songs on the radio, they are of high enough song-writing quality that they would at least catch my ear. For me, the two strongest songs are where Miller proves that she can rock. "On His Way Home" combines her urban style with an aggressive rock groove that grabs the body and demands a response. Her voice really shines on this song, allowing her to open up and show a broad range of expressiveness. The other ripper is the album closer, "Tell Me Why" which opens softly, with a resigned Miller asking "Tell me why does a good man die?" before the pleading chorus literally ignites in a blaze of guitars. If only the entire album was like these two songs it would, well, it wouldn't sell as many copies as it probably would in it's current state. Lyrically the album searches spiritual issues with a great deal of maturity and honesty. Given that the album is co-produced (and some songs co-written) by a member of DC Talk, this should come as no surprise. Overall, it's a strong album that should find a welcome home for fans of urban contemporary pop.

This review first appeared in WhatzUp, June 2000.

Review - Sara Groves - Conversations

Apparently this lady has gone on to fame and ?fortune? inside the CCM world. I remember thinking this album was a very good start and genuinely enjoyable, just not my cuppa tea. Kind of like a female Michael Card.

After recording one of the highest selling indie albums in recent years, Sara Groves entertained a number of offers from large companies. Instead of giving in to the image-making machine, she opted to partner with a company that would allow her to develop her artistic voice. The result is Conversations, an album that grows on me with each listen and one which my wife plays constantly. Musically Sara describes herself as "neo-folk/pop" and there is definitely a folk sensibility to her music with some nice pop hooks that go along nicely with the acoustic serenity that accompanies her Joni Mitchell-like vocals. Shades of Sarah McLachlan and Shawn Colvin are also apparent in her music but Sara's lyrics are where she sets herself apart. Brazenly honest, thought provoking, deeply spiritual and introspective, Conversations allows the listener to eves-drop on Sara's prayers, dreams, and discussions with others. The sobering "What Do I Know?" finds an eighty-eight year old friend of Groves sharing that despite a life of faith, she is afraid to die. A piano and string quartet provide a sparse background to this stark tale that ends with unexpected hope. In contrast, "Pictures of Egypt" employs a full band with Groves being kicked out of the nest of security with lines such as "The future feels so hard and I want to go back / The places that used to fit me / Cannot hold the things I've learned." "The Journey Is My Own" finds Groves looking back on the changes in her life with some emotive, cathartic melodies and a song that grows and develops as one suspects does the experience of the singer. The track which seems to capture her personality the best is the final track which features Sara alone on the piano with a swinging, rolling melody, recorded live. While definitely not for everyone, folk and pop-folk fans would definitely enjoy the tantalizing melodies and powerful yet vulnerable, introspective lyrics. Sara Groves is the real deal: an honest musician and (dare I say it?) poet who is more interested in expressing herself and making music than making a buck. This review first appeared in WhatzUp, May 2001.