▄▄ ▄███▄ ▄████ ▓██░ █▓ ▄███▄ ▄█░ ▀█▐ ▄██▄ ▓▓██░███ █▓░▒▓██░ █▐ ▄▄ ░░▓█░███ █▐ ▓█░ ██░ ▄██▄ ░░░▒▓███████░░░▒▓██░██ █░ ▄██░░▓███████ █▐ ░▒▓█░██ ██ ░██ █ ▄██▄░▒▓▓████ █░░░▓████ █▓ ▄█ ▀█ ░░▓███ ██ ░░▒▓██████ █▐ ▒▓█░██▄█░▓██░ ██▐ ▒▓███░█▐ █████ █▓░▓█░██ ██ ░███ █▓ ▓▓▓███ █░ ░░▒▓████░░▒▓██░██ █▐ ░██░█▓ ▓█████ ░░▒██████ █▒ ░██░██░ ░▒▓███ █░ ░▒▒▓███▀█▓█████ █▐ ░██░█░ ▓███████ █░▒▓████ █▓ ▓█░██▒ ▒███ █▓ ▓███ █ ░▓███ █░ ░█░█▓ ▓███▓████ █░ ▓███ ██░██░█▒ ▓██░██ ▒███ █ ▓███░█░ ▐████ ░███▒▓████ █░ ▐████ █▓█░█▀ ░███░█░ ▒███░█▓ ░███░█▓ ▓███░░███ ░████ █░ ▓███░████▀ ░███░█░ ░███░██ ▒████░█ ███▓ ███ ░▓████░█░ ░███░███ ▓██░██░ ░████░█░▓████░█▓███ ▄██▓████████░█▄ ▓███░█▓ ▐░███░█▓ ░█████████████████░░▒▓▓██████████░█▄ ░███░█░ ▌░██████ ▐████████████████▓ ████▐ ░░▓▓████░██▓ ░██░██░ ▓█████░ ▓██████████████░ ████▀ ▒█████░█░ ░▓██░█▓ ▓ ░█████▓░ ██████ ▓█████░░█████▓ ░███████░▓███████▓▐ ░░▒▓ ▒▓████████░ ▒▓████ ▐████░▄███████▓ ██████░▓█████████▐ ░ ▓ ░░░▓███████████░▒▒▓▓█▐ ░░▒▓█░░▓▓███████░ ▀█░░▓▓█████████▓▐ ▓ ▄█████▄ ░░░░▒▒▒▓▓ ░░▒▓ ░░▒▓ ░░▒▓▓▓░░▐ ░░░▒▓▓░░▒▓▒░░░░▐ ▄█████▄ ▄█ ▄▄████ ▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄ ████▄▄ █▄ █ ███▀████ ░░▓ ▄▀▄▄▄██▄ ░▓ ▄██▄ ▄██▄ ▄██▄▄▄▀▄ ░░▓ ████▀███ █ █░██ ▀██▄ ▄▀▄█▀ ▀███▀▄▄▄███▀▀██▀ ▀██▀▀███▄▄▄▀███▀ ▀█▄▀▄ ▄██▀ ▐██░█ █░██ ░░▓ █▄▀▀▀▄██ ▀█▄▄▄█▀ ▀█▄▄▄█▀ ██▄▀▀▀▄█ ░░▓ ██░█ █▄██▄ ▀████▀ ▀████▀ ▄██▄█ ▀███▄ VA - Ars_Longa_Vita_Brevis-(A_Compendium_Of_Progressive_Rock) ▄███▀ artist : VA title : Ars_Longa_Vita_Brevis-(A_Compendium_Of_Progressive_Rock) date : 2005 label : Sanctuary genre : Progressive Rock rls. date : Jan / 2006 tracks : CD1: 19 CD2: 17 CD3: 17 bitrate : VBRkbps size : 328,6 MB This is a boxed set, and like the recent 'Time Machine' and earlier 'Legend Of A Mind' boxsets, has three individual CDs each in it own slip sleeve. A well illustrated booklet is provided giving details on the bands found on the CDs. This 3-CD box set comes in the wake of the very successful Universal box sets 'Legend Of A Mind' and 'Time Machine', which dealt with the catalogues of Deram and Vertigo respectively. However, Sanctuary's 'Ars Longa Vita Brevis' doesn't deal with merely one label, as those boxes did, but works both as a sort of sampler for the companies that Sanctuary own the back catalogues of, but as a 'compendium of progressive rock' as the title promises. It's in some ways superior to the aforementioned boxes, having some genuine obscurities and oddities that haven't been available elsewhere, and also painting a broader picture of the era. However, the weakest element is that some decidedly non- progressive acts are here; Status Quo, The Kinks, Humble Pie, The Small Faces- mystifying inclusions, though this helps create a very broad picture of the great era in question.There is also a limit to Sanctuary's back catalogue, and hit singles are here in abundance. Despite this, this box is a thoroughly enjoyable trawl through a vast universe. There are the prog legends, such as The Nice, ELP, Renaissance, Jethro