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X-Ray Pecs posted:Who are the "big five"? I thought the "big four" of prog were Genesis, Yes, ELP, and King Crimson. Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull are usually among the big five, but I consider it a big 6. Nice thread. I've had a deep love for prog since I was a little kid, and still go back to it frequently. This was probably mentioned before, but you should check out The Strawbs and Renaissance if you like the folky, symphonic side of prog. Must have Strawbs albums: Strawbs, Dragonfly, From the Witchwood, Grave New World, Bursting at the Seams, Hero and Heroine, Ghosts and Nomadness. For Renaissance: Renaissance (also known as Innocence), Illusion, Ashes are Burning, Turn of the Cards, Sheherezade and Other Stories, Live at Carnegie Hall, Novella and A Song For All Seasons. For most of the classic British prog bands, you usually can't go wrong if the album was released in the late 60s or early to mid 70s. Later 70s they tended to lose a bit if their edge, and very few survived the 80s without selling out. But prog metal seemed to take off in popularity in the 80s with bands like Rush and Iron Maiden at the forefront. The 90s had a bit of a resurgence, with jam bands like Phish and some of the more experimental punk bands like Radiohead exploring prog. Some of those proggy punk bands got more progressive and became the more high energy prog like The Mars Volta or Muse. And some of them evolved into post rock bands, which, to me, is the furthest rock has progressed to date as an experimental art form. Prog metal took off in a big way too in the 90s with bands like Tool and Dream Theater hitting it big. I'd say prog metal is now a much bigger genre than prog rock and it's one of the most popular subgenres of metal.
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Aug 18, 2011 08:19
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Rollersnake posted:I don't understand the appeal of Keystudio at all. Everything on it is mind-numbingly repetitive and overlong, the lyrics are Jon Anderson at his preachiest and cringingly bad, and it's the classic Yes lineup so you can't even pin the blame on Trevor Rabin or Billy Sherwood. There are one or two good bits buried in Mind Drive and That That Is, and Sign Language is a decent but unmemorable instrumental, but overall this is what cemented in my mind that there would never be another good Yes album. That the same band who made Tales from Topographic Oceans and Going for the One and Tormato could produce something this bad. Yes was pretty hit or miss in the 90s. All of their albums from this period had some great moments, but they were surrounded by a lot of poo poo. Case in point: Keystudio. Mind Drive is excellent, and came close to being as good as their best stuff in the 70s. That That Is starts off great, but loses me about halfway through. And Sign Language is good, as you said. The rest of the album? Well it just plain sucks. But the funny thing is, if you add up all the good bits and throw out the bad stuff, it makes for almost 40 minutes of music, which is about as long as their best album, Close to the Edge. Maybe they should have just kept their albums shorter. As for Union, like you it's grown on me since that initial shock. Like the rest of their 90s albums, it's too long for its own good, but the good stuff is REALLY good. The Miracle of Life is one of Trevor's best, and a really good pop song. I also rather like Lift Me Up, despite how generic it sounds. But I Would of Waited Forever is great, I agree. I only wish they didn't fade out the end. That little jam they do when it's fading out sounds really cool and Yessy. When I first heard the album I hated "Saving My Heart" so much that I made up my own lyrics for it, "Saving My Fart". I'm saving my fart for you, On your face I'll go poopoo, till the poo poo in my guts runs dry, in your mouth my turds will die, there's a place in my fart for you... Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 08:36
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I had almost given up on Yes, but was pleasantly surprised by the new album. I'd go as far to say it's their best album since Drama. It's not perfect, the title song gets somewhat repetitive and loses my interest in parts, but it still holds up as a strong epic throughout. It's at least on parr with Mind Drive. The rest of the album, with normal length songs, is even better. There are no bad tracks on this album. How long has it been since they've accomplished that? 30 years? That's definitely saying something. Benoit David's voice is kind of a mix between Trevor Horn's and Jon Anderson's, and I have to admit, I like it better than Jon's voice, at least more than how Jon sounded on the later Yes albums. Still, I admit the lyrics aren't too great (but then Jon's lyrics often were awful too, but he had moments of brilliance). As much as I love Jon's voice, I felt that his voice had become a bit grating on the later Yes albums. When you compare the older 70s albums to the later ones, you'll notice that Jon's voice was more like an instrument on the older albums. He really only actually sang over maybe 3/4ths of the record, and much of it was instrumental. But, on the later albums, he sang over almost everything. It wasn't too bad when he shared lead with Rabin in the 80s, but in the 90s it was pretty much all Jon, and his voice got very tiring. His higher range, which sounded great in the 70s, has also, somewhat, weakened somewhat with age. Benoit's voice is stronger in this higher range, but he doesn't overdo it, in fact Chris Squire seems to be singing a lot more here, and is practically a second lead vocalist. I always liked Chris Squire's voice, so this isn't a bad thing. It doesn't have the balls or edge of their classic 70s stuff, though. It's more reminiscent of their late 70s early 80s sound, namely Going For the One, Tormato and Drama period. Not so much 90125 or Rabin era Yes, but I definitely hear an 80s tinge to some of the sound. It's a safe sounding Yes album. They don't really explore much in the way of new ground, so I wouldn't call it true progressive, but it's definitely the most proggy sounding album they've done in ages. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Aug 19, 2011 |
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Aug 19, 2011 06:17
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keratas posted:Funny you should mention Rush, Caress of Steel is cranked right now. What Phil Collins single got you into prog? Come on, don't be embarassed.
