Show 34 - Terrific Trio

[Rick and Roll]

In the spirit of "Extended Play" I'm doing another full-length CD show. And we have 3 excellent ones:

Blezqi Zatsaz - The Tide Turns (2003)

L'Etre Et Le Neant
The Asphaeings Are Back!
Afterimage
Parallel Paradise
Thy Fake
The Well Tempered Drawbar
Ways Of Control
Azzivulla's Suite (Fleeting Dream, Pangs of Death, Back To Our Minds, Hereafter)
Lilith
Soul Mirror
The Gates of Ixtlan
Once And Again

This is a good birthday present for Magoo, since I know he really likes these guys. From Brazil, this is a 70-minute instrumental masterstroke. A hint of fusion, the guitar and keyboard solos are blistering yet tasteful. Thanks to the Moon for turning me on to this...and hearing it in its entirety is always a good thing.

Zenpool - Kharmonics (2005)

Scirocco
Majiker
Night Of A Thousand Stars Pt. 1
For Bleeding Hearts And Artists
The North Shore of Heaven
Gridspace
Come The Time
Hashish
My Happy Place
This Lonely Corner
Earthbound

Yep, that's him. Carl Kirkendall, or "Kirk" for our purposes His CD, mostly by miself, with a few friends. Steve Hall plays guitar on tunes 1,2,4 (Bleeding Hearts is a great tune), Von Babasin (Offandon) is the bassist on tune 2, Joel Kelly on vocals, tune 2.

Will Stiemsma on bass on "Come The Time", and "Earthbound" has Brian Eckels on guitar and Chris Hankins on drums.

The rest of the CD is dead air. Kidding! Kidding! Kirk fills in all of the rest amazingly. Sit back at home, or tell the boss to stuff it and turn it up at work.

"My Happy Place" right after "Hashish"? Hmmmm.....

Little Atlas - Wanderlust (2005)

The Ballad of Eddie Wanderlust
Higher
Weariness Rides
The Prisoner
Home
On And On
Mirror of Life

OK folks, here we go. Wojtek, take a memo....this one is my early vote for CD of 2005!

The first CD (Surface Serene) is very pleasant, and has a bit of a mellower feel. I was quite taken by them at Rosfest 2004 (the highlight being a great version of "Firth of Fifth", complete with the intro piano and the Hackett lead...nailed).

Ran into Steve Katsikas, the singer and keysman, at Rosfest 2005 (he was with Man On Fire to help them out on keyboards). I mentioned I would play some off of Surface Serene, since I had skipped Little Atlas on my Rosfest show. The next day, I bought Wanderlust, and it blew me away. It's got all of the 70's prog/rock hooks, with a current vibe and great musicianship. SO we'll hear that instead!

Steve did a bit of the first tune at the Rosfest party. Hopefully, he can be in the shoutbox during the show (he said he will try).

Did I mention I like it?