In the last digest, Pete <marabus@...> wrote:

>This time I have checked. This is the first and only
>Zappa trading group to this date, so you may feel safe to join. This
>will hopefully not lead to same disaster.
>
>tarahenrik


I hate to burst the guy's bubble, but there's already a bunch of
active FZ trader groups, including ones organized on the web.  He
might have the first mailing list dedicated to Zappa trading, but
there's a group who have been trading Zappa shows via the binary
newsgroups for years.  He should check out:

alt.binaries.mp3.zappa
alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.zappa
alt.binaries.fz

Those are the ones my ISP carries, and I think there's a couple others.
I don't generally download too many boots, FZ or otherwise, because I'm
still on a 56K modem so it takes forever.

    -- Bob "Bice" Eichler

On Tue, 31 Dec 2002, Jon Byrne wrote:

> Hey everybody,
>
> Finally installed the CD-RW drive I got for Christmas and now I'm looking
> for a good program for actually making the discs.  I'd particularly like
> something that would allow me to fade in/out and segue tracks together,
> either when ripped or written.  What does everybody else use?

Nero comes with a .wav editor that does what you want, and is fairly
user friendly.

--
Noah Lesgold 	 http://nlesgold.freeshell.org/
nlesgold@...  AIM: nlesgold ICQ: 132716231

>> Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Grand Opening and Closing
> Chris Cutler says they're derivative of Art Bears ;)
Chris Cutler is WRONG!
	 --Mike Prete, Alex Temple, and Jason Ellerbee, in that order

Hi Jonathan,
I have Easy CD Creator on my computer.I don't know how fancy it is but
it makes good cds from either files or a direct copy.
I'm still new at it.
Pete

Jon Byrne wrote:

> Hey everybody,
>
> Finally installed the CD-RW drive I got for Christmas and now I'm looking
> for a good program for actually making the discs.  I'd particularly like
> something that would allow me to fade in/out and segue tracks together,
> either when ripped or written.  What does everybody else use?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jonathan Byrne

I have been staging a debate with myself as to whether or not to get
this band's CD. I love Italian prog, and (Gabriel era) Genesis is my
all-time favorite band, yet I'm a little hesitant to get a band that
is a by-the-numbers-clone band.

I checked out their web page, and it only featured short snippits of
sound samples. IMO a 60 second sample doesn't give an accurate
representation, especially if a song goes through various themes,
moods, etc.(and if they are a true Genesis clone, then they will) Does
anyone out there have any opinions either way about this band?

jeff

On Thu, 2 Jan 2003, progjeff2000 <jeffoaster@...> wrote:

> I have been staging a debate with myself as to whether or not to get
> this band's CD. I love Italian prog, and (Gabriel era) Genesis is my
> all-time favorite band, yet I'm a little hesitant to get a band that
> is a by-the-numbers-clone band.
>
> I checked out their web page, and it only featured short snippits of
> sound samples. IMO a 60 second sample doesn't give an accurate
> representation, especially if a song goes through various themes,
> moods, etc.(and if they are a true Genesis clone, then they will) Does
> anyone out there have any opinions either way about this band?

It should surprise no one that I have absolutely no interest in these
guys.  I've heard a few full songs, and yeah, they have that Gabriel-era
stuff down to a T, but frankly at this point I have to say, "Whatever."
They certainly do what they do well, and they definitely have bands like
Crucible or Submarine Silence beat out, but I have zero interest in
Genesis-clone bands at this point, or really nearly any clone band.
For neo, give me a band like IQ who actually have their own meaningful
take on the style.

--
Noah Lesgold 	 http://nlesgold.freeshell.org/
nlesgold@...  AIM: nlesgold ICQ: 132716231

L5R Diskwars--Adventures in the Land of Rokupog
"Cry Diskwars, and Let Flip the Pogs of War!"
	 --J.L. Robert, Gaijin Comic, 6/00

The Watch are very very very derivitive of Gabriel era Genesis (with maybe some
Fish era Marillion mixed in as well).  If you don't mind the similarity they are
probably one of the best bands of their ilk who do what they do.  I personally
like them, although I admit that they are certainly not treading any new ground.

