Human Factor are a Russian quartet that formed in 2011 to create music intended to be a “contemporary instrumental crossover between space, progressive, and alternative rock”. Across the 8 tracks on their debut CD, Human Factor combine these influences to varying degrees of success.

Revealing Secrets is a cinematic rocker with periodic electronics that give it a Space Rock edge, and keyboards that provide a Prog infusion. This segues smoothly into The Mist, a more or less straightforward rocker. It tries to shift gears a lot, though I think the “alternative rock” elements keep it from generating any real excitement. Things start to take off with Polaris, a high intensity Progressive Rocker with metal influences. Tika is a good tension builder that leads to a rocking explosion and includes a seductive melodic guitar solo.

For me, four of the eight tracks represent Human Factor’s potential. Nearly half of the 8 minute Yellowstone has a tension building spacey atmospheric introductory feel. It’s got a great melody and the dual guitars work together beautifully. Once it gets crankin’ the band goes a bit metallic, but then closes with the spacey theme that opened the piece. Definitely one of the better examples of blending Space and Progressive rock. Stargazer is a high energy metallic Prog rocker with Ozric Tentacles styled electronics, a sci-fi keyboard melody, and even a brief jazz fusion bit. Now this is a really interesting blend of influences which Human Factor bring together seamlessly. A smoker! Objects In The Mirror (are closer than they appear) takes a while to finds its way, but once it does it’s a hot Space-Prog tune. Very powerful and majestic, and includes some cool mission control samples. Finally, Equilibrium opens with a heavenly spaced out ambience, shimmering guitar and rhythmically grooving percussion, before settling into a rocking groove with lots of both spaced out and Prog Rock keys. The guitar at one point has a Shoegaze feel, but later transitions to a spaced out metal sound. An excellent closing track and another outstanding blend of influences.

In summary, 4.Hm.F showcases a band with lots of possibilities. Half the album struggled to hold my attention, mostly due to a lack of compositional strength. But when Human Factor find the right combination of Space Rock, Prog and Metal elements, along with solid melodic hooks, they really shine.

For more information you can visit the R.A.I.G. web site at: http://www.raig.ru

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Did you know that Neptune has 13 moons? And that Voyager 2 once tracked a “Great Dark Spot” on the planet with winds moving at 750 miles per hour? I couldn’t resist strolling over to nasa.gov to read about the planet and gaze at pictures as the headphones pumped veteran hometaper Dave Fuglewicz’s new album Neptune into my brain. The album is, of course, inspired by the blue planet, with each track title showcasing different characteristics – Rivers Of Neptune, Deserts Of Neptune, Mountains Of Neptune – you get the idea. Neptune is an album of space electronica, but it’s not just a standard set of floating mind-massage. Sure, there’s plenty of that, but what made the experience interesting and compelling for me was the well-crafted pastiche of sounds and effects that Dave assembles around his core themes.

Like Rivers Of Neptune, with its mixture of howling, bubbling and various other sci-fi effects, bells, and machine-like sounds. There’s lots going on, yet Dave strikes a solid balance, maintaining a floating atmospheric quality among the medley of sounds. Other highlights include Steppes Of Neptune, which has interesting contrasting elements that flow together well. The rising and falling, almost siren-like sound, along with racing and shooting effects creates a sense of urgency and intensity. There’s also a robotic, bleeping, and somewhat melodic pattern, and I think I even heard some brief plinking guitar notes. Deserts Of Neptune has a phased effect that caused a strange physical sensation in my head, prompted by electronic pulsations and made all the more disorienting by the hodgepodge of effects that surrounded it. Dawn Of Neptune has a calming ambience that I enjoyed, plus a bit of a symphonic quality, buzzing alien effects and even a mild periodic rhythmic pulse. Dave kicks the symphonics up several notches on Moons Of Neptune, pulling back on the melange of effects that have characterized the album thus far to focus on creating an uplifting heaven-in-space symphonic journey. Storms Of Neptune and Mountains Of Neptune were among the more musical tracks of the set. On Storms Of Neptune Dave plays melodic patterns, which are surrounded by various spaced out effects, freaky noises and sounds. It has a dark and ominous feel, like some symphony for a distressed spacecraft. Mountains Of Neptune is similar, with a vague underlying melody and a church organ sound, that serves as the foundation for hissing atmospherics and effects, and there’s also a melody played backwards that makes for a really cool contrast with the organ.

