Private Shangri-La review by Joachim 'Joe' Brookes - RockTimes
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There were only three musicians left. Zip Tang's keyboarder and saxophonist Marcus Padgett has left the band stage. The sounds of the woodwind instrument are missing, but not the keys. Is the Chicago-based progressive rock trio now limited in its abilities?
...If you think that just because a saxophonist is not on the starting line, Zip Tang would have removed the jazzy digressions from his offer. The guitar by Perry Merritt can also be this genre. In addition to many breathtaking, musical-winding serpentine journeys into ever-thinning air layers, there are also moments of contemplation and inner peace. Down-to-earth rock of the imaginative kind and with a lot of drive phases of the sound world of an acoustic guitar almost inevitably provide an obvious breeding ground and special spotlight.
Perry Merritt is busy. He serves guitars as well as synthesizers and sings. Exceptions also confirm on "Private Shangri-La" the rule. In "Plastique Hey-Zeus" bassist Rick Wolfe raises his voice. Hard beat and pumping bass open up a rocking happening. With a change of rhythm, Perry puts Meritus guitar in scene and following the trio builds up a scenario of tempo variations. ...From the bed of the Blues develops in "Phantasmagoric Haze" Zip Tangs Progressive Rock. The bass drum initially offers a taste of the upcoming groove. The guitar lends itself to a few runs from the blues genre and in the midst of it comes to a wonderful quiet-melodic part, which is called later as a kind of flash more often. The lively Progessive Rock of "Phantasmagoric Haze" is in the sign of the 12-stroke.
"Cigarette Burns" has more of the musical dimension of a cigar. Gentle-energetic bass tones are superimposed by dust-dry guitar riffs and already shows how effectively Perry Merritt can handle the synthesizer. Impressive!
Zip Tang in 2015 still rocks in a complex way and finally the use of the acoustic guitar, which already makes itself useful in the opener, should not be missing. The wonderful song interlude "Lines" is only proof of that.
First, "Big Crunch" floats in higher spheres. From the space-glider ambience develops gradually a downright psychedelic mood. So the formation from Chicago with their crazy style mixes is a real alternative to many other bands of the genre. The fan of the style shows open-mindedness, because this melange is challenging.
"Private Shangri La" ends with another short track. "Iterum" is a coherent kind of sound collage with vocals and choir. Almost two minutes of synthesizer use without drums and bass. A great ending to an album...

Private Shangri-La review by Siggy Zielinski Babyblaue-Seiten
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...The change to a classical rock trio consisting of guitar, bass and drums has of course meant that the music is a bit more direct and that all three musicians act on an equal footing. Zip Tang's main inspirations now include The Who, Rush, Cream, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and King Crimson. Maybe I would take Echolyn, Neal Morse and The Beatles. I can not hear Pink Floyd here, and the rather subtle and occasional influence of King Crimson may not be realized until you read it on the band's website. So on "Private Shangri-La" are melodic elements (which one would expect from US-Prog) alongside rocking passages that really seem to lie between The Who and Rush.
The compositions still remain varied enough to playfully switch between progressive rock and the elements of mainstream rock. "Big Crunch" surprises in addition by the lush arrangements, which - rather untypical for this album - go in the space-psychedelic direction. "Phantasmagoric Haze" starts out as a boogie-rock track, then comes up with complex transitions and surprising twists. Nice to hear how this is playfully put together, what does not really belong together. "Plastique Hey-Zeus" combines exciting rocking grooves with imaginative arrangements. "Delete the Hole" shows the listener how sophisticated rock compositions can be both blues-rocky and progressive-demanding at the same time.
To broaden the Spartan sound palette, guitarist and singer Perry Merritt uses acoustic guitars and accompanying keyboard instruments, as well as multi-track recording techniques. He also likes to elicit unusual sounds from his guitars.
"Private Shangri-La" offers a fresh and well-made mix of US prog and spirited mainstream rock that fans of such combinations should not miss.

