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Because I'm an ornery contrarian, I'm also throwing ponies into the mix, just to cause some of you some cognitive dissonance.

You might think this could cause cognitive dissonance amongst prog rock fans, but rainbow unicorn ponies high pitched singing in odd metres? Well that's practically the textbook definition of the band Yes.
 
And thanks to Tulpa Girl Tulpa Girl I just spent the last hour watching all these PMVs of Rush songs (Tom Sawyer, Time Stand Still, Analogue Kid...er..Foal, etc.)

Glad I was already drunk!
 
You might think this could cause cognitive dissonance amongst prog rock fans, but rainbow unicorn ponies high pitched singing in odd metres? Well that's practically the textbook definition of the band Yes.

"Rainbow unicorn ponies singing high-pitched in odd metres" also sounds like a Jon Anderson lyric.

JG
 
Any one here heard of Cirrus Bay? A friend of mine just recommended them to me. I am quite intrigued as I am partial to prog featuring female vocalists. Here's a semi-random sample I found on Youtube.

Also, first prog thread post of 2020! This thread, like prog, will never die (unlike that punk music one... the less said the better).

 
I don't have much to contribute here, not a huge prog fan. But I remembered this story yesterday, and thought it would be appropriate for the thread.

 
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Anathema is a band that took me a really long time (at least a decade) to "get." In the last couple of months, they've just sort of clicked with me, though perhaps not for the conventional reasons I usually like prog bands. They're more emotional than cerebral, but somehow they've carved a niche in the prog scene. It's all the weirder that they started out as a death metal band and now wouldn't even pass as metal by most definitions, much less death metal.

They are sonically most similar to Porcupine Tree and Pineapple Thief these days, but with Roger Waters inspired male vocals, and female vocals that hint at Tori Amos.

Storm before the Calm:


Pulled Under at 2000 Metres A Second:


A Natural Disaster:


Untouchable, Pts 1 and 2:
 
I don't have much to contribute here, not a huge prog fan. But I remembered this story yesterday, and thought it would be appropriate for the thread.

If the "Daevid" = "teapot" bit is true, that's hilarious.
 
Personally I don't really hear what's so "prog" about Pink Floyd, but apparently they are considered to be so by some. From the post-Syd Barrett years I only have The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. The former has grown on me and the latter I liked the first time I heard it. I only have so much time to listen on YouTube to see what else they've done that was good. What LP do you gentlefolk think should I look into next?
 
Anathema is a band that took me a really long time (at least a decade) to "get." In the last couple of months, they've just sort of clicked with me, though perhaps not for the conventional reasons I usually like prog bands. They're more emotional than cerebral, but somehow they've carved a niche in the prog scene. It's all the weirder that they started out as a death metal band and now wouldn't even pass as metal by most definitions, much less death metal.

They are sonically most similar to Porcupine Tree and Pineapple Thief these days, but with Roger Waters inspired male vocals, and female vocals that hint at Tori Amos.

Storm before the Calm:


Pulled Under at 2000 Metres A Second:


A Natural Disaster:


Untouchable, Pts 1 and 2:



They're not really the only death metal band to veer into avant-garde/prog territory, either. Witness the evolution of the band Cynic:




[MEDIA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-fOpoLtj7U&list:tongue:LllslwYmpA8FhdFKe2Uf2XqO8ZcU855lD&index=8[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCwZIXymW1I[/MEDIA]

A similar, if somewhat less pronounced transformation can be observed in another band called Atheist:

[MEDIA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ6b4DrMz2g[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4mbeVHtzwE[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGj2bb2Om7I&list=RDK4mbeVHtzwE&index=5[/MEDIA]

etc.
 
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Personally I don't really hear what's so "prog" about Pink Floyd, but apparently they are considered to be so by some. From the post-Syd Barrett years I only have The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. The former has grown on me and the latter I liked the first time I heard it. I only have so much time to listen on YouTube to see what else they've done that was good. What LP do you gentlefolk think should I look into next?

Meddle is my favourite post-Syd Floyd record.



I also like the soundtracks they did for Obscured by Clouds, More and the album Atom Heart Mother.





 
Seconding Obscured By Clouds, it's perhaps my favorite Floyd album.

The Final Cut is a somewhat overlooked record. I like it a lot.

Not a Floyd record (though Waters did write it for the band originally), but Roger Waters' The Pros And Cons Of Hitch-Hiking is great. Not everyone thinks so, so YMMV. But, it's probably the only rock n' roll record ever to feature Jack Palance, so there's that. Oh, and Clapton plays all over it.
 
They're not really the only death metal band to veer into avant-garde/prog territory, either. Witness the evolution of the band Cynic:

True, and I'm familiar with Cynic. RIP, Sean Reinert. :sad:

Of all the bands I can think of that made that leap, though, Anathema has the least retention of their extreme metal past. They're no longer even a metal band. Hell, sometimes they don't even seem "heavy" enough to be a rock band.
 
