Current Issue

27. November 2014

Pendragon

PENDRAGON - Extended Mountain Tour

Pendragon belong since the middle of the eighties to the inventory of the neoprog scene. The formation, founded in 1978 as Zeus Pendragon, has presented itself stylistically broader and more modern with the albums "Believe", "Pure" and last but not least "Passion" in the last few years and has thus re-established itself as a relevant band. Guitarist, keyboarder and singer Nick Barrett, keyboarder Clive Nolan, bassist Peter Gee and the new drummer Craig Bundell record some of this freshness on "Men Who Climb Mountains", but at the same time they remind us more of earlier albums.

eclipsed: Nick, you are known to be a big Camel fan and as such especially love Andrew Latimer's guitar playing. Are there any songs or passages on the new album that you were buzzing around in the back of your mind while writing or recording Camel?

27. November 2014

U2

U2 - The breakdown year 2014

When a band from the Range U2s plays in front of an audience of electric market customers and private radio listeners and - exclusively - lets itself be looked over the shoulder by the tabloid press, then something is rotten in the state of Denmark, then rock'n'roll has lost its teeth and claws, and the artist makes himself the executive organ of institutions with which he should have nothing to do. And in the case of U2, it's already the second fat cell within two months.

First the Apple deal, which cost the telecommunications giant 100 million US dollars, and which ensured that the thirteenth U2 epic "Songs Of Innocence" was simply downloaded onto the mobile phones of 500 million customers - whether they wanted it or not. A campaign that triggered a true Shitstorm and went mad as a marketing campaign. Which Bono has now also realized.

27. November 2014

Gong

GONG - changing of the guard

The psychedelic clan Gong delivers a masterpiece with "I See You". With a completely new line-up it should be presented live in Germany in autumn. But Mastermind Daevid Allen fell seriously ill. The band still wanted to play, but some promoters waved away: Gong without Allen? No way! So the whole tour was cancelled - and "I See You" from a wonderful old work to a legacy. At least that's how Allen's statements can be interpreted. We spoke to the 76-year-old Australian before the start of his six-week radiation therapy, which, according to his own statement, offered him a "good chance of complete recovery".

eclipsed: Who's the "me" in the album title?

27. November 2014

Jethro Tull

JETHRO TULL - Dance the days and dance the nights away

For Ian Anderson, "Warchild" is an important album despite all the prophecies of doom. As with its predecessors, Steven Wilson carried out the sound restoration work here. The recently hyperactive Tull leader is once again enthusiastic about his abilities as a studio tinkerer, but expects to soon have to look for a new remastering partner, as he reveals in a good mood.

eclipsed: Also "Warchild" now appears remixed and with numerous bonus tracks. An album, which, with all due respect, compared to "Thick As A Brick" or "A Passion Play", is clearly of a lower quality.

Ian Anderson: I don't see it that way. "Warchild" is a very good album with fantastic songs, and I stress the word songs. Unlike our predecessors, we had again recorded a record in which we lined up individual pieces that did not have a special concept. The conditions of creation may make the album appear as a by-product, but that's by no means what it is.

27. November 2014

Nick Drake

Quiet outcry - NICK DRAKE died forty years ago

The short career of Nick Drake serves the topos of the wistful poet who died early. During his lifetime no more than a breath in the roaring turmoil of the music business, his manageable work increasingly found the deserved recognition after his death. Numerous biographies and entries in best lists have contributed to bringing his melancholic, intense music to a new audience. Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was born on 19 June 1948 in Burma, where his father had gone for professional reasons. A short time later his parents moved back to Great Britain, where he flirted fiercely with the emerging British folk music from 1965 onwards.

27. November 2014

CD-Sampler

PENDRAGON - Faces Of Light (5:49)
Album: Men Who Climb Mountains (2014)
Label/Distribution: Toff/www.pendragon.mu
www.pendragon.mu

With "Men Who Climb Mountains", PENDRAGON is taking the prog summit by storm. Nick Barrett and his companions have been moving away from the classic Neoprog for some time now, and this trend will continue in 2014. On "Faces Of Light" with its addictive chorus, Pendragon push into the territory of Anathema.

23. October 2014

Pink Floyd

PINK FLOYD - Let there be more Wright

The announcement of a new Pinkloyd album - the first in twenty years - resembled a bang. The decision of Messrs. Gilmour and Mason to do little or no promotion at all for their tribute to their deceased band colleague Rick Wright, though. This approach raises many questions. Don't the old masters believe in themselves and their output? Do you think the whole thing might already be a mistake? Or did they just hire the wrong PR agency? eclipsed about the trials and tribulations surrounding "The Endless River".

23. October 2014

Led Zeppelin

LED ZEPPELIN - The Second Trick

Jimmy Page is in a good mood. No wonder: after the success of the first part of the Remasters, the pressure and uncertainty have vanished, the media interest has shrunk to a healthy level and - even more importantly - he is sure that in interviews he will experience exactly the respect he always wanted from the writing guild. That's why he really drops all his masks at the eclipsed appointment at London's Hotel Gore and offers deep insights into a complex inner life between pride, a sense of prestige, but also deep interpersonal disappointment - in reference to ex-Buddy Robert Plant, to whom the 70-year-old exceptional guitarist now clearly distances himself and shows unusually strong emotional impulses.

eclipsed: Jimmy, how do you feel about the success of the previous Remasters and how do you deal with the overwhelming media interest?