Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (2005)

If any band leads the charge, bringing progressive-rock back to the great unwashed masses, it may well be Porcupine Tree. For almost a decade and a half, the English band, led by singer, songwriter and guitarist Steven Wilson, has forged a career by tempering prog-rock tendencies with hard rock sensibilities. Unlike other leading lights in the modern prog movement such as Spock’s Beard or the Flower Kings, bands that take their cue from ‘70s-era progmasters like Yes or King Crimson, Porcupine Tree instead follows a path more similar to Pink Floyd. Throw in a strong measure of NWOBM reliance on startling guitar riffs; add elements of lush, ‘90s-vintage 4AD label atmospherics and stir well with Wilson’s self-taught musical genius and you’ll have the sound of Porcupine Tree.

The eighth studio effort from Porcupine Tree, and only the band’s second album to receive any sort of significant stateside distribution, Deadwing is a magnificent collection of songs with easy appeal to both the mainstream music fan and the diehard prog-rocker. The album opens with the nine-minute-plus title cut, a stunning musical tour de force that never loses steam no matter how many twists and turns the song takes. Infected with an overall moody ambience, Wilson’s somber lyrics are supported by taut leads and blazing riffs, tribal drumbeats and Richard Barbieri’s magnificent keyboard wizardry. The wiry guitar solo in the middle of the song is provided courtesy of Adrian Belew, a well respected fretmaster with credentials from both the prog-rock and art-rock worlds.

Deadwing gets a little heavier with “Shallow,” a riff-happy rocker that edges into industrial territory, swinging back towards sanity before Trent Reznor comes knocking at the door. Alternately both brutally electric and gently melodic, the song’s theme of technological alienation stands in stark contrast to “Lazarus,” a pastoral composition with fine vocal harmonies and beautifully constructed instrumental passages. “Halo” ventures into horror-rock territory, echoed vocals and monster rhythms counterbalanced by a harmonic chorus with its roots in hard-rocking ‘90s-era grunge.

The band is at its most progressive with the twelve-minute “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here,” the song’s breathtaking instrumentation incorporating elements of swirling psychedelica, Eno-styled ambient electronics and classic, ‘70s-vintage prog-rock song structure. The punchy “Open Car” may be as close to a single release as Deadwing ventures; with its monstrous riffing and larger-than-life vibe the song sojourns into prog-metal territory and would fit perfectly into a modern rock radio format.

Handling vocals, guitars and some secondary keyboards, Wilson’s talents are abundant. Every wunderkind needs players to push them towards greatness, however, and Porcupine Tree offers an impressive collection of instrumental virtuosos. Richard Barbieri, who cut his teeth with groundbreaking ‘80s-era new wave art-rock band Japan, brings a classical element to the band, his keyboard and synth creations providing the underlying structure for Wilson’s complex, extravagant compositions. Bassist Colin Edward is more than mere background scenery, his fills and occasional leads providing the band’s sound with a heavy bottom end while drummer Gavin Harrison brings an explosive hard rock mentality to the material. Altogether, the band’s musical chemistry is quite impressive, the foursome creating a tapestry of sound and emotion that is ambitious in scope and invigorating in its results. Poised on the brink of U.S. stardom, Porcupine Tree is ready for you…but are you ready for Porcupine Tree? (Atlantic Records)

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Spock's Beard - Gluttons For Punishment (2005)

The remaining members of Spock’s Beard had a lot to live up to when founding member and songwriter Neal Morse left the band a couple of years back. The major architect of the trademark Spock’s sound, Morse’s departure forced the other band members to step up and take the reins of the popular prog-rock trailblazers. With drummer Nick D’Virgilio assuming lead vocal duties and underrated guitarist Al Morse stepping into the spotlight more often, the band took on a harder, rock-oriented edge with its two post-Neal albums, Feeling Euphoria and Octane. The band developed a collective approach to songwriting that took advantage of their individual strength’s, bringing in friend John Boeghold for lyrical assistance where needed.

