Pass the clock (Mostly Autumn) (LP 3287 - 3289)

Mostly Autumn  Passengers (CD, Classic Rock Legends Records, 2003) ****  

Mostly Autumn  Storms Over London Town (CD, Mostly Autumn Records, 2006) **** 

Mostly Autumn  That Night In Leamington (2CD, Mostly Autumn Records, 2011) *** 

Genre: Prog rock

Places I remember: HMV, Fives, Fopp.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pass The Clock Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Gear costume: Spirit Of Autumn Past

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: I happened upon Mostly Autumn via a sampler (called Shine On) from Classic Rock magazine. Their song, Pass The Clock Parts 1, 2, & 3 clicked with me instantly. The cover of that sampler says '100% guaranteed goblin-free zone' and introduces '12 tracks of epic ambient symphonic metal and frankly mad new prog'. Bang on!  

BTW - It's a great sampler - it introduced me to Riverside, Porcupine Tree, The Flower Kings, Frost and Spock's Beard, as well as Mostly Autumn.

Speaking of which... their guitar heavy prog rock sound is at the Pink Floyd (Dave Gilmour influenced version) end of the spectrum, so it was a bit of a no-brainer that I would latch onto them.  

Storms Over London Town was the first Mostly Autumn album that I found in Fives, just a minute's walk from where we lived in Leigh-on-sea. I instantly fell for the band and this album. 

It is full on and glorious in its embrace of almost metal prog. The classic rock sound of co-lead vocalists Heather Findlay and Bryan Josh (Mostly Autumn is mostly his baby) won me over completely.

The band has gone through many line-up changes over the years (Pete Frame is sorely needed with his family tree chart) but Heather and Bryan are on all of these three albums.

The fact it's a single album live album also works in its favour - no flab - just killer song after killer song!  

Passengers is the only studio album I own by the band but it houses Pass The Clock Parts 1 to 3 which I still love to bits.

The double live album That Night In Leamington, celebrates Heather's last efforts with the band before leaving to go solo. Being a double it's not as cohesive as Storms Over London Town but it still gives a worthwhile overview to the band's career to that point.  

Where do they all belong? Always keen to find more of their albums but nothing doing in NZ record shops I'm afraid.

Rising power (Steve Morse) (LP 3286)

Steve Morse Band  Out Standing In Their Field (CD, Eagle Rock Records, 2009) ****  

Genre: Prog rock, Rock 

Places I remember: Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Name Dropping

Gear costume: Rising Power (Live)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: This is an instrumental guitar shredding album but different to others I own by Joe Satriani, Stevie Vai and Jeff Beck. They are each pretty distinctive players and while I own a gazillion Satriani albums I only have the one by Steve.

It's fitting that he follows Neal Morse in my collection because the two of them are similar in their love of playing in collaborative settings. Steve is well known from playing in Deep Purple, Kansas and Dixie Dregs (all of whom have appeared already in this blog).

He also has a prolific solo career. This is his eleventh! He is not just a Led Zeppelin/ Deep Purple loving guitarist, he plays a variety of styles on this album with his power trio.

If you love guitar-driven rock music without vocals and you love Joe Satriani, then you must have a listen to this album.

Where do they all belong? An underrated guitarist. Fits right in to the possie next to Neal (no relation).

Smoke and mirrors (Neal Morse) (LP 3285)

Neal Morse  Momentum (CD, Radiant Records, 2012) ****  

Genre: Prog rock 

Places I remember: HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Thoughts Part 5 (not on Spotify)

Gear costume: Momentum

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: Neal is a prolific musician and a great collaborator. I have albums by Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, Flying Colors (who have already appeared), and this solo album - his ninth! There are tons of other albums listed in his discography.

Yes, it's prog Jim, but he can do powerpop, straight rock and jazz rock as well, and often in the same song! Take Thoughts Part 5 as exhibit A. It sounds like a mix of Jellyfish, Dream Theatre and Living Color.

Neal also sounds a bit like McCartney at times (the Wings version) which is also very cool with me. The lengthy prog wig out track (World Without End) is epic in a Dream Theater sort of way, which is appropriate as Mike Portnoy is the drummer on Momentum.

Where do they all belong? Spock's Beard and Transatlantic to come.