ben miler
Eloy: Ocean 2 – The Answer (1998)
It seems like in the 1990s, many prog rock artists have been recording sequels to their classic albums that were released in the 1970s. For example, Mike Oldfield giving us Tubular Bells in 1973, and then in 1992 giving us Tubular Bells II and in 1998 giving us Tubular Bells III. Rick Wakeman gave us […] Continue reading
UFO Journals (1978)
Now, it might seem strange to review a documentary on UFOs on a site like this, but this 1978 documentary UFO Journals deserves special mention. First, and foremost, the narrator. He has that tone of voice where it’s just so hilarious that it’s hard to believe anything that comes out of his mouth. The subjects […] Continue reading
Circle Magazine (formerly Circle Network News)
Too often you go to the supermarket and you see the usual on the shelves: shitty trendy magazines with anorexic supermodels with every other page advertising for Toyota, Ford, Maybelline, LorĂ©al, cereal, and useless trendy clothing. These magazines, of course, are a real sad example of the worst Corporate America has to offer. One magazine […] Continue reading
Porcupine Tree: The Sky Moves Sideways (1995)
Porcupine Tree was basically a project lead by Steven Wilson. Their earliest albums was recorded all by Wilson himself, but once he decided to tour, he assembled a real band. Like the Ozric Tentacles, Porcupine Tree got started by releasing privately-issued cassettes. Those cassettes were Tarquin’s Seaweed Farm (1989) and The Nostalgia Factory (1991). Their […] Continue reading
Frank Zappa & the Mothers: Over-Nite Sensation (1973)
After experimenting with a couple of big band jazz fusion albums in 1972 with Waka Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, Zappa decided to record an album of more standard rock songs, but with Zappa’s usual eccentric lyrics. Zappa decided to resurrect the Mothers, but by this time, the Mothers only existed by name only (he […] Continue reading
Kraftwerk: Kraftwerk 1 (1971)
I generally don’t consider myself a fan of Kraftwerk, at least not the electronic pop albums they released from the mid 1970s to the 1980s. I admit they were largely influencial, for good or for bad, the electronic pop and new wave of the early 1980s (you wouldn’t have the likes of Gary Numan, Human […] Continue reading
Cervello: Melos (1973)
Cervello was like too many Italian prog rock bands out there: they release one album and vanished. When it comes to one-shot Italian prog bands, I honestly can rank it up there with Museo Rosenbach’s Zarathustra. It’s that great. Cervello was lead by guitarist Corrado Rustici, who was around 16 years old at that time! […] Continue reading
Trilogy: Here It Is (1980)
I was a bit hesitant to buy this album. Sure I heard comparisons to ELP, Genesis, etc. But the album was released in 1980, a time where usually little good can be said of prog rock, this was an era where many of the prog greats gave us albums like Duke (Genesis) or Drama (Yes), […] Continue reading
Tangerine Dream: Atem (1973)
Atem was the fouth album by Tangerine Dream and their last album for Ohr before signing up to Virgin Records and recording more synthesizer-dominated electronic music. It was also their second album with the lineup of Edgar Froese, Christophe Franke, and Peter Baumann (this lineup would last until 1977). Atem still finds TD being weird […] Continue reading
Le Orme: Contrappunti (1974)
Le Orme is regarded as one of the greats of Italian prog. They initially started as a psychedelic pop group and released Ad Gloriam in 1969 (I have also reviewed that album right here on Hippyland). They quicky figured that psychedelic pop was no longer where it’s at, so they changed labels to Philips, and […] Continue reading