2007 A Great Year for Prog
What a fantastic end to 2007 local prog fans had at last night’s sold out show by Tony Levin and IZZ at the Acton Jazz Café. All performances were outstanding and a certain prog magic was created when both parties teamed up on some classic Gabriel tracks. I hope to read some reviews of the gig on the site soon.
2007 end’s another year of great shows brought to you by NewEARS. Earlier in the year, we had The Watch from Italy recreating that classic Genesis sound, but with all original compositions of their own. After The Fall, which is one of New England’s best progressive bands, put on a strong performance featuring many tracks from their critically acclaimed album “kNOwleDGE”. IZZ also made their first appearance for us in support of their new album “My River Flows”.
And for those of you lucky enough to make it to the Murali Coryell Blues Show, you were treated to a very special opening performance by the young, but very talented Mindwalk. These kids (16 and under) can really play well and might just become Boston’s next great band. I can’t wait to hear their debut CD next year.
2007 was also a great year for progressive music CD releases. Actually, I can’t think of another year in recent memory that had such strong releases. A new generation of prog artists have really come into their own and now release music that’s as good if not better than what many consider classic progressive rock. If you haven’t heard these incredible CD releases from 2007 (in no particular order), then you’re missing out on some of the best prog music ever produced:
Dream Theater – Systematic Chaos: a continued legacy of progressive metal at it’s best.
Fish – 13th Star: a return to the man bearing his soul for the world, his strongest solo release since Sunsets on Empire.
The Flower Kings – The Sum of No Evil: doing their own brand of symphonic progressive rock like no other.
Marillion – Somewhere Else: another great offering from a band that never stays in a rut, constantly creating a new progressive sound.
Neal Morse – Sola Scriptura: the new king of epic progressive songs, each of his releases are simply outstanding.
Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet: Steve Wilson continues creating a unique progressive crossover sound that is prog / metal / psychedelic / industrial / grunge / emo…simply great.
Hoping 2008 brings us as much great music as this year.
I was at the Tony Levin show last night and was blown away by the whole night.
Tony was great showing us some of his wizardry on the Chapman Stick and 5 string bass on his own (well - he had his band locked inside his notebook, but you know what I mean), and then really amped it up by performing with Izz on a few major classics from his King Crimson and Peter Gabriel songbooks.
The entire evening was pretty amazing considering the small and intimate setting of the Acton Jazz Cafe - and I don’t think there was a single disappointed patron by the end of the night; maybe disappointed that it had to come to an end so soon, but not with the performers and their choice of music for the event.
If this show was any indication of the future offerings that we might get to see, then I am certain it will be a very Happy New Year to come