Mastodon Live, Newcastle (Feb 21 2010)

Mastodon's tour to promote "Crack the Skye" brought them to Europe and eventually to our neck of the woods, Newcastle.

The new album is a fantastic 'tour de force' of modern Prog Metal receiving rave reviews in just about every music journal, and deservedly so.

The gig itself was an odd one. The band played the new album in it's entirety in the first half of the show and played a selection of tracks from the previous three albums in the second half. This was my first Mastodon live experience and I have to say the band's total lack of communication with the crowd was a surprise, after all they are not a huge band yet and you would think they would be a touch more humble, but maybe that's just the way they are.

Drummer Bran Daylor was getting himself pretty wound-up with the crowd's lack of connection with the band, he was constantly shaking his head and gesturing to the fans to gee them up, but I think it was not just the crowd that were a little cold, the second half of the show saw the band loosen up a little and they looked like they were enjoying it a lot more and this carried through to the crowd, who were now merrily body slamming each other.

The musical performance itself was quite stunning, all the musicians in the band are technically very good and Troy Sanders (Bass) in particular was awesome to watch with his bizarre facial expressions and hand gestures. The video backdrop was stunning, constantly streaming superb animation and filmed clips which matched the music perfectly.

The sound mix was pretty poor, the vocals were barely audible. I think it was a case of too small a PA in too large a venue.

All in all it was good performance let down by poor sound, a stand-offish attitude from both the band and the crowd and a paltry 1 hour 15 minute set.

Still love them though.

Talk Talk

The term "Post Rock" is believed to have been first used by Mojo music critic Simon Reynolds who used the term to describe music- "Using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and texture rather than riffs and power chords".

Hmm, this leads me to think of Talk Talk as one of the the first post rock bands. Their musical progression was, I think, very similar to Radiohead, in that the band's early releases were aimed at chart success but following releases became more and more eclectic as the band pushed the boundaries of it's writing and playing abilities.

In a career which spanned only 5 albums, Talk Talk's first releases could certainly be labelled as "New Romantic Synth Pop" and it was these albums which give them the success (particularly in mainland Europe) and the spring board with which to record their next 3 albums. And it's these 3 recordings which I would like recommend to anyone who has yet to experience haunting beauty of the band.

The Colour Of Spring (1986) is by far the most successful UK release for the band and showcased the bands writing talents. The album's haunting atmosphere and singer Mark Hollis' despairing vocal style, highlighted perfectly by the brilliant "I Don't Believe in You", leaves you reaching for the repeat button once the album has finished.

Spirit Of Eden (1988) The band wrote this album by recording many hours of improvised material (often in the dark) and editing it down into usable pieces before arranging it all into an album using digital equipment. The result is a stunningly ambient and tranquil piece of music which is summed up perfectly by Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis, who says "Noise is important. I could never understand people I knew who liked Talk Talk and saw it as something 'nice to chill out to' when I loved the overwhelming intensity and the dynamics."

Laughing Stock (1991) Now a two piece, the band continued with the successful yet demanding recording process used on the previous album, these recording sessions have attained near mythical status with the bands fans. The musical similarities between this and Spirit of Eden are plain to see but nonetheless both can stand alone in there own right as works of minimalist genius.

If you've yet to checkout Talk Talk I suggest you start at The Colour of Spring, no wait, start anywhere you please I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Bungle

RUSH

What a place to begin, ok Rush are hardly obscure and certainly don't suffer from lack of airplay, but, they are my favourite band of all time so I couldn't leave them out. I will try and be fair and not let favouritism rule my head. When my older brother introduced me to A Farewell to Kings back in 1980 (the album was 3 years old then) I couldn’t believe what I was listening too, I was at the time a young Metal fanatic with my head buried deep in NWOBHM, but Rush had it all, they were heavy (for the time) but they could also create beautiful soundscapes and touch on lyrical matter that no Metal band would. Rush’s music has always attracted debate, they were, and probably still are, a love ‘em or hate ‘em band, the blend of Geddy’s high pitched vocals and pretentious 18 minute tracks does not sit well with some folk, but I was hooked.

Rush’s music, most fans will agree, comes in three phases. The first phase, consisted of their first six albums, these were (apart from the debut) musically complex albums with a lyrical content that drew heavily from Science Fiction and Fantasy and is, in my opinion, still the best phase.

Rush could have easily sat on their laurels by sticking to the same formula and no doubt would have made a huge success of it, but the band were not ones to follow convention.

Phase two, the next six albums, saw the band delve into more radio friendly music and lyrics based around social comment, although there was the occasional foray into the fantastic (Permanent Waves). The band also started using Synthesizers more as a frontline weapon as oppose to using them to add texture as in phase one, and some fans questioned the decision. Phase two brought Rush massive chart success with Moving Pictures clocking up some four million sales worldwide which then lead to the band clocking up a succession of platinum album sales. Rush could never be accused of standing still and it could be said that some of their music in this phase was years ahead of there own targets and developments as song writers, I am of course talking of Grace Under Pressure. I bought the album on first day of issue and listened to it solidly for a couple of months (it took me years to fully appreciate the album) I liked the direction the album took but I hated the weak, tinny production.

Phase three, the final six albums, saw the synthesisers take a back seat once more as the band went for a more straight forward three piece rock sound, and the band sounded as if they were enjoying playing and writing again. Production during this phase also showed a shift toward a more punchy and dynamic sound. 2004 saw Rush celebrate their 30th anniversary of recording and according to RIAA Rush are only trailing The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith in the number of consecutive gold and platinum albums (worldwide album sales number some 40 million plus).

After 18 studio albums, 8 live albums and 6 compilation albums Rush are still going strong, with rumours growing that they are once again heading for the studio, long may it continue

Phase 1

Rush (74)

Fly By Night (75)

Caress of Steel (75)

2112 (76)

A Farewell to Kings (77)

Hemispheres (78)

Phase 2

Permanent Waves (80)

Moving Pictures (81)

Signals (82)

Grace Under Pressure (84)

Power Windows (85)

Hold Your Fire (87)

Phase 3

Presto (89)

Roll The Bones (91)

Counterparts (93)

Test For Echo (96)

Vapour Trails (02)

Snakes and Arrows (07)

Welcome

Hi and welcome to the Prog Blog. As the title suggests this blog is dedicated to the world of Progressive Rock in all it's forms, and i mean ALL it's forms. From classic prog to Neo prog on to prog metal, post metal, post rock and everything inbetween.

There are some superb bands out there who don't get the column inches or airplay they deserve and i hope to introduce you to some of these bands.

Enjoy

Bungle