Tempting Fate Without a Paddle

Serendipity.  What a great word.  Coined from a Persian story about the three princes of Serendip who always stumbled upon something they weren’t looking for but seemed to come in useful at a later date, I found my self following somewhat in their footsteps earlier in the week.  I didn’t end up in Sri Lanka, which is the Persian word for Serendip, but in Barking, slightly east of London, and a far remove from the domain of our three heroes.  You see, last week I played some RPWL on the show, a band that has captured the inner Floyd in me and given it a chance to run riot with the 2005 released album “World Through My Eyes”.  This is such a must-get for any serious progressive rock head that I can’t say it enough, and say it I did on the show.  So, where’s the lucky, serendipitous, accident that started this article off?  Well, in the week leading up to the show I played the album in my car on numerous occasions.  I left the CD in the player, in fact, for the week and just let the player keep looping over and over again such is my delight in this bit of music.  This meant that I didn’t notice that in the case was another CD, a CD that I had misplaced some time ago.  When I took the CD out of the player and opened the case to put it away I noticed this other CD.  And lo!  To my delight it was the Little Atlas album “Wanderlust” that I had misplaced many months ago.  It was then that I remembered putting the CD in the RPWL case while I did something during a show and somehow completely forgot that I had done this.  So there you go.  Because I played some RPWL on the show I found the Little Atlas album again by sheer good luck.  Now, if that isn’t serendipity I don’t know what is.

You know what I’m like with technology.  While I don’t mind it, it doesn’t like me!  So I took a big gamble last Saturday by committing most of my show’s playlist to a small memory stick as MP3s.  Okay, I brought a few CDs with me just in case, but tempting fate like this is always going to end up with me in some sort of panic as the whole thing collapses around my ears.  Luckily, though, this didn’t happen on the night.  Or, being a little more truthful, this mostly didn’t happen on the night.  Earlier that evening I had pulled across all the tracks I wanted to play onto the stick and headed off to the studio for the show.  When I got there I plugged the stick into the main playout computer and held my breath.  The machine whirred for a second and then opened the stick and found my selections.  Phew, I thought as I looked at the list, pausing to check it again with a slight frown.  I grabbed my timing printout, the one I make to let me know how much time I have for each track so that I can always end the show as close to on time as is possible, and checked it against the list on the screen.  Well blow me if I wasn’t missing a track, leaving a hole in the timing schedule!  I had picked a great song from Kayak to play but somehow it had evaporated off the stick and wasn’t there anymore.  Talk about fate giving me a warning, eh?  So, there I was, nearly up the proverbial creek without a paddle and, in this case even without the Kayak! Luckily the emergency CDs provided a suitable track and everything worked out fine.  But it just goes to show, technology can be a friend, but also an enemy.  I nearly said “… but also an enema.” but things didn’t pass that way!

Okay, what did I play on Saturday the 19^th of Jan?  here’s the playlist:

Artist : Album : Track

Little Atlas : Wanderlust : The Ballad of Eddie Wanderlust

Little Atlas : Wanderlust : Higher

Prisma : Collusion : Paragon

Tiles : Window Dressing : Capture The Flag

Soniq Circus : Sonic Circus : Colliding Stars

Project Creation : Dawn on Pyther : Voice of Cheops

Manning : Songs From The Bilston House : Understudy

Galahad : Empire of Man : Termination

The Reasoning : The Awakening : Playing the Game

Fish : Raingods With Zippos : Plague of Ghosts

The Tangent : Not As Good As The Book : Lost In London (25 Years On)

I let a few of the heaver progressive bands grace the playlist for tonight.  Prisma and Tiles are both in the prog metal camp and give a good accounting of themselves when played.  I quite like a bit of metal every now and then, but it has to be done well.  There’s too much mediocre metal out there at the moment so it is nice to hear it done with intelligence.  Tiles have a new album out about the time I write this article which I have yet to hear so that’s something for me too look forward too. 

