[Rick and Roll]

First up is the full CD by Oblivion Sun. They are Frank Wyatt and Stan Whitaker of Happy The Man, Bill Plummer on keys, Dave DeMarco on bass, and the excellent Chris Mack on drums.

Plummer, Wyatt, and Whitaker each contribute three songs, with some surprisingly crunchy selections by Whitaker. Frank Wyatt's songs are consistently nice, and Plummer's highlight is "Re:Bootsy", which was named as such because the one and only Bootsy Collins heard the track and loved it.

Fanfare (Wyatt)
The Ride (Whitaker)
Noodlepoint (Plummer)
Catwalk (Wyatt)
No Surprises (Whitaker)
Re: Bootsy (Plummer)
Chapter 7.1 (Whitaker)
Tales of Young Whales (Plummer)
Golden Feast (Wyatt)

This should be available this week, I bought a promo copy. It's a must have.

Next up is the excellent band "Three". Anyone who has seen Porcupine Tree on the current tour can attest to their dynamic show. the music may be a bit heavy at times for some, but it's very progressive. The songs can go from sounding like Ayreon to pop to metal. But the songwriting of Joey Eppard is fantastic, and his acoustic guitar playing is amazing. The other highlight for me is Chris Gartmann, who plays the drums with ferocity and technicality. I spent a good deal of time on Sunday talking to him after their awesome Progday performance - after the PT tour they're out with the Scorpions, then maybe Dream Theater in 2008. Welcome to the new prog.

The World Is Born of Flame
The End Is Begun
Battle Cry
All That Remains
My Divided Falling
Serpents In Disguise
Been To The Future
Bleeding Me Home
Live Entertainment
Diamond In The Crush
Shadow Play
The Iron Bones
The Last Day

Before the last artist I'll be playing three songs off the nice 2005 Katrina benefit CD "After the Storm".

Echolyn - 15 Days (Unreleased track)
Mike Keneally - Time Table (An unreleased cover of the Genesis song, with snippets of "Apocalpse in 9/8". This may be the best cover song I've ever heard).
CGT w/ Levin and Mastoletto - Zudoko Bushi (Live cut w/ some familiar Crimson songs)

And finally, Jim Gilmour "Great Escape". A fine 2005 CD from the master keyboardist of Saga. Features his vocals, plenty of keyboard leads, and plenty of guitar (but no guitar leads!). There's some fine piano here, including the improv piece "Carden Isle". Vapid lyrics alert: the lyrics are very hollow and don't say much. But they're sung well and music is great.

No Sign
Algonquin
Lost Along the Way
Killarney Sunrise
The Northwind
Radiant Lake
Carden Isle
Wasteland
Canoe Do It?
Last Portage

"Last Portage" is about 6 minutes of music, then 2 minutes of silence. After it returns there's about 5 minutes of piano..very strange.

Not sure if I will be doing voices again this week. My time has been very limited, and I'm considering taking a hiatus. Enjoy this week at least.....