The Keith Reid Project

Keith Reid and Gary Brooker founded Procol Harum in 1967.
With the worldwide chart breaker "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" the writer/lyricist-duo Brooker/Reid wrote an all time rock classic.

For The Keith Reid Project, Keith Reid has gathered together a highly impressive group of singers and songwriters around him. The album "The Common Thread" has made a dream become reality, for these songs have accompanied Keith's life like “a common thread”.

In all, there are eight singers/songwriters to interpret Keith Reid's lyrics and stories. There is Chris Thompson (the voice of Manfred Mann's Earth Band) and John Waite (Bad English, The Babys and a very fine solo artist) – they are both among THE world`s  great voices of rock – having stamped their unique character on worldwide hits such as "Blinded By The Light" (Chris Thompson), "Mr Wonderful" and "Missing You" (John Waite).
There is Southside Johnny, also known as “The Godfather Of The New Jersey Sound”, acknowledged by Jon Bon Jovi as “my reason for singing”. And also, there is the legendary Terry Reid, who has firmly stamped his name in Rock history and continues to enjoy high status among music critics.
Also, Steve Booker, co-writer/producer of Duffy's No.1 hit "Mercy", wrote and sings two songs on the album.

The achievement is a singer/songwriter album containing timeless beautiful rock music, tailor made for great voices. In the finest classic tradition, Rock, Pop & Folk are tied together harmoniously. Here and there you can find some Americana, Blues, Latin and Irish influences. Anyone between the ages of 8 and 80 in the mood for great handmade music should listen to "The Common Thread".

A very special rarity is the song "You're The Voice", a worldwide hit by John Farnham in 1986, co-written by Chris Thompson & Keith Reid.
The Common Thread contains the previously unreleased original version of "You're The Voice", recorded by Chris Thompson himself in early 1986.

The album is available as a free download from last.fm.

Joseph Magazine

Joseph Magazine is a progressive metal band from Wroclaw, Poland.
The roots of the band date back from 2005, when Bartos Socha (guitar) and Marcin Walecki (keyboards), both from the demised band Lapidarium, started working on new ideas and approaches.
By 2009 the material for a first album had come together. In the same year, the duo teamed up with vocalist Bartosz Struszczyk. In 2010 Rafal Brodowski (drums) and Marcin Szadyn (bass) joined.
Their debut album "Night Of The Red Sky" has now been released.

The band plays a fresh and colorful type of progressive metal, with much attention to keyboard orchestrations and technical compositions.

Joseph Magazine is the reaction to the scream of reality. Everything that surrounds us is so shiny and colourful that you just want to close your eyes and simply take a break from it all... The truth is that sometimes everybody needs to stop for a while... All those who are not afraid to take on challenges and seek for something more in life - we invite you to take the journey with Joseph Magazine.
It's the Holy Grail for everyone who search to find something more in music. For everyone who want something fresh and unique. Night of The Red Sky is the realisation of a dream that others failed to fulfil or just considered unachievable.

Lapidarium there was a long period of silence. Each one of us went his own way. We were all exhausted. After a year and a half break, the guitarist Bartosz Socha decided to discover areas not yet marked on the musical map. He composed the first track and sent it to the keyboardist, Marcin Walecki, living in Ireland at that time. After some time Marcin replied… The final outcome was a revelation for both musicians and a beginning of a new stage in their lives. A new idea was born. A dream to bring something entirely new into the world of music. Something very picturesque and suggestive. This is how the great duet came to being. Bartosz was composing and arranging, while Marcin added colors and new dimensions to the music. 4 years later, in 2009, the entire concept album had it shape and form defined. However, there was still something missing… In the summer of 2009 there came the singer, Bartosz Struszczyk. He was far away from the stereotype of what a Polish singer should be. That was the thing that both musicians were seeking. The album was enriched with singing and speaking parts and an epilogue was written, revealing the ultimate idea behind the story. Finally, then came the time for the finishing works: assembling the entire band, audio mixing and mastering and working on the cover art. In the second half of 2010, a drummer, Rafał Brodowski joined the team. He was the only guy who, unlike all others, was able to play everything he was expected to. In October 2010 Marcin Szadyn, a bass player joined the band and finally they could start working on live performances.. Joseph Magazine has already played a few concerts, aimed mainly to gather some live experience in performing the new material and find out how the audience would react to their music. The listeners’ opinion strengthen the band’s belief that their message was properly received. The audience wasn’t able to anything but to listen to the music and focus on the performance. There are no random members in the band. They all are great musicians. Each one of them is at a high instrumental level so they all can create musical visions without any technical limitations. You can also say that each one of them has a different musical story to tell.