Tull, Mike Oldfield, Arthur Brown, Uriah Heep and Atomic Rooster, yet Uriah Heep are represented by the boogie rock 'Easy Livin', one of the least progressive songs in their catalogue. Atomic Rooster are similarly represented by their big hits 'The Devil's Answer' and 'Tomorrow Night', and ELP with 'Lucky Man', although 'Karn Evil 9' is here in part, which is possibly their greatest song ever, plus Jethro Tull are here with a very obscure 'Aeroplane', which was the B side of a flop MGM single 'Sunshine Day', where they were mis-labelled as Jethro Toe (amusingly, fakes of this very rare record spell their name right; attention to detail gone wrong...). Few could ever have heard this track, making this an essential purchase for prog fans. Mike Oldfield is here with an incredible obscurity- a solo guitar piece, where he shows his stunning skill with the bizarrely titled 'Mrs Moon and the Thatched Shop'. There are also some bands here that were easily as good as their more famous counterparts, like Fruupp (only given a minute, sadly), Gryphon, with one of their best in 'Opening Move', Gravy Train and Marsupilami, a band I have long championed as one of the best prog bands I've ever heard. Similarly, Man are here with their legendary title 'Spunk Box' which is from their superb 2nd opus '2 Ozs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle'. The folky end of the spectrum is covered by the bizarre Comus, whose mad album 'First Utterance' goes for silly money these days, and the track here is a rare single called 'Diana'. Jan Dukes De Gray are another so called 'acid folk' band, but their wonderfully crazed 'Mice And Rats In The Loft' is much welcomed- though I find it closer to VDGG than Fairport Convention, personally. However, 'Come To The Sabbat' by Black Widow I always found to be more comedic than scary, though its certainly horrific by any stretch of the imagination... Hard/ blues rock is here in abundance, with Savoy Brown, UFO, Fleetwood Mac, Status Quo, Steamhammer, Keef Hartley Band, Chicken Shack, Groundhogs, Humble Pie, and Stray, who for one brilliant eponymous album, looked set to be one of the greatest rock bands ever, before de- generating into lumpen pub rock. Thankfully, 'All In Your Mind' is from that great debut. There is some jazz rock, with Soft Machine, Colosseum, Carol Grimes' Delivery, Brian Auger, Tempest, all well represented here. There are pre-fame oddities like The Deviants, with the Zappa esque 'Billy The Monster' from their great 3rd album, before they reconvened as The Pink Fairies, and Sam Gopal, whose album 'Escalator' has a very young Lemmy on bass duties. Also in the pre-fame stakes is a solo track from Pete Bardens, which features some superb guitar work from the great Peter Green. There's even an after-the-storm section, with Heavy Jelly's great track; they used to be pop psych underachievers Skip Bifferty. There are some acts here that will test even the most knowledgeable prog fan, such