S. T. Karnick sheds light on current progressive rock. The second wave includes groups such as Dream Theater, the Flower Kings, Echolyn, Glass Hammer, Pendragon, Transatlantic, and Salem Hill. Most of these I've never heard of. For Karnick, the best may be Spock's Beard. He reviews their latest, Snow and calls it "one of the greatest rock albums of all time."
I've heard portions of Snow and am impressed. They sound like an up-to-date Yes (when they had Trevor Rabin). Spock's Beard possess the wonderful prog rock combination of fine playing, great harmonies, intricate song structures, and intelligent lyrics. It's jazz meets the Beatles meets Led Zeppelin.
Article comments
1 - Ed Lohrer
Thanks for the informative review.
I graduated H.S. quite awhile ago, Rush 2112 was released the year I graduated, and Progressive Rock has always been my music of choice since the mid 70's (Genesis, Yes, Rush, King Crimson, etc.). In the 80's, when Genesis became too "poppie" and Yes screwed around with their line-up, I basically gave up on "Prog Rock"(as they call it now) and have been searching for a replacement sound ever since. It has been in the past two years, thanks to the internet, I found that the sound that I grew up with didn't die thanks to bands like Spock's Beard and The Flower Kings. The "suck ass" record stores and radio stations that we have in Pittsburgh never promote or rarely carry this genre. So, thanks to you and all the other reviewers on this site for helping me to rediscover the "sounds of my youth", sometimes a little harder edged but never disappointing.