Erik Norlander ~ The Galactic Collective (album review) ... Space Force won't protect you from this galactic assault!

Style: instrumental, prog-rock, hard rock
Label: Think Tank Media
Year: 2010
Home: California

Members: Erik Norlander ~ keyboards/guitars
Mark Matthews ~ bass
Nick LePar ~ drums
Freddy DeMarco ~ guitar

Additional: John Payne ~ guitar/vocals
Mitch Perry, Mark McCrite, Ron Redfield ~ guitars
Lana Lane ~ vocals


I've reviewed the live DVD of this album, but what about the original studio version? Live versions are never an exact replica of their studio counterparts as there's always a difference, whether it be instrumentation or augmented instrumentation, performers, pacing, recording & production quality, mistakes or just the sheer energy of the performer or audience at the gig. Well, take your pick whether you want to enjoy the live concert with narration & a few less guest guitarists or the studio album that inspired the concert ... you're not going to be disappointed with either of these EN releases & you might even want them both ... the DVD comes with a CD too, so you're all set for a long car ride. Both have great production quality, so that's not an issue, plus the same core group of musicians. The other fact is being instrumental music, except for some chorus vocals, with a non-improvised background, keeps the arrangements very similar in both settings. I'm sure there's a difference in the number of keyboards EN uses here versus on stage & there might be some guitar overdubs missing, but I believe only a diehard fan will get particular or anxious over those things ... the rest of us will hear the essence & not the individual tonal changes. So, all that being said, is there is a difference? Yes, this has a more layered feeling so its sounds thicker & fuller at times. Further, while the obvious focus is EN's keyboards, for me the live show with less overdubs gives a bit more prominence to his melody lines, or I should properly say they stand out more, whereas here sometimes they float into the mix & it's just this wave of sound where at times you don't know if you're a hearing a guitar or a keyboard or both. It should be noted the live DVD includes the "Astrology Suite" of "i. Astrology Prelude/ii. Secrets Of Astrology", but here's its only the "Astrology Prelude", while this album includes "Dreamcurrents" but the live concerts features the complete "Into The Sunset Suite" of "i. Sunset Prelude/ii. Into the Sunset/iii. Dreamcurrents/iv. Hymn/v. Into the Sunset Reprise/vi. Sunset Postlude". But, this CD includes "Capture The Sun" which isn't on the live DVD. Now that list might make you want to get the live album over this studio album. For those that like a prog song going into double digits of length, three of the songs here hit the ten minute mark & nothing is less than five minutes ... & never once does a song sound like it drags or needs some scissors, even with the contemplative sounding "Dreamcurrents". The live concert is obviously longer, but I personally like my prog short & to the attack. I'm more likely to listen to something for five minutes that is tight, in your face & leaving you wanting more than ten minutes that leaves me satisfied. So, if what is here or not is an issue for you consider, then do you like your prog to the point & never potentially going on too long or do you like when things are given their full fare & really developed out? As I said, either way will lead to a good buy. I do have to do a special mention of one musician in this line-up. They're all great, though I find it interesting John Payne contributes guitars & not his trademark bass, reminding us he's also quite a proficient guitarist & has played guitar on all the Asia albums. But, I find myself particularly fascinated & engrossed with the driving force & the tonal quality of bassist Mark Matthews who lays down these underlying repeated grooves for EN & the rest of the troop to play off of, but they're unlike anything I've heard. When I think prog bass I think of Chris Squire of Yes, but sadly I've never gotten into his lines as they were cosmic without the groove. This is more akin to Billy Sheehan but without the unnecessary flash. Just a nice deep low-end that keeps the songs grounded. I find myself wanting to pick up my bass to learn what he's playing. For those not familiar with this project, that spurred not just the live DVD/CD but also a DVD/CD of this album being played in the studio with great 'behind-the-scenes' explanations of each song by EN & his different keyboards, no it's not a compilation, even though that's what the word collective brought to my mind until I went through the detailed liner notes ... but, on the other hand, it is a compilation ... just with a different approach. This is a collection of EN's favorite instrumental tracks from his catalog of work including both his solo albums & bands he's been in, including going back to his first solo album Threshold in 1997. But, as is typical, these have not been haphazardly pulled together & given a greatest hits compilation ... but re-imagined & re-recorded. Basically, new versions of songs given anything from new arrangements, to new instrumentation, to a new feeling, to a fusion of the studio original with later live versions ("After The Revolution") & to songs created on the road not recorded in the studio before ("Garden Of The Moon"). All the songs have appeared repeatedly over EN's career usually through different live versions popping up with different band configurations on different albums, though "Neurosaur" & "Fanfair For Absent Friends" have actually been given new studio versions in the past. Though, as I said on review of the live DVD, I've not heard all of the source albums for the included tracks, so I can't say if these are better than the past or, except for a few I have heard, how different they are. I will assume many reading this album might be in the same position, so I'll just say on the whole you won't be disappointed. This is a prog rock album with a bit of an edge. Most prog fans that I've met love EN's work, so if you're new the comeback of the genre or like out of the ordinary rock or instrumental albums, though this is not easy listening, you won't be disappointed with this collection. & it'll be your homework to hunt up the originals & compare. For those not familiar with EN he's in my book one of the best prog-pianists in the scene, right there with Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater. His career is long & winding moving beyond his own solo albums with his band Rocket Scientists & work with his wife Lana Lane whose albums I also highly recommend, plus more famously as the keyboardist in Asia Featuring John Payne & a long catalog of session work. He also works with the Moog organization developing their new keyboards ... & even educates through his career about Moog, an instrument I never thought much of beyond a name until getting into EN. A Moog Ambassador or Ambassador of Moog? Maybe best to forget about titles & just stick with the music ... & the title for that is The Galactic Collective.

