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Each year the popular Gagliarchives radio program conducts a comphrensive poll to determine the 100 Best Albums of the Year as voted by the prog rock community. Below are the Top 10 Albums of 2006. Be sure to tune in Saturdays at 10:00pm ET. |
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Pure Reason Revolution The Dark Third |
One week during the summer a package comes in an envelope. Not a jewel case, but an envelope. On the package and letter, my staffer writes, you will love this. Uh, ok. Who are they? As I sat and listened the first thought that came to mind was ‘large’. This band is going to blow minds. This CD will have the same impact Frances The Mute from The Mars Volta had when it was released. Everyone jumped on the wagon after that, and the rest is history. Hailing from England, and dealing with line up changes over the years, Pure Reason Revolution made proggers cheer in 2006 with a new sound. Great guitar work, lyrics reminiscent of another great British early space rock band (hint, hint) and music that is sturdy and professional enough to garner them an invite to the upcoming North East Art Rock Festival. Even with the pseudo Pink Floyd references, it wasn’t the first thing I got off this disc. What raised eyebrows with me was the clear fact they were picked up by Sony in England. Huh? Faintly prog stuff on a major label? That still happens? At any rate, The Dark Third is a concept album about the conscious life we live, interwoven with our colorful dream world. Critics have called them “New Prog”, “Astral Folk”, “the new Beach Boys” (?). I just call them a really good modern space rock band that is on the fringes of accessible without compromising what their obvious roots are. Chloe Alper completes the package with great vocals and hypnotizing beauty. The Dark Third deserved to be number one in 2006, clearly. It was the favorite of so many trying so hard to find something different. I can only hope the album that follows will be as memorable as this. |
La Maschera di Cera Luxade |
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When I first heard this band, I thought they were decent. But my thoughts changed after the release of Luxade. This Italian project plays symphonic progressive rock as it really should be. La Maschera Di Cera was put together by Fabio Zuffanti and Agostino Macor. Anyone into Italian prog knows immediately there will be quality in the final product when they are involved. Besides Finisterre, let’s not forget another big favorite a few years ago in Höstsonaten. This new album Luxade held our top spot for 12 weeks in our separate Weekly Top 20 in requests. The album features a 25-minute concept piece titled Enciclica 1168. The entire disc is thrilling from beginning to end. Luxade features great music, chilling vocals, poignant compositions and an all around excellent production. Not to mention the production and engineering was overseen by PFM’s Franz Di Ciocco! If that doesn’t grandfather you into the top 10, I don’t know what will. This disc’s hype was so warmly received that shortly after being number one on the program Top 20, they were invited to perform at the North East Art Rock Festival. Thank god they said yes. The comparisons to Il Balletto Di Bronzo and Le Orme are great and all, but La Maschera Di Cera is definitely their own thing… and Luxade sets them high above the rest in a new era. |
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One Shot Ewaz Vader |
Maybe they should be called Three Shot. Can you say whoa? This is the third album from the ‘supergroup’ that only came together originally for one live concert. This band features Magma guitarist James MacGaw, Magma bassist Philippe Buissonnet, Magma keyboardist Emmanuel Borghi who also is part of Vander’s project, and drummer Daniel Jeand'heaur. When asked what I thought of the CD after one listen, I needed an ice pack. But it hurt soooo goooooood. Ewaz Vader features great organ work and tight guitar playing reminding one of Ray Russell and Scott McGill. Critics and reviewers have said there are a lot of Zeuhl influences on this album. I’d say ok, but nowhere near what the Zeuhl fan would expect. The album rocks out. And I only say that because you can’t press pause from the title track forward. It felt almost sacrilegious to even think about it. It’s heavy and it’s the best recording yet from One Shot. And it seems that every time they record, they get tighter and better. Hey…rehearsals in Magma will do that to you. Once the disc was done, I popped on the QuickTime video of them. Like a well oiled machine. No nonsense, no glam, no pretentiousness. This band makes every radical fundamentalist progrock fan flirt a pleasurable smile amidst a time period when most say prog is dead. All hail One Shot. |
The Mars Volta Amputechture |
