Ruminations - August 10, 1999
by Stephanie Sollow



What A Concept!


A few weeks ago, I mentioned my archived editorials and that they would be available for reading. Well, this time, not only am I going to mention them, I'll actually put the links to them, too! :-) Chaulk the error up to growing pains, and the older I get, those pains are growing.

But, aside from that, what has caught the attention of Progressive World?

In January, I wrote how the trend was toward concept albums, especially in the progressive rock and metal realms, exemplified by Arena's The Visitor and Shadow Gallery's Tyranny. Well, in furthering my music explorations, it seems that my assessment was correct and far more artists were creating concept albums.

Of course, the idea is nothing new, and artists certainly have been creating such works all along. But, I did find it interesting that there were a spate of them in the period of 1997 - 1998.

As some of my recently added reviews indicate, I've been exploring some of the other concept albums released in that time period. And one or two just prior. In that latter category is Angra's Holy Land, which was released in 1996. I won't reiterate my review here, except to say that I found it a wonderful example of both progressive rock and progressive metal.

Of the new releases reviewed this time out, surely the highlight is James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler project called Keep It To Yourself, not to overlook the intriquing jazz-techno-ambient release by Spacetime Continuum, or progressive jazz-rock ... live, no less ... of Djam Karet, from their set at Baltimore's Orion Studios.

And there's more to come. I've got a stack of seven ... no, eleven other disks just waiting for my focused and critical attention ... so keep checking this site, because I plan to post 'em as I write 'em, more or less.

Also, we have posted expanded concert listings ... updated the festivals listing, too ... though it seems there are more jazz festivals out there than prog festivals.

Well, enjoy the site.


Archived editorials are in the Articles/Editorials section under Editorials... naturally...








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Published on: 1999-08-10 (2160 reads)

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