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Sep 12, 2011 19:07
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Earwicker posted:Has anyone here heard this album? Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited I bought this CD many years ago and, while not great, is worth a listen. It's somewhat hit or miss, but the good is really good. The version of Watcher of the Skies with Wetton on vocals kicks rear end, and some of the other tracks were pretty strong as well and offer interesting takes on what we've come to know and love from the old Genesis records. Still, none of this comes close to topping the originals, and the new songs are nothing to write home about. The best thing to come out of this is the tour that followed, I think "The Tokyo Tapes" is the live album from this tour. This band was fantastic live. It was really cool to hear what an old school King Crimson mixed with old school Genesis lineup could have sounded like. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 12:54 on Nov 4, 2011 |
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Nov 4, 2011 12:40
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Allen Wren posted:Well, really, who can believe their ears when they hear Hocus Pocus at all? poo poo is Lovecraftian. Hocus Pocus was actually my gateway drug into prog. I remember it clearly, I was 6 years old napping in my room when my aunt put on the "Moving Waves" record in the living room and blasted it. I was blown away and woke up asking "what the hell am I hearing?" I loved it, and it was the first CD I ever owned. Still a favorite of mine.
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Jan 1, 2012 21:43
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Skjorte posted:Depends on your pain tolerance. Naturally, the elderly gentlemen have slowed down a bit, but they seem happy to be performing, are still pulling their weight, and are still worth experiencing. If you're a big fan, at least. But 2011 has not been kind to young Mr. David. Some claim he was suffering from illness earlier in the year--and he probably was; otherwise this is pretty much inexcusable--but he also wasn't holding up his end up of the bargain when Yes came by here a couple of weeks ago. I'm genuinely surprised he hasn't gotten the boot. drat, just saw that video, that was depressing. Yes's last great tour was the 2001 Symphonic one. Even though they were already slowing down at that point, the slower pace worked well with the orchestral arrangements. They still sounded amazing and it was great hearing those classic prog epics like Close to the Edge and The Gates of Delerium with an orchestra. It really did sound grand. I saw them one more time after that ... with Wakeman in 2004. It was good, but even then I knew that they had lost a lot of their energy and power, and they no longer had the orchestra to help beef them up so there was definitely a drop off. When you compare their 70s live albums, like Yessongs or Yesshows with their more recent tours, it's like a completely different band. Yes was a ferocious beast in the 70s, now they just sound old and feeble. It really is sad. I guess this happens with a lot of bands as they get older, but I've never seen a drop off as big as this. Genesis had to drop key for their last tour, and had slowed down a bit, but they still sounded great. Ian Anderson can barely sing anymore but his flute and guitar playing is better than ever and Jethro Tull still sounds tight as gently caress. ELP have slowed down, and Greg's voice has deepened, but they still sound great live. Pink Floyd/Waters/Gilmour still sounds amazing, though not as ballsy as they did in their younger years. Renaissance and Rush both sound as good as ever, and King Crimson has gotten even more aggressive as they aged. I still hold out hope that Yes can pull it together at least one more time. quote:I feel bad for the guy, being the actual lead singer of Yes must have been a lifelong impossible dream and now he's actually on stage with them... singing like that. I remember when I first heard him, probably 2009 or so like the other poster said. He sounded a lot better. He actually did sound a lot like Jon in his younger years, though you could tell his voice wasn't as natural. It's not his natural singing voice, it's his impression of Jon Anderson. I think this is what happens when you try to impersonate someone else's voice for an entire tour. It must be quite a strain after awhile. Eventually the voice just won't cooperate anymore. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Jan 1, 2012 |
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Jan 1, 2012 22:06
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JAMOOOL posted:While I agree that some of these bands can still sound awesome live (Van der Graaf Generator and the Moody Blues come to mind), ELP is not one of them. Here's something I wrote in my review of their latest live disc: I wasn't at those shows, so I don't know. I guess it's not really fair of me to compare them since the last time I saw ELP was 1998, and I thought it was a great show. I didn't see any of their more recent tour. Haven't see The Moody Blues since Ray Thomas left, but thought they sounded great back then. And yes, VDGG is still great to see live. I saw them with The Strawbs a couple years ago, and was pleasantly surprised at how good The Strawbs sounded, even if it was just their acoustic lineup.
