At home we take the usual measures to keep uninvited guests out and fortunately this has proven to be sufficient for years. However, I don't want to think about a break-in and people taking my CD collection or destroying it. I know that the insurance gives a few euros back for every CD, but there are so many copies that are simply no longer available or only at exorbitant prices. I can honestly lie awake about this, but I am always reminded that nothing has ever happened so far. Handy a wife like that but sometimes...............

Every effort was made to find out what on earth had happened and what turned out? There was nothing to see on the cameras, there were no fallow marks and people had no idea how this was possible. Shitty firm that Surgard. Not so sure. Inside job? (must be)

They don't understand. I feel this man's pain and if I put myself in his position I would feel the same. I get pain in the stomach from it. If we ever have our turn, and statistically that chance is quite high, I hope they will leave my CDs alone. Have fun with our TV or blender or whatever you want to snatch. I hope you get caught and they just cut your hands off. Old-fashioned but effective. That is a different discussion, of course, but we have become far too soft in our country.

It concerns the album From a Distance by Swappers Eleven.

But he is not the only one who delivers beautiful guitar solos on this wonderful album. Initiator Gary Foalle plays several in Rothery style and here and there even rivals the master. How could I have missed this? Everything a neoprog lover could wish for can be found on From a Distance, great vocals, wonderful keyboard solos, sophisticated compositions and the already mentioned heavenly guitar solos. Okay, there are some small saxophone moments on it but I'll take them for granted cause the rest is so good.

Of course I searched for the CD and found it on discogs and ordered it from Germany. It's not here yet and before I can assign Swappers Eleven a place in my ultimate list I want to listen to the album in its entirety on my prime headphone set. But it is already clear to me that a place should be reserved in my top 20 because that's how good I think From a Distance is.

Musically, 2022 was a fantastic year. Many of my favourite bands released new albums and there were also a few wonderful surprises. So just a great year.

I always make annual lists and I always store them. Sometimes these even change if it turns out that I missed a gem in a certain year. Doesn't happen often, but luckily sometimes it does. For example, Tammatoys with their great album Conflicts in 2020. I was late to the party with this one. I have also been working on this site a lot and in my own way I was able to take it to the next level. In terms of look and feel, it is now completely to my liking, but of course I will continue to look for improvements.

So now the days of Christmas are coming and I hope that everybody will have a good time although for some this will be impossible because of the sad situation in many areas of the world. I realise how lucky we are to be able to celebrate.

After a few years without a concert, a period has come again in which I can go to prog rock bands again and the first gigs have taken place in the meantime. I have enjoyed Arena and Marillion and there is still a Mystery concert in the pipeline. I also really want to see Chain Reaktor live because this band has made the most surprising album for me in recent years. I still have to figure out when is the best time to do this though.

So my question is, how do they do that?

Are all these people extremely rich and do they have all the time in the world? Don't get me wrong, I wish this possibilities to everyone  and I even admire these people for their enormous dedication. I consider myself a music madman and I am also seen as such by my family and environment, but that pales in the efforts of these super fans. And if it was just one band, but often it concerns many more bands or artists. If people don't have to take their social environment into account, then of course much more is possible, but all those concerts and all those trips. You must be very financially strong to do this. If you just look at how the price of tickets has risen and how fuel prices are skyrocketing, we can definitely speak of a very expensive hobby.

But what makes one more enjoyable to listen to than the other? Why do I rather hear John Mitchell than Steve Hackett, rather Steve Rothery than Steve Howe? It's not that they play better or faster or more technically. If this was to be the indicator then John Petrucci would be my favourite, or other nutcrackers like Vai, Malmsteen or Satriani. Don't get me wrong, I think they are great guitarplayers but apparently I am looking for something in the combination of technique, timing and especially emotion. But the guitar brand and the chosen sound also have a major influence. I can be completely put off by a chosen distortion or effects that are used. That, of course, remains something elusive, just like the question of why you like one voice better than the other. It's about the feeling you experience as a listener when you listen to someone making music.