Without a doubt, Joseph Magazine is a group composed of really unique artists, sharing one dream and pursuing the same goal.

http://www.josephmagazine.net

Kolm

One gave rise to two,two gave rise to three, and three gave rise to Kolm.
On their self titled 3 track EP we hear progressive, psychedelic electronics music with ambient soundscapes.

Kolm is:
David Gonzalez (Bass)
Mikal Baker (Drums, Electronics)
gi0rg (Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Electronics)

Again, no information about the band available at the moment...
But their debut is available from bandcamp by "name your price" (which means also for free!)

http://kolm.bandcamp.com

Searchin For Reason

Searching For Reason is a new acoustic progressive rock band from Phoenix, Arizona.

"The Road To Obscurity" is a 5 track EP released on 9th September 2011 and is currently free to download.

Unfortnately I don't know anything about the band except of their line up:
Chas Bagy - Vocals, Guitar
Andy Luffey - Drums, Percussion
Daniel Racines - Bass
Ricardo Racines - Guitars

http://searchingforreason.bandcamp.com

The Waterboys

The long-awaited new album "An Appointment With Mr Yeats" by The Waterboys is released now across Europe.

The album was produced by Mike Scott and Waterboys' bassist Marc Arciero, and contains 14 new songs created from the lyrics of Ireland's greatest poet, WB Yeats (1865-1939).
The songs were premiered at the band's raved-about Appointment With Mr Yeats concerts in Ireland and Britain in 2010 and early 2011.
All the musicians from the most recent Mr Yeats concerts are featured: Steve Wickham (fiddle), Katie Kim (vocals), James Hallawell (keyboards), Kate St John (sax, oboe, cor anglais), Blaise Margail (trombone), Ralph Salmins (drums), Sarah Allen (flute) and Joe Chester (guitar) as well as Scott and Arciero.
The album was recorded in London and Dublin between March and June 2011.

For those who don't know them yet, The Waterboys are a Scottish band formed in 1983 by Mike Scott.
The band has played in a number of different styles, but their music is a mix of Celtic folk music with rock 'n' roll.

Discography:
1983: The Waterboys
1984: A Pagan Place
1985: This Is the Sea
1988: Fisherman's Blues
1990: Room to Roam
1993: Dream Harder
2000: A Rock in the Weary Land
2001: Too Close to Heaven
2003: Universal Hall
2005: Karma To Burn
2007: Book of Lightning
2008: Kiss The Wind
2011: In A Special Place (The Piano Demos For "This Is The Sea")
2011: An Appointment With Mr Yeats

http://www.mikescottwaterboys.com

Quintorigo

Coming from Romagna in Italy, Quintorigo started in 1996 with a lineup composed by Andrea Costa (violin), Gionata Costa(cello), Stefano Ricci (contrabass), Valentino Bianchi (sax) and the incredible voice of John de Leo. Their music is initially an experimental fusion of Classical, Jazz and Rock.

Although the musical ensemble is composed only by acoustic instruments, the band often makes heavy use of sound effects like distortion, flanger, wah-wah to recreate most of the rock sound in their songs.
They became known to the maintream public by taking part to the Sanremo Festival in 1999 with a song taken from their debut album "Rospo".
The song is highly unusual for that environment but the critics are very positive. The same year they won the Tenco prize, that's the art side of Sanremo.
In 2005 John de Leo left the band to be replaced by Luisa Cottifogli. Their first project with the new vocalist is based on Charlie Mingus ("Quinotorigo Play Mingus").
In 2008 Luisa has been replaced by Luca Sapio and this is currently the last change in their lineup.

They have collaborated with some Italian prog artists like Ivano Fossati (Delirium), Franco Battiato and the jazzist Roberto Gatto.
They won two times the prize for the best song arrangement at Sanremo, the first place at Arezzo Wave in 1998 and "Quintorigo Play Mingus" has been chosen by an italian jazz magazine as best album of 2008.

They are active supporters of AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation)

Discography
1999 - Rospo
2001 - Grigio
2003 - In Cattività
2004 - Nel Vivo
2006 - Il Cannone
2006 - Quinto
2008 - Quintorigo Play Mingus
2010 - Le Origini
2011  - English Garden

Now the Quintorigo factory is back with its new album, "English Garden", great proof of their continuous evolution. Luca Sapio‘s voice (succedeed to Luisa Cottifogli, who took John de Leo‘s place years ago) perfectly harmonizes with the italian combo’s experimentations: blues, 70s rock, punk, jazz and classic melodies. Everything played only with non-rock instruments like violins, saxophones, double-basses and stuff like that. The icing on the cake is Juliette Lewis partecipation on the vocals of two tracks.