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Jan 5, 2012 20:21
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something_clever posted:Been listening to Gentle Giant a lot lately. Their self titled debut album, Aquiring the Taste, and Three Friends are all solid choices. Their first album is significantly less "out there" than the other ones, but probably the most accessible and has great tunes on it.
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Jan 6, 2012 21:33
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Cpt. Spring Types posted:Has anyone listened to Thick As a Brick 2 yet? I've been listening to it for a couple of days and I'm surprised by how awesome it is. Definitely some classic 70s Tull sounds going on; sounds like a proper sequel, which is very cool. There are some spoken word parts that seem a bit cheesy, but they're growing on me. Overall it's a pretty great album. I didn't know this existed. Thick as a Brick was always my favorite Tull album. Definitely going to pick this up.
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Apr 6, 2012 09:32
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One of the things that has soured me to Jethro Tull is Ian's voice. His voice was great on the early records, definitely one of my favorite prog rock vocalists. But like Robert Plant's voice, it weakened as the 70s wore on. I would say the change started to become noticeable by 1975's "Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young To Die". By the late 1970s it had become more nasal and not quite as powerful or dynamic, probably due to smoking and overuse. His voice was still quite good right up to the end of the 70s with "Stormwatch", but it had definitely weakened noticeably since the early 70s. Unfortunately, it only got worse in the 80s and he even had to have throat surgery at one point. After that his voice was never the same. In the late 80s, he adjusted his singing to more of a spoken word blues style, kind of like Marc Knopfler of Dire Straights, to compensate for his more limited range. This worked okay on the albums, even if it didn't sound particularly Tull-like, but when he had to sing the old songs live you could tell he was struggling to hold out and reach certain notes. Then, with Roots to Branches, he tried to go back to his more traditional style of singing with less demanding vocal parts, but you could tell that even this was a strain on his voice. It also sounds as if he runs out of breath too quickly. There have only been a few Tull albums since then, all great instrumentally, but weak vocally. On the studio albums it's not so bad, since he tries to write songs that fit his now more limited range, but it's still painful to hear him try to belt out signature songs like Aqualung and Thick as a Brick live and fail to reach or hold out the notes. It's a shame because, it's really one of the only reasons I have trouble getting into anything by Tull after 1979. Instrumentally the band is tighter than ever, and Ian Anderson's flute and guitar playing has only gotten better over the years. I wish they'd just hire another singer to help him out. It's not like other bands haven't done this. Look at The Beach Boys, or Pink Floyd. I'd love to be able to go to a Tull concert again and not be cringing through the more demanding vocal parts. edit: You can hear how his voice changed over the years in these youtube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn93a1onXC0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YWcKmbWPdU After hearing this, I'm not quite sure if his voice was really weakening in the late 70s, or if he was just trying different vocal techniques on each album. I admit, I preferred his sound on the early 70s albums, but his voice still sounded quite awesome up through to Stormwatch. The second part (in the 1980s) is where you start to hear him struggling. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Apr 11, 2012 |
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Apr 11, 2012 12:59
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Prog Doctor posted:I completely agree. Up through Stormwatch, his vocals were still strong. But his adjustments he made (vocally and musically) worked, I think, in albums like Roots To Branches, and Nightcap. I saw Tull in 1996 on the Roots to Branches tour, they were touring with ELP, actually. The band was excellent, even tighter than they were in the 1970s. But Ian's vocals were a big letdown. I had bought Roots to Branches, and noticed that his voice wasn't as strong on the cd as he was on the older albums, but he sounded okay and the music was great, so I was looking forward to seeing them. But I hadn't expected him to be unable to sing the old classics live. Also, I think he had recently broken his leg, so he wasn't moving around the stage as much as he usually does. It almost ruined the concert for me because I had much higher expectations, but fortunately, they all made up for it by playing their instruments so well and really rocking out. The drummer at the time was Doane Perry, who was more than capable to handle the parts. I'm not too familiar with the current lineup as I haven't really followed Tull much since then. I notice Doane Perry left, I guess it will be awhile before they break this new guy in. edit: All this Jethro Tull talk reminded me of this episode of Yacht Rock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZBXNtMKJp4 Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Apr 12, 2012 |
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Apr 12, 2012 04:08
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mjs6643 posted:The only version of Lizard I've heard is the newest remaster so I kept wondering why everyone seemed to hate it so much. Now I know why. Well, that and I guess Gordon Haskell wasn't the greatest singer. The older master was a bit top heavy. The drums especially sounded tinny. It still was a great album though. And yes, ol' Gord takes some warming up to, but I think his voice fits the album perfectly and adds to the strangeness.