But isn't it also about inventiveness and creativity? Imitating something is not the same as inventing and making something yourself. And all those guitarists who just want to play louder and faster, are they able to convey feelings? Some say yes, but I often don't feel it.

Let's just say that the only condition a favorite musician has to meet is to touch the listener deeply, one way or the other. The Beatles aren't great musicians either, but their songs have made them the most famous band in the world. They don't touch me at all, but luckily that's a matter of personal taste.

02-07-2022

My Marillion story (so far)

My very first encounter with Marillion dates back to 1983. As so often I went to my local record shop, Pop Eye in Almelo, to find a new LP. Immediately after entering, Ineke, the owner of the business, called me and handed me a record that, as it turned out later, would change my life. The beautiful cover with the Jester on it was the best start you could wish for. 'Listen to this' Ineke said and especially listen to that great singer. Really something for you. I took the record to the listening chair and listened to the entire record. I was sold for good and after returning home Script was immediately turned into the best record of my extensive collection. During the school holidays that followed, I listened to my new heroes for days via a real Walkman, the yellow one from Sony. At the time I camped with my girlfriend, still my wife by the way, near Arnhem and we went shopping, by bike, in this beautiful city. Of course I immediately looked up the first record store and to my great surprise I found two maxi-singles by Marillion and one of them actually had a track of almost 18 minutes on it, Grendel. After returning home I played these singles over and over and I thought Grendel was fantastic, and I still do!

During my first real job, a colleague came up to me and said he heard a new single from Marillion on the radio. 'I understand you were a fan of them' he said. After hearing Hooks in you I was very disappointed. What a stupid song I thought. Anyway I bought Seasons End and man was I happy. Beautiful songs and a really good singer. Up until now Seasons End is an absolute gem for me, with all the well-known classics.

Given my completely new financial situation, I now also went to concerts and after seeing Marillion live, with another favorite of mine, Pendragon, as support act, I knew for sure. They were back!

I also found the claim that Marillion had been the first band to pre-finance a new album through crowdfunding not quite correct. Something like this had already happened in the Netherlands in 1994, by a band called Marathon. I myself was one of the people who made it possible to record their first album, The first Run, against payment in advance and I received the cd and a mention in the booklet as a reward. A few differences but in structure the same.  I will come back to this in a future column.

An hour before it's dark has now had plenty of time to sink in (see review) and I'm once again a fan of this incredible band. It's a shame that this album has been mixed so poorly because that is not necessary these days and certainly strange when you consider that the best recording studio in England was used. (real world)

20-06-2022

Twelve points, douze points or no points at all?

Ever since I started writing reviews, the schoolmaster in me has always doubted whether I should add a rating in the form of a grade to make a possible judgement easier. Yet I have never done this because I seriously doubt its eternal value and because it is just very difficult. Giving an album a six can mean that it is good enough to buy, but is also often seen as a fairly mediocre rating. I read a lot of reviews on sites or in magazines that do use a points system and I am always amazed at the enormous number of eights, nines and even tens that are given. Of course I understand it when an album touches you in such a way that you want to let everybody know that in the euphoria you experience it that way. I certainly have been touched by a new album this way. But on an annual basis I already find it difficult to make a top ten let alone a top twenty or even fifty. (yes they exist) Now I am probably very critical and perhaps I don’t listen to all new releases often enough, but I think giving an eight to an album is already a very high rating and I don't have that much of those in my collection and only a very few albums with a nine and none with a ten. The latter is not possible in my view. There is always something that could be improved and that rules out a ten. Music is simply not an exact science. If I assume that my all-time favourite album, up to now The Visitor by Arena, would get a nine at most, then a six or seven is already quite good and could justify a purchase. But even on this album things can be done even better or more beautiful and that is always possible in my opinion. A maximum score, within any rating system, means that there is nothing to improve on. Can't be in my humble opinion. What do you do when you've given an album a ten and the next album is even better? Add an eleven? Could be, but then you have to look at all previous ratings again because a six out of eleven is less than a six out of ten, right?

26-02-2022

Waiting to happen.