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Wahbam! The band that proggers either loved or hated returned in 2006 with the new album titled Amputechture. After the top 100 of 2005, the mail poured in. Either listeners praised Frances The Mute being #1, or asked for my head on a plate. Along comes Amputechture. This disc is a bit more accessible than the Mute, not as frantic and hurried, either. It was an element I loved on the last release, but realized later, I was in the minority. But for Amputechture, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez decided not to make it all connect and had different inspirational elements to this one. They even approached recording differently making the third studio album in three different cities; El Paso, Texas; Los Angeles CA, and Melbourne, Australia. The inspirations ranged from the immigration marches earlier in the year, to the fear of god within religions, and ultimately, personal enlightenment. Produced by Rodriguez-Lopez, the album sat for 13 weeks in our top spot, making it the most requested disc in our separate weekly top 20 of 2006. Lots of help on this record as well. Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, who is featured in Cedric and Omar’s side project called Defacto, Omar’s brother Marcel, new comer Sara Christina Gross on sax, and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. At first listen, I was a little disappointed, but the more I listened I realized, this certainly isn’t Frances The Mute, but it’s just as powerful. Humorous and clever vocals, pegged guitar work, ambient soundscapes, and incredible drumming from Theodore. Clearly one the best bands of the new prog rock era. So what if they don’t want to be associated with the genre? Not bad for an album that came in at the #9 spot on the Billboard Top 200 in it’s opening week. I guess people are starting to ‘get’ them. |
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White Willow Signal to Noise |
What can I say about these guys? Every album so far has been a treat. It seems like only yesterday when we first tracked Ignis Fatuus in 1995 to rave reviews. An even bigger surprise was when Storm Season was the #1 album of 2004. This lot of Norwegians known as White Willow I best parallel to a football team. Jacob Holm-Lupo, the center point, the Fripp, the veteran quarterback, who never loses sight of the White Willow mission, is even more dynamic on this record. But this football team is amazement…even with a lineup change in players! The latest addition was vocalist Trude Eidtang who replaces Sylvia Erichsen. Drastic difference? Not at all. Trude sounds more like Sylvia than Sylvia does, only prettier. And I loved Sylvia. Trude was a great, more immediate needed addition to this offensive line. You can’t win a game without a good running back, and a solid running attack as your foundation. That foundation is the beautiful and mysterious addition of Marthe Berger Walthinsen. She can rock with the best of them and is clearly heard on tracks like Ghosts and The Lingering. I have absolutely fallen in love. Along with the wonderful Marthe, you have the force on the field with drummer Age Moltke Schou being more direct this time around, percussively speaking. Who could forget the maestro of the offensive line in keyboardist Lars Fredrik Frøislie whose mellotron parts still make me misty. Yeah it didn’t take 2 years to record like the other Willow albums, but still…they’ve reached another pinnacle. They’ve made it work again, and have had so many different styles of offense in the past, folk-rock, symphonic, and even a metal edge as of late. The mix of goth and prog are still ever present. But don’t be fooled by the radio-friendly persona. White Willow are still the forefront of the Scandinavian scene. This team is super bowl bound. |
Dream Theater Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour |
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Recorded live at New York City's radio City Music Hall on April Fool’s Day, this was clearly Dream Theater’s finest hour. The live release proved to be the biggest release in their current era. The phenomenal three hour show is highlighted through all three discs. The DVD is even more amazing and actually passed Pink Floyd’s Pulse on the bestselling music DVD charts in September. James Labrie’s singing is immaculate on this performance. This live album features an amazing rendition of "Metropolis" and “Octavarium” accompanied by the Octivarium Orchestra with conductor Jamshied Sharifi. Sound quality is crisp and everyone has their own spotlight. John Petrucci is powerful as always and keyboardist Jordan Rudess shows different sides to his electrifying musical prowess, Portnoy is timeless as always with his groundwork companion in bassist John Myung. The amazing DVD also features a one-hour documentary tracking the career and history of the band dating back to their formation at the Berklee College Of Music in 1985, leading the viewer to their final show of the tour at Radio City Music Hall that night. It also showcases interviews with past and present members of the band as well. This is the quintessential live album from the hallmark icons of the progressive metal movement. This truly is Dream Theater at their shining moment. Has it been 20 years already? |
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The Tangent A Place in the Queue |
When I was first introduced to The Tangent a few years back, I was always under the impression that it was a project as opposed to a band. Their first 2 albums received a lot of radio show audience attention. “The Music That Died Alone” from 2003 almost stole the top spot in that year’s top 100, but it wasn’t one that I neither loved nor disliked. First and foremost, the Tangent wasn’t a Roine Stolt project in its early incarnation as most believed, but Andy Tillson’s scheme who was most known for, at least on our show, his band Parallel Or 90 Degrees. There is a contrast with this new disc compared to the previous two. “A Place In The Queue” features a different lineup this time around with Sam Baine on piano, synthesizer & vocals, Jonas Reingold on bass guitar, Theo Travis (I say again, Andy who?) on saxophones flutes, clarinet & vocals, Krister Jonsson / electric guitars, Guy Manning on acoustic guitars, mandolin & vocals, and Jaime Salazar on drums, also with Tillson’s Po90 cohort Dan Watts as a special guest on guitar for the track ‘GPS Culture’, a personal favorite. ‘In Earnest’, one of a few colossal tracks on this, talks of war veterans without the gloom and doom that usually centers them, ‘The Sun In My Eyes’ which more or less explains what all 79 minutes of this means. This disc shows them more as a band unit as opposed to a ‘supergroup’. Although the album rocks and is nicely polished, it still keeps with the ‘pseudo conceptual’ theme, but not all connected. All the tracks give the idea that our place in society is based on how we all line up into the queue of life. Each and every one of us….a very humbling thought. All in all, the best release of the three in my opinion. |