In summary, if you like electronic based space excursions but want something that demands your attention as opposed to music you can just drift along with, Neptune is for you.

For more information you can visit the Dave Fuglewicz web site at: http://www.davefuglewicz.com
I would also encourage you to search Dave Fuglewicz at archive.org, as he has lots of downloads available there.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Electronics maestro and veteran hometaper Dave Fuglewicz first recorded The Wizard’s Porch in 1996 as part of a collaborative project that fell through. Consequently, the recording sat until 2011 when Dave decided to add some finishing touches and release it as a solo effort. For the CD release of The Wizard’s Porch, Dave decided to include both versions of the piece, the as-is 1996 version and the newer spiced up version, both of which clock in at 28 minutes (just a couple seconds difference between the two).

Starting with the 1996 version, the music is driven by a repetitive pulsating machine-like space drone, surrounded by bleeping, blurping alien noises, bird chirps, and what sounds like real bells. Throughout the piece I kept thinking this would be ideal as the effects/music that accompanies and supports various scenes in a sci-fi film. The first part marches along slowly but steadily, and has a dark claustrophobic feel that conjured up images of being stuck on the spacecraft in the first Alien movie. Then around the 11 minute mark the pace picks up and the space cauldron gets louder and more intense, with all manner of spaced out effects, and the bells providing an interesting contrast to the overall sci-fi theme.

If I were a proper reviewer I would conduct a close compare and contrast of the 1996 and currents versions. But I prefer to just surrender to them as one big space excursion and jot down impressions that the immersive experience inspires (or maybe I’m just lazy). Having said that, I can tell you that the repetitive pulsating machine-like space drone still functions as the core of the piece, and rather than feeling like I had taken the same journey a second time, just kept tripping along merrily for another 28 minutes (i.e., Part 2).

In summary, put on the headphones and experience some seriously image inducing outer-space brain candy.

For more information you can visit the Dave Fuglewicz web site at: http://www.davefuglewicz.com
I would also encourage you to search Dave Fuglewicz at archive.org, as he has lots of downloads available there.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Stay are a quartet from Barcelona, Spain who – though describing themselves as a space-rock band on the back of the album – play a killer brand of 60s inspired pop-psych. They’ve had a single and some compilation contributions for Fruits de Mer Records, so that alone should tell you a lot about them. The Fourth Dimension is their fourth album.

Songs like The Change Is Coming, Yellow Rainbows, In The Rain and Time Machine demonstrate the band’s flair for tightly composed songs that include brief but awesome instrumental segments, excellent guitar-organ interplay, plus great melodies and lyrics.

The band is clearly influenced by The Byrds on All I Know, with its jangly guitars. Gone With the Sun has a distinctive Byrds/country quality. And Everything – dedicated to Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt – has an acoustic country feel.

Among my favorite songs of the set are You Got Me Wrong, with its raw, grungy, acidic guitar, and we’re treated to a monster screaming, bubbling trip guitar solo. I really dig the ripping tripped out guitar break on Take Me Away. And ya gotta love the fuzz bass and power-driving groove of I Don’t See Myself, which also includes a spaced out Doors-like segment.

The album was recorded in Liverpool and just released this month (September 2012). The recording quality and production are excellent, making a primo showcase for this talented band’s songs and musicianship. Fans of 60s influenced psych songs with melodies that stick in your brain on the first listen will dig this for sure.

The Fourth Dimension is available in CD, vinyl and digital download editions. For more information you can visit the Stay web site at: http://www.stay.cat
Visit the Subterfuge Records web site at: http://www.subterfuge.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Formed in 2007, The Machine is a three-piece psychedelic rock band from the Netherlands, featuring David Eering (guitar/vocals), Davy Boogaard (drums) and Hans van Heemst (bass). Three albums in, and an impressive number of dates (including Roadburn 2010 and 2012) on their CV, the band have released Calmer Than You Are on Electrohasch Records, with the instruction on the CD case being to “Play this one even louder”. Well, one can’t say that we were not warned!

