acroyear | Wednesday Random 10 - Gettin' Proggy With It

I'm on a progressive rock list now so I may talk more 'bout songs and groups than about me...or maybe not...

We All Need Some Light Now - Transatlantic

A Neal Morse composition from the second Transatlantic album. Nice sentiment, typical of Morse's secular works (he writes Christian rock now since leaving Spock's Beard, and has worked with Kerry Livgren, ex- of Kansas). Musically, the typical prog ballad, nothing too special.
I Talk to the Wind - King Crimson

The original prog ballad, from the original Crim. Worked up from an Ian McDonald contribution, with McDonald on live flute and Fripp switching back and forth between descending guitar arpegios and playing "winds" on the mellotron (the original "sampler" - actually used magnetic tapes played back at varying speeds for pitch control). Very mellow but very inviting - every instrument is understated creating a fantasic ensemble sound. Another of those "crystal" works that could be easily shattered by overtrying. And extremely English.
Accoustic Set '79 - Steve Hackett

In the middle of his full-out electric shows, Hackett would let the band rest by playing a solo accoustic set consisting of either pieces from his own albums up to that point, or accoustic guitar riffs from Genesis material like Blood on the Rooftops and Horizons. This set ends with his brother John coming back to play flute on the piece Kim, written for Steve's wife Kim Poor (who did many of his and Genesis's album covers). Kim is very Eric Satie influenced (using impressionist melodies) and its artistic success paved the way for a number of other pieces in that style.
Become The Other - Ozric Tentacles

A mellow jam number from '95. Typical spacey Ozrics, another piece that's very understated.
Teacher - Jethro Tull

Good driving blues number from the old days. One where, however, there's about 10 different mixes of it - seems Ian's never totally satisfied with it so he makes significant changes to it with each remastering. Some of the mixes even remove the flute entirely. The band lip-synced this on Top of the Pops in a video they're probably a little embarrased still exists...though not so embarrassed Ian won't sell it. :)
Wot Gorilla - Genesis

The nice thing about instrumentals is that anything goes as far as the title is concerned. From Wind and Wuthering, one of the last tracks to involve duelling 12-string electric guitars for the rhythm base under the keyboard solo, as that technique stopped when Hackett left the band after this album. Phil has some serious fun with random noisemakers in the background!
Dog One - Tony Levin

...Dog One!

...Dog Two!

...Dog Three!

You wouldn't think that was, for one brief moment in time, the best lyric Peter Gabriel could come up with. Tony played on the original with Fripp and Jerry Marotta, and he and Jerry have fun recreating that on Tony's Pieces of the Sun.
Rites of Passage - Fish
With this right of passage I reclaim my heart,
I take my leave, as if on cue, I play no further part
in your self-penned dramas,
where each stolen kiss
just goes to prove that happy endings don't exist.
Perhaps, a little venting for his failed marriage. Obsessive-compulsive prog rockers (or is that redundant?) getting divorced somehow never think *they* might actually have been in the wrong.

Maybe their fans inherit a little of that...oops?
Sketches in the Sun - Steve Howe

One of his better accoustic numbers, with a lot of variations released over the years. First public release was accoustic 6-string on the Asia in Asia concert for MTV in '83; first record version on the 1986 GTR album using an electric 12-string. He actually tried using this as a Yes riff as far back as '78.

I'd like to actually play this someday, not as a guitar, but as a mandolin-bazouiki duet.
Between You and Me - Marillion

Today, I saw Music in the Sky!

Ah, the album we all paid for. In 2000, Marillion figured that if they could convince enough (say, 6,000) of their loyal and trusting fans to buy the album before they'd actually written and recorded it, they could make the album on those funds alone and not need to give up their copyrights to any record label. 12,000 sales later, they'd done it, and started a process of changing the world.

Or so they hoped. As things go they're still the exception to the norm...oh well.

2 years later, they did the pre-order thing again, this time allocating the moneys to better promotions where EMI's distributors fell drastically short of promises or potential.

The next 5...

Illegal Alien - Genesis (terribly silly, really)
The Hunter - Asia (Geoff Downes wrote it for GTR and decided to take it back)
Hackett To Bits - GTR (A reworking of Hackett's Please Don't Touch)
Astro Cortext - Ozric Tentacles (a typical space-rocker, and great openning number for their shows)
Aura - Asia (nice instrumental)