John McLaughlin Industrial Zen |
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The gods heard me. Thank you. Industrial Zen wasn’t just an album that came out in ’06 from a guitar icon. McLaughlin’s Zen was anticipated by so many, on many different fronts of the jazz and rock community. 1995’s The Promise had a large list of the ‘who’s who’ in Jazz, but this album offered that up in spades, including some of the greatest melodies and talent to be heard together in a long time. French bassist Hadrien Feraud was the most stunning on this album. Many comparisons put him in the same light as Jaco Pastorius. Not that I am disagreeing, but I will say that Hadrien is totally his own style. He shines in the tracks ‘For Jaco’ and ‘Senor C.S.’. McLaughlin didn’t forget his roots on this, either. He brings the monster percussive duo in Dennis Chambers and Zakir Hussain together on ‘Wayne’s Way’, ‘Dear Dalai Lama’, and the most intense track on the disc, ‘To Bop Or Not To Be’. A great example of east meets west. Although John made a modern sounding album full of great sonics, he never forgot his roots adding vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, old cohort Bill Evans on saxophone, keys wizard Otmaro Ruiz, bassist Matt Garrison, drum legends Vinnie Colaiuta, and Mark Mondesir. Zen’s mainstay also features Gary Husband on both keys and drums who dazzles as well. Not to mention Gary does a tribute to John and his music on another 2006 release titled A Meeting Of Spirits. Industrial Zen also features a cameo from guitarist Eric Johnson. All in all, John hit it right on the nail on this album. It’s all unified beginning to end, yet very different from track to track. With the buzz starting on this almost 2 years ago, it lived up to the hype, and is well deserved in the top 10. |
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Frost* Milliontown |
Four number one singles in the UK. Two Ivor Novello Award nominations. One Novello Award win. So what does Jem Godfrey do? He turns and goes to his roots in Neo Progressive rock, and stuns everyone in more ways than one. The producer/writer/keyboardist is mainly known for what he did for Holly Valance, Atomic Kitten, and Shayne Ward. But what most don’t know, is that Jem was playing progressive rock live in the mid 1980’s in the band Freefall, supporting some of the great Neo prog rock bands of the age trying, and I stress trying, to keep the flame lit in a one hit wonder/fast food dominated era. Starting Frost* in 2004, Jem decided to go with the legends of John Mitchell from Kino and Arena on guitar and vocals, John Jowitt on bass and Andy Edwards on drums, both of IQ fame. The release of “Milliontown” sent shockwaves around the progrock world. Not just because it’s a great mixture of neo progressive, symphonic, and progressive metal, but Godfrey is able to incorporate mainstream standards without it sounding corny, but dare I say that some of the songs are catchy? John Mitchell has no restraints on his playing and singing, and one can easily hear that Jowitt and Edwards, the rhythm section of IQ, are totally letting loose. But, just as it was riding high, Godfrey announced in October that Frost* would be uhh…how should I say it…put on ice. But nonetheless, “Milliontown” is clearly one of the best releases of the year, and despite being the decade of supergroups, this one is clearly worth the listen. Tracks like ‘Hyperventilate’ and the dark ‘No Me, No You’ are enough to make you put the disc on repeat. Although this Frost* has sort of melted, what will the new Frost* be? And what will it look like? |
Steve Hackett Wild Orchids |
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Back in 1999, it seemed as if Steve Hackett had gone through a metamorphosis. Darktown in 1999 showed that Steve could not only rebound with a progressive rock album in a modern flair, but have it be quality both compositionally and sonically. Granted, his post releases of studio outings such as "To Watch The Storms" in 2003 and "Metamorpheus" in 2005 were wonderful, but he returned in 2006 with a punch and even a nod to his previous days. Steve is joined by keyboardist and old friend Nick Magnus, who is superb on this, along with Steve’s brother John, and another appearance from the Underworld Orchestra featured on “Metamorpheus”. Steve is also joined by current band mates Roger King on keys, programming & rhythm guitar, Rob Townsend on sax, flute, tin whistle & bass clarinet, and Gary O’Toole on drums & vocal harmonies. With tracks like ‘To A Close’ and ‘She Moves In Memories’, Steve yet again shows his captivating way of being moving in subtle ways, while ‘Ego And ID’, a personal favorite, shows just how dark he can be. Steve also does a great Bob Dylan cover in ‘Man In The Long Black Coat’. Wild Orchids raised eyebrows in 2006 with our listeners, our weekly top 20, and ultimately, the voters of the top 100 poll of 2006. Thank god he doesn’t take a decade between releases. |
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Other Years: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
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