Every once and a while I have to take time out to bash my favorite hair-band whipping boys....
~~ Originally posted August 2, 2007 at ProgArchives.com ~~
I was spreading manure over my rose bushes this evening and it occurred to me that I hadn’t played any Triumph albums in quite some time. Well the mood seemed right, so off I went to the den to fish out something suitable to the occasion. And nestled back in the stacks just behind a couple of Butthole Surfers records and the stylish Keith Carradine ‘I’m Easy’ album I found this thing. Imagine my surprise it survived the Shaun of the Dead skeet-shoot my brother and I had last summer! And the goofy proto- Guitar Hero band board game on the inside fold was an added bonus I had forgotten about. My kids were so not impressed when I asked if they wanted to play it. Oh well.
This is the record that did two things, one for the band and one for me personally. On the band front the release of “Lay it on the Line” and “Hold On” gave them their first American hit singles. For me the album supplied some of the best lyrical arguments for Triumph being the most chauvinistic, juvenile, and shallow trio of Canadians I’ve ever laid eyes on. And yes – unfortunately I did see them live in the seventies. Then again, I also saw their countrymen April Wine and Loverboy (three times), so it’s clear my bar for acceptable entertainment was hovering pretty close to the ground in those days. For the record I’d rate April Wine as the overall least-sucky of the bunch. But I digress.
The best of the best? Here we go:
“Are you sure I'm the heartless one woman, after all we've been through? I gave you the best of my love, my sweet hoochie- koo”;
“Don't waste my time - lay it on the line; you got no right to make me wait - we better talk, girl, before it gets too late”;
“I'm talking about American girls, they got what I need; American girls, that's what I want - American girls”;
Inspiring stuff. I really am at a loss to understand why Fish didn’t cover a few of these classics. Or even Wishbone Ash during their ‘Twin Barrels Burning’ days. Wasted opportunities. (Editor's note: this review originally appeared on ProgArchives.com, a serious progressive rock site. "Fish" here refers to the former lead singer of the neo-progressive band Marillion, while the reference to Wishbone Ash can be appreciated by hardcore prog fans who will never accept the Ash as a legitimate prog band mostly thanks to some of their later decidely non-progressive work such as 'Twin Barrels Burning'. Hopefully the context helps derive some sense from this paragraph).
Really there’s nothing much to say about this album that can’t be said of most of the rest of the tripe Triumph put out in the seventies. Shallow, loud, two-chord pseudo white-boy blues with plenty of spandex, hair extensions, well-placed cucumbers, and as always Rik Emmett’s just-raped-a-cat vocals. To be fair though, Emmett manages to push out the worst first on “Movin’ On” with his unique brand of scorched-earth lyrical mangling. After that he actually seems to come to the realization that he’s both out of tune and well beyond his octave range most of the time and reigns things in vocal-wise until almost the end where the title track proves to be too much temptation and he strangles a few more small critters in the name of art. I have say to his vocal performance on the instrumental “Fantasy Serenade” is one of his finest efforts of that decade though.
For some reason the band felt the need to enlist some help in the vocal department; maybe they actually listened to Emmett’s reference tracks early enough in the process to realize that an auditory masking agent was in order. Whatever. Vocal-Coach-To- The-Stars™ Elaine Overholt, Leigh-Ashford (who?) guitarist Gord Waszek, Anne Murray sidekick Colina Phillips and somebody named Clint Ryan from something called Spuff all lend their vocal chords, but nobody bothered to turn off Emmett’s mike so really it’s no use. At least the boys showed some patriotic spirit by only surrounding themselves with fellow Canucks. Or maybe it’s just that the Labour department didn’t buy the ‘artistic value’ rationale for the work visa applications of American or British session musicians. Whichever.
Well, I have my fix of these guys for another year or so. Apparently I need to go scrape fungus out of the rain gutters before bedtime, so its time to switch out Triumph for some appropriate accompaniment for that task. Some Ratt maybe.
Anyway – peace
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Will-O-the-Wisp - A Gift For Your Dreams
I just love these guys. Good luck finding their CDs, but if you can they are well worth picking up.
~~ originally posted September 3, 2008 at ProgArchives.com ~~
These guys just continue to amaze me. For such a relatively unknown group (at least as far as my side of the pond is concerned), they have a remarkably mature and rich sound. The band seems to add another layer with every new release; in this case that means the addition of strings for the first time since their 1999 debut. But while that album featured a guest cellist, this time the range is expanded a bit with the richly expressive bow of violinist Tasos Papastamou. This simple addition pays great dividends on several tracks, most notably the chillingly beautiful instrumental “Flying with Witches”.
But before that the album delivers a quartet of solid tracks. The opening “Nature Boy” eases the listener into this fantasy-filled record with slow and eerie chords delivered by the band’s longtime guitarist Takis Barbagalas. While the music is principally delivered via guitar, piano and vocalist Angelos Gerakitis, the overall mood reminds me an awful lot of Porcupine Tree’s more somber works. That said, the uniform melancholy of this album is what one typically expects of Nordic progressive metal bands, which is all the more surprising since these guys are Greek. That’s not to say the music is morbid, it’s just that it calls to the imagination dark, still wintry nights on the plains in the same way that so many Norwegian and Finnish bands’ music does.
There seems to be an attempt throughout the album to highlight various instruments on each track. For “Serpent's Kiss” the instrument of choice is the bass, accompanied by both acoustic and wonderful electric guitar rhythm. For “The Night Twined the Hours” the mood slows to nearly a crawl with softly- crooned vocals that build up along with the piano until both the flautist and violinist embellish the ending with melodic woodwind and strident chord sounds. This is one of my favorite tracks on any of the band’s albums that I’ve heard to-date.
