Various reviews From Fusenet: Richard Heath Underground Railroad: Through & Through (Laser Edge) One of my favourites of the last couple of months - and the best thing of all, is that this is the first album from Bill Pohl (guitar) in a very long time. The band's music sits close to the prog rock/jazz rock border. Pohl tends to record short guitar solos which tease, without stating "here's my copy of x or y or z" - for example, the brief and occasional use of legato has you initially thinking the obvious but he quickly steers away from the obvious. Instead I hear the Pohl sound. Laser Edge's press office had a go at me for missing the Echolyn-ness of the first track - sorry mate, Echolyn weren't even minor in the UK - but I hear echos of Canterbury - especially vocals which owe a lot to the inflections common in Richard Sinclair's voice (but this isn't an Americo-Canterbury record). And by the way the band is not adverse to slipping in some bars of RIO here and there. From Fusenet: Helmut Koch Have to express my excitement about "Through And Through", the debut by UNDERGROUND RAILROAD! A cleverly placed, part time adventurous but overall wellbalanced progressive/jazzrock crossover, this album is already among my personal favorites for album of the year. The band is the baby of two experienced veterans of the genre, keyboardist Kurt Rongey and guitarist Bill Pohl. Expect elements of Canterbury fusion (esp evident in the vocal parts), state of the art jazzrock/fusion guitarplaying, classic progressive era harmonies and brave atonality reminiscent of contemporary music, all flawlessly executed and organically combined in highly individual and colourful music. Underground Railroad is successfully ploughing the same fields as Finneus Gauge, Nathan Mahl/Guy LeBlanc, DFA, Deus Ex Machina - whoever likes those is strongly advised to lend an ear to "Through And Through"! Thanks to Dick Heath, who already mentioned this great album a couple of digests ago! "Through and Through" is available from The Laser's Edge! Helmut From the ProgAndOther mailing list: Peter Abusamra The day that Rob&Chad posted that U.R.was the first signed band for Nearfest 2001-I ordered their disc( Through And Through) from Laser's Edge.I've had it now for 4 days and haven't been disappointed.I'm not much of a reviewer but I like this more each play.Some very intricate parts, haunting and lovely melodies.The vocals make me think of Marillion for some reason.Great synth and guitar work.I would recommend this cd. Pete from rec.music.progressive Jun 29, 10:04 PM Steve Harclerode Message 1 of 5 Underground Railroad I'm listening to their debut CD, and it sounds really good. Reminds me some of echolyn, but slower, and more intricate. And of course I can hear some Genesis, but Genesis never went anywhere close to this... Great job, guys. I hope you play live somewhere near San Diego someday. Steve Harclerode Jun 30, 12:17 AM Atrox (in response to Steve Harclerode) Message 2 of 5 Re: Underground Railroad Got my copy today based on recommendations from this group. I'm listening to it right now. ;-) Fans of _Echolyn_ and _Suffocating the Bloom_ won't want to miss this one. Sounds a lot like early Echolyn with more extensive keyboards, and more technical instrumental breakdowns. Very complex compositions and superb musicianship. Jun 30, 11:25 AM Noah Samuel Lesgold (in response to Atrox) Message 3 of 5 Re: Underground Railroad Atrox writes: Got my copy today based on recommendations from this group. I'm listening to it right now. ;-) Fans of _Echolyn_ and _Suffocating the Bloom_ won't want to miss this one. Sounds a lot like early Echolyn with more extensive keyboards, and more technical instrumental breakdowns. Very complex compositions and superb musicianship. IMO, only the first cut is particularly derivative of Echolyn - the rest marks out a meaningful identity for the band. That said, there's a fair amount of counterpoint and 2-3part harmony, which Echolyn