[Rick and Roll]

Airing Sunday June 3, 8-11 PM EST and Monday June 4, 1-4 PM EST

This week we'll hear 89.53% of the collaborative 2-disc set Hope/Omid, which was put together by a fine group of musicians in Germany. The funds earned from the record sales will go to the German Fund For Afghan Children. I'll leave the details and the rest of the information for some of our new moon friends, Frank (Prickly), Hans (Healing Road), and ich bin besser to explain. I've excluded four tracks due to time considerations (hence the weird % stated above).

The remaining portion of the show will be covered by two artists, first:

Tempustry - three songs from "Le Voyage Du Temps" (2005)

Horizon
Perpetual Ocean
Space Race

Allen Brunelle, former drummer for the hard rock Kings Ransom, and for a time with Iluvatar, is now performing music with a lot of keyboards, in the Kit Watkins vein, but with more percussion and more spacey. Here are the first three cuts from the record. Allen opened up the Friday date at Rosfest this year, with Iluvatar's Jim Rezek in tow.

Sylvan - three songs from "Presets" (2007)

One Step Beyond
On The Verge of Tears
Presets

I thought a German band would be a nice lead-in to the BP. After a few records where they were defining their sound, Sylvan struck oil with the must-have "Artificial Paradise" in 2002. "X-Rayed" in 2004 further established them, and they added a welcome harder edge on some of the songs. About this time they performed at Rosfest, which was awesome. Last year, "Posthumous Silence" was released, which went back to a more refined and mellower Neo sound. On "Presets", the polish is still there, but some of the edge is lost. I like the record on balance, but it suffers a bit from too much vocal, songs that instrumentally can go farther, and a too-slick style. It works well on "Tears", a short yet powerful number. The title cut is almost 13 minutes, and contains its one true jamming moment. "One Step Beyond", the album opener, is identical to Posthumous' "In Chains", a solid tune that grabs you. So those three I'll spin.

The Bearded's Project - Hope/Omid

The Bearded's Project - Hope (Part I-VII) 37:56
Spock's Beard - Carry On/The Doorway/There Was A Time (Acoustic Medley) 6:44
Coast The Coast - Walking The Thin Line 5:00
Kai Heyrock - At The Hand Of An Angel 8:02
Futile - Frontier Planet 3:43
Projection - It Won't Last Forever 11:09
Glistening Dawn - The End Of Childhood 15:22
The It In You - Talk To Me 8:05
Roland Enders - The Soldier 11:06
Asgaart - The Tales Of A Scottish Poet 7:07
Disclosed Element - Shattered 4:53
The Healing Road - Crovenia 19:39

Again, I'll let the others fill in the unplayed songs and any links to the band and track information. Some personal notes:

I love the long tune, but some of the singing is not up to snuff. About the 13-14 minute mark, there are some excellent passages, both acoustic and electric. The Beard medley is magic. Kai Heyrock's song (there's a great rock and roll name) reminds me of a earthy 70's rock number. Kai also plays guitar on the closer, Hans Hess's "Crovenia", also on his Healing Road CD. The It In You song is very jazzy, atypical for the record but enjoyable. Same with Asgaart (atypical). "The Soldier" is dark and stately. Finally, Neal Morse contributes a very preachy (even for his standards) song that is very good, but I wanted to showcase the other music for the space I had.

My fingers are tired!