PROG & ROLL Radio Show (29/11/2015). The complete playlist

Hello all! :-)
 Last night it was the last Prog & Roll of November, and that's why the 'Listener's Happy Hour' was included, during which we play the songs that people form the audience are asking for, throughout the month.
 I am very pleased I have to say, because we had many people who were listening, and some of them were active on the chatbox as well.
 As for the show's playlist, you can see it here: 
VANDEN PLAS: Cold Wind / PAWN: The Princess is out Tonight / NIGHTWISH: Elan / IRON MAIDEN: Flight of Icarus / GRAND TOUR: The Horn of Plenty / CLEPSYDRA: God or Beggar / GALAHAD: Secret Kingdoms / ARENA: The Demon Strikes.
'Listener's Happy Hour': KWOON: I Lived on the Moon / GAZPACHO: Vera / QUEEN: The Prophet’s Song / HIGH SPIRITS: Full Power / MY BLOODY VALENTINE: Only Shallow / EIVOR: Bridges / VAN MORRISON: You Don’t Pull no Punches, but You Don’t Push the River / THE WHO: Baba O Riley / YES: Turn of the Century / RUSH: Cygnus X-1.
I would like to say a very big thanks to all those who are listening to our show, and with their support and devotion are giving us the strength to cary on.
 Prog & Roll will be online again on Sunday the 6th of December, with a special "theme" show, that we have been preparing since last week. I'll write a post about that in a few days, in order to inform you about what this show will be about.
Thank you all, and have a nice week! :-)

GFreedom's Juke Box No.146

Hello all!
One more Saturday morning in here, so it is time to write down my weekly Top-5 songlist for you.
Almost 2 weeks ago I bought the fantastic Rock opera/musical 'Alchemy' by Clive Nolan, and I can't stop listening to it! I included 1 song from the album in last week's 'Juke Box', and I'll include 2 more now.
So, for this week, these are my 5 best songs:
CLIVE NOLAN: The Tides of Wealth (Alchemy - 2013)
CLIVE NOLAN: The Quaternary Plan (Alchemy - 2013)
QUEEN: The Millionaire's Waltz (A Day at the Races - 1976)
LEPROUS: The Price (The Congregation - 2015)
NIGHTWISH: Elan (Endless Forms Most Beautiful - 2015)
By clicking on the following links you can listen to the songs in my list. Unfortunately I couldn't find 'The Quaternary Plan' on youTube, that's why you can't see it as a link...
Enjoy the music, and have a nice weekend! :-)
CLIVE NOLAN: The Tides of Wealth
QUEEN: The Millionaire Waltz
LEPROUS: The Price
NIGHTWISH: Elan

 

PROG & ROLL Radio Show presents: Listener's Happy Hour.

  I would like to inform you that on this Sunday (29/11/2015) we are going to include the 'Listener's Happy Hour' in our show, during which we are going to play the songs that people from the audience asked for.
During each month, we are accepting e-mails with song requests from our listener's, and at the last show of each month we are playing the songs they asked for..
  We started this a couple of months ago, and because so far it goes very well, we hope that we will reach a point that we will dedicate the whole last show of the month to our audience's requests. As for this month, we got some very good songs that has been requested, and we are looking forward to play them in order to thank and please our audience.
  In case you are interested to listen, and maybe become a member in the very warm company we have there, have in mind that Prog & Roll comes online on Sunday nights at 20.00 UK time. (21.00 Italy/Germany, 22.00 Greece/Turkey) The broadcast is in English and Greek language, and you can listen by clicking the following link at the right time: www.justincaseradio.com
Thank you for reading this...
See you there! :-)

