the show starts with carry-over from Skeevy Side Show….Anarchy UK by the Sex Pistols. Even though Punk is about polar opposite of Progressive Rock, I love both genres….so it remains.
After carefully studying the symptoms, it seemed to me that a heavy dose of Prog Rock was needed.
Set List: Selections from classic and contemporary prog rock artists over the last 50 years.
1. Knife Edge by Emerson Lake and Palmer from self titled debut. (1970) 5:06
2. MIC BREAK: Star by Peter Gabriel from Peter Gabriel 3: Face Melt (1980) 1:21
3. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight by Genesis from Selling England by the Pound (1973) 8:04
4. Warrior by Wishbone Ash from Argus (1972) 5:52
5. Luminol by Steven Wilson from the Raven that Refused to Sing (and Other Stories) (2012) 12:10
6. Dark Side of the Moog by Colosseum II from Strange Flesh (1976) 6:23
7. MIC BREAK: Cancer/Moonspeak by Rivers of Nihil from Where Owls Know My Name (2018) 1:45
8. Throwing Mountains by Kansas from the Absence of Presence (2020) 6:21
9. Fallen Angel by King Crimson from Red (1974) 6:03
10. Alucard by Gentle Giant from self titled debut album (1970) 6:02
11. Green Waves by Beardfish from Mammoth (2010) 8:54
12. Skeletons at the Feast by Spock’s Beard from self titled album (2006) 6:34
13. MIC BREAK: Affinity.exe by Haken from Affinity (2016) 1:24
14. Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider by Camel from Mirage (1974) 9:18
15. The Devil’s Orchard by Opeth from Heritage (2011) 6:40
16. Muttersprache by Gordian Knot from Emergent (2003) 6:27
17. Cygnus X-1 by Rush from A Farewell to Kings (1977) 10:22
18. FAREWELL MIC BREAK: Wandering on the Milky Way by Jean-Luc Ponty from Imaginary Voyage (1976) 1:50
19. Starship Trooper: A. Life Seeker, B. Disillusion, C. Würm (Remix) by Yes from The Yes Album (The Steven Wilson Remixes) (1971/2018)
20. Worry Wort by Radiohead, B Side from Knives Out single. (2001) (Partial Song….aprox 1:00 transition into Puzzling Evidence.)
Hello fellow Alchemists and Confluxians. Yes…there in terrible epidemic in our country. Iron deficiency. Did you know, that Metal music is the dominant form of music world wide….everywhere except here….where some of the greatest metal of all time was generated?. So to help cure that iron deficiency I am bringing a healthy dose thought this tasty Bloody Mary Metal Mix featuring Metal music from all over the world. Though I listen to a great deal of non metal music, I still find that the most inclusive and explorative styles of music that seeks to include these other styles is Metal, the other is jazz, which is why this show is typically glued together with combination of jazz and metal and it’s peripheral content.
HAKEN: INITIATE
Love and pain
Engage your senses
And let them carve the way
Give me
(Give me)
Focus
(Focus)
Sharpen
My view
Initiate
Live here and now
And forever or never
I observe a world jarring in turmoil
A million people waging war at the hands of a god
And I can hear them crying
Cold fires blazing before me
An affliction fast consuming and fascinating me
(Drifting)
You’ll be
(Deeper)
The life and the death of me
(Into)
I
(The unknown)
Initiate
We’ll make this dream last forever and ever
Tears will run dry
From my ever wandering eye
But I’m prepared to stay
‘Til my dying day
I’ll see things you won’t believe
In tomorrow’s memories
I’ll do things you can’t conceive
There’ll be no strings on me
Open the floodgates
Form the colours and the shapes
Let there be a light
Initiate, all my senses are engaging
Open the floodgates
All the love and all the pain
Let there be a light
Initiate, all my senses are engaging
(Distance)
Tell me
(Stretches)
How does it feel to breathe?
(Further)
(From home)
Initiate
I’m drifting
(drifting)
Deeper
(deeper)
Into
(into)
The unknown
MASTODON: SICKLE AND PEACE
Death comes and brings with him
Sickle and peace
Please excuse the madness
Of the situation I am in
Are we only united
For we both share the cause of this
You choose to apply logic
It’s hard to ply where there is none
My detonation’s unknown
Allow the man to walk in his shoes from here
Death comes and brings with him sickle and peace
Shelter from storms come with long flowing robes
Justifying all your control
I cease to mourn what never could be
No feeling’s ever final
Just another scar I wear and hold dear
Death comes and brings with him sickle and peace
Shelter from storms come with long flowing robes
Falling down and losing ground
Save me from myself
All I’ve seen and all I know
I’ve not been this low
Now I stand up on my own
Learning from myself
Where I’ve been and where I’ll go
Still remains unknown
Death comes and brings with him sickle and peace
Shelter from storms come with long flowing robes…
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Troy Jayson Sanders / Brann Timothy Dailor / William Breen Kelliher / William Brent Hinds
RIVERS OF NIHIL: “Cancer / Moonspeak”
Fear, fear drowns the mind
In this kingdom of mine
And standing in the hall
The faces of them all
Real, like empty space
They know what I became
RIVERS OF NIHIL: THE SILENT LIFE
The sun leaves on its own
A simple passage of the days that I have wasted
I feel the summer slipping through
These aging fingers
Compelled to walk upon the same path that I have tread so long
Still nothing changes
A simple passage to a place that I have come to know
I still remember
A better time
When the thoughts that we had connected
Between our open eyes
We say goodbye, to a life that’s been mostly silent,
Erroneously lead.
