Eklektisk prog

Eklektisk i en progressiv rock kontekst beskriver et vell av elementer fra varierte musikalske kilder som innbefatter et vidt spekter av sjangre og stilarter.  Prog kan være eklektisk, men eklektisk prog refererer til band som trår over de etablerte grensene til sjangre innen progressiv rock, og mikser disse influensene til et hele.

Eklektisk prog kombinerer hybrider av stilarter og fragmenter av temaer, og trekker frem elementer fra diverse kilder. Andre kjennetegn er en kraftig musikalsk utvikling i løpet av karrieren, eller har mangfoldige stiler som ikke har noen klar referansekilde.

Basisen for eklektisk prog er stor musikalsk variasjon, rikholdige influenser, kunstnerisk kreativitet og klassiske prog elementer. Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson og Gentle Giant er typiske eksempler.

Noen skiver som er eksempler på sub sjangeren:

vdggs

England

Hvilket land er nå for eksempel Black Widow eller Mentaur fra ? Slike spørsmål støter vi musikkelskere stadig på, og vi har derfor funnet tiden inne for å se hva de enkelte landene produserer av band.

Selvsagt måtte vi begynne med en storleverandør av  musikk innen prog og relaterte sjangere, nemlig fra den en god del større øya ved siden av den grønne øya, nemlig gode(?) gamle England.  Med god gammel  ( tynger alderen mon tro?) salgsteknikk legger vi til: "Og ikke nok med det, du får også med deg i hvilke sjangere artistene kan plasseres i. En slik "båskultur" er egentlig en uting ( prog er i utgangspunktet ment for å sprenge båsene ), men tas likevel med for å glede noen av de mange millionene som tross alt vil lese dette.

England er den største, mest folkerike og tettest befolkede av de fire nasjonene som utgjør Det forente kongerike Storbritannia og Nord-Irland. England opptar den sørøstlige delen av Storbritannia, og grenser direkte mot Wales og Skottland.

Navnet England kommer fra anglerne, et av flere germanske folk som kom til øya i 5. og 6. århundre. Området var på den tiden delt i flere riker, hvorav de syv som i fellesskap omtales som Heptarkiet var de viktigste. Samlingen til ett rike fant sted i 8. og 9. århundre, og regnes som fullført under Alfred den store (regjerte 871–899).

England styres direkte av det britiske parlamentet, og har lenge vært det politiske sentrum i Storbritannia. Englands hovedstad, London, er også hele Storbritannias hovedstad. Mot slutten av det 20. århundre begynte en prosess mot økt regionalt selvstyre i Skottland og Wales, med blant annet opprettelse av regionale parlamenter.

Englands beste låtskrivere.

Vi antar at alle har sine egne meninger om dette, men at Amy Winehouse er en bedre låtskriver enn Ian Anderson og Peter Hammill er jo en tanke overraskende å få rede på! Slikt må en jo bare respektere, og plass til brødrene Shulman eller Kerry Minear fra Gentle Giant, Yes eller Genesis er det selvsagt ikke, da jo Hot Chip og Bill Fay jo langt overgår disse hva komposisjoner og det musikalske angår.  Ironisk vi, nei da, men morsom lesning er i det minste dette.

Først på en fjerdeplass dukker Lennons låtskrivermakker i The Beatles Paul McCartney opp mens George Harrison først dukker opp på en 36. plass. Elton John og Bernie Taupin, som står bak de fleste av førstnevntes låter havner på en akseptabel femteplass, mens Stones-gutta Mick Jagger og Keith Richards følger deretter. Ellers er Noël Coward, Joy Divisions Ian Curtis og New Order, Van Morrison og Joe Strummer og Mick Jones fra The Clash også inne blant de ti øverste i kåringen.
 

Avisen - Daily Telegraph -begrunner avgjørelsen om at John Lennon er Storbritannias største låtskriver med at det «ikke kan ha vært enkelt å befinne seg i et band sammen med en så talentfull låtskriver som McCartney, men at Lennon står bak noen av The Beatles' aller beste låter, inkludert «Day Tripper», «All You Need Is Love» og «Strawberry Fields Forever», mens låtene fra hans solokarriere ikke viker tilbake for noen av disse med komposisjoner som «Working Class Hero», «Imagine» og «Give Peace A Chance» på merittlisten. Lennon var en revolusjonerende artist som gikk langt forbi drømmen om en rock'n'roll berømmelse».

Den komplette listen over Storbritannias beste låtskrivere finner du her, mens kortversjonen kan beskues under.

1. John Lennon
2. Kate Bush
3. Morrissey/Johnny Marr (The Smiths)
4. Paul McCartney
5. Elton John/Bernie Taupin
6. Mick Jagger/Keith Richards (Rolling Stones)
7. Noël Coward
8. Ian Curtis/New Order
9. Van Morrison
10. Joe Strummer/Mick Jones (The Clash)
11. David Bowie
12. Queen
13. Ray Davies (The Kinks)
14. Elvis Costello
15. Pete Townshend (The Who)
16. Led Zeppelin
17. Bee Gees
18. Neil Tennant/Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys)
19. Pink Floyd
20. P.J. Harvey
21. Radiohead
22. Paul Weller (The Jam/The Style Council)
23. Bryan Ferry (Roxy Music)
24. Damon Albarn (Blur/Gorillaz/The Good, The Bad & The Queen)
25. Coldplay
26. Sandy Denny
27. Noel Gallagher (Oasis)
28. Annie Lennox/Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)
29. John Lydon (Sex Pistols/Public Image Limited)
30. Richard Thompson
31. Robert Smith (The Cure)
32. Mike Skinner (The Streets)
33. Nick Drake
34. George Michael
35. Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys)
36. George Harrison
37. Jerry Dammers (The Specials)
38. Amy Winehouse
39. Cat Stevens
40. Sting
41. Gary Barlow (Take That)
42. Liam Howlett (The Prodigy)
43. Stuart Murdoch (Belle And Sebastian)
44. Pete Doherty/Carl Barat (The Libertines/Babyshambles)
45. Billy Bragg
46. Hot Chip
47. Bill Fay
48. Joan Armatrading
49. Mark E. Smith (The Fall)
50. Ivor Novello

1 John Lennon

'When Paul felt like it, he would come in with about 20 songs and say, "We're recording." And I suddenly had to write a f---ing stack of songs. "Sgt Pepper" was like that.' It can't have been easy being in a band with a songwriter as gifted as Paul McCartney, but during their time together Lennon would write many of the Beatles' greatest songs, including Day Tripper, All You Need is Love and Strawberry Fields Forever. While McCartney was writing material for solo albums and for his new band Wings, Lennon pushed on to create Working Class Hero, Imagine and Give Peace a Chance. He was a revolutionary artist who travelled far beyond the dream of rock'n'roll stardom.