Goodies from GFreedom's Music Collection # 23

CLIVE NOLAN: ALCHEMY (2013). A Prog-Rock Musical
  Clive Nolan is one of the most charismatic, talented and hard-working musicians/composers of the music sub-genre named as Neo-Prog. During the last decades, he participated in many bands and projects, such as: Arena, Pendragon, Shadowlands, Casino etc. 
During this last decade, he tried something very different, and rather challenging; to compose a Rock musical. His first effort was the musical 'She', which was released in 2008. And 5 years later, he returned with a second musical, named 'Alchemy'.
  (To be honest, I had no idea about this album, until a couple of weeks ago, but from the moment I discovered it I can't stop listening to it! Dealing with music as a hobby and profesionally for almost 30+ years, I must say that I'm not easily impressed anymore. But this album blew my mind!)
  But, what is 'Alchemy'?  Is it a Rock opera? Well, not exactly. Is it a Prog Rock album? Hmmm not exactly. Is it an ordinary musical? Again, not exactly. The truth is that 'Alchemy' is a combination of all those things I mentioned above.
  But wait a sec, let's go back and take it from the start:
  'Alchemy' is the name of the rather ambitious Prog-Rock musical by Clive Nolan, which was released on February 2013 as a 2-CD set. It includes 27 songs, and has a total running time of almost 2 hours. Clive Nolan wrote the lyrics & the music, and he is also singing and playing the keyboards. For the needs of the album, 10 more singers and 6 musicians were employed, including present or ex-members from bands like IQ and Arena.

  Let's get a closer look at the album now: As I wrote above, it includes 27 songs, all of them really good ones. Seriously, there's not a bad song in this album! The melodies are all wonderful and got stuck in my head constantly. The way that Mr. Nolan has built up the tension in various songs, the way he leads one melody into another, the way he piles things happening on top of each other - they are all so damn good to listen to. The vocalists all do a wonderful job, minus some poor acting in a couple of places. Musical ideas are reprised and used to build upon ideas, improve the drama, etc... 
  As for the story, it is a Victorian adventure set in 1842, with a sense of the dark and mysterious. Some people might find the story kind of boring or flawed, especially after repeated listenings. But the first time through, the pacing, drama, and exposition, suck you into the story and carries you along on a great adventure. So in the sense of considering the story as a journey, one can't complain. But re- listening to songs and knowing where they are leading the story to, one starts to find imperfections. I'm not going to get into details here, because I don't want to reveal information that may spoil the enjoyment of listening to this story for the first time.
 Personaly, I don’t have any problem with the lyrics or the story, and I really enjoy this dark and gloomy atmosphere that the music - in combination with the lyrics - is creating throughout the album.
  Despite the fact that I like all the songs of the album, I have of course some favorite ones, which are: ‘Amelia’, ‘Quarternary Plan’ and ‘The Tide of Wealth’. These 3 songs are the highlights of the album. (Always in my opinion).
  I totally recommend this album to everybody! Liking Rock music is the only thing required. (To be honest, I'm not even sure if we can characterise this album as 'Rock' music.). You like musicals? Then go for it! You don’t like musicals? No problem, me neither, but I loved this one! You are a Prog-Rock or Neo-Prog fan? No way you should miss that! You are not? Try this, and you’ll find it interesting to say the least.
You can buy the album at the usual online shops, at a fair price. The only thing I’m sad about, is that there is not a vinyl version available. I just hope that it will be one in the future.
                   My Rating: 4.5 out of 5.00 stars.
I hope you found this piece interesting and helpful.
Thank you... :-)

PROG & ROLL Radio Show (22/11/2015). A small review & the complete playlist.

