Hi mates!!! So sorry .. I have not updated this blog for so long (a week already). So busy, chasing deadlines. But I have written quite a number of reviews at www.progarchives.com as well as www.dprp.net. Have a look. Currently, am listening to SWEDISH FAMILY CD. What a great music man! It’s a nice combination of jazz, rock and traditional music. Bravo Tomas Bodin!
Cheers,
Keep on proggin’ …….!!!!!
Review by NENGAH RIKON
Venue : Plaza de Major, Madrid
Waktu : 2004
Format : DVD
Duration : 78 Menit, tanpa special Features dan Menu
Akhirnya kesampaian juga nonton penampilan panggung Alan Parsons Band
meski hanya dalam format DVD. Maklum semasa masih bernama The Alan Parsons
Project band ini konon ngga pernah manggung secara live (CMIIW), apalagi ada
dokumentasinya yang mudah didapat. Sekalipun tidak bersama lagi dgn Eric Woolfson dan Andrew Powell, Alan Parsons tetap eksis dengan Alan Parsons Band yang sudah menelurkan 4 album studio dan 1 album live.
Beberapa tahun lalu Alan Parsons Band pernahmanggung di Amsterdam dalam rangka peringatan D-Day (pendaratan pasukan sekutu ke Normandia dlm PD II) yang disiarkan oleh TV swasta kita (RCTI), namun penampilan AP band saat itu - yg mengajak Chis Thompson (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) - hanya berdurasi sebentar saja.kurang puas. Kali ini dalam DVD Live In Madrid rasa dahaga itu terlampiaskan. AP Band tampil total dan prima.
Bertempat di Plaza de Major sebuah ruang terbuka di kota Madrid, konser
AP band ini disesaki oleh penonton (seandainya AP Band manggung di Barcelona di
depan gereja La Sagrada Familia mahakarya Antoni Gaudi mungkin lebih nuansamatic lagi). Lagu pembuka adalah nomor instrumental dr album berjudul
sama : I Robot sebuah album konsep mengenai karya Isaac Asimov.
Sepanjang karir Alan Parsons Project (APP) telah menghasilkan 10 album studio yg semuanya merupakan album konsep. I Robot adalah album ke 2 yg rilis th
1977. Track ini memang pas untuk pembuka konser, seperti banyak lagu2
instrumental APP yang sangat "nendang" seperti Hyper Gamma Spaces, Mammagamma, Hawkeye, Pipeline atau bahkan AP band dgn Jigue yg dahsyat itu.
Berikutnya muncullahP.J.Olsson yg baru direkrut sbg vokalis di album terbaru AP Band - A Valid Path. Mengalunlah Can’t Take It With You dr album ke 3 APP - Eve th 1978, sayang kualitas vokal Olsson masih belum prima disini. Setelah Don’t Answer Me (dr album Ammonia Avenue 1984) yg dinyanyikan
sendiri oleh Alan Parsons, giliran sang drummer Steve Murphy meneriakan
Breakdown yg dimedley dengan The Raven sebuah nomor dr album Tales of
Mystery and Imagination Edgar Allan Poe, mahakarya perdana Alan Parsons
th 1976 yang sangat progresif. Mengejutkan karena kualitas vokal Murphy
sangat prima disini meski dia menyanyi sambil nge-drum. Steve Murphy ini
ternyata pernah ngikut proyek album Trans-Siberian Orchestra, sebuah proyek
bernuansa Metal Opera dr personel Savatage.
Lagu Time yang muncul kemudian serasa menyejukkan sbg penurun tensi, lagu ini yg diambil dr album Turn Of A Friendy Card 1980, sekitar th 80-an itu populer di radio2 di Jakarta sbg lagu pengantar tidur di akhir acara seperti halnya Alone Tonight (Genesis) ataupun Watching Over you (ELP). Seakan membangunkan penonton selanjutnya meluncurlah melody keyboards yg sangat familiar.Psychobabble! Keyboards danLead Guitar mengisi banyak peran dilagu ini. Penampilan gitaris Godfrey Townsend sangat pas dengan lagu2 APP. Nomor2 selanjutnya yg menandakan konser ini konser bagus adalah Damned If I Do (lagi2 vokal Murphy excellent disini) dan Don’t Let It Show (ini lagu slow favorit banyak fans APP selain Old and Wise) yang kali ini dibawakan PJ Olsson dengan cukup prima.
