STCBM062: Beautiful Songs You Should Know

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:


No-Man - Beautiful Songs You Should Know (from Schoolyard Ghosts)
Sphelm - Crystal Catcher (from These Roots Know No Boundaries)
Karda Estra - Lighthouse (from The Seas And The Stars)
Skyharbor - Blind Side (from Blind Side)
Psygnosis - Loozing Zeppelin 2.Alt (from Sublimation)
Archive - Taste of Blood (from Lights)
Galahad - Empires Never Last (Orchestral version) (from Empires Never Last vinyl)
KYROS - Dilate (from Vox Humana)
Phideaux - Helix (from Snowtorch)
The Room - Bedlam (from Beyond The Gates Of Bedlam)

The Eighties at 8: 

New Order - Blue Monday (from Blue Monday)
Uriah Heep - Think It Over (from Abominog)

Ólafur Arnalds - So Close [feat. Arnor Dan] (from Broadchurch OST)
Agent Fresco - Wait For Me (from Destrier)
The Gift - Tuesday's Child (from Why The Sea Is Salt)

STCBM060: Keelhauled!

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Alestorm - Keelhauled (from Black Sails At Midnight)
The Mute Gods - Last Man on Earth (from Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me)
Ben Craven - The Remarkable Man (from Last Chance To Hear)
The Enid - The Demon King (from In The Region Of The Summer Stars)
Gary Numan - Love Hurt Bleed (from Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind))
Galahad - Sleepers (from Sleepers)
The Butterfly Effect - In A Memory (from Imago)
Plini- Every Piece Matters (from Handmade Cities)
John Wesley - Once A Warrior (from Disconnect)
The Pineapple Thief - Take Your Shot (from Your Wilderness)

The Eighties at 8: 

Pink Floyd - Not Now John (single version) (from The Final Cut)
Genesis - Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (from Invisible Touch)

Damian Wilson & Adam Wakeman - God Be My Judge (from Weir Keeper's Tale)
HEADSPACE - Road to Supremacy (from All That You Fear is Gone)
Damian Wilson - Battlelines (from Built for Fighting)
Devin Townsend Project - Secret Sciences (from Transcendence)

STCBM053: First Birthday Show!

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made birthday playlist:


Cozy Powell - Over The Top (from Over The Top)
The Pineapple Thief- Nothing At best (from Someone Here is Missing)
The Reasoning - Aching Hunger (from Awakening)
Porcupine Tree - Open Car (from Dead Wing)
Frost* - No Me No You (from Milliontown)
Galahad - Termination (from Empires Never Last)
Fish - Square Go (from 13th Star)
Pendragon - Nostradamus (Stargazing) (from The Window of Life)

The Eighties at 8:

Magnum - Soldier of the Line (from Chase the Dragon)
Marillion - Forgotten Sons (from Script For A Jester's Tear)
Twelfth Night - We Are Sane (from Fact and Fiction) - for Angela

Rainbow - Stargazer (from Rising)
Pink Floyd - High Hopes (from The Division Bell)

STCBM037: Bouncing Dot

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

The Algorithm - Bouncing Dot (from Polymorphic Code)
Panic Room - Screens (from Skin)
Sieges Even - Lighthouse (from The Art of Navigating By the Stars)
Konchordat - Save Me From The Rain (from Rise To The Order)
IQ - Sacred Sound (from Dark Matter)
Ray Wilson - Propaganda Man (from Propaganda Man)
Knifeworld - Secret Words (from Bottled Out of Eden)
Galahad - Termination (from Empires Never Last)
The Pineapple Thief - Snowdrops (from Little Man)

The Eighties at 8: 
Asia - Sole Survivor (from Asia)
It Bites - You’ll Never Go to Heaven (from The Big Lad in the Windmill)

Kula Shaker - Sound of Drums (from Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts)
Also Eden - For Bumble (from About Time)

Hope you enjoyed it…
(repeats on Progzilla.com Friday at 1.30pm)

STCBM027: Lady Messiah

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Galahad - Lady Messiah 2015 (from When Worlds Collide)
Paul Cusick - Everything (from P’dice)
t - Chapter Three: The Art Of Double Binding - The Black Of White (from Fragentropy)
TesseracT - Tourniquet (from Polaris)
Geof Whitely Project - Burning Skies (from Circus of Horrors)
Grand Tour - Little Boy and the Fat Man (from Heavy On the Beach)
Nine Stones Close - Complicated (single mix) (from Complicated)
Threshold - The Latent Gene (uncut version) (from Replica)

