Category: Track/Video Release

NMB – release video for “Do It All Again” the first single from the upcoming album ‘Innocence & Danger’

Pre-order starts today / Tour Dates revealed for US and Europe

NMB recently announced their much-anticipated fourth studio album ‘Innocence & Danger’, to be released on August 27th, 2021. Today, the band are sharing the first single and video from the album for the opening track “Do It All Again.”  

Watch the video for “Do It All Again,” created by Christian Rios:

Mike Portnoy says this about the track, “This was the first song we wrote when we reconvened for the sessions for this album. It rooted from an idea Bill Hubauer brought in and we built off it from there. Like most NMB songs, I love the sharing of lead vocals…Neal Morse on the verses, Bill on the B section and an amazingly catchy 3-part harmony chorus with Eric Gillette taking the lead.”

‘Innocence & Danger’, featuring artwork by Thomas Ewerhard (Transatlantic), will be available as:

• Limited 2CD+DVD Digipak (featuring a Making Of documentary)

• Standard 2CD Jewelcase

• Digital Album

• 3LP+ 2CD Boxset

And is available for pre-order now here:

https://thenealmorseband.lnk.to/InnocenceAndDanger

NMB are also happy to announce tour dates for ‘An Evening of Innocence & Danger’ across US and Europe. 

USA 2021 

Oct 8th & 9th – Cross Plains, TN – Morsefest 2021 – www.radiantrecords.com  

Oct 12th – Seattle, WA – The Triple Door – https://tickets.thetripledoor.net/eventperformances.asp?evt=1830

Oct 14th – St Charles, IL – The Arcada – https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/12589

Oct 15th – Pontiac, MI – The Crofoot Ballroom – https://www.ticketweb.com/event/the-neal-morse-band-the-crofoot-ballroom-tickets/11136425?pl=crofoot

Oct 16th – Ft Wayne, IN – Pieres – https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/18520/pieres-entertainment-center

Oct 17th – Cleveland, OH – The Beachland Ballroom – https://www.ticketweb.com/event/the-neal-morse-band-an-beachland-ballroom-tickets/11128265?pl=beachland

Oct 19th – Glenside, PA – The Keswick Theater – https://www.axs.com/events/405348/the-neal-morse-band-tickets

Oct 20th – Baltimore, MD – Soundstage – https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/15005ACE0DA1334C 

Oct 21st – Boston, MA – The Sinclair – https://www.axs.com/events/405764/the-neal-morse-band-tickets?skin=sinclair

Oct 22nd – New York City, NY – The Sony Theater – https://www.ticketmaster.com/sony-hall-tickets-new-york/venue/1475

Europe 2022

May 28th – Madrid, Spain – Teatro Kapital

https://www.madnesslive.es/es/inicio/726-neal-morse-band-featuring-mike-portnoy-madrid.html

May 29th – Barcelona, Spain – Apolo

https://www.madnesslive.es/es/inicio/727-neal-morse-band-featuring-mike-portnoy-barcelona.html

May 30th – Milan, Italy – Live Club

http://www.vertigo.co.it/it/neal-morse-band

May 31st – Pratteln, Switzerland – Z7

http://www.z-7.ch/event.php?eventid=1908

June 2nd – Tilburg, Netherlands – 013

https://shop.eventix.io/1d82d0a4-563c-44ca-96c9-302a843e7abc/tickets

June 3rd – London, England – Shepherds Bush Empire

https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/1F005AD083C7358E

June 4th – Paris, France – Trianon

https://www.letrianon.fr/fr/programme/the-neal-morse-band

June 5th – Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal – https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/6465213/neal-morse-band-eschalzette-rockhal-luxembourg

June 7th – Cologne, Germany – Live Music Hall

https://www.myticket.de/de/hank-von-hell-live-2022-tickets/

June 9th – Brno, Czech Republic – Sono

https://goout.net/cs/an-evening-of-innocence-and-danger-2022-the-neal-morse-band/szrjjlr/

June 10th – Krakow, Poland – Studio Club

https://rockserwis.pl/products/215847

June 11th – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja

https://sklep.knockoutprod.net/pl/eventinfo/399/neal-morse-band

June 13th – Hamburg, Germany – Markthalle

https://www.myticket.de/de/hank-von-hell-live-2022-tickets/

June 15th – Copenhagen, Denmark – Amager Bio

https://www.ticketmaster.dk/event/AMA1506A?language=da-dk

June 16th – Gothenburg, Sweden – Pustervik

https://www.tickster.com/sv/events/wyvkch5k9kl4hcb

June 17th – Oslo, Norway – Cosmopolite

https://hurumrock.no/konserter.html

June 18th – Stockholm, Sweden – Lilla Cirkus

https://www.ticketmaster.se/event/595757?

*** 

With NMB’s previous two releases being concept albums, it’s perhaps remarkable that Innocence & Danger is a series of unrelated songs, but drummer Mike Portnoy says “After two sprawling back to back double concept albums in a row, it was refreshing to get back to writing a collection of unrelated individual songs in the vein of our first album.”

