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Tonight we feature progressive rock from Finland and Norway and instrumental game music from Steven Wilson.
Article by: Jez Rowden
This review is a little overdue after the 2014 release of this third
album from the extravagantly named The Samurai of Prog, but it is
certainly well worth investigating. Whereas the multinational
collective that make up The Samurai have concentrated on cover versions
and reinterpretations of classic Prog pieces for their previous
releases, The Imperial Hotel sees them make a move towards original material.
Also responsible for the production, the core band of Marco Bernard
(bass), Steve Unruh (vocals, violin, flute, acoustic guitar) and Kimmo
Porsti (drums and percussion) are assisted by a variety of guests
including keyboardists Robert Webb (England), Robert Myers (The Musical
Box) and Linus Kåse (Änglagård) plus guitarists Kamran Alan Shikoh
(Glass Hammer) and Yoshitisa Shimizu (Kenso).
Housed in sumptuous sleeve packaging with wonderful artwork from Ed
Unitsky, it really is a delightful object. But we’re mainly here for
the music…
Despite being more than accomplished composers in their own right –
Unruh’s work should certainly be familiar to many through his solo work,
Resistor and other projects – the core trio took the decision to
approach outside composers to provide the material. Possibly a strange
choice but the result is that the five tracks come from four independent
writers. To the credit of the band their arrangements mean that the
finished product does not sound fragmented.
Their previous releases have a kind of novelty tag (and the band name
does not help them much there!) but this album marks a new dawn. The
opener After The Echoes, written by and featuring keyboardist
Octavio Stampalia of Jinetes Negros, is a strident and uplifting number
carried aloft on Steve Unruh’s high pitched vocals and Yes-like
harmonies. The main melody is central but it is the additional sections
that make it work, the various keyboards adding different textures with
Unruh’s flute and violin increasing the variety. It is at times
tricksy and chocolate boxy but never gets too schmaltzy and makes for an
expansive piece of Prog to set the scene, the piano and violin outro
being just beautiful.
The bright and breezy Limoncello was written by Robert Webb
and he also adds keys and vocals here. A different version of it
apparently appeared on the second part of the Colossus Project’s Decameron
album. I am not familiar with it but as the core band also featured on
that album they are sort of covering themselves this time. Suffice to
say that it is a fun piece, lovely staccato piano intertwining with
other keyboard lines to build the piece organically to Shimizu’s guitar
solo which really cuts through. Unruh’s violin again makes a difference
and the harmony vocals are delightful. At its heart is a very simple
song that has been expanded and inflated but it all works and the
extended instrumental section at the end is simply superb.
The gorgeous piano melody of Victoria’s Summer Home, written
and performed by David Myers, deserves attention on its own merits and
it is almost a shame that here it acts as a prelude to the album’s main
event, the title track. That said, it works perfectly in the role, the
culmination of birdsong and a car pulling up on a gravel driveway
leading us beautifully into The Imperial Hotel itself. An
unreleased song co-written by Robert Webb and England it certainly
deserves to be heard and the trio have done a fine job with it. Webb
again adds keys and vocals and the guitar of Kamran Alan Shikoh is
excellent. An extended and self-contained story shot through with the
kind of theatrical Victoriana that Genesis used to do so well, it is a
great centrepiece and the highpoint of the album. I won’t spoil the
story but it is is witty and well realised with a lovely surprise
ending. The music takes you through the ups and downs of the story and
it is all beautifully realised and played with enthusiastic passion.
This is a half hour epic with not much in the way of excess flab and
keeps you hooked throughout, it doesn’t move far from the England
original recorded in 1975 (which you can find Here)
but extends some of the instrumental passages. There is nothing “new”
here, so to speak, but it is engaging and a great lost song from the
’70s that The Samurai have done full justice to.
After all that we get Into The Lake by Linus Kåse to finish,
another full-on Prog extravaganza of excess to finish things off. Very
much influenced by Gentle Giant, it’s one for the fans of that style of
music to enjoy. It is dense and intricate, the complex music harking
back to the classic era of Prog with hints of Genesis again, but it is
all beautifully done and a resounding way to finish off an album such as
this.
Steeped in what you might call “traditional” Prog stylings and
performances it is bound to be disregarded by many as a pointless
exercise of rehashing but that is to miss the quality of the
performances and arrangements which are what makes it all work. If you
are looking for the future and new avenues – turn back. If, on the
other hand, you’re looking for interesting music packed with melodic
hooks and wonderfully warm playing then this might well be for you.
The Imperial Hotel is a quite beautifully crafted work that
deserves to be heard more widely. Some of the passages are simply
breathtaking and the title track is a wonderfully conceived extended
work in the grand traditions of High Prog to which The Samurai have
added their own stamp.
Wobbler´s
fifth offering is an exciting blend of carefully planned and jammed
material that encompasses everything the band has done up to now.
Dwellers of the Deep consists of four distinctive pieces and is a broad
looking glass into Wobbler´s creative whims and playful exuberance. The
album showcases the band´s mastery of dynamics and flow, with passages
and themes veering from the scenic and serene to the downright rocking.
The lyrical themes on the album deals with human emotion, and the
ongoing struggle between juxtaposed forces within the psyche. An
introspective voyage among the realms of memories, feelings and
instincts, where the light is brighter, and the dark is darker.
The concepts of wonder, longing and desperation permeates the histories told, and the currents from the deep are ever present.
released October 23, 2020
progressive rock
rock
classic rock
prog rock
symphonic rock
vintage rock
Oslo
Last Day of June is an interactive tale about love and loss, from an
all-star team of creators - including critically acclaimed director
Massimo Guarini (Murasaki Baby, Shadows of the Damned) &
award-winning musician and record producer Steven Wilson, and featuring a
collaboration with writer/director/animator Jess Cope (animator on “Frankenweenie”, director for Metallica’s “Here Comes Revenge” music video).
Steven Wilson (born Steven John
Wilson on November 3, 1967, in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England)
is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, most
closely associated with the progressive rock genre. Currently a solo
artist, he became known as the founder, lead guitarist, lead vocalist
and songwriter of the British rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands.
Wilson
is self-taught as a producer, audio engineer, multi-instrumentalist and
singer-songwriter. Under his own name, he has released the albums Insurgentes (2008), Grace for Drowning (2011), The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories) (2013), Hand. Cannot. Erase. (2015), To the Bone (2017), and The Future Bites (2021). He also released a EP, 4 ½ (2016), as well as a series of singles titled Cover Version
(released online between 2003 and 2010; released worldwide as a
compilation in 2014). His other solo projects can also be found
attributed to monikers of his, such as Bass Communion and Incredible Expanding Mindfuck.
He is perhaps best known as the frontman for progressive rock band, Porcupine Tree,
for whom he was the sole member during the 1980s and early 1990s. His
projects are numerous however, including collaboration with Aviv Geffen as Blackfield; a long-running partnership with Tim Bowness, known as No-Man; teaming up with Dirk Serries in Continuum; as well as a joint album with Opeth's frontman, Mikael Åkerfeldt in Storm Corrosion.
Wilson
employs synthesizers and programmed music along with live instruments
to create a unique atmosphere for each song he works on, including
otherwise-simple pop tunes. In addition to his prolific musical output,
Steven has crafted a reputation for the high production quality of his
music, and has undertaken production duties with such high-profile
artists as Opeth, Dream Theater, Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, Anathema, Orphaned Land, Marillion, Fish, Pendulum, Yoko Ono, and friend Robert Fripp. He is also part way through remixing the albums of King Crimson and other classic artists' back catalogues into surround sound and new stereo mixes.
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