Good morning all! :-)
 Last night one more Prog & Roll radio show was online as usual, and I believe it was a really good one!
In my opinion it was one of the best shows of the last months, for many reasons. We had a really big crowd who were listening, many of them were participating on the chatbox as well, and almost all of them were in a great mood, and altogether we had a great time, and lots of fun.
 We also celebrated the birthday of Dave Curnow from Salander, by playing a couple of songs we knew he would like, and sung a "Happy Birthday" song to him, through the microphone.
 As for the complete playlist, you can see it here:
APHRODITE’S CHILD: The Four Horsemen / THE MOODY BLUES: Question / GENESIS: The Knife / YES: Beyond & Before / THE BLACK ANGELS: The First Vietnamese War / THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE: Prozak Vs Heroin / SABBATH ASSEMBLY: Glory to the Gods in the Highest / BLOOD CEREMONY: Ballad of the Weird Sisters / BROKEN PARACHUTE: False Prophets / SALANDER: Aldri Sakleysi Er Farinn / CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX: Troublemaker / PINK FLOYD: The Dogs of War / PROCOL HARUM: Perpetual Motion / LED ZEPPELIN: Since I’ve Been Loving You – Live / DEEP PURPLE: Stormbringer / THIN LIZZY: Black Rose.
"Epic" Song: URIAH HEEP: The Magician’s Birthday.
 Prog & Roll will be online again on Sunday the 29th of November, with the "Listener's Happy Hour", during which we are going to play the songs that our listeners requested. I have many song requests gathered already, and as it seems it's going to be a very interesting show.
A very big thanks to all of you who listened to last night's show. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
Have a nice day! :-)
 
 
 

GFreedom's Juke Box No.145

Hello all!
Another extremely busy week reached finaly at an end, so here I am in order to write down my best 5songs for you.
Unfortunately, I have a vey busy schedule lately, and I can't find time to deal with my blog as you can see by yourselves.
But desprite that, I'm trying to find some time to listen to some music, and continue writing this 'juke box ' post for you.
So, for this week, these are my 5 songs: 
CLIVE NOLAN: Amelia (Alchemy - 2013)
GENESIS: The Knife (Trespass - 1970)
SCORPIONS: We'll Burn the Sky - Live (Tokyo Tapes - 1977)
PROCOL HARUM: Whaling Stories - Live (In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra - 1971)
LED ZEPPELIN: Since I've Been Loving You - Live (The Song Remains the Same - 1976)
I'll conclude this post as usual, by adding the YT links for the songs in my list, so you can listen to them right away. I couldn't find the studio version of 'Amelia', that's why it is missing from the list below.
Enjoy the music, and thanks for visiting! :-)
GENESIS: The Knife 
SCORPIONS: We'll Burn the Sky 
PROCOL HARUM: Whaling Stories 
LED ZEPPELIN: Since I've Been Loving You 

PROG & ROLL Radio Show (15/11/2015). A small "review" & the complete playlist.

  After a week's break, Prog & Roll was online again last night at the usual time (20.00 UK time).
Like we usualy do, we divided the 2-hours show into 4-half hour parts, and on each part we played different styles of music, starting with Prog-Metal. At the begining of the 2nd part, we played John Lennon's 'Imagine', which was decidated to the victims of the terrorist attacks. The 3rd part started with the music contest, and it continued with a small tribute to 'Glam Rock'. And at the 4rth part, we played songs inspired by the fantastic worlds of J.R.R Tolkien.
 We had many people on the chatbox, from many different countries as usual, like for example UK, Ireland, Greece, France and Germany.
 I believe it was a very nice and pleasant show, and everybody seemed to enjoy it.
Here you can take a look at the full playlist:
1st Part: DREAM THEATER: Hell’s Kitchen / DREAMSCAPE: The Violet Flame Forever / UNIFIED PAST: Erasure Principle / BOB KATSIONIS: Game of Drones.
2nd Part: JOHN LENNON: Imagine / ROKY ERICKSON: Burn the Flames / ALICE COOPER: Pass the Gun Around / RORY GALLAGHER: I Fall Apart / ERIC CLAPTON: Little Wing (Live).
3rd Part: BAUHAUS: Ziggy Stardust (Music Contest) / DAVID BOWIE: Velvet Goldmine / MOTT THE HOOPLE: All the Young Dudes / T.REX: 20^th Century Boy / ROXY MUSIC: Out of the Blue.
4rth Part:  BLACK SABBATH: The Wizard / LED ZEPPELIN: Ramble On / STYX: Lords of the Ring / BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: Galadriel.
"Epic" Song: AINUR: The Fall of Gondolin.
On behalf of GFreedom Team who are the hosts of Prog & Roll, I would like to say a very big thanks to all those who are supporting this show, and they have become our devoted fans and friends. You should know, that without you there is no Prog & Roll!
Thank you! :-)