Personal Favourites - Tim Gallant
by Tim Gallant
Over the course of the years, I have become a huge progressive rock fan. Not surprisingly, prog CDs regularly make my "faves" list. But as we all know, great music crosses well beyond the subgenre we happen to adore. And so, mixed in with some prog, I offer some avant-garde pop-rock favourites among my personal list of six albums that have stood the test of time for me. Rather than prioritizing these in order of preference (which I doubt I could do), I offer them in chronological order.
1. Kansas, Point of Know Return
Within a genre largely dominated by Europeans (and particularly in the 1970s, UK bands), Kansas etched out a progressive rock legend, and no album, even the monumental Leftoverture, contributed more to that legend than Point of Know Return (1977).
Kansas was at the height of their classic powers here, deftly wedding intimidatingly complex originality with refreshing accessibility: hooks, catchy phrasing, and of course, the unmistakable voice of Steve Walsh.
The snatching, pulsing title track, punctuated with dominant violin, sets the stage for something special, and every piece of the puzzle coheres. This is an album, not merely a random collection of songs; "Point of Know Return" eases naturally into "Paradox," and "Paradox" into "The Spider."
At the heart of the album are two biographical songs, "Portrait" (about Albert Einstein) and "Closet Chronicles" (about Howard Hughes), followed up by the hard rocking "Lightning's Hand."
Point of Know Return, of course, is best known for "Dust in the Wind," ironically one of the least representative songs Kansas ever released. (It grew out of a guitar finger exercise Kerry Livgren was developing. His wife insisted it was beautiful and ought to be a song, and the rest is history.) Although the song was uncharacteristically understated in arrangement, it fits well in its surroundings, a quiet interlude in the midst of what some would call a mass of pomp. It seemed as if Kansas could do no wrong; Point was destined to be a classic.
Point of Know Return is the epitome of Kansas's classic symphonic sound. Walsh's soaring vocals are at their peak. Organ is surprising in its predominance, and as usual Robbie Steinhardt's violin is unapologetically at the forefront. Kansas displays itself as a band capable of conveying a beautiful angst (see the penultimate ballad, "Nobody's Home" and the closing epic, "Hopelessly Human"). Yet this is still a rock band, as the screaming guitars of "Lightning's Hand" and "Sparks of a Tempest" serve to remind. Everything in all its Kansas glory finds its pinnacle on Point of Know Return. If you are unfamiliar with the impressive and immense Kansas catalogue, this is where to start.
2. Lone Justice, Shelter
With only two studio albums to their credit, Lone Justice quickly faded from view. Their self-titled folk-country-rock debut was a credible effort in itself, but Shelter (1986) was incomparable. Co-produced by the band, Little Steven, and Jimmy Iovine, the genre-defying album was like a fresh wind.
From the moment I heard the opening notes of "I Found Love" on the radio, I was hooked. There was a bracing, vivifying, yet lightly bridled energy, and the vocal was a stunner. My initial thought was that I was hearing a black gospel singer, but it was petite little Maria McKee putting out all that power.
And not just power: Maria's voice exhibited crazy energy, passion, range, control, sweetness, and an incredible falsetto, all in one bundle. From the restraint of the mesmerizing title track to the insanely intense "Inspiration," Shelter was chock-full of stunning vocal performances bringing extra drama to a set of well-written, well-structured songs.
And with Jimmy Iovine involved with such a fine band, you knew that the instrumentation and production were going to be top notch. The result is a seamless blend of layered guitars, keys, drums, and bass, where everything sounds simply right. Nothing is overdone; nothing is overbearing; yet neither does anything fall off the map. The acoustic guitars are simultaneously pleasantly present and tantalizingly transparent; the electric leads find an almost bluesy bite, and there's some almost otherworldly harmonies (listen to the bass on "Wheels"!).
In short, few rock albums have come this close to approaching perfection. Shelter is more than a hidden gem; it's a widely-overlooked classic.
3. U2, The Joshua Tree
Not all overwhelming popularity should be chalked up to the indiscriminating tastes of the unwashed masses. With The Joshua Tree (1987), U2 was catapulted from moderate stardom to the ethereal realms.
