CD/DVD Releases: New Releases From ProgRock Records
On February 9, 2010, ProgRock Records released Michael Gill's Blues For Lazarus. San Francisco Bay Area-based pianist, composer, and band-leader, Michael Gill, has released an engaging, energetic, and evocative debut solo project. With an array of great players from both Northern and Southern California, Blues For Lazarus showcases Gill?s composing, arranging, and keyboard skills. About half of the CD is devoted to creative musical interpretations of favorite Speculative Fiction novels including Robert A. Heinlein?s Time Enough For Love, Mary Stewart?s The Hollow Hills,William Gibson?s Neuromancer, and Frank Herbert?s Dune.
In his collaboration with master recording engineer Neal Harris, Gill has crafted a collection of musical textures that range from all acoustic (?Blues For Lazarus,? ?Stay The Night?) to all electric (?Tomorrow?s World?) with most songs blending acoustic, electric, and synthetic layers in the style of early Genesis or Jethro Tull. World-renowned drummer, Dave Weckl, guests on the instrumental suite, ?Arrakis,? and legendary alto sax soloist Dave Koz lends his horn to the ballad, ?Stay The Night.? Other featured artists include singers Rick Ellis, ?Snappy? Dave Cowden, and Callie Thomas; guitarists Tom Valdez and Damian ?Dan? Petruzzella; bassist Rob Fordyce; saxophonist Gary Meek; and drummers Brad McKeague and Michael Oliver. The CD includes a cover arrangement of Peter Gabriel?s melancholy ?Here Comes The Flood,? sung by Callie Thomas.
Players:
Keyboards - Michael Gill
Vocals - Rick Ellis, Callie Thomas, Dave Cowden
Drums - Dave Weckl, Brad McKeague, Michael Oliver
Sax - Dave Koz, Gary Meek
Guitar - Tom Valdez, Dan Petruzzella, Glenn Harris
Bass - Rob Fordyce
Track Listing:
1. Merlin?s Journey
2. Blues For Lazarus
3. Arrakis
4. Here Comes The Flood
5. Memory Of A Dream
6. Colorado
7. Stay The Night
8. Rain
The other release is Echoes' Nature I Existence. Echoes has been an oddity right from the start, in a country where Latin rhythms dominate and radio friendly pop/rock has just found its sound footing, metal, prog and electronica still are regarded as odd genres to play. In May 2005, they took it to the stage, winning Venezuela's prestigious "Alma Mater" Rock Festival and regularly playing festivals and shows in Venezuela to energetic crowds, honing their craft with every passing show. Nature|Existence, Echoes' first album is a mixture of prog-rock and math metal with a lot of post-rock, pop and industrial electronica thrown in for good measure. With the collaborations from Tobias Jansson (Vocals: "Silent Scythe," "The Law"), Nick Storr (Vocals: "The Third Ending"), Carl Webb (Vocals: "Oceanwerks"), Pedro Castillo (Vocals: "Tempano/Aditus") and Dave Duffus (Saxophone) and the Anechoic Chamber String Quartet, Nature| Existence tells a story of love found and lost over the cyclical nature of life where epilogues is where new experiences begin and breakups are a prologue to life shifting again.
Players:
Javier Landaeta: Guitar and Lapsteel Guitar
Antonio Silva: Guitars
Rafael Sequera: Guitars
Alfredo Ovalles: Keyboards, Percussion, Slide Guitar
Miguel Angel Moline: Drums
Jorge Rojas: Bass
Dave Dufuss: Sax
Vocals: Carl Webb, Nick Storr, Tobias Jansson, Pedro Castillo
Track Listing:
1. Epilogue (...Is Where We Start)
2. Rude Awakening
3. Leaf Motif
4. Lullaby
5. Bonfires
6. Unfair
7. Seasons Came To Pass
8. Far from Coincidence
9. Despair
10. Winds Of Dread
11. Farewell
12. Prologue (Where We End...)
[Source: TSM Productions]
