S/T
The Jelly Jam consists of guitarist and singer Ty Tabor of King's X fame, John Myung, bass player for Dream Theater, and Rod Morgenstien, drummer extraordinaire. It is an amazing disc of guitar driven, melodic progressive rock. Born from the ashes of Platypus, the Jelly Jam takes over with classic rock authority, from the driving intensity and blistering guitar work of the standout track, Nature's Girl, to the space-rock finale, The Tree, these guys show off their chops and their songwriting skills side by side. One upping Platypus' stellar Ice Cycles, The Jelly Jam is one of the most satisfying releases of 2002. Ty Tabor uses his failed marriage as song fodder once again, but this time the message is much more uplifting and hopeful. Spiritual themes are not as plentiful as they once were in Tabor's lyrics, but they are still around if you dig. Available from http://www.insideoutmusic.com {dt}
Pilgrim's Journey; The Celestial City
Jeremy is a one-man band, and his vocal-less mix of vintage progressive instruments layered to create a wash of melodic sonic textures is quite tasty, and evokes the best of Camel, Steve Hackett, or other mellower prog gems. Here's a guy that's still using the cool moog sounds from the 70's that we all love so well. Livgren and some other modern proggers could take a lesson from that. If you like The Snow Goose by Camel, then find some Jeremy. Although the music is instrumental, Jeremy is a Christian, and both Pilgrim's Journey and The Celestial City have song titles based on metaphorical Christian imagery. {dt}
The Face of the Deep (82); Through The Door (82); Shadow
Play (83); Icons (84); No Shadow of Turning (85); Fallen Splendor (86); The Awakening
(87); Why Should The Heart Not Dance? (88); Pilgrimage (89); Similitudes (90); This
Mystery I Pose (?); Great Romantics (91); Songs From Albion (92); Silver Hand, Songs from
Albion 2 (93); Songs From Albion III (94); Isle of Dreams (94); Psalmus (96); Music of
Celtic Legends (97); Navigatio (98); Prayers of St. Brendan (98)
Where do you start with this prolific esoteric guy? Well, his albums fall into three categories: Vocal light neo-prog, instrumental light neo prog, and mellow new age. By light prog, I mean music comparable to Camel, or Clearlight, with synths, vocals, textures, the occasional solo -- jazzy but generally pretty mellow. It's keyboard oriented music, mixed with woodwinds, guitars, and usually electronic real drums. The consistent and jazzy Isle of Dreams or the mostly instrumental Albion series are good places to start for his newer stuff. The Awakening (with very prog instrumental The Siege) and Through the Door are both theme albums based on fantasy authors like George MacDonald. Icon's and Fallen Splendor are both solid vocal albums with some good prog elements. This Mystery I Pose is a dandy compilation of mostly instrumental songs from his various vocal albums, with a couple new songs thrown in. Pilgrimage may well be my favorite, consistent, fairly rocking with Derri Daughtery of the Choir on guitar (he's on a number of Johnson's albums). All of his lyrics are exceptional and intelligent, meandering though themes of fiction, poetry, classic artists, European travel, and introspection from a solid Christian world view. The only albums to avoid (if you don't like really mellow stuff) may be his new age instrumental albums, NSOT, WSTHND, Similitudes, and MOCL. I happen to like those ones, too, when I'm in the mood. Find all his stuff and more info than you could want at Jeff's web site: http://members.aol.com/ArkRec/arktocf.html {dt}
The Katurran Odyssey - A Musical Journey
(09/04 DT)
Jeff Johnson and Brian Dunning have again crafted an intricate, mostly instrumental musical adaptation of a new fantasy novel. A number of previous albums were inspired by the works of excellent Christian fantasy author Stephen Lawhead. This time the subject is Terryl Whitlach's The Katurran Odyssey, the fanciful tale of an adventurous Lemur. Whitlach is an illustrator that worked for George Lucas for years, and the CD includes several pages of exquisite illustrations from his book. To no one's surprise, Johnson and Dunning again do a splendid job setting moods for the piece, and adding just the right amount of aggressiveness to the somewhat subdued musical landscape. Dunning's flutes give tasteful creative accents, and Johnson adds some warm lead vocals on one song. While the music is a bit more "new age" than progressive rock, there is still plenty of creativity and changes of pace to keep the listener guessing. Layered female vocals, tasteful keyboard arrangements by Johnson, and the amazing assortment of woodwinds and textures provided by Nightnoise's Brian Dunning give this album a different feel than past records. While this album definitely fits the mold of Johnson's recent repertoire of laid back coffee table listening, I look forward to the day when he cuts loose a bit more and makes a more adventurous progressive rock influenced album. (dt 9/09)
Jughead (02)
Jughead is a fabulous new super-group made up of members of King's X, Dream Theater, and the Mustard Seeds. Ty Tabor, Gregg and Matt Bissonette, and Derek Sherinian comprise this hard-pop band with progressive flair. With impeccable Beatle-esque harmonies and crunchy, Foo Fighter's-like power chords, this is modern rock with a virtuoso progressive twist. Sort of reminiscent of Ty's other side project, The Jelly Jam, Jughead is less progressive and would, if heard by the public, be a smash record on the radio charts. The songs are catchy and fun, but they also rock. Paging WIllie Mays is perhaps the most progressive tune, lilting from soft to heavy with a nice solo at the end.And since at least three out of the four members follow the Messiah, lyrics to songs such as Waiting on the Son are pretty tasty. The chorus goes:
You're never alone
When you're alone by yourself
There's always a home
When you are waiting on the son
Hear the voices calling ever so gently
Today I'm gonna shine
I'm just waiting on the son
The rocker Be Like You contains a simple prayer to the one who saved the human race,
Here you are, another day, saving us the race in a
human way
Sacrifice the life you lead, gives a man like me a new
place to be
I just want to be like you
This album is well worth finding, especially for all fans of King's X and the Mustard Seeds. If you want something to jam out in your car to and sing along with, Jughead is it. {dt}