Strive to complete myself
It seems my work is never truly done.
I see your face, barely through the haze
You see a life, erroneously lead.
There’s hope in younger days
There’s warmth within the past that’s so familiar
I forget just why I came here
I Hope that you remember
Home.
IHSAHN: ONE LESS ENEMY
Half awake, deprived of sleep and dignity
I stand before the blinding lights
My body trembling, survival instincts gasp for air
Rays of madness tear the nights in me
Torn from the slumber, like a drunken king
To watch the cities burn
The world I used to see, no longer a part of me
In bleak reflections, stripped of my humanity
Yet I have all to gain
The slate is clean
And all the “why’s” I need
The stakes are high
The wheels of fate have turned
The chariot awaits
And I will set the course
On paths of tribulation
A refugee of reason
In a world of disbelief
Outnumbered by the thousands
Empowered by the ones I seek
Yet I have all to gain
The slate is clean
And all the “why’s” I need
The stakes are high
The wheels of fate have turned
The chariot awaits
And I will set the course
On paths of tribulation.
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Vegard Sverre ‘ihsahn’ Tveitan
CYNIC: INFINITE SHAPES
The indivisible goose egg
An irreplaceable loose peg
It never satisfies, incomplete
The future won’t arrive
Nothing to seek
Don’t you worry now
Infinite shapes
Architectures opaque
Infinite shapes
Paper tigers at play
A kamikaze seed
Breaks ground
Sprouts up inside of me
Spreading down
It poked into my eye
Cracked the egg
Now there’s a tentacle
Growing limb-like eggs
I won’t worry now
Infinite shapes
Alpha beta erased
Infinite shapes
Vital connections engaged
Sit down
Behold the open crown
Through the eternal halls
An Earth amidst the balls
One spark
Shooting across the dark
Fear, craft and avarice
Become a dust-filled wish
Infinite shapes
Paper tigers at play
Infinite shapes
Alpha beta erased
Infinite shapes
Vital connections engaged
The indivisible goose egg
An irreplaceable loose peg
I won’t worry now
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME: TURN ON THE DARKNESS
Lyrics
The winters breathe evenly.
Flickering moments engage our senses.
Slowly trembling advantage.
They won’t take notice.
Dragging feet. Will time notice me?
We turn our backs on ourselves.
Nothing in sight.
I see a flame erupt in the distance.
The charted course towards my direction.
A wealth of moving light, they now seek my disguise.
Legs soon crack as they stand above/below.
Where do you drift from, sir?
This land is for those who have lost.
Our humanity has passed its curse.
We roam with all that’s left.
I come from a movable past.
A distant future is in my grasp.
You all will survive this fate.
Trust the man you gaze.
Take me with your flame.
Darkness
Show the brighter way.
Hopeless
Take in all. Sit with our teachings.
Above. Below.
Take in all.
Above. Below.
Sit with our teachings…
Dream tonight to push us forward.
Black ash improves me. Dark skies are hollow.
Above. Below.
Take in all.
Above. Below.
Sit with our teachings…
Dream tonight to push us forward.
Black ash improves me.
Can’t look past the damage to this life.
Dark skies are hollow.
Can’t look past the damage to this life.
Welcome to our journey. Please walk with me.
I’ll put your mind at ease
Our breath, disrupts their flames.
We walk through their walls.
Life exists apart from this.
This lone world drifts on and on.
In the distant light modern man awaits.
Dripping jaw accept our twisted travel.
Screaming grins howl loud from high…
A gritty focus gripped.
We turn our backs on ourselves.
Nothing in sights.
We turn our backs on ourselves.
They won’t take notice.
