Jazz flavored rock and just plain jazz makes a long awaited return in a couple of this month’s selections. Above average week.
Best of the Week
Amplifier - Hologram
2023 6 tracks (36:18)
With the maniacal offerings in a good portion of this week, this is a breath of fresh air. The clean structures and sturdy vocals provide a sense of Flying Colors. “Sweet Perfume” is a little different, a grinding ride through twisted guitar notes. I also liked “Hologram” a lot. In fact, there is nothing to not like and is quite the gem. A
The Necks - Travel
2023 4 tracks (1:16:58)
The Necks play “an abstract improvised jazzy mood” type of music. Long lingering passages dominated by drums, double bass, and usually piano but sometimes other keyboard variants. This could have easily fit in with the ECM catalog of stark jazz releases. The cut “Signal” is amazing. Very good listening. A-
Black Orchid Empire - Tempus Veritas
2023 11 tracks (37:32)
A solid effort by this UK band. They play a powerful form of dense rock, not too dissimilar to Haken. If fact, if I heard one of these tracks without knowing who the artist is, I would guess it’s Haken. And it’s not that they are a poor copycat of Haken by any imagination. I’ll take a good copycat any day. A-
Interesting Finds
Djabe & Steve Hackett - Live in Gyor
2023 21 tracks (2:11:23)
Lovely jazz rock fusion. Wonderful recording quality. Steve Hackett makes this lean a little more toward the prog rock zone and the use of horns in the main band set leans it toward the jazz side. Regardless of the balance, it’s a nice outing. As the whole album has two volumes of material, only the first volume was listened to for this report. It’s clear the whole effort is worthy of listening, probably best in its entirety rather than broken up in chunks. B
Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere - Theta Six
2023 12 tracks (1:15:18)
Maybe Orchestra from Outer Space would be more appropriate? If Edgar Varese was a modern day composer, he might have come up with this given the amount of unusual noises thrown in with a wide range of musical instruments. Melody in some instances is optional. A few of the tracks are a little too chaotic, but the longer pieces do get into a groove. B
Fates Warning - Long Day Good Night
2020 13 tracks (1:12:22)
I really enjoy Jim Matteos’ work as head of the band OSI, so it made sense to check out his main band he doesn’t sing in. As it turns out, OSI and Fates Warning aren’t kissing cousins - they aren’t related much at all. FW seems to be a nice run-of-the-mill heavy metal band with decent songs. C+
The Fierce & The Dead - News From the Invisible World
2023 8 tracks (42:09)
Okay prog rock with psychedelic overtones. Most of the ‘delic sounds emanate from the use of a lot of echo. Otherwise, it’s dressed up as throwback hard rock. In the end, there wasn’t much for keepers. C
Jason Bieler and the Baron Von Bielski Orchestra -
Postcards From the Asylum
2023 15 tracks (1:12:37)
Metal prog rock with a few loose nuts that can be enjoyed by other metal heads. Not simple by any means. Odd time signatures and quirky changes are often interesting with the harder edged guitars. Then a melody like “Birds of Prey” comes along with catchy hooks, acoustic piano, and harmonized vocals. So it may be all over the place, but still very enjoyable. B+
Blackfield - Blackfield
2005 10 tracks (37:29)
Somehow the collaboration work of Steve Wilson and Aviv Geffen, the artists that make up Blackfield, never made it on my radar. A recent compilation release suggested the first two albums (this one and Blackfield II) are the heart of their work. Wilson’s impact is unmistakable. In the pantheon of Wilson’s work, this sounds more like his sound from the 1990’s or more recent “The Raven That Refused To Sing” with more ethereal soundscapes and less edge. Which is fine, all of his releases have had value during any of what he’s done for thirty-odd years. B
Seven Impale - Summit
2023 4 tracks (43:57)
Are horns making a resurgence in rock, even hard rock? It’s not that the idea is new, King Crimson started using saxophone early on. But when the song “Hydra” kicked in, the liberal use of saxophone with a strong guitar based hard rock wasn’t out of place at all. It has jam space, some sounded like the second coming of Deep Purple. “Hunter”, on the other hand, is more like the Larks’ Tongue in Aspic” days of King Crimson. And, of course, they are from Bergen, Norway; the current home for eclectic prog music. That alone makes it worth a listen. B-
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