The soundscapeprog’s Podcast

In our opening, we talk about traveling the sonic tapestries; a turn of phrase that sounded pretty good at the time. Anyway, we don't usually talk about the meaning behind this cryptic phrase so I figured lets name this episode with that name. When I am in a state of flow, creating a setlist for Soundscape, sometimes something magical happens and I feel the presence of a theme, or a world being created or called out of the background. I actually only intended this episode to be a short jaunt into some new music, but it turned out that the muse had a higher calling. So, I will let you piece together your own meanings here, but for me, a story played out that was meaningful. I hope it is for you as well.

Next time around, we will have a proper theme.

Happy travels:

Travels in the Tapestry

• ELO Pt2- Hello, Hello>Honest Men

Soundscape returns....at least for the moment. Big changes are afoot in the Soundscape studios. We are going to be closing down the Soundscape podcast, in favor of something new. While the new does not yet have a clear form, the notion I have is to provide a much more in depth discussion of theme and music and expand the discussion part of the podcast. Some may feel that this is not a fix that Soundscape needs. We have been running this podcast very close to 15 years now I believe. That is a long time to do something like this. There is a new thing hoping to be born, but to properly midwife it into this reality (out of the realm of dreams and numinous forms), I will have to put all of my attention on the project. Soundscape has reached its transition day. Carousel will happen later this year and Soundscape will cast off its earthly form and go back to the ethereal realm from which it came. I hope you will all appreciate our new direction. In the meantime, we have not run our course just yet. I believe we still have some episodes in us. We will properly close out Soundscape by continuing our series of yearly reviews, running a few key theme shows, and finally an all out blow out bash to celebrate our run and the people who have been on this adventure with us. To that end, herein is contained the most recent of our podcasts, a romp through some of the music of 1998.

Plunging into 1998

• Motorpsycho- Psychonaut

As the summer starts up, a number of changes are developing. While I did not expect to go on hiatus prior to this episode, I was aware that developing our normally well crafted themes was coming to a close for a little while. So instead, as we closed out the month of May, I decided to simply play a patch of things that were piquing my interest. Many of the songs you will hear on this episode were new to me at the time and we are all discovering these pieces at the same time. I hope you will enjoy the journey.

We are taking a break from Soundscape for most of the summer. We have a number of projects that are under way including moving. We also have several weekends where we will be out of town, so it just made sense. Soundscape, while perhaps not the most consistent show, has been running for well over 10 years now. Its time to let things rest for a moment. Most likely we will be back in full swing in the near future. Much love to you all and keep on progging on.

• Uriah Heep- Return to Fantasy

Previously on Soundscape, we discovered that we are not alone, so the prog prophecy tells us. So this time, we leave this bedraggled rock and seek a more appropriate venue for our musical visions. Along the way, we come face to face with some damn fine tunes, and even a short diversion through a perfect album side. It's time for us to BLAST OFF! Please join us on this excursion.

Blast Off

• Red Bazar- Rocky Bone Runway

The Perfect Album Side from Scott Oliver

• DeeExpus- Marty and the Magic Moose

The Journey Continues

• Vespero- Flight of the Leutenant

After returning from an amazing journey across the pond to the Motherland, we were ripe for a musical trek through the streets and vistas of London. Our expedition was inspiring but tragic, wonderful and woeful, but for you the listener, we offer a tapestry of sounds that may make you either homesick or want to take a trip of your own. There is lots to discover here and I hope that you will enjoy your time as we stroll the streets of England.

This is England

• Beatles- Strawberry Fields Forever

What's New

• Grand Tour- Clocks that Tick (But Never Tock)

Back to London

• Big Big Train- London Song

Live in London

• David Gilmour- Castellorizon

London Life

• The Who- Blue, Red and Grey

More of the new stuff

• Cosmograf- The Smoke and the Flame

Goodbye

• The Tangent- Lost in London 25 Years Later

I'm not sure about your experience, but when I look back on the music of 1988, there are not very many things that have stood the test of time. However, that is not to say that 1988 did not offer some good music. This episode is another in our time machine series. Here we return to 1988 in hopes of finding the best or most meaningful music in that year.