sorta staked out as their own thing, so I think that's why there are so many comparisons. In general, the compositions are very strong, lots of interesting keyboard sounds, and a nice amount of juxtoposing styles (one track has pastoral guitar and vox with spacy keys underneath, quite nifty). I'd recommend it. Noah Jul 12, 09:14 AM Brian Ritchie (in response to Steve Harclerode) Message 5 of 5 Re: Underground Railroad In article <4TV65.16558$bt1.161937@typhoon1.san.rr.com>, "Steve Harclerode" wrote: I'm listening to their debut CD, and it sounds really good. Reminds me some of echolyn, but slower, and more intricate. And of course I can hear some Genesis, but Genesis never went anywhere close to this... Got my copy from LE the other day, and am thoroughly enjoying it. Dazzlingly complex, quite bewildering (but in a good way)! Apart from Kurt Rongey's solos Book In Hand and That Was Propaganda, I've never heard anything quite like it. (Guess I should get out more, especially in the direction of Echolyn - I've only heard As The World so far.) Right now, I particularly like the long closing track, for once a lengthy piece that doesn't feel like a short piece just stretched out too far, or lots of short pieces randomly stuck together. I love Book In Hand, parts of which have very strong associations to particular events in my life (sounds corny, but is true). KR was kind enough to send me a tape of That Was Propaganda several years ago... back then, I thought it was a bit too wierd for me (lots of late-1900s classical influences, I suspect), but hearing it again recently, I like it more. That prompted me to look up the Long, Dark Music site again, which is how I discovered that it was finally being released - and about The Underground Railroad too! Glad to see That Was Propaganda finally taken up and released! Now I'm trying to hunt down a copy in the UK; the only online store I've found was in the US, which priced it as a relatively expensive import with a high p&p charge on top. Are there any UK distributors for Mellow Records? (Ordering direct from them is not an option for me.) -- Brian Ritchie who works at the Rutherford Appleton Lab (Oxford, UK) but is his own man here. Aug 09, 06:32 PM unc@aol.com Message 1 of 1 Lasers Edge New Releases Though they are very different, the new White Willow (Sacrament) and The Underground Railroad (Through and Through) are both terrific. Underground Railroad takes a few pages from the Echolyn play book, but they play with so much intensity and fire that they deserve praise on their own merit. As for White Willow - if you are into very mellow, mystical type music, then this is for you. Actually the band cranks it up much more than on the previous "Ex Tenebris" release. Kudos to Ken Golden, both are great sounding, beautifully packaged CD's and I wish both the bands and the label continued success! Jul 13, 12:31 PM jkl2000@my-deja.com (in response to Uncle D.L.) Message 5 of 27 Re: recommended mail order sources […] I just found out that The Laser's Edge/Sensory now have online ordering with credit cards, so I placed a sizeable order recently, and received it very quickly. I am really glad, as this will prompt me to buy Laser's Edge/Sensory releases MUCH sooner (I'm sure Ken Golden is glad about that too!). In fact, in my recent order I got the "Underground Railroad" CD (featuring Kurt Rongey) released by TLE, and this CD is so great that it's been spinning constantly in my walkman for three days no. I haven't even had a chance to listen to the new White Willow CD, also on TLE and in the same shipment -- I'm really psyched for that one as well. Jed Jun 22, 11:24 AM pghprog@hotmail.com (in response to progrock9@my-deja.com) Message 2 of 24 Re: While you're at it - what about this stuff!! […] Underground Railroad : Self Titled This is definitely cool. A nice mix of accessibility and weirdness. Cheers, Adam Jun 22, 06:35 PM thax (in response to progrock9@my-deja.com) Message 9 of 