AUTOR

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Quatermass (1970)

For fans of progressive rock is a must have album Quatermass unique, especially for those who like where the keyboard is the dominating style that prospered in the early 70s. Although the band had only three members, their stories are as colorful as the music they produced. Pete Robinson (keyboards) and Johnny Gustafson (bass) joined Mick Underwood (drums) and founded Episode Six, a band that included Ian Gillan who later became the voice of Deep Purple. Underwood was also involved with The Outlaws and The Herd, only a few years before Peter Frampton arrived. When the band finally formed Quatermass in 1970, had set eyes on a format where the energy used in your keyboard Robinson would give them the sound. Both issues, "Black Sheep" and "One Blind Mice", were released as singles, but fell on deaf ears, but the sound of the band was equally moved as the repertoire of The Nice. The Quatermass sound is far from being a hollow sound isolated and without direction. After this album the band split, with Gustafson later doing session work for Kevin Ayers, Steve Hackett, and Ian Hunter and others, while Robinson found new life in the progressive jazz band Brand X. Beautifully packaged with informative notes, Quatermass resonates today as it did in 1970, and one can only wonder how he could be overlooked during its release.

Monday, October 1, 2012

XII Alfonso-Charles Darwin (2012)


For two years, the musical project ALFONSO XII were composing, arranging, recording and mixing their new album. Composed of 3 CDs of one hour each, devoted to the life and work of historical biologist and researcher Charles Darwin, eternal curious, who loved life in all its forms and who tried, until the day he died, to decode the mysteries of it. These 3 CD's recount, in chronological order, the most important events of his life. With 22 songs and 30 instrumental pieces, XII ALFONSO try to illustrate his biography with different notes and styles, tones, sounds, rhythms, atmospheres and words. All topics we talk about their beginnings, youth, home, dreams and doubts. The instrumental pieces are an attempt to reflect the most important concepts of his thoughts: 'The coral of life', 'Descent with modification' Struggle for Existence ',' On the origin of species' ...
In this album, besides paticipating a lot of great musicians like John Helliwell, Supertramp saxophonist, Maggie Reilly, singer Mike Oldfield, Tim Renwick, Pink Floyd guitarist, Mickey Simmonds (keyboards), Terry Oldfield and John Hackett (flute ), Raphael Ravenscroft (sax), Robin BOULT FISH guitarist, guitarist Ian Bairnson Alan Parsons and Kate Bush, David Paton, bassist Alan Parsons Project, FISH and Kate BUSH, Francis Dunnery, It Bites guitarist, Elliott Murphy (voice ), Huong Thanh (vocals), her husband Hong NGUYEN (zither), Ronnie Caryl (guitar, vocals), Amy Keys, Alistair Gordon, Jayney Klimek, Gerard Lenorman and Freegh (vocals) and Ton KAYAK SCHERPENZEEL more keyboards. This is the sixth official studio album of French XII ALFONSO, group led by brothers Philippe (bass, guitars) and François CLAERHOUT (keyboards), who joined Thierry Moreno (drums) and Stéphane Ducasse (flutes), achieving between them, the musicians mentioned above and a few other less known but proven worth, an ambitious album inspired by the life and work of Charles Darwin.
For 15 years, XII ALFONSO unclassifiable has composed music that is not jazz or rock, progressive or classical, traditional nor This group has been characterized from the beginning by his imaginative musical approach (progressive symphonic as one of the best references to what do), and on this record homered. His musical style is everything they say it is not very varied thanks to the intervention of different musicians and singers in every song and every issue, but mostly thanks to a supplementary instrumentation deviates frankly than usual. A acoustic and electric guitars are added mandolins, bouzouki and Vietnamese instruments like koto or give bao (string lute), Madagascar instruments as vali (zither-bagpipe) or kraar Ethiopia, balafon, xylophone, harp Burkina Faso straw, drums, ptithécophone (monkey skull) and dolphinophone, (dolphin bones), theremin, E-Bow, rain stick, etc.

Eminently romantic life and legacy of revolutionary scientific DARWIN told in the style that has always distinguished humanist aesthetics ALFONSO XII, a melting pot of cultural influences and traditions from around the world