[Rick and Roll]

Airing Sunday, September 23 from 8-11 PM EST and
Monday, September 24 from 1-4 PM EST

Pack well, we're going from Venezuela to Northern Virginia to Australia. All in the name of prog.

Tempano - El fin de la infancia (Childhood's End) (2000)

Tres
Timorato
Lugar de casas nuevas
Sin retorno
Grillos
El fin de la infancia
Escape para el hombre comun
En la via

Beautifully done record recorded in a equally beautiful country I'd love to visit sometime. The 25-minute title cut is the centerpiece, but the shorter cuts pack the power. I'll have to buy some more music from this band.

Boud Deun - The Stolen Bicycle (1998)

Wateford (4:01)
Rails (3:01)
Churches:
Belfast (2:07)
Saints (3:27)
Cotton's Sermon (1:53)
No River Deserves A King (1:10)
Ten Pence/
Bridges (4:05)
Terrible Accident (1:37)
Orlando /
Jacks (3:01)
Burnsville (2:51)
The Last of a Southern Days (3:05)
A Famous Rabbit (2:44)
Lantern Effect (2:12)
Desperate Albert Sloop (1:44)
Train, Rain, Zero (2:14)
A Horseshoe Invasion/
A Church In York (4:21)
Broken Spokes (4:45)
Two Words (5:50)

Mailotron had referenced this in the "What are you listening to" thread. I'd seen them live maybe 5-6 times, and decided to go back and re-hear some of their music (they've been broken up since 1999). I was surprised to discover I did not have this CD. Immediately, I rectified the situation. "Astronomy Made Easy" and "Fiction and Several Days" are excellent too (I have those, whew).

What makes this band special is the unfettered feel of the music. It's bass, drums, guitar, and violin just jamming out to intricate compositions, and I've not seen a band so fluidly stop and start. Always enjoyed talking to bassist Matt Eiland...the longest fingers this side of Stanley Clarke. Fun times, the Orion shows and others.

Frank Gambale - Passages (1994)

Little Charmer
6.8 Shaker
Passages
White Room
D-Day
Nunzio's Near
Free Spirit
One With Everything
Roxana
Uluru
Another Alternative

The follow up to the unparalled "Great Explorers" (in my top 10 of all-time). The "Thunder From Down Under" is at his peak here. Another disc I decided to spin after a conversation with a Moonie, specifically jt Mckinley, our Michigan shredder (lol). My favorite guitarist not named Steve!

After a raucous start and a blistering cover of the Cream classic, the remaining songs move to a very jazzy hard fusion. Explorers is fairly straightforward, and his work with Chick Corea and Vital Information are very jazz-inflected. But Gambale busts out here with a perfect combination of the styles.

Hurry back!