The Sonic Music Review Playlist: Week 4

This week's playlist compiled by The Sonic Music Review looks back on some of the earliest work featured on the site. This playlist combines the highlights of the progressive rock and synth pop music covered, featuring a selection of works from acts including Camel, Neu! and Ellie Goulding.

Tracklisting:

1. Camel                    - Dunkirk from The Snow Goose

2. NEU!                     - Negativland from NEU!

3. Kraftwerk              - Autobahn from Autobahn

4. The Prodigy           - Omen Reprise from The Most Incredible Thing

5. Depeche Mode      - Personal Jesus (The Stargate Mix) from Personal Jesus (The Stargate Mix)

6. La Roux                 - Tigerlily from La Roux

7. Ellie Goulding        - The Writer from Ellie Goulding

For the Spotify streamable playlist, click here.

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Camel: The Snow Goose

The band Camel are well known for their prolific output of progressive rock compositions during the 1970's. 'The Snow Goose' continues their trend at the time of creating concept albums, albums which express a story through its music. In this case, the album tells the story of 'The Snow Goose' by Paul Gallico, having previously found success of their material based on Tolkien's 'Lord Of The Rings.'

Camel: The Snow Goose

The album begins with the sombre and highly brooding musical illustration of 'The Great Marsh.' This lasts little over two minutes and uses repetitive synth dissonances to create its dark mood. Coming next is  the more upbeat exposition of the main character, Rhyader. The track 'Rhyader' goes to town is unashamedly typical of progressive rock in its style and features a very interesting second section.

The later track 'Sanctuary' echoes the brooding mood seen earlier in 'The Great Marsh,' the alternative harmonic setting and use of an acoustic guitar however give it a sense of optimism as 'Fritha' opens. One of the album's notable characteristics is the expression which is achieved through purely instrumental music. One could go as far as to draw links between this and output from Tangerine Dream due to the instrumentation and instrumental nature of composition.

This album is not short on accomplished composition. One of the highlights is 'Dunkirk,' which evolves into a frantic illustration of progressive rock at one of its finest moments. To its credit, this album is one of Camel's most accessible works which fans of many musical styles will enjoy and the composers' skill at illustrating the story of the snow goose is admirable. Such a wide varieties of character and moods are rarely seen in albums today and that is just one reason why this reviewer is proud to have this album in their musical library.

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Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells

'Tubular Bells' is the seminal progressive rock and arguably New Age debut record by Mike Oldfield, released in 1973 and famed for being the first release on the Virgin Records music label which ensured the company a solid commercial beginning. Among the personnel list are no fewer than 19 instruments credited to Oldfield himself, alongside a further 8 instrumentalists.

Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells

The album contains just 2 tracks, with the most recognisable theme from the album seen in the opening of track 1 which was used famously in 'The Exorcist.' The track shows great versatility from Oldfield as a performer and as an artist with the highly technical nature of the material. Typical of progressive rock music, the album contains a number of key and time changes which give a disjointed feel which is idiomatic of this genre.

The second track of the album is constructed in a similar manner to the first track, weaving thematic material and manipulating it with some skill. The thick instrumentation seen throughout has also been subject to careful design and gives the album its own unique character not paralleled with some other works of the period.

The album concludes with an excerpt of 'The Sailor's Hornpipe' which many will find familiar and serves as a fitting finale for this somewhat 'quirky' album. Unsurprisingly given the commercial success of the album, Mike Oldfield has had over 30 charting albums to appear on UK charts.

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