Erik Norlander ~ The Galactic Collective: Live In Gettysburg (DVD review) ... Let the battle begin!

Style: instrumental, prog-rock, hard rock
Label: Think Tank Media
Year: 2012
Home: California

Concert location: Rites Of Spring Festival, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Year Recorded: 2011
Length: 2 hours
Bonus Features: two CDs of the concert, bonus track from 2010 concert

Members: Erik Norlander ~ keyboards/narration
Mark Matthews ~ bass
Nick LePar ~ drums
Freddy DeMarco ~ guitar
Lana Lane, Debriss McKinney ~ vocals

Guest: Michelle Moog-Koussa ~ introduction

I've reviewed keyboardist-composer-pianist EN's vocalist wife Lana Lane, I've reviewed his band Asia Featuring John Payne, I've dropped his name as a favorite litmus test for contemporary prog-rock keyboardists & composers, let alone regularly encouraged the discovery of his growing catalog ... so, it's about time I finally reviewed his own work. The fact that he has two new simultaneously released DVDs, both including two CDs & detailed packaging, not just works for my schedule but is also very exciting. They're based on his earlier CD The Galactic Collective that featured reworked versions of favorite songs from his career. But, now, we get to discover the project a new way via videos of the original studio sessions, extensive interviews, alternative audio versions & a second DVD of the album & a bit more on stage. It's a grand concept of doing everything sans turning the album into a picture book or redoing it with other musicians in a self-tribute format or rearranging it for a Romanian gypsy band! Though, if EN wants to pursue any of the above ... The problem is, both as a fan & a reviewer, I don't know what to say in response either to the project as a whole, or this particular live DVD The Galactic Collective: Live At Gettysburg. What more can be said about EN that hasn't already been said by reviewers? "Keith Emerson was so impressed with EN's Threshold, that he wrote the liner notes" ... let alone handed off his keyboard tech ... "evocative synthesizer technique is reminiscent of the legendary Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson & Jon Lord, while still very unique & forward-moving in its own right" ... "all his recordings are recommended" ... "well thought out & packaged with the fan in mind" ... "EN's star is certainly in the ascendant at the moment" ... "In these days where mediocrity is celebrated & true ability often ignored it is wonderful to see a musical craftsman of EN's stature receiving praise for his many talents." I recently posted in my other blog a brief interview with Erik about the releases, where he discussed their background & his current activities, so I don't wish to repeat that here, but instead let you investigate his own words. So, I'm left with only some general off-the-cuff responses to watching him & his troupe, including wife Lane, in concert during 2011's Rites Of Spring Festival, indeed at the looming battleground. First, though I enjoy his playing I'm not obsessively familiar with it. I don't know what song reinterpreted here appeared on what album or when, nor even how it originally sounds, nor who performed it previously. I have a handful of his albums, some I've listened to & some I haven't found time for yet. For some bands who reinterpret their own catalog, knowledge of the past is part of the experience. You need the comparison to fully comprehend the new creative process & outcome. I'm reminded of the final INXS album where they brought in guests to sing all their old hits, that were reworked in every way but the familiar. Or, for example, it helps knowing Metallica before you can really enjoy Van Canto. To enjoy or not enjoy these new album you really needed to know the roots. While, for an example closer to home, John Payne of Asia re-recording older Asia songs, before his time in the band, might be decried by some long term fans but the jump isn't so big where you really don't need one to appreciate the other. So, on some level for EN's new work I might be missing out, but I don't feel the loss is that big & I don't think anyone should worry coming to the project. EN has not recrafted the songs to reflect changing bandmates, as The Galactic Collective is a new band assembled for this project with their future unknown, nor to mark a career moment or revival, nor to discover a new style of music. EN is not making a leap from prog pianist to gypsy prog king & needing to demonstrate how the old songs hold in up a new folk context. He's recrafted the songs for his own enjoyment - the end. Though, if you know of a gypsty band he might be interested ... The Galactic Collective also focuses on the instrumentals, which have sometimes gotten lost in between his vocal output. With this new band, based on his narration in the concert as he introduces each song with a little background giving the whole show an intimate feeling, he's given his works a more edgy rock feel than may have been delved into before. Certainly, the show stomps