Calmer Than You Are starts out with a menacing rumble on Moonward, where an “Axe, Eugene” bassline is gradually smothered by an approaching tsunami of distorted guitars. This breaks over at about the three minute mark, sweeping all before it, and leaving a backwash of guitar feedback, which morphs into a closing section of metallic mathrock. Remember, this is just one track we are talking about! Like those above named Electrohasch bands, The Machine base their sound on psychedelic power trios of the late ’60’s and early 1970’s such as Cream, Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer and Grand Funk, with the menace of Black Sabbath thrown in. This last element is particularly evident around the five minute mark on D.O.G., which sounds like some of the sludgiest and heaviest guitar you will hear this side of War Pigs. At times the sound is huge and sprawling (Moonward is eight minutes, while Sphere (… Or Kneiter) clocks in at over twelve), while other tracks, such as Scooth and Grain have the discipline of stoner rock hit singles (surely an oxymoron if ever there was one). Guitarist David Eering’s voice is perhaps not the strongest, but takes the same role in the band as that of Colour Haze’s Stefan Koglek, firing off brief verses in between lengthy guitar-led freak outs. The aforementioned Sphere encapsulates everything the band has to offer – distorted riffs interspersed with echoplex-driven breakdowns, backed by pounding drums and bass. The track, and its follow-up 5&4 brings to mind images of Queens of the Stone playing Tool. Three-minute album closer Repose is built on the mechanical thud that the band name implies. One should not get the impression that these are just freeform one-chord jams; the song structures are all there, hiding (at times deeply) under the layers of sound. Fans of classic stoner rock should definitely check out this album. As the press release states, “This band is well-rehearsed, this band is hot, this machine will blow you away!”

For further information visit the Electrohasch Records web site at: http://www.elektrohasch.de

Reviewed by Pat Albertson

Steeped in the psychedelic, garage rock of the 60’s, Greece’s Drug-Free Youth turn out a lo-fi sonic throwback to a bygone era. Not actually a band, but one man known simply as George, he writes all the tracks and plays all the instruments on the album. Keyboards seem to be his forte though, as the guitar, bass and percussion all take second billing to the acid drenched Farfisa organ and vintage analog synths that dominate most of the tracks.

The opening cut, Doppelgänger Love, kicks things off in fine 13th Floor Elevators mode (although George’s vocals are considerably mellower and more melodic than Roky Erickson’s). But from that point on, all bets are off. Garage rock ends up being more of a springboard to Drug-Free Youth’s sound as the artist throws in influences ranging from 80’s underground synthpop (Tomorrow, Faces From the Past) to experimental electronic music (Thieves of Forgotten Dreams, Surveillance Alphabet). He even delves into a bit of spacerock on the all too brief Bonus Beats and the excellent garage rock meets outer space psychedelia of ergotaxio. Many of the tracks (including the above mentioned experimental electronic pieces) are instrumental, as George takes us to meet A Cat (surely one with a Cheshire grin), grooves with the trippy organ pop of Pulsating Yellow Heart and takes us on a little adventure to a drugged out circus fairground on Sans Marker. Elsewhere he returns to his more pure garage rock style with tracks like The Mysteries of Life: Ms. Abigeil Doe and the really quite excellent Time, and takes a more euro psychedelic approach with the very cool Veronique.

The songs are short (most under 3-minutes). With 19 tracks clocking in at just under 40-minutes, it’s a tight effort, with no time wasted. I got the feeling, however, that George could have developed some of the tracks a little bit more, such as the 53 second Bonus Beats, which was very cool but ended almost before it really got started, and the 41 second, early Floydian sounding Minature Ninjas, which could have led into a longer, moody psychedelic space trip. The overall sound is lo-fi, DIY style (George apparently recorded it in his living room), but that totally works for the kind of music he’s doing, although occasionally the sound does get a bit too thin and tinny.