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Apr 17, 2012 06:17
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Rollersnake posted:Motoi Sakuraba's a pretty interesting guy who I don't think has been discussed here yet. He was the keyboardist for the '80s Japanese prog band Deja-Vu, and turned to making video game soundtracks after the band broke up. Haha I have this game. It was my first psx game, and something to kill time until FF7 came out. I remember rendering it unwinnable because I went into that underground dungeon with switch bridges too early and used a magic rope to get out. But the switches stayed switched, so the bridge at the entrance was gone and I couldn't get back in. Later on in the game, when I had to go in there to continue the story, but there was nothing I could do to un-switch the bridge so I was poo poo out of luck. The only choices I had were to either start the whole game over, or just say "gently caress this game" and quit. I chose the latter. I do remember the soundtrack being quite good though. Not as good as Nobuo Uematsu or Yasunori Mitsudo, but good nonetheless. I'll have to check this guy out. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 10:45 on May 18, 2012 |
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May 18, 2012 10:39
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The only Rush album I don't like is Presto. I don't hate it, but it's just dull to me. The lyrics are good though. But I agree that Clockwork Angels is the best album since Grace Under Pressure. I do rather like Test For Echo and Vapor Trail though.
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Dec 6, 2012 14:23
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As per my username, I'm a huge Genesis fan, and Nursery Cryme is my favorite album. I don't have a good reason for it being my favorite. I guess all I can say is it was the first album from them that "grabbed" me, mostly because of the first track, The Musical Box, which I think was the song where they really found their sound. It's still my favorite Genesis song. And I disagree with the person who says it meanders. It's moody, frustrated, almost bipolar, but I like that about it. I heard it at the right time in my life. I was 15, an angry and frustrated teenager, but one who longed for the peace I enjoyed when I was younger. Nursery Cryme just seemed to carry that mood, and it really spoke to me. It became my favorite band ever since. I don't like the post-Hackett stuff as much as the earlier stuff, but there's still a lot of great stuff on those later albums. I think their last great album was Invisible Touch. After that they lost a lot of the energy they had. We Can't Dance had some cool moments, but Calling All Stations was mostly dull and un-memorable.
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Dec 19, 2012 00:45
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Agree with Absent Lovers. King Crimson live is not a thing to be ignored. Other good live albums from the Crim: USA - Wetton era live album VROOM VROOM - Thrak lineup live album The Deception of the Thrush - ProjeKcts live album, all instrumental jams Epitaph - Greg Lake era live album Ladies of the Road - Islands Lineup live album, much better than Earthbound The Great Deceiver - Wetton era live box set, a lot more jamming than USA Heavy Construction - 2000 era Live album EleKtrik: Live in Japan - 2003 era Live album
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Dec 19, 2012 07:55
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Moving Waves was my first cd. Bought it in 1989 when it first came out on cd. I was 9 years old. It still gets regular rotation from me, and was my gateway into all things prog.
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Dec 25, 2012 03:06
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Mithra6 posted:Santa (at least that's what the label on my present said) brought me the big Lark's Tongues boxed set. I just heard the remaster itself, and it sounds waaaaaaaaay clearer than before. All the muddiness is gone. Jesus, a 15 CD box set of one single LP? These box sets are getting ridiculously excessive.
