Rachel Flowers - Plays Zappa (2018)

Rachel Flowers has always had an affinity with Frank Zappa, sharing a birthday with him on 21st December (1993 for Rachel and 1940 for Frank). Even more spooky is the fact that Zappa died just 17 days before Rachel was born, so believers in reincarnation can draw their own conclusions. She has covered more Zappa compositions than any other artist, even her beloved Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and so I thought it was worth collecting them all together on one 43 minute 'album'. Rachel regularly plays with Dweezil Zappa in his Zappa Plays Zappa band, and excerpts from some of their gigs are available on Youtube, so do search them out. There's also an hour-long video here showing the recording process of the 'Zomby Woof' track, and how Rachel plays and overdubs all the instruments herself to make up the track. So as not to infringe copyright, the links are directly to Rachel's Soundcloud page and to Youtube, and it's entirely up to you if you download them yourself. To reacquaint yourself with Rachel's amazing story then check out her Prog rock post.

Track listing

01 Inca Roads
02 Zoot Allures
03 Montana
04 Peaches En Regalia
05 The Black Page 1
06 The Black Page 2
07 Zomby Woof
08 The Mammy Anthem

All titles composed by Frank Zappa

Rachel Flowers - A Tribute To Keith Emerson (2009)

Following my last post from Rachel Flowers I expected to see some comments from people who were blown away at seeing her incredible solo interpretation of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Tarkus on Keith Emerson's own mini-Moog, and so I can only assume that you were all so stunned by it that you couldn't even type! As I mentioned in that post, Rachel is a massive fan of ELP, and Keith Emerson in particular, so much so that they became friends during the later years of his life. She has performed many covers of the band's material, and there have been videos of her versions of 'Karn Evil 9 - First Impression' and 'Karn Evil 9 - Second Impression' around for a while on Youtube, but I'd never found the third part until quite recently, and so now that I have them all I've decided it's time to post all three as her tribute to Keith Emerson. As well was the complete 'Karn Evil 9', she's also recorded her own interpretation of Emerson's 'Piano Concerto No. 1' as a piece for piano and flute. As you might have seen from the previous post, I was asked to take down my link to the album, and replace it with posts to Rachel's own Soundcloud page, and so I'll be doing the same here, with links to the Youtube videos rather than my own album. However, in this case I think this is actually better, as during the 'Piano Concerto' you would have heard Rachel playing the flute and the piano, but without seeing it you would never have known that she was playing the flute one-handed while keeping the rhythm on the piano, BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. As I said last time, do check out Rachel's other Youtube videos as well as her Soundcloud page, and support this extraordinary talent if you can.

Track listing

01 Karn Evil 9 - First Impression
02 Karn Evil 9 - Second Impression
03 Karn Evil 9 - Third Impression
04 Piano Concerto No. 1

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.