Chris Squire passed away...

I delayed to write this post due to my very busy schedule, but I felt I had to write a few words for this really great musician.
Chris Squire passed away 3 days ago, at his home in Phoenix Arizona. He was diagnosed with acute erythroid leukemia, and that is the reason he left his band 'YES', after 47 years. For those who aren't familiar with Chris Squire, I should say that he was the bass player in the famous Progressive Rock band 'Yes', since the start. He was the only member to appear on each of their 21 studio albums, released from 1969 to 2014.
  Squire was widely regarded as the dominant bassist among the English Progressive Rock bands, influencing peers and later generations of bassists with his incisive sound and elaborately contoured, melodic bass lines.
 R.I.P Chris Squire, you will always be remembered...
If you want to see what he was capable of doing with his bass guitar, check the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ln9T76ieaA

PROG & ROLL radio show (28/6/2015). The full playlist.

 In last night's Prog & Roll, we wanted to play songs from many different music genres, and I want to believe that we did a good job! During the 2 hours of the show, we played songs from Rock, Blues, Psychedelia, Neo-Prog, Progressive Metal, Heavy Metal etc. As it seemed the people enjoyed it, so we are also pleased. :-)
 Here you can take a look at the whole playlist:

GRAVY TRAIN: Coast Road / JETHRO TULL: A New Day Yesterday / FRANK ZAPPA: Directly from My Heart to You / STONE THE CROWS: The Touch of Your Loving Hand / ABSOLACE: Sirens / STEVEN WILSON: Hand Cannot Erase / NICE BEAVER: In Close Proximity / THE BARROCK PROJECT: A Winter’s Night / PENDRAGON: In Bardo / ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: (From Jesus Christ Superstar): Heaven on their Minds / BEGGAR’S OPERA: Open Letter / KALEIDOSCOPE: Please / KALEIDOSCOPE (UK): Flight from Asiya / PINK FLOYD: Matilda Mother / JEFFERSON AIRPLANE: High Flyin’ Bird / JUDAS PRIEST: You’ve got Another thing Coming / TONNY IOMMI: Meat (Feat. Skin) / TOOL: Stingfist / SYSTEM OF A DOWN: Lost in Hollywood.

"Epic" song: THERION: Siren of the Woods.

I would like to thank all those who logged in last night and listen to our show. We are very pleased and happy to have such a great audience! :-)

Prog & Roll will be online again on next Sunday, the 5th of July. 

See you there! :-)

THE PROGRESSIVE MUSIC AWARDS 2015...

On the 3rd of September, the 'Progressive Music Awards 2015' finals will take place at the Underglobe club in London. The event is organised and sponsored by 'Prog Magazine'. There are many different categories, but the most important ones are: 'Live Event' 'Anthem' 'Album of the Year' and 'Artist/Band of the Year'.
 In the following lists you can see the bands/artists who are the candidates, together with the 2014 winners in each category:
Category: LIVE EVENT 
(2014 WINNER: Rick Wakeman, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth 40th Anniversary Tour)
Anathema - Cathedral Tour
Cropredy 2014
Devin Townsend - Live at the Royal Albert Hall
Muse - Live At Download
HRH Prog 3
Kate Bush - Before The Dawn Tour
King Crimson - US Tour
Marillion Weekend
RoSFest 2015
The Enid Present: The Bridge
Category: ANTHEM  
(2014 WINNER: Anathema - 'Anathema')
Big Big Train - "Wassail"
Christina Booth - "The Light"
Dave Kerzner - "Stranded"
John Lodge - "In My Mind"
Mew - "Satellites"
Public Service Broadcasting - "Gagarin"
Steve Hackett - "Love Song To A Vampire"
Tin Spirits - "Summer Now"
Vennart - "Operate"
Von Hertzen Brothers - "Hold Me Up"
Category: ALBUM OF THE YEAR 
(2014 WINNER: Transatlantic: Kaleidoscope)
Amplifier - "Mystoria"
Beardfish - "+4626 comfortzone"
Flying Colors - "Second Nature"
Nightwish - "Endless Forms Most Beautiful"
Opeth - "Pale Communion"
Pink Floyd - "The Endless River"
Periphery - "Juggernaut"
Steven Wilson - "Hand.Cannot.Erase"
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - "Motorcade Amnesiacs"
The Pineapple Thief - "Magnolia"
Category: ARTIST/BAND OF THE YEAR 
(2014 WINNER: Dream Theater)
Between The Buried & Me
Flying Colors
Kate Bush
King Crimson
Opeth
Pink Floyd
Steve Hackett
Steven Wilson
Threshold
Von Hertzen Brothers
 I strongly disagree with some candidates in some of the categories, but it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to write my opininon here, because there is no reason at all.
I wrote this post in order to inform you about this interesting event, and that's all. The only thing we have to do now, is to wait until the 3rd of September, in order to learn the winners... :-)

ROBBIE WILLIAMS Live in Athens (20/6/2015). The Setlist...

