Johnny Bob-The Glass Hotel Tapes (2024)

Beneath a hazy, outlandish story set in a Berlin hotel in 2004, the German band Johnny Bob created a conceptual work that musically navigates between neo-progressive rock, the hypnotic sounds of Zeuhl, and art rock. Although the story itself is undocumented (it concerns the disappearance of an official US delegate representing her country at the Kyoto Protocol summit that year), this German quintet develops a work that at times seems more real and plausible than the official version. This Hamburg-based group was formed in the early 1990s, but didn't release their first album until well into 2017 with their debut, "Carnival of the Brahma-Sox". Their lineup consists of Carsten Diaz (vocals and guitar), Jörg Purfürst (bass, guitars, and keyboards), Philip Mestwerdt (drums), Ole Schützler (synthesizers), and Jürgen Ufer (guitar). The album and its story begin with the two-part suite "Shallow the Nykr", where they display clear Genesis influences through the strong German vocals and a hypnotic rhythm reminiscent of the German band Eloy. This magnificent piece is the album's high point, because from here the group takes a stylistic turn towards standard neo-progressive rock with tracks like "Night of the Prom" and "Mr. Genghis Comes to Town". Meanwhile, the pastoral Genesis sound is present in the beautiful "Kicker of Faye", while the rocking "Berlin Ahead" and the hypnotic "Corridors" close out this strange but enjoyable concept album of modern neo-progressive rock.