Milton França´s blog: TRANSATLANTIC - A GREAT PROG ROCK BAND

Thursday, March 12, 2015

TRANSATLANTIC - A GREAT PROG ROCK BAND

One of my dreams came true on February 9, 2014. On that very special day I had the chance of going to a Transatlantic´s live concert at Highline Ballroom, Manhattan. Simply unforgettable!!! I stayed all the time very close to the stage where I had a privileged view of all the members, principally Mike Portnoy, as you can see below:

Transatlantic is a multinational progressive rock supergroup with members of different bands: Neal Morse (ex-Spock´s Beard), Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater), Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) and Pete Trewavas (Marillion). They formed the band in 1999 as a side project to their original bands, disbanded in 2002 and reunited in 2009.

Daniel Gildenlow (from the Swedish band Pain of Salvation) is not an official member but he often joins them during live concerts. However, due to illness, he was replaced by Ted Leonard (Enchant) during the 2014 tour. What a pity!

Their first album was released in 2000. It was called SMPT:e which is a play on words, as a combination of the members´ last name initials as well as a common machine protocol used in recording. It received strong critical reviews including “some of the best progressive rock music ever produced”

The second album, the 2001´s Bridge Across Forever had only four tracks; very long songs as you can imagine. One of them is the 26-minute “Duel with the Devil”.

The Whirlwind is their third album, released in October 2009. A special edition of the album was also released including a second disc with four additional original tracks and four cover tracks.

And they have a fourth album the 2014´s Kaleidoscope. In 2014 they toured in the United States and Europe, including a special performance on the “Progressive Nation at Sea” cruise created by Mike Portnoy. The band played two shows, with the first featuring the entire Kaleidoscope album and the second including guest performances by famous progressive rock artists such as Jon Anderson of Yes. On September 11, 2014, Kaleidoscope won “Album of the year” at the third annual Progressive Music Awards.