 There are some artists who deserve to be called as 'entertainers', and Robbie Williams is definitely one of them!
 This was the first time Robbie Williams visited Greece for a concert, (but not the last as he promised), and a crowd of over 30.000 people went to see this great performer on stage. He came on stage without any delay, with his 11-members band, and for the next 2 hours he gave a really spectacular show, during which he played his famous songs, plus cover versions of songs from bands and artists, like Queen, Led Zeppelin, U2, and even Frank Sinatra. The peak of his show was without a doubt the extremely good cover version of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
 I didn't go to this concert, but I'm seriously concidering doing so if he will ever return to Greece for another one.
Here you can see the concert's setlist:

Let Me Entertain You
Rock Dj
Monsoon
Come Undone / I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Me And My Monkey
The Road to Mandalay
Minnie the Moocher
Swing Supreme
Ignition  Better Man
We Will Rock You / I Love Rock 'n' Roll
No Regrets

Candy
Feel
Royals
Millennium / 99 Problems
Whole Lotta Love / Kids
Encore:
Bohemian Rhapsody
She's the One
Angels / My Way

ARENA: The Unquiet Sky (2015)

  'Arena' was formed up in 1995 by Mick Pointer (ex-Marillion) and Clive Nolan (Pendragon). They were considered as one of the most important bands of 'Neo-Prog'. In their early years their sound was obviously influenced by Marillion and IQ (mostly). Between 1995 and 2005 they released some excellent albums, with 'Pride' (1996), 'The Visitor' (1998) and 'Immortal' (2000) being some of them. After the release of 'Pepper's Ghost' in 2005, there was a 5-year break before the release of their next album 'The Seventh Degree of Separation', in which the band appeared with a new singer, and a change in their sound. 'The Seventh Degree' wasn't much appreciated by the fans of the band, (and me as well), mostly because of the change in their sound I mentioned, which was "flirting" with Heavy Rock and even Progressive Metal in some occasions. Furthermore, many people didn't seem to like the new singer, who has been "accused" as responsible for this major change in the band's style.

  This year Arena released their 8th studio album named 'The Unquiet Sky', which in my opinion is better than the previous one, but sadly it does not even approach the standards of their earlier works. The 'Unquiet Sky' can be considered as a concept album, and it's been based on the horror story 'Casting the Runes' written by M.R James.
  The album's opening track is 'The Demon Strikes' with the heavy and impressive intro, followed by 'How did it come to this', one of the best - if not the best - songs of the album. 'The Bishop of Lufford' which comes next, is a rather heavy composition, with a nice guitar solo.
 (I'm not going to present the songs one by one here; for that you'll have to listen to the album and form your own opinion).
  The album consists of 12 songs, and has a total running time of almost 55 minutes. As you can understand, there are no long songs here, and all of them are between 2.30 - 5.00 minutes in length. The only exception is the last track 'Traveler Beware', which is almost 7.30 minutes long.
 From the 12 songs of the album, I would choose the following as the best ones: 'The Demon Strikes', 'How did it Come to This', 'The Unquiet Sky' and 'Traveller Beware'.
 Concluding this post, I would like to say that 'The Unquiet Sky' is not something superb, but it is a nice album in general, and I believe the fans of Arena will appreciate it.
            If I had to rate it, I would give 3.00 out of 5.00 stars
 P.S: In the following links you can listen to a couple of songs from the album. Enjoy! :-)
The Demon Strikes
How did it Come to This

TV Series: Game of Thrones (Season 5). My point of view...

                                WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!


 Starting this, I would like to say that I consider myself as a "cool fan" of Game of Thrones, including the series and the books as well. And when I say "cool" I mean that - yes - I like both the series and the books, but I'm not going to become crazy when something is not going according to my personal tastes. 
No, I didn't scream or cried at 'The Red Wedding', I didn't cheer at Joffrey's death, and I haven't lost my appetite after John Snow's death in the final episode of this 5th season. And I'm not even mentioning the humiliation of Cersei...