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Dec 26, 2012 21:00
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Mithra6 posted:Yeah look at this version of "Close to the Edge": To be fair, CTTE hasn't been played up to speed since the 70s. Even on An Evening of Yes Music Plus you can definitely hear how much they slowed down the intro, and that was with Bruford on the drums. That recording has Jeff Berlin on bass though, and not Tony Levin. I'm not sure if the Tony Levin version is any faster. Still, this is the slowest I've heard them play it yet. edit: Actually, after watching the 1990 ABWH video of CTTE, I guess they were playing it up to speed during the ABWH tour. It is slower than the way they used to play it live. The 1973 and 1975 versions are frantic as all hell. But this version does match the speed of the record at least. I've seen Yes three times. The first time was in 2000 for the Masterworks tour, then in 2001 for the symphonic tour, and finally in 2004 for the 35th anniversary tour. The symphonic concert was probably the best one I've seen. They still had the energy and the orchestra really did add a new layer of awesomeness to the music. 2004 was probably the worst, despite the return if Rick Wakeman. They definitely had lost a lot of their energy by this point and the slow down was starting to become really noticeable. I'm not sure if it's just because they're old men now, or if it's just that they don't practice as much as they used to. It's probably a combination of the two, but it is a letdown to listen to an awesome live album like Yessongs, which is probably my favorite live album of all time, and then hear them perform today. They sound like two completely different bands. One amazing, and one average at best. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 00:42
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Seventh Arrow posted:Wow, that 2011 video is pretty drat bad. Not jut the slowdown and the lack of energy but it's pretty sloppy and the vocals and harmonies are hit-and-miss at best. Steve Howe is still fun to watch, though...he looks like The Mad Scientist Of Prog. The keyboardist (Wakeman Jr., I guess?) is pretty good. It was their worst tour yet, I think. Hopefully, it was a wake-up call for them and they've been practicing more and will be able pull it together for that 3 album tour, but I'm not holding my breath. Still, from the sounds of it, Jon Davison sounds much better than Benoit David, and overall they sounded much better in 2012 than they did in 2011. But they haven't attempted CTTE since 2011, and I'd rather they not attempt it at all if they can't pull it off. Benoit David is a good singer, but he didn't have the stamina to sing like Jon Anderson for a sustained tour. Anderson's voice has deteriorated with age too, but his voice is better trained and better suited for this type of music (especially since he wrote most of the vocal parts). He also has a charisma that these younger imitators don't have. Oliver Wakeman is great, it's obvious he has some of his father's talents, but he doesn't have the charisma either. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 01:50
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Iucounu posted:As a huge Yes fan, I like to pretend they broke up after the 2004 tour. This thread has gotten me listening to a lot of their 2012 youtube videos. A lot of it is quite good, some of it great even, definitely much better than their 2011 stuff. I might just check them out next year after all. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 02:48
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Mithra6 posted:I'm kind of funny with the oldies. I think a lot of these bands had their heyday and seeing them now is just depressing. Even if they can still play their music it still isn't the same. I don't mind a bit of nostalgia, as long as they can still put on a great show. At least Yes is still trying to do this. They had a new album out last year that wasn't half bad and they've been playing a significant chunk of it in their shows. King Crimson hasn't had an album in almost 10 years, and I doubt there will be another since Fripp announced his retirement. But yes, I agree, King Crimson was more consistent with the quality of their output and never had nearly as bad a year as Yes did in 2011.
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Dec 28, 2012 03:45
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I wasn't aware of this. Although, from the look of it, I'm not sure Fripp was ready to call this a King Crimson album proper, but one of the projeKcts, which can be thought of as KC albums if one chooses to. How is it? Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 23:25
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iamathousandapples posted:Reminds me of the better part of Islands. I still haven't listened to a lot of King Crimson's late work so I wasn't really sure what I was getting into. It's a pretty good album, but from what I've heard about Power To Believe I'm led to think that this is far from that. Listening to the title track on youtube. It's pleasant sounding, but so far not very interesting. I wouldn't compare it to Islands though. There was kind of an acid trippy weird undercurrent throughout that album. In fact, all of their albums had a deeply unsettling undercurrent running through them. This song doesn't have that, but I'll have to hear the rest of the album to judge it correctly.
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Dec 28, 2012 23:54
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This might be the creepiest unboxing video I've ever seen. It's from some weird looking dude that does prog reviews, this time it's an unboxing of Pink Floyd's The Wall Immersion Box set. Honestly he actually seems like a pretty cool guy, and his videos are entertaining, for the most part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOtZsYdhPKw
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Jan 17, 2013 05:06
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Listened to Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited II for the first time today. It's very good. Much better than the first one, in fact I might like these versions of some of these songs better than the originals (heresy, I know). It's cool to hear Mikael Akerfeldt, the guy from Opeth singing Supper's Ready. Steve Wilson is also on the album. That guy is all over the place these days.
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Jan 23, 2013 11:45
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Seventh Arrow posted:I was quite interested to find out that Christian prog rock is actually A Thing. Being a Christian myself I like to have at least some kind of sanctified music in my library but although my wife loves Hillsong, Casting Crowns, etc., I just find the stuff so boring. I picked up Neal Morse's "Sola Scriptura" album and it was a really great listen, lots of interesting ideas pop up throughout, it never gets boring. Also, as it turns out, no he's not related to guitarist Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple), although they did play on an album together. Clockwork Angels is better. In fact, I would go as far to say it's their best album since Grace Under Pressure, maybe even better. As for Christian Prog bands, Genesis was arguably the first. Their early stuff has a lot of religious subtext (their first album often being categorized under religious music), although they danced a little too much with the devil to be accepted by the more conservative Christian rock community.