as Fuchsia, Wishful Thinking, Woody Kern, Writing On The Wall and The Mooche- all of these acts are well worth hearing. All in all then, though despite obvious omissions (Yes, Genesis, King Crimson et al), it's a superb summary of perhaps the greatest era in music, and does it better than most boxes have done before. CD1 01-The Nice - Thoughts of Emerlist [02:50] Davjack 02-Jethro Tull - Aeroplane [02:26] 03-Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll [03:34] - This Wheel's on Fire 04-The Small Faces - Song of a [03:17] Baker 05-Crazy World Arthur Brown - Fire [02:57] 06-The Nice - America [06:21] 07-Tyrannosaurus Rex - One Inch [01:50] Rock 08-Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll [05:17] - Road to Cairo 09-Sam Gopal - Sky Is Burning [02:14] 10-Woody Kern - Xoanan Bay [04:33] 11-Heavy Jelly - I Keep Singing [08:25] That Same Old Song 12-Colosseum - Walking in the Park [03:55] 13-The Soft Machine - Hibou [04:21] Anemone and Bear (Paradiso live v 14-Fleetwood Mac - Man of the [02:51] World 15-Keef Hartley Band - Sinnin' for [03:39] You 16-The Mooche - Seen Through a [04:39] Light 17-Mike Oldfield - Mrs Moon and [06:17] the Thatched Shop 18-Humble Pie - Natural Born Bugie [04:14] 19-The Kinks - Shangri-La [05:18] CD2 01-The Deviants - Billy the [03:28] Monster 02-Man - Spunk Box [05:48] 03-Juicy Lucy - Who Do You Love [03:03] 04-Renaissance - Kings and Queens [11:01] 05-Status Quo - Down the Dustpipe [02:05] 06-Black Widow - Come to the [04:54] Sabbat 07-Fleetwood Mac - Green Manalishi [04:45] 08-Stray - All in Your Mind [09:23] 09-Jody grind - Bath Sister [03:29] 10-Pete Bardens - Answer [05:28] 11-Atomic Rooster - Tomorrow Night [03:16] 12-Status Quo - Junior's Wailing [03:35] 13-UFO - Follow You Home [02:14] 14-Savoy Brown - Money Can't Save [04:01] Your Soul 15-ELP - Lucky Man [04:39] 16-Steamhammer - Levinia [03:33] 17-Comus - Diana [04:34] CD3 01-Marsupilami - Prelude to the [05:27] Arena 02-Carol Grimes - Blind to Your [05:08] Light 03-Atomic Rooster - Devil's Answer [03:29] 04-Jan Dukes De Grey - Mice and [08:23] Rats in the Loft 05-Wishful Thinking - Hiroshima [04:52] 06-Fuchsia - Gone With the Mouse [05:02] 07-Kingdome Come - Eternal [03:52] Messenger 08-Chicken Shack - Daughter of the [03:56] Hillside 09-Uriah Heep - Easy Livin' [02:38] 10-Skin Alley - Skin Valley [03:45] Serenade 11-Writing on the Wall - Buffalo [03:14] 12-The Groundhogs - Sad Go Round [02:55] 13-ELP - Karn Evil [04:49] (1st Impression Pt. 2) 14-Gravy Train - Starlight [04:15] Starbright 15-Tempest - Funeral Empire [04:27] 16-Gryphon - Opening Move [09:45] 17-Fruupp - Seventh Secret [01:07] ─────── 235:18 min ▓ ▄███▀ ▀███▄ ░ █▀██▀ ▄████▄ ▄████▄ ▀██▀█ █░██ ░░▓ █▀▄▄▄▀██ ▄█▀▀▀█▄ ▄█▀▀▀█▄ ██▀▄▄▄▀█ ░░▓ ██░█ ▐█░██ ▄██▀ ▀▄▀█▄ ▄███▄▀▀▀███▄▄██▄ ▄██▄▄███▀▀▀▄███▄ ▄█▀▄▀ ▀██▄ ██░█▐ ▐█ ███▄████ ░░▓ ▀▄▀▀▀██▀ ░▓ ▀██▀ ▀██▀ ░▓ ▀██▀▀▀▄▀ ░░▓ ████▄███ █▌ ▐▀█ ▀▀████ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ████▀▀ █▀ PR▀█████▀ ▐████▀