Selanjutnya lagu Prime Time dinyayikan oleh gitaris Godfrey Townsend,
nampaknya Alan merekrut pemain2 buat band-nya dengan satu syarat : bisa
nyanyi bagus. Terbukti Godfrey juga bagus suaranya, sebelumnya sang
bassist John Montagna telah membawakan Wouldn’t Wanna Be Like You denagn mulus pula. Hanya sang Keyboardist Manny Foccarazzo yg absen nyanyi dan lebih ke backing vokal.
Puncak konser malam itu rasanya track berikut ini : dibuka dengan
pukulan cymbal bertubi-tubi dari Murphy, masuklah melody yg sangat populer dari band ini : Sirius yang nyambung dengan Eye In The Sky! Ngga afdol-lah kalo
lagu ini ngga dibawain. Keren dan nuansamatic abiss.sayang Alan Parson yg
menyanyikan lagu ini kepleset di lirik bait pertama..buat yg hafal lagu
ini terasa menggangu juga, tapi keseluruhan lagu ini dibawakan sangat baik.
Setelah mengakhiri konser, masuk belakang panggung dan menunggu
"more..more" dari penonton (standar konser rock dimana aja diseluruh
dunia.ada yg beda ngga ya?) AP band menambah 2 lagu yg masing2
menghentak yaitu : (The System Of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Feathers.lagu ini
asik banget.apalagi kalo bukan dr album Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Edgar Allan Poe yang mahadahsyat itu. Olsson prima menyanyi di lagu ini.
Penutup konser adalah lagu Games People Play yang dinyanyikan sendiri oleh Alan Parsons. Beberapa lagu bagus yg sayang ngga dibawakan adalah La Sagrada
Familia (salah satu lagu favorit gw dr APP), Old and Wise, Turn Of A Friendly Card, Lets Talk About Me atau juga lagu2 dgn vokal aneh seperti Pyramania atau Let Me Go Home (sayang ngga ada vokalis aneh seperti Jack Harris atau Lenny Zakatek).
Meski DVD bajakan import HK yang di HK sendiri ngga ada yg jual, tapi
kepuasan paripurna setelah menonton DVD ini sangat menghibur hati yg
hari2 belakangan ini sangat padat dan melelahkan. Thank you Alan!
Tracklist :
1. I Robot (Instrumental)
2. Can’t Take It With You
3. Don’t Answer Me
4. The Raven
5. Time
6. Psychobabble
7. Wouldn’t Wanna Be Like You
8. Damned If I Do
9. More Lost Without You
10. Don’t Let It Show
11. Prime Time
12. Sirius / Eye In The Sky
—- Break —–
13. (The System Of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Feathers
14. Games People Play
Line up :
Alan Parsons : Acoustic Guitar, Keyboard and Vocals
P.J. Olsson : Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Godfrey Thompson : Lead Guitar and Vocals
Steve Murphy : Drums and Vocals
Manny Foccarazzo : Keyboards and Vocals
John Montagna : Bass and Vocals
Reviewer : Rikon G (Penggemar berat Alan Parsons Project)
Quote from Dr. Evil : " The key of this project is the laser beam which
is invented by notable Cambridge physician Doctor Parsons.so we have to
call this project.Alan Parsons Project.." (from Mike Myer’s Austin Powers :
The Spy Who Shagged Me)
Hi guys …!!! So sorry I have not written any article yet as I’m now in the stage of redefining my writing style. You know what happen? It’s because of fabulous concert review by my progmate Nirarta (Koni) as you can read below. WOW man! His writing is truly amazing. When I was reading the review I was like watching the show by myself. Terrific!!
During this week I managed to write some reviews on RUSH albums since debut until A Farewell To Kings. I also managed to post Pak Max E. Makahinda’s article no. 3 in SUCCESS and HAPPINESS titled as MY VOCATION IS MY VACATION . Just visit ValueQuest.
Cheers, Gatot
Live in Malang: 3 August 2005
Cockpit Band, for us die-hard fans of progressive rock music in Indonesia, it means a Genesis tribute band. For some residents of Malang, it means more than that, it is a soul of a generation of class ‘75 to ’80, it is a liberation force in the quest of quenching one’s thirst of sense of togetherness under the banner of rebellious way of life (if not mistaken by mere ‘fashionable’). At least, that was the feeling when I was a teenage boy growing up in Malang, watching G’Brill (Donny Suhendra of Krakatau fame, if my memory serves right), Gang Voice, Squirell (Dewa Bujana of GIGI) and Cockpit coming and going, performing their faithful rendition of Genesis catalogue.