24 Re: While you're at it - what about this stuff!! […] Underground Railroad : Self Titled THIS is a monster. Just got it last night and it's everything the new Echolyn should have been. Complex and inventive prog that certainly needs to be heard. I fully expected this to be great and wasn't disappointed in the least. mike t From the coloradoprog mailing list: DATE: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 10:12:13 From: "Chris Kubat" To: Prog monkeys, […] . Underground Railroad - Through and Through - WOW!, new American symphonic, highly composed with occasional Echolyn-like vocals and RIO dissonance, the best I've heard in awhile. […] Chris From Proghaven (http://www.mindcage.com/wwwboard4/wwwboard4.html) Subject: Anyone here digging the new Underground Railroad? Posted by Progman59 on August 12, 2000 at 09:58:17: Posted from 152.163.204.211 I just got this a couple weeks ago and it's so good, hating to compare bands, it's the only way to give anyone a verbal discription sometimes, as is the case3 with this band, so here they are, the comparisons that is, Echolyn, finneus gauge, but those are only closely related style points, as this band has their own thing for sure, stand out keyboard and guitar work, intricate song structures, atmosphere, and some great bass/drum interplay, a must for progrockers who like the styles of the aforementioned bands. Peace, MJBrady aka Progman59 from Progrealaudio: Underground Railroad is perhaps the best current American progressive rock band, but, no one knows it, yet. Keyboardist/vocalist/song-writer Kurt Rongey gave me a demo copy at ProgDay last year. On my drive home listening to recently purchased cd's, I put in the Underground Railroad and played it 3 times in a row. Normally, I would not even play a CD twice in the same day, but, this album had me absolutely captivated. The compositions are layed with complexities, but the overall effect is very accessible. Some comparisons in that regard are Yes' early 70's albums or Anglagard. The music flows perfectly, yet dedicated listens reveal an undercurrent of immeasurable subtleties. Not only is the music of the highest caliber, but, the production of and timbre of the instruments is well crafted. Bill Pohl's guitar is powerful, yet, the notes are clear as bell, sometimes with a sound similar to Eric Johnson's lead guitar. There is a vast array of original keyboard sounds used to good effect. The music is very original. I cannot think of any other bands to compare them to, except that I am occassionally reminded of Thinking Plague. - Dirk Evans And untranslated reviews in foreign languages! Tarkus Magazine, September 2000 (Norway): UNDERGROUND RAILROAD through and through Format CD Nasjonalitet USA Innspilt 1997-99 Utgitt 2000 Plateselskap Laser's Edge Katalognr. LE 1033 Spilletid 54:43 Anmelder Sven Eriksen The Underground Railroad er et nytt amerikansk band basert rundt keyboardist Kurt Rongey og gitarist Bill Pohl. De framstår på debutplaten sin som en mellomting mellom et mer avslappet Echolyn og et mer dristig og eksperimenterende Flower Kings, og er etter min mening klart bedre enn begge. De har laget en kontrastfylt plate som veksler mellom det ytterst melodiske og det ytterst komplekse. Rongey og Pohl (som har laget nesten all musikken enten sammen eller hver for seg) skriver musikk som er utfordrende for lytteren med sine stadige instrument- og taktskifter, uten at det på noen måte virker påtatt eller kunstig. Velskrevne temaer som tar noen lyttinger før du helt har taket på dem. Sammenlignet med Echolyn (som de tidvis har store likheter med) er de friere, tar flere sjanser, er mindre hysteriske, og utforsker et større musikalsk territorium. Teknisk sett har de nesten ingen grenser, uten at teknikk blir en greie i seg selv. Underground Railroad er først og fremst et svært musikalsk band, mye på samme måte som Samla Mammas Manna, uten at de av den grunn ligner særlig på hverandre. En av de beste låtene på