Hello everybody!
As many of you know already, on every Saturday morning I'm writing here a post which includes my Top- 5 songs for the week.
From all the music I listened during the week, I choose the best 5 songs (in my opinion of course), and writing them here. Also, at the end of the post I'm adding a couple of songs in videos so you can listen right away if you want to.
This last week I listened to many different styles of music, as you will understand from my list.
So, without further delay here's my top-5 songlist: CRESSIDA: Munich (Asylum - 1971) THIN LIZZY: Black Rose (Black Rose A Rock Legend - 1979) SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES: Melt! (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse - 1982) BRYAN FERRY: A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall (These Foolish Things - 1973) DEAD CAN DANCE: The Host of Seraphim (The Serpent's Egg - 1988)
And here's two videos for you: On the first video you can listen to the very interesting cover version of Bob Dylan's song 'A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall' by Bryan Ferry, and on the second one you can listen to 'Melt!' by Siouxsie & the Banshees.
Enjoy the music, and have a nice weekend!
Hello all!
I'm writing this post in order to inform you that on this Sunday's Prog & Roll Radio Show we are preparing a really interesting playlist, filled only with cover versions.
We have 21 songs in total in the playlist, and all of them are cover versions.
You will have the chance to listen to many famous (and some not so famous) songs in different and very interesting versions. We will have Prog Rock bands covering songs from other Prog Rock bands, Prog Metal bands covering songs from Prog Rock bands, Rock bands or artists covering songs from Prog Rock bands, and so on...
I truly believe that al of you who will log in at the time of the show will have some nice time. I want to remind you that you can listen to Prog & Roll online on every Sunday night, at 21.00CET, (20.00 UK time, 21.00 Italy time, 22.00 Greece time), by clicking the link below. JustInCaseProgRadio
And further than that, you should know that the broadcasting is in English & Greek language, so all of you will be able to understand what we are talking about.
I hope to see you online.
Thanks in advance... :)
ATOMIC ROOSTER: In Hearing of Atomic Rooster (1971) Atomic Rooster was an English Heavy-Rock band, who was formed up in 1969 by the keyboardist Vincent Crane, who had just quit playing with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. He recruited the drummer Carl Palmer, (later on Emerson Lake & Palmer), and together they tried to make a collaboration with Brian Jones. When this didn't work out because of Brian Jone's death, they formed the new band on
their own by recruiting two more members, and chosing the name Atomic Rooster. (Because 1969 was the year of the rooster in the Chinese calendar).
Their first gig was on August 29 of 1969 at the London Lyceum, having as supporting act Deep Purple (!).
Very soon they signed a contract with a record company, and on February of 1970 they released their debut album, named 'Atomic Rooster'.
The major problem of the band was the many changes in members, and that surely affected their sound and their musical identity.
In 1971, they released their third album under the name 'In Hearing of Atomic Rooster', which came out exactly after the release of their most successful single 'Devil's Answer' (No.4 in the UK charts). Although 'Devil's Answer' was not included in the album, the popularity they gained because of the single helped the album to climb up to No.18 of UK's album charts.(In the version that was released in the USA you can find 'Devil's Answer' in the album, but not in the original English release).
The album contains 8 songs in total (9 in the USA version), has a total running time of almost 40 minutes, and includes some of the band's finest moments.
Except 'Devil's Answer' (which you can find in all the re-releases of the album), here you can find some really great songs, like 'Breakthrough', 'Head in the Sky', 'Break the Ice' and 'Black Snake'. The band's line-up in this album is as the following: Vincent Crane - Organ & Piano, John Du Cann - Guitars, Pete French - Vocals, Paul Hammond - Drums & Percussion.
Concluding this post, I must say that if any of you is interested about Atomic Rooster's albums, in my opinion this is the album you should start with.
In the following videos you can listen to a couple of songs from this album...
I hope you found this post interesting and informative.
Thanks for reading! :)
Hello folks! Last night we had one more Prog & Roll radio show, as usual.
We had in our playlist songs from many different music categories, such as Electronic music, Prog Metal, Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog, etc...