Classic lyric: 'There's nothing you can do that can't be done./ Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.' (All You Need is Love, 1967)

2 Kate Bush

There may be a stampede of young talented female singer songwriters rushing into the charts, but none has quite created the sensation that the 19-year-old Bush did when she burst onto the pop scene in 1978 with her wild mane and interpretive dancing. She turned the most passionate English novel, Wuthering Heights, into an ardent song, and it made her the first woman to have a UK number one with a self-written number. Bush continued to explore new frontiers, building a lasting body of work.Classic lyric: 'You don't want to hurt me,/ But see how deep the bullet lies./ Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder./ There is thunder in our hearts, baby.' (Running Up That Hill, 1985)

3 Morrissey/Johnny Marr

The songwriting partnership behind the Smiths was responsible for some of the strangest and most enchanted pop music ever. Tales of thwarted sexual longing wrapped in enigmatic literary references are carried on reverberating waves of sound. That indefinable something takes in kitchen-sink romanticism and a camp disregard for the everyday ('There's more to life than books, you know,/ But not much more'), but it always points back to true north, as in the classic How Soon is Now? - 'I am human and I need to be loved/ Just like everybody else does.'

Classic lyric: 'Fame, fame, fatal fame/ It can play hideous tricks on the brain.' (Frankly, Mr Shankly, 1986)

4 Paul McCartney

The poppiest and most avant garde Beatle may have become more sentimental with age, but he remains one of Britain's greatest songwriters. He's certainly the most gifted tunesmith. McCartney could stuff more melodies into one song - Hello Goodbye, for instance - than most bands are capable of in a whole album. He wrote When I'm Sixty-Four as a 16-year-old, penned the most covered song (Yesterday) and - despite his atrocious last album, 'Memory Almost Full' - can still look forward to seeing Hey Jude slugging it out with Imagine, Bohemian Rhapsody and Robbie Williams's Angels at the top of the nation's favourite song poll.

Classic lyric: 'Love, love me do./ You know I love you' (Love Me Do, 1962)

5 Elton John/Bernie Taupin

The partnership between a Lincolnshire farmer's boy and a musical prodigy from Pinner, Middlesex, is one of the more unlikely associations in the history of rock and pop, but Elton's warm tenor and gospel-tinged piano-playing seem to fit perfectly with Taupin's references to rural life. Their collaboration began by post in 1967, after both replied to a press ad. They met six months later, banging out material for a record company - an hour for Taupin to write the lyrics, half an hour for Elton to set them to music - to create the songs that would launch Elton as a solo artist. All Elton's great numbers - including Rocket Man, Tiny Dancer and Candle in the Wind - were written together.

Classic lyric: 'So goodbye yellow brick road,/ Where the dogs of society howl./ You can't plant me in your penthouse,/ I'm going back to my plough.' (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, 1973)

6 Mick Jagger/Keith Richards

According to their outspoken former manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Jagger and Richards were reluctant songwriters who had to be locked in a room in 1964 until they produced their first two songs, both awful. The era-defining anthem (?I Can't Get No) Satisfaction followed in 1965 (they liked their brackets), and from then on the great songs kept coming for two decades.

Classic lyric: 'I can't get no satisfaction,/ I can't get no girl reaction,/ 'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try,/ I can't get no. ((I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, 1965)

7 Noël Coward

'Noël Coward was a charmer./ As a writer he was Brahma,' sang the late Ian Dury, tipping his hat to the rhyming skills of the composer who became a byword for sophisticated wordplay and society glitz. Coward's upbringing was slightly less glamorous. He was the son of a Royal Navy captain, which kept him out of the first rank in between-the-wars Britain, but not for long. He wrote his first song, Forbidden Fruit, at the age of 16 and went on to make his name as the author of sparkling comedies, incorporating his light, complex and elegant musical confections.

Classic lyric: 'I know it's stupid, to be mad about the boy,/ I'm so ashamed of it, but must admit the sleepless nights I've had/ About the boy.' (Mad About the Boy, 1932)

8 Ian Curtis/New Order

If your only knowledge of Joy Division had come from the film Closer, you could be forgiven for thinking that the band were a set of Manc music obsessives with a troubled singer. But a deeper image emerges from the band's final album, from which the film's title was taken, of an important late 20th-century artist confronting the extremes of human experience in songs such as Heart and Soul and The Eternal. That the musicians who took the journey with him all the way to his eventual suicide would go on to reinvent themselves in New Order as among the brightest, most engaging

Classic lyric: 'Existence well what does it matter?/ I exist on the best terms I can./ The past is now part of my future,/ The present is well out of hand (Heart and Soul, 1980)

9 Van Morrison

Time may have ravaged the golden-haired minstrel on the cover of 'Astral Weeks', but nothing seems to warp the deep soul in his voice. George Ivan Morrison was born in Belfast in 1945 and had written a bona fide rock classic, Gloria, for his band Them while still in his teens. It barely hinted at what Van the Man would be capable of in a 40-year solo career that soon escaped the narrow confines of rock, plunging into folk, jazz and gospel to deliver a stream of transcendentally wonderful songs from Caravan to Into the Mystic to Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile).

Classic lyric: 'And I shall drive my chariot/ Down your streets and cry/ Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite/And I don't know why.' (Sweet Thing, 1968)

10 Joe Strummer/Mick Jones (The Clash)

Just six years separated The Clash's faultless run of singles, from White Riot in 1977 to Should I Stay or Should I Go in 1982, but they reveal a band that was developing at a breathless pace, alive to influences old and new. The combination of Strummer's fiery idealism and hard-to-catch lyrics, and Jones's gift for tunes and high harmonies, created a series of passionate bursts of energy that capture something unique and inspiring. Martin Scorsese described Janie Jones, the first track on their debut album, as the greatest British rock?'n'?roll song. It could be true, but the glory of Strummer and Jones's songwriting is that it's not even possible to say that it's the greatest Clash song.