Listen and try to define it, if you can.

www.quintorigo.com

Pooh

Pooh or I Poo (between 1966-1977) are one of most prosperous bands in Italians mainstream pop/rock music.

One of music's longest continuously running acts, they formed in Bologna in 1964.
The original band was composed of Valerio Negrini (Drums), Bob Gillot (Keyboards), Gilberto Faggioli ( Bass Guitar ), Mario Goretti (Guitar), and Mauro Bertoli (Guitar).
As the 60's wore down and the Italian music scene began to find it's own voice Pooh gravitated toward a more...melodic pop/rock. The group had some line-up changes during these years with the definitive Pooh line up taking form.
Roby Facchinetti (voice and keyboards) joined in 1966 replacing Gillot.
Red Canzian (voice and electric bass joined 1973 replacing Riccardo Fogli who had replaced Faggioli in 1966.
In 1967 , Mauro Bertoli left the group.
In September 1968, Dodi Battaglia (voice and guitars) joined the group, when Mario Goretti left the band.
Finally in 1971, following Valerio's departure, the band recruited Stefano D'Orazio, the drummer of the Naufraghi.
The line-up of Facchinetti, Battaglia, D'Orazio, and Canzianhas been together since 1973 with exception of some albums in the early to mid 70's.

They have sold in Italy alone more than 40 million CDs.
In 1990 they won the Festival of San Remo with the hit "Uomini soli".
In 2006 Pooh celebrated their 40th stage anniversary with another successful collection of new songs and a tour across Italy.

Discography:
1966 - Per quelli come no
1968 - Contrasto
1969 - Memorie
1971 - Opera Prima
1972 - Alessandra
1973 - Parsifal
1974 - I Pooh 1971-1974
1975 - Forse ancora poesia
1975 - Un po' del nostro tempo migliore
1976 - Poohlover
1977 - Rotolando Respirando
1978 - Boomerang (1978)
1978 - I Pooh 1975-1978
1979 - Viva
1980 - Hurricane
1980 - ...Stop!
1981 - Buona fortuna
1981 - I Pooh 1978-1981
1982 - Palasport
1983 - Tropico del nord
1984 - Aloha
1984 - I Pooh 1981-1984
1985 - Asia non Asia
1986 - Giorni infiniti
1987 - Il colore dei pensieri
1988 - Oasi
1990 - Uomini soli
1992 - Il cielo è blu sopra le nuvole
1994 - Musicadentro
1996 - Amici x sempre
1999 - Un minuto prima dell'alba
1999 - Un posto felice
2000 - Cento di queste vite
2001 - The Best of the Best
2002 - Pinocchio
2004 - Ascolta
2005 - La grande festa
2006 - Noi con voi - Live Tour 2006
2008 - Beat ReGeneration
2009 - Ancora una notte insieme
2010 - Dove comincia il sole


Sad to say this band never ever came to my attention, but now I've fallen in love with their music, so now i have to catch up 45 years...

http://www.pooh.it

Doracor

Doracor (anagram of Corrado) is the pseudonym of Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist Corrado Sardella, who has been active on the Italian progressive rock scene since 1997.
The brand new album "La vita che cade" continues the string of great albums made this century by this symphonic progressive rock band.

The music is again a mix of Genesis, romantic Italian prog, and IQ-style neo-prog, with melodic sax a nice touch on several songs. The Genesis influence is not retro or copyist but rather takes off from the "Wind and Wuthering" period, using vintage keyboard sounds but not ignoring more modern instruments, not trying to sound like a tribute band. The classic Italian prog comes in mostly via the warm Italian vocals.
This is a superb, well-crafted album: majestic, romantic, and stirring.

Discography:
1996 - Wanderlust (The Early Demos) (unreleased so far)
1997 - The Long Pathway
1998 - Segni Premonitori
1999 - Antiche Impressioni
2001 - Transizione
2005 - Evanescenze
2007 - Onirika
2008 - Lady Roma
2011 - La Vita Che Cade

 http://www.doracor.it

Think Floyd

Think Floyd were formed in May 1994 by four Pink Floyd fans from South London -Tony Red, Paul "Wiggy" Whisker, Pete Mizen and Brian Duell.
They had been playing the Pub Rock scene together for many many months, then someone suggested that they shall play a Pink Floyd song... and they never looked back!
As they played "Comfortably Numb" for the first time the audience response was amazing.
From that day on they became the original UK Pink Floyd tribute band.
They were soon to be joined by the incredible vocal talents of Lorraine Delvino, providing those haunting vocals on "Great Gig In The Sky".