The Avocado Index is a pretty good album, with a few gems like Dopplegänger Love, ergotaxio, Veronique and Time standing out, but doesn’t quite reach the heights it could due to a few tracks that aren’t developed very well and some occasionally dodgy recording. Overall, though, if you’re a fan of 60’s psychedelic music, you will surely find plenty to enjoy on this album.

For more info, visit: http://www.myspace.com/nowherestreetmusic and http://drugfreeyouth.bandcamp.com/album/the-avocado-index-2

Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald

In 2011 Trail Records released Tripwave: A Retrospective Collection of Russian Psychedelic Progressive Music, a collection of Russian bands that represented a stylistic gamut of the Psych and Prog map. Now they’ve expanded their scope with an impressive global collection of bands from Germany, UK, US, Belarus, Armenia, Russia, Italy, Belgium, and China. Of the 9 entries, 6 are previously unreleased tracks. Here’s the rundown…

Cosmic Vibration are a German band who incorporate a combination of influences. It’s starts off with Indian influenced vocals and a world music groove, then goes into a spaced out Pink Floyd-ish instrumental, and even a brief heavier rocking Hawkwind sounding bit, and then wrapping up the song by returning to the opening world music theme but rocking out harder. This is a band I’d like to hear more from.

Triptych are from the UK and their contribution is a cool grooving brand of funk-psych infused ethnic music with a hypnotic guitar lead and keys. About halfway through there’s a brief spoken word bit, followed by a more overtly Eastern influenced segment, and then returning to the opening theme. Another very cool tune from a band that rates further investigation.

The Misteriosos are an interesting choice for the US entry on this compilation. I really enjoyed their self-titled CD from 2005, which as far as I can tell was their only release and their old web site is dead now. So if they’re still active I can’t tell. Regardless, the 9 minute The Sun from that album is included here and features cosmically trippy psychedelia with haunting female vocals and lots of instrumental workouts. Actually this track was a bit different from the rest of the Misteriosos album and only the organ hints at the 60s garage and pop-psych style that I recall having characterized many of the other songs.

Mouches A L’Orange are from Belarus and their contribution is from a live performance. The band alternate between freeform 70s styled heavy rock with a psychedelic edge and more ambient exploratory passages. The guitar dominates but there’s also organ and saxophone. Pretty decent but not one of the more exciting tracks of the set, though I must say I can’t recall having heard a band from Belarus before.

Deti Picasso are a Moscow based Aremenian band who play a rocking brand of Progressive Rock. The arrangements are complex yet accessible, with a good female singer and varied instrumentation. They had a track on the Tripwave compilation too.

Grey Mouse are from Russia and I liked them right from the beginning when they combined sitar (or some sitar-like sound) with a jamming guitar that reminded me of Stefan from Colour Haze. This is primarily 70s influenced hard psych rock, though Grey Mouse distinguish themselves with that cool sitar-guitar combination, and the female chanting vocals add a bewitching quality to the music.

Plootoh are an Italian band whose entry is an easy-paced instrumental with a distinctly Dave Gilmour Bluesy styled guitar. It’s very peaceful and I easily floated along with the music. Not a standout of the set but probably a band I need to hear more from to get a feel for what they are about.

The Narcotic Daffodils are a Belgian band who play ethnic influenced psychedelia. This 9 minute track is another that combines sitar and electric guitar, a great pairing indeed. In this case the sitar plays a more supporting role for what is a spacey heavy psych jam. There are a number of thematic twists and turns, and in one quieter section the guitar goes from Hendrix to totally spaced out, plus we’re treated to atmospheric organ and female space-whisper vocals. Very cool and another band I want to hear more from.

Finally, Zhaoze are the Chinese band, and China is another country that I don’t recall hearing many space/psych/prog bands from. The music starts with a stringed instrument, which might be a guitar but sounds like something else, playing a slow melodic lead, backed by atmospheric keys. Things build up a bit and then explode into a sort of ethnic sounding Shoegaze wall of guitar sound. But the explosion doesn’t last, as the band settle into a beautiful cosmic and gorgeously melodic groove. Very nice and I’d like to hear more from Zhaoze.

