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

This Date in Music – Nov 10, 1947 – Happy Birthday, Greg Lake!

On this day in 1947 English musician, songwriter, producer and founding member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer Gregory Stuart “Greg” Lake was born. Greg Lake and I go back a long way Greg is 4 years my senior so,  while I was a 17-year-old high school student, Greg was invited by  his  high school friend guitarist Robert Fripp, to join King Crimson. Fripp asked Lake a fellow guitarist asked Lake to switch to bass and to take on the role of lead singer. Lake agreed and as they say the rest is history!! So my first introduction to Lake’s music was from King Crimson’s debut album In the Court of the Crimson King. From Wikipedia: Read More

The Safari heads to the Windy City and finds New Prog Rock from Oceanborn!

So earlier this week I created a new rule about the music I listen to during a run. The rule is the music should be more often than not Prog Rock! The reason many-sided.  First there’s a lot of music and fewer vocals, so I don’t have to listen and determine what the lyrics are, instead I can just let the music wash over me. Secondly, there are lots of tempo changes that allow me to speed up and slow down at varying points during the run!  Thursday night was the first night I implemented the rule, and the run went pretty well, partly because it was a cool night, and the music from a new Progressive Rock band from Chicago – Oceanborn. Their debut release Hidden From The World  was the soundtrack for the run and based on what I heard, I think that you’ll be hearing more about the band! The music was a combination  of  good vocals, outstanding playing and songwriting! When I was first deciding on new music for the run, I read this about the album at New Prog Releases Read More

The Musical Safari travels to Finland and finds – Lars Eric Mattsson’s Epicentre!

A while back, I was checking the new progressive rock album released in September. What usually catches my attention is the country of origin of the artist. There were several bands from Italy, as well as The Netherlands, the UK, the US and one from Finland Lars Eric Mattsson When I saw that Lion Music released the album, I thought, hey, I know that company! They released another album that I listened to recently, Marcus Jidell’sictures from a Time Traveller. When I went back to their website, there was Lars Eric, looking at me from right above Marcus… Read More