Indeed, making this album came easy to the band; while the initial inspiration came particularly from Bill Hubauer (keyboards) and Randy George (bass), the ideas flowed from everybody from there on, as George recalls: “I am excited about the level of collaboration that we achieved on this one. We even went in with a lot of ideas that weren’t necessarily developed, and I think in the end we have something that represents the best of everybody in the band.”

In fact – like its two acclaimed predecessors – Innocence & Danger is a double album by inspiration, rather than design, as Portnoy explains: “As much as we wanted to try and keep it to a single album after having just done two double albums, we wrote so much material that we found ourselves with our third double album in a row! That’s pretty prog!”

There is also plenty in Innocence & Danger to excite those prog fans who have a thirst for epics, as Neal Morse explains: “There’s one half hour epic and another that’s about 20 minutes long. I really didn’t realize that they were that long when we were recording them, which I guess is great because if a movie is really good, you don’t realize that it’s three hours long! But there are also some shorter songs: some have poppier elements, some are heavier and some have three part acoustic sections. I’m excited about all of it, really.” 

NMB (Neal Morse Band) is 

Neal Morse (vocals, keyboards and guitars) 

Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals)

Randy George (bass)

Eric Gillette (guitars, vocals)

Bill Hubauer (keyboards, vocals)

GIANCARLO ERRA RELEASES NEW SINGLE & VIDEO “A BLUES FOR MY FATHER”

Taken from the forthcoming new album Departure Tapes released on Kscope on 2nd July 2021

Having announced his new album Departure Tapes and released the first single “Departure Tape”,  UK based Italian composer, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Giancarlo Erra has revealed his next single and video, the moving and poignantly titled “A Blues For My Father”.

Giancarlo explains the song’s touching significance “After my father’s passing, the mourning brought back the curiosity to go re-look at all the material I wrote during the previous months and I realised I had an album that made a lot of sense. It was dark, experimental for me, confusing but also a discovery, it was a mirror in music of what I was going through. Something was missing, ‘ A Blues For My Father”  the only track that I wrote once back home, and the mournful yet peaceful closure”. 

The deeply personal video he recalls came about after a visit to his father in hospital  “on this particular visit he seemed unusually happy and excited to show me a DVD”, he recalls  “The footage was from the 1950’s and of his family and childhood, sadly his memory was failing at this point but once we started watching these moments came back to him, the people and the places, he was laughing and genuinely happy. I love this footage as it shows my father with his siblings and is the perfect mirror for the peaceful and warm meaning of this closure, a closure to an album and to many other things.”

The new studio album Departure Tapes, the follow up to 2019’s Ends I-VII, consists of 6 contemplative recordings, written while travelling between the UK and Italy and reflect the extremely difficult year Giancarlo experienced due to the death of his estranged father. Erra comments “In 2019 my first solo album was just being released, and I already had the view that I wanted to be more experimental with the second one, but no precise idea how at that point. Then my father suddenly got ill with cancer, and everything changed. I found myself taking care of this man, someone who I have been distanced from for so long.  During this time both of us to came to terms with many things. I wanted to get closure, but a positive one, for him and for me. 

Creativity it was an interesting period for me – writing this album without realising I was actually writing it, as it is so intrinsically linked to one of the hardest and yet more healing parts of my life. The end result is the most experimental, and at the times, the darkest material I have ever written, without compromise or set plan. It contains all the elements of my music in a very unconscious free flowing way. “

Departure Tapes sees Erra play and record every instrument himself along with taking on full production responsibilities at his own studio (https://widescreen.studio). 

Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm and the more electronic / ambient recordings of Brian Eno may offer a reference point by which to enter Erra’s world, but the depth within his recordings is truly original.

Departure Tapes will be released on the following formats and is available to pre-order HERE (https://GiancarloErra.lnk.to/DepartureTapes)

·       a gatefold LP on oxblood coloured 180g vinyl

·       2-disc CD/DVD with the DVD-A/V including high resolution stereo & 5.1 mix:DVD-V: stereo 24/48 LPCM lossless mixes, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 96/24 5.1 Surround and DVD-A: 5.1 Surround 24/48 LPCM lossless mixes

·       Digitally (with digital pre-orders receiving the single “Departure Tape” as an instant download)

MOUNTAIN CALLER – CHRONICLE: PROLOGUE – NEW EP RELEASED 9TH JULY (NEW HEAVY SOUNDS)

LISTEN TO FIRST SINGLE ‘BEYOND THIS BLACK HORIZON’ NOW:

Mountain Caller: Beyond This Black Horizon by New Heavy Sounds (soundcloud.com)

Hot on the heels of their debut full length album, Mountain Caller return with a new EP, Chronicle: Prologue, the follow up and conceptual prequel to their debut

Chronicle I: The Truthseeker. That album was released to wide acclaim, as well as a passionate response from an already devoted fanbase. 