forward & is the more rock end of prog then hypnotic trance-like or drug-like, depending on the decade. It might even stomp a bit too much as, having not heard the original release or seen the companion DVD yet, I was expecting a roller-coaster of emotional contexts. Songs full of soft moments next to cacophonic prog. Extreme variation that was more akin to a greatest hits ride. There's no solo piano moments here, no Wakeman-esque flourished showcase with a spotlight only on EN, & everything is kept within a rock mood creating a sense of cohesiveness & flow. The songs meander like traditional prog, but they also stay linked into a groove that keeps things focused, courtesy of a masterful powerhouse finger aching bassist & a laidback 60's drummer who never seems to break a breath. Focus & groove is something not often distinguished in the prog vocabulary & show's the modern feel of EN's music. EN rotates his solos with guitar solos keeping things squarely in the format of rhythm section with lead melody lines versus an intertwined rock symphony. He has but two keyboards & a Moog, connected to what he calls a the Wall Of Doom a 6 console control system looming behind him, so there's not even a Rick Emerson look at me moment ... who once had 28 keyboards on stage earning him a Guinness World Record. It's rather modest. While the prog side of me was expecting a bit more variation, at the same time keeping things largely within the same mood means this will be equally enjoyed by the non-prog enthusiast who doesn't want the instrumental spirals & cacophony that the genre is gluttonously famous for. This is not a show that's going to get maudlin. Uplifting is the key word. Vibrant alongside it. Thus, unintentionally, the subtle nature of EN's playing, though still prominent with his trademark heavy use of vibrato, tends to be more a bridge between big moments than a focus. Since most of the songs are instrumentals the focus is undoubtedly on EN who plugs out the melody line. EN fans tend to be divided over if they prefer better his instrumental or vocal works. This is certainly his show, even if some of the songs were written with others in mind. Certainly, with a vocalist he's forced to step back more often than not, while the instrumentals force a lead instrument to come forward. There's a few vocals here with Lana Lane taking the center spotlight & a backing vocalist who often sings sounds over words, something that has a great effect. In the end, its nice seeing both aspects of EN's music in the live venue. As it is, most of us aren't used to a solely instrumental show. As for guitarist Freddy DeMarco, he doesn't overplay, though he does turn in a lot of semi-shredder solos that feel a bit more showy than the music might really need. It would be interesting hearing EN expand his band a bit to including an additional non-rock guitarist, such as a flamenco or classical player, allowing both the rock & non-rock style to sit side by side. Though, for DeMarco's credit he does show a lot of courage by playing the guitar with a violin bow, as made famous by Jimmy Page & barely repeated since, & doesn't show-off or so much solo but actually uses it as a strange new sound. For those wondering, no, this does not sound like Rocket Scientists or Asia Featuring John Payne or a Lana Lane concert. EN's troupe has its own particular feeling. Perhaps, a bit more rock than EN's other efforts. Also to be noted, Michelle Moog-Koussa, the daughter of of the famed inventor introduces the show ... with a bit of an academic style versus lets get rocked. It keeps sets a tone immediately of an intimate show, which really this feels. The only bonus tracks on this DVD is a clip of Lana Lane's "Garden Of The Moon" live in Cleveland, 2010, though sans Lane. A great little song but some odd camera views, going from static balcony to oddly angled onstage shots & a wobbly back of the audience shot that ties to show the full experience of the theater but fails. It's obviously something that wasn't intended as anything but a rough record of the experience, probably never meant for public consumption. It merits inclusion as its the stage debut of this line-up. The real bonus is in the linear notes which includes lots of photos, an extensive essay of the equipment by his keyboard tech who previously worked for Emerson, lyrics to the few non-instrumentals - though there's a bit too much reliance on rhyming Jon Anderson-esque cosmic sounding lyrics that luckily sound far less cliched when Lane sings them - & an essay on the background of the project by EN himself. The two bonus CDs reproduce the entire concert sans the introductions, making it feel like a slightly different experience. Some live concerts require the visual, while others just aren't that interesting visually. Being stuck immobile behind a keyboard may not be the most exciting thing, but watching EN casually work his magic in front of his Wall Of Doom has its treats ... while listening to it with only one's thoughts has its own set of treats.