Hope you enjoyed it…
(repeats on Progzilla.com Friday at 2pm)

STCBM025: Right Before

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Kingcrow - Right Before (from In Crescendo)
IQ - Riker Skies (from Frequency)
Galahad - City of Freedom (from When Worlds Collide)
Bruce Soord - Buried Here (from Bruce Soord)
The Pineapple Thief - Build a World (from All the Wars)
Harvest - It All Becomes Clearer (from Northern Wind)
Phideaux - They Hunt You Down (from The Great Leap)
Nektar - Always (from Evolution)
Porcupine Tree - Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled (from Lightbulb Sun)
Porcupine Tree - Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip (from Tarquin’s Seaweed Farm)

Hope you enjoyed it…
(repeats on Progzilla.com Friday at 2pm)

Shapes of Things...

So this is 2013 is it? Seems like it was only 2012 yesterday! :-)

So what will 2013 bring us musically and what am I looking forward to? Apparently Planet Rock listeners voted a new album by Led Zeppelin as their most wished for thing in 2013. More chance of Martians landing I suspect, so I will keep my list short and sane!

1. New Crimson Sky album:

I'm not sure if this is definitely on the cards, Martin Leamon has told us he is writing new material and after the excellent Dawn EP released last year it is obvious that the current line up is the bee's knees and if there is any justice in the world they will get the chance to record and release a storming album in 2013, bringing them the success they deserve.

I was lucky to catch Crimson Sky live a few times over the last twelve months (after a year of being fated not ever being able to see them) and find them hugely enjoyable. Martin is an excellent guitarist and Jane Setter a fantastic singer.

2. [REDACTED]:

The follow up to Also Eden's excellent 2011 album Think of the Children is due later this year and my anticipation levels are barely restrained! To whet the appetite the band released the forthcoming song Endless Silence as a festive download. My appetite is well and truly whetted!

Also Eden deserve more recognition and success than they current receive and they are a superb live band as well as having released some wonderful albums.

3. Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep:

The new Spock's Beard album should be interesting, especially with new vocalist Ted Leonard. I am a bit of a heretic in my love of the post-Neal Morse era material. The samples the band have released certainly sound good, roll on March...

4. Seeing Galahad Live:

Having released two of my top ten albums of 2012, I was gutted to miss out on seeing Galahad live in 2012. Hopefully I will be able to make one of their gigs in 2013.

5. Some Old School Rock:

Having been amazed by Michael Schenker at High Voltage in 2011 I am keen to see him on his 2013 tour (it'll be thirty years since I first saw him play). UFO are also in the area early this year so it could be a last chance to check out some of these ageing Old School rockers (hopefully not but they aren't get any younger!).

2012 Top Ten: 1 Galahad - Battle Scars

And my album of year for 2012 is... Battle Scars by Galahad!

It had been a six year wait since their excellent Empires Never Last album and my investigations of the bands back catalogue had not been as fulfilling as I'd hoped. Consequently I was concerned that lightning may have only struck once but Battle Scars blew any worries away - it is awesome!

Galahad have released two albums this year and whilst Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria is very good, I think Battle Scars tops it with an eclectic mix of musical styles from the heavy metal through neo-prog to trance. Not only does this album get your foot tapping (and maybe your bum wiggling) but also your head banging with some serious guitar riffing! The vocals are passionate, the keyboards pulse, the drums pound, the guitars rock, nothing is missing from this album.

It is hard to pick individual songs out of the whole but Beyond the Barbed Wire and Seize the Day probably encompass all that is great with this album.

My only regret in respect of Galahad is that I missed seeing them live in 2012 as I was too ill to attend Danfest in November. If I have one new year's resolution for 2013 it is to remedy that...

2012 Top Ten: 6 Galahad - Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria

At number six I have chosen what can best be described as this year's Marmite album as people either love it or hate it! I love it...

The second of Galahad's two album releases this year, Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria is a wonderful blend of neo-prog fused in parts with techno dance rhythms, crunching guitar riffs and even, at one stage, what sounds close to an Opeth style death growl!

It is a wonderfully progressive album but the introduction of dance synth beats into some songs seems to have upset reviewers who seem to think that progressive rock should regurgitate the same sounds as were produced in the seventies or eighties. Fools.

I'm not sure if it is a conscious decision, I suspect not, but 2012 Galahad seem to be channelling Absolution-era Muse, which given Muse are now channelling Queen is great if you miss Muse being Muse!

...And Secret Worlds and Guardian Angel are two stand out tracks on an album of stand out tracks. This album probably warrants being higher than number six but there was some stiff competition when it came to picking a top five!