Chronicle: Prologue gives further depth and insight into the conceptual story that embodies their output, as well as their own musical journey. 

Recorded alongside the debut album, Prologue’s tracks consist of the very earliest material written by the band. Opener Something Stirred From Underneath The Rubble was the true genesis of the band’s dynamic mix of heavy, expansive and progressive metal. It’s the culmination of three distinct musical voices collaborating and letting the music lead them, without aiming for any specific genre. Beyond This Black Horizon follows, a live fan-favourite and the band’s love letter to the riff. Stripped Of All But Purpose closes, with the band exploring the widest ranges of their soundscapes and heaviness, while providing some of the most fist-pumpingly metal moments of their career. These tracks highlight the band’s fundamental make up of ambition, passion, and sheer love for creation.

Conceptually, Prologue leads right up to the events of The Truthseeker. We catch our first glimpse of The Protagonist awakening under the rubble of a great fallen city, and setting forth on an oceanic voyage. After a battle that seemingly claims her life, she regains consciousness on a beach, shipwrecked and rocked by waves of sea and trauma. The band conjure Mastodon expanses of sound melded with Sabbathian riffs, all executed with Tool-like wizardry. With the EP seamlessly leading into the debut album, the band want listeners to consume one after the other, creating one cohesive hour-plus journey. Chronicle: Prologue is a chance to more fully understand the identity of the band and to explore the world they’ve summoned.

On new single ‘Beyond This Black Horizon’, bassist El Reeve comments,

‘Our new EP ‘Chronicle: Prologue’ is a prequel story to the album. It’s about the very beginning of The Protagonist’s journey, and follows her from waking up under the ruins of a devastated city, to meeting the mysterious Mountain Caller with his equally mysterious motives, and travelling across an ocean to the desert shores where we first encounter her in the album, having survived a shipwreck.

In ‘Beyond This Black Horizon’, The Protagonist has secured passage on an old ship. Its course will take her roughly in the direction that’s pressing down on her mind – she must travel onwards, no matter what. The seas become wild and violent, and the ship is battered mercilessly. And soon, through the screaming wind and rain, she can see why. The ship is grappled by colossal tentacles – a weird creature of scales, horns and bones. It’s torn to pieces and she’s plunged into the water, losing consciousness.

‘Chronicle: Prologue’ was recorded at the same time as the album with Joe Clayton at No Studio and mastered by Magnus Lindberg at VRTKL Audio AB. The sleeve artwork is by Taylor Rose.’

Chronicle: Prologue is released on July 9th on very limited vinyl and digital formats.
Pre-order: https://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/mountain-caller-chronicle-prologue

Kansas launches live version of ‘Portrait (He Knew); taken from ‘Point of Know Return Live & Beyond’ out 28th May

KANSAS, America’s legendary progressive rock band has released another track from their upcoming, new live album Point of Know Return Live & Beyond out May 28, 2021. 

Fans can now stream “Portrait (He Knew) (Live 2019-20) at this link:

The song was recorded on November 16, 2019 at the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, NC.

This is the first live album since 2017 for the band that has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and is famous for classic hits such as ‘Carry On Wayward Son’ and ‘Dust in the Wind,’ to progressive epics like ‘Song for America.’

The album is now available for pre-order at https://kansas.lnk.to/PointofKnowReturn-LiveBeyond

The band recently released a teaser for the live album here https://youtu.be/6s0kt7BfadM.

KANSAS previously released the live tracks “Point of Know Return (Live 2019-20)” (recorded April 4, 2019 in San Diego, CA at the Balboa Theater) and “The Wall (Live 2019-20)” (recorded February 22, 2020 in Knoxville, TN at the Tennessee Theatre).

Point of Know Return Live & Beyond is co-produced by Phil Ehart and Richard Williams, and is recorded and mixed by Chad Singer. The album features 22 songs selected from 12 shows recorded in 2019 and 2020 during KANSAS’s Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour. The setlist includes classic hits, deep cuts, and culminates with the band’s sextuple-platinum album, Point of Know Return, performed in its entirety.

Following the success of the band’s Leftoverture Anniversary Tour, KANSAS followed that tour up with the even more popular Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour. The overwhelming success of that tour, and the previous live album, Leftoverture Live & Beyond, led the band, along with Inside Out Music, to release selected songs from the tour as a live album.

“We knew we wanted to release a live album of the Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour. Being unable to tour for more than a year has given us the opportunity to work on Point of Know Return Live & Beyond and release it for our fans who are missing live concerts as much as we are,” said KANSAS drummer and album co-producer, Phil Ehart. “When we discussed who would mix the album, we thought the best possible person would be the guy who mixes the band live every night and recorded the shows on the road. Nobody knows better how KANSAS sounds live than our front of house engineer, Chad Singer!”

“This live album sounds great,” adds KANSAS guitarist and album co-producer, Richard Williams. “We wanted to make sure this album captures and represents how KANSAS sounds live in concert. Point of Know Return Live & Beyond does just that.”

