GFreedom's Juke Box No.196

Hi all!
Here I am again, with my usual Saturday's post, including my weekly Top-5 song list for you.
I listened to lots of music during this week, from many different styles and genres, and you'll realize by looking at my list.
So, for this week, these are the songs I chose as my best ones:
MAGO DE OZ: Gaia (Gaia - 2003)
CELLAR NOISE: Underground Ride (Alight - 2017)
URIAH HEEP: The Park (Salisbury - 1971)
TIGER MOTH TALES: Beauty Sleeps (Story Tellers Pt.1 - 2015)
METALLICA: Master of Puppets (Master of Puppets - 1986)
By clicking on the following YT links you will be able to listen to the songs in my list.
Enjoy!
MAGO DE OZ: Gaia
CELLAR NOISE: Underground Ride
URIAH HEEP: The Park
TIGER MOTH TALES: Beauty Sleeps
METALLICA: Master of Puppets

CELLAR NOISE: Alight (2017)

I am becoming very happy and excited when I discover new - high quality - bands, like the Italian Cellar Noise for example. The Milan-based quintet is a very promising new band, and their debut album Alight was a pleasant surprise to me.

  It includes 9 tracks and all of them worth the listener’s attention. 

  It begins with the 9+ minute long instrumental Dive with Me, which I believe that, will be apreciated a lot by the fans of Progressive Rock. It's a rather upbeat and jolly - in its majority - tune, followed by the excellent 8-minute-long Undeground Ride, one of the album’s highlights in my opinion. (This was the first song I noticed and listened to it over and over again). The third song is Embankment, which is another highlight. It begins with a soft and melancholic piano intro, but slowly slowly evolves, and from a point and on, it changes completely.

  The things I wrote above about the first three songs characterize more or less all the songs in this album. There are many melancholic and soft moments, changing into upbeat and powerful parts, including lots of piano, mellotron and guitars. The lyrics are in English, and the singer’s performance is excellent.

  In a few words, Alight is a modern Progressive Rock album, obviously influenced by the great Prog bands of the 70’s, but in a good way. It includes some really wonderful moments, some very talented and skilful musicianship and very good vocals. Well, what more can you ask for?

Go for it! You won’t regret it!

My Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars

PROG & ROLL Radio Show (4/6/2017). The complete playlist and more...

Hi all!
  Last night one more Prog & Roll Radio Show was online, as usual.
I really believe that we had a very interesting show prepared for our listeners and as it seemed those who chose to tune in, had some nice time with us and our music choices.
  There wasn't so big crowd gathered on the chatbox like other times, and for that reason everything was more quiet. We had some interesting conversations with those who were there, and altogether enjoyed the music.
  During the second part, we did a small tribute to the members of Pink Floyd and their personal careers. We did the same thing a few months ago, but with Genesis that time, and everybody loved the idea. So, we decided to do it again, and this time we chose the members of Pink Floyd.
 I think it was a very pleasant show, focused mostly on the music, and I hope that the people enjoyed it.
Here you can take a look at the playlist:
1st Part: MERIDIAN INCIDENT: Yellow Wings / MOSTLY AUTUMN: Only the Brave / TIME COLLAPSE: Time Collapse / AYREON: Sea of Machines.
2nd Part: NICK MASON: Hot River / ROGER WATERS: Picture that / RICK WRIGHT: Mediterranean C / DAVID GILMOUR: Murder / PINK FLOYD: Comfortably Numb.
3rd Part: JETHRO TULL: To Cry You a Song / WISHBONE ASH: Blowin’ Free / MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND: The Road to Babylon.
4rth Part: BAROCK PROJECT: Happy to See You / MYSTERY: Last Glass of Wine / MAGENTA: Colours. 
  As for the next show, on the 11th of June, we are thinking of making a big presentation to the most interesting releases of 2017. Since June is the middle of the year, we thought that it would be a good idea to see which albums are making the difference so far.
I would like to thank all those who chose to spend their Sunday evening/night with us and our show.
Thank you very much!
We'll see you on next Sunday at the same time as usual.
Take Care! :-)

