Regular Columnists

Artist: DFA
Album: Work In Progressive Live
CD Review: You need to locate this cd, if you're at All into progressive music. Not only does the prog swing, crackle and bump like Flower Kings, but it's a modern classic, as it's a recording of the First time DFA has played live in the US. June 17, 2000, at NEARFest. Having debuted in 1997 with their Lavori in Corso cd,

Silvio Minella - guitars
Luca Baldassari - bass
Alberto De Grandis - drums, vocals
Alberto Bonomi - keys, vocals

now demonstrate that they can handle live music just as well as studio quality. Half-prog groups like Queen, and total ones like Yes, often sound totally different from the layered quality of vocals and performance skill in their usual non-live recordings. But DFA preys on energy, with their mostly instrumental album-length epic songs that roll on and on, ever heavenly upward, proving once again that all the really Good prog is European flavored. This time, it tastes Italian.

The synth/key work is especially vivacious, but hey. Let's not single anyone out. Guitars and that brilliant, continuous bass/percussion rhythm that outlines entire songs, like the 8 minute 'Pantera,' taking you back to the Tales double cd from Yes..... But the fact that this is all live and in the raw, so to speak, makes the flawless performances pretty star struck, pretty amazing. The audience is up on their feet at the end of every sparkling track.

Let's hear more from these guys, even if it's just a proliferation of live recordings, like some vast Grateful Dead conspiracy.

Frankly, this is the sort of cd that never dates itself. Listen to it over and over again and you're going to find new tunes, original subtle details that escaped your ears the first time.

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