Classic couplet: 'All over people changing their votes,/ Along with their overcoats,/ If Adolf Hitler flew in today,/ They'd send a limousine anyway.' ((White Man) in Hammersmith Palais, 1978)

11 David Bowie For a decade at least, being a Bowie fan was shorthand for being arty, alternative, make-up loving and weird. But his songs still sounded great on the radio, encoding mystery, futuristic alienation and sex. From Space Oddity in 1969 to the chic-sounding Let's Dance in 1983, Bowie's songwriting stands at the nexus of pop with the avant garde, matching his shapeshifting visual image stride for stride.

12 Queen Freddie Mercury wrote Bohemian Rhapsody, John Deacon wrote I Want to Break Free and Brian May wrote Flash and Fat Bottomed Girls. Yep, they were a mixed bag of songwriters, but together they created a kind of magic. Queen's ability to blend camp humour with macho bombast made them funnier than Victoria Wood and as heavy as Led Zep - no mean feat.

13 Ray Davies The lead singer of the Kinks and author of a stream of classic hits, Davies introduced the concept of the individual voice into British rock and pop - as distinctive, witty and instantly recognisable as Noël Coward. He is credited with inventing a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing by The Who's Pete Townshend.

14 Elvis Costello He may have looked like a cartoon Buddy Holly, but the young Costello was bristling with emotional and political invective, and had the musical and lyrical dexterity to recast his hurt and anger in any genre he cared to choose. That one of his earliest songs, Alison, may still be his best is no slight on the riches that were to follow.

15 Pete Townshend Pete Townshend's legacy will surely rest on writing The Who's era-defining My Generation, with a line that has entered the language - 'Hope I die before I get old.' Meanwhile, indie kids will carry on liking The Kids Are Alright, lovers of rock opera the towering Pinball Wizard and for fans of CSI the theme tunes - Won't Get Fooled Again, Baba O'Riley and Who Are You - are weekly reminders of what a great songwriter Townsend is.

16 Led Zeppelin Without the Zep's tales of pipers, misty mountains and the hammer of the gods, there would surely be no Spinal Tap, but there wouldn't be the drum intro to When the Levee Breaks, either. More than anyone else on this list, they show how songs can be more than just notes and words on a page. Oh, and they wrote something about a Stairway to Heaven, too.

17 The Bee Gees No question about their songwriting gifts, but do they pass the cricket test? The Brothers Gibb were born in the Isle of Man, but brought up in Australia. They wrote Islands in the Stream for Dolly and Kenny, Woman in Love by royal appointment for the Three Degrees, some critically esteemed early albums, and an endless stream of pop hits and disco classics, such as Night Fever and Staying Alive.

18 Neil Tennant/Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys) 'We were never being boring,' sang Tennant in 1990, and, 18 years on, it still sounds like a better epithet for the duo's songwriting career than the one with which it began, Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money). Tennant's gift is knowingness rather than cynicism, married to a deadpan wit that gives even his most melancholy moments - 'I love you, you pay my rent' - a bittersweet, sweet bitterness.

19 Pink Floyd Merging the late Syd Barrett into a single entry with Roger Waters is about as incongruous as this list is going to get: the former all playful wonder, the latter mostly bleak despair. Adding guitarist David Gilmour doesn't make things any simpler. You could make a case for the band's best songs being written either by Barrett, or about him (See Emily Play, Wish You Were Here, Shine on You Crazy Diamond) - unless you're a fan of Another Brick in the Wall.

20 P.J. Harvey Dark, theatrical and willing to explore the swampier side of human emotions, Harvey redefined what it meant to be a woman in rock - vividly feminine, rarely girly - in songs such as 1995's To Bring You My Love, before experimenting with mainstream pop to win the 2001 Mercury prize with 'Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea'.

21 Radiohead As a songwriting unit, Radiohead have the musical talent and emotional resolve to sally forth into any landscape. Their finest moments, such as Karma Police ('For a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself') are so convincing that you can lose yourself in them.

22 Paul Weller The lead singer of the Jam cut a strange stylistic dash as part of the punk movement, marrying the look and sounds of Sixties mod with the anger of a revved-up class warrior and creating mini-epics, such as Down in the Tube Station at Midnight and That's Entertainment.

23 Bryan Ferry As he warbled, 'We are flying down to Rio!' in the middle of Roxy Music's first single, Virginia Plain, Bryan Ferry announced himself as a songwriter who would bring sex, style and movie glamour to the former town-and-country landscapes of pop. With the more sophisticated sheen of late Roxy and his solo career, Ferry embodied cool detachment in a series of croons.

24 Damon Albarn It's possible that Blur's Damon Albarn will forever be associated with those dynamic Woo hoo!'s in Song 2. But in his new band The Good, The Bad and The Queen, and as a member of the virtual group Gorillaz, Albarn's melodic gifts are undeniably as real as ever.

25 Coldplay In the summer of 2000, it was not possible to drive from one end of Europe to the other without being able to tune your car radio to a station playing Coldplay's single, Yellow. Since then, Chris Martin and co have continued to write big, sweeping, adult songs, selling 30 million albums in the process.

26 Sandy Denny The young classically trained pianist Denny threw herself into the London folk scene while working as a nurse at Brompton Hospital. She went on to write songs immersed in imagery that would have graced a Pre-Raphaelite painting, delivered in a voice as clear as a mountain lake.

27 Noel Gallagher Proof positive that tunes plus riffs plus attitude are a formula for rock'n'roll success, Gallagher's place in the history of British pop culture was established with a series of anthems, such as Live Forever and Cigarettes and Alcohol, then cemented with a soaring ballad, Wonderwall, which no one understands.

28 Annie Lennox/Dave Stewart In dramatic theatre pieces such as Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) and There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart) they strutted and emoted on a grand scale.

29 John Lydon Before his appearance on I'm a Celebrity..., the former lead singer of the Sex Pistols wrote the lyrics for at least two of the most influential songs of the 20th century, Anarchy in the UK and God Save the Queen.

30 Richard Thompson Thompson's lyrics explore the desert expanses of personal depression ('There's nothing at the end of the rainbow,/ I was on the Calvary Cross'). In the brilliant When I Get to the Border, though, he imagines a world in which 'My troubles will all turn to sand,' and 'I'll be dancing down the street'. We hope so.

31 Robert Smith (The Cure) When the teenage Robert Smith penned a song based on Camus' L'Etranger (Killing an Arab) as his contribution to New Wave, it announced the arrival of a highly individual and contrary voice. He is often miscast as a doom merchant, but his songwriting spans the twin poles suggested by his cartoon-like visual image - from the gothic mystery and melancholia of songs such as Charlotte Sometimes to the smeared-red-lipstick pop of The Lovecats.

