Bjørn Riis – A Fleeting Glimpse album review

19 09 2022

A Fleeting Glimpse is a mini-album from by Airbag co-founder, songwriter and lead guitarist, Bjorn Riis. With A Fleeting Glimpse, Bjørn Riis has let his love of Pink Floyd run free. The album contains four new songs, with a running time of just under 30 minutes, where you can really hear the Floyd influences soaked into the short album’s DNA.

Bjørn Riis - A Fleeting Glimpse album cover.

Dark Shadows (part 1) features guest vocals from Durga McBroom, who sang with Pink Floyd from the late 80s onwards. A gentle paced piece, with some uplifting David Gilmour inspired slide and lead guitar performances, the first take of Dark Shadows perfectly combines the key Floyd sounds of the 70s and 80s.

A Voyage to the Sun touches on the darker, more progressive side of the album’s inspiration. The tempo quickens for this instrumental track, my favourite song on the album. The guitars cut deeper and the percussion pushes the arrangement, with a wonderful mid-section where the instruments rapidly drop away to leave guitar feedback and bass, undercut by a mournful synth line. I love these spacey, progressive vibes that are just made for a headphone listening experience.

Just as you are soaring above the clouds, the High Hopes referencing church bells of Summer Meadows bring you crashing back down to earth. The acoustic and electric guitar intro is so beautifully pristine on this second and final instrumental. I kept expecting some spoken voice on this track, see if you agree with me when you hear the album, if it possibly evokes the same memories for you.

Bjørn Riis looking at the camera

Summer Meadows is over far too soon, and Dark Shadows (part 2) continues to build, with some emotional guitar, both lead and layered background textures, from Riis. Whilst there are four tracks, each offering slightly different emotional responses and moods, the album feels like a complete piece of music, built to be listened to in one sitting, in the order the artist has chosen.

The powerful mix for A Fleeting Glimpse by Vegard Kleftås Sleipnes and the warm mastering by White Willow / The Opium Cartel’s master-mind Jacob Holm-Lupo, lifts this album to the front of my favourite Bjørn Riis solo releases to date. I would love to hear a full length album in this style in the future. With little chance of new music from David Gilmour in this style, it would be great to have new music continuing the 70s and 80s Pink Floyd tradition.

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Buy Bjørn Riis – A Fleeting Glimpse on vinyl from Amazon
Buy Bjørn Riis – A Fleeting Glimpse on CD from Amazon
Buy Bjørn Riis – A Fleeting Glimpse on vinyl from Burning Shed
Buy Bjørn Riis – A Fleeting Glimpse on CD from Burning Shed

Tracklist

Dark Shadows (part 1)
A Voyage to the Sun
Summer Meadows
Dark Shadows (part 2)

Label: Karisma Records
Release Date: 30 September 2022


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Airbag – All Rights Removed & The Greatest Show on Earth limited edition vinyl re-issues

9 10 2020

Karisma Records are re-issuing Airbag’s All Rights Removed and The Greatest Show on Earth on November 20 2020 on limited edition vinyl, with both albums remastered for vinyl by White Willow / The Opium Cartel’s Jacob Holm-Lupo.

Airbag’s second album All Rights Removed was originally released in 2011. The 2020 remaster is released as a heavyweight double vinyl in gatefold cover, pressed on red vinyl.

The Norwegian band’s third album The Greatest Show on Earth was first released in 2013, and this 2020 heavyweight vinyl remaster is pressed on blue vinyl.

Jacob Holm-Lupo has offered a subtle and sympathetic remaster for vinyl. No brick-walling here – there is no real volume difference, just a little more punch and the synths really sparkle in this redux. This is the best these albums have ever sounded..

All Rights Removed sees the band shift their sound up a gear. The album opener is a heady mix of classic and progressive rock, with guitarist Bjørn Riis rising to the fore on most tracks.

White Walls is full of Dave Gilmour influenced guitar runs and textures, and is one of my favourite songs in the Norwegion band’s catalogue. Dim the lights and turn up the volume.

The mid-section bass, keyboard and guitar prelude before the song kicks back into full power is a joy to experience.

“Cos nothing ever stays the same…”

The tempo remains constant with The Bridge, before the space-rock of Never Coming Home (it reminds me of Signify era Porcupine Tree) leads into the atmospheric instrumental Light Them All Up.

The album closes with one of the band’s most popular tracks (in terms of 1 million Spotify streams) with the 17 and a half minute Homesick. The song is stunning and this is the best I have heard this masterpiece sound. Heading off into Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd territory in the mid-section, this is a journey you really want to take.

The Greatest Show on Earth adds a slight metal element to the band’s palette, on top of their more atmospheric layered sound from previous releases.

Redemption is a slow-burning modern prog piece, with spurts of heavy, gasoline fuelled choruses. Silence Grows moves the intensity down a couple of notches, with a powerful song that would not have sounded out of place on David Gilmour’s On An Island album. The instrumental sections sound amazing thanks to the superb Jacob Holm-Lupo vinyl master.

The Greatest Show on Earth is an album built to be heard in one sitting, and so works best in the vinyl format, when you can give it your full attention, and not break into individual tracks on streaming platforms.

There is a great use of vocal harmonies, atmosphere and restraint to build the mood on the albums second longest track, Call Me Back.

Surveillance (part 2​-​3) is the 16 minute album closer. Taking some of the mood of Porcupine Tree’s Stars Die, Surveillance (part 2​-​3) is a story of isolation and moves from an emotive, quite traditional arrangement to something darker and more experimental as it progresses.

“No need for you to be here
The comfort of my TV screen is all that I need”

All Rights Removed & The Greatest Show on Earth are limited edition releases, so if you missed out on getting these wonderful modern progressive albums on vinyl a few years ago, now is your chance. Links to buy the albums on Burning Shed and Amazon are below.


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News: Sutherland Brothers & Quiver box-set

5 09 2019

Cherry red are releasing an 8 CD Sutherland Brothers & Quiver box-set on September 27 2019. The 103 track box set covers all of the releases by Sutherland Brothers & Quiver during the period 1971-79, for both Island and CBS Records.

The box-set includes their most well-known song Arms Of Mary, as well as Sailing (which became a huge hit for Rod Stewart in 1975) and 1975’s Reach For The Sky album, which featured Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on one track.

The box-set consists of:

  • Sutherland Brothers – produced by Muff Winwood
  • Lifeboat – which includes seven bonus tracks, four taken from the USA version of the album. Also included is the track Sailing which though not a hit for the band, gave Rod Stewart an international chart topper
  • Dream Kid which includes a non-album cut as a bonus
  • Beat Of The Street includes two non-album cuts
  • Reach For The Sky – featuring the hit single Arms Of Mary which reached No. 5 in the UK, No. 17 in Germany and the top spot in both Holland and Ireland. Two non-LP tracks have been added as a bonus, and Dave Gilmour guests on the track Ain’t Too Proud
  • Slipstream – from 1976 which includes the UK hit single Secrets
  • Down To Earth – featuring six non-LP bonus tracks including rare tracks from the USA version of the album
  • When The Night Comes Down – which features the No.50 UK hit single Easy Come Easy Go.

Buy The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver box-set from Amazon.


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