I attended college in a relatively small town with two radio stations available--one top 40, the other Country. Thus a strong record collection was as necessary as textbooks. I was fortunate to fall in with a threesome of displaced Californians who were not only funny and smart, but shared my musical tastes as though we were all cut from the same cool cloth. We were nuts for art rock, progressive jazz-rock, rarely did anything revolve on the turn-table, but Genesis, King Crimson, Yes, Rush, with the occasional pallet cleanser like the Dixie Dregs and we were always on a look-out for other bands worthy of inclusion into rotation. Just for those of you who may be similarly inclined here are a few that we discovered: Camel, Kayak, Gentle Giant, F.M., Happy The Man.

Music of this ilk was our passion, and we sort of felt an intrinsic superiority because of what we imagined was our impeccable taste. I still have a deep fondness for this amazing genre of music, but when new wave came along, and I moved to California I discovered a brave new world of music, listening to KROQ and KCRW. Still whenever I read a review that criticizes prog-rock as nothing more than pretentious, bombastic twaddle etc etc I want to find this confused individual and correct his unforgivable ignorance with a softball bat. Prog-rock bashing has long been fashionable, but it's mostly unfounded and based entirely on unfamiliarity not educated opinion.

All of which brings me to Coheed and Cambria. A band that pays homage to their prog-rock forebears, particularly Rush, and mix it with a diverse blend of Emo. Not only is it a name that art-rock influence-fest, but it's a concept album to boot! Instrumentally the album is a masterwork, due in large part to the often magical twin guitar interplay of Claudio Sanchez and Travis Stever --remindful of this years' terrific release by ex-At The Drive In, prime movers Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez new incarnation Mars Volta. The big difference between the two is that Mars Volta is more instrumental and intentionally experimental, while C&C keeps a pretty consistent thread of melodic pop sensibility flowing throughout their hi-fi/ sci-fi art-metal journey.

Much like Geddy Lee of Rush or more recently Justin Hawkins of the Darkness, enjoying Coheed and Cambria is largely dependent upon whether or not you like or can at least get used to the (no-note-is-too-high) vocals of Sanchez. With his castrata range, it's a voice that takes some getting used to, and boy can he scream! Happily it seems to grow on you, rather than wear on you after repeated listens. Which is fortunate as it takes a number of spins to piece together the comic-book-like cosmic story in which the fictitious characters Coheed and Cambria are caught up in. A story that is all the more tough to wrap your brain around entwined and often overshadowed as it is by the complex music that tends to command more of your attention.

I've never been into comic books and I'm not a great man for Science Fiction, but I know what I like when it comes to music, and Coheed and Cambria have put together sonic banquet that, while borrowing liberally form the geat art rock bands of the 70s and 80s, have successfully fused it with enough Emo to keep it on the commercial map. This isn't to say that this is a flawless record, it occasionally buckles under the weight of it's zealous ambition. Still you have to applaud C&C for taking the road less traveled. For example the track "Blood Red Summer" is a light breezy hummable ditty that these guys could have filled an entire album with. Few other bands have pulled this off. O.K. Computer, mixed the Beatles with Yes and their own Alternative genius, Muse did the same with Queen on Origin of Symmetry and Sunny Day Real Estate did it with Led Zeppelin and Yes on the Rising Tide. True Radiohead and Muse have never been labeled as Emo bands, but by the same token they mixed their prog-rock with the musical flavor of the day, which is what Emo is right now. And any day someone wanted to compare my music with Radiohead, Muse and Sunny Day Real Estate, I don't think I'd put up much of a protest.