All that was missing was for the “new” band to establish its identity as a top-notch performance outfit, a questionable goal they seem to have rapidly achieved. After all, this is basically the same batch of guys that recorded such classic modern prog albums as The Light and Beware Of Darkness. Morse’s abdication changed the band’s sound and, perhaps, its focus but the talent and instrumental creativity remained in place. As documented by Gluttons For Punishment, the first live set from Spock’s Beard, version II, any questions about the band’s performance skills were absurd from the beginning.

Recorded during Spock’s Beard’s Spring 2005 European tour, Gluttons For Punishment, Live In ‘05 effectively recreates the recent Octane album almost in its entirety and in virtually the same running order as the studio original. Although it’s unusual for a band to release a live disc in such close proximity to a studio album, the clamoring of fans evidently tipped the band’s hand. There is some embroidery provided the studio versions of the Octane songs, albeit very little, and although the performances are dynamic and multi-layered, one can’t help but wonder what a little more time might have added to these songs in the way of instrumental interpretation.

The band all but ignores its recent Feeling Euphoria album, covering only two of that disc’s songs in “The Bottom Line” and “Ghosts Of Autumn,” alongside a sparse selection of songs from earlier Spock’s releases. “Harm’s Way,” from 1998’s The Kindness Of Strangers, provides an ample dose of keyboard wizard Ryo Okumoto’s mad riffing while also offering an excellent showcase for Al Morse’s understated and elegant fretwork. V’s “At The End Of The Day” kicks off the second disc, D’Virgilio’s vocals taking the song in different directions than Morse’s original reading, the tune benefiting from some improvisational jazz-rock fusion styled passages. Since taking over as the band’s frontman, D’Virgilio vocals have steadily improved, the talented drummer also forging a distinctive vocal identity around the band’s evolving sound.

Nowhere is D’Virgilio’s confidence more evident than on the album-closing, nearly twenty-minute revisiting of “The Light” from the very first Spock’s Beard album. The vocalist stretches his talents to their limits in recreating the roller-coaster highs and lows and dangerous curves of the song’s lengthy and varied performance. Given new muscle by the various players’ more aggressive direction, “The Light” is both a reminder of the past and a bridge to the band’s musical future. Spock’s Beard remains one of the most intriguing and innovative bands on the modern progressive rock landscape, a wonderful match of talents and musical chemistry that has continuously moved forward for over 20 years. Gluttons For Punishment, Live In ’05 is a fair snapshot of this moment in time for Spock’s Beard, an entertaining and exhilarating performance from one of the guiding lights of the current prog-rock movement. (Inside Out Music)

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Frank Black - Honeycomb (2005)

When Nashville indie record store owner Mike “Grimey” Grimes told me about sitting in on a Frank Black recording session a year or so ago, the time and setting seemed unlikely. After all, Black was about to launch a full-fledged Pixies reunion tour, giving fans that missed the band the first time around a taste of what all the brouhaha was about in the first place. However, Grimey waxed ecstatic about Black playing off of a veritable “who’s who” of legendary Southern musicians in the Music City studio, promising an eye-opening CD as the result of the four-day working weekend.

Black’s Honeycomb is the result of those recording sessions, an uncharacteristic collection of traditional songs that incorporate elements of Southern soul, alt-country and roots rock. Fifteen, sixteen years ago, when the Pixies ruled the indie-rock roost with a barrage of amplifier squall, fractured vocals and discordant six-string work, Honeycomb would have been a radical departure for the American idol known as Black Francis. After nearly a decade and a half of a scattershot solo career that has seen the one-time poster child for alt-rock defiance careen off varying musical styles and styles of vocal delivery, Honeycomb instead serves as another indicator of Black’s seemingly bottomless well of talent.