Along with original KANSAS band members Phil Ehart on drums and Richard Williams on lead guitar, Point of Know Return Live & Beyond, features Tom Brislin on keyboards and vocals, Billy Greer on bass and vocals, Ronnie Platt on lead vocals and keyboards, David Ragsdale on violin and vocals, and Zak Rizvi on guitar and vocals.

Point of Know Return Live & Beyond, will be released May 28, 2021, on Inside Out Music and is distributed by The Orchard. The album will be available as a double CD digipak, triple 180-gram vinyl + 2 CD box-set, and digitally on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, iTunes, and other fine digital retailers.

Point of Know Return Live & Beyond Track Listing:
1.) Cold Grey Morning

2.) Two Cents Worth

3.) The Wall

4.) Song for America

5.) Summer

6.) Musicatto

7.) Taking in the View

8.) Miracles Out of Nowhere

9.) Point of Know Return

10.) Paradox

11.) The Spider

12.) Portrait (He Knew)

13.) Closet Chronicles

14.) Lightning’s Hand

15.) Dust in the Wind

16.) Sparks of the Tempest

17.) Nobody’s Home

18.) Hopelessly Human

19.) Carry On Wayward Son

20.) People of the South Wind

21.) Refugee

22.) Lonely Wind

When touring resumes, KANSAS will continue rescheduled Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour dates as well as KANSAS Classics tour dates. More information on the tour, including specific Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour dates, can be found at www.kansasband.com.

The band recently announced that their European Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour dates had been rescheduled to 2022. The full list of dates can be found below:

11 October 2022 – Amsterdam, Netherlands: Carre Theater

12 October 2022 – Hamburg, Germany: Docks

14 October 2022 – Helsinki, Finland: Culture House15 October 2022 – Tampere, Finland: Tamperetalo

17 October 2022 – Stockholm, Sweden: Cirkus

18 October 2022 – Oslo, Norway: Sentrum Scene

20 October 2022 – Berlin, Germany: Tempodrom

22 October 2022 – Bochum, Germany: Ruhrcongress Center

23 October 2022 – Brussels, Belgium: Cirque Royale

25 October 2022 – Paris, France: Olympia Theater

28 October 2022 – Frankfurt, Germany: Jahrhunderthalle

30 October 2022 – Heilbronn, Germany: Harmonie

31 October 2022 – Munich, Germany: Circus Krone

3 November 2022 – London, England: Palladium

Big Big Train announce new album ‘Common Ground’ out on July 30th, 2021

First single and video for title track out today!

UK tour dates revealed for March 2022

July 30th, 2021 sees the release of ‘Common Ground’, the self-produced new album from Big Big Train on their own label, English Electric Recordings. The new album, recorded during the worldwide pandemic, sees the band continue their tradition of dramatic narratives but also tackles issues much closer to home, such as the Covid lockdowns, the separation of loved ones, the passage of time, deaths of people close to the band and the hope that springs from a new love.

Watch the new video for the title track, created by Christian Rios, here:

“This is unashamedly a love song. It is about finding things that we share and have in common with other people. When my partner and I first came together as a couple, we lived not far from Avebury in Wiltshire, a very Big Big Train kind of place. The chalk hills and standing stones were part of the imagery of our ‘Folklore’ album, and once again I was writing what was literally happening in the location in which we found ourselves. I remember seeing my white chalk dust footprints upon the black of the car mats after we’d been walking around Avebury.  I’m pleased that we both get to have this time with each other and ‘Common Ground’ is about finding out the things that we have in common with each other and deciding what we want to do in life together.” – David Longdon

Tracklisting:

1. The Strangest Times
2. All The Love We Can Give
3. Black With Ink
4. Dandelion Clock
5. Headwaters
6. Apollo
7. Common Ground
8. Atlantic Cable
9. Endnotes

‘Common Ground’ is available for pre-order now as Double Vinyl, CD, and Bandcamp Download at these sites:
https://burningshed.com/store/bigbigtrain
https://bigbigtrain.bandcamp.com

‘Common Ground’ sees the band taking in wider musical and lyrical inspiration from artists such as Elbow, Pete Townshend, Tears For Fears, Elton John and XTC, as well as acknowledging their more progressive roots. As ever, Big Big Train will take listeners on a journey, be it waiting for the UK 5pm pandemic press conferences (’The Strangest Times’) to the library of Alexandria (‘Black With Ink’) to the bottom of the ocean (‘Atlantic Cable’).
 
For the ‘Common Ground’ tour, which will be their most extensive to date and which will culminate in the UK with a show at the prestigious London Palladium, Greg Spawton (bass), David Longdon (lead vocals, flute), Nick D’Virgilio (drums, vocals) and Rikard Sjöblom (guitars, keyboards, vocals) will be joined by Carly Bryant (keyboards, guitars, vocals), who contributes vocals to ‘Common Ground’, Dave Foster (guitars), who plays on two tracks on the new album, Clare Lindley (violin, vocals) and by a five piece brass ensemble. The band expect to announce North American tour dates shortly.
 