 So, one of the most difficult seasons of Game of Thrones so far has ended. Difficult for many reasons.
 Firstly, it's adapting two books that keep on getting more and more complicated for no reason, and furthermore some of the stories either felt too rushed or too slow. Secondly, this is a very emotionally exhausting season. Pretty much every character is humiliated or humiliates him/herself in every episode. There are very few heroic acts taking place, and everyone makes terrible terrible decisions.
 In my opinion, this season wasn't bad, but wasn't something great either. It included some really boring parts, (almost the whole 9th episode for example). This episode was not just boring, it was a bad one! The only exception was the very intense death scene of Stannis' daughter, but further than that, the rest of the episode was really bad. Even the "epic" fight scenes in the end were bad, and I'm not even starting to write about the final scene with the dragon. Especially this, was like watching a Disney movie. But there were surely some very interesting episodes as well. (The 8th one for example, was one of the greatest episodes of Game of Thrones in general in my opinion). The whole season had many ups and downs, but all of us who are watching the series since the start, we are kind of used to it.
 The thing that bothered me is that they left many things hanging "on the air", and they tried to "solve" them altogether in the last episode. Also, there was a very big number of deaths of important (or not) characters this time, and it gave me the impression they tried to "get rid" of them very fast, in order to conclude some of the stories.
 Anyway, as I wrote in the title, this is only my personal point of view, and I'm sure some people will agree or disagree with it. Of course I will continue watching it, and I'm definitely curious to see how it will continue.
But we'll have to wait another year for that...
If I had to rate the 5th season, I think I would give a number between 7.0 and 7.5
Thank you for reading...

PROG & ROLL radio show. (14/6/2015) The full playlist...

Hello all!
Last night Prog & Roll radio show was online once more, as usual.
 I believe it was a good one, and the people who were listening seemed satisfied with the music and the show in general. Once more we had listeners from many countries, such as: England, Mexico, France, Northern Ireland, Greece and Russia.
 During the week we tried to prepare an interesting playlist, in which we tried to combine many different styles of music, and I think we did a good job.
 Here you can see which songs we played in last night's show:

BAD COMPANY: Bad Company / FREE: Fire & Water / THE WHO: The Seeker / MOUNTAIN: Flowers of Evil / KEEF HARTLEY BAND: Not Foolish, not Wise / DRAMA: Melodrama / FOCUS: Focus III / CAMEL: Stationary Traveller / TRION: Silence of the Universe / KITARO: Caravansary / YNGWIE MALMSTEEN: Making Love / WITHIN TEMPTATION: Stand My Ground / BLIND GUARDIAN: At the Edge of Time / PARADISE LOST: Isolate / RAMMSTEIN: Sonne / RHAPSODY (OF FIRE): The Magic of the Wizard’s Dream / SHADOW GALLERY: Two Ghosts / MOTHER TURTLE: Bridge / KAYAK: Stranger in Rome.

"Epic" Song: AYREON: Isis & Osiris. 

 I would like to thank all those who logged in our show, hoping you enjoyed it. I would also like to inform you that on next Sunday (21/6) we will not have a radio show, due to a travel. Prog & Roll will be back on Sunday the 28th of June.

Thank you very much! :-)

GFreedom's Juke Box No. 130

Hello everybody!
Since it's Saturday agan, it's time to post here my weekly Top-5 songlist for you.
During the week I've listened to lots of music, from many different music styles as you will realise by looking at my list.
 At the end of the post I'll add some links for YouTube, so you can listen to the songs right away if you want to.
 So, these are my best 5 songs for this week:
THE CLASH: London Calling (London Calling - 1979)
AYREON: Isis & Osiris (Into the Electric Castle - 1998)
PINK FLOYD: High Hopes (The Division Bell - 1994)
MOSTLY AUTUMN: Unquiet Tears (The Ghost Moon Orchestra - 2012)
RHAPSODY (OF FIRE): The Magic of the Wizard's Dream ( Enchanted Lands II - 2004)
Here are the links for the songs:
THE CLASH: London Calling
AYREON: Isis & Osiris
PINK FLOYD: High Hopes
MOSTLY AUTUMN: Unquiet Tears
RHAPSODY (OF FIRE): The Magic of the Wizard's Dream
Enjoy the music, and have a great wekend!
Thank you for visiting. :-)

Christopher Lee passed away...

                                    R.I.P 
          Sir Christopher Lee
                     You will always be remembered...

