Episode 135 – Queensryche Part 10, Promised Land Promised Land is the album that found Queensryche grappling with the impacts of their own success. As the last of what we proclaim “the main sequence” of Queensryche albums, Promised Land presents us with some delightful material to work with. Expansive and heavy. Introspective and questioning. Promised Land is from its predecessors, but something wholly its own. The group seems to react to different parts of this lush album, while all enjoying the whole. Overall, we feel that this is a very insightful and thought-provoking episode. Twitter: @pr ..read more

Bonus Episode – Ranking Epic Yes Songs Inspired by seeing Friends of the Palaver, Total Mass Retain, the group returns to the world of Yes music to consider epic Yes songs. After arbitrarily defining an epic (original studio version runtime greater than 15 minutes), Progressive Palaver set off to discuss and rank the eleven songs that meet our criteria. From the classics Close to the Edge and Gates of Delirium through the arena rock neo-prog Endless Dream to the late-model Mind Drive and That That Is, we cover Yes in all its incarnations. There are some twists turns and surprises along the way ..read more

Episode 134 – Queensryche Part 9, Empire Pt 2 In this second episode on the monster album Empire, the group completes our discussion from Della Brown through the end of the album (with a bit of extra time on the bonus tracks). Hopefully, we will leave you pondering deep philosophical questions like does Empire have the Whitesnake production, but with more thoughtfulness? Do parts of Empire sound too much like Bon Jovi? Are the orchestral tracks on Silent Lucidity the Death Star plans that doomed Queensryche? The whole discussion comes to a head in a 2 v 2 on, of all tracks, One and Only. Twist ..read more

Bonus Episode – Why Joe No Longer Supports Roger Waters In this Palaver for one, Joe lays out his reasons for no longer supporting Roger Waters. Joe briefly explains his somewhat difficult history with Roger and frames the whole story with the live shows of 2017 and 2022. Ultimately the tale ends with an explanation of how Roger’s online behavior has led to the decision to simply move on from the founder of one of prog rock’s greatest bands. Twitter: @progpala Email: progpala@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ProgPala YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCw_Xxit3D8wbv-AcJ_7Z__w/featured Theme ..read more

Star Wars Palaver – The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1 SPOILER ALERT – The episode will spoil Season 1 of The Book of Boba Fett. If you do not want to be spoiled, watch the full season before listening The group spends some time catching up on The Book of Boba Fett. As usual, we consider the general landscape of the series including, characters, plot points, and visuals. We explore the connections between this show and others in the canon and ask ourselves some probing questions. Is there too much Tatooine in the Star Wars universe? Is this the Boba Fett we always imagined (and wanted to see)? Is ..read more

Episode 131 – Queensryche Part 6, Operation: Mindcrime Pt 3 The group finally reaches the end of Operation: Mindcrime! Picking up with The Mission, the Palaver continues this labor of love. We touch on all the story points, the stellar music, and, of course, Tate’s mind-bending vocals. The second half of Mindcrime is rich with indicators for where the band will go next, while maintaining the relentless pace of the record. The impacts are multiple and significant as we complete our exploration of this seminal album. Enjoy! Twitter: @progpala Email: progpala@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com ..read more

Special Episode – Interview with Joe C, Joel S, and Johnny B of Total Mass Retain – January 2023 In this special episode we catch up with Joe Cass, Joel Simches, and Johnny Bruhns of the Yes tribute band Total Mass Retain. It’s been about a year since we’ve chatted together and it was great to talk about the wonderful music of Yes. It was the first time for us at the Palaver to meet guitarist Johnny Bruhns and we were thrilled to hear his perspective of the music that we all enjoy so much. Joe and Joel, as usual, bring their unbridled enthusiasm to the conversation. As one might expect, we cov ..read more

Episode 130 – Queensryche Part 5, Operation: Mindcrime Pt 2 We finally get into the music of Operation: mindcrime (after a short detour into the myriad differences between heavy metal, hair metal, and hard rock). We narrowly avoid the pitfall of “is Chris DeGarmo the Phil Collins of Queensryche” (that’s a joke!) before we get eyeballs deep in the delightful soundscape that is the first half of this album. We consider the songwriting, production and world-building of a band at their peak. This album presents a host of delights in which we revel. We hope you enjoy this palaver and album as much ..read more

Episode 129 – Queensryche Part 4, Operation: Mindcrime Pt 1 There was tremendous excitement leading up to this first (of several) discussions of Operation: mindcrime. High spirits and hyperbole abound as we consider the general aspects of Queensryche’s landmark third full-length release. We consider all the appropriate (and inappropriate) context we could find as we walk around the outside of this highly regarded record. We consider concept albums, production, inspiration, and general context as we try to frame out the beauty that is mindcrime! Twitter: @progpala Facebook: www.facebook.com/Pro ..read more

Special Episode – Interview with Karl Eisenhart and Simon Godfrey of Tribe of Names, October 2022 In this special episode we sit down with friends of the Palaver Karl and Simon to discuss the “debut” album from Tribe of Names. We get to cover topics ranging from songwriting during the pandemic to integrating new members into a group to how to throw a proper release party. Tribe of Names’ album Evolver promises to be a winner with excellent songwriting, tasty musicianship, and world-class artwork! We look forward to much more from Tribe of Names. Twitter: @progpala Email: progpala@gmail.com Fac ..read more