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Arturia DIST-OPAMP-21
Some of the guitar on the new album was played using Arturia’s Dist OPAMP-21 plugin. This is a recreation of the Sansamp TECH-21 or whatever it’s called from years gone by. The unit in question was the guitar players go to back in the olden days. As Arturia say: Dist OPAMP-21 is a distortion and…
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Avenged Sevenfold – Life is But a Dream… (2023)
Well, here is something quite incredible. Probably the best progressive rock record I’ve heard all year. Now, I know little about this band other than the occasional thing they have played on Planet Rock radio. Never really grabbed me, though: just seemed like typical modern day metal to me. But then, modern day metal is…
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The Tangent – Songs from the Hard Shoulder (2022)
This is the latest album from this UK based progressive rock band and is one of the best in their catalgoue. As usual, we are treated to some very long songs, political commentary, social commentary and all manner of musical styles – often within the same song! Andy Tillison has a unique voice and he…
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Pure Reason Revolution – Above Cirrus (2022)
First album in a couple of years from this most interesting of bands. Always had a soft spot for them since hearing the Bright Ambassadors of Morning and buying it on CD Single! Anyway, they are back in 2022 with a rather excellent new album. No mean departure from them in terms of sound: same…
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Scheming Streaming
I keep getting asked why I don’t subscribe to Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music etc. The answer is simple . . . . . I’d rather own what I listen to. Furthermore, at least 40% of what I have in my music library is not even available on the streaming services. However, I do like the…
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James LaBrie – Beautiful Shade of Grey (2022)
This is the 4th solo album from the current Dream Theater vocalist and, I must say, by far his best. I was not too keen on his previous works, but he has nailed the heavy acoustic rock thing on this album! Apart from one slight misstep (see main review), just about all the songs are,…
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Porcupine Tree – Closure-Continuation (2022)
As everyone must know by now, this is the first PT album in years. To say it was long awaited would be an understatement. Anyway, here it is and what is it like? The easy stuff: production and performances are absolutely first rate. Staggeringly well produced, as one would expect from Steven Wilson. First track…
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Reading Time
This week, I have been reading A NEW DAY YESTERDAY: UK PROGRESSIVE ROCK & THE 1970s. It had been on my reading list for a while, so thought I would take it for a spin. I must say, I am glad I did. I’m 50% of the way through it and really enjoying it. A…
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Remastering Process
Now that I have finished remastering another album, I thought it might be fun to share a few things that go into the process. As you know, The Story of Our Lives is a single song split into 12 parts. So, once the original master was loaded into Studio One, I split the track at…