Neurotic Tendencies; The Great Antagonist; Atomic Soldiers; Mind Control, Inc.; Clone Man; Abnormal Road; Balance of Power; You People; Living in an Insane World; The Key to the Bottomless Pit; Cast Into Our Dimension; Looking Into the Past; A Summary of the Works of Rick Ray (00)
It's pretty
cool living in the day and age of available inexpensive recording technology that allows
artists to record and self-market their own creative, positive music on a shoe-string
budget. I'm currently listening to a new CD entitled "A Summary of the Works of
Rick Ray" by the gifted and extremely prolific Ohio guitarist Rick Ray. It's
guitar-god space-rock with prog overtones and off-kilter lyrics about God, Satan, and
right-wing conspiracy theories. Right up my alley.
Ray has
released no fewer than 11 solo CD's between March 1999 and June 2000, plus three more CD's
by his band Riot Act (two of those are live albums recorded previously). By any account,
that's a lot of output for any one guy in a little over a year. The compilation CD Mr. Ray
sent me contains one song from each of his various solo albums. The liner notes
state that he plays the following instruments: guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards,
guitar-synth, RX8, and percussion. He is joined on many of his songs by a talented,
slightly psychotic clarinet player named Rick Shultz. Unfortunately, the drum parts are
programmed, laying a perhaps-too-simplified foundation for Ray's melodic and meandering
guitar pyrotechnics. He has a smooth, fast, fluid style that keeps your attention, with a
70's rock vibe that crosses alternately into the progressive, psychedelic, space-rock and
prog-metal realms. The clarinet adds an interesting jazz-fusion type feel to some of the
songs, although at times it sounds strangely out of place. The use of real drums (gotta
have that groove!) and better production (it definitely suffers from the home recording
low-fi syndrome) would boost this music considerably in my book. As far as
home-produced CD's go, its loads better than a lot of stuff I've heard in terms of pure
energy and creativity. The songs do tend to sound alike after a while, especially on the
many instrumentals, but Ray's dazzling playing continually impresses.
Ray isn't
going to win any prizes as a vocalist, however, although his scratchy low-key delivery
fits the guitar-heavy psych/prog rock style that he purveys. His lyrics are a curious lot,
most of which have heavy religious or right wing/conspiracy theorist type overtones. What
I can understand (I wish I had some lyric sheets) I find interesting and sometimes
humorous. For instance, the Daulhowz Concerto from Atomic Soldiers is a concept piece on
the various Dolly's of the world, including Dolly Parton (her late night show making
people crazy), the "Dolly" Lama (a false religious leader spreading his
"bullcrap"), Salvador "Dolly", and Dolly the Sheep (with an
interesting theory about clones being possessed by demons instead of souls). This is
certainly not your typical generic subject matter here. Quite a few of his songs deal with
themes of satanic or governmental influence, from the Christian conspiracy theorist's
viewpoint. I don't know if you are into that or not (I admit I spent a lot of time
reading bizarre articles about aliens and Illuminati when I first discovered the net), but
its certainly a theme I have not seen explored before lyrically. Although I don't hear Ray
mention Jesus by name on this disc, he makes it clear where he stands
spiritually and admonishes the listener to search out God and the Truth. One song
may even be an ode to departed progster Kevin Gilbert (Kevin's Dead). Ray certainly
provides plenty of food for thought, perhaps the perfect Christmas gift for any paranoid,
conspiracy buff friends or relatives you might have (I'm thinking here of my wild-eyed
older brother tucked away in the mountains of Montana...hehe).
Highlights on
the CD for me are the instrumental title track from You People, Makes No Sense (from The
Great Antagonist), Divine Wind (from Neurotic Tendencies), Everything We Know (from The
Key to the Bottomless Pit), and the title track from Mind Control.
The biggest
problem with compilation CD's are that you can only assume them to be a "best
of," so if you are not fully impressed with it you might be loathe to buy anything
else from his extensive catalogue. Quantity does not always equate to quality, and a lot
of Ray's songs suffer from a certain "sameness." However, he is a gifted
musician, and his playing and strange lyrics will certainly hold your interest even if the
production sometimes makes you cringe.
