Adrian Belew: guitar, vocals Bryan Beller: bass Nick D'Virgilio: vocals Shawn Farley: bass, guitars Chris G: drums, keyboards, percussion Randy George: bass, keyboards Andrew Gorczyca: vocals Wil Henderson: vocals Phil Keaggy: guitars Mike Keneally: guitars Ted Leonard: vocals Dave Meros: bass Rich Mouser: guitar Rick Musallam: guitars Ryo Okumoto: keyboards Billy Oskay: violins Greg Strickland: bass Marc Ziegenhagen: keyboards
Influences
Rush, Yes, King Crimson, Spock's Beard, Neal Morse, The Police, UK
Sounds Like
Classic progressive rock merged with the modern edge of today's production values, and infused with the personal styles of the roster of players who contributed performances to the work.
Here comes perhaps the CD of 2008! The music was written by Andrew Gorczyca, in a style that can be described as melodic progressive rock. The musicians on the record make up an impressive list: Nick D'Virgilio, Dave Meros, Ryo Okumuto (all from Spock's Beard), Adrian Belew, Ted Leonard, Phil Keaggy, and Mike Keneally - just to name the most famous. Since the album is very melodic it could appeal to lovers of melodic hard rock and AOR. Rating 9 out of 10 - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Martin Lindstrom - The Missing Piece
This album is quite simply brilliant progressive rock, but unlike a lot of similarly styled albums, this one has fantastic songs that stick in your head and are more easily accessible - being relatively short in length by prog standards. The production and playing are stunning. If you like Spock's Beard, Rush, Yes, etc. you need this... Carl Noonan - CD Baby
Despite the fact that the album was recorded by many different artists, it works very well as an album, maintaining a clean, harmonic prog sound. The mix is brilliant, integrating vocals, bass, keyboards, guitars, and drums together, while keeping each as an identifiable contribution, allowing each musician to show his considerable skills. This is a must-buy for fans of progressive rock... Dan Singleton - The Phantom Tollbooth
Telling The Story
What should be described as a true labor of love for drummer Chris G was finally completed in the spring of 2008. The recorded work, a tribute CD of the music of his late brother Andrew, is the culmination of nearly four years’ effort devoted to countless sessions of studio recording time. At its core, the music would fall into the progressive rock category - given some of the elaborate arrangements and instrumentation. A total of eighteen progressive rock players were recorded in twelve different studios located in six different American cities. This host of artists associated with the genre (including Adrian Belew, Nick D’Virgilio, Phil Keaggy, and Mike Keneally) provided the cast of players sought by Chris to re-create Andrew’s music with professional flair and credibility. Thanks to their talents, Andrew’s musical spirit will now endure, accessible to all.
Andrew Dean Gorczyca was born on August 14, 1963. He was raised along with several siblings near Washington, DC, in the comfortable suburbs of Maryland. The family had a somewhat normal middle-class upbringing, typical of the era. Music entered his life at an early age, most likely through the influence of an older sister, distant cousins, and friends in the neighborhood. On one Christmas, his parents gave the three boys their first chance to play music. Andrew chose to learn the guitar, and never lost his fascination with it.
He discovered a sense of versatility by shifting his focus to electric bass, and it was here that Andrew and Chris began playing together as bassist and drummer. Their teenage brotherly rhythm section quickly gained momentum as a solid playing unit in their circle of musician friends. By age twenty, Andrew had devoted himself to creating his own compositions, playing and recording most or all of the parts into his trusty four track machine. Drawing on his love of progressive rock, he crafted songs and lyrics that were challenging, emotional, and honest. He continued to write and record as life moved forward, never concerning himself with trends or music industry distractions. His most prolific period was during the 1980s into the 1990s, though his ideas continued to emerge thereafter.
Andrew passed away during the night in early August 2004, at only forty years of age. As a true artist, his music was his one true passion in life. Soon after his passing, Chris became the caretaker of Andrew’s collection of music. It contained all of his finished songs, demos in various forms of completion, and notebooks with scribbled sections of lyrics. His work was never well documented, so it was quite a challenge to organize everything. Aside from a few exceptions, Andrew never sought out other musicians for collaboration. He never tried to record his songs in a professional studio; preferring the privacy and economy of his home studio. This did affect the sonic quality of his work, but ideas were always the most important thing to Andrew.
