TV Series: HOMELAND (Season 1)

   One of the best and well structed series I have watched in the last years.

When they told me about the story, I thought ‘Ah ok I’m not gonna watch that’.

But one night I thought to give it a try. And I didn’t stop watching it like insane until the season finished. I was counting the days for season 2, which started yesterday I think.

The first season consists of 12 episodes, and each episode lasts for an hour.

   There are two main characters here: The CIA female officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), and the Marines Sergeant Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis). (Damian Lewis held the basic role as Sgt. Winters in the TV series Band of Brothers).

   The story starts when Sgt.Body returns to USA from Iraq, after having gone missing for eight years.  C. Mathison has some informations about an American ‘sleeping’ agent, and she suspects him from the start.

In these 12 episodes you will see the plot turning many times, as if almost nothing is as it seems…

   It is important to pay attention when watching, so you will not miss some clues that are given as the story continues. The structure of the two main characters is very strong, and both actors are giving great performances.

‘Homeland’ series won 2 Golden Globe awards, and they have a rating of 8.6 in IMDB…

In the following video you can see a trailer of the first season...

                              

GFreedom's Juke Box No.16

Hello all!
Another week passed and it is time for my Juke Box post.
This last week I listened to lots of music and mostly Progressive Rock, because I was preparing the radio show. But there were times I wanted to listed to something different, because I felt I was having a
Progressive ovedose! hehehe
So, these are my 5 most favorite songs for the past week:

Genesis: Dancing of the Moonlight Knight
(Selling England by the Pound) (1973)
Tool: Vicarious (10.000 Days) (2006)
Rush: Jacob's Ladder (Permanent Waves) (1980)
Fruupp: The Perfect Wish (The Prince of Heaven's Eyes) (1974)
Suede: We are the Pigs (Dog Man Star) (1994)

Prog & Roll Radio Show an Update...

Hello! :)
That is a post concerning last night's broadcast.
It was our first one, so I will write my impressions here...
Well, it was great! :)
Our broadcast lasted for 2 hours, and both us and the visitors had some great time as far as I know!
The chatbox was on fire, and at some points we were laughing a lot with the crazy comments there.
Because it was out first radio show, we wanted to have a theme.
And the theme was: 'The Prog round of the world in 2 hours'.
So we played music from bands all over the world. (Well, almost!). We surely left many out, but we did the best we could in these 2 hours.
Some of the bands we played were: Genesis, Marillion, Arena, Rush, Pavlov's Dog, Kansas, Sienna Root, The Mars Volta, Kingston Wall, Focus, Jane, PFM,Will-O-the-Wisp,
and we kept Dead Can Dance for the end...
Many people visited and listened to our show, and many didn't.
We knew some of them, and we got to know the others.
We were a nice warm company last night, and that was something I really enjoyed.
Now I am waiting for the next show, and I hope we will make it even better!
I want to thank you for spending 2 hours with us, because together we made a very warm and beautiful night...
Thank you all! :)

GFreedom's Team Presents: Prog & Roll Radio Show...

Hello everybody!
It is my pleasure to announce that from next Thursday 25/9 and every Thursday after this, me & my wife will have a 2-hour Radio show at an internet radio.
The broadcasting will be in 2 languages: Greek and English, so many people will be able to understand what we will be talking about. Otherwise it will be all Greek to you! :P hehehe
The show it is called 'Prog & Roll', and it will be about Progressive Rock music, but with a very wide use of the term 'Progressive'. The best term it would be 'Progressive Orientated'.
We will be playing music from the '60's up to our days.
The show will start at 21.00 GMT and will be finishing 2 hours later at 23.00. (at night). According to the country you live, you can add or substract a few hours in order to see what time it will be in your country. For example in Greece will be between 23.00 - 01.00, in England 21.00 - 23.00, etc...
On Sunday morning we did our first trial broadcasting, and tomorrow we have the second and last one.Tomorrow's trial will be at 10.00 GMT (in the morning) and will last 1 hour.
If anyone is in the mood, he/she can log in and listen.
Now, the name of this on-line radio is: JustIn Case Progressive Radio, and you can find it here:
http://www.justincaseradio.com/

Thank you all in advance! :)

AC DC Live at River Plate

AC/DC are going to release their first live album in the last 20 years.
The album will be released in November, and the title will be:'Live at River Plate'.
The recordings were made on December 2009, at the 3 nights that AC/DC performed live in front of almost 200.000 people at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires.
These live performaces has been released the year before in DVD, but now they will be released in double cd, and triple vinyl record.

