Author, reviewer and music lover Kev Rowland has become a household name for those people who read most of our articles. They tell you that Kev comes from the UK where he wrote for Feedback magazine. That he emigrated to New Zealand in 2006, but never stopped writing reviews for other magazines and websites such as Progarchives. And you know he occasionally wrote for our website as well. They also can tell you that Rowland published four volumes of his Progressive Underground books which includes many of his written reviews. All of them have been reviewed on our website. And now we can welcome The Progressive Underground Volume Five. Lucky enough for me a copy was sent to review the latest edition of the very interesting Progressive Underground books. Again it is a book which you absolutely should not miss if you are really into progressive rock and want to discover new acts. Also if you need some advice ,if certain releases in this genre are worth checking out or buying. Because you can always overlook several releases which you should have in your CD collection . Therefore a guide book like this one is certainly worth reading. Even for myself I found album releases of acts I wasn't even aware of and tried to find them on the internet to check them out. Again has this book a great cover design and illustrations which were done by Martin Springett. The foreword and comments are by several people who know something of this musical genre. You can read the friendly words by label owner Nick Katona and from the two musicians Steve Bonino and Peter Matuchniak. Volume 5, which starts in 2014 and takes us into 2018. Of course everything is in alphabetical order. Next to the many album reviews there are also a few interviews and concert reviews which you can find towards the end of the book. You can read two well written concert reviews of Yes and Steve Hackett. Interviews include people such as Robert Berry. Speaking about his work with Keith Emerson and their band 3 and the follow up albums. Just as I did in 2018 with Berry. Also, the earlier mentioned Steve Bonino is included, and the Australian multi-instrumentalist Mark Healy is there to talk about his Hibernal project. As always Kev and myself share most of the time the same kind of musical taste concerning what you can find on all those many album releases. Only a few times not sharing my opinion about a certain album. Even this time I couldn't find many. I read that the Swedish band Hidden Lands is not really his cup of tea according to the review he did about Halcyon which was released 2017. A band which I certainly like according to the reviews which I did myself in the past. Please check out the reviews of In Our Nature (2012, see review) and Lycksalighetens ö (2014, see review) and you will read a different musical opinion about this wonderful band. Finally the comparison between my review and what Kev said about Sophya Baccini's Aradia and their album Big Red Dragon. He wrote;"A very clever album, but just not for me". I wrote;"Big Red Dragon is a unique and challenging album that could be cherished by many devotees of prog rock, that is, if they're willing to take the time to listen to it more than once. I regard it to be an incredible piece of art that definitely can be recommended to people who love a mixture of classical music and rock themes. So my compliments for Sophya Baccini, who took a risk by taking this musical journey during which she transposed many of Blake's paintings to wonderfully sounding compositions! So, well done indeed!". So there you go. He agrees about this special work , but he couldn't enjoy it as I did. Maybe he wasn't willing to take the time to listen to it more than once. Or too many other reviews were waiting to be done. I'll have to ask I guess! Compared to the reviews I wrote myself on our website he is very positives about albums such as 4 Destinies (2014, see review) by Alex Carpani or Life Is...(2014, see review) by Susan Clynes. And what about Rhetoric (2005, see review) the excellent album made by Credo? We share the same thoughts about this amazing album. Also with the release of Blue (2014, see review) by Eyesberg we are both very positive. We both also discovered the rather unknown Australian project Hibernal and are very positive about their album The Machine (2013, see review). Take for example PBII from the Netherlands and their album Plastic Soup (2010, see review). like myself he enjoys the music made by Michel van Wassem (keyboards, vocals), Ronald Brautigam (guitars, vocals) and Tom van der Meulen (drums), which were members of Plackband, also known as the Dutch Genesis, before they released this album. But also many albums I didn't review myself but found very good were in his book. Like Power And Outcome by the Mexican band Cast. However the album in his book has the title Power & The Glory. Of course very old Progheads, like myself, do know that The Power And The Glory is an excellent album of Gentle Giant released in 1974. Kev was also rather positive about the Italian Isproject and their album The Archinauts (2014, see review) compared to what our reviewer Alison Reijman thought about the album. His thoughts are the same as mine about The Darkened Room (2009, see review) made by the American band IZZ compared to what our reviewer André de Waal wrote about this excellent album. Kev wrote; "If you like progressive rock, then this is an album you must get and once you have fallen in love with this as I have, then there is plenty more out there to discover". Probably meaning check out all the other albums released by this amazing band from the USA. He is also positive about Jean-Pierre Louveton, initiator of the French progressive band Nemo and guitarist for Wolfspring, and all of his solo albums under the moniker of JPL since 2002. I couldn't agree more! Also he is very positive about the albums made by the Polish acts Mindfields and Moonrise, just like myself. Kev is also into progressive rock from the Netherlands, the country I am living in. I mentioned PBII and their album Plastic Soup. Also the band Silhouette is mentioned. The band's latest effort The World Is Flat (And Other Alternative Facts) (2017, see review) gets his approvals However he only reviewed one other studio album they released. Only Across The Rubicon (see review), the album which was made five years earlier, was reviewed by Kev in a positive way. Just like myself he gave it four stars. He missed three albums, including their masterpiece Beyond The Seventh Wave (2014, see review).Which he got to hear when he heard the band's live album Staging the Seventh Wave (2017, see review) which I also reviewed myself. The album includes a complete live version of this release. Maybe a bit strange that Kev missed all those releases knowing that he is a rather well know reviewer in the progressive rock scene. But I guess you can't hear everything. It happens to me too unfortunately. Of course Kev doesn't like everything and sometimes we have common acts on our lists of less interesting act or albums. Just like some of the albums released by Norwegian band Gazpacho or the German act t. Better known as Thomas Thielen. The German multi-instrumentalist, singer, writer, producer and control freak. But Kev also comes up with album reviews of acts I didn't know before. Some of those albums I liked some of those I didn't. But this book once showed me that there is much more out there to discover music wise. And that's what this book is all about. We call that broadening your musical horizons. And of course this book isn't about what I like or what Kev likes. Or what kind of musical taste we share together. Surely not. It's about the reviews of Mr. Rowland. Which are always well written and includes all the information you want to know when you read a review. Musical references, short bios, line ups, year of release, discography and sometimes personal inside stories. It's all included. As it should be. This is again a must have for all progressive rock lovers who want to discover more of the rather unfamiliar acts. I will end this review once again as I did on the others:"All I can say is if you are a true proghead this book should be in your library of progressive rock literature. Because it's a great work. A book to be considered of superior or lasting artistic merit. Thanks Kev for keeping the progressive rock flame burning!". **** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Kev Rowland @ Gonzo Publishing Where to buy Gonzo Publishing Review Progressive Underground Vol1 Review Progressive Underground Vol2 Review Progressive Underground Vol3 Review Progressive Underground Vol4 |