As the only other musician in the immediate family, Chris resolved immediately to preserve those ideas. There was a need to do more for the music, rather than just carefully store artifacts. He wanted to celebrate the work by treating it to modern recording techniques and inviting some notable progressive rock players to perform the material. Thus began the epic task of scheduling players and managing studio time in the fall of 2004. After nearly four years of planning, playing, and producing, the finished work finally saw the light of day. According to Chris – "We strove for a balance of staying true to the songs as written while letting the artists bring something of themselves to the music." Within that framework, Reflections – An Act of Glass was completed as a lasting tribute to Andrew and the music that meant everything to him.
Thanks a lot for the add ! EletriKa sounds completely different from any Metal band you have ever heard. The Brazilian rhythms and the Portuguese language added to the songs makes its style unique, giving birth to a new kind of Metal. If you are really looking for something new about Metal, you should check EletriKa out!
thanx for the friendship. Great sound!! If you are interested to get a cd-review on musikzirkus-magazin, please contact me. Greetings from germany.
Stephan www.musikzirkus-magazin.de
Musikzirkus-Magazin – the Internetmagazine about Prog-, Art-, Psychedelic-, Melodic-, Krautrock and Electronic with a lot of Concert-, CD-, DVD-Reviews, Interviews and many Infos. So have a look.
Hello Chris and thanks for stopping by dude, great tribute page, the songs you chosed are great. Greetings from Montreal Canada....thanks for the request by the way my friend. Take care...........Mariano !!!!!!!
Hi Adrian and all the folks...what can I say...I didn't know about Andrew but after listening to this wonderful heart touching music I'm glad I came here.
Thanks for visiting my site. It's a honor. I admire all the musicians featured in this great dream come true.
Thank you and congratulations for the amazing result.
Thanks for the request: It is an awesome thing you are doing and also; at the heart of any rock band is the bassist and drummer, there is no making up for quality in those areas and you have it!
Hi Chris, just the moment I listen to the CD, good stuff very melodic not to heavy a good mixture of harmonic singing and instrumental parts. It is typically American sound. Perfect mixed and produced with very good musicians. Maybe You are playing sometimes in Germany. Cheers and a sunny weekend Horst from Cologne
There is a lot to be said about and for music that is created for the mind, but not enough said, and it should be :) Much respect for this man and the people who keep his legacy alive.
It was my pleasure to play "How Can We Go On This Way" on my weekly, 30-minute podcast featuring mainstream, independent music. The direct link to the show is: http://indiemusicsampler.com/2009/05/01/ims-131/
In a few days, the song will also be added to Indie Music Sampler radio which plays out some of the best in independent music commercial-free 24x7.
Hey Chris! I just wanted to let you know that Andrew won 'Best New Progressive Rock Artist' (tribute) for 2009 on the Progressive Rock Hall of Fame website! Exciting news!
Hello Hello. Thanks for the add :-) Reflections-An Act Of Glass is a great album, keep up your great work. Looking forward to more great music from you. Really Rocks.
Thanks for finding Afterglow and asking to be friends. Your album is fantastic. It has hardly left my player since it arrived.
Cheers,
Bill
Afterglow airs every Thursday from 8:00 to 9:30 am EST/GMT-5/ITZ-5 on WMUH 91.7 FM in the Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Pennsylvania) area and streaming on the internet at: rtsp://helix.muhlenberg.edu:554/broadcast/live.rm and http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh/WMUH.ram
Afterglow comes to you in two phases. Phase one (30 minutes) is an eclectic mix of a wide variety of music, usually including quite relaxing music. Phase Two (60 minutes) is the Progressive Rock portion of the show.
I just want you to know that I think the world of you, Andrew's music and your music, Chris!! I have visited all of your links and I am so impressed with all your talent, professionalism and long list of accomplishments! I will be ordering Andrew's CD and can't wait to get it!! Much love and Many Blessings!
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