I often struggle with the term release date these days. When a new album comes out by one of my favourite bands I get very impatient and want to add the physical product to my collection as soon as possible. I often order these CDs as a pre-order and then assume that I will receive the CD before or at the latest on the release date in return for supporting the band in question and the often considerably higher price to be paid. Especially with bands from the United Kingdom that has changed quite a bit these days. Since many of my favourite bands are from there, it has regularly happened to me in recent months that I receive the ordered CD much later, not at all or only after paying customs clearance costs at a postal collection point. Often there are posts on Facebook from people from all over the world who received the CD allready. I know, patience is a virtue, but it still frustrates me. For ordering from the band itself there is only the reason, you support them and that's fine, but can’t you expect more as a fan than a few autographs on the cover? I think that's a shame for the artwork anyway. Why not send the pre-orders first and supply the regular trade with stock a few weeks later. This may all have to do with the fact that it is customary these days to make a digital version available to everyone on the release date. That's great for all streamers and everyone else who no longer sees any point in purchasing a CD, LP or some kind of special Edition that is usually offered. When you realize that a lot of musicians complain about the low returns from services like Spotify, it just doesn't feel right.

I'm currently waiting for Marillion's new album, An Hour Before It's Dark, and I suspect it will be a really great album. Of course I also saw the videos on Facebook in which the bandmembers can be seen signing thousands of copies. I also read all kinds of posts in which fans give their opinion about the subject of this column and of course they differ enormously. Yet it is clear to me that a lot of fans feel the same as I do.

The album will be released on March 4 and can then be listened to by all streamers and all pre-orderers will be offered a download. However, for me, and many other enthusiasts, this is not the preferred way to enjoy An Hour Before It's Dark for the first time. I just want to get to know the music with the cover in my hand and the CD in my player. Old fashioned maybe, but my way.

01-02-2022

What makes an epic an epic? 

Is a song epic when it's long? And what is long, above ten minutes? What requirements does an epic have to meet in order to be called that?

Just a few questions that arise on a beautiful Sunday afternoon after watching and listening to Marillion's beautiful Blu-Ray in the Royal Albert Hall. The first part of this magical concert consists of an integral registration of the album F.E.A.R., a very good album in my opinion. If length is decisive then there are certainly a lot of epics on the currently last record of these prog giants. ( An Hour before it's Dark coming soon!)

There are also plenty of examples of very long songs that have a recurring theme and this is often played in different variants. What immediately comes to mind is Beyond the Years by the Neal Morse Band, which begins and ends with a classical sounding piece with a repetitive theme. Is this a requirement for a real, good epic?

No idea really.

A nice nine-minute song can also be an epic, can't it? In the end it doesn't matter because a nice song is a nice song regardless of the length. But if I take a good look at my favorite songs from any band, they often exceed six minutes and usually even more.

I can say that I am not much of a book-reader myself and I don’t often spend money on books. I prefer spending it on music. If it was not given to me by my wife I probably would not have bought it and that would have been a shame.  

The book feels nice, is quite thick and contains many images of the covers that are so familiar to us and there is an accompanying story with personal experiences for each band. Henk does not hesitate to give his own clear opinion and on the whole I can agree with his assessments of individual albums. It also contains bands that don't do much for me personally, but it is nevertheless still interesting to read how his preferences came about. In general, the images are of very good quality, but every now and then you can clearly see that a photo of a fold-out cover is used that comes across as a bit less professional. No problem at all and in fact more charming than disturbing.

26-12-2021

Is rating albums desirable? My top 8 of '21!

I've always been busy making year lists and think it's just part of being busy with my greatest hobby, music. Of course, judging an album, which has often been worked on with heart and soul, is a very delicate matter. Everyone has personal preferences, I believe that's called taste, and will form an opinion from this perspective. For me this means that I want to think carefully about the frameworks within which this happens. Bashing an album can be so easy but I don't really like it. Unfortunatly sometimes you can't escape it. Much more fun is judging an album that ticks your boxes. I am still concidering if I should give ratings to accompany my reviews. Not sure yet.