32 Mike Skinner/The Streets The emotionally eloquent voice of Mike Skinner captured the lives of a generation far removed from those covered by US rap, a world of Maccy D's, beefy bouncers and dry your eyes, mate. It also forged the template for a new style of British pop, to be further shaped and moulded by Lily Allen, Jamie-T and Kate Nash.

33 Nick Drake Drake's songs have helped to define the image of the singer/songwriter as a sensitive outsider palely clutching an acoustic guitar. He died in 1974 from an antidepressant overdose, but his albums were bursting with hope and sadness ('I was born to love no one,/ No one to love me').

34 George Michael Wham! arrived in 1982. Senior partner George Michael soon felt that sharing fame was so Last Christmas, and began a solo career with 'Faith' (first single: I Want Your Sex). Its camp disco offerings sold 20 million copies.

35 Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) A century ago, D.H. Lawrence was lamenting the homogenisation of British regional culture. He surely would have approved of the rapid-fire bursts of demotic northern slang that have characterised the early career of this major new talent.

36 George Harrison The youngest Beatle didn't get a lot of space for his compositions on the band's albums, but he wrote some diverse and lovely songs, from Here Comes the Sun to Something. When the Beatles broke up, he released his pent-up energies with a triple solo album, 'All Things Must Pass'.

37 Jerry Dammers The musical force behind the Specials wrote the hits Too Much Too Young and Ghost Town about life in 1980s Britain, then turned his attention to an international issue for 1984's Nelson Mandela.

38 Amy Winehouse In songs such as Rehab and Tears Dry on Their Own from her second album, 2006's 'Back to Black', the troubled diva has turned her retro-styled compositions into something completely modern.

39 Cat Stevens Stevens wrote some of the most enduring songs of the 1960s and early 1970s: Wild World, Father and Son and the much-covered The First Cut is the Deepest, as well as some lesser-known beauties such as How Can I Tell You.

40 Sting De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da excepted, the songs Gordon Sumner wrote for the Police reveal an undeniable talent for crafting quirky pop gems, from Walking on the Moon to Message in a Bottle.

41 Gary Barlow Take That were supposed only to dance, look pretty and show off their six-packs, until evil genius Gary Barlow created a chart monster. Even the most hardened pop cynics had their hearts melted by Barlow's lovely ballad Back For Good.

42 Liam Howlett Howlett created the music that would fuel the Prodigy's rise from rave scene to international chart success, beginning with a track built around a sample from a 1973 children's public information film: 'Charly says always tell your mummy before you go off somewhere.'

43 Stuart Murdoch (Belle and Sebastian) Wistful, funny, culty and ever so slightly twee, the primary qualities of Murdoch's songwriting turn moon-in-June rhymes into delicately beautiful songs - 'You liberated a boy I never rated', he sang, in The Stars of Track and Field, in 1996.

44 Pete Doherty/Carl Barat Lesson one: complementary songwriting talents can make one unique whole, as the Libertines proved. Lesson two: don't go burgling your perfect match's flat. Simple.

45 Billy Bragg 'I don't want to change the world,' sang the young Billy Bragg in 1978's A New England. Not true. Over the next three decades, Bragg would prove that he had wanted to change the world all along, as well as write quirky and emotionally charged love songs.

46 Hot Chip 'Look after me and I'll look after you. That's something we both forgot to do.' Just to prove that hot dancefloor acts can also produce the sweetest pop, along came Hot Chip, a band of old schoolfriends from Putney.

47 Bill Fay If he'd never written anything else, the composer of Be Not So Fearful would deserve his place in this list. He had a brief career between 1967 and 1971, and his original vinyl albums - all two of them - are now collectors' items.

48 Joan Armatrading Being a successful black woman singer-songwriter in 1970s Britain made Armatrading a unique presence. She had her first top 10 hit in 1976 with Love & Affection, providing a blueprint for later songs such as Show Some Emotion and Me Myself I.

49 Mark E. Smith In another age, Smith might have been a pub ranter, in another still, a poet. The lead singer of The Fall's songs are original, uncompromising and deliberately rudimentary.

50 Ivor Novello The matinée idol and sex symbol who made his name by creating the music for the popular First World War number Keep the Home Fires Burning. He died in 1951, and the Novello Awards were created in his honour five years later.

Elvis

7 % av amerikanerne tror fult og fast på at Elivs Aron Presley fortsatt er live! Ja dette forklarer jo at hamburgerlandet har en høy andel av skikkelige sære personer, og vi får trøste oss med at 93 av 100 tross alt ikke tror Elvis er i livet. Da kan vi leve med at av disse igjen er det 95 % som tror at George Bush er den personifiserte rollefiguren Mad!

Eric Mantel

The Unstruck Melody

I have to admit that prior to the arrival of this CD from Eric Mantel the name had almost eluded me, and so it would appear to the rest of the world. Even Eric's website notes him as "Chicago's best kept secret". A shame really as he is a formidable guitar player, who on this release, displays his vast array of styles and techniques, ending up in a thoroughly enjoyable album. Eric's first release in over a decade, The Unstruck Melody, however is not just an album of guitar virtuosity - the material here is well constructed, listenable and with a keen balance between the instrumental workouts and song structures.

Now if any of the following names feature strongly in your album collection - Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, Pat Methney, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Shawn Lane, Steve Howe, Wes Montgomery, Albert Lee, then do yourself a favour and check out this guy. Most of these legends of the six string axe are mentioned as influences of Eric Mantel, however The Unstruck Melody should not be viewed as some sort of plagiarised tribute to these guys, but more an album by an undiscovered contemporary.

I have to say that The Unstruck Melody is a long album and took some listening, and with some twenty one tracks it would be nigh on impossible to review each of the pieces individually. So I'm going to try and lump things together and give a broad prospective overview. The album has eight vocal tracks and thirteen instrumentals. Album opener sees a whistling Mantel flick through some of his local radio stations. Yes we've heard it before although I thought it was a nice touch that he used his own music for each of the channel changes - so diverse is the material on the album that it worked very well.

