Friday Random 10, 3/27/2009

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  1. 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.
  2. Porcupine Tree, “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here”: very typical longish PT. Very good.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Naftule’s Dream, “Black Wedding”: progressive Klezmer, featuring an intro by
    an absolutely astonishingly great trombone player. Very cool stuff.
  7. 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!
  8. The Wishing Tree, “Fly”: I wrote a longish opinion of the Wishing Tree last week. More listens haven’t changed my mind.
  9. 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.
  10. 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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