They seem to be a band that divide people live.  Of the people I know who have
seen them, some loved them and some hated them.  There does not appear to be
much middle ground on these guys.

Steve Sly
(NP - Fish - Felini Days)

I saw "The Watch" at BajaProg a couple years ago.  Did NOT impress me.
Sure, they have mimiced PG era Genesis.  But, frankly, their writing sucks.
There was a melodic clarity to early Genesis which The Watch doesn't have AT
ALL.

It didn't help matters that their cover of Cinema Show SUCKED compared to
the the cover of Firth of Fifth that Hamadryad did that totally kicked ass
(the piano opening was done VERBATIM on a classical guitar -- way too cool).

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: Noah Lesgold [mailto:nlesgold@...]
Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 10:39 AM
To: ProgAndOther@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [ProgAndOther] The Watch


On Thu, 2 Jan 2003, progjeff2000 <jeffoaster@...> wrote:

> I have been staging a debate with myself as to whether or not to get
> this band's CD. I love Italian prog, and (Gabriel era) Genesis is my
> all-time favorite band, yet I'm a little hesitant to get a band that
> is a by-the-numbers-clone band.
>
> I checked out their web page, and it only featured short snippits of
> sound samples. IMO a 60 second sample doesn't give an accurate
> representation, especially if a song goes through various themes,
> moods, etc.(and if they are a true Genesis clone, then they will) Does
> anyone out there have any opinions either way about this band?

It should surprise no one that I have absolutely no interest in these
guys.  I've heard a few full songs, and yeah, they have that Gabriel-era
stuff down to a T, but frankly at this point I have to say, "Whatever."
They certainly do what they do well, and they definitely have bands like
Crucible or Submarine Silence beat out, but I have zero interest in
Genesis-clone bands at this point, or really nearly any clone band.
For neo, give me a band like IQ who actually have their own meaningful
take on the style.

--
Noah Lesgold 	 http://nlesgold.freeshell.org/
nlesgold@...  AIM: nlesgold ICQ: 132716231

L5R Diskwars--Adventures in the Land of Rokupog
"Cry Diskwars, and Let Flip the Pogs of War!"
	 --J.L. Robert, Gaijin Comic, 6/00


---
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My wife got me a Rio One MP3 player for Xmas this year.  I've
been playing around with it a bit, and other than it being a
bit more of a pain-in-the-ass than it's worth (don't tell my
wife I said that), my main problem with it is that it only
holds around 45 minutes of music recorded at a decent enough
bitrate to make it worthwhile.

So what's the story on expanding the memory of an MP3 player?
I found the slot that a memory card would go in, and digging
though the unhelpful help file that came with it eventually
revealed that it requires a 3.3volt SmartMedia card (I think).

Doing some browsing on the web, it looks like there are a few
different manufacturers that make SmartMedia cards.  The
biggest seems to be 128K, which would push my time limit up
to around 2 hours, but they cost around $60 so I want to make
sure I get a good one.  Anyone have any recommendations?

It seems like most of the SmartMedia sales sites I hit were
geared towards digital cameras.  I'm guessing the camera
SmartMedia cards and the MP3 player SmartMedia cards aren't
the same thing, are they?

While I'm on the subject of Rio's MP3 player - man does the
software they included to download music into the player suck.
It tries to force you to "activate" the file before copying it
into the player, and the activation process seems to involve
either filling out a rediculously long survey about every song
you want to copy or else paying an additional fee to buy "credits"
for songs - not songs you're obtaining from the web, but MP3s
you ALREADY HAVE ON YOUR PC, regardless of where they came from
(all mine were from CDs).  Plus it's constantly trying to connect
to the internet to upload the data that it managed to pry from
me before I figured out how to sneak around that process.  I
just want to hook up the USB cable, put a CD in the drive and
have it copy it to the MP3 player - how hard could that be?