plata, The Doorman, starter litt Genesis-aktig med spennende akkordskiftinger og stadig varierende temaer og lyder. Gitar og keyboards har hovedrollen i mange lange instrumentalpartier, og vi legger merke til bandets meget intelligente bruk av synther, som gir musikken et mangfold av stemninger og gjør plata til et musikalsk kaleidoskop hvor det hele tiden dannes nye, spennende bilder, og hvor gjentagelser og repetisjoner omtrent ikke forekommer. Platas kvaliteter forsterkes også av de gjennomført gode tekstene. Tittelkuttet som avslutter plata er et 20-minutters grandiost verk som har alt - symfonisk skjønnhet, rytmisk råskap, orkestral oppfinnsomhet, de øser av et musikalsk overflødighetshorn som aldri ser ut til å tømmes. Her er klare likheter med klassisk musikk for eksempel à la Gustav Holst, og låta framstår som en slags symfonisk parallell til Henry Cows Living In The Heart Of The Beast. Både Rongey og Pohl er ekstremt kreative musikere, modernistiske og utradisjonelle i tonevalgene, innimellom får vi litt tolvtone-assosiasjoner uten at det melodiske og musiserende blir lidende. Through And Through er er reelt progressiv plate, musikerne har tatt en bestående musikalsk form og trukket den et skritt videre inn i noe nytt og udefinerbart, en parallell til det Peter Hammill gjorde for omtrent tretti år siden. Ikke bare er The Underground Railroad nyskapende, de er enormt skapende. De har laget en plate absolutt uten dødpunkter, og har gitt meg årets største positive overraskelse så langt. © 2000 Tarkus Magazine Progressive Newsletter (Germany) from http://www.progressive-newsletter.de/pnl32_5.htm The Underground Railroad - Through and through (54:43, The Laser's Edge, 2000) Gute Alben lassen schon beim ersten Anhören ihre Qualität erkennen. Doch manchmal braucht es etwas länger, man muss sich quasi zwingen eine Scheibe mehrmals anzuhören, da man zwar merkt, dass es sich um etwas Außergewöhnliches handelt, aber der berühmte Funken will nicht so recht überspringen. "Through and through", das Debüt der amerikanischen The Underground Railroad, ist so ein Fall. Es dauert bis man mit der Musik warm wird, aber irgendwann macht es dann "Klick" und dann gibt einem die Musik dass zurück, was man an Zeit in sie investiert hat. Bei der vierköpfigen Band, die um das Duo Kurt Rongey (Keyboards, Gesang) und Bill Pohl (Gitarre, Gitarrensynthesizer, Gesang) formiert wurde, liegt das Hauptproblem eindeutig darin, dass der Opener "May-Fly" eigentlich das schlechte Stück des Albums ist und somit schon mal der Einstieg schwer fällt. Doch mit zunehmender Spielzeit werden die Songs immer ausufernder, verschachtelter und dramatischer. Besonders die unheimlichen Spannungssteigerungen, die die Musik langsam anschwellen lassen, um in furiosen, teils sehr abgedrehten Soli zu gipfeln, ziehen die Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. Und was gibt es stilistisch zu hören? The Underground Railroad haben ihre Wurzeln eindeutig in den 70ern, sie mischen geschickt allerfeinsten Progressive Rock mit leichtem Jazz Rock Touch. Da heult und jault die Gitarre mal im Stil von Großmeister Alan Holdsworth, da laufen Keyboards und Saiten komplex gegeneinander, um aber immer wieder harmonisch ineinander zu verschmelzen, es gibt spieltechnische Erinnerungen an die amerikanischen Bands der 70er, wie z.B. Happy The Man, Babylon oder auch Fireballet oder weitflächige Keyboardakkorde türmen sich richtig furios auf. Das Hauptaugenmerk der Amerikaner liegt eindeutig im instrumentalen Bereich, sie schaffen es Atmosphäre und fesselnde solistische Extravaganzen, hymnisch und zugleich melodisch zu vereinen, wenn auch dem Zuhörer einiges abverlangt wird. The Underground Railroad sind auf dem besten Weg sich mit diesem Erstlingswerk und dem erkennbaren Potential in die vorderen Regionen vorzuspielen, wobei sie sicherlich mehr die Fans ansprechen, die einiges an Komplexität, aber auch zerbrechlicher, schleppender Melancholie vertragen können. Kristian Selm