Private Shangri-La review by Christian Rode Babyblaue-Seiten
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The reduced to a trio band still plays a melodic, American, modern prog, but rocking heaviness is more in the foreground, even if the music is already pretty playful proggig. Right on the opening track "Cigarette Burns", the Americans make one on "Punk Floyd." The closeness to the rock dinosaurs is not only evident in this piece, but also in the electric guitar solo, while the alternative rock scene lulls it The Prog of Zip Tang sometimes comes closer to the late King Crimson, while the harmony vocals can evoke associations with CSN ("Knowing"). Here and there are some beautiful crimsoid bumpy riffs and some psychedelic palpable ("Maniacal Calliope" Sometimes it rocks more straightforward ("Phantasmagoric Haze"), sometimes alternative-proggiger ("Plastique Hey-Zeus"), but these are just influences that enrich the bands already quite unique sound-cosmos.
In the big picture, rocking hardness in all its variations, harmonious vocals and intelligent arrangements nicely balance each other out. The songs are kept rather short, which supports the power rock impression. Those who appreciate the combination of intelligent hard rock and melodic alternative skirt should check in to this "Private Shangri-La".

Private Shangri-La Review by Rivertree @ Progarchives
Due to their ambitious approach I once was pleased with the 2008 'Pank' album, though lost connection after that for what reason ever. Just right now in August 2015 the Chicago based band have a new album ready that shows them reduced to a trio - yet for the first time missing former keyboardist and saxophone player Marcus Padgett. Okay, where does the new ZIP TANG 2.0 expedition take us now? Hah! Easily to imagine really, when you're going to consider the album title. So much for the obvious knowing, or what?

Eleven songs are offered, provided with a lot of twists and turns. They are extending a quite unpredictable workout - yes, that stays even after several listening sessions. So I had to rewrite this a few times, since I occasionally faced problems to pin down the album for some mysterious reason. In any case they don't take it too seriously overall, well, this is not lacking of subtle humor ... just taking the album cover into account for example. Don't have the lyrics at hand, but in between I can hear them searching for the Plastic Jesus, oh yeah.

So let me pick Big Crunch to start with - maybe ambiguous, maybe freaky - musically the opposite of a crisis because my favourite excerpt - though possibly has a cosmological meaning too. There's certainly a psychedelic flavour to state on this occasion. Surprisingly I could detect a few references to other bands here at the very start - placed with intent or not - like Fates Warning's 'Still Remains' or 'Zoombiance' by Rinse, Repeat. And other diffuse reminders which I can't name until now. Food for thought, still. On top of it this just is part of a declared song couple.

Which means the acoustic guitar driven Lines comes prior. An excerpt provided with nice polyphonic vocals and yep ... inviting to sing along. You might sense it in the meanwhile - this album instantly won't be that accessible, like a pop oriented album would come along of course. A jazzy component takes a backseat (no sax, lesser keys) to the benefit of a more hard & heavy rocking attitude. It's Perry Merritt who has an important impact more than ever, due to the lead vocal and keyboard/synthesizer task, plus the whole guitar dominance, the latter often double- or even multi-tracked (rhythm and solo), also taking the acoustic part into account.

Rick Wolfe (punchy bass) and Fred Faller (lively drums) are suitable companions moreover, and this altogether - based on many overdubs - will guarantee a really lush and vibrant sound. Not a 'live in the studio' result with other words, I'm quite sure concerning the mix it took a bunch of hours to come to a final solution. Is it my pure imagination, or are they provoking a lot of references and relations? Some more examples needed? When the Cigarette Burns Perry counters with siren alike guitar. And they will offer us the opportunity to Delete The Hole via head banging. Or alternatively, is there anybody out there to stop the Maniacal Calliope?

Bang! Brilliant! Their private Shangri-La is a well thought out curiosity, which needed some time getting used to. Based on my experiences gradually the wonderful melodic contours come to the fore more and more, weirdness turns into trickiness. Shortened to a three-piece affair ... so what, this does not imply limited opportunities quite naturally - no, not necessarily. They compensate this with virtuosity and creativeness, and last but not least they are definitely able to rrrrrock the house! 4.5 stars so far!