This weekend I am spinning a theme: I am only playing tracks with ghost, angel, demon, devil, spirit, haunted or supernatural in the title.
Attention! Europe switches back to Normal Time, while Northern America stays in Summer Time. Please check the times!
Symmetry is the twenty-third studio album by Canadian rock band Saga. For fans there is bad news and good news. The bad news is that the album does not contain brand new material. Instead it contains acoustic versions of previously released songs. And now the good news is, Saga re-invented their tunes augmented with new interludes with surprising arrangements in a way that it sounds astonishingly fresh and sometimes even better than the original. The playful acoustic guitars, which creatively intertwine with the vocals and the other instruments, and the use of cello, violins, clarinet, accordion and piano give the tunes a folk-ish, classical and world music touch. Now and then the British progressive folk band Gryphon comes to mind. Especially the re-imagining of their big hits 'Wind Him Up' and 'No Regrets' are truly stunning listening experiences.
Fitting to this month the featured album of this weekend is an album by Oktober.
Oktober is an obscure German band who released 3 albums between 1976-1979. The band's name is a reference to the October Revolution of 1917. They were one of several so called German 'polit rock' bands of that time similar to Floh de Cologne, Ton Steine Scherben, Lokomotive Kreuzberg and others. These bands emerged after the 1968 protest movement as part of the extra-parliamentary opposition in West Germany. Common to all of them were lyrics sung in German with a political agenda against the ruling political system and the establishment.
The debut album of Oktober is called 'Uhrsprung', which is a creative composition of the words 'Uhr' (clock) and 'Sprung' (leap). Both words together can associate with a clock that is ticking, a time that will come and the word 'Ursprung' which means origin. The vocals are sung in a theatrical manner like a layman choir, not in the way of trained singers, because they represent the voices of the common people who declaim against the system, proclaim demands and dream of a better future.
The album consists of 5 tracks. The first three Familie (family), Schule (school) and Betrieb (work place) focus on the areas of life, where the person experience oppression. The forth song Staat und Solidaritätslied (state and solidarity song) is about the political fight in the state, and the last song Der Traum des Schmieds (dream of a blacksmith) is a dream about the awakening of the workers class.
The musical style is pure high quality progressive rock similar to Yes, Genesis, ELP or Gentle Giant. Notwithstanding these influences, the band manage to create an own distinctive sound with excellent instrument playing throughout on the symphonic side of prog. Unlike in Anglo-American countries, in Germany there is a strict separation between 'popular/rock/jazz music' and 'classical music'. Crossing the borders between rock and classical, as is done here, can be regarded as an affront against the establishment, so the use of this style is not surprising. It can be seen as the music of the future, where its 'progressiveness' is meant in the sense of historical advancement.
Gentle Giant was formed in 1970 in London, UK. They have released 11 studio albums and then disbanded in 1980. Gentle Giant was one of the ground-breaking bands of the 70s, together with King Crimson, Yes and Genesis, who defined what progressive rock is about. With great musicality they merged classical and rock music in a way never heard of before, also combining rock instruments with violins, oboe, cello, horns, trumpet, vibraphone and many more. Very influential also for other progressive rock bands were their vocal harmonies, which were inspired by the counterpoint use in classical choral fugues. The featured album of this weekend is their 4th studio album 'Octopus' (1972).
No streaming from DJ Exiles this weekend, sorry!
Next streaming will be on the weekend October 9th/10th.
Don't miss streaming from DJ Ant on Thursdays!
Prog on and see you next time!