The "here's what I've bought lately" kind of post seems to do well for
generating a little discussion, so here goes:
1. Il Balletto di Bronzo:  Ys -- As most people in the echo probably know by
now, I *really* like most Italian prog.  This one has definitely proven to be
no exception.  It's considerably more bombastic than PFM, and has a much
heavier reliance on keyboards and a less varied tonal pallette (i.e., no
violins and flutes).  All this sounds like a comparison to ELP would be
fairly obvious, but somehow, I don't see much stylistic similarity between
the two.
2. Devil Doll: The Sacrilege of Fatal Arms -- Okay, we now have the hand-down
winner in the "longest song" category.  This album is one single song that is
seventy-nine frickin' minutes long.  The last ten minutes, however, is mostly
silence and sound effects.  But that point nonwithstanding, this is easily 
one of the most intense pieces of music I've ever heard.  If you've heard 
other Devil Doll and didn't like it, you probably won't like this, either. 
But if you like Devil Doll, you'll love this.  
3. Devil Doll: Dies Irae -- This one took me a while to get into, but I think
that's largely because I got it at the same time as _The Sacrilege of Fatal 
Arms_.  A few noteworthy changes on this one, the most notable being the 
addition of a soprano vocalist at some points.  It's a nice touch, and an 
interesting contrast to Mr. Doctor's voice, but they could have made more use
of it, IMO.  Mr. Doctor's vocals get *really* extreme at a couple of points 
on this one -- too extreme even for me at one or two points.  Still, a very 
good album overall.
4. Phil Miller: Split Seconds -- See, I did get some stuff that wasn't by 
Italians. :-)   It cost only $6,50, which is probably just as well.  It 
strikes me as mostly being jazz noodling.  I was never much on the Canterbury
scene, however, so people who like Canterbury might appreciate it more.
5. Dragonfly: Dragonfly -- Okay, it's neo-prog, but as far as neo-prog goes, 
it ain't bad.  The 19-minute title song justifies the expense alone.  The 
lyrics, however, are hopelessly lame.
6. Anekdoten: Nucleus -- I wanted to give this one time, because I remember 
how slow Angalgard was in growing on me.  But I'm sorry, I just can't get 
into this one.  In fact, I don't really even consider it prog at all.  It's 
alternative with a mellotron slapped on top of it.  The singer's voice annoys
the crap out of me, and much of the album strikes me as being hopelessly
dissonant with no good reason.  Is Sweden the new center of Prog?  God, I 
hope not.
 
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