GFreedom's Juke Box No.195

Hi all!
Since it is Saturday once more, it's time to sit down and write my weekly Top-5 song list for you.
From all the music I listened to during the week, here are the songs that I chose as the best ones:
GAZPACHO: The Cage (Demon - Deluxe Edition - 2014)
PINK FLOYD: Comfortably Numb (The Wall - 1979)
MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND: The Road to Babylon (The Roaring Silence - 1976)
AYREON: The Day that the World Breaks Down (The Source - 2017)
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX: 444 (200 Tons of Bad Luck - 2009)
By clicking on the following YT links you will be able to listen to the songs in my list right away.
Have a nice weekend and enjoy the music!
GAZPACHO: The Cage
PINK FLOYD: Comfortably Numb
MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND: The Road to Babylon
AYREON: The Day that the World Breaks Down
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX: 444

ROGER WATERS: Is this the life we really want? (2017)

  This is probably the best Pink Floyd-related album you will ever listen to!

  Today is the official release of ‘Is this the life we really want?’ the brand new album of - the almost  74 years old - Roger Waters.

  After touring around the world with 'The Wall' since I don’t know how many years, he decided that it was time to release his new album, which is probably the best album of his solo career.

Roger Waters can be proud of this album, because this is his best work since his days with Pink Floyd. (Since The Wall, to be exact).

  A deeply political – once more – album, including melancholic but beautiful moments, (like Déjà Vu, for example), mixed with more powerful Pink Floyd-influenced songs (Picture that, for example), overcoated with a very good production.

   For those who grew up with The Wall, the album will sound very familiar to their ears. All the ingredients that Roger Waters used for The Wall are present once more. Well, maybe the compositions are less inspired this time, but who could blame him for that?

  For the recordings almost ten musicians were used, and the production was made by Nigel Godrich, the producer of Radiohead.

According to the press release, the album contains “unflinching commentary on the modern world and uncertain times”.

The album contains 12 tracks and has a total running time of 55 minutes. It is available in CD, Vinyl, and Digital format.

   I listened to this album 3 times so far, and every time I discover more and more things that I like in it. Also, it is very difficult for me to pick just a few songs, because I see it as a massive piece of work, and not just as songs that were gathered to fill an album.

  But despite that, I will try to mention a few songs that I like the most; which are the following ones: Déjà Vu, Picture that, Broken Bones and Smell the Roses.

  Is this the life we really want? is a very good album, definitely worth buying! I am not going to use words like “modern masterpiece” etc, but it is a very good work, which most probably will enter my annual top-10 album list for 2017.

Give it a try!

                   My rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars.

 

PROG & ROLL Radio Show, including the 'Song of the Month' contest. The complete playlist...

Hello all!
  Last night, one more Prog & Roll Radio Show was on air, including the final stage of the Song of the Month contest. So, during the last part, we asked from our listeners to grade the songs that had the maximum average score from all the shows we did on May.
  We divided the 2 hours of the show into 4 parts, and once again we played different styles of music on each part. So, we begun with some "modern" songs, then we went back to the 60's and the 70's, we continued with some Folk-Rock, and then it was time for the contest.
  We had 4 songs participating on the contest this time, all of them very good ones. I had predicted that it was going to be a hard competition, and I was right. The winning song won with a very small margin from the second one, as you will see yourselves, by looking at the average scores. At the end of the show, we announced May's Song of the Month, which was Shesmovedon by Porcupine Tree!
Here's the whole playlist from last night:

1st Part: UNREAL CITY: Del Innocenza Perdata / THE MINSTREL’S GHOST: Merlin / PANIC ROOM: Changes / KARMAKANIC: Steer by the Stars. 

2nd Part: PHANTOM’S DIVINE COMEDY: Merlin / FANTASY: Paint a Picture / CRESSIDA: To Play Your Little Game / BEGGAR’S OPERA: The Witch / YES: Beyond and Before.

3rd PArt: FAIRPORT CONVENTION: Who Knows Where the Time Goes / ESPERS: Rosemary Lane / TREES: Geordie / MIDLAKE: Small Mountain.

