Jeremy & Progressor -
The Pearl of Great Price (2005, 68-minutes) is a distant collaboration between American Jeremy Morris, known for his Pilgrim’s Journey and Celestial City CDs on the Kinesis label, and Progressor, aka Vitaly Menshikov of Uzbekistan. Vitaly is a member of the band X Religion and the guy who runs the Progressor website, which reviews progressive rock. This CD also features contributions from Brian Hirsch, which is a clue that this music was at least begun several years ago because Hirsch passed away several years ago. It is instrumental symphonic space rock and is fairly clearly a Jeremy CD, with the others in a contributing role. It is also the best thing Jeremy has released since his Kinesis-label CDs. Menshikov adds keyboards, bass, and percussion to 3 of the albums 7 tracks, and Hirsch contributes keys and drums. Jeremy plays guitar, bass, drums, and keys. It is Jeremy’s recognizable electric guitar leads that steal the show. His style is his own, a melodic and lyrical style that is what you might get if you blended Steve Hackett and Brian May (Queen). While you can call this space rock, it has little to do with Hawkwind, and while there is an influence of Jean Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream, the electronics are in a supporting role rather than being the main event. Jeremy’s Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett influences are usually evident. While three of the tracks are in the 10-11 minute range, the final track The Journey Home is a 21-minute epic that sounds like the final chapter of Pilgrim’s Journey. Note this CD is released on the Russian Mals label, which is fighting to release legitimate progressive rock CDs in a home market dominated by CD piracy.
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