Big Big Train has taken lyrical and musical inspiration from periods of history that are recognised as great leaps forward. Now with ‘Common Ground’, they are making such a surge themselves.
BIG BIG TRAIN UK TOUR 2022
 
TUE, MARCH 15TH – YORK, BARBICAN
WED, MARCH 16TH – CAMBRIDGE, CORN EXCHANGE
FRI, MARCH 18TH – BIRMINGHAM, SYMPHONY HALL
SAT, MARCH 19TH – BATH, FORUM
MON, MARCH 21ST – GLASGOW, ROYAL CONCERT HALL
TUE, MARCH 22ND – MANCHESTER, BRIDGEWATER HALL
WED, MARCH 23RD – LONDON, PALLADIUM
 
TICKETS ON SALE FROM MAY 14th, 2021
https://myticket.co.uk/artists/big-big-train

Yes Issue 2019 Boxset ‘From A Page'(Featuring ‘Live In Lyon’) Digitally

YES has issued the 2019 boxset From a Page featuring Live in Lyon on digital platforms. The 4 tracks created as new content for the miniature five-piece box set of recordings from that era, are joined by a single edit of To The Moment complete with original Roger Dean Artwork.

Watch the video of the single edit for To The Moment here: 

All tracks were recorded by the line-up of Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Benoit David and Oliver Wakeman:
1. To The Moment (6:09)

2. Words on a Page (6:18)

3. From the Turn of a Card (3:24)

4. The Gift of Love (9:52)

5. To the Moment (single edit)

Oliver Wakeman has personally overseen the preparation of the previously unreleased recordings which were mixed by Karl Groom and mastered by Mike Pietrini.

Buy the digital version of From A Page here: https://lnk.to/FAPLFL

The double CD album Live From Lyon was first released in 2010 and this edition restored “Second Initial” which was previously a Japanese only bonus track.  This is the first time this has been made available on digital platforms.

Oliver Wakeman says: “Following Chris Squire’s passing, I felt that the new music we’d created, but not released, should be heard and not sit unfinished on a shelf. And with Steve, Alan and Benoit’s enthusiasm for the project, I am proud to know that this music will get to see the light of day and, hopefully, be enjoyed by YES fans as a piece of previously hidden Yes history.” 

Alan White added: “I’m pleased to see a gem of YES history coming to fruition in the form of this mini box set. New songs from the past and I’m hoping we can find even more music in the archives for future releases.”

About Oliver Wakeman
Eldest son of prog legend Rick, Wakeman filled the keyboard role, once held by his father, with YES from 2008 to 2011. His work with YES includes the triple live album In The Present – Live From Lyon, Fly From Here and the From A Page box set featuring recordings from his time in the band and released in 2019. During his tenure with YES, Wakeman also toured and recorded as a member of The Strawbs.

Wakeman’s debut album (1997) Heaven’s Isle was inspired by the island of Lundy, and he has since released a number of solo and Oliver Wakeman Band albums.  He has also released several collaborations with renowned musicians, including Steve Howe, band mate to both Oliver and his father in YES for The Three Ages of Magick album, as well as uniting with another guitar legend Gordon Giltrap for the award-winning Ravens & Lullabies album, both of which are set to be part of an upcoming box set. Most recently Wakeman has been working on The Tales by Gaslight box set which contains classic albums Hound of the Baskervilles and Jabberwocky, plus a previously unreleased disc of recording from the never made third album from the trilogy made in collaboration with Clive Nolan. Each album is accompanied 16-page booklets including lyrics, previously unseen artwork and many stories behind the creativity from both Wakeman and Nolan. Tales by Gaslight will be released by Burning Shed on 23rd April available from www.burningshed.com/oliverwakeman

Buy the digital version of From A Page here: https://lnk.to/FAPLFL

OLIVER WAKEMAN & CLIVE NOLAN Launch Lyric Video for Coming to Town from Jabberwocky Tales by Gaslight 3CD Box Set Out 23 April

Oliver Wakeman and Clive Nolan release a lyric video for Coming to Town taken from their box set, Tales by Gaslight – out on 23rd April. The track is taken from the first album in the box set Jabberwocky and features Bob Catley (Magnum) on vocals and the late Peter Banks on guitar. Oliver says: “This is a fun upbeat track which I have always enjoyed playing live and it became an ever-present song in my bands live set. Revisiting the original for this box set reminded me of what a great job Bob Catley did with his vocal performance, and it is always lovely to listen to Peter playing a wonderful guitar solo.”

Watch the video here:

Jabberwocky, released in 1999, was based on the famous Lewis Carroll poem. It was followed by The Hound of The Baskervilles (2002), inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novel penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The project was always intended to be a trilogy of musical interpretations of literary classics, but an album inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was shelved because of a lack of record company funding.

Oliver Wakeman reunites with Clive Nolan after 20 years to issue a 3CD Box Set – Tales by Gaslight featuring remastered versions of their ‘future prog classics’ Jabberwocky and The Hound Of The Baskervilles along with a new disc Dark Fables.