Jazznovation keyboardist adds a series of soft organ notes that segue into a repetitive progression to accompany (once again) the flute on another instrumental, “Fairer-Than-A-Fairy”. This song would make a great soundtrack tune for a fantasy film, or just to enjoy while watching the clouds drift by on a cool autumn afternoon.
The longest and most languid tune is the nearly nine-minute “Inward Reflections”, starting off with more piano and acoustic guitar but eventually accelerating to an extended soft-fuzz guitar and violin sequence that recalls the band’s more psychedelic debut album of 1999. Once again the organ provides a late blast of sound to bring the whole thing to a safe landing. The introspective mood here makes the title of the song seem all too appropriate.
Once again the band dips into their early sound with the mellow psych “Sliding Down at the Shades of Mind”, a tune not unlike some of the tracks on Green Carnation’s ‘Acoustic Verses’. If you’ve heard that album you’ll have a sense of the mood on this one.
Finally the band offers an interesting an unusual twist with another rendition of “Nature Boy”, but this time the vocalist is a female (guest Markela Dounezaki), who I can’t find any information about anywhere but whose youthful and mildly accented singing lends a lighter and more playful nuance to this song.
Overall this is easily my favorite Will-o-the Wisp album. I’ve been playing it constantly for several weeks now, with no sign of becoming bored with it. Each listen brings new appreciation for the subtle shifts between instruments and for the seamless way the production manages to blend all the songs together into a solidly cohesive body of work. I’m really surprised these guys aren’t more well-known, although they certainly could be in their part of the world for all I know. No matter, this is an outstanding and creative group of musicians who have once again scored a hit in my book with this, their latest offering. I’m actually tempted to give this five stars, and may come back in time and do so. But for now I’ll settle with a very high four stars and the hope that continued listening doesn’t dim its luster. Highly recommended to just about any progressive music fan of any genre.
peace
~~ originally posted September 3, 2008 at ProgArchives.com ~~
These guys just continue to amaze me. For such a relatively unknown group (at least as far as my side of the pond is concerned), they have a remarkably mature and rich sound. The band seems to add another layer with every new release; in this case that means the addition of strings for the first time since their 1999 debut. But while that album featured a guest cellist, this time the range is expanded a bit with the richly expressive bow of violinist Tasos Papastamou. This simple addition pays great dividends on several tracks, most notably the chillingly beautiful instrumental “Flying with Witches”.
But before that the album delivers a quartet of solid tracks. The opening “Nature Boy” eases the listener into this fantasy-filled record with slow and eerie chords delivered by the band’s longtime guitarist Takis Barbagalas. While the music is principally delivered via guitar, piano and vocalist Angelos Gerakitis, the overall mood reminds me an awful lot of Porcupine Tree’s more somber works. That said, the uniform melancholy of this album is what one typically expects of Nordic progressive metal bands, which is all the more surprising since these guys are Greek. That’s not to say the music is morbid, it’s just that it calls to the imagination dark, still wintry nights on the plains in the same way that so many Norwegian and Finnish bands’ music does.
There seems to be an attempt throughout the album to highlight various instruments on each track. For “Serpent's Kiss” the instrument of choice is the bass, accompanied by both acoustic and wonderful electric guitar rhythm. For “The Night Twined the Hours” the mood slows to nearly a crawl with softly- crooned vocals that build up along with the piano until both the flautist and violinist embellish the ending with melodic woodwind and strident chord sounds. This is one of my favorite tracks on any of the band’s albums that I’ve heard to-date.
Jazznovation keyboardist adds a series of soft organ notes that segue into a repetitive progression to accompany (once again) the flute on another instrumental, “Fairer-Than-A-Fairy”. This song would make a great soundtrack tune for a fantasy film, or just to enjoy while watching the clouds drift by on a cool autumn afternoon.
The longest and most languid tune is the nearly nine-minute “Inward Reflections”, starting off with more piano and acoustic guitar but eventually accelerating to an extended soft-fuzz guitar and violin sequence that recalls the band’s more psychedelic debut album of 1999. Once again the organ provides a late blast of sound to bring the whole thing to a safe landing. The introspective mood here makes the title of the song seem all too appropriate.
Once again the band dips into their early sound with the mellow psych “Sliding Down at the Shades of Mind”, a tune not unlike some of the tracks on Green Carnation’s ‘Acoustic Verses’. If you’ve heard that album you’ll have a sense of the mood on this one.
Finally the band offers an interesting an unusual twist with another rendition of “Nature Boy”, but this time the vocalist is a female (guest Markela Dounezaki), who I can’t find any information about anywhere but whose youthful and mildly accented singing lends a lighter and more playful nuance to this song.
Overall this is easily my favorite Will-o-the Wisp album. I’ve been playing it constantly for several weeks now, with no sign of becoming bored with it. Each listen brings new appreciation for the subtle shifts between instruments and for the seamless way the production manages to blend all the songs together into a solidly cohesive body of work. I’m really surprised these guys aren’t more well-known, although they certainly could be in their part of the world for all I know. No matter, this is an outstanding and creative group of musicians who have once again scored a hit in my book with this, their latest offering. I’m actually tempted to give this five stars, and may come back in time and do so. But for now I’ll settle with a very high four stars and the hope that continued listening doesn’t dim its luster. Highly recommended to just about any progressive music fan of any genre.
peace
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)