Mike Mettler

Neal Morse is a busy man. The former Spock’s Beard vocalist/keyboardist found much great success after embarking on a long and fruitful solo career 15 years ago. Morse also runs his own label, Radiant Records, and he somehow finds the time to front two other sonically adventurous progressive-leaning bands, Transatlantic and Flying Colors. Before venturing across the Pond for an upcoming European tour in March and April, Morse called me from his home studio in Nashville to discuss how the journey of how The Neal Morse Band's new double-disc release The Similitude of a Dream came together, where you can find the album’s special “yacht rock” moment, and why he just can’t get behind the concept of streaming.

Uriah Heep burst onto the music scene at the dawn of the 1970s, and their heavy-but-melodic sensibilities instantly catapulted them into the hard-hitting Brit-rock fraternity collectively known as The Big Four, placing them right alongside Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple. A full-bore Uriah Heep reissue series is now underway, having commenced late last year with the two-CD set Your Turn to Remember: The Definitive Anthology 1970–1990 (BMG/Sanctuary) and followed by the band’s first two albums — namely, 1970's ...Very ’Eavy ...Very ’Umble and 1971’s Salisbury — with scores of bonus tracks to boot. I got on the horn across the Pond with co-founding Heep guitarist Mick Box to discuss the ins and outs of putting together the Anthology, how the band recorded an actual tea kettle onto the classic 1972 track “The Wizard,” his thoughts on streaming, and the band’s future plans.

Glenn Hughes is known as “The Voice of Rock” for good reason. The bassist/vocalist’s long and storied C.V. reads like a playlist that’s been culled from the best British-bred AOR from the ’70s right up to the present day, including the likes of Trapeze, Deep Purple, and Black Country Communion. I called Hughes to discuss the latest twist on his writing process for his new solo album Resonate, how also being the album’s producer enabled him to stretch creatively, and how spinning vinyl and streaming music are very different listening experiences.

Welcome back, my friends… well, you know the rest. That opening line—made famous in “Karn Evil 9 – 1st Impression, Part 2” from 1973’s Brain Salad Surgery—certainly applies to the re-emergence of the remastered catalog for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the groundbreaking British progressive trio that defined adventurous recording and outrageous live performance during their 1970s heyday. Actually, ELP vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Greg Lake prefers using the word original instead of progressive to describe the band’s signature sound—and the man does have a point.