***** Bridge Across Forever by Transatlantic - Unbelievably Awesome!!! Never a Dull Moment!!!

This album remains among the somewhat hidden treasures of today’s musicians. I love a good secret, as long as nobody gets harmed in the process.

If this album had been cut when the Baby Boomers were young, I predict that this band would be filling stadiums. Transatlantic is better than The Who, or The Rolling Stones, and might be considered on the elevated level of a timeless band like Led Zeppelin, or Jimi Hendrix. I love that though. It would be a shame if Transatlantic filled stadiums full of beer drinkers throwing up and doing drugs. Transatlantic is a lot like Phish. However, fans of Phish are almost always drug users as well as music aficionados. If you listen to Transatlantic, then you will probably find that drugs are not cool at all by this band.

The songs on this album are too long to make it readily accessible by the regular America crew. I would definitely opt to see Transatlantic live though for that reason. It is really good music that would only attract an intimate audience. Most people just can’t stand for songs that are long, but I can assure you that though these songs are long, there is never a dull moment.

Bridge Across Forever is even better than Transatlantic’s first album, “SMPTe,” and I give both albums a 5 star rating. I don’t just hand out 5 star ratings like most people. If an album gets 5 star rating from me, then that means something.

So who is this album not for? I would have to say the masses of teenagers, and frat boy college students, that are merely looking to fit in because they feel uncomfortable listening to anything except something that has promotion, and national attention that only major label records can afford. As Rush says in their very famous song Subdivisions, its “Be cool or be cast out,” and I would figure that a Rush fan would dig this, but not someone who listens to Rush only when they are on the radio. If you seek Rush, then I hope you find Transatlantic.

I like this album because at times it is very jazzy, and then at other times it is very rigidly written. Also, unlike many albums I like this album sounds beautiful in the way that level headed person would perceive. It is an album where the musicians have taste, and it is not so difficult to play that compression dominates the sound.

This is moderately complex music though this is prog rock. It is not musicians showing off their chops. Every note has its place, and though there is jamming there isn’t a single superfluous note on the entire album! There are very few albums I could give such high praise to. However, when this was released it could still be said that usually if a Dream Theater member is on an album, or in this case a former Dream Theater member, then there is no filler on the album.

**** Live at Budokan by Dream Theater – Spotty. Buy It If You Are A Fanatic. Skip It If You Are Not.

This was my first indication that the album 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence was not a total loss. Score proved that without a doubt, and so did 4 Degrees of Radio Edits. Score is a 5 by any standard, and those that criticize are not correct, they are wrong, but that is not this album.

Now, I know that I am in the minority, as most fans loved 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence. My major criticism of that album, 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence, is that the songs on it are too repetitious. For some reason on Live at Budokan, songs from that album don’t bother me as much.

There are definitely some tracks on this one that are not as good as they could have been. If they took Live at Budokan into the studio, and worked some magic, I might have loved this album. For example, “In the Name of God,” has an absolutely incredible guitar solo, but LaBrie is a little lacking on that song, and there are a few times when it sounds like the show nearly falls apart given a little improvisation. That is how this album goes. Usually, it is not perfect like a studio album, and Dream Theater is the type of band that needs to sounds perfect, or else they sound like they are playing under their own ability levels!

Sometimes Jordan’s keyboard sounds cheesy, sometimes John Petrucci’s guitar sounds cheesy, James LaBrie’s voice sometimes sounds awesome, other times it needs some help, and the bass is almost non-existent. Mike Portnoy comes across very well.

This is not an essential Dream Theater album IMHO. With Dream Theater, you can expect to hear flawlessness, especially with their studio albums, but as usual, and with Live at Budokan, the live albums Dream Theater releases are spotty.

**** Scenario by Al di Meola – Good Music During the Techno Jazz Fusion Period

This album can definitely stand as a marker in time and that is why it is 4 stars and not 3. The techno sounds that where incorporated with the music now sounds like the music that comes out of children’s toys, or primitive video games. Seriously, I could totally bet some of this music could be swapped for something on the NES (original Nintendo Entertainment System) and I doubt anyone would notice a difference in quality.

So yes, this dates back to early attempts to fuse techno with music. However, this effort though it does have some good songs, really only serves as a relic, such that people can point to it and say, “That is what music used to sound like.” These particular sounds used on this album have largely vanished from good music because they seem to lack the overtones that come with actually playing a wooden guitar without some effacing sound for example. To put it bluntly: The sounds on Scenario are too cheesy!

Also, though this music is dated, Al di Meola’s performance on it is often quite good. It is the other stuff, such as the processors, even the guitar processors, that subtract from the goodness of Scenario. It is a good album, but you have to put up with primitive techno that sounds like something out of Super Mario Brothers, and that is why it loses a star.