All in all I
recommend Rick Ray to people starved for spacey guitar driven rock with prog flourishes.
Those looking for polished, crisp production and hum-able themes will surely be
disappointed. For myself, I would like to hear more of Rick with a real drummer. His
band Riot Act should be worth checking out some day, although there is more than one band
out there using that moniker. Since the bulk his music is instrumental guitar
soloing, fans of the Dregs, Steve Vai, Fourth Estate, Joe Satriani and other guitar-hero
music should especially dig it. This guy has a lot of talent and creative ideas, and
he basically needs a bigger budget and some added musicians to make it all really work.
Nevertheless, I like what he's done so far, and am certainly interested in hearing
more from Rick in the future. Somehow, I don't think I will have to wait long.
Rebbesoul (USA)
Change the World With a Sound (02)
Jewish jazz-inflected progressive world-beat music, with a mix of original and traditional prayers, Psalms, and hymns sung in Hebrew and English. Rebbesoul creates a totally unique sound, both hypnotic and uplifting, with his odd mix of instrumentation, samples, and voices. While the groove is more modern than traditional prog (the Prophet X even has a rap part on one song), there are certainly progressive elements mixed with the tribal fusion and Jewish overtones. Songs such as Rock of Ages, Shalom, Shmelke's Nigun and Avinu stand out. If you've ever wondered what instruments like the pstawp, safun, and balalaika would sound like mixed with guitar, bass, and lots of drums and percussion in a jazzy modern music format, Rebbesoul will change your world with their sound indeed. Find out more at http://www.rebbesoul.com [dt]
I'll have to dig out my old cassette of these guys, but it was a short lived CCM unsigned band that billed itself as prog in the mid 80's. It sounded like late model poppy Genesis more than anything, with a couple proggy time sigs but no real virtuosity or originality. Lyrics are definately uplifting CCM type stuff, but slightly cheesy. Reminded me a little of AD in places. Not really worth finding. {dt}
Classic Christian prog band Tetelestai morphed into this rock band in the 80's. Mp3's are available at http://www.mp3.com/return_from_exile . The two songs they have are prog flavored, but don't sound as intensely creative as their former band. See Tetelestai for more info.
Revelation Project (05)
Graeme Swallow is the mastermind behind Revelation Project, a new Christian progressive metal outfit out of New York first spotted on the CPR Volume 1 CD. The band is made up of Swallow, who wrote the songs and plays some mean guitar and keyboards, Pastor Tom Bender, who lends his capable lead vocals, Dave Jonathan on bass, Russ Stack on drums, and Chelsea Wagner on additional keyboards. Their debut CD is a concept album based on the book of Revelations, following roughly the same theme as the Left Behind series. If you enjoy bands like Dream Theater and Fates Warning, and are looking for a Christian alternative, Revelation Project is a safe bet. Mixing a bit of narration (which is perhaps the cheesiest aspect of this otherwise solid album) with crunchy metal songs titled ominous things like Liars, Marked, Martyrs, and Judgment, the pre-trib rapture story follows unnamed characters that missed the boat as they stumble around avoiding the anti-Christ awaiting the (third?) coming of Christ and the Millennium. The songs, including some tasty progressive instrumentals like Decay, Promise, and Glory, are well crafted and they give Swallow ample opportunity to show off his chops. Bender has a smooth voice, with an edge but not too operatic. The album generally avoids the pitfalls of “first record syndrome,” although a few songs are repetitive and predictable (insert machine-gun break here) and the wordy lyrics are occasionally awkward in places. While the words aren’t always poetic, they are often straight out of the scriptures and they effectively tell the story. Standout songs for me were Marked and Eternity. This is a decent debut album, and Revelation project will only get better with subsequent releases. For more information, ordering, and sound clips, go to http://www.revelationproject.com/index.php?INC=main.php {dt}