- The Flower Kings, "Retropolis By Night": Not one of the best things ever by
the Flower Kings, but Roine Stolt's mediocre is other peoples' brilliant. - Porcupine Tree, "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here": very typical longish PT. Very good.
- Moxy Fruvous, "The King of Spain": incredibly silliness. Moxy is a Toronto-based group that does mostly comic songs, frequently a capella. It's extremely funny and very fun - particularly if you see it live. Alas, Moxy went on what seems to be
permanent hiatus a few years ago, after releasing an amazingly lackluster final album. - Genesis, "Mad Man Moon": Going back and listening to old Genesis is always amazing. Even a relatively mediocre old Genesis album is enough to remind me of just why
Genesis is one of the major influences of pretty much all modern prog. - Pallas, "The Last Angel": Pallas is a neo-progressive group that got started
around the same time as Marillion. They're OK, and they deserve more attention than
they got, but they've got nothing on Marillion. - Naftule's Dream, "Black Wedding": progressive Klezmer, featuring an intro by
an absolutely astonishingly great trombone player. Very cool stuff. - Yes, "Going for the One": the leadoff track from one of my favorite Yes albums. Why don't more prog bands use pedal steel? It's got such a great sound!
- The Wishing Tree, "Fly": I wrote a longish opinion of the Wishing Tree last week. More listens haven't changed my mind.
- Sonic Youth, "Candle": This is classic Sonic Youth. If you like their sound and
style, you'll love it. If you don't, you won't. - Happy the Man, "Il Quinto Mare": Sometimes, a great band should just stay dead. Happy the Man was a brilliant act when they were originally together. Last year, they got
back together and recorded a new album. I wish they hadn't. It's terribly dull. There's
nothing technically wrong with it - it's got the same kinds of complex time/chord
structures as old Happy the Man, but somehow it's all just flat. There's no emotion,
no spirit, no energy.
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