Lana Lane ~ El Dorado Hotel (album review) ... With candy on the pillow!

Stye: progressive
Label: Think Tank Media
Year: 2012
Home: California

Members: Lana Lane ~ vocals
Erik Norlander ~ keyboards/guitars/bass/programming

Guests: John Payne ~ b. vocals/mandolin
Guthrie Govan, Bruce Bouillet, Freddy DeMarco, Neil Citron ~ guitars
Mark McCrite ~ guitars/bass/mandola/programming/hand claps/b. vocals
Don Schiff ~ stick bass/hand claps
Mark Matthews ~ bass
Jay Schellen ~ drums

In high school my musical tastes made me a total retro geek. Besides the Top 40 bands on the grunge dominated scene I tended to find comfort within a couple genres: classic jazz, blues & 70's prog, all of them feeding into each other as the prog rockers wanted to be jazzbos & the blues-rooted jazzbos inspired the prog rockers. I went nuts over the multiple layers of Yes, decrying Pink Floyd who weren't doing enough. I eventually moved away from the prog-rock genre as I felt the movement to be dead with the dawn of the 80's & in the 90's whatever scene did exist was too far underground for my reach & what was above ground I'd felt I'd exhausted or was just not interested in. Unbeknownst to me the scene was still alive & much larger than expected, but so many of the older bands were out of print &/or somewhat obscure, while contemporaries such as Radiohead, Dream Theater, Asia & Marillion were too far from what I defined as prog proper. I've since come to have an appreciation for these groups & how they were keeping a movement alive by molding it to new musical trends & influences. But, at heart I've remained a child of the 70's template: the wandering staircase guitar solos, elaborate keyboard hurricane interludes, multi-part songs, odd dynamic rhythms, symphonic wind tunnels & esoteric mysterious lyrics. Though, as all prog fans know, sometimes this could all get disastrously carried away into the land of uninspired directionless rambling. In the last decade not just have there been discoveries & reissues of long lost forgotten bands but current musicians have worked on bringing back what made the 70's scene so exciting & stripping away that which came later making it stale & pretentious & over-commercialized. Vocalist LL is one of the keepers of the traditional flame bringing prog-rock into a new century pulling together all that has come before while still tapping into all that modern musical trends & technology can offer to heighten the experience. There's quite a handful of folks out there keeping prog alive, particularly in the metal world that has largely adopted the form as its own, but most are instrumentalists with few nameable solo vocalists outside of Yes's Jon Anderson. LL is thus largely playing her own game, particularly as a woman vocalist, & she's playing with bursts of fire tamed & controlled with mesmerizing creativity. Her name may not be familiar to many readers but LL is no new face on the block. She's been on the scene for at least 15 years, 10 studio albums & toured extensively with the Rocket Scientists & The Galactic Collective. After a five year gap since her last solo album LL returns with the unassumingly titled El Dorado Hotel. As always, she's accompanied by keyboardist/songwriter & husband Erik Norlander, the king of prog-rock piano if Jordan Rudess ever decides to vacate his popularly chosen title. Filling in the holes is an array of friends including the entire line-up of Norlander's other gig Asia Featuring John Payne including former guitarist Guthrie Goven, plus Mark Matthews & Freddy DeMarco from Norlander's Galactive Collective which also includes LL, while Mark McCrite, Neil Citron & Don Schiff go back to LL's 1995 debut. In this tapestry called El Dorado Hotel don't look for allusions to Hotel California ... except that both are welcoming the listener to another world, though in the Eagles case it was a single hotel while for LL it's a world in ten epics. In LL's world are thick crunchy chords of guitars & keyboards that might today be called prog-metal but once upon a time could be heard with abandon in Yes ... lacing together a musical tour-de-force that doesn't fall into the trap of overly technical solos that drag down the energy & focus ... while Norlander makes the keyboard sound like everything but a keyboard & sometimes his illusion makes one question if he's actually keeping a full orchestra in his studio that he's forgotten to give linear note credit to ... highlighted by comforting vocals that go from a whisper to the cries of Athena giving courage as a battle of feelings, emotions & passing moments is waged ... with gothic shadows haunting the turns of the soldiers. LL doesn't necessarily have the most immediately recognizable voice. It's not crooked