And here is the tracklist:


Rock N Roll Train
Hell Ain’t A Bad Place
    To Be                                                                  
Back In Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Shot Down In Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells

Shoot To Thrill
War Machine                                                                                       
 Dog Eat Dog
You Shook Me All Night Long
T.N.T.
Whole Lotta Rosie
 Let There Be Rock
Highway To Hell
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

In the following video you can watch them perform live from Argentina the song 'Hells Bells'

                                   

GFreedom's Juke Box No.15

Hello everybody!
One more Sarturday came and I'm here to post my Top-5.
Last week I have been rather busy so I couldn't listen to so much music.
And in the other hand I was in a mood for Progressive Rock...
So most of the times I had the time to listen to music I listened to Prog...
And here are my best 5 songs:

Genesis: Dancing of the Moonlight Knight
(Selling England by the Pound) (1973)
The Mars Volta: Widow (Franced the Mute) (2005)
Curved Air: Metamorphosis (Air Cut) (1973)
Pink Floyd: High Hopes (The Division Bell) (1994)
Trader Horne: 3 Rings for Elven Kings (Morning Way) (1970)
 

Dead Can Dance: An Update & Setlist

I have to admit that although I knew for a long time now that I couldn't go to this concert, and as the days are closing by, I feel more and more sad...

I am a fan of them since 1989, I have seen them live twice, but that doesn't make it any easier...
Anyway, I tried to find some information for all of you that will go on next Friday or Sunday to see them on stage. (On Friday is the concert in Thessaloniki and on Sunday in Athens).
 I have read some great reviews about their concerts in the States and Europe so far, so get ready!
For those who like surprises, do not read this post because you will learn the setlist.
I made a small research and I found various setlists from many concerts. As I found out, their playlists are almost the same with only a couple of changes.

In a few shows they didn't play "The Host of Seraphim", but in the majority they did. Also they play one cover version of Tim Buckley's 'Song to the Siren'. But again in a few shows they don't.
   Now, as you might have known already, they play one Greek song. (Well, that is the second cover version of their show). Is the song "Ειμαι πρεζακιας" from Roza Eskenazi. (The song is called "Ime prezakias" which means 'I am a junkie', and is a very old song from a specific category called "Rebetiko").
I may have an idea of what's gonna happen when they play this song in Greece... ;)
And closing this post I'm posting one setlist in order to get an idea of what you are gonna see in a few days...
The setlist is from their concert in Atlanta USA, on the 5th of September...

Children of the Sun
Anabasis
Rakim
Kiko
Lamma Bada
Agape
Amnesia
Sanvean
Nierika
Opium
The Host of Seraphim
Ime Prezakias
Now we are Free
All in Good time
Encore
The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
Dreams made Flesh
Encore No.2
Song to the Siren
Return of the She-King
Encore No.3
Rising of the Moon

LED ZEPPELIN: Celebration Day

   Once upon a time there was a Rock band called Led Zeppelin which happens to be one of the greatest Rock bands, period!

This great band was split up in 1980 after the death of their drummer John Bohnam. Since then, from time to time rumors were spreading around about a reunion, about a new record, about live shows etc… But unfortunately they were never true…

   A few years ago a new rumor came out and spread out quickly like a fire: Led Zeppelin will make a reunion for one and only concert, in order to honor the memory of Ahmet Ertegun, the Atlantic Records’ boss that recently had passed… Net profit from the tickets would  go to the ‘Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund’, which provides scholarships for gifted children.

This live show would  be held in the Q2 Arena in London.  A new site was opened for the needs of the concert, and everyone who wanted could register for a ticket and waiting to see if he/she would be one of the lucky ones. Because the tickets would be given after lottery.

The result? Almost 10.000.000 applications for about 20.000 tickets!

These 20.000 VERY lucky ticket owners travelled from all over the world to London, and on the night of 10th December 2007 watched an unforgettable show, leaving the rest 9.980.000 of us wondering for life how it would be like to be there that night.