**** Spontaneous Combustion by the Liquid Trio Experiment – Mixes Well With Modern Jazz Fusion

I can totally see someone getting this album and being completely disappointed with it.  Unlike the Liquid Tension Experiment album, on these songs the musicians are just jamming away.  Seriously, this stuff is like hit the record button and run to your instrument as fast as possible and join the jam.  I have to wonder if this one sounds at all like John Myung’s Jelly Jam, because this jam is quite gelatinous.   

That this project was seemingly going nowhere is the reason why Mike Portnoy called up John Petrucci to join the jam (I think as legend has it), and at that point the Liquid Trio Experiment became the very famous 

Liquid Tension Experiment.

I know that the album is called Spontaneous Combustion, and looking back on it, that was probably a warning that this experiment wasn’t going to work out like Transatlantic, or Office of Strategic Influence, as far as having song hooks goes.  Spontaneous Combustion lacks the hook that would catch a fish.  However, this is darned good music, and that is how I came to look at this one in retrospective.  That is as the jazz content of my cd player increased, suddenly, the Liquid Trio Experiment’s Spontaneous Combustion album was mixing well with Wes Montgomery, Niacin, King Crimson, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and so many others.

Don’t mix this one in with a mix of heavy or light song structures that are very ridged.  This one won’t mix in that well, and it is a 4 star album rather than a 5 star album because this one can’t take the spotlight on its own, unless it is all by itself.

Bottom line, this really is a great album.  It is not for everybody by a long shot.  However, if you are a fan of progressive rock jazz fusion moderately aggressive jamming, then this one should fit the bill well!

**** Spontaneous Combustion by the Liquid Trio Experiment – Mixes Well With Modern Jazz Fusion

I can totally see someone getting this album and being completely disappointed with it.  Unlike the Liquid Tension Experiment album, on these songs the musicians are just jamming away.  Seriously, this stuff is like hit the record button and run to your instrument as fast as possible and join the jam.  I have to wonder if this one sounds at all like John Myung’s Jelly Jam, because this jam is quite gelatinous.   

That this project was seemingly going nowhere is the reason why Mike Portnoy called up John Petrucci to join the jam (I think as legend has it), and at that point the Liquid Trio Experiment became the very famous Liquid Tension Experiment.

I know that the album is called Spontaneous Combustion, and looking back on it, that was probably a warning that this experiment wasn’t going to work out like Transatlantic, or Office of Strategic Influence, as far as having song hooks goes.  Spontaneous Combustion lacks the hook that would catch a fish.  However, this is darned good music, and that is how I came to look at this one in retrospective.  That is as the jazz content of my cd player increased, suddenly, the Liquid Trio Experiment’s Spontaneous Combustion album was mixing well with Wes Montgomery, Niacin, King Crimson, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and so many others.

Don’t mix this one in with a mix of heavy or light song structures that are very rigged.  This one won’t mix in that well, and it is a 4 star album rather than a 5 star album because this one can’t take the spotlight on its own, unless it is all by itself.

Bottom line, this really is a great album.  It is not for everybody by a long shot.  However, if you are a fan of progressive rock jazz fusion moderately aggressive jamming, then this one should fit the bill well!

***** Metanoia by Porcupine Tree – Top Notch Rock Jazz Fusion That Is Not for Everyone

Lol. I was reading on the internet that this album, Metanoia, has been called the opposite of Stupid Dream, but every bit as good. That is so accurate! Why they didn’t release it first as a regular Porcupine Tree album is beyond me…well sort of…this music is great, but it doesn’t sound at all like Stupid Dream, which is often called Porcupine Tree’s best cd, especially by those that don’t commonly listen to progressive rock.

Stupid Dream does not lend itself very well to jazz blending. Stupid Dream’s songs are written seemingly to catapult the band to the fame of bands like Rush. Rush is one of those bands that plays a song again, and again, and again, until they get it correct, and then the song is played exactly the same way for the rest of all time.

Also, if you are looking for something with lyrics, then this one will fail you.

If you want to know how good jazz fusion can get, I highly recommend this album. This is like the sound Miles Davis was trying to achieve in his later years. In fact, Metanoia reminds me a little of the Miles Davis album Bitch’s Brew, except in my opinion Metanoia is better.

Metanoia has some fantastic jams.  In fact, they go really well with the other album I am reviewing today, "Spontaneous Combustion," by the Liquid Trio Experiment. You just have to give it a chance though. If you don’t like this one on first listen, I completely understand. However, if you walk away from this album with a negative opinion of it, I judge that you are not a fan of good music. If you don’t like Metanoia, go listen to it when you drink or something, as for me I like this one sober.