STCBM063: Save Me From the Rain

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:



Konchordat - Save Me From the Rain (from Rise to Order)
Messenger - Dear Departure (from Illusory Blues)
Spock's Beard - Get Out While You Can (from The Oblivion Particle)
Darrel Treece-Birch - Legacy (from No More Time)
Nth Ascension - End of Days (from In Fine Initium)
Anathema - Pressure (from A Fine Day to Exit)
cosmograf - Relativity (from The Unreasonable Silence)
Different Light - Transient Dream (from The Burden of Paradise)
Fish - The Other Side of Me (from A Feast of Consequences)

The Eighties at 8: 
Ben Liebrand - The Eve Of The War (radio edit) (from The Eve Of The War (Remix))
Queen - Flash (single edit) (from Flash)

Feeder - Buck Rogers (from Echo Park)
Radiohead - Airbag (from OK Computer)
Sebas Honing - Ditching Fear (from The Big Shift)
Genesis - Firth of Fifth (from Selling England By The Pound)

STCBM054: Are We Copies?

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Lonely Robot - Are We Copies? (from Please Come Home)
Amplifier - O Fortuna (from Insider)
Hedfuzy - Snakes (from Hedfuzy)
The Skys - Lethal Kiss (from Colors of the Desert)
Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked For Death (from Marked For Death)
Mostly Autumn - Distant Train / Answer The Question (from Passengers)
Odin Dragonfly - Web (from Offerings)
Archive - Words on Signs (from Controlling Crowds (Parts I-III))
Karda Estra - The Projected Future (from Constellations)
Whitewater - End of Days (from Slipstream)
Lone Star - The Bells of Berlin (from Firing On All Six)

The Eighties at 8:
Pallas - Stranger (from The Wedge)
W.A.S.P. - Forever Free (from The Headless Children)

Stiltskin - Guns of God (from Unfulfillment)
Sylvan - No Way Out (from Encounters)
Spock's Beard - The Ballet of the Impact (from Octane)

STCBM049: 4th July Special

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Heliopolis - New Frontier (from City of the Sun)
Glass Hammer - Sand (from The Breaking of the World)
Devin Townsend Project - Coast (from Ki)
Discipline. - Circuitry (from To Shatter All Accord)
District 97 - The Actual Color (from Trouble with Machines)
Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son (from Leftoverture)
Shaolin Death Squad - Tale of the Peacock (from As You Become Us)
Spock's Beard - In the Mouth of Madness (from The Kindness of Strangers)
Neal Morse - Heaven in my Heart (from Sola Scriptura)
Savatage - This Isn’t What We Meant (from Dead Winter Dead)

The Eighties at 8:
Styx - Mr Roboto (from Kilroy Was Here)
Blue Oyster Cult - Veteran of the Psychic Wars (from Fire of Unknown Origin)

Echolyn - Love, Why Weren't You Missed (from I Heard You Listening)
3 - Been to the Future (from The End is Begun)
Dream Theater - Pull Me Under (from Images and Words)
Ben Nichols - The Last Pale Light in the West (from The Last Pale Light in the West)
Iced Earth - The Star-Spangled Banner (from The Glorious Burden)

STCBM044: Bank Holiday Acoustic Special

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Marillion - Runaway (acoustic) (from Brave - remaster)
Threshold - Fragmentation (acoustic version) (from Wireless - Acoustic Sessions)
Arena - (Don't Forget To) Breathe (live acoustic) (from Radiance)
The Reasoning - The Thirteenth Hour (from Acoustically Speaking)
Green Carnation - The Burden is Mine… Alone (from The Acoustic Versions)
Saul Blease - Falling (piano version) (from Falling (piano version))
Joey Eppard - Been to the Future (from Been to the Future)
The Pineapple Thief - Light Up Your Eyes (from More Wars - The Acoustic Sessions)
Frost* - Black Light Machine (acoustic Session) (from The Rockfield Files)
Pendragon - Unspoken Words (from Acoustically Challenged)
Shadow Gallery - Alaska (from Carved in Stone)
Spock's Beard - Looking For Answers (live acoustic) (from Snow)
Porcupine Tree - Nine Cats (acoustic version) (from Insignificance)

The Eighties at 8: 
Guns’n’Roses - Patience (from G’n’R Lies)
Jethro Tull - Under Wraps #2 (from Under Wraps)

Tiger Moth Tales - Invisible Touch (from Pete Jones Plays Genesis - Seven Stones Turned (Charity Release))
Anathema - Flying (from Hindsight)
Savatage - When The Crowds Are Gone (acoustic version 2011) (from Dead Winter Dead 2011 reissue)
Black Label Society - Chupacabra (from Order of the Black)

