Prog Superthread

black_frosch

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=76329884

Mushy

So Porcupine Tree released audio of their first ever live song as a live band today. Voyage 34 in Wycombe, nearly 20 years ago. Oh so very tight sounding. Its on sound cloud, I'm on mobile but will try get a link.

http://soundcloud.com/steven-wilson/porcupine-tree-voyage-34-nags

RayCon

Mushy wrote: »

Yeah but I don't think they would have got the same size crowd as last time. Hopefully on the next touring cycle, as it will definitely be overdue then.

Im not sure we'll see Rush tour Europe again ... maybe festivals ... I was at their Berlin show in June and there were quite a few seats unsold ... a mate was at Manchester and reported the same.

Mushy

RayCon wrote: »

Im not sure we'll see Rush tour Europe again ... maybe festivals ... I was at their Berlin show in June and there were quite a few seats unsold ... a mate was at Manchester and reported the same.

I think they will, bar retirement. It may just take a bit longer. They seem to play the same venues in the same cities, so that will have an effect.

Tis similar to DT.

Delphi91

Was looking at the new version of iTunes recently and it does streaming radio.

Some good prog stations available on there.....

steveone

Camel, Music inspired by the snow goose..., and thick as a brick (pt1)- jethro tull..
if this is prog rock...and not sumat else.....

rainbow kirby

Any suggestions on how to convince my OH to go see Dream Theater at Wembley Arena with me for Valentines? :pac:

GLaDOS

Well you could pull the oul "I thought you loved me..." trick.

Failing that, I have access to chloroform.

Passenger

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Any suggestions on how to convince my OH to go see Dream Theater at Wembley Arena with me for Valentines? :pac:

Anybody who needs to be convinced to like DT aren't worth your time. You need to break up with them asap. It's the only logical option.

Or chloroform as ScienceNerd suggested.

the incredible pudding

Passenger wrote: »

In the Court of the Crimson King is the definitive King Crimson album.

Definitive? Can't say i agree with that, given that Crimson are really 3+ different bands depending how you count them, each with a very different style (the band didn't have the same personnel for two albums in a row until Beat, which was their 9th album), with only one guy (the great guitarist Robert Fripp) being there throughout.
They've 3 main periods (or at least most celebrated anyway) -

The first (psychedelic folky prog), where as mentioned In the Court of the Crimson King is probably the best album. Pretty much the whole band changed album to album here and most the albums here are inconsistent bar the aforementioned one, though there are good tracks to be found on each.

The heavier early-mid 70s period where they get Bruford and co. in.
Most accessible album there is probably Red (good introduction to Crimson in general), though my favourite album is Larks' Tongues in Aspic; which is very dark and indulgent (as all good prog should is ).

Then in the 80s they change personnel again and take in a huge talking heads influence due largely to, well the 80s, and new guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew, who kind of started taking over the group in a way while he was playing with them. They made about 6 albums or so, with a good bit of time between most of them.

Think i read somewhere recently that Fripp is reforming them as a 7 piece for a new album for next year..

TLDR -
Crimson evolved very differently than most bands, 3 main eras.
Check out Red, In the Court of the Crimson King and Discipline to get a good introduction to them.

KyussBishop

Progressive rock, mainly Pink Floyd, have been some of the few types of albums to grow on me enough, that I still listen to them regularly almost a decade later without them losing any of their effect.

Recently found Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt.2; thought it good but nothing special, but now it's doing that thing all of the best albums I've heard do (particularly progressive rock/metal), and is slowly growing into a better and better album on each listen Really love when I find music/groups good enough to do this.

PickledLime

KyussBishop wrote: »

Progressive rock, mainly Pink Floyd, have been some of the few types of albums to grow on me enough, that I still listen to them regularly almost a decade later without them losing any of their effect.

Recently found Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt.2; thought it good but nothing special, but now it's doing that thing all of the best albums I've heard do (particularly progressive rock/metal), and is slowly growing into a better and better album on each listen Really love when I find music/groups good enough to do this.