This box set package also includes a third disc, featuring previously unreleased pieces that were intended to complete the trilogy. This third disc, Dark Fables, contains over 30 minutes of music conceived for the abandoned Frankenstein album.

Unusually for the time, the first two albums featured a host of guest performances, including narration by Wakeman’s father Rick and actor Robert Powell. Former YES guitarist, the late Peter Banks, Magnum vocalist Bob Catley and singer Tracy Hitchings appeared on both albums. Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen lent his talent to The Hound of the Baskervilles along with members from the bands IQ and Threshold. The unique artwork was created by Rodney Matthews for the original Jabberwocky release. Peter Pracownik was the creativity behind The Hound of The Baskervilles artwork 20 years ago and has returned to this trilogy by lending his talents to the new Dark Fables artwork.

In keeping with the spirit of the two previous albums, the new recordings feature the talents of, amongst others, Gordon Giltrap, Paul Manzi (Arena, Oliver Wakeman Band, Sweet) Andy Sears (Twelfth Night) and David Mark Pearce (Oliver Wakeman Band). Also included is an original reading of the Jabberwocky poem by Rick Wakeman.

The Tales by Gaslight box set contains 3 CDs each with 16-page booklets including lyrics, previously unseen artwork and many stories behind the creativity from both Wakeman and Nolan. The first 250 box sets will also include a 4th limited edition numbered art print of the box set cover signed by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman. 

Tales by Gaslight will be released by Burning Shed on 23rd April. Pre-order it here: https://burningshed.com/store/oliverwakeman

About Oliver Wakeman
Eldest son of prog legend Rick, Wakeman filled the keyboard role, once held by his father, with YES from 2008 to 2011. His work with YES includes the triple live album In The Present – Live From Lyon, Fly From Here and the From A Page box set featuring recordings from his time in the band and released in 2019. During his tenure with YES, Wakeman also toured and recorded as a member of The Strawbs.

Wakeman’s debut album (1997) Heaven’s Isle was inspired by the island of Lundy, and he has since released a number of solo and Oliver Wakeman Band albums. He has also released several collaborations with renowned musicians, including Steve Howe, band mate to both Oliver and his father in YES for The Three Ages of Magick album, as well as uniting with another guitar legend Gordon Giltrap for the award-winning Ravens & Lullabies album, both of which are set to be part of an upcoming box set. 

About Clive Nolan
Aged just sixteen, multi-instrumentalist Nolan became the youngest musician (at that time) to gain an A.L.C.M. composition diploma from the London College of Music. At university he studied composition, orchestration, musical arrangement and conducting, gaining a BMus and MMus. He has played a prominent role in the development of progressive music, as a member of Pendragon since 1986 and as a member of Shadowland (1992 – present), Strangers on A Train (1993 – 1994) and by forming his own band Arena in 1995.

Nolan’s interest in rock opera extends beyond his collaborations with Wakeman. In 2008 he wrote She, based upon the novel by Sir H Rider Haggard, and two musicals Alchemy and King’s Ransom. This year will also see the release of a new ‘Viking Inspired’ album Song of the Wildlands, as well as the new Arena album The Theory of Molecular Inheritance.

Tales by Gaslight – Release 23rd AprilPre-order the boxset here: https://burningshed.com/store/oliverwakeman

FROST* release ‘Terrestrial’; first single from new album ‘Day And Age’

Frost* recently announced ‘Day And Age’, their first new studio album in 5 years, set for release on the 14th May 2021. The band’s fourth record features Jem Godfrey once again joined by John Mitchell & Nathan King, as well as 3 guest drummers: Kaz Rodriguez (Chaka Khan, Josh Groban), Darby Todd (The Darkness, Martin Barre) & Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, Mister Mister). The album also features actor Jason Isaacs.

Today the band are pleased to launch ‘Terrestrial’, the first single taken from ‘Day And Age’, and you can watch the video here: 

Jem Godfrey comments: “Terrestrial is about Donald Crowhurst who disappeared while competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race never to be found. The last page of his logbook contained the words: “I have no need to prolong the game. It is finished – It is finished IT IS THE MERCY.”

 ‘Day And Age’ was recorded over the course of 2019 and 2020, featuring 8 tracks and striking cover artwork by Carl Glover of Aleph Studios (Steven Wilson, Marillion, Steve Jansen). The album will be released on Limited 2CD (including a bonus disc of instrumentals), Gatefold 180g 2LP + CD (with etching on Side D), and as Digital Album. Pre-order now here: https://frost-band.lnk.to/DayAndAge

The full track-listing is below:

1.         Day And Age 11:49

2.         Terrestrial 5:13

3.         Waiting For The Lie 4:31

4.         The Boy Who Stood Still 7:33

5.         Island Life 4:14

6.         Skywards 4:13

7.         Kill The Orchestra 9:27

8.         Repeat To Fade 6:14 

In September 2019 Godfrey and Mitchell rented a cottage for a week in Helford, Cornwall and set about converting it into a recording studio. Day one saw them write and record “Skywards”, “Island Life” was written on day two. On day three, the duo wrote what was to become the title and defining track of the new album, “Day And Age”. 