Time Machine: 1988

Opener

• Steve Hackett- Troubled Spirits

What's New

• Karfagen- Dragon Island

Back to 1988

• Talking Heads- (Nothing But) Flowers

A Live Set

• Yes- Hold On

Returning Home

• Mike + The Mechanics- Out of the Blue

As you may all know, I am a huge geek. I love every aspect of science fiction. One of the cornerstones of good science fiction is the first contact story, From Arthur Clarke, to Carl Sagan the story has been played around in every media format of science fiction. It opens the door to the most challenging questions; How do we reconcile with being neighbors? How do we present ourselves? Are these others friendly or coercive? Do they want to be friends? Are they even aware of us at all? More importantly the first contact story stands as a ready critique of our ways of dealing with the 'other'. Do we adopt a colonial attitude? Are we welcoming? Are we the enemy? So many great questions and the beautiful answer is that since we have yet to encounter this moment, we have no clue. We have a body of speculative literature and media to help us explore this question. And that is a beautiful thing!

So here we are, at the corners of progressive rock and science fiction once again perusing what makes our genre of music so damned intriguing. We have gathered together a number of songs that will help us explore what our music has to say about this most important of topics. Check it out:

We Are Not Alone

We begin with a rather simple premise. We are listening for contact. The inclusion of a more political piece from Marillion here is meant to indicate the state of our world. The mess we find ourselves in. This is also true of the Neal Morse piece. The idea was to help identify that these are the reasons we might look to the skies. Perhaps some new wisdom could be brought down to earth and we would learn that all of this trauma and terror we inflict upon one another is unnecessary. Or at the very least, we might learn that there are bigger problems for us to manage, and perhaps what we need is a good ole invasion to bring our sorry asses together because our little ego bound attitudes are in fact tearing this world apart.

• Seti- Listening to the Sky

If I continue following this yearly theme of running through the decades, I will not finish for 8 more years. We will see if that happens. For now though, you get the benefit of my journey through the ages. Last time on our history trip we hit the year 1968, today we jut forward one decade to 1978. Punk had been kicking out our shins, disco was knocking at our back door, and yet we the few, the happy, the prog, moved ever forward, progressing as it were. Eating the music around us and spitting it out as progressive rock. 

Perhaps that is the legacy of progressive rock music, it assimilates the best and perhaps sometimes the worst of the musical culture at hand, and churns out musicians with vision and soul. We can see all of it in 1978. This time, we will not be dipping across the years to get any of that new music action. No, this journey is strictly for 1978. Come join us as we stroll the sonic tapestries across the corridor of time.

A Musical Tour of 1978:

Landing

• Kinks- A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy

What Happened to Genesis?

• Anthony Phillips- Wise After the Event

What about Pink Floyd?

• David Gilmour- Cry From the Street

Well show me the rest!

• Steve Hillage- Sea Nature

How about some live music from 1978

• Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick

See you next time

• Yes- Onward

There are moments when the brand of inspiration strikes hard on the buttocks of your Soundscape DJ. I thought this was one of them but it turned out to be a very painful temporary tattoo. What started as an homage to Leonardo da Vinci, then morphed into a theme about being a Renaissance man (A cat of many colors), and finally deteriorated further to simply, questions and perhaps answers that such a person might find. So the theme went through the ringer. While I did find some music that matched the theme, there was just not enough to support the show. 

What we do have though, is a fantastic set of music, a perfect album side, and a healthy helping of the newest stuff we could grab. Here it is- check it out;

Taking off

• Rush- Natural Science

This Episode is Not About da Vinci

• Marillion- Man of a Thousand Faces

Chris Sargent's Perfect Album Side- "Woof"

• Pink Floyd- Dogs

Still not about Dicaprio

• Pendragon- A Man of Nomadic Traits

Landing

• Steve Hackett- Underground Railroad

Across the ages way back in time, when most of us were expressing our only protests on the world in diaper squiggles and loud cries, the music we love was taking shape. Fed on a diet of rock & roll, classical music and a dash of jazz, prog was taking its first steps into the world. It was 1968 and music was in a state of transition. It was a highly experimental time for some of our favorite musicians. Progarchives and other progressive rock venues label much of the music of this day as proto-prog. The elements were there, but we had not quite gotten to the masterworks that were yet to come.

This will be our first of 5 journeys into the past this year, leading up to an overview of 2018. You will find in this episode many things that you may not heave heard or paid attention to, but here in 1968 we are in the genetics of our prog forefathers. Join us on a fantastic journey into the past.

Let's Take a Trip

• Hypnos 69- My Journey to the Stars

A Date with 1968

• Moody Blues- The Best Way To Travel

Hemispherical Walter's Perfect Album Side

• Pinkroom- Buried Hopes

Return to 1968

• The Nice- 1st-4th movements from Ars Longa Brevita