In summary, this is a really impressive collection of music from around the world. My only complaint is that there is NO information about any of the bands. A compilation like this should at least include web site links for the bands, and, ideally, an insert with more info. That said, I have to add that between this and last year’s Tripwave CD, Trail Records are releasing some of the most interesting compilations I’ve heard in a long time.

For more information you can visit the Trail Records web site at: http://www.trailrecords.net

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Steve Hillage has long been a fixture on the psych/space rock scene. At the age of 17, he fronted the band Uriel, and a year later, under the name Arzachal, they recorded their sole album, the original vinyl of which is a much sought after collector’s item. While the first side showed off some competent blues based psychedelic songs, it was side two that propelled the band into space rock history with the 17-minute freak out, Metempsychosis. Picking up where Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive left off, this journey into inner and outer space laid the groundwork for much space rock to come. In 1971, Hillage formed the band Khan and released the album Space Shanty, which delved deeper into more progressive psych directions. But in 1973, Hillage returned to space rock when he joined the hippie musical collective Gong and recorded and toured with them throughout the course of their seminal Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy, again laying the groundwork for much space rock to come with classic tracks such as Master Builder, The Isle of Everywhere and A Sprinkling of Clouds (the latter of which Ozric Tentacles have said was one of the templates for the creation of their sound). It was in Gong that Hillage met his soon to be lifelong partner Miquette Giraudy, and together the two of them have continued to forge new musical directions with classic 70’s psych/space albums like Fish Rising and Green to the highly influential late 70’s ambient work Rainbow Dome Musick, and onwards into the 90’s and beyond with their explorations of atmospheric guitar fuelled ambient techno.

In 2006, Hillage and Giraudy were invited to join the Gong Family Unconvention by reforming The Steve Hillage Band, which had not played live in 18 years. Despite the long hiatus, the resulting show was a magical journey into the space rock past, brilliantly captured on both CD and DVD in this package (a re-issue from 2010). The line-up includes Hillage and Giraudy, as well as Mike Howlett (from Steve’s classic Gong days) on bass, Chris Taylor (from latter day Gong line-ups) on drums, and Basil Brooks (of both Zorch and the original Steve Hillage band) on additional synths.

Hillage seems a little bit bemused at first, as if he had just awakened to have magically found himself standing on a stage back in 1977. Fittingly, the band opens with Hello Dawn, a bouncy psych/folk rocker from the ’77 album Motivation Radio. They then launch into Hillage’s spacey synth rock version of the old George Harrison penned Beatles tune It’s All Too Much. The band seems confident, even inspired. And then they really start to catch fire with a both spacier and heavier version of Aftaglid, originally from the Fish Rising album. With an extended, trippy delay guitar opening blasting into a heavy, eastern inspired jam with Giraudy’s liquid cosmic synths bubbling around everything, this is a space rock classic, and one of the highlights of the show. No doubt pleasing fans of his early music, Hillage and company continue to explore the Fish Rising album, with a mostly mellow take on the epic Solar Musick Suite Part 1 (which nonetheless features some of Steve’s most searing guitar work of the show).

It should be pointed out here that Steve Hillage is a vastly underrated guitarist, in my personal opinion. You don’t ever see him appearing on any top 100 guitarists of all time lists (I’m looking at you, Rolling Stone!), but he should be. He works those frets like there’s no tomorrow (including the famous glissando guitar technique developed by Daevid Allen and perfected by Hillage), but like Hendrix, he is also a master of effects pedals, blending delay, flanging, fuzz and wah wah, with ease and brilliance, into a seamlessly integrated guitar style. It is really a shame that he has not gained more recognition.

Anyway, back to show! After another dip in the Fish Rising ocean with The Salmon Song, Hillage surprises with a song never before performed live. These Uncharted Lands was the original opening cut from the mostly forgotten 1982 album For to Next. Hampered by synth driven 80’s style sounds and a more new wave, less electric gypsy kind of outlook, the album is not regarded as one of Steve’s classic works. But here, free of its 80’s production, These Uncharted Realms shines as a beautiful, mellow trip into infinity, enabled greatly by an extended, spacey cosmic jam that wasn’t part of the original studio version. A blissed out end to a great show.

