8133 - GLASS HAMMER - ODE TO ECHOE (2014)

GLASS HAMMER
''ODE TO ECHOE''
2014
52:59

1 - Garden Of Hedon (Shikoh, Schendel, Babb, Groves) 6:55
2 - Misantrog (Schendel, Groves) 9:56
3 - Crowbone (Schendel, Robert Low) 7:20
4 - I Am I (Babb, Schendel) 8:08
5 - The Grey Hills (Babb, Groves) 4:43
6 - Porpoise Song (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) 3:33
7 - Panegyric (Schendel) 4:10
8 - Ozymandias (Babb, Groves) 8:10


Fred Schendel - Keyboards, Guitars, Backing Vocals
Steve Babb - Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Kamran Alan Shikoh - Electric, Acoustic & Classical Guitars, Electric Sitar
Aaron Raulston - Drums
Carl Groves - Lead Vocals
Jon Davison - Lead & Backing Vocals
Susie Bogdanowicz - Lead & Backing Vocals
Featuring:
Walter Moore - Vocals
Michelle Young - Vocals
Randy Jackson - Lead Guitar & Backing Vocals On "Crowbone"
Rob Reed - Piano & First Mini-moog Solo On "Misantrog"
David Ragsdale - Violin On "Crowbone"

BIOGRAPHY
By ProgArchives, Wikipedia, Sound Resources
Glass Hammer is a symphonic-progressive rock band from the United States. They formed in 1992 when multi-instrumentalists Steve Babb and Fred Schendel began to write and record Journey of the Dunadan, a concept album based on the story of Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. To their surprise, the album sold several thousand units via the Internet, The QVC Shop-At-Home Network and phone orders, leaving Babb and Schendel convinced that the band was a project worth continuing.

While many musicians have appeared on Glass Hammer albums over the years, Babb and Schendel have remained the core of the band. Both play a variety of instruments, but Babb mainly concentrates on bass guitar and keyboards while Schendel plays keyboards, various guitars and drums until the addition of live drummer Matt Mendians to the studio recording band in 2004. They also sing, although a number of other vocalists have also handled lead vocal duties including Michelle Young, Walter Moore, Carl Groves, Susie Bogdanowicz and Jon Davison. Worthy of mention, Yes vocalist Jon Anderson provided backup vocals on two songs from 2007's Culture of Ascent.

Lyrically, Glass Hammer is inspired mostly by their love of literature (most notably Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and John Krakauer) and Babb's love of Victorian prose and medieval mythology.

Musically, they lean towards 70's driven symphonic rock, with strong keyboard orientation; specifically Hammond organs in the tradition of ELP. They have a superb melodic flow to the music they make, encapsulating real power and dynamics without ever becoming overpowering. Their most apparent influences are Yes, ELP, Genesis, and, to a less noticeable extent, Camel. While Glass Hammer have, for the most part, combined those influences into a characteristic style of their own, they made much more direct references to the aforementioned bands on their 2000 album Chronometree and the 2010 release If. Without a doubt, GH remain one of the most popular groups in the progressive rock genre. All the albums are very conceptual, and there is great musicianship overall.

Current band members include co-founders Steve Babb (bass guitar and keyboards), Fred Schendel (keyboards and guitar) along with Alan Shikoh (guitar) and lead vocalist Jon Davison.

OFFICIAL SITE

3009 - GLASS HAMMER - Anthology 2000-2011 (2012)

GLASS HAMMER
''ANTHOLOGY 2000-2011''
JUNE 14 2012
87:01

1. Empty Space Revealer/6:45
2. As I Walk/2:35
3. One King/6:07
4. So Close, So Far/9:50
5. A Cup of Trembling (Live At Nearfest 2003)/8:03
6. Having Caught a Glimpse/13:22
7. Through a Glass Darkly (Live 2006)/6:48
8. Life By Light/7:34
9. A Bitter Wind/4:35
10. If the Stars/10:28
11. Nothing Box/10:54

BIOGRAPHY
by Gary Hill
Glass Hammer began in 1992 when Tennessee musicians Steve Babb and Fred Schendel got together and began writing for a progressive rock concept album. That album, Journey of the Dunadan, was released the following year. Since the two men were basically the entire lineup of the group and played all of the instruments on the album, they would need to recruit musicians to perform the material live. Schendel had played with a drummer named Walter Moore in his last group the Obvious. They brought him in to augment the live lineup. Michelle Young (who had sung on one song on the album) became keyboardist for this version of the group. In 1994 they recorded a second disc, Perelandra, with David Carter being added to the lineup during that recording. The CD was released the following year and shortly thereafter, Young left the group. The next Glass Hammer album, On to Evermore, was released in 1998 followed two years later by Chronometree.

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