Starting out within the shadows of the punk movement, U2 transcended their fellows early on by developing an original musicality that was both profound in its simplicity, and startling in its originality. The Edge virtually invented an idiosyncratic guitar sound, jangling, soothing, heavily delayed. Bono's voice was a curious combination of passion and smoothness, and Adam Clayton's limitations with the bass ironically served to meld with Larry Mullen's driving, hypnotic drums to forge a rhythm section that provided a strangely seamless marriage between a furiously rolling underlying drive and the smooth sweet melodies and harmonies of vocals and guitars that overlay it.
While U2's classic trademark sound had been in development for some time, culminating in a huge hit with "Pride (In the Name of Love)" from the preceding Unforgettable Fire album, it is with The Joshua Tree that the heights are ultimately scaled. It is here that the songs find the right balance between originality and structure, that the lyrics become just open enough to let us in, and that the music becomes thoroughly tight and compelling. From the subtle time signature changes of the lilting "Where the Streets Have No Name," to the yearning "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," to the bewitching "With or Without You," to the haunting "Mothers of the Disappeared," The Joshua Tree makes a consistently compelling case, demanding to be heard as a masterpiece.
I don't know if any other album commanding such widespread popularity has been so true in terms of musicality, artistic integrity, and lyricism.
4. Mr Mister, Go On
This one largely slipped under the radar. After solid chart success with the preceding album, Welcome to the Real World (which actually peaked for a week at #1) , which included hits such as "It is Love," "Kyrie," and above all, "Broken Wings," somehow Mr Mister got ignored here, and Go On (1987) ended up in back-of-the-store bargain bins when it could be found at all.
Too bad. As good as its predecessor was, Go On was better, despite lacking a clear-cut single. The music was both more mature and more original, the lyrics more biting. ("Dust," for example, tackles warfront fathering; "The Tube" tackles the relationship-destroying character of television addiction; and the album as a whole addresses itself to a range of social issues, but does so on a profoundly personal level.)
There are no weak tracks on this album. "Stand and Deliver" (which played to the closing credits of a movie of the same name), "Healing Waters," "Dust" - all down the line are intelligent, thoughtfully-composed pieces that get to the point both thematically and musically. It's true you won't find impressive instrumental soloing here; every particle serves the whole. The production is detailed yet restrained; the music sets moods appropriate to the content, and Richard Page (sounding a bit like a more intense, American Sting) draws us in with his melodious earnestness. A particular high point is the gospel-tinged "Man of a Thousand Dances."
Although the guitars (Steve Farris) are almost invisible for much of Go On (often providing more atmospheric noise or sideline augmentation than genuine leads or rhythms), this does not sound like the typical 1980s synth-pop album - a tribute to both the thought and passion that went into its construction. (Guitars are a bit more to the front in "The Tube" than elsewhere, but even this song will not be confused with "guitar rock.")
The production of Go On is first rate. The mix is so fine, for example, that even on cheap computer speakers at low volume, there is good separation and clarity. A nice testimony to the abilities of engineers and producers from two decades ago, who had much less sophisticated equipment at their disposal.
Postscript: The follow-up to Go On, Pull, tragically was never released. After the break-up of Mr Mister, Page moved on to the short-lived Third Matinee, whose moderately-progressive album Meanwhile (1994) became yet another overlooked nugget. If you find it, don't pass it up.
5. Yes, Magnification
I confess: I am not a Yes purist. If I were, I would swear by the "classic" albums, like Fragile, Close to the Edge and The Yes Album. But the truth is, I don't. Although they have grown on me somewhat over time, I still consider those albums to be a bit meandering and lower in musicality than later material. If I want something more palatable along the lines of classic Yes, I prefer the Flower Kings to the classic band that influenced them.
As far as Yes goes, my confession goes darker and deeper: I actually like stuff from the Trevor Horn era, such as Big Generator - releases that "true Yes fans" tend to despise. And I think the Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe album, so anathema to Yes purists, is awesome.
