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Album Reviews :: W
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Salammbô is divided into two side-long pieces. The band’s style generally involves droning synthesizer textures and spry organ motifs, over which layers of violin and hallucinogenic guitar washes operate. Instruments are intermittently driven through various effects processors, essentially creating deceptively vast sonic soundscapes that range from the haunting to the strikingly beautiful. The sense of formlessness is only exacerbated by the complete lack of a percussive base, and indeed the band does seem to take some liberties with tempo and meter at times. In the end though, it only serves to heighten the amorphous, stream-of-consciousness effect that the album might have. Both pieces progress in essentially the same manner, moving through a variety of themes, occasionally featuring sparse female vocals, before arriving at particularly moving and evocative conclusions. This album, along with its successor M’esse en Re Mineur, are both heartily recommended for French progressive rock enthusiasts, particularly those with a taste for the more avant-garde side of the spectrum. - Greg Northrup [May 2003] Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
The music is reminiscent of Happy the Man; new agey, serene, yet always with a solid, bouncy feel to propel the music along. Not surprising, Stan Whittaker, Rick Kennel and Ron Riddle are the other prominent instrumentalists here, with a few guests on reeds and percussion. Forming a more than competent background, the HtM members are not the main stars here; Waybright is clearly in control and is the main force in the proceedings. Digital keys are the main focus, but she uses nice and safe timbres, avoiding the cheese factor. Waybright does a wonderful job of illustrating each flower in song. As can be expected, tracks like "African Violet" contain tribal-like percussion and a few overlaid jungle sounds. "Birds of Paradise" brings to mind a steamy Malaysian jungle, with more ethnic percussion and echoed sounds of birdcalls overhead. The majestic "Forget-Me-Not" closes the album with great synth lines and some excellent acoustic guitar. A peaceful and beautiful album, Beauty Gone Wild provides a nice outlet from the typical bombast of symphonic prog. To top off the exquisite music, the album comes with a small, hardcover book featuring painted scenes involving each flower, and a brief history of the flower written by Waybright. Like an Impressionist painting, Beauty Gone Wild will absorb you in that vaguely familiar texture. Visit Leah's site at Leahwaybright.com for more info. - Mike Prete [August 2001] Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info  White
Willow - Sacrament (2000)An excellent album from this modern Norwegian prog group. I was hesitant to review this for a while, because though I recognized it as an album people would enjoy, it didn't really sink in for me. Repeated listenings proved fruitful, as White Willow's somber, elegant and generally quite subdued progressive rock proved quite addictive, highly enjoyable and immensely relaxing. The band plays in a sort of gloomy style rife with classical flourishes and heavily gothic overtones, very moody and revealing upon frequent listening. The compositions are consistently fantastic throughout, making use of flute, keyboard and guitar for melody as well a great rhythm section that plays a background role before driving into the spectacular emotional climaxes. Compositionally, Sacrament is superb in all facets, though the "harder" sections, with driving, fantastic melodic themes, are a little to sparsely utilized for my taste. The album is dominated by quieter music, which is fine, as the band does it well. The female vocals, which are quite prominent, are something everyone seems to be raving about in reviews I've read, but I can't really get into them. The whole female vocalist thing is getting a little gimmicky now, and often sound like they were added as a easy way to achieve a more "ethereal" atmosphere. Once I stopped focusing on the vocals, and just allowed the general atmosphere of the album to take hold, everything became way more effective. I haven't heard
the band's earlier albums, but I've read that this one could
be their strongest work yet. Musicianship is impeccable,
and their style of atmospheric prog is generally extremely beautiful
and impeccably composed. Definitely one of the finest
albums from 2000 and a band I look forward to seeing at NEARfest
2001. -
Greg Northrup [February 2001] Click Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info  Wilco
- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
The story behind the record, for those who haven’t heard it, goes something like this. The band came to their record company, the AOL/Time Warner owned Reprise, with the finished album in hand, only to have it rejected outright for being too "uncommercial". Though taken aback, the band nonetheless were then free to shop the album around to other labels, resulting in a major bidding war. Whether through bureaucratic bullshit or sheer stupidity, Reprise realized their folly too late, joining in on an effort to get the album back. In the end, the label that actually won the rights to release the album, after a considerable increase in price, was one Nonesuch, who also happen to be a subsidiary of AOL/Time Warner. The irony here hardly needs to be pointed out. Given Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’s rather strong chart showing, the entire episode must have proved rather satisfying for the group, and indeed the entire saga was documented for a film about the band, entitled I am Trying to Break Your Heart. That’s
all well and good, you say, but what about the album?
Well, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot may not be the second coming,
but it’s a damn fine record nonetheless. I suppose one
can’t be too surprised that the album hasn’t made more of
an impact within the progressive rock community, as its barely
skirts its outer boundaries, despite the occasional use of
mellotron. Is it original and innovative? Undoubtedly.
