Passio Secundum Mattheum
(1972), Papillon (1973), Aquile e scoiattoli (1976)
As several other Italian progressive rock groups from the 70s (for example Banco, J.E.T., RDM, Metamorfosi), Latte e Miele (Milk and Honey) also released an album in 1972 which can be called a Christian album, as it is completely based on the Bible, more precisely the Gospel of St Matthew. Being inspired by several classical composers, most notably J. S. Bach (whose St Matthew Passion is from 1729), they composed a work which depicts the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. But their aim was to combine classical music with rock, thus one can not only hear beautiful orchestration, choir and narration on their version of Passion, but also rock guitar, mellotron, moog and flute. Although they were very young when they released this work, it is considered a classic by many Italian prog lovers. {Hubert Jakobs}
The Way Home (07)
Ted Leonard, the lead singer for prog band Enchant, has released a solo album of Christian-oriented progressive pop/rock that features Nick D'Virgilio of Spock's Beard on drums. The songs on his Myspace Music page sound interesting. http://www.myspace.com/tedleonard
The Listening presented by Rock and Roll Worship Circus (EP); The Rock and Roll Worship Circus Becomes The Listening (07)
The Listening (presented by the Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus) EP
Sometimes you just have to claim a good band for the progressive rock world. Originally lining up as a sort of CCM act with their melodic and mellow alt-rock somewhere uncomfortably between the Beatles and Pink Floyd, the band formerly known as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus decided on a change of direction, including a change of name. They certainly stood out with their skunk hairdo and shirt-and-tie apparel (yes, I’ve seen them live). Now calling themselves The Listening, they seem to have made up their mind and chose a less Beatle oriented and a little more orchestral and Radiohead meets Pink Floyd approach. The six-track 2004 EP ‘The Listening (presented by the Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus)’ is a witness to that transition. The first two tracks are full of synths and heavy guitars, creating a mesmerizing atmosphere pierced by soaring guitar sounds. The third track starts out like a Wish You Were Here type song about how much we mean to the Father. Halfway through the songs explodes in a Gilmour styled solo, warming the heart of the Christian prog fan. The fourth and fifth track are more in the Beatles vein and lean on guitar that could have been Harrison. The sixth and last track is again one that combines raunchy guitars with delicate vocal parts supported by synths and electronics. I really appreciate how biblical lines show up in the lyrics, making it a lovely experience to sing along ‘He who calls upon his name shall be saved’ to a non-worshippy but rather, dare I say, psychedelic tune. For those who are into such prog, this EP is good value for money. The URL www.thelistening.com will take you to their myspace for info and samples. {BC 10/07}
(the Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus becomes…) The Listening LP
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus was the only band I ever saw on a Christian music festival to deserve the title progressive rock. And as far as I know they don’t even advertise as such (perhaps very wisely). The second time I saw them they had changed their name to The Listening and it turned out they had changed their musical direction as well. Formerly hesitating between the Beatles and Pink Floyd, they now boldly moved into an area of Christian alt-rock of their own that shows much stronger overtones of the latter. Let’s not tell those festival directors, but for friends of the more modern kinds of prog, represented by the likes of Porcupine Tree, there is much to be enjoyed. To be sure, the songs are relatively short and don’t boast curious times signatures and such, but think Rain Tree Crow or David Sylvian with Christian lyrics this time, or maybe even a touch of Iona’s experimentation in soundscapes. Gabriel Wilson has a soft, tasteful voice that often leads the listener into a mellow song built on synths, electric piano and taped sounds, but ever so often making a nice contrast to more powerful chords and riffs on guitar and very tight drumming. The songs usually have different parts coming to the fore, gradually building from one part to the other. The change in direction is now solidly sealed by a full-length CD (the fact that two tracks have been lifted from the earlier EP is compensated by the inclusion of a three-track bonus disc). My impression is that the lyrics are less explicitly about biblical stuff and more personal or socially aware instead (perhaps confirmed by Gabriel Wilson’s latest almost acoustic and definitely more personal solo CD ‘Lovely is death’). A song that captures most of what I’ve said here is Lovely Red Lights, apparently about human yearn for belonging somewhere in a European red light district, where a church is offering another sense of belonging. Starting out as a slow, almost unplugged melancholic mood, the songs highlights the contrast between one area of comfort and the other with crisp guitar riffs. All in all, progressive rock fans who explore cross-overs of prog into U2 slash Coldplay slash The Violet Burning type alt-rock might well find it worthwhile to check out this American band. See www.thelistening.com or their Myspace page for info and samples. http://www.myspace.com/thelistening {BC 10/07}
