Progfest is a special event that happens once a year, featuring a cornucopia
of ‘prog’ bands, old and new, some reforming just for the occasion.
The show from 12 years ago, Progfest ’97, originally
released in 1998, has been reissued as a double CD set, featuring seven different
acts. The John Wetton Band opens with two UK songs: “In The Dead Of Night”
and “Rendezvous 6:02.” Wetton is in good voice, and his band spot-on
in these note-for-note numbers. Drummer Thomas Lang is a real stand-out. He
finishes up with the King Crimson classic, “Starless.”
Sweet piano begins — and leads — Le Orme’s “Madre Mia/Prima
Acqua,” one of four selections from this Italian progressive six-piece,
followed by “Vecchio,” featuring a solid vocal from Aldo Tagliapietra
(I’m not sure what he’s singing about!). At times, these guys sound
like Mike Oldfied’s band, others times like Supertramp. The band Arena,
featuring one-time Marillion drummer Mick Pointer (who sounds great, by the
way), ends the first disc with two tunes. I especially like love Paul Wrightson’s
expressive voice on “Medusa.”
The second disc opens with “Retropolis,” a scary little number
from the Flower Kings. Swedish guitarist Roine Stolt’s band can certainly
play behind his wailing guitar; they have a ‘softer-but-close-to-Dream
Theater’ thing happening. Their “Humanizzimo, Pt. A, B, C, D”
reminds one of all that progressive rock boasts, does so well, but causes critics
to moan over. At 15 plus minutes, it’s at times a pure Stolt showcase,
and at other times a floating fantasy.
Spock’s Beard, one of the better-known, newer progressive rock bands,
is up next with “Thoughts” and “Go the Way You Go.”
They are definitely better musicians than singers (that may be due to the departure
of their original singer Neal Morse in 2002). I couldn’t really get much
into anything past the blistering passages of “Thoughts” or the
sweet guitar/piano interplay of the slightly too-long “Go the Way You
Go.”
BigElf gets three songs. While this American band (now signed to Linda Perry’s
Custard Records label and touring with Dream Theater) is also lacking in the
vocal department, they are considerably heavier, yet more accessible with shorter
tunes. Out of the three, my favorite is the Deep Purple-like “Sell Out.”
Sinkadus (how’s that for a name?) ends it all with “Attestupan.”
This is basically Swedish singer-songwriter Kristofer Åström’s
solo band (he also plays in the band Fireside and the Rainways), and this last
tune of the CD sounds a lot like old Genesis when Gabriel’s flute was
integral to their sound. There’s a bunch of changes over the chunky backbeat
of this 12-minute opus. Still, the vocals are not great, sorry to say.
Out of the whole lot, Sinkadus, Le Orme and John Wetton sound the most like
old prog, while BigElf and Spock’s Beard represent a newer wave of today’s
prog. For my money, Progfest ’97 is a good sample of
what’s going on out there if you’ve been away from progressive rock
for a while. Or maybe you still haven’t closed the triple sleeve origami
of Yessongs.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