Again we separated the 2-hours show into 4 half-hour parts, and on each part we played songs from different music styles. For example, in the first half hour we played songs from different music categories but with their sound being based on the keyboards. In the second part we played Prog Metal and Heavy Metal, etc...
As for the full playlist, you can see it here:
KRAFTWERK:
Spacelab / J.M.JARRE: Magnetic Fields 2 / HIDRIA SPACEFOLK: Ad Astra / CAMEL: Cloak & Dagger Man / MASTODON:
Divinations / TOOL: Stinkfist / METALLICA: The Call of Kthulu / DREAMSCAPE:
Led Astray / FAR OUT: Too Many People / MAGIC
PIE: Pointless Masquerade / BACAMARTE:
Ufo / ANUBIS: Weeping Willow / BIG BIG
TRAIN: Hedgerow /CURVED AIR: Back Street Luv / FRUUPP: Prnce of Darkness / TEMPUS FUGIT:
The Sight / RENAISSANCE: Trip to the Fair.
As for next Sunday, we are preparing a special playlist, only wih cover versions. We believe that our next show will be a very interesting one, so try not to miss it! ;)
Hello all!
Another Saturday morning is here, so it's now time to write down my Top-5 songs for this week.
I listened to lots of music during the week, and many different kinds and styles, so my Top-5 is kind of mixed up...
Without further ado, these are my best songs for the week: LOVE: The Red Telephone (Forever Changes - 1967) JETHRO TULL: Thick as a Brick Part.1 (Thick as a Brick - 1972) ADVENTURE: The Swan (Beacon of Light - 2009) ARLO GUTHRIE: City of New Orleans (Hobo's Lullaby - 1972) RENAISSANCE: Trip to the Fair (Scheherazade & Other Stories - 1975)
And as usual, I'll conclude this post by adding 2 videos with songs from my list.
On the first video you can listen to 'The Swan' by the Norwegian Progressive Rock band Adventure, and on the second video something very different. The Folk-Rock ballad 'City of New Orleans' by Arlo Guthrie.
Enjoy the music everybody, and have a great weekend!
Thank you for reading :)
RENAISSANCE: Scheherazade & Other Stories (1975) When the term 'Symphonic Prog' comes to my mind, this album is always the first one I think of.
Maybe because of the really very good classic-like arrangement in the songs, or maybe because of the 24 minute-long epic 'Song of Scheherazade' which covers all the B-side of the album (In the vinyl version of course), with a whole orchestra participating in it. "Scheherazade and Other Stories" is concidered if not the best album of Renaissance, then definetely one of their 2-3 best releases in their long career. The classic line-up is present here, including Annie Haslam in vocals, Jon Camp on bass and vocals, Michael Dunford (who recently passed away) on guitars and backing vocals, John Tout on Keyboards and backing vocals, Terence Sullivan on drums and backing vocals, and Terence Cox who does the orchestral arrangements. The album is separated in two main parts in my opinion, and that's more obvious in the vilyl version. The first part which is the first side of the album, and contains 3 wonderful songs, and the second part which is the epic 'Song of Scheherazade' in the second side of the album. Contrary to popular belief 'Song of Scheherazade' is not based on Nikolai-Rimsky Korsakov's "Scheherazade" but there are a few music motifs that might bring to mind his work. The lyrics are based on the famous Arabian tale "1001 nights" as you can easily understand, and tells the story of Schererazade and the Sultan.
It's rather unfair in my opinion that many people when talking about this album seem to forget the rest of the songs here, and concentrate only to the 'Song of Scheherazade'. This is really pitty, because the first side includes 3 songs, and all of them are top notch! The albums starts with the wonderful 'Trip to the Fair' with the almost 3-minute-long piano intro, which is about Annie Haslam's first date with the musician & composer Roy Wood. Second song is 'The Vultures Fly High' which is another wonderful song, and for sure one of their best works. The first side of the album is closing with 'Ocean Gypsy', which is one of their most famous songs ever. I stronly recommend this album to all those who are intrigued by Progressive Rock, and most especially by 'Symphonic Prog'. It's a "Must Have" album without a second thought! If I had to rate it, I would give 4.5 out of 5.0 stars easily!