Of the actual Yes titles, though, my two preferred CDs are Keystudio (a later compilation of the studio tracks from the Keys to Ascension albums, hence the title) and Magnification. Symphonic rock lover that I am, the latter gets the nod for this list. Magnification (2001 - September 11, no less, although its States-side debut was delayed in respect to the crisis of the time) is a brilliant enmeshing of classical orientation and instrumentation with rock music. It's a feat that, given Yes's particular musical proclivities, one would almost have guessed they would have attempted more often (1970's Time and a Word also employed a full orchestra). But this album is well worth the wait, and even Jon Anderson's pseudo-spirituality seems less obtrusive, his lyrics less annoyingly murky here.With Magnification, we get real actual hooks (unlike so much prog that thinks obscurity and inaccessibility are next to godliness), and even something resembling groove in spots (see "Spirit of Survival"). And all the while, Yes remains a distinct voice, fresh, not so much obliterating convention as transcending it.
Magnification is a fine reminder that when music is approached as art, it is nonsense to speak sneeringly of advancing age. This is the seventeenth of the band's studio albums, more than three decades into their repertoire. And in my judgment, it is their pinnacle to date, despite the absence of classic stalwarts such as Rick Wakeman. (The incarnation here is Anderson, Squire, Howe, and White.)
Yes has confounded and dismayed many, but the truth is that they have continued to develop as artists. In my mind, this is a true progressive rock classic.
6. Transatlantic, Bridge Across Forever
One word: cello. Truth is, I love cello. And I really love it when it somehow fits seamlessly within a rock context.
Thus, I guess I was destined to be a sucker for Bridge Across Forever (2001) - an album whose two major, related epics ("Duel with the Devil" and "Stranger in Your Soul") both begin with a very sweet cello-violin combo.
And then, of course, there's the fact that this is a prog supergroup: Neal Morse (formerly of Spock's Beard), Roine Stolt (Flower Kings), Pete Trewevas (Marillion bassist), and the incredible Mike Portnoy on drums (Dream Theater). What could be more promising than that?
But we're not simply talking about potential: Transatlantic delivered full value in its short lifespan (the supergroup broke up after a couple studio albums and some live releases). With Bridge Across Forever, they were at their peak. The music seems more cohesive than the predecessor, SMPT:e, which was quite brilliant in its own right. (SMPT reflected a nifty coincidence between a musical abbreviation [referring to time format] and the last name initials of the four band members.)
The opening "Duel with the Devil" (weighing in at 26:44) masterfully weds beauty and power with the tension of its theme. Each instrumental element is outstanding, but everything coheres with spectacular unity. The structure makes good use of dynamics, moving from high energy, down to a ballad-like quality, and back up to climactic power. Neal Morse is in fine vocal form, and even Roine Stolt's vocals (which can be an acquired taste) ring with musicality. This epic soars its way into a grand choral finale with grandiose guitar melodies and keyboard backing. (I guess this is evidence why Europeans frequently call prog "pomp rock.")
If anything, the closing 30-minute masterpiece "Stranger in Your Soul" tops the opener by completing its themes and bringing the story to resolution. Interestingly, the take on the opening strings theme here is reminiscent of the classic resurrection hymn "Praise the Savior." Then we roll into an impressive rollicking drum-driven massive multi-instrumental, and we're on our way into (in my estimation) one of the great prog rock epics of all time. If that sounds hyperbolic, you simply must hear "Stranger in Your Soul." It's that good.
In between the related bookend epics are the grooving "Suite Charlotte Pike" (a 14:33 epic in its own right) and the gentle, longing title track. The opening of the suite is built upon a catchy bass riff, augmented by snappy guitar licks, and the 14 1/2 minutes seem to fly by. As elsewhere, the vocal transitions between Morse and Stolt are surprisingly smooth. There's also some wry, somewhat self-effacing humour: in the midst of cataloguing various difficulties, Morse sings, "It's hard / becoming the Beatle inside of me." (Morse was well-known for Beatles influences while with Spock's Beard.)
The piano-based "Bridge Across Forever" features a memorable melody and vocal performance by Morse. With no rhythm section and Morse tickling the ivories, it's essentially a solo, but it fits nicely.
With arguably the world's best drummer (Portnoy) and two of prog's biggest contemporary stalwarts (Morse and Stolt) on board, this album resounds with a fine mix of muscularity and finesse, beauty and power. A genuinely classic prog production by an indisputably classic lineup of prog powers.
There you have it. They vary in fame and influence, but these six albums are monuments of creativity and beauty. Most are some years on, and have demonstrated the ability to transcend their time.
I invite you to take a careful listen to them, and see if you agree....
