Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Comedy of Errors

Happy "Progtober" fellow progheads!  As promised, the Concert Closet has left Italy (for now)...albeit grudgingly.  Barock Project was the perfect ending to a fortnight spent in the land of my forefathers...but I digress.  This week the search for all things prog has me on the hunt for a sound unique unto itself; full and bright without melting your ears.  Music that refuses to be pigeon-holed...sounds that fill the room without kicking you out.  So 1500 miles northwest we go to enjoy the rich sounds of Comedy of Errors.

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Comedy of Errors refers to themselves as a "...progressive rock band..." A bit like Miles Davis referring to himself as a jazz musician...time do dig deep into the prog garden soil and unearth what lies beneath...

The prog buffet opens with a flashback of sorts...a mind-altering tune called "Disobey."  The song opens as if playing in reverse...drawing you deeper into a vortex that is oddly relaxing.  Comedy of Errors strikes with muted force; you feel yourself being hit yet never feel abused.  The music is extremely tight...guitars feed off the drums which follow a sturdy bass line, and strong vocals are the chives on the baked potato.  I can easily spend seven days here...

Making an eager stride back for more, I find another stalwart piece; "The Cause."  The curtain rolls back on a darkened stage--but beams of light break through the haze almost immediately. Comedy of Errors seems to be anything but--there is a seriousness about the way this band approaches their craft.
I detect top notes of  Be Bop Deluxe and an aromatic whiff of Transatlantic...perhaps an after taste of Marillion as well.  Comedy of Errors strikes the anvil hard on this tune; hammer blows with guitars and drums that leave your senses a bit out of kilter as the final notes echo through your ears. However; the band included a backdrop of emotion and passion that attempts to leap over all the barbed wire.  Sifting through the layers of music I am awed by the intricate simplicity...

Liner Notes...calling Glasgow, Scotland home, the current line-up for Comedy of Errors is Joe Cairney on vocals, Sam McCulloch and Mark Spalding on guitars, Jim Johnston on keyboards, John Fitzgerald on bass, and Bruce Levick on drums.  Dial the Way Back Machine to 1984; Comedy of Errors sets out to make their mark the old fashion way--clubbing, losing/adding members,  even suffering a temporary demise of the band.  Fast-forward to the present millennium where two albums and a metamorphosis of sorts combine with true determination and a burning desire to bring their music to the masses...new life is breathed into a symphonic-jazz fused progressive rock band.  I for one am pleased Comedy of Errors survived the decades of turbulence.

The final selection this week is a song called "Fanfare for the Broken Hearted."  A piano led soft opening bleeds into a melange of sound that fills the prog garden with fall blooms--the colors may not be "summer vibrant" but they certainly are deep, bold, and rich.  Vocals cut through the periphery and drive a stake through your feelings, like that first teenage crush.

The clip below is called "Rule Britannia."   I chose this particular cut because it fits like a favorite pair of shoes...you can just step right in and feel the comfort.  Gravel smooth vocals wrapped around a sound reminiscent of Beardfish jamming with latter-day Genesis allow Comedy of Errors to stretch their reach through the prog garden.  Feel free to listen again and again...learn more about Comedy of Errors at http://www.comedyoferrors.org/.  Of course, as always, you can follow the band on Twitter, @ComedyOfErrors2  and Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Comedyoferrorsofficial/timeline/.   



Well fellow progheads, as we move closer to the end of another calendar, let us relish all that we have gathered from the prog garden thus far.  Comedy of Errors is but the latest fruit born of a bountiful harvest.  The search for all things prog continues to astound and enlighten me.  Progressive rock has shown time and again that music does indeed transcend if we but take the time to listen.  And now is the time to carry on the search for all things prog...until next week...

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