STEVEN WILSON: Home Invasion – In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall (2018). (DVD & 2 CD edition). My review...

On the 2nd of November, the Grammy-nominated Steven Wilson released his latest work, Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. For those who still don’t know him, I should say that he was the founder and leader of Porcupine Tree, among other bands and/or projects, such as No-Man and Blackfield to name a few. Since his early days with Porcupine Tree, he is considered as a very talented composer and skillful musician, but now that he follows a solo career, he is able to do whatever he really likes. And as it seems, what he really likes is to surprise his audience (pleasantly or not) with every new release.

  So, after the release of To the Bone that caught many people by surprise with its musical turn, this year he returns with the magnificent Home Invasion; a double live CD, supported by DVD or Blue-Ray. (Or it’s the other way round?). (For the vinyl lovers, a special limited edition is going to be released on March 2019).

  Home Invasion was filmed and recorded during the last of his 3 sold out performances at the iconic Royal Albert Hall during 'To the Bone' tour. The production is flawless and the sound excellent. As for the tracklist, well… Steven Wilson decided to make a dive into his long career and chose songs from his Porcupine Tree days, up to his latest album. The concert lasted for more than 2.5 hours, and it was a stunning one! (A couple of my friends who live in London were lucky enough to see him during those performances and they were amazed!) 

  The collection of songs that are included here is very good, and despite each person’s favorites, the truth is that, Wilson covered a very big part of his career in this album. Personally speaking, I would like to see a few more songs from his Porcupine Tree days, but the ones he chose to play are excellent, so I got no complains. Let’s not forget that Porcupine Tree, like it or not, belongs to the past.

  Very important in my opinion is the participation of Ninet Tayeb, which was a pleasant surprise to me, cause I wasn’t expecting her to participate in the live shows.

  Some of the best moments here are the songs: Pariah, Ancestral, Arriving Somewhere but not Here, Even Less and The Sound of Muzak. But that’s just my personal opinion.

  Overall, this Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall collection is recommended for all fans of Steven Wilson. The British musician takes his fans and listeners on a musical journey through time, as he showcases his eclectic musical work, as well as his talent and charisma. The sound and video quality are fantastic, where one feels like they are experiencing it from the front row of the historic Royal Albert Hall.

Congratulations Mr. Wilson!

             A solid 5.0 stars from me.

Check the trailer: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diSSl9N6ZkU

Here's the tracklist:

Intro "Truth"

Nowhere Now

Pariah
Home Invasion / Regret #9
The Creator Has A Mastertape
Refuge
People Who Eat Darkness
Ancestral
Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
Permanating
Song Of I
Lazarus
Detonation
The Same Asylum As Before
Song Of Unborn
Vermillioncore
Sleep Together
Even Less
Blank Tapes
The Sound Of Muzak
The Raven That Refused to Sing

Prog n Roll radio show, incl. the presentation of a concept album (4/11/2018). The complete playlist and more...

Hello all!
  With a small delay, I finally decided to sit down and write a few things about Sunday's Prog n Roll radio show. Because it was the first show of the month it included the presentation of a concept album, among other things of course.
  The album we chose to present this time was Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare, that was released in 1975. It is a legendary album, and a very favourite of mine.
  We had a good crowd listening once more, but not as much as other times. Our listeners were mostly from Greece, Germany, UK and Canada.
Here you can take a look at the complete setlist:

1st Part: GHOST: Witch Image / RIVERSIDE: Acid Rain / CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX: The Golden Boy Swallowed by the Sea / URIAH HEEP: Dreams of Yesteryear.

2nd Part: ALICE COOPER: Welcome to My Nightmare / AEROSMITH: Remember / KISS: Calling Dr. Love / ALICE COOPER: Devil’s Food & Black Widow / BLUE OYSTER CULT: Nosferatu.

3rd Part: ALICE COOPER: Some Folks / DAVID BOWIE: Time / ROXY MUSIC: Beauty Queen / ALICE COOPER: Years Ago & Steven.