The DVD of the concert is well shot, and its use of psychedelic effects, tasteful and trippy. There’s also some split screen and overlay techniques used to show close ups of the musician’s fingers on their instruments without losing the overall big picture of the band playing. The CD and DVD both come with different bonuses. In the case of the DVD, it’s half an hour of insightful interviews with Steve and Miquette which also include some behind the scenes look at the preparations for the show. The CD includes 4 bonus tracks, all vintage live performances from the 1970’s. The beautiful Palm Trees (one of my all-time favourite Steve Hillage songs), along with Unzipping the Zype and Healing Feeling are all from a 1979 performance in Amsterdam. But the real treat here (for Gong fans, anyway), is an early live version of the Solar Musick Suite performed by Gong in London on October 6, 1974. It’s quite different than the version that would ultimately turn up on Fish Rising, utilizing Gong’s signature space/jazz/rock approach, with Didier Malherbe a standout, contributing lots of smouldering, squonking sax (an instrument not used on the final studio version from Fish Rising).

One of the things that struck me about listening to the 2006 performance back to back with the 1979 performances was how seamlessly they fit together. It’s almost as if the years between had dissolved, and the Steve Hillage band had never gone away. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 18 years to hear from them again!

For more info, visit: http://www.g-wave.co.uk
Also visit Steve and Miquette’s System 7 web page: http://www.a-wave.com/system7

Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald

My review copy was two home-made CD-R’s that was apparently ripped from the 2-lp vinyl limited edition that the label Sulatron Records had pressed to a limited edition of 777 copies. I Believe that Cellar Space Live Overdose might be available as a single-disc title – but it only has one of these two live gigs that you get on this double-album. First record LP is of a live Electric Moon performance that took place on January 27, 2012 at Schlosskeller Darmstadt that has been accurately described as a ultra-cool psych gig. First tune The Soul Feeder (23:32) completely pulls you in with its first rate brand of 21st century mind-blowing German space rock – they would make a choice co-headliner act with bands like Hawkwind, Vibravoid or Omnia Opera. A real shame that the U.S. doesn’t get (m)any shows like this. The Idle Glance (22:27) faithfully follows up this platter’s first cut with some more fine played electronic space rock that reminded me more in the vein of, say – Spacious Mind. If I had to choose between the two discs, I would probably say that I believe I like disc 1 a bit more. Okay, with disc 2, the live show occurred on September 30, 2011 at the Kultur – Keller Fulda. Starts off with The Verge of Fainting (19:26) which I personally thought was sort of maybe Guru Guru-like, especially at the beginning. As the tune goes on, it manages to present itself as a nice healthy cosmic work-out. Then, the closer where all this galactic mayhem draws to a stunning finale with The Spaceman Returns (22:25) definitely has a nice sounding progressive-space rock feel and vibe to it. This is an audio space travel experience that makes for a great venture. It’s every bit as much of a must-have as the Electric Moon – Flaming Lake CD that I did a review of back in March 2012 here at Aural Innovations.

For more info, visit: http://www.sulatron.com and http://www.electricmoon.de

Reviewed by Mike Reed

Was there ever a more powerful image of the epic days of progressive rock heaven (or hell, depending on your point of view) than that of the mighty synthesizer wizard perched atop his towering keyboard castle, king of all he can see? These days, the digital components may have reduced the size of that castle to mere rampart proportions (although they are considerably bolstered here by the intimidating Moog “Wall of Doom” backline), but the sonic inventory remains, if anything, even greater. American musician Erik Norlander is one of the new breed, heirs to throne of Lords Wakeman, Emerson and their ’70’s cohorts. As such, he has released not one but two DVD/2CD projects, one an updated version of his 2010 album The Galactic Collective, and the other a live gig from Gettysburg, recorded at the 2011 Rites of Spring Festival. As well as releasing solo albums, the first of which – Threshold, with linear notes written by old guardsman Keith Emerson – came out in 1997, Norlander supplies keyboards for Rocket Scientists and his wife Lana Lane’s band, and both these releases include new versions of material from those projects.