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Rogers Thomas Giles / Waggoner Paul Andrew / Briggs Daniel Hanford / Richardson Cartland Blake / Waring Robert Dustin
Litanie contre la peur (The litany against fear-Frank Herbert)
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
TOOL: INVINCIBLE
Long in tooth and soul
Longing for another win
Lurch into the fray
Weapon out and belly in
Warrior
Strugglin’
To remain
Consequential
Bellow out loud
Bold and proud
Of where I’ve been
But here I am
Beating chest and drums
Beating tired bones again
Age-old battle, mine
Weapon out and belly in
Tales told of battles won
Of things we’ve done
Caligula would grin
Beating tired bones
Tripping through remember when
Once invincible
Now the armor’s wearing thin
Heavy shield down
Warrior
Strugglin’
To remain
Relevant
Warrior
Strugglin’
To remain
Consequential
Cry aloud, bold and proud
O’ where I’ve been
But here I am
Where I end
Warrior
Strugglin’
To remain
Relevant
Warrior
Strugglin’
To remain
Consequential
Tears in my eyes, chasing Ponce de Leon’s phantom soul
Filled with hope, I can taste mythical fountains
False hope, perhaps
But the truth never got in my way
Before now, feel the sting, feeling time bearing down
Tears in my eyes chasing Ponce de Leon’s phantom soul
Filled with hope, I can taste mythical fountains
False hope, perhaps
But the truth never got in my way
Before now, feel the sting, feeling time bearing down
False hope perhaps
But the truth never got in my way
Before now, feel the sting, feeling time bearing down
Bearing down
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Justin Gunner Chancellor / Maynard James Keenan / Adam Thomas Jones / Daniel Edwin Carey
Welcome back fellow Alchemist and Confluxians. Going to get our inner geek on this week with a heavy dose of Dungeons and Dragons, both celebrating and poking fun at our fantasy laden idioms. Lots of ogres, orcs, knights and castles, dungeons, dragons, and of course, one ring to rule them all.
This is the first of my October Celebration Shows. Next two weeks will be an extended Halloween Party mix followed by the last show in October being just spooky music to scare the hell out of your trick or treaters.
Here’s this week’s set list.
1. 13 (0:52) by Anthrax from State of Euphoria (1988) Thrash Metal
2. Al Pacino Fungus (0:18) Howard Wallowitz from the Big Bang Theory TV Show
3. Black Blade (6:34) by Blue Öyster Cult from Cultosaurus Erectus (1980) Rock
4. Monsters (5:11) by Blue Öyster Cult from Cultosaurus Erectus (1980) Rock
5. MIC BREAK: Prologue (0:59) by Opeth from My Arms Your Hearse (1998) Death Metal
6. Games (0:15) by Brad Pitt from The 12 Monkeys (1995) Movie Quote
7. Spellbound (3:18) by Siouxsie and the Banshees (1981) Post Punk/Gothic Rock
8. Shield (6:06) by Deep Purple from The Book of Talisman (1968) Psychedelic Rock
9. Temple of the King (4:45) by Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow from Rainbow (1975) Rock
10. MIC BREAK: Building a Girl (1:00) by Frank Zappa from You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol.2 (1974) Art Rock
11. Prince Albert and the Ring Council (3:20) SNL: Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar interacting with Lord of the Rings Footage from Fellowship of the Rings
12. Explosivo (1:55) by Tenacious D from Tenacious D (2001) Comedy Rock
13. A Horse Called Golgotha (5:21) by Baroness from the Blue Record (2009) Stoner Metal
14. Ogre Battle (4:07) by Queen from Queen II (1974) Rock
15. You See an Ogre (0:11) by Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory TV Show
16. MIC BREAK: Thoughts for Naught (1:32) by Gong from The World of Daevid Allen and Gong Vol.2 (2006) Art Rock
17. Keys to the Castle (8:11) by Oh Sees from Orc (2017) Garage Psyche
18. Where Owls Know My Name (6:43) by Rivers of Nihil from Where Owls Know My Name (2018) Progressive Death Metal
19. You See A Dragon (0:16) by Sheldon Cooper and Howard Wallowitz from the Big Bang Theory TV Show
20. Where Dragons Dwell (6:54) by Gojira from From Mars to Sirius (2005) Eco Death Metal
21. MIC BREAK: Ararat (1:36) by White Willow from Signal to Noise (2006) Progressive Metal
22. Adam Shadowchild/Nerd Porn (0:42) by Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio from the film Paul (2011) Movie Quote
23. Sorceress (5:49) by Opeth from Sorceress (2016) Progressive Metal
24. The Enchanter (5:27) by Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation from Mighty ReArranger (2005) Rock
25. Lady Fantasy: Encounter/Smiles for You/Lady Fantasy (12:46) by Camel from Mirage (1974) Progressive Rock
26. Trilogy Argument (2:59) by Jeff Anderson, Trevor Frenchman and Kevin Weisman from the film Clerks II (2006) Movie Quote
27. MIC BREAK: The Message (1:08) by Styx from Pieces of Eight (1978) Progressive Rock
28. You Shall Not Pass (1:24) by Ian McKellan and Elijah Wood from the film Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Movie Quote
29. Rainbow Demon (4:24) by Uriah Heep from Demons and Wizards (1972) Progressive Rock
30. The Sails of Charon (4:23) by Scorpions from Taken By Force (1977) Heavy Metal