Firstly then the vocal offerings: The Simple Things is our first taster of the vocal Mantel, and although I doubt he would win any Grammy's for his vocal talents they work really well in this setting. I was reminded of Eric Johnson's vocals (say no more). My favourite vocal track on The Unstruck Melody, The Simple Things is laid back number with a great repetitive vocal hook courtesy of Keith Marx, Amanda Elliot and Mari Zen. The song also features two great melodic solos. Same applies to Shine On although this time around wrapped up in a jaunty shuffle beat - again the choruses are infectious.

However with the exception of perhaps the balladic True Home which has a pleasant a cappella intro courtesy of Paula Mantel and just enough happening to keep my attention (including some nice E-bowing), I have to admit that the rest of the vocal tracks did little for me. Not necessarily because they were bad, but more that they just didn't appeal. The more I got into the album the more I tended to skip over these tracks. Only Want Your Love does have a great solo break, but not enough to warrant repeated listenings.

OK on to the instrumental tracks. The first cut, Tribute, and if I'd listened to this album blind I could well have believed that this was that other fine Eric, namely Mr Johnson, playing a tribute to Jeff Beck. The Real You on the other hand has a rather funky groove and one that I might have expected from say The Doobies or the Allman Brothers or perhaps Steely Dan. The "chorus" courtesy of Bon Jovi. Accompanying the infectious beat are the Hammond-like organ fills and with Eric employing sitar and Voice Box (Golden Throat) effects.

Best cut on the album has to be Tai-Chi again a fairly laid back piece with Eric utilising some subtle sound effects and extracting a gorgeous tone from his guitar. And at the point he cuts loose - what a delight. Now there was a time when I would have bought an album just for a track like this...

The pace also remains restrained for the majority of Under A Different Lite - a great relaxing track, nice acoustic guitar, soft synth melodies and another fine solo to finish. Exit 10 moves more into Steve Morse terrain followed by the brief gentle resting point, the aptly titled Intermission.

In the days of vinyl this release would have been a double LP, so we should view Act II as side three presumably. And after the somewhat forgettable Gloria are a trio of diverse instrumentals. The first, Affectionately Yours is a delightful acoustic passage, whilst the jazzier side of Eric Mantel is explored in There Are No Words. This track featured on Guitar Nine's sampler Guitars At An Exhibition, which I heard some time back. The last of this trio is the rocky Wings Of Fire, which harks back to the halcyon days of rock, albeit with a modern slant. The first of the final two instrumentals Finger Pickin' Country is fairly self explanatory whilst The Unstruck Melody [Reprise] - is similar to the Intermission and the latter part of the album opener, featuring sitar and percussion.

I really, really enjoyed this album and although not much of the material could be deemed as progressive in the traditional sense, I felt there was enough interest to warrant its inclusion in these pages. I did struggle as to whether or not this should feature a DPRP recommended tag, not a reflection of Mr Mantel's guitar playing or even the music I hasten to add, but more of the nature of recommending this to "all" prog fans. In the end I awarded it the highest possible marks without the tag.

Eric Mantel is certainly a force to be reckoned with and hopefully The Unstruck Melody will be the hook to greater things. Fans of Eric Johnson and great guitar playing in general should give firstly the MP3s on Eric's site a listen and then go and buy the album.

Tracklist: Act I The Unstruck Melody (3:10), Tribute (4:41), The Simple Things (6:36), The Real You (4:01), Tai-Chi (5:31), Shine On (3:52), Under A Different Lite (4:15), Merry-Go-Round (4:11), Why So Lonely (4:06), Exit 10 (3:42), Intermission (0:45), Act II Gloria (3:52), Affectionately Yours (3:50), There Are No Words (3:55), Wings Of Fire (4:37), Only Want Your Love (3:35), True Home (4:03), Finger Pickin' Country (2:17), The Unstruck Melody [Reprise] (1:40), Don't Let the Day Go (5:16), Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven But Nobody Wants To Die (1:11)

Elvis Costello

Dropper CD-formatet

Elvis Costellos kommende album kommer ikke på CD, men slippes kun på vinyl med inkludert nedlastingskode.

Tittelen på Costellos nye album er «Momofuku» og lanseringsdato er satt til 22. april, melder bransjemagasinet Billboard. Det er selskapet Lost Highway som står bak utgivelsen, som altså kun vil foreligge fysisk på vinyl, men som inkluderer en kode som gjør det mulig for platekjøperne å laste ned en digital utgave av albumet. Selskapet gir ingen andre begrunnelser om hvorfor albumet ikke vil bli gitt ut på CD.

«Momofuku» blir Elvis Costellos første plateutgivelse med nytt eget låtmateriale siden The Delivery Man fra 2004, som var hans første utgivelse med backingbandet The Imposters, som også bidrar på den nye platen.

Siden da har Costello spilt inn «The River In Reverse» sammen med pianisten Allen Toussaint og han er godt i gang med å relansere backkatalogen i samarbeid med Universal Music. Foreløpig er det snakk om relansering av de første utgivelsene fra 70-tallet. Den siste i denne serien er «This Year's Model», opprinnelig sluppet i 1978, som kom i ny og oppgradert utgave med bonusmateriale i begynnelsen av måneden.

Egg

Egg (Remastered)

Organ / piano, bass guitar, and drums. Add occasional vocals and tone generator and that's it! Obviously not much rocking expected from that ensemble - for goodness sake, just three people and no guitars?

Well like so many of their Cantebury compats, these guys didn't read the memo and they created some ground breaking stuff. In fact the notes on the original LP read: The music on this LP is not dancing music, but basically music for listening to. It is harmonically and rhythmically complex, designed to be as original as possible within the confines of the instrumental lineup; so it's pretty demanding on the listener's attention.

Originally released in 1970, Egg took influences from such diverse genres as jazz, psychedelia, rock and fusion, but probably most important, from classical music - and Brahms, Stravinsky and Grieg are directly and indirectly represented here. And Egg in turn gave their own influences to a number of other Cantebury acts of the early '70s. Egg was Dave Stewart on keys and tones, Mont Campbell on bass and understated but very competent vocals, and Clive Brooks on drums. They were hatched from Uriel in 1969, after they'd lost their guitar player, Steve Hillage to his university studies. Later, Stewart and Hillage would form Khan, and Stewart would move into the realms of Hatfield and Ayers and Campbell would join him in National Health. The family tree of the Cantebury scene is a complex web, and we won't try to unravel it here. Suffice it to say that this was one of the more influential if underrated acts of prog's golden age.