Get "Images & Words" and "Awake", they both blow "Metropolis" away (IMO, of course!). Honorary mention to "A Change Of Seasons", it dates from when they could keep your attention for 20 minutes.

Also, if Dream Theatre float your boat, you need everything by Rush from "2112" to "Moving Pictures" (you should have them anyway :P) as they were a massive influence.

Richy06

PickledLime wrote: »

Get "Images & Words" and "Awake", they both blow "Metropolis" away (IMO, of course!). Honorary mention to "A Change Of Seasons", it dates from when they could keep your attention for 20 minutes.

Also, if Dream Theatre float your boat, you need everything by Rush from "2112" to "Moving Pictures" (you should have them anyway :P) as they were a massive influence.

I'd say start with Fly By Night and go from there but don't dwell on Caress Of Steel too much.....
Hemisphere's is the mothafackin' blueprint. Rush out-Rush'd themselves on that one.

PickledLime

FBN kinda fails a bit in its second half for me, agree about Caress Of Steel though, possibly my least favourite of theirs (it does have Bastille Day at least!).

I'm having a Rush morning, just started with A Farewell To Kings

KyussBishop

PickledLime wrote: »

Get "Images & Words" and "Awake", they both blow "Metropolis" away (IMO, of course!). Honorary mention to "A Change Of Seasons", it dates from when they could keep your attention for 20 minutes.

Also, if Dream Theatre float your boat, you need everything by Rush from "2112" to "Moving Pictures" (you should have them anyway :P) as they were a massive influence.

Indeed, I've got the lot of those minus the 'Awake' album - will check that out (and the other albums mentioned) I actually found Images and Words hard to get into (beyond Pull Me Under/Take The Time), but will start giving the full album a proper listen now.

PickledLime

KyussBishop wrote: »

Indeed, I've got the lot of those minus the 'Awake' album - will check that out (and the other albums mentioned) I actually found Images and Words hard to get into (beyond Pull Me Under/Take The Time), but will start giving the full album a proper listen now.

Yeah, I had trouble with Images & Words originally too. If Pull Me Under and Take The Time float your boat, the most similar song to them on it is Metropolis Pt. 1.

Ah, Awake. It is (again, all IMO!) hands down the best thing DT have ever recorded. They rapidly went downhill for me after Kevin Moore (the unsung hero of DT) left, and Awake was the last thing they did with him. It was also before LaBrie ruined his vocal chords. Personal highlights from it are prog masterpiece Scarred, instrumental workout Erotomania and the more digestible Caught In A Web.

Mushy

Awake is an absolute stomper of an album, I easily see it as their best work by now. Don't think theres a bad song per sé on it, although Space Dyed Vest is somewhat odd. Wouldn't mark the album down on it, 10/10 for me!

PickledLime

Yeah absolutely a 10/10 album!

Space-Dyed Vest is great for me because of how atypical it is of their other material, but it still has great hooks. That also sums up Kevin Moore's position in the band for me perfectly; Rudess is a beast of a keyboard player, but he just can't write good songs.

GLaDOS

Space Dye Vest is an amazing song, probably one of my favourite from DT.

Agree with the Kevin Moore love in. Rudess is technically brilliant, but his music has no soul imo.

Passenger

Space Dye Vest is easily one of my favourite DT songs and it's one of the few DT songs that carries some pathos as Moore wrote it after he broke up with his girlfriend. Oh and you should watch this flawlessly performed cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C6zbACGGU4

As for Rudess, I've said it here many times before and it echoes ScienceNerd's post.

PickledLime

Huzzah, it's great to find some DT fans who agree on Moore. Rudess' playing is so horribly contrived and superfluous at times that it goes beyond adding nothing to actually detracting to what's going on (heck, that breakdown about half way through "The Dark Eternal Night" is downright embarrassing).

Have ye heard any of Chroma Key or O.S.I.? So much better than a lot of DT's output. (incidentally, The Winery Dogs' s/t is, in terms of quality, leagues ahead of what DT are doing these days, but I'll ease off on the bashing for now!).