like Greg Lake nor does it dominate or try to cut through the music like Jon Anderson, but instead glides over & through the music riding it like waves ... accentuating it. Part of the hidden magic of El Dorado Hotel is how it's a journey of interlaced ideas & images ... the droplets of one song spawning the ocean of the next. The El Dorado Hotel is not a particular place but mystical metaphor for the past, present & future. The addictive rock opener "A Dream Full Of Fire", that will have one hitting repeat to hear it again & again forgetting that it's not the only song to be heard, sets the journey in motion with: "A hot summer rain washes away/all the tears of yesterday/& when it is done/the afterglow/you'll finally know/which way to go". Knowing which way to go after moving away from yesterday's pain - this is a journey of beginnings. As the traveler takes to the road maybe we'll meet again after years gone by (i.e "Maybe We'll Meet Again") in our current travels (i.e. "El Dorado"). But, don't assume it's a movement from place to place as it could just as likely be from hopes & dreams to differing hopes & dreams, for cannot the traveler "hear El Dorado calling you/like a dream out of the blue" (from "El Dorado"), as it's hopes & dreams that makes things possible in the end (i.e. "Darkness Falls"). Yet, within this there's also to be found fear, sorrow & loneliness (i.e. "Darkness Falls", "Hotels"). But, only at the lowest point can the traveler finally truly move forward as "we've got a new life/& we're leavin' today" (from "Believe") bringing celebration at the closing of the day(i.e "Life Of The Party"). Yet, don't be surprised as what happens after a party is a new day laced with fading memories of the night before (i.e. "Gone Are The Days") & uninvited ghosts that call out the traveler's name (i.e "Moon God"). Suddenly the traveler has gone from moving forward to being stuck in the past ... its this return to the beginning, to the "tears of yesterday" & "afterglow", with which comes the revelation that there is "a place in the sun at the end of the world/you think about he days & nights that brought you to this place". Everything comes back to the start because "you can be anyone cause you are free" ("Exile"). So, however far one travels the secret in the end is not where we've gone or where we're going but where we want to go. The ebb & flow of the songs on El Dorado Hotel is nearly magical. It's the long lost art of programming & not the modern artless world of singles. Some, maybe even LL & Norlander, might say that this is no concept album & there's no story. But, if laying songs together in a particular order can make something appear that isn't intended to be there ... that's called musical magic, & maybe then there really isn't a story after all, it's just a dream ... just another lonely hotel. There's repetition in the ideas of the songs but not in the music itself & one will be dragged away into a cornucopia of musical ideas that somehow remain uncluttered, but yet they also require more than a casual listen to get the full power of the instrumentation & arrangements. Heavy metal breaks with flights of Yanni-esque ambiance sit aside each other comfortably & there should be no surprise if a gypsy melody comes floating along (i.e. "A Dream Full Of Fire") or a Spanish guitar (i.e. "El Dorado"), while even synthesized vocals don't sound out of place (i.e. "Believe") though they are a bit discerning. The art of lengthy songs, or those over 8 minutes, even by such stalwarts as Yes, has always been a tricky game as many languish just as they attempt to get off the ground. LL & company soar instantly at take-off. Some prog albums are solo after solo or jerkily cut from one section to another but these songs are finely crafted with graceful transitions where the transition vanish into the mix versus interrupting it. There's nothing worse than a prog-rock epic that sounds like it was numerous songs stuck together. These songs flow so much together that under a distracted listen one might think it's all one grand symphonic piece. Which, honestly, might be the biggest problem with the release. Prog rock has never been meant for casual listening. This is a crafted album. But, do people have the attention span any more to give it anything but a one ear listen? Will anyone be able to hear the music as it moves from the eye of the storm to the winds themselves to safety far away? Will anyone care that LL & Norlander are a rare breed of craftsman in a modern age when electronics make even the craftsman lazy? Will anyone hear this as more than just a collection of genre-expanding songs? Check them out & come to your own decision ... it's such a lovely place, a lovely face ...