The original Think Floyd line up: L to R -Lorraine Delvino - Backing Vocals, Tony Red - Vocals and Bass, Paul Whisker - Drums, Brain Duell - keyboards and Pete Mizen - guitars.

As they were at the top of their field, in 1997 the members of Think Floyd decided that although they loved to play the music of Pink Floyd that now was time to use their musical and songwriting talents to write their own original songs.
These songs inspired by the musical genius of Pink Floyd and set Think Floyd apart from the usual Tribute acts.

Their first album "Hope" was released in 1997.
The Roger Waters Fan Club in California review of this album recommended that every Pink Floyd fan should buy a copy!
Brian Duell was to leave the band after four years and was replaced by Rick Melville, a classically trained pianist and keyboard player, in 1998.

The second album "Beyond Boundaries" was released in 2000.
Another one of original songs written by the talented Tony Red. This album also received worldwide critical acclaim and has sold many thousands of copies.

When Tony Red was no longer able to play live due to Multiple Sclerosis he recorded a solo album called "Postive Waves" in 2001.
This album has the same touch of musical genius as the songs that he wrote for Hope and Beyond Boundaries. Sad to say he passed away on the 11th December 2008.

 http://www.think-floyd.com

http://www.thinkfloyd.net 

Dropshard

In september 2007, after being involved in the new fresh project Antares, Sebastiano Benatti (guitar), Tommaso Mangione (drums) and Alex Stucchi (bass) set up the Dropshard.
The band goal is to explore classic progressive rock sonorities and merge them with fresh ideas, creating a variety of original songs and concepts.
Taking inspiration from bands like Pain of Salvation, Riverside, Porcupine Tree, Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin, the band starts with a series of performances and publishes two demos "DSI" & "DSII" and the single "Freedom Supermarket" which are available as free download from their homepage.
In these years of rehearsing the ensemble is well established and reinforced, reaching a solid five-elements lineup - among which Enrico Scanu on vocals and Federico Ravasi on keyboards.

The growing appreciation from public and critic leads the band to win the first prize of the Woodstock Metal Race Contest competing with more than 40 bands. They take part of an important Progressive Rock event, the eXProg in Mogliano Veneto (Treviso), with bands like Marillion, Tony Levin Stickmen Trio and Le Orme.
In 2010 the band gave birth to the concept for their first album, "Anywhere But Home", a suite in 8 movements and a bonus track.

The album, recorded in november 2010, is published worldwide by english label Sonic Vista Music in February 2011.
With Marco Zago as new keyboardist, Dropshard reach England for the first time at the Electric Garden Festival in Blackpool in may 2011, their concerts are characterized by a dreaming atmosphere, which suddenly changes in true adrenalin moments. This feature is typical of the progressive genre that has inspired the band.

http://www.dropshard.net

John Parr

Grammy Nominated singer songwriter John Parr released his latest album “Letter To America” in July 2011.

This is a ifetime inspired 2-disc collection:

Disc1 (Rock Album):
76 minutes of John performing his old and new hits live with his band incl. his number 1 hit “St. Elmo’s Fire”.

Disc2 (Acoustic Album):
60 minutes of acoustic arrangements such as “The Minute I Saw You” and “The Best A Man Can Get”.

Both of these discs are loaded with fan favorites as well as a variety of newly released music.

Letter To America in John's Words:
"I am coming back to the America after 20 years in order to do solo performances and also performances with my band. I want to play my hits as well as introduce everyone to new tracks as well. I want to pick up from where I left off and really show people that despite it being this long since I have been to the US nothing has changed for me. I hope that America will welcome me back to my second home that has always held a very special place in my heart and life."

http://www.johnparramerica.com 

Bader Nana

Kuwait based Lebanese artist Bader Nana has just released a concept album for free download.

The album entitled ‘Wormwood‘ tells the story of the fantastical journey of a girl during the dark ages of the black plague to discover a dark secret hidden within her.
The album has a total running time of 58 min and is a roller coaster of plot twists and emotional turbulence.

Bader Nana, a multi-instrumentalist, has been playing music for over 10 years and has contributed on numerous musical projects around the middle east.
In 2009 he gained national fame in Kuwait with his release of an acoustic tribute album to Michael Jackson. On this new release, he takes a darker turn into the realms of progressive metal, composing music for all instruments, recording and playing them himself.In the spirit of humility, Bader Nana simply described the album with the phrase ‘it’s nice.’
That of course is the understatement of the decade from one of the most promising emerging talents of the middle east.

Any listeners with a taste for the darker flavor of progressive rock/metal would be doing themselves a disservice by missing out on this free release.

http://badernana.bandcamp.com