Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:06:25 — 350.7MB)
This week’s episode of The European Perspective is a sort of ‘listening party’ for the release of the new album by English proggers Tinyfish, entitled the Big Red Spark. Three years in the making this partly conceptual record cuts completely new ground for the band, and also for the genre in general, incorporating the Tinyfish brand of modern progressive rock with Robert Ramsay’s innovative use of narrative elements in both song lyrics and spoken word, and is most certainly one of the key releases of the year.
I’ve been lucky enough to have the collaboration of all of the members of the band, and particularly Simon Godfrey and Robert Ramsay, who effectively co-present this show with me. First there’s a review of the Tinyfish catalogue to date, with the tracks selected by the members of the band’s internet forum, The Fishtank. Then we examine some of the influences though a compilation of songs selected by each band member as being either influential on them as musicians, or on the Big Red Spark album itself. Finally we present the new album in its entirety, with insights from Rob and Simon on its production and content. There’s also a couple of surprises along the way!
The Big Red Spark is released on 13th September and can be pre-ordered here directly from the band’s website.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:58:20 — 341.4MB)
In the second European Perspective ‘Summer Sizzler’, lots of longer tracks from the UK, and of a more recent vintage. Wow to more Tangent and Manning! Thrill to the groove of IQ and Big Big Train! Shiver with tremors of anticipation at the thought of hearing Tinyfish and DeeExpus!
The next show will hit the download sites over the weekend of 28th/29th August. Until then, Mrs. Wilf, Spoffo and I will be lording it up in deepest Cornwall, eating pasties and generally behaving like English people on holiday. See you all then!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:04:50 — 348.9MB)
The first of two ’summer specials’ to tide all you European Perspective addicts over the next couple of weeks while I’m away in Cornwall on holiday.
The Seventies saw the advent of the prog epic, and in this show we go for a trip down memory lane and have a listen to just fifteen of the very best. Some are obvious, some not quite so, and some presented here in live versions, but one thing is for sure – it’s all cracking good stuff, and there are some pieces of music here which no progressive rock fan should be without.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:03:31 — 347.4MB)
The main feature in this week’s European Perspective is an interview with Darran Charles and Steve Roberts from Godsticks, the Welsh band who made such a hit on the progressive scene with the release of their first full-length album, Spiral Vendetta, a few weeks back. It’s always a pleasure to chat to the guys, and I hope you all enjoy the interview, which is accompanied as ever, with clips from the album. You can buy the CD from the band website at:
Elsewhere there’s the usual mixture of stuff you’ve come to expect from the show – the remaster of IQ’s era-defining second album, The Wake; new music from Wally and Acute Mind as well as four very different takes on the blanket term ‘Rock Progressivo Italiano’