Rick Wakeman's third solo album is among his best, as he employs his vast array of keyboards to their full extent, musically describing the characters pertaining to the days of King Arthur's reign. With orchestra and choir included, although a ...

As a genre, metal has always been firmly rooted in pushing music to new extremes, taking the sounds we've come to know and love from other styles and pushing them well past their limits until they become something new. Always ...

WHEN DREAM & DAY UNITE, the major label debut from prog-metal act Dream Theater, includes the tracks "YTSE Jam" and "Only A Matter Of Time." Dream Theater's first official release gave an indication that this was a talented band that combined ...

Chuck Schuldiner's Death got pretty clinical with the odd time signature, and Atheist got pretty busy with their complex arrangements, but Florida's Cynic simply threw the progressive metal playbook out the window. Their only official recording, 1993's ground breaking Focus, ...

Originally released as Columbia (36752). Includes liner notes by Jonny Whiteside. The soundtrack to Honeysuckle Rose is an anomaly in the genre. It is really a collection of songs by Willie Nelson and his Family band as well as a host ...

Even with six different vocalists lending their talents to the album, Pyramid still remains an average bit of material from the Alan Parsons Project. Not only does the album's theme evolve around the mystique of the pyramid, but it also ...

Track Listing: Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune; Theme from an Imaginary Western; Tickets to Waterfalls; Weird of Hermiston; Rope Ladder to the Moon; Ministry of Bag, The; He the Richmond; Boston Ball Game 1967; To Isengard; Clearout, ...

Whereas in the 1980s Jethro Tull had dabbled in heavy metal and modern rock, ROOTS TO BRANCHES hearkens back to the classic Tull sound. For one thing, there is a lot more flute on this record, making it one of ...

Track Listing: DISC 1: Frozen Few, The; To The End; Things We Believe In, The; Land Of The Dead; Ice Kings, The; Till The Stars Cry Out; This World Of Ice; Dying Paradise; Mystic Symphony, The; Angels War; Take This ...

Emmylou Harris first broke on the national music scene as the duet partner of Gram Parsons, the legendary progenitor of country rock. Vocal duets (and trios, for that matter) have played a prominent role in Harris' music ever since. DUETS ...

Jethro Tull was at the height of its fame in the mid-'70s. Although critics sometimes found their songs overly ornate and the lyrics too arty, the fans didn't mind, and Tull was one of the most successful live acts in ...

Recording information: Backyard Studios (02/2012-03/2012); Luca Turilli's Private Studio, Trieste, Italy (02/2012-03/2012); The Hiroshima Studio, Challonges, France (02/2012-03/2012); Backyard Studios (12/2011-03/2012); Luca Turilli's Private Studio, Trieste, Italy (12/2011-03/2012); The Hiroshima Studio, Challonges, France (12/2011-03/2012). Editors: Sebastian "Basi" Roeder; Arnaud Ménard; Luca ...

Despite the news of an impending At the Drive-In Reunion, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez return with the long-awaited sixth album from the Mars Volta, Noctourniquet. Packed with sprawling, ambitious guitar work and enigmatic lyrics inspired by comic books and ...

In the '80s, Jethro Tull was no longer the dominant force on the rock scene they had been throughout much of the previous decade, but the indomitable Ian Anderson continued to make ambitious records based on themes of ages past, ...

First of all, Oceanborn is a huge step when thinking about Nightwish's debut album, Angels Fall First. All the elements of folk music and ambience are forgotten, and instead Nightwish have concentrated on using Tarja Turunen's wide voice and playing ...

The third album by this incarnation of Renaissance was a match for their previous success, Ashes Are Burning, with equally impressive performances and songwriting and a few new musical twists added. The songs here fit more easily into a rock ...

The essence of progressive music is characterized perfectly on Voyage of the Acolyte, Steve Hackett's first solo album. The former Genesis guitarist uses his instrumental mastery to conjure up musical images of sorcerers, magic, and old English castles with the ...

It goes without saying that the vast majority of metal bands will never feature Milton Nascimento or any other major Brazilian pop star on one of their albums. But Angra did exactly that when, in 2004, they featured none other ...

Anyone familiar with the industrial-metal band's dark sense of irony should take one look at the title of Rammstein's 2009 album LIEBE IST FUR ALLE DA ("Love Is There For Everyone") and conclude that this one is a mean monster. ...

Dream Theater's web of metal and progressive elements comes roaring out of the speakers at full throttle like some manic coupling of Frank Zappa, Guns & Roses and Yes, a garish torrent of virtuoso chopsmanship, classical flourishes and good old ...

Continuing a tradition that began more than a decade earlier, Rush follows its 12th (!) studio album with a live one, A SHOW OF HANDS. The album draws almost exclusively from the third chapter of Rush's life, 1982-89, stressing the ...

Digitally remastered by David Glasser (Airshow Mastering, Boulder, Colorado). Originally released in 1980, this album presents a meeting of two masters of American acoustic roots music. Ricky Scaggs and Tony Rice have played with a veritable Who's-Who (Emmylou Harris, Vassar Clements, ...

Though they never quite hit the same musical highs as E.L.P., Yes, or King Crimson, this German prog rock outfit garnered a huge following among those in the know. Includes the previously unissued bonus cut "Showstopper." Spartacus may not be as ...

Peter Gabriel was such a charismatic frontman and unique singer/lyricist that many assumed Genesis would fold after his departure. WIND & WUTHERING proved that there was much to the group than just Gabriel's talents. Drummer Phil Collins, who'd sung a ...

Lyricist: Peter Pawlak. Personnel: Peter Pawlak (vocals); Lucas Mann (guitar, keyboards); Brent Silletto (drums). Audio Mixer: Bob Swanson. Photographer: Tony Koehl .