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR in Athens (3 - 4/7/2015)

   I would like to inform you that on the 3rd and 4rth of July, one of the most famous (if not THE most famous) Rock operas, will be performed live in Athens Greece, at the Herodus Attikus ancient theater under the shadow of Acropolis. I'm talking about the famous 'Jesus Christ Superstar' written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
  Because I am from Athens I have been to this theater enough times, and to be honest I can't think of a better place for this live performance.
 According to the Athens Festival program, it will be a very good production, with over 100 people participating in it. (The orchestra it is included in this number I guess).
 Being a big fan of this opera, there was no way I could miss it, so I already bought my ticket, and now I'll have to wait for a couple of weeks until that night.
 As for the tickets, I believe they are at very good prices, varying from 15 - 50€.
So, all of you who are fans of this rock opera, this is your chance to watch it performed live! Don't miss it!
You can buy tickets online here: www.viva.gr or www.tickets.greekfestival.gr
 In the picture on the left, you can see the event's poster,  and on the right you can see the theater in which the performance will take place.

Tales from the Progressive Oceans # 17

                   PORCUPINE TREE: In Absentia (2002)
'In Absentia' was released on September 2002, it was the 7th Porcupine Tree's studio album, and it is considered as the band's crowning achievement selling over three times more than the band's previous albums.
 The album marked several changes for the band, starting with the addition of the new drummer (Gavin Harrison), who helped with the change of musical direction. Porcupine Tree's previous albums can be characterised as Progressive/Psychedelic/Space Rock, but this album was the first to move into a more "Progressive Metal" direction. One of the main reasons for this change in their sound was the friendship between Steve Wilson and Mikael Akkerfeldt (Opeth), which affected the sound of both bands. Porcupine Tree's sound became more powerful and heavier, and at the same time Opeth made a turn to a more classic Progressive Rock sound, influenced from the big bands of the '70's.
 The album was released on the 24th of September 2002, and it was very well received by the critics and the band's fan base. The opening track 'Blackest Eyes' was picked up by major Rock radio stations, and received a massive airplay, making the album known to a wider audience. In order to support the new album, Porcupine Tree started a tour supporting the band 'Yes', but as Steven Wilson stated later on, it was a big mistake.
 'In Absentia' in its original version includes 12 songs, and has a total running time of almost 70 minutes. (On January 2003 a 'special edition' was released, including 3 more songs).
Almost all the songs are very good and powerful compositions, worth listening to. In my opinion 'In Absentia' is one of those albums which you put in your CD-player, and listen to it until the end.  
  If I had to pick some songs as the album's "highlights", I would pick: 'Blackest Eyes', 'Trains', 'The Sound of Muzak', 'Gravity Eyelids' and 'Collapse the Light into Earth'.
  I definitely recommend this album to all those who are fans of Rock music, and especially to those who are fond of Progressive Rock,and they can accept a more "modern" approach.
                          My rating would be 4.00 out of 5.00 stars.

PROG & ROLL radio show. (7/6/2015). The full playlist...

Good morning all!
   Last night Prog & Roll radio show was online once more as usual.
I believe it was a good show, and I hope the people who were listening did enjoy it. (As it seemed they did though).
 We started the show with a powerful first half hour, before starting to slow it down slowly slowly. also, because lately we have been playing lots of classic bands, this time we decided to play some not do famous ones. Well, there were some exceptions to that of course, I am talking about the majority here...
  As for our audience, we had people listening to the show from many different countries, as it happens a lot lately. Of course I can speak only for those who are participating in the chatbox. I have no idea for those who are just listening. So, in the chatbox we had people from England, France, Greece and Mexico.
 As for the songs we played, you can see them here:
SYMPHONY X: Of sins & shadows / RHAPSODY (OF FIRE): Wisdom of the Kings / EPICA: Sancta Terra / NIGHTWISH: My walden / TRIDDANA: Men of clay / PAUL HAYWORTH: Sound of the underground / GREEN ON RED: Time ain’t nothing / STEVE WYNN: Black magic / THE WALKABOUTS: Jack Candy / STRATOSPHEERIOUS: The prism / WILSON PICKETT: Hey Jude (music contest) / ARENA: How did it come to this / PALLAS: Ghost dancers / ANEKDOTEN: If it all comes down to you / SIMPLEXITY: Luminosity / MAGIC PIE: Trick of the trade / ADVENTURE: Test of time / FISH: High wood.
"Epic" song:  DAVE KERZNER: Stranded.
 A would like to thank all those who logged in last night, and I hope you had some nice time.
We will "see" you again on next Sunday, at 20.00 UK time as usual.
Thank you! :-)