The player itself seems to add a lot of background hiss to files
as it plays them back, plus there's no way to stop it from putting
a small gap between every track which makes it very annoying to
listen to live music or stuff like Zappa were most tracks segue
into the next song.  It also won't stay on pause for more than
a few seconds before shutting itself off, and whenever a track is
interrupted for any reason it always starts over again at the
beginning.  And it only gets 10 hours of life out of a AA battery.
There's no moving parts, why is it sucking up so much juice?
If you try to copy files to it without using their software,
there's no way to set the track order.  Arrrgh.

On the plus side, it doesn't skip or wobble no matter how much it
gets jarred around while playing, which should make it good for
off-road bike rides and mowing the yard.  Then again the battery
compartment door, located stupidly on the bottom, tends to pop
open and drop the battery out if you bump it just the wrong way.

In general, I can't say I'm real impressed with the Rio One.  But
again, don't tell my wife that because I told her I really like it.

   -- Bob "Bice" Eichler

I don't know specifically for "SmartMedia" cards -- but typically
classifications like "SmartMedia" or "MemoryStick" are standards -- a
"SmartMedia" card should work in any device that takes "SmartMedia" cards.

When my wife got an MP3 player, we made a point of getting a device that
used the same type of card as my digital camera.  That way, we can use the
same cards in either device.  Moreso, I've even managed to get both photos
and mp3 files on the same card at the same time.

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: biceeichler <eichler@...> [mailto:eichler@...]
Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 12:50 PM
To: ProgAndOther@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ProgAndOther] MP3 player memory expansion



My wife got me a Rio One MP3 player for Xmas this year.  I've
been playing around with it a bit, and other than it being a
bit more of a pain-in-the-ass than it's worth (don't tell my
wife I said that), my main problem with it is that it only
holds around 45 minutes of music recorded at a decent enough
bitrate to make it worthwhile.

So what's the story on expanding the memory of an MP3 player?
I found the slot that a memory card would go in, and digging
though the unhelpful help file that came with it eventually
revealed that it requires a 3.3volt SmartMedia card (I think).

Doing some browsing on the web, it looks like there are a few
different manufacturers that make SmartMedia cards.  The
biggest seems to be 128K, which would push my time limit up
to around 2 hours, but they cost around $60 so I want to make
sure I get a good one.  Anyone have any recommendations?

It seems like most of the SmartMedia sales sites I hit were
geared towards digital cameras.  I'm guessing the camera
SmartMedia cards and the MP3 player SmartMedia cards aren't
the same thing, are they?

While I'm on the subject of Rio's MP3 player - man does the
software they included to download music into the player suck.
It tries to force you to "activate" the file before copying it
into the player, and the activation process seems to involve
either filling out a rediculously long survey about every song
you want to copy or else paying an additional fee to buy "credits"
for songs - not songs you're obtaining from the web, but MP3s
you ALREADY HAVE ON YOUR PC, regardless of where they came from
(all mine were from CDs).  Plus it's constantly trying to connect
to the internet to upload the data that it managed to pry from
me before I figured out how to sneak around that process.  I
just want to hook up the USB cable, put a CD in the drive and
have it copy it to the MP3 player - how hard could that be?

The player itself seems to add a lot of background hiss to files
as it plays them back, plus there's no way to stop it from putting
a small gap between every track which makes it very annoying to
listen to live music or stuff like Zappa were most tracks segue
into the next song.  It also won't stay on pause for more than
a few seconds before shutting itself off, and whenever a track is
interrupted for any reason it always starts over again at the
beginning.  And it only gets 10 hours of life out of a AA battery.
There's no moving parts, why is it sucking up so much juice?
If you try to copy files to it without using their software,
there's no way to set the track order.  Arrrgh.

On the plus side, it doesn't skip or wobble no matter how much it
gets jarred around while playing, which should make it good for
off-road bike rides and mowing the yard.  Then again the battery
compartment door, located stupidly on the bottom, tends to pop
open and drop the battery out if you bump it just the wrong way.

In general, I can't say I'm real impressed with the Rio One.  But
again, don't tell my wife that because I told her I really like it.

