Ciccada (Ciccada, 2010)

This excellent instrumental is the opening track of "A Child in The Mirror", the first album of the Greek band Ciccada (a name they seem to like very much). Even if we don't enjoy here Evangelia Kozoni's beautiful voice, I recommend this "Ciccada" to every prog fans for its elegance and its balance between classical and folk roots. This, with the pleasant plot of themes and instruments, is the simple and effective secret of the song.

...And a beautiful cover too, provided by Davide Guidoni.

A Renaissance mood runs throughout the composition and meets a popular vein, resulting in kind of modern troubadours' music, to employ the very words printed inside the CD booklet. Thus, Melllotron and clarinet, bass and acoustic guitar, they all play together and if ever you feel like dancing, well, don't worry: it's another progmagic trick!

Anamnesis (White Willow, 2000)

This soft and mysterious track comes from "Sacrament", White Willow's third album. This Norwegian band knows too well how to revive folk-prog roots and melt Crimsonian dreams and Scandinavian darkness. "Anamnesis" has the sad and nostalgic taste of a fading winter day and also the smell of a fairy tale, with just a hint of wicked inside.

No, not the Addams. White Willow in a "Sacrament" booklet picture.

Sylvia Erichsen's vocals are exactly the same: sweet and devilish. But also the long instrumental final section is a wonder with its old fashioned keyboards and the winds drawing a hypnotic musical arabesque. Nine minutes of ancient lullabies along a river flowing from the natural world to an unknown otherworldly place. Out of this world, but deep inside human souls.

1974 (O Terço, 1975)

"Criaturas da noite" ("Night Creatures") by O Terço is one of the best brazilian prog albums I've ever heard and "1974" is by far my favourite song in the band's production. It's a dreamy and melodic track, not too far from the other latin language countries productions of the same period. It's an instrumental song but there are pleasant choral arrangements similar to Yes but catchier and more relaxed. What I most appreciate here are the complex architecture exploiting very simple ideas and the main theme recurring variations, let alone some beautiful guitar solos.

"Criaturas da noite" was  O Terço's third album.

There are so many different moods in this song, so many unpredictable changes in tempo, instruments and even genre, going from psycheledia to funky and from arena rock to floyd-esque atmospheres. Really, I can't be bored by such an iridescent composition and each time I listen to these 12 minutes of good music I enjoy them more.

Allons z'enfants (Mona Lisa, 1977)

This track, the 6 minute opening song from "Le Petit Violon de Monsieur Gregoire" is probably my favourite one in Mona Lisa's production. Simple as it may appear, it's full of pleasant surprises and original musical tricks. The theatrical vocal performance and the keyboard background are the first features capturing the listener's attention, but there more than this... 

Philippe Huart graced the album with this beautiful cover.

 

There's a fully melodic theme I adore, a rich and complex rythmic section, a spelndid guitar / keys dialogue, some clever tempo changes, so many variations on the martial tone, and that spendid bass line towards the end of the song! Rock and mellow were never so well together. There's a naive and young energy in this song, I think it captures the spirit of the prog golden era, the will to go beyond the usual rock music, in search of something beautiful and new.

Squonk (Genesis, 1976)

This is probably the song that proved, back in 1976, how Genesis without Peter Gabriel were still Genesis. Based on a captivating and syncopated melody and a series of guitar & key riffs, the track is full of inventions and changes. Phil Collins' drums are always there, in fast and slow passages, giving the song a special and lively soul. Obviously, Tony Banks' chords are perfect and never trivial, but this is the band's trademak, after all. 

The hunter and the squonk in "A Trick of The Tail" cover art.

Mike Rutherford's lyrics are about a strange and ugly creature belonging to the American lore, a solitary and sad animal stupidly killed by men who can't really get it, 'cause death melts its body in a pool of tears. It's a compact and well structured track, fascinating and new fot its era, destined to act as a guiding light for the neo-prog bands of the '80s and immediatly welcomed as a live favourite  by Genesis fandom. It deserves it all.

Paraiso remoto (Canarios, 1974)

This is the first installment of Canario's "Ciclos", based on Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and released in 1974. This first part (or primera transmigración) of the Spanish band's masterpiece is a 16 minute suite in six movements and starts with a long series of effects finally introducing a very inusual melody sung by a female voice and called grito primario (primary  scream). Then, Vivaldi's Spring main theme comes in in a beautiful electric version with guitars, keys and drums weaving their sounds. Canarios perfectly represent the festive mood of the Italian composer's masterpiece.

The cover artwork of "Ciclos", no doubt one of the most known

Spanish prog-rock albums.

After this classic cover, Rudmini Sukmawati's soprano voice comes back with a stunning and theatrical performance, followed by the rest of Vivaldi's Spring theme, initially played by classical instruments, then by electric ones with some pleasant variations. This epic definitely proves how charming the classical-rock fusion can be when done with pure and unaffected joy. The joy of playing music and, of course, the joy of enjoying it.

Time (Pink Floyd, 1973)

This timeless classic comes from "The Dark Side of The Moon" and in the original album version also includes a final reprise of "Breathe" for a 7 minute total running time. There are at least three good reasons to love this song as many generations actually did. First: the music. Both the ballad (verse and chorus) and the instrumental passages are perfect, with their low swinging and sad tempo. Second: the lyrics. These are in the well known Roger Water's pessimistic vein and describe the eternally lost battle of man against time. Third: the sound. The sound engineer Alan Parsons did a great work here (and not only here), adding effects, polishing each note and each second of the track, from the intro clocks to the stunning passage from the "Breathe" coda to the following song "The Great Gig in The Sky".

 

"Time" was also released in a 7" single edit of 3' 33".

I highly recommend the album version, of course.

"Time" is a pearl in Pink Floyd's career, a strong song with a studied alternation of tight, even claustrophobic moments and bright, melodic openings. And, last but not least, it's a moving song, about something concerning everybody:

And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.