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Jan 24, 2013 07:38
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Seventh Arrow posted:I actually picked up the Flying Colors album today and it's really good. Lots of strong tunes on that one. I tend to like anything with the other Morse (Steve) on it, though. As you can probably tell by my username, I'm a huge Genesis fan, so it's probably no surprise that I'd recommend you check them all out (except for Calling All Stations, you can safely skip that boring dreck). Having said that, I'm going to have to come to the defense of Genesis's debut album "From Genesis to Revelation", because it undeservedly gets a bad rap among prog fans. "From Genesis to Revelation" has a charm to it that few other albums have. It's a concept album, believe it or not, one of the first that attempts to tell a narrative story of sorts (basically they attempt to sum up the bible in one LP). They were probably heavily influenced by Moody Blues "Days of Future Past" (1967), which is an excellent album, and probably the first "true" prog rock concept album. But I would say they sounded more like early Beegees than the Moody Blues. Banks hadn't bought his mellotron from Robert Fripp yet, and the mellotron was such a big part of The Moody Blues' sound. It was recorded in late 1967 and early 1968, and it definitely has that distinctive 60s baroque britpop sound. If you don't like that sound, you'll probably not like this album. It definitely makes it sound dated, and probably sounded dated even when it was released in 1969. Jonathan King was likely responsible for that, as he wanted to to turn them into boy band (they were still in high school after all). You'll hear lots of added strings, which sound pleasant, but definitely takes away any edginess the band may have wanted the record to have. There's a sweet innocence to the album, and it's obvious from hearing it that the musicians are young and inexperienced. But they are talented nonetheless, and even from this early period you can tell that they were gifted songwriters. All of the songs are catchy, I find myself humming them long after listening them. "One Day" in particular is a guilty pleasure of mine. But it's not all happy and innocent, there is a hint of something darker to their music, similar to King Crimson on their softer tracks, there's still always something unsettling. Songs like "The Conqueror" illustrate that, Gabriel at least, had a dark side, one that he wouldn't fully reveal until The Musical Box. It's a good album. I wouldn't call it great, but it's not bad at all. quote:
I agree that Visions of Angels, though a good song, is probably the weakest on the album, but White Mountain is my favorite song on that album. How many songs are written about a wolf fighting his way to the top of the pack? It's one of the only tracks from this album that they played live after Gabriel left. Stagnation is another awesome song from the album. I like to think of Trespass as a reverse "In the Court of the Crimson King". It's mostly a quiet and pleasant album, with one track that rocks harder than anything else heard at the time. Only, King Crimson put Schizoid Man up front, while Genesis put The Knife at the end. You can tell how influenced they were by King Crimson. Genesis was probably a good indication of KC might have sounded like if that first lineup stayed together. When Tony Banks bought KC's mellotron, Genesis inherited more than KC's keyboard. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Feb 27, 2013 |
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Jan 26, 2013 12:35
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Just discovered this Yes performs Watcher of the Skies with Peter Gabriel in 1970: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwYw0Lci3XU Here's the story behind it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EJePFf9xgg Made me laugh. Honestly it was a great idea for this band, got them some instant exposure as well as good fun pranking youtube commenters.
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Jan 30, 2013 12:23
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Speaking of Jonathan King (going a little off topic here but I can't resist), I just found out he was in jail for diddling teenage boys in the 80s, but has since been released on parole, still claiming innocence. He even made a musical/documentary about it called Vile Pervert: http://www.vilepervert.com/ I haven't had a reaction like this since I listened to Macabre's Jeffery Dahmer Murder Musical. His musical style hasn't changed at all in 50 years. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Feb 2, 2013 |
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Feb 2, 2013 16:15
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Iucounu posted:Yeah CTTE is a lot more focused and cohesive than Fragile. I like to think of Fragile as a 4 track EP with a few solo bonus tracks mixed in. I listen to just those main band tracks 90% of the time. I like it all except for Cans and Brahms. But even that I don't feel the need to skip, it's short and pleasant enough, if not a bit cheesy. Five Per Cent For Nothing is 30 seconds of jazz fusion that goes nowhere, but it's still pretty cool. We Have Heaven is catchy as hell, and a fun little trip. The Fish is awesome, and I can't listen to Long Distance Runaround without it. But the best solo track is, by far, Mood For a Day. When I first started listening to Yes, it was my favorite song.