   The concert it was a magnet not only for the fans, but for the celebrities as well. Many showed up in the Q2 Arena with David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Kate Moss, members of Oasis and Genesis, Steve Winwood (Traffic)  and Marilyn Manson being some of them…

   And now, almost 5 years later, this concert is going to be on the cinemas! Like the first time with ‘The Song Remains the Same’ (1976), ‘Celebration Day’ will be on the cinemas on the 17th of October.

But to which cinemas? That is a question that I don’t have an answer to give.

You can check if any cinemas in your city or country will show this here: http://www.ledzeppelin.com/news/2012/09/13/celebration-day-cinema-listings

You will be able to buy tickets from the official website of Led Zeppelin: www.LedZeppelin.com

But that’s not all. After a while ‘Celebration Day’ will be released in DVD/Blue Ray, and there are also rumors about a CD release. (But nothing is certain yet).

And here is the playlist from the concert:

1. Good Times, Bad Times
2. Ramble On
3. Black Dog
4. In My Time Of Dying
5. For Your Life (live debut)
6. Trampled Underfoot
7. Nobody's Fault But Mine
8. No Quarter
9. Since I've Been Lovin' You
10. Dazed And Confused
11. Stairway To Heaven
12. The Song Remains the Same
13. Misty Mountain Hop
14. Kashmir
15. Whole Lotta Love
16. Rock And Roll

In the following video you can watch the trailer: 

                           

GFreedom's Juke Box No.14

Hello all!
It is time to post my Top-5 songs for this past week...
Without further delay, here they are:

Mercury Rev: The Funny Bird (Deserter's Songs) (1998)
Traffic: When the Eagle Flies (When the Eagle Flies) (1974)
Arena: Solomon (Songs from the Lion's Cage) (1995)
Sabbath Assembly: Hymn of the Consecration
(Restored to One) (2010)
Ultimate Spinach: Ballad of the Hip Death Goddess
(Ultimate Spinach) (1967)

Spotlights on: ANGLAGARD

   This is a band I didn’t put in the Prog-Rock encyclopedia on purpose, because I wanted to make a separate presentation here…

   Anglagard is a Swedish band formed during the summer of 1991, by guitarist Tord Lindman and bassist  Johan Hogborg. In order to find members for the band, they placed ads asking for musicians willing to play Progressive Rock in the style of the big bands of the ‘70’s. Their ads were answered by Thomas Johnson (keyboards) and Jonas Engdegard (guitar) at start, and a little later 2 more members were added. Mathias Olsson (drums) and Anna Holmgren (flute).

   One year later (1992) they released their first album under the name ‘Hybris’. The album was well received, and the band performed live in a few Prog-Rock festivals in Europe and USA.

Their sound resembles  the sound of the Progressive bands of the ‘70’s, and especially the ones of King Crimson, Genesis, and Van Der Graaf Generator.Their songs are long, complicated, mostly instrumental , with a heavy sound filled with mellotron.

A special mention must be made in the virtuoso percussionist’s way of playing drums.

‘Hybris’ was named ‘album of the year’  by many music magazines, and the band gained a lot of reputation in the Progressive Rock circles.

   In 1994 they released their second album , named ‘Epilog’. Their music style is the same, but the compositions seemed more inspired. Again they participated in many Progressive Rock festivals, but after a while the band splited up.

The recordings from these live performances were released in 1996 in the album named ‘Buried Alive’.

   In 2009 rumours spread that the band was reforming after 15 years. That was proved to be absolutely right, and presently they released their 3rd studio album after 18 years of silence.

The band is at 5/6 the same, with the exception of Thomas Lindman.  In addition they  have 3 more musicians added in the band. Tove Tornberg (cello),Daniel Borgegård Älgå (clarinet, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone) and Ulf Åkerstedt (bass tuba, bass trumpet, contrabass trumpet).

The new album is called ‘Vijiana Oga’, and it contains 4 intrumental songs of an average length 15 minutes each…  Upon its release it reached at No.6 in the Swedish charts, and was sold out.

The latest news are that a re-print is on the way.

As for the future of the band? Well, I guess we will have to wait to find out…

In the following video you can listen to the (15 minute long) Höstsejd from the album 'Epilog'.