When most people think of prog-rock music, I believe nine times out of ten they think of bands who’ve stretched the boundaries of rock music such as King Crimson, Yes or early Genesis. There are many other bands of course, but I think your average rock fan thinks of this level of artist as representing what the genre label of “prog-rock” encompasses. And labels can be funny things. They can either help you by working for you or hinder your mission by working against you. These bands are cases in point. While these bands have a huge multitude of fans keeping their sales strong even to this day, by their respective record companies and publicity flacks referring to their music as “prog-rock” they never quite reached the pinnacle that they may have reached without that label. Not that prog-rock is anything to fear or to shun, but in my experiences many feel prog-rock to be an intimidating listen. I mean, even I, myself, used to have an aversion to anything labeled as prog rock. From what the name alone represented in my mind and what I had heard about the genre from friends and acquaintances that were music freaks like me was that the music was “hard” to get into. My acquaintances who liked such music cited “prog-rock” music characteristics as containing obtuse lyrics, meandering and interminable solos, odd rhythmic switches and/or time signatures, and a distinct lack of hooks as reasons for why the music was worshipped by a smaller audience than bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and other bands who were able to market themselves to a larger audience. Not only did these prog fans seem to thumb their noses at these more conventional, bigger-selling bands who, in their minds, “dumbed-down” their music or “sold out” but were only too happy to chide me that they were happy most people didn’t “get” the music as if more people were into the music then they wouldn’t have their pet bands to themselves. In other words, they enjoyed being a part of an exclusive club where Elon was president!
That’s not to say King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and a few other bands (ELP, let’s say) playing that style of music were not popular. In the ’70′s, what people consider prog-rock music sold a ton of records and was played on AOR radio quite a bit. But, you have to remember, Genesis and Yes (to name just two) got even more popular when they toned down their progressive instincts, “sold out”, and became more poppy in the ’80′s while most of the prog rock bands who stayed more true to their music, and even the genre itself for the most part, went way underground as punk, new wave, disco, power pop, hair metal and a few other genres displaced it in the minds of music buyers. But prog-rock retained a small but rabid following and as groups vanished or broke up more groups came and took their place, expanding in the ’90′s to the point where there has been a whole underground prog movement with festivals and a proliferation of bands such as Spock’s Beard.
From the sound of his new album, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist John Orr Franklin sounds like he has always been a true believer as far as prog-rock is concerned and “sell-out” does not seem to be in his vocabulary. Labeled neo-prog by less knowledgeable members of the music press, Franklin eschews such namby-pamby declarations as “neo-ANYTHING” and prefers his music be called Prog-Rock, dammit, like any devotee of the music would demand. Franklin has poured his heart, soul and sweat into this recording, assembling his own recording studio and laboring over this album until everything was right. Has he created a masterpiece? Well, the boogie has always been in the earhole of the beholder, but he has earned the right to call it what he wants as it seems to be as much a part of him as the blood running through his body and the musical ideas running from his brain to his dexterous fingers. Indeed, Franklin is not ashamed of his prog-rock roots, not a whit. By his bio and some of the press materials delivered with this album, Franklin has positioned himself as part of the prog-rock renaissance, as it were, but where hardcore prog is really not about pandering to the public, Franklin has managed to rein in most of his prog-leaning to my ears and make a totally accessible MOR rock album with a few prog touches here and there, but mostly just solid rock and roll.
And I like it, as Mick Jagger used to say, and it’s only my opinion and my opinion only as I am sure Franklin would try to prove to me (and likely would succeed) how much his music encapsulates his prog influences and twists them in new ways. Maybe I have been converted and have come to better respect and understand what had confused me in my youth. Who can know for sure? What’s obvious, though, is the immense talent Franklin possesses. This album is a veritable showcase of chops.
