Best Prog

Presented on TWO DVD's is footage from the 2019 edition of Italy's Veruno Prog Festival. Participating bands included Iron Butterfly, Caravan, Arena, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Lazuli, Alan Simon's Excalibur, Acqua Fragile and others.

Originally a European compilation, The Very Best of Supertramp is the closest thing to a definitive overview of the '70s pop-prog group. Certainly, there will be hardcore fans who will notice some favorite album cuts missing – after all, despite their considerable success on the pop charts, Supertramp was as much an album rock band as ELP or Genesis – but all the hits are here, from "Bloody Well Right" to "It's Raining Again," as well as a sizable portion of their blockbuster Breakfast in America. That alone will make it worthwhile for all casual fans, but what's really nice about the collection is that it flows very smoothly, even if it isn't in chronological order. There have been other Supertramp compilations, but The Very Best of Supertramp stands head and shoulders above the rest.

The first-ever single-disc anthology of Queen drummer Roger Taylor's solo material, 2014's Best brings together tracks off all five of his studio albums. The collection follows-up the more exhaustive 2013 box-set, The Lot, and features cuts from 1981's Fun in Space, 1984's Strange Frontier, 1994's Happiness?, 1998's Electric Fire, and 2013's Fun on Earth. While primarily known for his commanding drum presence with Queen, Taylor is also a strong rock singer and talented songwriter, responsible for penning such Queen hits as "Radio Ga Ga," "Breakthru," "These Are the Days of Our Lives," and others. Vocally, Taylor has a throatier, more gravelly presence on the microphone than Queen's highly resonant, operatic frontman Freddie Mercury. In that sense, he often brings to mind the sound of such similarly inclined contemporaries as the Who's Roger Daltrey, Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter, and Deep Purple's Ian Gillan. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of the cuts here sound like they could easily have ended up on a Queen album, and tracks like "Let’s Get Crazy," "Man on Fire," and "Strange Frontier" showcase the same synth-driven, pop/rock approach Queen was championing in the '80s.

Four of the 13 tracks on Island's The Best of Spooky Tooth come from 1969's Spooky Two album, while the remaining tracks represent the band's less celebrated material. Spooky Tooth's mellow, easy blues-rock sound is experienced from the first track, a slick rendition of John D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road." Most of the band's peak material is included here, like "Better by You, Better by Me" and "Evil Woman." The dreamy, psychedelic-tinged "It's All About a Roundabout" is one of the album's best songs, proving the band could be adventurous at will. Much in the same manner is "As Long as the World Keeps Changing," with its hippie-like hallucinatory feel. Versions of the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" and the Band's "The Weight" are covered peculiarly, but not terribly, chock full of Spooky Tooth's own laid-back formula. Missed is the greyish "Hangman Hang My Shell on a Tree" from Spooky Two, which would have made a nice addition to the set. Nevertheless, this best-of does present listeners with Spooky Tooth's most worthwhile songs. The band's unconventional sound and eased style is prevalent on each of the tracks offered here.

The Alan Parsons Project rarely toured or played live, but the energy, atmosphere, and compelling flow that surrounds The Very Best Live proves that the band's stage presence seemed to come naturally. Recorded during a 1994 European tour, each of these songs is performed unchanged and untainted, which automatically makes for a pleasing live album…