Seeds of Change; One of Several Possible Musicks; Decade;
When Things Get Electric; Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye
One of the grand-daddy's of Christian prog, this guy is a lyricist that ranks up there with Wordsworth as well as a fine guitarist and keyboard player in his own right. After leading his group Kansas to the top of the world, Kerry quietly stepped off into the semi-oblivion of the Christian music market. Seeds of Change is a classic, with a myriad of famous guest stars such as Ronnie James Dio, Steve Walsh, David Pack , Mylon LeFevre and others singing on progressive gospel gems. Later, the band AD was formed to continue the prog influenced rock music themes while using it as a platform to share Kerry's faith. Unfortunately, AD was doomed with financial problems, and never got far off the ground (see AD). Kerry did manage to build himself a home studio. During time between AD gigs, he managed to put out a wonderful instrumental album, One of Several Possible Musicks, suffering only from the drum machine scourge and now dated keyboard sounds. Decade reprises his solo career on disc, and adds some unreleased AD gems. WTGE is not really prog (when some high school kids heard me playing it they asked, "Who is this, Petra?"), but Hero's Canticle makes it worth the price. It's basically rock and roll, and takes over where AD left off. Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye, a soundtrack for a computer animation video, is the real keeper. It's a tasty, mostly instrumental and certainly progressive solo album. He's got a new one out called Collector's Sedition, which is a compilation unreleased AD and Kansas material. Most die hard Livgren fans love it, although I havnt heard it yet, and it contains a couple of great progressive gems. In 2001 Kerry rejoined Kansas for their return to form, Somewhere to Elsewhere, in which he penned all the songs. In 2002 he released a Best Of cd, that spans his career. Many of the early songs included were re-recorded because of copyright issues. See also AD, Kansas, Robin Crow. {dt}
Kerry's music has always been hard to pigeon-hole, not fitting strictly into prog or any other genre. Kerry's goal in writing lyrics is to make people think, and he pulled this off greatly in his last two albums, Collector's Sedition, and Somewhere To Elsewhere (the Kansas reunion project Kerry wrote). The lyrics are very complex for the most part, and are not filled with cliche's like much CCM is. Kerry's music is very textured and quite varying in sound. He'll go from a soft reflective instrumental (Am Juengsten Tage) right to a dissonant heavy riff based song with post-grunge vocals (On the Air) then go from a soft acoustic guitar number to a rousing blues rocker. Collector's Sedition runs the gamut of styles and every song is different. It's regarded by many to be his best. Not all of KL's music would be considered progressive, there seems to be a few on every album, but then Kerry has always defied categorization. His music has always been a hybrid of influences all intertwined with his own signature sound. His music would best be described as "Orchestral Rock". He has recently been using some new styles, Renaissance with "At Every Turn", Mid-eastern with "Byzantium" and Celtic with "Incantos". Then there is the heavy metal riffing from part of "Icarus II". His next album will be a Cantata, or a classical based thematic album with parts performed in song by several vocalists. Kerry said that it is basically a Bible study set to music, to be called "The Resurrection of Lazarus". Personally my favorite album by Kerry (or by anyone) is AD's Art of the State. Kerry became a Christian in July of 1979, so all of his music since that time has reflected his worldview as a Christian. For his most *progressive* album? perhaps "Prime Mover II"? dunno. You can't go wrong with it though. {Bill Hammell}
New heavy prog artist featured on the CPR Volume 3 CD. Let's hope he completes a full CD worth of material soon. See http://mikelockett.info/ for more information.
Waiting Skies (99)
This smartly produced prog pop (neo-prog?) trio has at least one Christian member, Chris Midkiff. Midkiff plays keyboards and shares writing and back up vocal duties. The songs aren't exactly ripe with spiritual content, but there are some hints in songs like Fading Light and Far Away. It kind of reminded me of the band The Awakening. Nice arrangements, great somewhat subdued keyboard playing, strong on hooks and light on time changes. Midkiff sent me a CD-R of a solo album called Forever which is even more pop, but also much more in the CCM type lyrical format. It sounds a little too 80's power-pop for me, but I'll have to give it some more listens. His voice is slightly reminiscent of Jon Anderson's. To find out more about Look, go to http://www.planetcd.com/cgi-bin/shop.pl/page=look_bio.html/SID=1090003490.3890 {dt}