The first song For The World To See is a bristling rocker, with Franklin busting out of the gate with an impressive slice of AOR rock with a slightly ’80′s sounding song, but solidly produced and very catchy. Strike that, I hear some echoes of ’90′s Pearl Jam in there in the instrumentation, though the makeup of the songs still says ’80′s to me. I am digging it, though, as the rocker has a great hook and sounds like it belongs on the radio. Franklin has a decent singing voice and this is definitely a great choice to start the album. The second song Dance Till Three is a moodier, slower piece that starts off with a little New Age feel but kicks into ballad mode and sounds a little like Yes to me in the music with a little Pink Floyd in the vocal style. Interesting juxtaposition of a title like Dance Till Three, which to me would suggest up-tempo, but having a Pink Floyd style gait to the song with Franklin doing his best jazzy David Gilmour work on guitar. This song showcases how accomplished Franklin is on the guitar and he really does some jaw-dropping solos on this cut. Kiss The Sky, the third song, has a Jimi Hendrix allusion in the title but has a slower gait and features a nice acoustic bed for Franklin to take some electric leads on. Another Floyd-styled power ballad with a catchy hook and some searing guitar work. Franklin takes a slightly reggae-flavored tack to the next song, Disappear (Only One World), though after the Caribbean-themed verses the chorus kicks back into power rock mode. Kind of a throwaway cut here, but still pleasing. Franklin has kept the same vocal style through the last three songs and it is getting slightly boring, but it fits the songs so it is not too bad. The song Flow is an instrumental that sort of sounds like an Allen Holdsworth sort of thing, but with Franklin’s own guitar-isms until the middle, where it sort of loses the instrumental flare and becomes more just a rock-song-without-words. This is drummer Rob Palladino’s song as much as it is Franklin’s, fitting because there are only two of them on the song with Franklin handling everything but drums. The title track is another slow burner, allowing Franklin to dazzle with his Gilmour-inspired axe work while the next song, The Dove, shows a deep spiritual side complimented by the soaring guitar solos and ethereal music bed provided by Franklin and his cohorts. The following song Summer is a great groovy Beatle-y jazz track in the vein of I’m Only Sleeping with an engaging vocal and some superlative axe work from Franklin. Besides the title track, this is definitely the coolest song on the album. Excellent production work on this song. Chrysalis is another instrumental, the second of this set. As on the first, Franklin is handling guitar and keyboards, deciding to leave the bass to Kris Matheson, who plays much of the bass on this record. This brings up something on the CD that sticks out: the bass is really buried in the mix. Usually on albums of this type the bass will be loud or muddy; in this case the bass seems nonexistent and could use a little boosting, not only on this song but on the album as a whole. The previous song summer could have used some slinky bass like the Beatles used on I’m Only Sleeping. Otherwise, Chrysalis is a decent anthem instrumental, and makes me think of the band Europe for some reason. Back to the mid-tempo Floyd-type stuff with True To You, which is decent but seems like filler after hearing what has come before. The final song hits the mid-tempo bell again, ending the CD on a slightly lesser note that could have been avoided with a more anthem song.
The bottom line is, unlike what most would think of prog rock music, Franklin’s music remains very accessible to the average music purchaser and listener while keeping a radio-ready sound calling out for more exposure. Conveying his thoughts in an intelligent way using a full-palette of tones and ideas, Franklin has kept in touch with the part of himself that relates to the common man, as all great songwriters do. Let’s face it, musicians can get as cerebral as they want on their albums and a lot of artists don’t care whether a lot of people are into what they’re doing or a very few people. It seems that Franklin does care about broadening his audience and having his music appreciated by more than a small coterie of fans. Improvements I would advise Franklin would be to first vary the tempo of his songs and throw in a fast one here or there to make his slow songs stand out more. Next, I would advise a little change in the vocal sound. Not much, as I can understand wanting an identifiable sound, but maybe some different things like using a different range on occasion. Next, I would up the bass a little bit. Franklin plays bass on this record as well as Matheson and the bass lines are good, just buried deep in the mix. Those are the biggest flaws I hear but all in all, I enjoyed this album a lot, more than I was expecting and I wouldn’t mind hearing more of his work, which is a good sign from an album.
Reviewed By Scott Homewood