   -- Bob "Bice" Eichler



---
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----- Original Message -----

From: biceeichler <eichler@...>

To: ProgAndOther@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 3:50 PM

Subject: [ProgAndOther] MP3 player memory expansion

My wife got me a Rio One MP3 player for Xmas this year.  I've
been playing around with it a bit, and other than it being a
bit more of a pain-in-the-ass than it's worth (don't tell my
wife I said that), my main problem with it is that it only
holds around 45 minutes of music recorded at a decent enough
bitrate to make it worthwhile.

So what's the story on expanding the memory of an MP3 player?
I found the slot that a memory card would go in, and digging
though the unhelpful help file that came with it eventually
revealed that it requires a 3.3volt SmartMedia card (I think).

Doing some browsing on the web, it looks like there are a few
different manufacturers that make SmartMedia cards.  The
biggest seems to be 128K, which would push my time limit up
to around 2 hours, but they cost around $60 so I want to make
sure I get a good one.  Anyone have any recommendations?

It seems like most of the SmartMedia sales sites I hit were
geared towards digital cameras.  I'm guessing the camera
SmartMedia cards and the MP3 player SmartMedia cards aren't
the same thing, are they?

While I'm on the subject of Rio's MP3 player - man does the
software they included to download music into the player suck.
It tries to force you to "activate" the file before copying it
into the player, and the activation process seems to involve
either filling out a rediculously long survey about every song
you want to copy or else paying an additional fee to buy "credits"
for songs - not songs you're obtaining from the web, but MP3s
you ALREADY HAVE ON YOUR PC, regardless of where they came from
(all mine were from CDs).  Plus it's constantly trying to connect
to the internet to upload the data that it managed to pry from
me before I figured out how to sneak around that process.  I
just want to hook up the USB cable, put a CD in the drive and
have it copy it to the MP3 player - how hard could that be?

The player itself seems to add a lot of background hiss to files
as it plays them back, plus there's no way to stop it from putting
a small gap between every track which makes it very annoying to
listen to live music or stuff like Zappa were most tracks segue
into the next song.  It also won't stay on pause for more than
a few seconds before shutting itself off, and whenever a track is
interrupted for any reason it always starts over again at the
beginning.  And it only gets 10 hours of life out of a AA battery.
There's no moving parts, why is it sucking up so much juice?
If you try to copy files to it without using their software,
there's no way to set the track order.  Arrrgh.

On the plus side, it doesn't skip or wobble no matter how much it
gets jarred around while playing, which should make it good for
off-road bike rides and mowing the yard.  Then again the battery
compartment door, located stupidly on the bottom, tends to pop
open and drop the battery out if you bump it just the wrong way.

In general, I can't say I'm real impressed with the Rio One.  But
again, don't tell my wife that because I told her I really like it.

  -- Bob "Bice" Eichler




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Steve,
I'm with you-yes no new ground but I like both their cds-my favorite
being-The Night Watch-"Twilight".
Pete

stevesly@... wrote:

> The Watch are very very very derivitive of Gabriel era Genesis (with
> maybe some Fish era Marillion mixed in as well).  If you don't mind
> the similarity they are probably one of the best bands of their ilk
> who do what they do.  I personally like them, although I admit that
> they are certainly not treading any new ground.
>
> They seem to be a band that divide people live.  Of the people I know
> who have seen them, some loved them and some hated them.  There does
> not appear to be much middle ground on these guys.
>
> Steve Sly

"Jeff Oaster" <jeffoaster@r...> wrote:

> In response to your question about SmartMedia cards (and memory
> cards in general), there is no difference between a card for a
> camera, mp3 player, pda, digital keyboard, etc.

That's good news, because my father-in-law gave us a digital
camera for Xmas.  But I think the memory card it uses is a
different size and shape from the one the MP3 player uses.
I definitely want to upgrade the camera too, because the card
that came with it can only hold around a dozen pictures taken
at high resolution.