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Feb 17, 2013 08:29
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I'm listening to a Jethro Tull Bootleg called "Flute-opia". It's from 6-4-1972 in Toronto in which they play the entire Thick As A Brick in their first set. What an incredible performance. The song is actually extended to 68 minutes and there are a lot of Monty Pythonesque theatrics going on throughout. It's a real shame that no decent soundboard recordings are available for this tour. This was JT at their best, I think. The band was tight hell, had a lot of energy, and Ian still had his voice. I was also looking for video from this tour, but only found this on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnbeI2EZfPM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbt-pmETcWA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLMTqCb4qDU&feature=email http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd4p3Zij09o Ian's touring the complete song now (as well as the sequel), and I hear the show's great, and they added more theatrics. I missed them when they came around my way, but hopefully this time they'll release a decent recording and a DVD. It's just too bad because Ian's voice isn't what it used to be so it won't be the same. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 11:04 on Feb 24, 2013 |
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Feb 24, 2013 10:57
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Here's an album I recorded with a friend of mine several years ago, just released now though. I would consider it progressive rock, with a lot of influences from Nine Inch Nails, Tool, A Perfect Circle, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, and Tori Amos. It took a long time to perfect, but I think it came out great. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/for-aoede/id602761798
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Feb 24, 2013 21:39
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david puddy posted:I just bought a copy of Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull (with the newspaper completely untouched and undamaged Check out A Passion Play too (another one song album). Listening to the bootlegs from that now. Great stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=445HDZlQ5p0&list=PLE1111F1E0FF1A721&index=127
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Mar 3, 2013 09:28
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) and I am enjoying it a lot more than Aqualung so far.
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Thirding Steve Howe as one of the best guitarists out there. Definitely one of my biggest influences. As far as them playing 80% more slowly than they used to on this upcoming tour, that may be the case, but I wouldn't be too sure. I've seen Yes three times. Once in 2000 for the Masterworks tour, second in 2001 for the Symphonic tour, and last in 2004 for the Wakeman reunion tour. The second show was probably my favorite. I really liked the way the orchestral arrangements worked with songs like Gates of Delirium and Ritual. The first and last were great shows too, but even by then the slow down on the intro to Close to the Edge was noticeable. There was also a bit of a slowdown, albeit less noticeable, in the fast sections of Heart of the Sunrise. The slowdown worked in the symphonic concert. But in the concerts where it was just the five of them, it definitely lacked energy. I don't think any of the other songs were slowed down at all, if they were it wasn't noticeable to me. But the intro to Close to the Edge has definitely lost the ferocious energy it had in the 70s. 2004 definitely had less energy than the the other two shows. I'm not sure if it was because the guys were just getting old and tired of the constant touring, or they just hadn't practiced as much. Probably a combination those things. I don't think the actual tempo was slowed down much if at all though. They seemed to match the tempo of the records at least, except for the intro to Close to the Edge. But Yes, in the seventies, was always much more energetic live than they were on the studio albums. That is no longer the case. In the concerts I saw, they tended to stick pretty close to the studio albums, which is fine, but I always preferred the heavier live sound they had in the 70s. Just listen to Yessongs, Yesshows, or the King Biscuit Flower Hour 1974 recording for a taste of how good they used to be live. In the shows I've seen Jon Anderson could still hit all the notes and they didn't have to drop any keys, but his voice had definitely grown a little more strained and shrill since the 80s. He still sounded great for the most part though, but not as pleasant as he used to sound. I always wondered why their new songs tended to have so much more vocal parts than the older ones. The long instrumental sections of their 70s songs allowed Anderson to rest his voice, and it also provided some awesome jams. But even on their newer "prog rock epics" of the 90s and 2000s (ie. That That Is, In the Presence Of, Homeworld), Anderson's vocal parts seemed much more frequent. I always wished they'd give his voice more of a rest, since his higher notes had definitely become more shrill in the later years, and wasn't as pleasant to listen to on a frequent basis. In 2004 you could tell the frequent shows were starting to take their toll out on his voice, and I didn't blame him for bowing out for a few years. I was quite surprised, and somewhat troubled, that they replaced him altogether. This seemed like a bit of a dick move. I think he went along with it at first, because it was understood to be a temporary measure, but now I think it's permanent, and Jon Anderson doesn't seem very happy about it. I don't blame him. They screwed him over, which is one of the reasons I refused to see them since then. The album, Far From Here, is pretty good and Benoit David sounds pretty good on it. But I've seen some youtube videos of them performing with Benoit David in 2011 that were simply awful. Everything seemed slowed down, there was little to no energy, and the vocals were weak. 2011 was definitely a bad year for them live. But I've also seen some youtube videos of them performing with Jon Davison in 2012 that were quite good, some great even. Davison is a much better singer, and the band seemed to have regained some of their energy. I think 2011 was a bit of a wake up call for them, forcing them to spend more time practicing and polishing their set. They don't have the same ferocious energy they had in the 70s, but they at least are able to match the tempo and energy levels of the studio recordings again, and in some cases surpassing it. They sounded quite similar to how they sounded in 2000 during the masterworks tour. I am considering checking out Yes this year as well, since the albums they're touring are some of my favorites as well. I'm not expecting the intro to close to the edge to be as fast as they used to play it, but I'm expecting them to at least match what they were able to do in the studio on everything else. I think they can still put on a show worth seeing. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 10:15 on Mar 18, 2013 |