Norlander’s 2010 Galactive Collective was an album of re-recorded tracks from his earlier albums, played live in the studio and serving as a good overview of his career up until that point. It has now been re-released in DVD/CD format, with an extra audio CD of alternate versions. The brief and rather portentous Arrival opens the album and DVD, leading into the epic progressive metal of Neurosaur, both originally from the Threshold album. Norlander makes use of multiple keyboards, including six Moog synthesizers, and a Steinway piano, while the band provide solid backing, choral vocals courtesy of part-time Asia guitarist John Payne. Fanfare for Absent has the same kind of Nordic thunder as Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, even echoing Robert Plant’s vocal riff at one point, after having opened with a Steinway piano passage. This slips seamlessly into the ten minute Sky Full Of Stars, that opens with a section that sounds like Rick Wright’s aching intro/outro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond before switching to instrumental power balladry for ten minutes. Mark Matthews provides a tasty fretless bass solo, while Freddy De Macarco solos away mightily on guitar, but the star of the show is always going to be Erik Norlander himself. Having said that, most of the tracks give all the musicians a chance to shine, trading riffs and solos throughout. Astrology Prelude, from the Lana Lane album Secrets of Astrology, follows in the epic tradition of its predecessors, while Trantor Station could be the soundtrack to an unreleased sci-fi movie. The absence of vocals on The Galactic Collective means that the worst excesses of symphonic prog rock cliché are mercifully avoided, and the playing has a far greater focus on melody than any kind of flashy egotism. The twelve minute After the Revolution is based around a Steinway piano fugue for much of its length, and a chord sequence that sounds a little like Atom Heart Mother” or Saucerful of Secrets if they were to be played by Rick Wakeman and Ritchie Blackmore. Garden of the Moon ups the tempo significantly, fading away in the mid-section before roaring back with a ripping guitar solo over Hammond B3 organ. Steinway fugue wizardry returns for Norlander’s Dreamcurrents, his signature piano piece, before the lengthy The Dark Water. Like all great prog rock epics, this goes through a number of sections, taking the time to build intensity and running through a number of themes across its 20 minute length. The drumming on this track is pretty thunderous, but the guitars are reined in a little, making this more progressive rock than prog-metal. The DVD portion of this release features interviews preceding each track, and a 22 minute featurette on the different synthesizers used on The Galactic Collective. Opening the bonus disc is a thrilling rendition of Barry Gray’s Space: 1999 theme with added keyboard variations. The other three tracks are alternate versions of three tracks on The Galactic Collective – all three are fine, but add little to the versions found on the DVD and first audio disc, although the heroic conclusion of Garden Of The Moon – Long Version will surely unleash your inner-air-keyboard player.

With so much Erik Norlander on offer in the three disc Galactic Collective Definitive Edition, one might wonder at the need for The Galactic Collective Live In Gettysburg to be released at the same time. Indeed the difference in track listing between the two albums is relatively minimal, although Gettysburg does include the vocal tracks Capture the Sun, Secrets of Astrology and the multi-part Sunset Suite, all of which are performed by Norlander’s wife Lana Lane. Lest anyone fear any Linda McCartney married-to-the-band-leader self-indulgence, it can happily be reported that Lana (who has an impressive 22 albums released under her own name) has an excellent voice, well-suited to the epic material written by her husband. The playing by Norlander and his band is superb on both releases, with the live in the studio version having possibly a slight production edge, while the onstage version captures the excitement of a live performance (including stage banter, and an homage to Bob Moog preceding Absent Friends). Only the most hardcore fans would want to shell out for both, but neither they nor newcomers will be in any way disappointed with the musical content. Any fan of classic prog-rock keyboard playing will love the way that Erik Norlander has updated the genre for the modern age, making at least one or other of these albums an essential purchase.

For more information go to http://www.eriknorlander.com, http://www.lanalane.com, and http://www.thetank.com
A huge Moog affectionado, Erik Norlander also invites fans to visit http://www.moogfoundation.org

Reviewed by Pat Albertson