The music generated by this small lineup was heavily dependent on Stewart's organ and Campbell's bass - both of which were applied with flair and imagination - but all three artists were credited with various compositions. There's a lot of avant garde generation of weird and spacey tones, but the rest is an entertaining example of several budding progressive genres taking their first baby-steps. The English sense of humor is present in many songs, although the lyrics tend toward the spaced out rather than the poetic. "The Song Of McGillicudie The Pusillanimous (or Don't Worry James, Your Socks Are Hanging In The Coal Cellar With Thomas)" could almost have come off an album by The Doors. And yes, that's the song's name! "I Will Be Absorbed" comes the closest to a prog 'song' in the traditional sense of the word. Symphony No. 2 is a 5-part 22-minute early-day-avant-garde attempt at a modern-era classic, in a similar vein to many of the Keith Emerson pieces that would come later.

Honors for the all-round favorite, however, go to "Seven Is A Jolly Good Time" which is a bonus track here and wasn't on the original record. By 'good time' they're taking a stab at the fixation with odd time signatures. These excerpts from lyrics tell it all:

I used to play in four time when I was very small...
...I started writing songs in all the rhythms I could find - Like five...
...Seven is a jolly good time, seven is a jolly good time...
...I found it hard to follow, my foot became confused...
...I gathered all the notes up and jumped 'em through a hoop - As in eleven

And of course, the song's actual time signatures follow the suggestions in the lyrics - 7/4, 11/4, etc.

The CD reviewed here was wonderfully remastered from the original tapes, and the Eclectic Discs reissue includes three bonus tracks, including both sides of the band's only single and “Third Movement” has at last been restored in its rightful place as an integral part of the now fully extended “Symphony No. 2”.

So - the confines of the instrumental lineup of bass, drums and keys really didn't do much to stifle Egg's creativity. Come to think of it, the same lineup was used effectively by The Nice and ELP. Who knows, that restricted lineup may have been the very challenge that spurred them to produce the influential music that would become one of the foundation stones of modern-day prog.

Track Listing:

1. Bulb (0:09)
2. While Growing my Hair (3:53)
3. I will be Absorbed (5:10)
4. Fugue in D Minor (2:46)
5. They laughed when I sat down at the Piano... (1:17)
6. The song of McGuillicudie the Pusillanimous (or don't worry James, your socks are hanging in the coal cellar with Thomas) (5:07)
7. Boilk (1:00)
8. Symphony No 2 (22:26)
    a) Movement 1 (5:47)
    b) Movement 2 (6:20)
    c) Blane (5:28)
    d) Movement 4 (4:51)

Er du en kriminell person?

En omfattende platesamling kan gi deg en pen sum hos bruktbutikkene, men om du har kopiert samlingen til PC-en eller mac-en først, kan salget være et brudd på åndsverkloven.

”Hvis man har som forretningsidé å kjøpe plater for så å selge dem når man har tatt "privatkopier", er det soleklart i strid med loven”, sier Marte Thorsby, direktør i den norske avdelingen av plateselskapsforeningen IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry)

”Det samme vil gjelde dersom man tar kopi av CD-samlingen for å kunne selge samlingen”, sier hun Thorsby medgir at saken er komplisert. I utgangspunktet er du i din fulle rett til ta kopier til privat bruk av en plate du har kjøpt. Problemene oppstår om har tenkt å kvitte deg med CD-samlingen, blir det hele et spørsmål om hvilken hensikt du har med salget. Forbrukerrådetoppfordrer derfor forbrukerne å være forsiktige om nevnte scenario er aktuelt.

”Som forbruker ville jeg vært ekstremt forsiktig med dette, når du ser hvor hissige IFPI og andre er på å forfølge forbrukere på andre typer digital aktivitet”, sier Torgeir Oterhals, seniorrådgiver i Forbrukerrådet.

”Hvis IFPI sier det at det er OK å selge samlingen for å få bedre plass, må det jo være greit, for da er det tydelig at de har begynt å ta konsekvensen av at teknologien endrer seg, sier Oterhals.

Eier du musikken din?

Sony BMG har fått hard kritikk for sin kopibeskyttelse den siste tiden. Nå er brukeravtalen analysert, og resultatet er skremmende.

Sony BMG valgte å legge ved et helt spesielt program for å håndheve opphavsretten på sine musikkutgivelser. Utover å være spionvare, fungerte dette programmet også som skalkeskjul for andre virus.

Brukeravtale

Nå har Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), den internasjonale delen av Elektronisk Forpost Norge, analysert brukeravtalen på 3.000 ord som følger med utgivelsene til plateselskapet. Her kommer det frem en del ting du ikke visste, og viser hva slags rettigheter Sony mener du bør ha til musikk.

Her er reglene:

1. Hvis huset ditt brenner ned, eller du får innbrudd hjemme, må du slette all musikken fra din datamaskin. Dette fordi EULA-en sier at at alle rettigheter til alle kopier av materiale opphører når du ikke lenger er i besittelse av den originale musikkplaten.

2. Du kan ikke overføre musikk til jobb-maskinen din. Dette fordi EULA-en sier at musikk kun kan overføres til «hjemmedatamaskiner som er eiet av deg».

3. Flytter du til utlandet, må du slette all musikken. EULA-en forbyr eksport av musikken.

4. Du må installere alle oppdateringer som kommer av beskyttelsesprogrammet, ellers mister du musikken.

5. Sony BMG kan installere bakdører (les: det trojanske hester forsøker å opprette) på datamaskinen din for å håndheve sine rettigheter i forhold til deg, på et hvilket som helst tidspunkt uten å si i fra. De fraskriver seg samtidig ethvert ansvar for at slikt kan ødelegge datamaskinen din, utsette deg for sikkerhetsrisiko eller andre problemer.

6. Hvis noe skulle skje settes erstatningssummen maksimalt til 5 dollar. Det betyr at du kan få igjen omtrent en tredjedel av nypris på musikken.

7. Søker du om å bli slått personlig konkurs, må du slette all musikken din.

8. Du har ingen rettighet til å overføre musikken til datamaskinen din. Hvordan dette går overens med at det skal være mulig å overføre til en privateid hjemmemaskin er et ubesvart spørsmål.

9. Musikken kan ikke brukes som bakgrunnsmusikk på for eksempel DVD-er du lager av familien din osv.

EFF påpeker at når du normalt kjøper en musikkplate, eier du denne fullt og holdent.