4rth Part: ASHBURY: End of all Time / SUNCHILD: Grail and Time / RIVERSEA: Drowning in Vertigo / GALASPHEAR 347: The Voice of Beauty Drowned.

A very big thanks to all of you who listened to our show once more!

I hope that you enjoyed it!

Thank you very much!

Prog n Roll radio show (28/10/2018). The complete playlist and more...

Hello all!
  Last night, one more Prog n Roll radio show was online, as usual. It was a simple show, without anything special. This time, we wanted to play something different than usual, and for that reason we focused mostly on the fun side and not so much on the informative one.
  We opened the show with a few new releases, and right after that, we played songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's.
  We had a good crowd listening once more, but this time the majority of our listeners was only from Greece and England.
  I believe that it was a rather fun show, which included a few unexpected songs, that surprised many of our listeners.
Here's the complete playlist:

Part 1: DAVID CROSS & DAVID JACKSON: Millenium Toll / ARGOS: Shock Headed Peter / PHIDEAUX: The Error Lives on / MYSTERY: Come to Me / PAUL Mc CARTNEY: Come on to Me.

Part 2: THE WHO: Pinball Wizard / THE ROLLING STONES: Gimme Shelter / MAGGIE BELL: Wishing Well / PAICE, ASHTON, LORD: Ghost Story / ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA: Evil Woman.

Part 3: OZZY OSBOURNE: Mr. Crowley / SAXON: Wheels of Steel / TWISTED SISTER: S M F / DIO: One Night in the City / JUDAS PRIEST: Diamonds and Rust.

Part 4: ALICE COOPER: Welcome to My Nightmare / CITY: Am Fenster / NOVALIS: Sonnenwende Pt.4: Dammerung / ELOY: Poseidon’s Creation.

I would like to thank al those who chose to listen to our show once more. Prog n Roll will be on air again on Sunday the 4rth of November, with a special show, that will be including the presentation of a - rather famous - concept album. But I won't say more on the matter.
Thank you all!

GFreedom's Juke Box No.235

Hello all!
  Another beautiful and sunny Saturday morning is here, so now it's time to write down my usual weekly Top-5 song list for you.
  I've listened to lots of music during this week, so it wasn't so easy to choose only 5 songs, but I believe that I finally made a good selection.
  So, from all the songs I've listened to during this week, these are the ones that I chose as best ones:
GHOST: Life Eternal (Prequelle - 2018)
BLUE OYSTER CULT: Nosferatu (Spectres - 1977)
CITY: Am Fenster (City - 1978)
RIVERSIDE: Acid Rain (Wasteland - 2018)
IRON MAIDEN: Powerslave (Powerslave - 1984)
If you click on the following YouTube links, you will listen to the songs in my list right away.
Enjoy the music and have a great weekend!
GHOST: Life Eternal
B.O.C: Nosferatu
CITY: Am Fenster
RIVERSIDE: Acid Rain
IRON MAIDEN: Powerslave

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX Live in Athens. The complete setlist...

  Almost weeks ago, Crippled Black Phoenix visited Athens for a live gig once more.
Because I have seen 3 of their live gigs in the past I decided not to go this time. Also, I can't say that I really like their last 2 releases, so the decision was rather easy.
As far as I read, they gave a good performance, but that's not a surprise to me. All 3 times I saw them, they were very passionate and "honest" on stage.
In case you are interested to go and see them live, maybe you should take a look at the setlist first...

You Brought It Upon Yourselves
To You I Give
No Fun
A Letter Concerning Dogheads
Troublemaker
Champions Of Disturbance
We Are The Darkeners

Slow Motion Breakdown
Nebulas
Great Escape Pt.1
Human Nature Dictates The Downfall Of Humans
Rise Up And Fight
444
We Forgotten Who We Are
Burnt Reynolds

Encore:

Burnt Reynolds / Reprise
Hold On (So Goodbye To All Of That)
Blizzard Of Horned Cats

Here's a video from that concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2qr1wFZXBM

Prog n Roll Radio show (21/1-0/2018). The complete playlist and more...