Soniq Circus’s first album of the same name just gets better and better with each listen.  I am looking forward to hearing whatever they release in the future.  It took me a while to get in to their slightly eclectic sound but the perseverance has paid dividends to me.  I suppose the same could be said for Project Creation.  This is a concept album that has taken me a while to work into my taste zone.  It’s not the concept as it follows a sci-fi theme that pushes a few good buttons for me.  It’s the musical construction and the surrounding melody complexities that I struggled with.  However, saying that, I listened to the album on a good system for the first time recently and it changed the whole timbre of the offering.  I heard elements that I had missed completely that made the album a much deeper piece of work then I had imagined.  I know I listen to a lot if my music when travelling but sometimes this just isn’t good enough.  You really do need to sit down with a good set of speakers, or headphones, in a quiet environment and let the music speak for itself.  I’m glad I did now.

I have already mentioned Little Atlas, a band that amazes me each time I listen to them.  The melodies are constructed with careful thought so that each track stands out from the other tracks on the album.  Again, this is a band with a new album out but, again, I have yet to obtain it.  When I do I will play it to death and may even put a track or two out on air!

Galahad are a wonderful neo-prog band that border on the slightly heavy at times, but always on the symphonic and melodic.  They combine great writing with a great playing to deliver a finished product that makes you reach for the repeat button.  Again, they have a new album out and I only have one track from that album, the one played on the show, given to me by the bass player Lee.  I will get the rest of the album soon (ish) and I promise I will play some more from them.  Just like I do with The Reasoning.  Their album “The Awakening” has gained plaudits from fans and critics alike, including me, and it is always a pleasure to play a track or two of theirs every now and then.

Ah, Manning and, of course, The Tangent.  It was Guy’s birthday last week so many happy returns to him.  I couldn’t help but play a track from his latest album as it has been neglected a little by me, as of late.  I don’t know why as it is a powerful piece of progressive rock that stands out from anything else Guy has done.  It has more atmosphere, more energy and more vigour then a lot of material I have heard over the whole of 2007 put together.  And now he’s back on the new The Tangent album “Not As Good As The Book”, brain child of the talented Andy Tillison.  When you listen to either Guy’s new album, or Andy’s (if I can be so bold as to look upon it this way!) you can hear the similarities.  The craftsmanship applied to both is exacting with not a note wasted between them.  The Tangent’s album is due out in March and is something anyone with a progressive taste in music should seriously think about getting.  Each week I am going to play a track in the lead up to the official release.  I know it’s a bit of a tease as you wait for the album but it’s so good it just has to be played!  Saying that, mind, I won’t be playing the monster tracks on the album.  I will only do that when I have Andy and Guy back on the show for the actual release which is scheduled for Saturday the 2^nd of Feb; put that in your diary, eh? Personally I can’t wait, those monster tracks need to be played and I know you’re going to love them.  I said it last week and I’ll say it again this week, this is their most powerful release to date.

I like Marillion so much that I feel as if I’m having an affair every time I play some of Fish’s material.  How stupid am I, eh?  But that’s how it feels, or how it felt until a while ago when I met up for a beer with Mark Kelly, keyboard genius behind Marillion.  During our chat he talked quite openly about Fish and how things had been between them due to the departure.  It gladdened me to hear, as our conversation progressed, that all those strong emotions had, over time, mellowed and that the old friends were back on talking terms again.  For the die-hard Marillion fans it’s no secret that things have thawed as Fish has trodden the boards with his old colleagues a couple of times in the not too recent past and joined in with some of the early material they shared.  I also think it’s very adult of Steve Hogarth for not minding these trysts when they happen.  So, I enjoyed playing one of Fish’s best monster tracks and sharing it with my listening audience last Saturday.  I had to borrow the album from my ever patient wife as it’s actually her copy and not mine, though I think I spend more time listening to it then she does!

Anyway, enough from me for this week.  Tune in again next Saturday for more great progressive rock music.  It’ll be great to have your company.

All the best,

DaveO.

Making Saturday night worth staying in for.

www.myspace.com/daveoprogshow

Article by Dave O'Neill, 22 Jan 2008
Posted in The Dave O Prog Rock Show

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