As stated above, for his Nashville side trip, Black recruited some of the true giants of Southern music to back him in the studio. Among the players on Honeycomb are Steve Cropper, better known for his role in the two Blues Brothers movies than for his groundbreaking guitarwork and songwriting at Stax studios in Memphis; pianist Spooner Oldham, a Muscle Shoals veteran and accomplished Memphis songwriter; and bassist David Hood, an integral piece of the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Throw in well-traveled drummer Anton Fig and guests like Reggie Young, Buddy Miller and Ellis Hooks and you have better than two centuries of combined musical talent. The whole affair was brought together by noted producer/musician/songwriter Jon Tiven and captured on tape by legendary songwriter/producer Dan Penn.

The results of Black’s dream project are evident in the songs on Honeycomb. Perhaps Black’s most personal and reflective collection to date, the singer sounds downright wistful at times, many songs alternately both joyful and melancholy. With these topnotch studio professionals behind him, Black delves deep into the realities of romance and relationships, life and death with material that, at times, veers dangerously close to foppish singer/songwriter territory. Black’s collaborators prevent their morose frontman from plunging headfirst into the abyss of self-pity, though, with a loose funky groove, the subdued soundtrack propping up Black’s often somber vocals.

Black also pays homage to both the players he’s sharing the moment with and to his deep-rooted musical inspirations, covering songs by both Dan Penn and Doug Sahm. On the Penn/Chips Moman classic “Dark End Of The Street,” Black plays it straight with soulful vocals and a dark, subtle arrangement that redefine the song in a way that makes it sound like you’re hearing it for the first time. Black has a little more fun with Sahm’s “Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day,” capturing a laid-back feel with a bit of a Tex-Mex vibe. Combining a strong set of songs with spectacular musical performances, Honeycomb is an unlikely but welcome direction for Frank Black’s solo work and, like Grimey proclaimed those many months ago, a hell of a lot of fun. (Back Porch Records)

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The Fleshtones - Beachhead (2005)

It’s hard to believe that the Fleshtones have been banging away at it for damn near thirty years. With more than a dozen albums and several thousand raucous live performances under their collective belts, one would think that these garage-rock greybeards would be running out of steam by now…and you’d be dead wrong, chuckles! While the band’s 2003 album Can You Swing? effectively resurrected the Fleshtones and placed them back at the forefront of the rock & roll pecking order where they belong, Beachhead stands as the band’s magnum opus. A culmination of three decades of blood, sweat and beers, this is the one Fleshtones disc where it all comes together.

Working with two quite different producers in two distinctly varied environments, the band has managed to perfectly capture its eclectic musical mix of Sky Saxon, Chuck Berry, Dick Dale and Stax soul. While Jim Diamond brings a certain contemporary street cred to the Fleshtones sound – the in-demand producer working with the band in his Ghetto Recorders studio in Detroit – Rick Miller of Southern Culture On The Skids adds a classic rock vibe to the tracks recorded at his Kudzu Ranch. Mix the results up in the final track listing and these two sides of the same coin meld together to present the indomitable rock & roll spirit of the Fleshtones in the best light possible.

The larger-than-life “Pretty Pretty Pretty,” driven by Keith Streng’s guitar and Pete Zaremba’s keyboard riffing, has received weekly airplay on Little Steven’s Underground Garage syndicated radio program, and for good reasons. The sound is all deliciously greasy meat and fried potatoes. Zaremba’s yelping vocals provide a sucker punch to your eardrums while the band rifles through your belongings for loose change. “You Never Know” nicks the guitar intro from “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” fattening it up with flange and reverb and reclaiming it for the ages, Zaremba’s snottier-than-thou vox channeled directly from the ghost of some long-dead teen vocalist from 1965. “I Want The Answers” is a case study in rock & roll primitivism, the song’s swelling six-string crescendos and nonsensical lyrics adding to, rather than subtracting from the tune’s party-time vibe.

The Fleshtones have long eschewed the “garage rock” label, preferring their own term “super rock.” It’s an apt description, given the Fleshtones sound and unflagging dedication to the truth and beauty of rock & roll. Regardless of what you want to call it, the Fleshtones have consistently cranked out entertaining music for the better part of thirty years, and Beachhead is no exception. (Yep Roc Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Beachhead from Amazon.com)