Hello all!
  Last night one more Prog n Roll radio show was online, at the usual time in the usual internet radio station.
  This time we had a rather simple show, without special guests or album presentations, etc, but we did have something slightly different again.
  So, during the 2 first parts of our show, we did a small tribute to the Greek Rock, Prog and Folk scene, by presenting some bands - older and new ones - that we believe they deserve to be heard.
After that, we continued with our playlist as usual and we closed the show with a rather powerful last part.
  We had a good crowd listening, from many countries once more. If I remember well, we had people from Greece, England, Northern Ireland, Germany and Unites States. Not bad at all...
As for the playlist, take a look here:

1st Part: LEAVING TOMORROW: Daylight / PURPLE OVERDOSE: Her Arms Embraced the Sun / NIGHTSTALKER: Children of the Sun / 1000MODS: Horses Green.

2nd Part: APHRODITE’S CHILD: Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall / WILL O THE WISP: Elbereth / MANTICORE’S BREATH: Metamorphosis / CICCADA: She Went for Love / NORIANA: Julie Delaneys.

3rd Part: TRION: Fast Forward / STEVE HACKETT: Wolflight / LIFE LINE PROJECT: Moment / O A K: Danse Macabre / TIGER MOTH TALES: The Ballad of Longshanks John.

4rth Part: GRETA VAN FLEET: Highway Tune / URIAH HEEP: Living the Dream / RIVERSIDE: Vale of Tears / IRON MAIDEN: The Book of Souls.

I would like to thank you all for listening to our show once more.

We'll "see" you again on Sunday the 28th of October.

Take Care!

GFreedom's Juke Box No.234

Hello all!
As many of you know already, on (almost) every Saturday morning I am posting here my weekly Top-5 song list for you.
Well, this Saturday is not an exception, so here's the list with the songs I chose as best for this week:
GAZPACHO: Valerie's Friend (Night - 2007)
RIVERSIDE: Vale of Tears (Wasteland - 2018)
CRESSIDA: Munich (Asylum - 1971)
PURPLE OVERDOSE: Her Arms Embraced the Sun (Reborn - 1999)
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX: The Golden Boy Swallowed by the Sea (Horrific Honorifics - 2018)
In case you are interested, click on the following YouTube links, and you will be able to listen to the songs I have in my list right away.
Enjoy the music and have a great Weekend!
Thank you!
GAZPACHO: Valerie's Friend
RIVERSIDE: Vale of Tears
CRESSIDA: Munich
PURPLE OVERDOSE: Her Arms Embraced the Sun
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX: The Golden Boy Swallowed by the Sea

URIAH HEEP: Living the Dream (2018). My "review"...

  Uriah Heep is a legendary band, that need no introductions or recommendations. They have been around since forever, and they wrote their name with gold in the history of Rock (or Hard Rock if you like) music.

  I have been listening to them since my teenage years, and I have in my collection no less than 17 albums; studio and live ones.

  This year they have returned with their 25^th (or 26^th? I lost count) studio album, named as Living the Dream.

  I still can’t believe how good this album is! I was expecting a very mediocre album, like their previous ones, but this time I must admit that they did a really good job!

  I don’t think that there is anybody who  believes that after a 50-years-old career, they will release another The Magician’s Birthday or Demons and Wizards, correct?
  But you know what? Living the Dream is a high-quality album, that can be compared directly with some of their old releases. The sound is modern Hard-Rock, with many guitar riffs and solos, lots of classic-sounding keyboards and very good compositions. Bernie Saw’s voice is in very good condition, without having to add “for his age”…

  Mike Box’s recorded some very nice and “catchy” guitar riffs, that are accompanied by the keyboards of Phil Lanzon, and the result is very good to say the least.

The album includes some classic Hard Rock songs, some ballads and even a couple of "proggy" ones.

  In  a nutshell, Living the Dream is a very “decent” album that totally worth its money. I bought it, and I never regret it. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed!

Favourite Tracks (so far): Living the Dream, Knocking at my Door, It’s all Been Said,  Dreams of Yesteryear.

                My Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars.