Portrait of a Zebra - Graeme Swallow

Portrait of a Zebra (Graeme Swallow, 2013)

1. The Savanna - 2:14
2. Zebra Song - 5:14
3. Father and Son - 5:15
4. Racing Toward Destiny - 4:16
5. Love No More - 5:49
6. Garmonbozia (Pain and Sorrow) - 7:12
7. (You Don't) Know Me - 6:43
8. Theories of the Dawn - 5:06
9. Unseen Power - 8:03
10. Lament for the Innocent - 1:54
11. Thanksgiving - 8:31

Graeme Swallow is a tremendously talented musician based in Lenexa, KS.  He has managed to create in his basement an album that rivals any progressive metal band out there in sound, size, and creativity. Dream Theater is definitely a stylistic touchstone, but Graeme puts his own stamp on these songs, sonically linking them together into an ambitious project.

Musically, the album offers a compelling blend of hard rock and symphonic metal, with occasional breaks for piano-led pieces, ambient orchestral events, and melodic instrumentals.  Virtuoso performances throughout from Graeme (keyboard, guitar, and drums), Stuart Pendergast (lead guitar) and Kyle King (bass) serve the songs well, and four different vocalists (Jimmy Rokka, Thomas Irwin, Marissa Garrison, and Chad Wagner) add depth and variety to the proceedings.

Lyrically, the topics are far-ranging: survival, heartbreak, internal struggles with good and evil, social alienation, science and religion, doubts, and the problem of evil in the world.  Heavy stuff for heavy music! Graeme finds creative ways not only to embody these ideas in his music, but to make them rock.

The calm guitar picking and flute of "The Savanna" swell into "Zebra Song"'s gargantuan chorus. Driven by a knotty guitar riff, the song features pounding chord changes and some excellent solo trading between Graeme and Stuart as it tells of a relentless pursuit on the African plain. Then it's right into  "Father and Son", where Thomas Irwin's operatic baritone weaves an epic tale of conflict and temptation.  (An inspiration for this song might be name-checked in the liner notes, take a look...) The keyboard-led instrumental "Racing Toward Destiny" features neo-classical arpeggiated riffing from guitar and bass, supporting Graeme's positively athletic keyboard solo, which drops the jaw while still serving the piece melodically.

After that intense set of three, "Love No More" is a musically calm respite, yet the lyrics are no less intense.  Graeme's piano work is stunning, and Marissa Garrison gives an emotional performance. It transitions immediately into "Garmonbozia", where Chad Wagner's rock tenor ratchets things up a notch, and Graeme's apocalyptic chord constructions cycle through despair and anger, yet with a great upbeat drum part that fits the mood perfectly. The song's orchestral coda begins with foreboding quiet, then explodes into a fiery torrent and brings the piece to a cataclysmic close.

Mysterious, chiming guitars start "(You Don't) Know Me", a slow headbanger with a frightening bridge and another great vocal performance from Wagner. Fading into "Theories of the Dawn", we get about a minute of ambient sound before it bursts forth in symphonic majesty. The piece uses several different styles and movements to paint a picture of the genesis of the cosmos.  (You know, simple stuff like that.)  "Unseen Power" examines the same questions lyrically against a driving beat and towering riffs. It also navigates several different musical moods, layers, and sections with great finesse.

For the finale, "Lament for the Innocent" restates the theme from "The Savanna" on grand piano, crescendoing into "Thanksgiving", a symphony in miniature with sweeping keyboard, dense orchestration, heavy metal riffing, and powerful rock baritone vocals from Jimmy Rokka, the vocal anchor of the project who also sings on "Zebra Song", "Father and Son", and "Unseen Power".  Its many movements culminate in an anthemic chorus that will have legions of should-be fans waving their lighters and/or cell phones to the beat in the darkened arena.  Fans of high-quality progressive metal, don't miss out on this home-grown opus.

Arbitrary rating:  5 out of 5 apocalyptic chord constructions

Shameless plug:  Go buy it!  It takes a lot of hard work, time, and money to bring a project like this to fruition.  You can get physical copies from CD Baby or digital copies at Amazon or iTunes.

Bedside Book of Famous French Stories

Bedside Book of Famous French Stories (1945)

Another collection of short stories, spanning the early 1800s up through the second World War. Some overall conclusions:

1) Maybe I need to obtain a collection of Balzac's short stories. I didn't really care for Pere Goriot, but all the short stories I've read are quite excellent.

2) My first experience with Emile Zola was also quite excellent.  I definitely need to read more of him. In "Attack on the Mill", he combines poetic detail, living characters, and a dramatic story with as much skill as Hugo or Dickens.

3) Same goes for Saint-Exupery.  He can get a little wordy at times, but he is a true mystic, and his tale of survival in the African desert is quite gripping. I guess The Little Prince wasn't a fluke.

Many of the stories here merit a full review all on their own, but I will do them the violence of, as the little birdie in my picture might do, "tweeting" the reviews...

"La Grande Breteche", Honore de Balzac - Perfectly paced Gothic tale, similar in style to Poe.

"An Episode of the Terror", Honore de Balzac - A mysterious stranger cares for a priest and some nuns in hiding during the Reign of Terror, but he conceals his own secret.

"The Venus of Ille", Prosper Merimee - A great supernatural/macabre episode, also similar to Poe.

"The Marquise", George Sand - Insightful account of the love between a noblewoman and an actor.

"Mimi Pinson", Alfred de Musset - Sympathetic portrayal of friendship and poverty in Paris.

"One of Cleopatra's Nights", Theophile Gautier - Easily the worst short story I have ever read.  Paragraph after long paragraph of meaningless Egyptology spew, mixed with mild 19th century pornography in an attempt to keep the reader interested in the faceless, characterless happenings.

"A Simple Heart", Gustave Flaubert - At first poignant in its portrayal of the lonely life of a devoted serving maid, but becomes repulsive toward the end when she idolizes her dead pet. Curse you, Flaubert, why did you have to ruin a story that started out so well? ("It's not my fault, I write the Truth!" Bah...)

"Herodias", Gustave Flaubert - Historical fiction about the day John the Baptist was beheaded. Interesting, and of course well-written. Some archaeological spew, but not nearly as much as Gautier.

"The Torture of Hope", Villiers de L'Isle-Adam - Spanish Inquisition vignette with enough anti-Semitism to spoil the story even if it had been good.

"The Elixir of Father Gaucher", Alphonse Daudet - Humorous tale of a monk who falls victim to the liquor he created, the sales of which are vital to the abbey's economy.

"The Last Lesson", Alphonse Daudet - Surprisingly moving patriotic tale about the Germans taking over Alsace and Lorraine after the Franco-Prussian War.

"The Attack on the Mill", Emile Zola - More Franco-Prussian War: A mill owner tries to protect his daughter and future son-in-law when the Prussian army marches in.

"The Procurator of Judea", Anatole France - Another historical fiction about Pontius Pilate's retirement days, with an ironic comment on how little a person can understand his or her historical legacy.

"Crainquebille", Anatole France - Moving tale of a peasant wrongfully imprisoned for a week and the consequences that came after he was released.

"The Diamond Necklace", Guy de Maupassant - As good the second time as it was the first.

"Madame Tellier's Excursion", Guy de Maupassant - Darkly funny story of a madame who takes her girls to the country for her niece's confirmation.

"Vain Beauty", Guy de Maupassant - A beleaguered wife exacts an ingenious revenge against her jealous husband.

"The Sacrifice", Georges Duhamel - Passionately told account by a field doctor of a double amputation and the patient's recovery during World War I.

"The Escape", Joseph Kessel - A leader of the French Resistance during World War II locked in an internment camp plans his escape.

"Prisoner of the Sand", Antoine de Saint-Exupery - Two men crash their plane in the African desert at night and strive toward rescue in the limited time left to them.

"Tank Trap", Andre Malraux - Overly wordy account of a tank falling into a pit, but with some genuinely good scenes, including an examination of men certain of death.

"The Wall", Jean-Paul Sartre - More men facing certain death, this time at the hands of a firing squad in fascist Spain - I'm sensing a theme here... but since this is Sartre, it's more about how rotten it is to live.  Blech.

"The Professor and the Mussels", Edith Thomas - Heartfelt and quietly rebellious vignette about an elderly couple living in German-occupied France.

Arbitrary rating:  4 out of 5 novels in miniature

Still Life - Van Der Graaf Generator

Still Life (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1976)

1. Pilgrims - 7:12
2. Still Life - 7:24
3. La Rossa - 9:52
4. My Room (Waiting for Wonderland) - 8:02
5. Childlike Faith in Childhood's End - 12:24

The second album of the reformed Van Der Graaf Generator finds the band normalizing a little more as they focus on live performance pieces instead of studio creations. These are nonetheless challenging songs, musically and lyrically bearing the band's unique stamp.

It starts with two relatively sedate works.  "Pilgrims" is a gorgeous song about societal outcasts with stirring chord changes, perfectly paced dynamics, and classically influenced melodies. Similar restraint is shown on "Still Life". Its brilliantly conceived science fiction story is supported by celestial organ playing from Hugh Banton, which midway through bursts into a rock anthem driven by Guy Evans' smashing drums and David Jackson's wailing sax before ebbing back down to the quiet melody.

As great as those songs are, one might suspect the band of getting soft at this point.  Hence "La Rossa", a true scorcher about desperation and desire. An insistent 6/8 beat drives this piece relentlessly, and Hammill screams forth his crisis - he wants more from a close platonic friend but doesn't want to ruin their relationship, and he feels caught in the pattern of their interactions.  The turbulent music reflects the lyrical mood, straining against the perceived bonds, quieting for dismal reflection, then amping up for its desperate resolution. It is perhaps the best musical representation of an overly intellectual male worrying too much about a romantic relationship - I can identify with that.