4rth Part - The Song of the Month Contest: NAVARONE: Free Together (Av.Rat: 7.10) / PORCUPINE TREE: Shesmovedon (Av.Rat: 8.61) / TOOL: 10.000 Days (Pt.2) (Av.Rat: 7.83) / GENESIS: Watcher of the Skies (Av.Rat: 8.57).

I would like to thank all those who chose to spend their Sunday afternoon with our show. I hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you all! 
Here's the winning song: PORCUPINE TREE: Shesmovedon

GFreedom's Juke Box No.194

Hello all!
After a long break, my usual weekly Top-5 song list is back.              
I listened to lots of songs during this week, so it wasn't easy to pick just 5.
But I think that the following songs are maybe the best ones:
QUEEN: Don't stop me now (Jazz - 1978)
TREES: Geordie (On the shore - 1970)
MOSTLY AUTUMN: Sight of day (Sight of day - 2017)
SIVERT HOYEM: Give it a whirl (Long slow distance - 2011)
NAVARONE: Free together (Oscillation - 2017)
I will conclude this post as usual, by adding the YouTube links for the songs I have in my list. In case you are interested, just click on the links and listen to them. Unfortunately I couldn't find the album version of Free together by Navarone.
Enjoy!
QUEEN: Don't stop me now
TREES: Geordie
MOSTLY AUTUMN: Sight of day
SIVERT HOYEM: Give it a whirl

PROG & ROLL Radio Show presents: The song of the month contest.

  I would like to inform you that on this Sunday's Prog & Roll radio show we are going to have the 'Song of the Month' contest, during which, our listeners will choose the best song of May.
  During the last show of each month, we are playing the songs that gathered the highest average rating throughout the whole month, according to our listener's grades. We ask from our listeners to grade them once more, but in a more "serious" manner let's say. This time we are going to play four songs, all of them very good ones. So, I believe that the competition will be fierce once more, despite that there are 2 songs that can be characterized as favourites.
  The contest will take place during the last part; but before that, we are going to play some excellent songs, from many music categories and sub-genres as usual. (In order to understand the wide musical range, here's a few names that are included in our playlist: Panic Room, Yes, Fantasy, Fairport Convention and Karmakanic).
 So, if you are free and in the mood for some good music on this Sunday afternoon, tune in to Prog & Roll. The show begins at 20.00 UK time.
We will be very glad to "see" you on our chatbox.
Here's the link of the radio station: www.justincaseradio.com
Thank you!

BAROCK PROJECT: Detachment (2017)

   Barock Project is an Italian quartet that has been active for almost a decade, during which, they released five studio and one live albums. What they are trying to do is, to play modern Progressive Rock with elements of Barock music, which sounds like a good idea. All their albums seem to be equally good, with just a few ups and downs.

   I learned about them with their previous work ‘Skyline’, and I must say that I was pleased with it. For that reason, I also added their brand new work ‘Detachment’ in my music collection.

  Detachment follows the path of Skyline, but it is slightly better in my opinion. The production is very good once more, and the songwriting is very “mature”. It includes 13 tracks, and has a total running time of 75 minutes.

  Here, you can find very beautiful and soft melodies mixed with some complex compositions, and an overall excellent musicianship. All the members of the band are very good musicians, and that is obvious throughout the album. As for the leading instruments, I would say that both guitar and piano are equally important here. Also, the vocals are in English, which is positive.

Very pleasant surprise was the addition of Peter Jones as guest singer, who is participating in 2 songs; both of them beautiful ones.

  I didn’t have the time to “digest” the album yet, but based upon the first 3 listenings, I must say that it is a very good and well-made album, that definitely deserves attention. I believe each person who is fond of Progressive Rock, modern or not, will find some songs that he/she will like.

As for me, the first songs I noticed immediately, are: Broken, Happy to See You and Rescue Me mostly, followed by Alone.

I will give 3.0 out of 5.0 stars, but maybe it deserves a little more than that…

By clicking on the following YouTube link you will be able to listen to Happy to See you, and have an idea...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wj1ghguu8c