Emerson Lake & Palmer

Keith Emerson - Keyboard (kom fra bandet The Nice)

Greg Lake - Gitar, bass, vokal (kom fra bandet King Crimson)

Carl Palmer - Trommer, perkusjon (kom fra bandet Atomic Rooster)

ELPs lydbilde var tungt dominert av prangende Hammond-orgel- og Moog synthesizer-spill fra Keith Emerson. Bandets komposisjoner var sterkt influert av klassisk musikk, i tillegg til jazz mens noen hevder også hardrock. Mange av deres verker er arrangementer av eller inneholder sitater fra klassisk musikk og de kan plasseres i undersjangeren symfonisk rock av progressive rock.

På scenen ga de et klart uttrykk med en uortodoks miks av virtuøs teatralsk sceneshow med bombastiske individuelle musikerferdigheter. Deres ekstravagante og ofta aggressive liveforestillinger fikk mye kritkk på grunn av dette – selv om dette i ettertid var en heller liten forandring sammenlignet med senere rockesjangre. Det teatralske var begrenset til et persisk teppe, et klassisk piano som spant fra scenekant til scenekant, store smell på kinesiske symbaler og et Hammond-orgel som ble misbrukt på scenen. (Det sympatiske orgelet ble forøvrig reparert og brukt om igjen i neste forestilling).

 1970-tallet

ELP ble grunnlagt i 1970. De første fire årene var en kreativ og fruktbar periode. Greg Lake produserte deres første seks album, som startet med Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970, som inneholder den populære hit'en "Lucky Man". Det neste albumet Tarkus (1971) var deres første suksessfulle konseptalbum, beskrivet som en fortelling om den «omvendte evolusjonen». Trilogy (1972) inneholdt ELPs undervurderte og bestselgende single "From the Beginning".

Sent 1973 ble albumet Brain Salad Surgery, med det fengende omslaget av H.R. Giger, sluppet og ble et av de mest kjente studioalbumene fra bandet. Tekstene var delvis skrevet av Pete Sinfield, som var skaperen bak konseptene og eneste låtskriver til King Crimsons første fire album. Den påfølgende verdenstunéen ble dokumentert med en massiv tre-LP'ers liveinnspilling som het Welcome Back my Friends to the Show that Never Ends.

Deres relativt moderate debutforestilling var på "Isle of Wight Festival" i 1970, og var en av de siste «flower power-festivalene» av Woodstock-eraen. I april 1974 var ELP hovedattraksjonen på "California Jam Festival" og ble markedsført som en større attraksjon enn storheten Deep Purple. Forestillingen ble kringkastet nasjonalt i USA og er ofte sett på som et høydepunkt i bandets karriere.

ELP tok deretter en tre års pause for å ny inspirasjon til musikken, men mistet kontakten med den stadig skiftende musikkscenen. Bandet turnerte så i USA og Canada i 1977 og 1978 i et drepende program med forestillinger kveld etter kveld – noen med full orkestrering, med lønninger som tok et stort jafs av inntektene. ELP arbeidet hardt på disse turnéene på slutten av 1970-tallet for å holde fast på fansen. Men ettersom Disco, Punk og New Wave sjangerene begynte å få innpass i musikklandskapet så kunne ikke ELP lenger skape det oppstyret av å være nyskapende i musikkinnovasjonen. Som et resultat av dette oppstod det personlige konflikter og uforsonlige forskjeller angående musikalske retninger.

Deres siste studioalbum var Love Beach (1978), ble avvist av trioen, som selv innrømte at det ble fullført på grunn av kontrakten med plateselskapet Atlantic Records. Dette albumet fikk dårlig kritikk av både fans og anmeldere, som enkelt forsto at gruppen var lei, noe Greg Lake senere innrømte i forskjellige intervjuer.

1980-tallet

I 1985 grunnla Keith Emerson og Greg Lake et annet «ELP» sammen med Heavy Metal-trommeslageren Cozy Powell (kjent fra Black Sabbath og Rainbow). Carl Palmer foretrakk å bli værende hos Asia og avslo fra å delta i gjenforeningen. Ryktene ville også ha det til at Bill Bruford også ville bli et medlem, men den tidligere Yes og National Health trommeslageren ble værende i King Crimson og hans egen gruppe "Earthworks". Emerson, Lake & Powell fikk en hit i "Touch and Go" og fikk spilletid på radio og MTV. Men, de gamle personlige feidene mellom Greg Lake og Keith Emerson kom opp igjen under turnéen i 1986 og gruppen ble oppløst igjen.

1990-tallet

De orginale ELP medlemmene ble gjenforent og ga i 1992 ut comebackalbumet Black Moon på Victory Records. Verdensturnéen i 1992/1993 ble en suksess, og kulminerte i en forestilling i Los Angeles i 1993, som ble gjengitt i veldig mange piratutgaver (bootlegs). Men, oppfølgeralbumet In the Hot Seat (1994) fulgte ikke opp til forventningene på grunn av sykdom/skade hos både Carl Palmer og Keith Emerson.

Emerson og Palmer kom tilbake og turnerte igjen. De siste ELP-turnéene var i 1996, 1997 og 1998. Turnéprogrammet brakte dem til Japan, Sør-Amerika, Europa, USA og Canada, hvor de spilte helt nye versjoner og tidligere arbeider. Selv om disse turnéene var positive så spilte ELP på betydelig mindre arrangementer og merkbart mindre publikum. Den siste forestillingen deres var i San Diego, California i 1998. Konflikter angående et nytt album var utslagsgivende for den tredje oppløsningen. Greg Lake insisterte på å produsere albumet, siden han hadde produsert alle de suksessfulle albumene tidlig på 1970-tallet. Keith Emerson klaget offentlig (på internett) at selv om han og Carl Palmer arbeidet daglig med å opprettholde deres musikalske evner, så gjorde ikke Greg Lake det samme. Lake innrømte selv at han ikke trente stemmen, og påsto at et par liveforestillinger var nok til å få den i form.

Nåværende status

Keith Emerson turnerte Storbritannia med sine gamle bandmedlemmer fra The Nice i 2003. Trommeslager Carl Palmer turnérer på regulær basis med sitt "Carl Palmer Band", hvor han spiller elektrisk gitar på ELPs keyboarddeler på klubber. Greg Lake har akkurat fullført turnéen (2002) i USA, hvor han spilte med trommeslageren Ringo Starr.

