Prog Duo The Vegetarians To Release New Album “Space Age Pagliacci”
The Vegetarians are a Swedish-American duo consisting of Hans Annellsson, composer & musician from Sweden, and composer & songwriter John Tabacco from Long Island, NY. Their eagerly anticipated new album, “Space Age Pagliacci”, is a semi-concept album about spacetime. Stylistically, the music is a mix of Prog Rock & Classic Rock, with some hints of Circus Music.
Says Hans, “There is a concept in the lyrics. They are all related to space and time in some way.” John elaborates, “A.I. is becoming a force to reckon with. This CD explores the existential threat A.I. proposes to humans. We also explore the hidden force behind “fear”, that being of an extraterrestrial influence. Truth is also an issue here. How can we trust anything? There is also some self-deprecating awareness of the absurdity of being alive in this dimension. The cover of the CD has a picture of the first A.I. robot (“Sophia” – an actual citizen now of Saudi Arabia) sitting – as a person (of unspecified gender in a protective space suit) serenades her. Not the warmest of relations. And that might be part of the A.I. / Human problem.”
Working together with several different singers such as John Tabacco, Robin Schell, John Crowe, Marc Mollan, John Marshall Gibbs and Napoleon Murphy Brock, the project started around 2000 as a vehicle for recording some prog covers of YES, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Genesis, ELP, Adrian Belew, Peter Hammill etc. The prog covers can be found on the albums “Remustered & Remixed Salad” and “The Calling”.
Billy Sherwood said this about the song “The Calling”: “A good rocking version, well done boys.”
Adrian Belew had this to say about The Vegetarians version of his song “Dream Life,”: “Beautiful, I was really moved to hear your version, maybe I’m not forgotten after all.”
In support of the new album The Vegetarians hope to play The Zappanale Festival in Bad Doberman, Germany, again.
In closing the duo has this message to relay, “The message is learn to know thyself ‘Temet Nosce.’ And whatever you do – don’t let anyone get the best of you. You matter just as much as the next being.”
Tracks:
1. AI’s Failed Dream (7:16)2. The Run Around (3:14)3. Strangle Rocket Fair (7:38)4. Android Forty 2 (4:00)5. Not A Lot Has Changed (3:08)6. Dark Reptilian Clown (2:28)7. There’s Nothing To Do Now (3:33)8. Where Do You Go? (5:21)9. Advice (3:24)10. Parallel-O-Gram (4:55)11. Silly Song (2:57)12. I’ve Got A Secret To Tell You (4:03)13. Doubt And Fear (5:13)14. Another Universe – Please (3:45)15.The Saucers Are Here (4:49)
All songs written by Annellsson & Tabaccoexcept track 3, 6 & 10 by Annellson, Tabacco & Pomes
Liner Notes:Produced by Hans Annellsson & John TabaccoPerformed by Hans & John with the help of Gustaf Hielm (Meshugga) – BassBobby Halvorson (Brother, Sister) – Harmony Vox, Jonathan Mehler – Guitar& Anthony Pomes (The Blast) – Guitar. Cover by Catherine Tabacco & Farben Fosfeen ArtwerksMix, mastering & layout by Janne Brovall, Brovall production
Hans Annellsson: Composer & musician from Sweden. On the Annellssongs label Hans has released both music in Swedish, with The Vegetarians in English, and some instrumental music. The instrumental music is available on the albums “A Pirate In Ambient Waters” & “Scenes & Takes”. A new instrumental album “Goodly Odd” will be released later this year. To support himself Hans works as a music teacher at Malmö International School. Being a massive Frank Zappa fan Hans got permission from Frank, before he went on his last tour, to release a Swedish version of “Penis Dimension.” That version can be found on an album called “Från A Till Ö” by Hans and Mats Öberg. Hans also recently produced Mats Öberg’s album “Frankful,” solo piano renditions of the music of Frank Zappa.
John Tabacco: American composer, singer songwriter, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and graphic artist. He is co-founder of SA3 (a proprietary analog to digital conversion technology for sound and video) and has engineered /mixed and mastered music for the past 30 years.
To purchase:
Bandcamp: https://thevegetarians.bandcamp.com/album/space-age-pagliacci
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7b7khQqC4ekEn9Xi2AFuOz?si=pMfaLLANTCK5ousP2f1PpA
For more information about The Vegetarians:Homepage: www.annellssongs.com
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3iOXuw7