But the prog fan looking for flashy moog solos and capes will
want to move on. Indeed, there isn’t really an ounce
of pretension to be found here, just breezy, autumnal melodies
and great songs. The much ballyhooed ‘experimental’
edge of the album comes mostly from its dabblings in electronic
whirrs and the weird, noodly sounds that coat the entire effort.
This is certainly a "studio" album in the purest sense, layers
upon layers of electronics, synth effects, tape-manipulations
and other studio tricks provide a warm cocoon for what are,
at their heart, exquisite pop songs. In many ways, these
songs have the kind of purely American, folky feel of Bob
Dylan or the Byrds, but again, with mellotron washes and backward-tracked
guitar runs atop them. Piano and acoustic guitar provide
a languid backdrop for "Poor Places" and the stunning "Jesus,
etc.", which will be one of the most purely beautiful melodies
you’re likely to hear from an album this year. Upbeat
numbers like the tightly-wrapped "War on War" and the punchy
"Kamera" are nothing if not addictive, but the album as a
whole flows with a melancholy grace and a full, sensual maturity.
In many ways, Wilco's objective seems to be to at once deconstruct
the notion of the pop tune to its purest, most moving essence,
and then build it back up with as much subtle effects and
elegiac atmosphere as possible, to see if we still recognize
it. Of course, we do, and it works magnificently.
The progressive rock fan with an ear for a subtle hook and
an ability to suspend their cynicism will find much to enjoy
about this album. -
Greg Northrup [October 2002]  Wishbone
Ash - Argus (1972)One of the challenges of writing reviews is that you often have to separate your personal, subjective standards of what is good and bad, and look at an album objectively, judging it according to what it is attempting to offer. Wishbone Ash's Argus offered such a dilemma. Even though this album is considered to be a quasi-progressive rock album of sorts, I've found it to be ultimately unfair to judge Argus according to what my idea of "progressive rock" is or isn't. Certainly, this album lacks the complexity, depth of arrangement or compelling compositional flair to pull off the kind of successful "concept" work they seem to be attempting. However, taken as what it really is, a relatively ambitious hard rock album, Argus is a decent entry into the ranks of Uriah Heep-ish semi-prog. Overall, the album has sort of a superficial air of sophistication and elegance to it, without having enough real "meat" to make it worthy of many listens, at least for me. Sure, there's some pleasant acoustic guitar melodies, some nice orchestration, and most impressively, some pretty intense guitar soloing, but as a whole the album runs a little to close to straight rock convention for my tastes. "Time Was"
is an impressive opener. Beginning with some plaintive acoustic
guitar, the instrumental parts propelling the song make
up for the somewhat annoying, drawling vocal parts, building
into a driving hard rock song highlighted by some bluesy
guitar licks. "Lead and Stream" is among the most
interesting tracks, introducing some subtle, pleasing guitar
interplay in a quieter context. "Warrior" turns up
the bombast will a cliched fist-in-the-air rock riff that
was uncomfortably appealing. One interesting moment
came during the intro to "Throw Down the Sword", which features
a guitar theme of some similarity to that of Iron Maiden's
"Infinite Dreams", which unfortunately, excited me just
enough to want to spin Seventh Son of a Seventh Son instead
of this album. Actually, Argus is an okay album,
although those more prone to the Uriah Heep school of paint-by-numbers
hard rock/prog will find it more appealing than I did.
For me, the album amounts to a pleasant diversion, if little
else.
- Greg Northrup [November 2001]
Wurtemberg were a chamber rock ensemble of an extremely high caliber, fusing classical, renaissance music, French folk and progressive rock into relatively unique and satisfying amalgamation. Subdued, and not particularly "rock" at all, the group places a heavy emphasis on sophisticated arrangements, as piano, woodwinds, acoustic guitar and authentic medieval stringed instruments dominate the proceedings. The album is astoundingly beautiful at times, as on the stately opener "Rockopus 7", or the jaunty, flute-led melodies of "Prefixe et Danse - Faites L'Humour", while restrained and perhaps a bit overly-reverential at others. The melody and forward momentum of "Concerto Pour un Minout" is quite simply gorgeous, featuring interlocked flute and guitar theme that soars higher and higher. My one criticism comes towards the end. The two bonus tracks, "Jesus Que Ma Joie Demeure - Cantate 147" and "Neuvieme Symphonie - Extraint", renditions of pieces by Bach and Beethoven respectively, were recorded by Alain Carbonere with different musicians in 1986. While one certainly can't fault Musea for completeness, I for one don't particularly have any use for yet another version of "Ode to Joy". Nonetheless,
it would be an understatement to say that this reissue of
Rock Fantasia Opus 9 is a hotly anticipated and totally
necessary item. The album proper is uniformly excellent.
Fans of early After Crying, classic Popol Vuh and
Malicorne will undoubtedly find much to love here, and the
album ultimately comes as a essential addition to any collection
of French symphonic music. Yet another in a long line
of excellent reissues from this label. - Greg Northrup
[July 2002] |
Wapassou
- Salammbô (1978)
Leah
Waybright - Beauty Gone Wild (1999)
Wurtemberg
- Rock Fantasia Opus IX (1980)