Diskografi

1970 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer

1971 - Tarkus

1972 - Trilogy

1972 - Pictures at an Exhibition, live

1973 - Brain Salad Surgery

1974 - Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends, live

1977 - Works Vol. 1

1977 - Works Vol. 2

1978 - Love Beach

1979 - In Concert, live

1987 - To the Power of 3 (as 3)

1992 - Black Moon

1993 - Live at the Royal Albert Hall, live

1993 - The Return of the Manticore, boxset

1994 - In the Hot Seat

1994 - The best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer

1997 - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, live

2001 - Pictures at an Exhibition, nyutgivelse av 1972 albumet, live og studioversjon

Equilibrio Vital

Kazmor El Prisionero

This is the first band that ever came to my hands from Venezuela. Quite cut off from the part of the world where the progressive movement developed and flourished, it was immediately inviting to find out what sort of music these guys play. Notice that the album is the second album of the band, originally released in 1984 and reissued this year from Musea. Given that the reissue of their first album was brilliantly reviewed by Mark Hughes (Equilibrio Vital - Tributo A Marcos Chacón), I am going to point to that review for all of you who want to get some more information on the history of the band. However, I am going to repeat that the driving force of the band, Marcos Chacón, lead guitarist and composer of most of the music, passed out in 2001, which justifies the renaming of the reissue of their first album. Still, the band carries on and still offers nice music, though in a rather different style: more acoustic and easy. As done with the previous release Musea has added bonus tracks recorded during the past few years.

The singing is done entirely in Spanish. Apparently the band did not change styles between the first and this album, since I find most of Mark's pointers visible here too. The music basically is characterised by a very strong hard rock component which mainly draws inspiration from Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, even Kansas and Deep Purple sometimes. However, there are also more classic prog elements bringing Premiata Forneria Marconi sometimes to mind (maybe it's my impression because of the "Latin" language), Camel or Yes, going all the way to the limits: psychedelia - see Gong of early 70's and Focus.

The first track El Ausente is a quite strong introduction, featuring the duet between the female and male voice, a melodic basis with a more aggressive refrain. The solo in the middle is more of a rock than a prog nature since the keyboards are not much exploited and the electric guitar is dominant. Kazmor opens in an acoustic way with less harsh vocals, but the rock mood reappears fast. This time the guitar solo is embellished by an aggressive Tull influenced flute solo. The refrain is reminiscent of beginning of 80's period of PFM, rather poppy, but the song finishes very fast in a surprising change led by a rapid rhythm section and the contributions of the female vocals and the flute. The end actually sounds a lot like Hocus Pocus by Focus! Mi Cancion I and II are the Yes/Camel like ballad, and its electric version, respectively, though I absolutely prefer to former (mood plus the wonderful slow guitar in the end).

Psychedelia starts to manifest itself more evidently in Lluvia Cosmica. The beginning is very much Tull inspired - A era, with electronics introducing the track which evolves into a technical instrumental with many changes and rhythm switches. There are some "operatic" female vocals in the background, bringing the era of Angel's Egg of Gong to mind. Psychedelic influences though come to a peak at Xskgriglam, due to a quite oriental feel (Zeppelin?) that the voices (Gong-like again) and the guitars render. Surprisingly the band does not really try to inject ethnic elements issuing from their South American origin. Yellenik sounds a lot like Camel and features a softer flute playing and a more mellow tune as a basis. Inocentes Perdidos is again like the 80's PFM, but for me it's probably the weakest track in the album.

One track from the original 1984 release (Prisa) is missing without reason. As I said above, the album includes four tracks - the last four- recorded at a much later period, reflecting a very different philosophy and style. The ambience is not anymore rock, but for sure more poppy and accessible, the tracks are acoustic and the flute work is more folky. Still, Sudyenin is a very interesting Camel-like long track, Campanas Al Viento is simple but beautiful, and Volver is a very very sweet ballad. Still, I disagree with merging this new direction with the old album which actually is quite different in many aspects.

Looks to me that this band had more than a musical attitude: they had a philosophy about music, which they also try to reproduce in the booklet. Mostly, it was based on ideas of the late Marcos Chacón. I am going to recommend this release not only because it is interesting to find out how a band from Venezuela sounds like, but also because of its high overall quality and the constructive variety in the music and compositions: hard rock to ballad, psychedelia to more structured prog song writing. As for me, I should get my hands on their first album!

Tracklist: El Ausente (4:28), Kazmor (4:57), Mi Cancion I (4:44), Lluvia Cosmica (7:19), Xskgriglam (7:46), Yellenik (3:17), Inocentes Perdidos (3:04), Mi Cancion II (2:12), Sudyenin (10:04), Tempestad (3:20), Mirando Al Horizonte (3:05), Campanas Al Viento (4:23), Volver (2:56)

This CD has been getting some pretty heavy play though my headphones of late and will be a real treat for those of you into female fronted power metal with gothic, operatic and progressive undercurrents.

Having only picked this up on a hunch, I've got next to no information other than Ebony Ark is a young Spanish band and as far as I can make out this is an independent release*. But don't let that put you off as the production is fine, the playing superb and the song's verging on the awesome. Seriously, there are several tracks here that can easily hold themselves up to comparisons with Lacuna Coil in their heavier vein.

Star of the show is undoubtedly vocalist Beatriz Albert. She has an amazing diversity to her voice, everything from the operatics of Nightwish, the swagger of Lacuna Coil and the bite of Doro. Such is her ability to drift effortlessly between soft caresses and angry bitterness, I frequently had to check with the credits to make sure there wasn't a second vocalist.

And if you want hooks, then you won't find too many more in your local angling shop. Dead Men's Live stamps out the band's intentions from the start with power and passion a plenty. Damned By The Past ups the tempo and switches between male and female vocals, soft operatics and a really swaggeringly beautiful chorus, that you just can't fail to fall in love with.

There's plenty of time and mood changes in each song, with all featuring some great keyboard and guitar solos, but which never linger more than they need to.

Other highlights include the Evergrey staccato riffing-meets Lacuna Coil harmonies of Thorn Of Ice and the symphonic operatics that open Night's Cold Symphony. For those who like things a little more straightforward, the opera-meets-metal catchiness of Desire, the direct poppy catchiness of Searching For An Answer and the ballad Ball And Chain are all superb! Only Dreaming Silence doesn't quite set the world on fire - but I guess keeping up this level throughout a debut album would be asking too much.

Fans of progressive power metal, and female fronted bands, should have a veritable feast here. This band really should have penned a record deal by now.