So here's my list for 2021 with some short comments.

1- Chain Reaktor : Homesick.
2- Drifting Sun : Forsaken Innocence. 
3- Sylvan : One to Zero.
4- NMB : Innocence & Danger.
5- Cast : Vigesimus.
6- Lifesigns : Altitude.
7- Jean Pierre Louveton : Sapiens, Chapitre 2 Deus ex Machina.
8- This Winter Machine : Kites.

For me 2021 brought several outstanding albums of a very high level. All year long the first album by Chain Reaktor was on top of my list but just at the end the latest Drifting Sun album almost passed it. (review on the reviews page) It was a close call though. Homesick is a really great release with some fabulous guitar playing to accompany the swirling keys and provides some decent vocals. Sylvan made their best album so far and this is partly because the vocals are so well controled this time. Well done Marco. Neal Morse finally decided to give more room to his excellent bandmates and that paid off big time. The epic Beyond The Years is very American but simply stunning. When I am in the mood for some super intense listening I choose Vigesimus by Mexican band Cast. After listening to it I am completely worn down, there is no time to rest when listening to this overwhelming release. All previous Lifesigns albums were good but with Dave Bainbridge onboard, the band around John Young produced their most coherant piece of work with some really great tracks. (Altitude, Last One Home) Since the time I heard French band Nemo for the first time I am a big fan of Jean Pierre Louveton because of his style of playing guitar. Steaming is the word that comes to mind. Although not quite reaching the level of the best Nemo albums, the second part of the trilogy about mankind is adventurous and daring. For me Kites by This Winter Machine is a somewhat ambiguous record. It contains some of the best songs that Al Winter ever wrote but also has a few weaker tracks. But still a very pleasant album with fine vocals and I am convinced the best is yet to come.

A few releases that didn't make my yearlist but are still pleasant to listen to are Silence from Signals by the The Paradox Twin (read the review on the reviewspage), although I liked their first album better, and To The Far Away from Dave Bainbridge, see my review on the reviews page.

Canadians Red Sand created an album with a couple of good tracks but on The Sound Of The Seventh Bell they do not quite reach the level of some of their former releases. 

All in all, a very good year (Eh, musicwise that is, not so much the rest with all the Covid stuff going on)

Given my enormous interest in HiFi and sound equipment, I started to get an increasingly better sound system and eventually became the proud owner of a beautiful High End set. After a turbulent time in my life, I started working in a shop where we sold beautiful equipment. I made my profession out of a hobby. To my great surprise, there suddenly was more interest in vinyl and the demand for record players was increasing. Since I wanted to know whether all the praises of vinyl lovers were based on real quality and not on all kinds of sentimental arguments, I started making direct comparisons between LP and CD on many different sets in all price ranges. I was of course able to do this through my work and was able to do this extensively. And believe me, I did!

What was, and is, my conclusion?

If we assume a not too expensive or a somewhat more average sound system, then there is no doubt, the CD wins on all fronts! I know I'm troubling a lot of people with this, but trust me, I've heard it so many times that I have no doubts about it. However, if we go to a High-End set and take the very best quality LPs, which contain ten minutes of music per side, and if we compare them with an absolute top CD player, then there is at least a tie and the LP has certainly plus points compared to the CD but this is also the case the other way around, the CD also has plus points.

Don't get me wrong, I grant everyone the pleasure of music in the way they choose, but I myself am not going to participate in this hype and get rid of all my CDs and transfer to vinyl. No way!

I do find it extremely disturbing to see what amounts of money have to be paid for an LP nowadays because of the limited capacity of the suppliers on the production side. Excessive. But that's not my biggest problem. It now looks like we'll have to make do with streaming, a download, or a, yes, lp. No more CDs? That stinks and is not customer friendly. Even the cassette tapes are coming back, what? Moreover, I already come across artists who, due to the fact that an average album on LP needs four sides, offer extra songs that are not on the CD. You can then get a download but I don't want that, just put it on the CD, where technically possible of course.