> Bob, if you are able to exchange (or possibly get it stolen the
> next time you go to a prog concert - YES I STILL HAVE A BUG UP MY
> BUTT ABOUT THAT)

I'm still pissed about someone stealing the sweatshirt I was
using to mark my seat at the first NEARFest.  If the MP3 player
continues to annoy me, I'll be sure to use it to save my spot
this year.


> One awesome feature that some units have is the ability to put
> songs in folders.

That would be nice.  This Rio One model doesn't feature any way
to organize files at all.  I consider myself lucky if I can get
them to play back in the same order I copied them into the player.


> Thay way your Spock's Beard stuff will never mix with your
> Zappa stuff

I hate when that happens.


> I know those two are tough to tell apart sometimes.

Yeah, the advanced composition, originality and acerbic wit of
both bands make them sound awfully similar.

   -- Bob "Bice" Eichler

Bice,
I promise I won't tell her.:)
Pete

biceeichler wrote:

>
>
> In general, I can't say I'm real impressed with the Rio One.  But
> again, don't tell my wife that because I told her I really like it.
>
>   -- Bob "Bice" Eichler

Hello All,
I haven't posted in a while and I thought I'd give you an update and
introduce our band to any of the new group members that would be
interested in checking us out.  The name of our band is Qwestion,
and our style is Progressive Metal, mostly.  Since the last time I
posted, we've had several reviews of the album, airplay in more than
10 different countries, and have done some interviews.  The reviews
are posted at our website, as well as a new flash intro, a "Who do
you think we sound like" page, .mp3 samples, "Vote for your favorite
track"(on Sample page), bio, and info on purchasing the album, if
you wish, @ http://www.qwestion.net.  You can also hear full
versions of some songs at our mp3.com site @
http://www.mp3.com/Qwestion.

I realize that you may belong to more than one group and will see
this posted there as well.  The reason I do this is for the members
that are not apart of both groups.  To the people that this bothers,
my apologies, just trying to get the word out.  I will not post and
run, all reasonable replies will be answered.

All opinions welcome and Thanks for your time
Mike

While browsing through a Borders bookstore CD section, looking to
blow a gift certificate I got for Xmas, I stumbled across the new
Phish album, _Round Room_.  I didn't even know they had a new one
out.  It was overpriced as everything is at Borders, but what the
heck, I had to spend the gift certificate on something - so I
grabbed it.

On first listen, I was pretty disappointed.  Even more rambling
than usual, not many memorable hooks and kind of sloppy sounding.
Plus I thought the mix sounded horrible.  It was the first CD I
copied over to the MP3 player, and while the WAV files were on
the computer I took a look at them - the music was compressed to
within a millimeter of its life to push everything towards 100%
volume.  The second half of the opening track is an extended
instrumental jam, an in CoolEdit the wave pattern looked like a
solid green block pushed as loud as it would go, with absolutely
no dynamics or breathing room.  Looking at it, I couldn't believe
the disc was even listenable, but it's not as bad as you might
think.  I even read one review on Amazon's site that praised the
disc's sound quality, so I guess someone out there likes the
current trend in mastering.

I could only get the first nine tracks onto the MP3 player, so I
listened to those a bunch of times before I ever heard the last
three tracks.  The opening song, "Pebbles and Marbles" is pretty
good, with lyrics about how the narrator wants to believe that
any little thing he finds on the ground was left there for him
intentionally.  It's fairly laid back, even when it kicks into
its instrumental jam about five minutes in, and sets a relaxed
mood that is pretty much only broken by the rocker "46 Days"
two thirds of the way through the disc.  I caught the band's
appearance on Saturday Night Live a couple weeks ago, and the
only song they played from the new album was "46 Days", so I
guess it's the "hit single".

The title track has a catchy rhythm to it, and odd lyrics about
only wanting to live in a round room, not a square one.  "Mexican
Cousin" is about drinking tequila and losing friends ("I'm awful
sorry you got pissed / guess I'll have to cross you off the list /
of my true friends / and tequila's where that starts and where it
ends").

