The Safari finds new Neo-Prog in the UK from Freedom to Glide – Rain!

So the Safari travels today to the UK to find some new Prog Rock in two locations. First in the West Midlands we find Andy Nixon and then in Derbyshire we meet Pete Riley. Both musicians are members of the leading Pink Floyd tribute act Dark Side Of The Wall. That though is not the band we had hoped to meet. The band we wanted to meet and learn more about is called Freedom to Glide and we have recently discovered the band and have listened to their latest album Rain.  The album is really interesting on a couple of levels. The first level is that the music is terrific and the second is that the album is a concept album set during World War I(the album was released on Veterans Day 11.11.13) and is based on the experiences of Riley’s grandfather, Corporal Robert Wilson, who survived the conflict. In an article appearing in Prog Rock Magazine Riley says that….the first track on the album: Read More

Morning Music – New Prog Rock from the Steve Paine’s – Legend – Spirit

Spirit2   So this morning I found and listened to the album Spirit by the Prog Rock band Legend, and on first listen I came away very, very impressed by the band. that, Steve Paine created way back in 1988. The band’s first album, Light in Extension was released in 1990. That album was followed in 1993 with the release of Second Sight and their third and maybe best known album Triple Aspect was released in 1996. Then the band disappeared from 1998 until 2008 when… Read More

Prog Rock Explorations: Blind Ego – Numb

Numb2So I this morning I listened again to the album Numb from the German group Blind Ego and I liked it as much this time as I did the several previous times I listened! So I was surprised when I went to ProgArchves and saw a rating in the low 3s (3.12). To me, and I know I am just a neophyte when it comes to Prog Rock, the album has everything – good musicianship and vocals, and lots of tempo changes keep me interested in the music! The band is a side project for RPWL guitarist Karlheinz “Kalle” Wallner. (note to self find out who the hell RPWL is!) Here’s some information on the band from the ProgArchives: Read More

Exploring Prog Rock – Anubis – A Tower of Silence

Anubis – Neo-Prog – Australia

Yesterday I noted that at number  8 on the ProgArchives list of best albums over the last few years is A Tower Of Silence by the Australian neo-prog band Anubis. I gave it a quick listen and it sounded like something I would like, so I put it on the iPhone and gave it a more thorough listen this morning. I put it on as I was shopping in Target this morning and I really liked what I heard. We had been in the store for about 40 minutes or so we were ready to leave so I thought I’d check as to where I was on the album – I was all the way to track FOUR! I hadn’t noticed that the opening track “The Passing Bell” – was in typical ProgRock fashion was over 17 minutes long! Read More