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

Next week’s edition of Sounds That Can Be Made on Progzilla.com will feature music by The Darkness, Napier's Bones, Messenger - Band, Anekdoten, Fractal Mirror, Paradigm Shift, British Theatre, Hedfuzy, Iamthemorning, Erudite Stoner, Amplifier and Konchordat with our Eighties at 8 tracks from Yes and Red Rider…

STCBM042: Live For Today

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Lee Abraham Band - Live For Today (from The Seasons Turn)
Paradigm Shift - An Easy Lie (from Becoming Aware)
Parzivals Eye (PE) - Hiding Out (from Defragments)
Dreamscape - Short Time News (from End of Silence)
Riverside - Discard Your Fear (from Love, Fear and the Time Machine)
Lonely Robot - The Boy in the Radio (from Please Come Home)
Mr. So & So - Apophis (from Truth, Lies & Half Lies)
Spock's Beard - The Good Don’t Last (from The Kindness of Strangers)

The Eighties at 8:
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Enola Gay (from Organisation)
Fischer Z - Cruise Missiles (from Red Skies Over Paradise)

Asia - The Day Before the War (from Arena)
Gazpacho Official (the Norwegian band) - Defense Mechanism (from Missa Atropos)
The SKYS - When the Western Wind Blows (from Colors of the Desert)

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

Next week’s edition of Sounds That Can Be Made on Progzilla.com will feature music by Ninth Moon Black, Amplifier, Kingbathmat, O.S.I., Also Eden, MAGNUM, HAKEN, The Mute Gods and Nine Steps Close with our Eighties at 8 tracks from Jethro Tull and Jon & Vangelis…

STCBM030: Lost

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Riverside - Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened of a Hat?) (from Love, Fear And The Time Machine)
Gandalf's Fist - Orphans of the Sky (from A Day in the Life of a Universal Wanderer)
"Eh! Geoff Mann Band” - What’s In a Name? (from Ministry of the Interior)
Day Six - 7th Sign (from The Grand Design)
Amplifier - The Consultancy (from Amplifier)
Angra - Carolina IV (from Holy Land)
God is an Astronaut - Golden Sky (from Age of the Fifth Sun)
Devin Townsend Project - Seams (from Ghost)
The Reasoning - 21 Grams (from And Another Thing…)

The Eighties at 8:
Yes - Leave It (from 91025)
Twelfth Night - Fact and Fiction (from Fact and Fiction)

Jethro Tull - Hunt by Numbers (from J-Tull Dot Com)
Howard Sinclair - Meaningless Mondays (from The Delicious Company of Freaks)
Airbag - No Escape (from Identity)
Spock’s Beard - Shining Star (from Feel Euphoria)
Damian Wilson - When I Leave This Land (from Cosmas)

Hope you enjoyed it…

(the Podcast of this edition of Sounds That Can Be Made can be played/downloaded here)

STCBM023: Wassail

Tonight’s Sounds That Can Be Made playlist:

Twelfth Night - Blondon Fair (from XII)
Big Big Train - Wassail (from Wassail EP)
All About Eve - Apple Tree Man (from All About Eve)
Spock’s Beard - Bennett Built a Time Machine (from The Oblivion Particle)
Maze of Time - Do Androids? (from Lullaby For Heroes)
Miosis - The Moth (from Carpito)
Hillward - Walls of Apathy (from Flies in Amber Stones)
Mystery - Wall Street King (from Delusion Rain)
Mr. So & So - Paperchase (from Truths, Lies & Half Lies)

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

To Boldly Go...

Although Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep is Spock's Beard's eleventh studio album it does mark a new stage in their evolution featuring Ted Leonard and Jimmy Keegan on vocals and drums respectively replacing Nick D'Virgilio, drummer with the band since 1992 and lead singer since 2002.

The band have used crowd funding site Indiegogo to fund the album and whilst we now wait for the physical CD to be pressed and shipped the band have released the album as a download for funders.

As is de rigueur these days there is a standard seven track version of the album and a special edition with a five track bonus disc. However, unlike many bonus discs featuring demo songs and outtakes I venture that this is one well worth getting as all bar one of the songs are unique and all are very good.

The basic album is very good. If you are a Spock's fan it hits all the right spots, Leonard sings well and was trusted enough to pen the opening song Hiding Out. Long in the tooth fans will be pleased to note that Neal Morse contributes his song writing skills to two songs and some guitar on one. The songs are all are quality with Something Very Strange the stand out track for me. Great melodies that grow on you and the sound is unmistakably Spock's Beard.

The bonus disc sees the band push the envelope a bit and allowing for the fact that two new band members led them to possibly play it a little safe on the main album, there is some interesting material on the second disc. Wish I Were Here with its wonderful guitar riff put me in mind of Kula Shaker and Down A Burning Road has some lovely Gary Moore style guitar soloing both stand out for me.

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!).