The first five tracks have their moments, but it's not until
track six, "Seven Below" that the band really hits their stride.
The whole disc sounds very "loose" (one review I read said it
was recorded in four days while the band was rehearsing for an
upcoming tour), and "Seven Below" is clearly a jam that was only
partially laid out in advance.  You can hear the band talking in
the background as the song progresses, discussing where the beat
and melody are about to go.  There are only four lines of lyrics,
and they sound like they were made up on the spot.  In the middle
of the track, Page McConnell abandons his usual piano for some
tasty soloing on more exotic sounding electric keys (don't ask
me what kind - I'm lucky if I can tell a mellotron from a moog).
This track jumped out to an early lead as my favorite from the CD.

When I finally got around to listening to the last three songs,
I discovered that the band had hidden two of the best tracks at
the end of the disc.  "Walls of the Cave" is the closest they've
gotten to 70s style symphonic prog in a long while, at least
structurally.  It goes through several distinctly different
musical phases, has deep-sounding lyrics that probably don't
really mean all that much, and even has a piano solo intro.
Another potential future-classic Phish tune.  The final song
(and longest on the CD, I think) is "Waves", another mostly
instrumental, jammy sounding track similar to "Seven Below",
but this time with four verses of more thought-out lyrics and
wave sound effects in the background.  My only complaint about
this track is that it ends fairly abruptly - it would have been
nice to end the disc with a real conclusion.

All in all, I think the band should have been a bit more selective
about which tracks to include - a 40 minute album with "Pebbles
and Marbles", "Seven Below", "Walls of the Cave", "Waves" and
maybe the title track and "46 Days" would have left a better
impression than this 78 minute ramble that tends to bog down in
places, especially during the first half.

The only other thing worth commenting on is that they really
seem to be trying to pull in the disenfranchised Grateful Dead
audience.  There are a bunch of guitar solos on this disc that
sound like they could be lost Garcia solos, and the whole vibe
of the album is closer to the Dead than any of their previous
albums.  I've always protested when people say Phish sounds like
the Dead (I still don't think their early albums do at all), but
on _Farmhouse_ they definitely seemed to start heading in a Dead
direction, and it's even more pronounced on this disc.

With all that said, I'm off to see if they come anywhere close
to Hershey on the next tour...

   -- Bob "Bice" Eichler

I just watched a movie called-"Life Or Something Like" with Ed
Burns&Angelina Joile.During the movie they play a snippet of a song that
I've heard before but don't know what it is.It has a killer sound(to
me)that sounds like an early analog keyboard and I always wondered what
it was.I did a search on the web but there's no mention of the music in
the movie.They did play 2 songs I knew-Satisfaction and Mercy
Street.Does anyone know what the hell I'm talking about?
Pete

1. Echolyn - Mei
Heard it for the first time performed at NEARfest 2002 and while I enjoyed it,
it didn't necessarily blow me away either. But after a few listens I couldn't
get it out of the player. An amazing piece of work. I still hear something new
on every listen it seems.

2. Hostsonaten - Springsong
Simply one of the most beautiful and most serene symphonic releases I've ever
heard. Very unique packaging.

3. Threshold - Critical Mass
These guys are producing some extraordinary prog/rock. Why this is not being
played on nationwide radio, shows the sad overall state of popular music today.
Clone was excellent. Critical Mass is even better.

4. The Flower Kings - Unfold the Future
How they continue to put out the volume of music (including their side projects)
that they do and still produce quality work, says a lot for this band. Disk 1 of
this double CD is my overall favorite TFK release yet.

5. Spock's Beard - Snow
A fantastic CD in places. This one (not unlike TFK's CD above) IMO should have
been scaled down somewhat, as there is some filler that doesn't necessarily add
anything. It'll be interesting to see what direction a Nick D'Virgilio led Beard
heads in the days to come.

6. Nathan Mahl - Heretik Vol. 3
Easily the best overall disk in this three part series. The Camel influence is
even more prevalent on this one and I'm certainly not complaining.