31. MIC BREAK: Takilya (feat Zack Wylde) (0:40) by Black Label Society from Kings of Damnation: Era 1998-2004 (feat. Zack Wylde) (2004) Heavy Metal
32. Xanadu (11:07) by Rush from A Farewell to Kings (1977) Classic Progressive Rock
Ogre Battle-Queen
Aaaahhh
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah, aaahhh
Now, once upon a time, an old man told me a fable
When the piper is gone and the soup is cold on your table
And if the black crow flies to find a new destination
That is the sign
Come tonight
Come to the ogre site
Come to the ogre battle fight
He gives a great big cry and he can swallow up the ocean
With a mighty tongue, he catches flies and the palm of his hand incredible size
One great big eye has to focus in your direction
Now the battle is on, yeah, yeah, yeah
Come tonight
Come to the ogre site
Come to the ogre battle fight
Ah, ah, ah, ah, aaahhh
The ogre men are still inside, the two-way mirror mountain
You gotta keep down right out of sight
You can’t see in, but they can see out
“Ooh, keep a lookout”
The ogre men are coming out from the two-way mirror mountain
They’re running up behind, and they’re coming all about
Can’t go east, ’cause you gotta go south
Ogre men are going home
The great big fight is over
Bugle blow, let trumpet cry
Ogre battle lives forevermore, oh-oh-oh
You can come along
You can come along
Come to ogre battle
Ah, ah, ah, ah, aaahhh
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Freddie Mercury
Keys to the Castle-Thee Oh Sees
Artist: Thee Oh Sees
Album: Orc
This parade of candied people
Turns the bend in castle’s steeple
Flood the tower with your body
Fling yourselves from upper belfry
Let’s witness the whole occasion
Piles of bodies fill the garden
Smash the hedgerow with their plummet
Stop with panic, ugly banquet
Floating in the vile moat yeah
Crack their skulls upon the cobbles
Ringing home their lemming’s message
Where Owls Know My Name
Where Owls Know My Name-Rivers of Nihil
And then I wished you away
I lost those memories
Of the days we weren’t
Forsaken. Why don’t we
Just relax our eyes
And fall into a dream
Let it take my mind
Where owls know my name
And it gets colder every day
Lost in eternity’s grasp
Withdrawing further from what we have known
This mentality that we’ve built
It’s breaking down
Still running away from it
You’re still dreaming
Still hoping that there’s something that may be worth seeking
You’ve wasted all that you have been given
Still hoping to find a way to make life worth living
Lost in eternity’s grasp
We’ll find no way to weather the storm
This mentality that we built
Is breaking down
All the same
Every path you take
You remain
Trapped within your shame
Go away far away
Separate from the shame
Lost in eternity’s grasp
Withdrawing further from what we have known
This mentality that we’ve built
It’s breaking down
I brought myself to this place
Where only owls would know me
This reality that I’ve built
Is an empty space
The Enchanter-Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation
She moves through the mountains and down to the sea
She sings in celebration with her piper for me
She’s leading the man who’s beating the drum
Love is all around her on the road to the sun
Round, round, moving me round
Round, round the air
She’s lost in conversation with the birds of the air
She’s trading information in a world without fear
She’s fixing up a potion made of laughter and love
And I will follow the enchanter on the road to the sun
Round, round, moving me round
Round, round, round
Oh that the stars will light my way
Oh as my tides dance the ebb and sway
She’s studying the planets and she’s searching for signs
Her eyes promise mystery and her treasure to find
She’s mixing my emotions it’s so easily done
In a league with the enchanter on the road to the sun
Oh that the stars will light my way
Oh as my tides dance the ebb and sway
It’s so very easily done
She moves through the mountains and down to the sea
She sings in celebration with her piper for free
She’s leading the man who’s beating the drum
And love is all around her on the road to the sun
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Robert Plant / Justin Adams / Clive Deamer / Liam Tyson / John Baggott
Rush, “Xanadu”
“To seek the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
To break my fast on honey dew
And drink the milk of paradise….”
I had heard the whispered tales
Of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book. I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops
Of eastern lands unknown
Time and Man alone
Searching for the lost–Xanadu
Xanadu–To stand within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, I will dine on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise
A thousand years have come and gone
But Time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in the everlasting view
Waiting for the world to end
Weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost–Xanadu
Xanadu–held within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Nevermore shall I return
Escape these caves of ice
For I have dined on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise
Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Music by Neil Peart