Tag Archives: touchstone

Touchstone, Lights From The Sky. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

No matter where the past ends up, it becomes the present for a reason. Past glories never truly fade but they do become the bench mark to which future endeavours are judged and scrutinised over and in respect that always seems to be a moment in which can be looked upon as surreal, almost bogged down; nobody is ever the same person ten years on, what an individual did or didn’t do a decade ago is not indicative of the person they are today, the same should be said of music, musicians and bands.

Touchstone, Oceans Of Time. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The world may be perpetually on the brink of meltdown as it struggles from one crisis to another with little room to take a breath before the next impeding disaster needs patching up or perhaps covering up; however whilst there are groups such as Touchstone who can fill the emptiness that the soul can feel when living through times such as we do, then there is always a glimmer of hope that a bleak day can have some element of brightness to it.

Touchstone And The Von Hertzen Brothers To Perform At Eric’s This October.

Rapidly rising progressive hard rock five piece Touchstone was formed in 2003 by keyboard player Rob Cottingham and guitarist Adam J Hodgson. However it was the band’s second album Wintercoast that really put Touchstone on the map in 2009, with Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons featuring as a very special guest performing the prelude narration. The album was voted 4th best album of 2009 by PROG Magazine readers and by Classic Rock Magazine’s Geoff Barton in the Critics’ Choice.

KingBathmat, Truth Button. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The world of Progressive Rock has perhaps never been in a more healthy and thought-provoking state. The days of being labelled as dinosaurs and past it are long over, the new breed that fly the standard high, proud and youthful vigour such as Touchstone and The Reasoning sit alongside the giants of the genre and the old master who still show any aspiring musician just what is so cool about being able to thread together lengthy and intricate musical movements with a good lyric.

Live in the U.S.A, Touchstone. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. July 31st 2010.

Live albums can be a bit or miss, in one respect there is a call from the bands faithful to have that experience, a memory of a gig that they have attended and enjoyed. There are also those fans who cannot make a certain concert, whether it is because of lack of money, they may have been working that particular night or they may feel uncomfortable in such large crowds.

Touchstone, The City Sleeps. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. October 12th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

One of the new big two of Progressive Rock, Touchstone, makes a superb comeback with the stunning new album The City Sleeps. With the last album Live in the U.S.A. still very much in the minds of the band, this new offering carries on the outstanding work that the group have created and have been admired for by their peers and fans alike.

Asia, XXX. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S Media. June 21st 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

The British Rock band Asia is one of the very first so called ‘supergroups’. However, unlike others before them that fell by the waysides after a couple of years or a couple of albums as they realised that even one album together was too much, Asia are celebrating 30 years together with the appropriately named album XXX.

As solo artists or key cogs in other band’s machinery, Geoff Downes, John Wetton, Steve Howe and Carl Palmer are sublime, together they bring those key elements that make them stand out and turn into one of the bands of their time.