7. Symphony X - The Odyssey
I didn't know what to expect after V, (which was easily one of the best
prog-metal releases last year), but they added another gem. Gone are many of the
lush symphonic leanings from V. This one for the most part is in your face prog
rock metal. Power metal fans should eat this one up, as well.

8. Jet Lag - Delusione Ottica (late 2001 release)
This one was too good not to put on the list, even though it was actually
released November/December of 2001. Excellent Italian release that combines a
little PFM, Banco & Area together to produce an exciting, unique & excellent CD.

9. Omni - El Vals De Los Duendes
This one was a definite surprise. One of the better instrumental prog CDs to
come from Spain in a while. Mezquita & Crack produced two of the better
symphonic releases from that region in the seventies and this Omni CD compares
very favorably (quality) to those two.

10. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
A CD that initially didn't do a lot for me after a first few listens. But after
giving it a few more spins recently, it has really grown on me and just keeps
getting better and better. Lyrically (at times) it's hard to understand, while
musically it ventures into many realms, as it has that still spacey (Pink Floyd)
sound at times from their earlier work, as well as a very modern overall feel.
The title track "Blackest Eyes" should have (here we go again) easily been a
mainstay on rock radio.

11. Malibran - Oltre L'iqnoto
Easily the best Malibran to date. The production on this one is top-notch ...
finally! If you've liked their other releases, you certainly won't be
disappointed with this one.

12. Niacin - Time Crunch
Once again a very good release, heavy with Hammond B3 organ throughout. Their
fifth release shows this band maturing together and producing a CD full of good
jazz, fusion, funk and rock influenced tracks.

13. Izz - I move
If the first half of this release was as excellent as the last seven cuts, I'd
have put this one higher. The instrumental tracks near the end of this one
really show a different side of Izz and great potential for the future.

14. Deus Ex Machina - Cinque
The vocals of leader Alberto Piras are certainly unique and unpleasant for some,
but there is also some killer hard fusion/prog on this release that shouldn't be
missed. These guys have produced on Cinque a heavy rock feel even though it
continually ventures off into the fusion side. Excellent recording and
production throughout.

15. La Maschera Di Cera - S/T
A new Italian release that sounds right out of the mid seventies. Finisterre
bassist Fabio Zuffanti heads up this one and for anyone who misses that era of
Italian prog (the style of PFM, Banco and others), here's a new one to explore.

16. Glass Hammer - Lex Rex
Been a fan of this band and have enjoyed their releases, but this is easily the
best CD they have produced. Another symphonic prog release heavy on the
keyboards, with loads of Hammond and Mellotron. Hopefully at NEARfest 2003, "Lex
Rex" makes it's way onto GH's set list in it's entirety.

17. Tony Levin - Pieces of the Sun
This one surprised me. Many styles throughout on this one. With the help of
others, including Larry Fast on synthesizers, "Pieces of the Sun" sounds fresh
and adventurous. An enjoyable disk throughout.

18. TIE:  Saliva - Back into your System
These guys were introduced to me as the heros of nu-metal (not sure what that
means exactly?:-)). While I have not heard their debut CD, I was greatly
surprised in the overall quality and sheer power of this band. Watch out for
these guys!
	 Audioslave - S/T
Been anxiously awaiting this release like most of America I guess and was not
disappointed. Ex-Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell with members of Rage Against
The Machine create a good album that sounds a lot like ... Soundgarden.

19. Magellan - Hundred Year Flood
Trent Gardner definitely has some of the most unique vocal/vocal arrangements in
music today. His abrupt deliveries turn many off, but I find it unique. This is
a concept CD about the loss of an older brother in the Vietnam war. Redundancies
seem to haunt this release, as at times I feel the music and lyrics need to move
on. But ... overall I think it's his best Magellan work to date.

20. 12 Stones - S/T
Louisiana band with roots firmly planted in Christian contemporary rock. These
guys are on the same record label as Creed. But certainly not a clone as these
guys really turn up the intensity, producing some of the best non-prog music
being played today.

Bryan Miller
Athens, Alabama

This was a great year for prog, wasn't it?  And this was WITHOUT
expected albums from Iluvatar, Tiles and Puppet Show!