We –me and the rest of the audience—were in the age of 15-25, which demographically came from the same cohort, and screaming the same tune of ‘Behind the Lines’, ‘In the Cage’, and even ‘Dodo’. We knew each other, mostly, for we came from the same complex of high schools and hang out a lot on difference occasions and places. Déjà vu! Approximately twenty years later, we –me, the cohort mentioned before and Cockpit band—met again, not in the arena-like venue but a modest café. Cockpit Band plays one night only at Bale Barong Café, Malang, after they have been gladly persuaded by a group of Genesis die hard fans to make a diversion from their Silver Rainbow Tour in Surabaya. Some said that this particular group of fans rise up the money to pay half the fee for the band to play in Malang!!
Once I arrived at the café, familiar faces –older, bulkier and balder, looking prosperous—greeted me. Déjà vu! I sent an SMS to a friend of mine, Yogie, in Jakarta, who happened to be the first keyboard player for Gang Voice (our own homegrown Genesis tribute band), told him that I was about to watch Cockpit Band, and it reminds me of him. To my surprise, he immediately called, he said he would catch me up at once and asked for the name of the venue. We both laugh our heart out to the fact that I was in Malang, still it was an evidence that we have a thing or two with the band, Genesis, and being a teenager in Malang around the 80’s.
Now the show. The set list was initiated with ‘Behind the Lines’ of Duke album, which reminded me of the opening song of DVD Three Sides Live. Oding Nasution, Yaya Muktio, Raidy Noor and Rony Harahap were there, accompanied by a new singer which I could not get the name until the end of the show, he was young though, maybe Oding’s son’s friend. The drum machine sound which first utilized by Genesis in this album was copied perfectly, only a few minor glitches in the guitar department. But the amazing experience at this premature event was the audience, they all sang in unison just like a professional choir right from the start “I held the book so tightly in my hand …”. The voice of the vocalist was engulfed by the deafening sound of singing crowd. What an animalistic sonic experience! I saw lips miming the lyrics, fists swinging in the air, old guys jumping ups and downs, sweat dripping from naked unattractive bodies of middle-aged white collar labors: hysteria! And this was only the half of the first song. Then the crowd was shouting for ‘Dodo’ (Abacab), ‘Abacab’ (Abacab), ‘Home by the Sea (Genesis) .. ahhh, moaned one of the people in the crowd: not that one! ‘Cinema Show’, please!.
The band settled for ‘Dodo’ and followed by ‘Abacab’, again, faithful copy of the studio version. The crowd still sang in a choir mode: the right lyrics, the right notes! The people sitting in the four-seats table-half a million rupiah apiece were starting to circulate the booze, just like old times when they still single, easygoing, and full of energy charged by the Genesis songs. Everyone was in a high spirit, the songs has done a remarkable job in plunging them back in time. And then the band played ‘I Know What I Like’, the crowd still singing along with the vocalist who did his best to appreciate the takeover of his role as the band’s singer. This time the band covered the live version of the song from The Way We Walk right down to the improvised medley of , among others, ‘Turn It on Again’ (Invisible Touch) and ‘That’s All’ (Genesis). A bit disappointing for my liking, they could do better than making an overtly faithful copy. A credit should be given to the singer who handled Gabriel’s voice quite well in this song. The following song was ‘Tonight Tonight Tonight’ (Invisible Touch) and the poppy ballad of ‘Alone Tonight’ (Duke). So there you have it, Cockpit Band with the lesser Genesis songs, a crowd pleaser set list. Was this a reflection of Malang’s taste, a lesser progressive music dosage? Hang on, the next song ‘In the Cage’ (Lamb Lies Down on Broadway), the Gabriel era song, was applauded even louder by the crowd. I was too soon to comment!
Malang is the home of Genesis die-hard fans, period, no doubt about it, although back in the little corner of my mind I asked, did they really enjoy Genesis song as a song or because it was rather fashionable back then, or simply because it is a good sound for (booze) tripping? In any case, the band has performed well, almost flawless, the best that we can get from a Melayu Genesis tribute band at this moment. Good memories of one being a member of a crowd, a community of Genesis music lovers were enlivened by the band, and for me this was the most important feeling at that night. We are not alone!
by: NIRARTA SAMADHI, Malang’s prog head