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Mar 12, 2013 18:22
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Rollersnake posted:And speaking of Yes guitarists, Peter Banks died today. drat that's sad. He's the first Yes casualty, I think. Have any other former Yes members died? He's another one that screwed over by Yes, the first one to get fired from the band, in fact (first casualty in a different way). I think them firing him was one of the reasons Bill Bruford later left. He was good friends with him, and I've heard him say in interviews that when they decided to fire him he felt like a lot of the comradery in the band was lost. They got a better guitarist, and likely would not have not have been successful had it not been for what Steve Howe brought to the table, but still, it was a bit of a dick move, and the band felt less like a band of brothers and more like a cutthroat business arrangement after he was fired. Peter Banks was a great guitarist at time where there were too many other great guitarists. That's why Ian Anderson picked up the flute. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Mar 12, 2013 |
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Mar 12, 2013 19:20
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Octy posted:I'm weirdly selective when it comes to music. I liked the occasional song or two from a lot of the bands I listed but not the albums as a whole, which is pretty important for me. I guess it's just something about the combination of notes or whatever that rubbed me the wrong way. It's definitely been a while since I tried the bands on the list so I might go through them again (except Pink Floyd - damned if I'm listening to them an umpteenth time :P ). But thanks for those suggestions. I thought I hadn't heard of the Rock In Opposition movement, although I'm just now realising I never clicked on the RIO/Avant-Prog link on PA. Just curious, how much of a chance did you give the bands on your dislike list? Sometimes prog takes a little time to "get" if you know what I mean. For example, I discovered Genesis because I was a fan of Yes and people recommended them to me. I really didn't like them all that much at all at first. Still, I was interested enough to listen more closely (and read the lyrics). I had to listen to Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot and Selling England By The Pound like this before I really got them. Now they're my favorite. I went through a similar process with Van Der Graaf Generator and Gentle Giant. Jethro Tull took a little bit to warm to as well, but when my aunt gave me her Thick as a Brick LP (with the newspaper style sleeve) and I read the lyrics as I listened, I pretty much fell in love with them as well. Some bands, like Pink Floyd, Strawbs, Traffic, Renaissance, ELP, Yes and Phish, I liked right away, but a lot of prog rock bands are a little more challenging, but often more rewarding. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Mar 19, 2013 |
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Mar 19, 2013 20:26
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Octy posted:I listened to most of them two or three times over a few years, making sure to try most if not all their albums. I was determined to like Pink Floyd because I guess they're the 'cool' prog band when you're a teenager but it didn't do anything for me. It's a lot more difficult for me to get into new bands these days compared to when I was a kid. I guess I'm just not as impressionable. The first cds I bought between the ages of 9 and 21 still tend to be my favorites. All of the ones I listed were from that period of my life. I have gotten into new stuff since then, but don't get into them as deeply as I used to. Part of the issue is that I have less time to just sit and listen to music. There are more choices as well. It's rare that I listen to a new album more than once these days, even if I do like it. I'm not sure if I would have gotten into PF if I had just discovered it now. It's hard to imagine that I would not have, as I still love to listen to them, but I can see how the angst of Roger Waters' lyrics can be a little much.
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Mar 20, 2013 04:32
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I divide Genesis up into two halves, and no, it's not Gabriel era vs. Collins era. The dividing line for me (subtle reference if anyone caught it) is when Hackett left the band in 1977. Everything up to that point was pure Progressive Rock (with the exception of maybe their first album which was basically Baroque Pop with some proto prog mixed in). Most of it was of the symphonic brand, but you also had some Gothic, Ambient, Folk, Metal, Jam Rock, Jazz and World Music moments. Everything after that point is a mixture of prog rock and 80s pop with a sprinkling of some Jam rock, World Music, Jazz and Metal (but very safe and watered down in comparison to their earlier forays experimenting with those styles). They were pretty much the definition of neo-prog in the early 80s and kind of set the standard for that neo progressive pop sound that was later adopted by their peers. Just listen to other prog rock bands in the 80s, they all had similar sounds. For example Asia, 80s and 90s Yes, 80s and 90s Pink Floyd, and even 80s King Crimson all had similar neo progressive pop influences similar to Genesis (King Crimson went in a more aggressive Metal direction in the 90s but definitely were neo prog in the 80s). A lot of that 80s style pop influence came from non-prog rock bands and more from new wave and post-disco pop acts like The Talking Heads, Michael Jackson and Prince. But Genesis was the first progressive rock band to really have success with that neo prog/80s pop sound. In fact they were much more successful in the 80s than they were in the 70s, so they often get labeled as sellouts. But most of their prog rock peers also adopted a similar neo-progressive/80s pop sound in an attempt to evolve with the times. They just weren't as successful as Genesis. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Apr 2, 2013 |
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Apr 2, 2013 03:56
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