The following January, the band setup a new temporary studio for a further week in a converted coastguard tower at Dungeness in East Sussex. “We were 30 feet by the sea, next to a nuclear power station and a lighthouse, in midwinter. So there was hardly any daylight and the weather was dreadful”, laughs bassist Nathan King, “We wrote “Terrestrial” and “Repeat To Fade” there and you can definitely hear the bleak isolated oppression having an effect on us. The songs we wrote were far darker – the wind howling round the building at night, the power station generating crackles on the audio, a huge lighthouse next door sweeping light into the fog every 30 seconds and John screaming “ENJOY YOURSELVES YOU SCUM” into a microphone. It was absolutely brilliant!”.

In November 2020, Frost* released the career-retrospective collection ‘13 Winters’ which featured all their studio albums to date, plus live material, b-sides & last years ‘Others’ EP, all packaged in a beautiful artbook.

Frost* was formed in 2004 by keyboard player and singer Jem Godfrey, Released in 2006 the band’s debut album “Milliontown” was an instant success and is regarded by many as a classic in the modern prog rock genre featuring John Mitchell on guitar, John Jowitt on bass and Andy Edwards on drums. The band quickly followed it up with “Experiments In Mass Appeal” in 2008, in many ways the antithesis of “Milliontown” featuring a much more stripped back sound, more concise songs and a new band member and singer in the form of Dec Burke.

The live album “The Philadelphia Experiment” followed in 2009 and the a long gap followed before 3rd album “Falling Satellites” was released in 2016 with a new line-up of Nathan King on bass and Craig Blundell on drums, plus returning guitarist and singer John Mitchell on guitar who also co-wrote much of the album with Jem Godfrey. 

Kayak launch video for ‘Mystery’/ first single taken from ‘Out Of This World’

Legendary Dutch progressive rockers Kayak recently announced they will return with their 18th studio album ‘Out Of This World’ on the 7th May 2021. Now they are pleased to reveal the first single taken from that album, and you can watch the video for ‘Mystery’ here:

Founding member Ton Scherpenzeel comments: “This song is about the, in my view, unfathomable mystery and wonder that is the world around us. No matter what stunning progress science makes, and whatever religion wants us to believe, the essence will always be that: a mystery. Which doesn’t mean we have to stop trying to figure it all out.”The album is now also available for pre-order, arriving as a Limited CD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP + CD, and as Digital Album. An exclusive blood red vinyl edition is available directly from the band. Pre-order now here: https://kayak.lnk.to/OutOfThisWorld

The full track-listing is as follows:

1.     Out Of This World

2.     Waiting

3.      Under A Scar

4.     Kaja

5.     Mystery

6.     Critical Mass

7.      As The Crow Flies

8.     The Way She Said Goodbye

9.     Traitor’s Gate

10.   Distance To Your Heart

11.   Red Rag To A Bull

12.   One By One

13.   A Writer’s Tale

14.   Cary

15.   Ship Of Theseus

Watch a short teaser for the new album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo-YUX4RbWM 

‘Out Of This World’, the band’s eighteenth studio album, with 15 new tracks, spanning 70 minutes of energetic and incredibly diverse material- though still very much recognizable as Kayak. It is clear that the new found energy has gained even more momentum since Hans Eijkenaar rejoined the group. Although they were forced to cancel all tours because Ton Scherpenzeel suffered a heart attack at the end of 2019, and immediately after that because of the Covid pandemic, we’re hearing a band that, since the demise of Pim Koopman in 2009, has not sounded more together, balanced and motivated. The current line-up of the band is as follows: 

Ton Scherpenzeel – Keyboards, lead and backing vocals 

Bart Schwertmann – Lead and backing vocals 

Marcel Singor – Guitar, lead and backing vocals 

Kristoffer Gildenlöw – Bass, lead and backing vocals

Hans Eijkenaar- Drums 

Kayak History:

KAYAK was formed in Hilversum, The Netherlands, back in 1972, by keyboard player Ton Scherpenzeel and drummer Pim Koopman who struck up a friendship in their early teens after meeting at a local volley ball club. They were committed to writing original material. With loads of melodic, symphonic songs in their pocket they recruited fellow music conservatory student Max Werner (lead vocals) and Johan Slager (guitar). After bass player Cees van Leeuwen joined, the first lineup of KAYAK was complete with the new band being signed by EMI Records being launched as a new supergroup. Their debut album ‘See See The Sun’(1973) featured a minor hit single , ‘Lyrics’, with ‘Mammoth’ and the title track also reaching the top 40. The album sold well in Holland, earning the band significant critical acclaim and developing a growing army of passionate followers. 

