In 1970, Focus released their debut album, In & Out of Focus. It was basically an album that showed promise, which would be fully realized on following albums (think of In & Out of Focus like Trespass by Genesis or the first two albums from Yes). It was by far their most vocal dominated album, […] Continue reading →

Because Spain don’t be only sun, beach and beautiful girls I try to guide you for one of the most impressive monuments of the spanish culture: the Santiago’s Way; but not only exist monuments, as well it’s a very important part of spanish history. I live in a city call Astorga, placed in middle of […] Continue reading →

Random Stabbings & Artless Critique – August 2006 Eric W. Saeger Black Cobra, “Bestial” (At a Loss Records) A two-person operation in the manner of Dresden Dolls but concentrating on the doom metal approach of St. Vitus, sometimes pegged to Boris speed, ie a homestyle type of jam usually restricted to the garages of the […] Continue reading →

Billy Joel seems like the last people I’d bring up on this site, preferring to focus on non-mainstream acts. But there was a time in Joel’s career before he inflicted us with cheesy hit after hit from the 1970s to 1990s (ie “Tell Her About It”, “Uptown Girl”, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, “Just the […] Continue reading →

Los Jaivas was apparently quite popular in Chile. They were formed in 1963, started releasing their first albums in the early ’70s, but suffered some setbacks thanks to dictator Augusto Pinochet taking power in 1973, forcing the band in exile, first in Argentina, then in France. As the band was in exile, they started exploring […] Continue reading →

1973’s Atlantis was the third album by Earth & Fire, and without a doubt their most Mellotron heavy album ever. Again the band explores another concept: the rise and destruction of Atlantis, all told on the first half of the album. The side-length title track sounds more or less like a collection of separate songs […] Continue reading →

Now let it be known that I am reviewing the original German print of Eberhard Schoener’s Video Magic on the Harvest label, rather than a compilation called Video Magic released in 1979 that consisted of material from both Video Magic and Flashback (1978) (often called Video Flashback, especially later on to avoid confusion). Now this […] Continue reading →

Before reviewing this album, I want to point out how the Canadian province of Quebec had their own prog scene separate of the English speaking provinces. There’s this website called ProgQuébec which includes a big listing of artists and descriptions of these bands, their history, and discographies, in both French and English (so not to […] Continue reading →

Porcupine Tree basically started more or less as a joke project by Steven Wilson. He planned on No-Man to be the band people would take seriously. Porcupine Tree started off with three privately issued cassettes, Tarquin’s Seaweed Farm (1989), Love, Death & Mussolini EP (1990), and The Nostalgia Factory (1991), all this was done almost […] Continue reading →

Well, I have just recently discovered a whole bunch of Canadian prog albums, specifically those originating from Quebec. Bands like Pollen, Opus 5, Sloche, and Et Cetera have been some of my greatest discoveries of recent (I hear tons of great stuff about Maneige and Harmonium too, so I’m not likely too far off before […] Continue reading →