In no particular order, here are the CDs I bought and LOVED this past
year:

Flower Kings - Unfold the Future (great comeback after the lackluster
Rainmaker)

Karmakanic - Entering the Spectra :  solo job by FK bassist Jonas
Reingold.  Exciting futuristic concept album with cameos by Flower
Kings members and others.  Reingold seamlessly alternates between
fretless jazz playing and crunchy Rickenbacker sounds, and the
drumming propels the music with that same sort of "skating on ice"
feeling that Stewart Copeland evoked on the early Police albums.

Niacin - Time Crunch:  Saw them live too, WOW!!

Mangala Vallis - The Book of Dreams:  Fills the void for those of us
wishing for a second Ad Infinitum album.  Derivative, yes, but
fantastic in every respect!

High Wheel - Back from the Void:  Wow, what a find!  Can't wait to
see them at Nearfest this year!

Gerard - Sighs of the Water:  I love their energy!

Star One

Rhapsody - Power of the Dragonflame

Rain Fell Within - Refuge:  Found them by accident when searching for
Rhapsody!  Not the type of thing I would normally go for because of
the negative lyrics typical of this genre, but this is much less
severe than others.  Proggy, atmospheric goth-metal with stately
keyboards and two lovely ladies belting out the operatic vocals.
They disbanded in August after only two albums - arrgghh!!

Echolyn - Mei

Pochakaite Malko

IZZ - I Move

RE-ISSUES:  Triumvirat - "Illusions on a Double Dimple"
and "Spartacus."  I missed them the first time around; these are fun
albums!  "Dimple" has the same type of naive innocence you find on
the early Rush albums.

-

-Jet
NP: Niacin - S/T (not as good as Time Crunch!)

Hi,

most of you seems not to know SIMON SAYS. Bad, bad;o)

Here the page on GEPR (thank you Fred):
http://www.gepr.net/shfram.html

Their PARADISE SQUARE is surely on of the best releases of 2002.

All the best,
Patrick

--- In ProgAndOther@yahoogroups.com, "biceeichler <eichler@e...>"
<eichler@e...> wrote:
>
> So what's the story on expanding the memory of an MP3 player?
> I found the slot that a memory card would go in, and digging
> though the unhelpful help file that came with it eventually
> revealed that it requires a 3.3volt SmartMedia card (I think).

the solution to this problem is to get an ipod :)

b

So, a while back I downloaded all the available mp3s from
www.mktrading.com, and besides really digging the guitar/bass duo "Inca
Roads" and "Shadow Self", I have become *really* fond of "Aye Aye
Monster", whose original incarnation can apparently be found on The
Mistakes s/t album.  I see that it's on Immune Records... should I be
able to have my local store order it for me?

Strictly speaking I'm asking Bice here, but if anyone else knows, I'd be
glad to have more info. :)

--
Noah Lesgold 	 http://nlesgold.freeshell.org/
nlesgold@...  AIM: nlesgold ICQ: 132716231

"Walking on water's not any harder than love." --Brad Yoder

Thanks to Rob's link I figured out it was "Ladyshave" by Gus Gus.Now can
anyone tell me what that keyboard is?
The link will bring a snippet of the song right up on real player.
Pete

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B00000IL0O001001/104-2494012-6671113

On Sat, 4 Jan 2003 gleonard9@... wrote:

> Hi Noah, I've been searching ebay for this & keep finding a punk band by the
> same name. Good thing you have tyhe label info. If a retailer says they can
> order, make sure it's on the right label.

Heh!  That's good to know, I will make sure I have the one on Immune, if
I am so lucky.

Looking on gemm.com, I see a couple that appear to be the right CD, but
around $50 each, which is a little much for one song I need to get. :P

I'll see what I can find locally, and report.

--
Noah Lesgold 	 http://nlesgold.freeshell.org/
nlesgold@...  AIM: nlesgold ICQ: 132716231

"But mostly, I pondered revenge.  Revenge and monkeys.  Monkeys are funny."
	 -- Gregor Mendel