In the following video you can listen to 'Ocean Gypsy' from this album...
Very recently I watched the complete series of Breaking Bad.
I watched all 5 seasons in a marathon of 2.5 weeks, and here's my review on the series.
First of all, I must say that for some reason I used to refuse to watch 'Breaking Bad', despite the fact that I had the complete series a long time ago, and almost everybody around me was suggesting that I watched it. I knew the general idea of the scenario, and it didn't seem to be so appealing to me. At last I decided to give it a go, resulting in a non-stop 2.5 weeks of Breaking Bad .
The main scenario entails the two-year-long story of Walter White, a peaceful High School chemistry teacher, who is diagnosed with lung cancer, and the doctors give him a few more months to live. In the first season we get to know some of the main characters, and see how Walter White's life takes a drastic turn because of the cancer. He starts to follow a treatment, and at the same time he tries to find a way to secure his family's financial situation before his death. He finds the solution to this problem when he teams-up with one former student of his, Jesse Pinkman, and together they decide to produce Methamphetamine (or Meth). Because of his chemistry knowledge, Walter White achieves to produce the best Meth ever produced. And that's the point where the story really starts!
In the following seasons we will be watching how Walter White slowly slowly sinks deeper and deeper into the Meth producing business, whilst Jesse Pinkman tries to sell it. But that's not the most interesting part in my opinion. What's really interesting is to observe how the main characters are changing with time and they are finally transformed into something really different than they were before. For example Walter White is being transformed to a really evil character, instead the peaceful family man he was before. There are many interesting and unpredictable things that are happening as the story continues, but I don't want to get into details in order not to spoil the surprises that are parts of the scenario. Another interesting point is the style of the show changing as the story commences while sinking into the depths of drug hell. Simultanously so does the style: From an almost Coen-esque black comedy it will turn into a Tarantino infested bloodbath.
The story takes place in the city of Albuquerque New Mexico, and as far as I know all of the filmings made there. The main characters are: Walter White (Bryan Cranston), Jesse Pinkman (AAron Paul), Skyler White (Walter White's wife, played by Anna Gunn), Walter White JR (Walter White's son played by RJ Mitte), Hank Shrader (Walter White's brother in-law who is also an DEA agent, played by Dean Norris), Marie Shrader (the sister of Skyler White and the wife of Hank Shrader, played by Betsy Brandt), and... Saul Goodman (who is a total cartoon-like lawyer character, he appears later on in the series, and is being played by Bob Odenkirk).
Breaking Bad won a big number of awards of any kind, including 10 Primetime Emmy Awards, Outstanding lead actor, Outstanding Support actor, Outstanding Drama series, and so on... Further than that, Guinness World Records called 'Breaking Bad' the highest-rated TV Series of all times!
I must admit I really enjoyed watching it, and if I had to give a rating it would be something like 9.00 - 9.50. By the way, IMDB has a rating of 9.6 according to almost half a million voters!
I hope you found this review interesting and informative.
Thank you for reading! :)
Hello All! Another Saturday morning is here, so it's time to write here my best 5 songs for this week. Hadn't had so much time to listen to music this week, so my options were kind of limited. But I think this Top-5 list has some really wonderful songs in it all the same... So, these are my best 5 songs: RENAISSANCE: Trip to the Fair (Sceherazade - 1975) XII ALFONSO: Physics & Hunting (Charles Darwin - 2012) GENESIS: Get 'Em Out by Friday (Foxtrot - 1972) TRAFFIC: John Barleycorn (John Barleycorn must die - 1970) BIG BIG TRAIN: Hedgerow (English Electric Part. 1 - 2012)
In the following videos you can hear two songs from my list if you want. Enjoy the music, and have a nice weekend! :)
I'm writing this post in order to inform you that this Sunday's Prog & Roll Radio Show will be cancelled, due to a short holidays. We will be back online on next Sunday 30th of March, at 21.00 CET, as always.
Thank you... :)
A few days ago I posted here the first part of this wonderful documentary about the story of Genesis.
Today I'm posting the second part, which covers the years between 1976 and 1992.
I hope you'll find both parts enjoyable to watch and informative.
Enjoy! :)
Hello everybody!