After a series of successful albums and several hit singles in their homeland KAYAK was on the verge of an international breakthrough in 1977 when the single ‘Want you to be Mine’, from ‘Starlight Dancer’ achieved chart success in the U.S, peaking at #55 in the Billboard Charts. KAYAK was even voted Most Promising Band of the Year by the influential American music magazine Record World. Due to the fact that charismatic lead singer Max Werner wanted to fill the vacant position of drummer meaning the band was suddenly without a lead singer, making it impossible to embark on an American tour. KAYAK focused on finding a vocalist instead. The search began with advertisements placed in British magazine ‘Melody Maker’, spotted by Edward Reekers, a huge fan of the band since the early days. Passing the audition with flying colors he became the new frontman for KAYAK and with the addition of two female singers the band returned to the recording studio to create their 6th album, the award winning ‘Phantom of the Night, which turned out to be their commercial peak. The blend of progressive rock and immaculate pop brought them phenomenal success. The album went to number one on the charts, reaching platinum status and ‘Ruthless Queen,’ became their highest charting single, (#4 in the Dutch charts). 

The next album, ‘Periscope Life’ (1980), was similar in style and recorded in Los Angeles. It consolidated KAYAK’s position as one of Holland’s most popular bands.

With their next effort, ‘Merlin’ (1981), KAYAK returned to its original progressive and symphonic rock roots, with a suite about the legendary medieval magician on side A. Many music fans considered this a milestone in the bands career. Personal and musical struggles within the band however led to a break up in 1982. The first era of KAYAK ended after the release of the semi live album ‘Eyewitness’. 

The next chapter in KAYAK’s career began in 2006 with ‘Kayakoustic’, presenting the now seven-piece band in an intimate setting.In the new millennium KAYAK was resurrected after an 18 year pause and came back with the strong symphonic crossover album ‘Close to the Fire’ (2000) with again Pim Koopman on drums and Max Werner on vocals. Unfortunately, due to ill health Max was soon forced to leave, with ex- Vandenberg singer Bert Heerink, who already joined the band on stage, taking over. With Heerink three studio albums were recorded, including the rock opera’s ‘Merlin – Bard of the Unseen’ and ‘Nostradamus – The Fate of Man’, their most ambitious efforts yet. The rock opera’s, dominated by longer, prog-based compositions, also showed KAYAK’s theatrical side with an extended cast of singers and dancers contributing to an impressive first rate live experience. It also marked the return of Edward Reekers and introduced Cindy Oudshoorn as first female lead singer. 

2008 was an important year celebrating their 35th anniversary and embarking on a large tour taking the group to the theaters and clubs. ‘The Anniversary Box’, a DVD containing the Paradiso concert as well as a collection of fan chosen tracks is released. 

The tragic, unexpected death of drummer and composer Pim Koopman one year later in the middle of the ‘Letters From Utopia’ tour almost led to KAYAK’s downfall, but two years later the group re- emerged with Hans Eijkenaar on drums and the album ‘Anywhere But Here’, dedicated to Koopman. After a period of two years preparing and recording the new rock opera ‘Cleopatra- The Crown of Isis’ was released in 2014. Shortly before the tour, lead singers Reekers and Oudshoorn unexpectedly and inconveniently announced their departure, leaving the band in disarray. But as they say “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and like the proverbial cat with nine lives – in 2018 KAYAK came back with a vengeance and ‘Seventeen’. 

Look out for more information on the bands 18th studio album ‘Out Of This World’ in the coming months.

Nad Sylvan – “The Stolen Child” single & video release / “Spiritus Mundi” pre-order starts today

After a very successful release of the first single “The Fisherman”, Nad Sylvan is now proud to be presenting the second song “The Stolen Child” off of his new album “Spiritus Mundi”, to be released on April 9th 2021. The album’s lyrics are based on poems by W.B. Yeats. 

Nad comments on the new song as follows: 

”The Stolen Child” is one of W B Yeats’ most popular early poems first published in Irish Monthly in 1896. Like much of his early work, it is based on the myths and legends he heard from local people while growing up in County Sligo. 

I feel this song is a very captivating take on the lyrical content and will place you in a colorful dreamy landscape which will take you back to your own gullible childhood.

Let the fairies come and get you.”

You can watch the video for “The Stolen Child” here:

“Spiritus Mundi” is available as Special Edition CD Digipak (incl. 2 bonus tracks), 180g Gatefold LP Vinyl Edition (incl. the entire album on CD) and as Digital Download. You can pre-order the album here: 

https://nadsylvanmusic.lnk.to/SpiritusMundi

“Spiritus Mundi” tracklisting:

1. The Second Coming (7:00)

2. Sailing to Byzantium (6:41)

3. Cap and Bells (4:47)

4. The Realists (2:18)

5. The Stolen Child (4:58)

6. To An Isle In The Water (4:36)

7. The Hawk (4:09)

8. The Witch and The Mermaid (1:57)

9. The Fisherman (5:28)

Bonus Tracks

10. You’ve Got To Find A Way (5:55)

11. To A Child Dancing In The Wind (5:08)