Edit - also, that cover of SDV, fantastic!

Mushy

OSI are a fantastic band, Radiolounge being a favourite song.

Mushy

I really hope more b-sides come out from this album:


https://soundcloud.com/kscopemusic/steven-wilson-the-birthday

hidinginthebush

I've been getting into prog the last few years, I must say though, my favourite band that fits the tag aren't one of the oldies, only recently broke up, but The Mars Volta are absolutely incredible. They have a latin / punk twist to their style, but definitely one of the most unique and exciting bands in the last decade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqWqedEaD0I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1_1VgDVmQo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl6333L1osI

Richy06

The Mars Volta were immense. Every album sounded different from the last and they never lost anything for it. Very much a jam band feel to some of their stuff. Like a modern day Yes crossed with some of the more experimental King Crimson releases yet through the prism of their own mind's and styles. Very much a band that, album by album, you need to let sink in for a while and don't hop around between releases to get the full enjoyment out of them. Never sacrifice those infectious grooves when they go full on heavy, either, which a lot of this sort of stuff can fall into.

Somnus

The new Ayreon album is streaming here. I've only give it one listen so far, but really enjoyed it.

I just love Arjen's style. Always a great sense of melody that just gets me smiling listening to his stuff!

BlaasForRafa

Dr.Poca wrote: »

I just love Arjen's style. Always a great sense of melody that just gets me smiling listening to his stuff!

Gotta say I'm more into his Star One project than his Ayreon stuff (although I did love Into the Electric Castle). Space Metal in particular was excellent from start to finish.

The fact that the Star One project has vocals by Russell "Symphony X" Allen and Damian "Threshold" Wilson is another bonus. If Dream Theater had either of those men instead of Labrie on vocals it'd be a drastic improvement.

Speaking of Threshold, they are another criminally underrated band imo, lots of great songs and great playing although they probably aren't the flashest band around. This is from their period with another great vocalist, the late Andrew "Mac" McDermott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTrCzYBQJu0

Passenger

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Gotta say I'm more into his Star One project than his Ayreon stuff (although I did love Into the Electric Castle). Space Metal in particular was excellent from start to finish.

The fact that the Star One project has vocals by Russell "Symphony X" Allen and Damian "Threshold" Wilson is another bonus. If Dream Theater had either of those men instead of Labrie on vocals it'd be a drastic improvement.

Speaking of Threshold, they are another criminally underrated band imo, lots of great songs and great playing although they probably aren't the flashest band around. This is from their period with another great vocalist, the late Andrew "Mac" McDermott

Got The Theory of Everything last week and going to give it a listen in the next few days and I'll be checking out his Star One project too now that you've mentioned it. It's certainly an impressive studio lineup.

As for Threshold. They are a fantastic Power/Prog Metal band. Mac's lyrics and vocals always had a pathos about them. Very sad that he passed away. Subsurface might be my favourite album of theirs but was recorded after that live performance you posted.

hidinginthebush

Hope bringing up old threads isn't against the rules, but I've recently been giving Genesis a whirl. They are bloody brilliant! I always had them pegged as the ultimate dad rock band, but the Nursery Cryme album is incredible!

I came across it on that Sky Arts show about metal, they had an episode on Prog, and it was really interesting to see the modern bands mentioned. They were pretty big on Mastodon, I would never have thought they were a Prog band. Going to try to get into them over the coming weeks, once my honeymoon period with Genesis wears off!

Also, I don't think Jethro Tull have been mentioned in this thread? Now there's a great band! I love how Thick As a Brick was written to be the almost anti-prog record, with them doing it to lampoon the long, full story albums of ELP, Yes, and Genesis, but ended up actually making a brilliant album.

bnt

i'm reading about a new Prog Supergroup planning to tour this year, so I thought I should bring back the Prog Superthread. ARW will consist of Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, and others TBC. Between R and W, I think we can expect way too many notes...