The stories that Gino tells in this work, his 14th album, seem to be clearly reflective of life experiences of an "inconsolable". Gino looks deeply into the mirror at his own reflection, and that of the culture he lives in, critically relfects on what he sees, and lyrically and musically expresses his insights.
The 2005 released "The Inconsolable Secret" wasn't the best, but it was the most ambitious album of the two US-Retroproggers Steve Babb and Fred Schendel. The double CD was a monumental concept album, on which for the first time Fiauch used a real drummer. In the past, the two multi-instrumentalists had "drummed" or programmed corresponding machines themselves. They also put no less than fifteen guest musicians at the service of this epic work, including a four-piece "Girls Choir", a soprano and a tenor as well as various strings. The album was sold out for a long time - and is now coming back on the market in a deluxe edition. But what's special is probably CD 3, which contains "The Morning She Woke" as well as the four longest tracks of the original work in remix versions. Glass Hammer's current singer Jon Davison, who also serves on Yes, breathes new life into this track and "Long And Long Ago"…
In March of 2004 singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke spent ten days at the Anspacher in the Public Theater in New York, performing songs from her four solo albums as well as the two she had released as part of the duo the Story. The highlights of the show were recorded and released as the aptly titled Live in New York, which came out two years later.
Famous as the vocalist of Faith No More, notorious as the singer of Mr. Bungle, Mike Patton goes one step further with a debut album of experimental sounds never imagined possible from just voice and microphone. Recorded and mixed in hotel rooms using 4-track cassette deck, Adult Themes is a classic which will both surprise and delight Patton fans and newcomers alike. Compositions such as "Catheter", and "Orgy In Reverb" live up to their titles. In addition to his successful day job, Mike Patton has moonlighted with various ensembles and composers including Kronos Quartet, Bob Ostertag, Rova Saxophone Quartet, David Shea, Arto Lindsay, Bill Laswell, Boo-Yaa Tribe, Sepultura, John Zorn and Naked City (filling in for Yamatsaka Eye).
Julie Zenatti fait partie de ces artistes discrets, peu médiatisé, mais pourtant on ne peut plus talentueux. Elle nous livre aussi son deuxième album, qui est ce qu'on pourrait appeler la continuité de son premier album, FRAGILE. La voix cristalline de cette grande chanteuse vous transporte tout au long des pages du disques, que ce soit dans des ballades très douces, ou sur des chansons plus "chaloupées"(comme le dit Julie). Le son est superbe, on l'impression d'être parfois dans un concert "piano-voix", mais pour les amateurs de guitares, rassurez-vous, vous en trouverez plein l'album.
It takes a lot of guts to kick off this release with a cover of the Yes classic "South Side of the Sky", but leave it to Chattanooga's Glass Hammer to attempt just that on their prog rock opus Culture of Ascent. After the sprawling 2CD concept piece The Inconsolable Secret, the band decided this go-round to keep things moderately sparse with a 70-minute single CD set filled with just six tracks, but fear not, all the expected Glass Hammer elements are in place.
Their take on "South Side of the Sky" is actually quite good, as their arrangement stays fairly faithful to the original, with Susie Bogdanowicz handling the lead vocal quite well, and Jon Anderson himself putting in a guest appearance doing some vocalizations…