Rachel Flowers - Hearing Prog Is Believing (2018)

Rachel Flowers was born in 1993 in National City, California, arriving 15 weeks prematurely, and weighing just one pound five ounces. She lost her eyesight at three months due to retinopathy of prematurity, but from a very young age she exhibited an extraordinary musical talent, being able to pick up melodies immediately, and was soon playing by ear every song she heard. As what you are about to read might seem a bit unbelievable, then before you carry on, check out this Youtube video of her playing Emerson, Lake And Palmer's  'Tarkus' entirely from memory at age 19, on Emerson's actual Modular Moog, which I believe was being renovated by her family at the time. Rachel has perfect pitch, and at four and a half years old she began her formal music training through the Southern California Conservatory of Music, where she studied piano, music theory, ear training, music history, Braille music code, and adaptive computer music applications. While studying, she learned to play the flute and saxophone, and some mallet instruments, and is also proficient on piano and keyboards, and can play guitar, chapman stick, and bass. Her great musical loves are jazz and progressive rock, but she can also turn her hand to classical, soul, and R&B, but it's her superlative interpretations of classic prog rock that I'm featuring here. There are a number of videos of her playing on Youtube, and many other songs posted on Soundcloud, so do check them all out, and she is currently working on her second album of original songs. The cover is based on the poster for the 2017 film of her life, 'Hearing Is Believing'.

Track listing

01 Red King Crimson)
02 Trilogy (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
03 Larks Tongue In Aspic Part I (King Crimson)
04 Larks Tongue In Aspic Part II (King Crimson)
05 2nd Bridge from 'Five Bridges' (The Nice)
06 Starless (King Crimson)

Due to potential licencing issues I've been asked by Rachel to remove the links to this album, but she's happy for you to listen to the music on her Soundcloud page, so links are now the song titles.