After all that excitement, we get another reflective mood piece in "My Room (Waiting For Wonderland)". The simple melody is hypnotic and mysterious, supporting a lyric of disillusion and abandonment. It is a welcome calm before the storm that is "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End".  Another philosophical epic with varying moods, conflicting styles, harsh tones, and dramatic chord progressions, it uses Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novel as a springboard for thoughts on creation, existence, afterlife, and the future of humanity. Pretty heavy stuff, but always stimulating, even if we disagree in our conclusions.

Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 overly intellectual males

Godbluff - Van Der Graaf Generator

Godbluff (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1975)

1. The Undercover Man - 7:25
2. Scorched Earth - 9:48
3. Arrow - 9:45
4. The Sleepwalkers - 10:31
--
5. Forsaken Gardens (live) - 7:58
6. A Louse Is Not A Home (live) - 12:47

After a four-year hiatus which saw Peter Hammill release five solo albums, each with varying levels of participation from the rest of the band, Van Der Graaf Generator officially reformed in 1975 and released Godbluff, a lean, visceral work consisting of four extended compositions that retain the dark experimentation of H to He and Pawn Hearts while trimming studio overdubs to capture more of a live sound.

It all starts with "The Undercover Man", a classically-tinged ballad with David Jackson's flute and Hugh Banton's magnificent church organ supporting a vocal plea to a friend in crisis. Haunting lyrics build above the elegant instrumental support: "Now panicking, you burst for air / Drowning, you know you care / For nothing and no one but yourself / And would deny even this hand which reaches out / Toward you to help..." This is perhaps one of the band's most emotional and poignant songs, with comparatively no musical dissonance to be found.

Of course, the dissonance was saved for the rest of the album. "Scorched Earth" tells the claustrophic tale of a fugitive fleeing his pursuers across a moor, and the music and lyrics are a perfect complement.  Hammill uses the Hohner Clavinet (think Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" with no funk) as a constant pulse over which the music trips like desperate footsteps clambering over the headland, from danger to danger. Two separate, conflicting vocal tracks add to the bewildering intensity of the music.  It ends with an extended coda that builds the main musical theme mercilessly - no solos or variations, just the increasing volume and speed of the chase coming to a close.

The pulsing Clavinet also drives "Arrow", a brooding, menacing piece that seems to continue the story from "Scorched Earth" (which might also continue the story from "The Underground Man", come to think of it...).  Perhaps the leanest piece, the music is stark and jagged, building to several screaming crescendos then fading back down to the wispy mystery it started from.

The closing song "The Sleepwalkers" is the most musically dense and varied of the pieces, hearkening back to past epics in its cyclopean construction. A philosophical musing on conscious versus subconscious, night versus day, and waking versus dreaming, it conceals several musical surprises and even some humor in the form of a somnambulent cha-cha. The band skillfully navigates the many different moods and styles of this challenging piece, ending an already excellent album on yet another high note.

Bonus Tracks:  The remaster includes two (poor quality) live recordings from around the time the album was released.  If you can get past the sound, the performances are very good, and it's also good to know that some of Hammill's best solo pieces found life in the reformed band's set.

Arbitrary rating: 5 out of 5 cyclopean constructions

French Stories/Contes Francois

French Stories/Contes Francois (Various)

No, I didn't read these stories in the original French, though isn't it comforting to know that I could have, if French was a language I understood?  One of the great things about reading a dual-language book - it feels like you're flying through the pages.  After I finished it and started the next one, I was distressed to have to read the even-numbered pages again.  C'est la vie.

Some of the stories here were quite excellent, others were a bit puzzling.  Here are some one-liner reviews:

"Micromegas", Voltaire - Pithy jabs at 18th century bigwigs couched in a science-fiction-esque vignette.

"The Atheist's Mass", Honore de Balzac - A surprisingly moving story of a young medical student and the sacrificial love shown him by his working class roommate.

"The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler", Gustave Flaubert - Psycho-sexual revisioning of the life of a Medieval saint who inadvertently kills his parents. If only it weren't so well-written...

"Spleen of Paris", Charles Baudelaire - Three semi-related prose poems, supposed to depict in moving tones the plight of the Paris poor, I think... This one didn't really stick with me.

"Minuet", Guy de Maupassant - Another prose poem lamenting the lost art of dancing. Snooze.

"Death of Judas", Paul Claudel - Fascinating monologue where Judas recounts what led him to his end, mixed with modern references.

"The Return of the Prodigal Son", Andre Gide - Revision/expansion of the end of Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, where the father is God, the mother is Mary, the brother is the Pope, the home is the Catholic Church, and the prodigal's younger brother is the next generation that will finally succeed in breaking free. Blech.

"Grand-Lebrun", Francois Mauriac - Shapeless autobiographical reminiscences with no real memorable pictures or occurrences. Yawn fest.

"The Passer-through-Walls", Marcel Ayme - Brilliant merger of the modern "humdrum, lonely workaday existence" story and science-fiction/fantasy. Quite funny.

"The Guest", Albert Camus - Tightly constructed tale of an Algerian Frenchman unwillingly deputized to deliver an Arab criminal to the nearby city.

Arbitrary rating - 3.5 out of 5 tricolor flags