Personally I don't really hear what's so "prog" about Pink Floyd, but apparently they are considered to be so by some. From the post-Syd Barrett years I only have The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. The former has grown on me and the latter I liked the first time I heard it. I only have so much time to listen on YouTube to see what else they've done that was good. What LP do you gentlefolk think should I look into next?

I'd go with "Animals" as their most overtly prog rock album. It's a huge influence on modern progressive rock, and I have my doubts that the Floyd would be so frequently cited as a prog band if that album did not exist.

Secondly, the oft reviled "Division Bell" by the post-Waters incarnation of the band is also a fully realised prog rock album. Right down to Gilmour ripping off Marillion and Steve Hackett guitar parts. In the case of the former, I'm well aware of the irony.
 
I'd go with "Animals" as their most overtly prog rock album.

I like "Animals", or perhaps more specifically the track "Dogs". The lyrics are overwrought even by Floyd standards, but there is something very pleasing how the song is structured and the guitar solo in the middle, while simple, is so very dramatic. The rest of the album is OK too, but perhaps lacking the creative spark found in previous LPs.

Still, the iconic flying pig balloons from Animals have stuck in popular consciousness even more than the music.

 
I continue exploring Glass Hammer's extensive backcatalog. I picked up Lex Rex the other day. It's meant to be a full on prog concept album. I've only listened through it a couple of time so I don't really have an opinion on it yet. I shall report back.
 
I wonder if the English recording industry didn't have something to do with the length of tracks on the albums, perhaps more tolerant of experimentation. Many of the American psychedelic era bands were known for lengthy solos live but other than Iron Butterfly's 17 minute In-a-goda-da-vida (even this much shortened from some of their live performances :shock: ) most of the albums from these bands contain tracks of fairly standard length.

John Cleese mentions in one of the Monty Python documentaries that in the late 1960s execs at the BBC had the good sense to let the artists perform, and the executives went off to the pub and this is what allowed them to do what they did. Perhaps the English music executives of this time had the same mindset. American labels have long been known to meddle in an attempt to maximize what they see as commercially viable.

One of the very first prog albums, Days Of Future Passed by The Moody Blues, came about because the record company was going to start selling hi-fi stereos and they wanted an album recorded in hi-fi stereo. At the time, hi-fi was reserved for classical and jazz -what passed for stereo in rock music was usually Ringo in the left speaker and John, Paul & George in the right. The album was a dud at first in the UK, but the head of the American branch jumped at the album because FM radio in cars was just starting up and an album in stereo was perfect for the new format.

The other source of luck was a DJ in Seattle who realized that if he played the album version of Nights In White Satin, complete with the poem and extended suite at the end, he had enough time to sneak out, do several thorough bong hits, and be back in time to spin the next record. So the song was played every night, caught on and eventually the whole album was a huge hit (it hit #2 on the US charts five years after its first release).

After that, the head of the record company let the band do whatever they wanted in whatever studio they wanted.
 
Either two reviewers attempted similar nasty humor or you left out half the review; the one I recall was "TTL SHT." So juvenile. It's funny for about a second and then you wonder if the guy even listened to the record or just decided "I don't like it because of who made it." Either way it's a lazy cop-out and he didn't so his job. If you don't think an album is any good, lay out your case, tell me about its merits and flaws and so on. No professional music magazine should have ever let that see print, just like with the Yes review I mentioned; it's the kind of thing you show your colleagues as a joke and then write your real review. Anyway...laziness is one of my biggest pet peeves, thus the rant. I don't care if you don't like a record--do your friggin' job.

I've never heard GTR, just for the record, so maybe it is TTL SHT...or maybe not.
You want prog rock? THIS is Prog Rock.

Most of Ram's Horn Dungeon was created to this album.



Speaking of shitty reviews, one critic at Rolling Stone (where having shit taste in music is a job requirement) threatened to commit suicide if Uriah Heep ever made it big. They were quite successful, but the reviewer didn't follow through.
 
I'm going to a Yes/Asia/John Lodge/ELP Legacy concert tonight. As the last two prog rock concerts I went to (Riverside, and Haken/Leprous/Bent Knee) all attracted much younger crowds, it will be nice to be surrounded by people who make me feel young again. ;)

I'm unnaturally excited about seeing Asia, as I've never seen any version of Asia before. I've seen Yes numerous times in various configurations, and have seen both The Moody Blues and Carl Palmer before.

But I'm most excited to see Arthur Brown who will be singing with ELP Legacy on Karn Evil 9, Knife Edge, Lucky Man, and his own classic, Fire.



At the Cary show tonight, Alan played four and one-half songs. America, half of Gates of Delirium, Imagine, Roundabout and Starship Trooper.

I'm not a fan of Jon Anderson, and Drama is my favourite Yes album, so I've definitely never viewed Anderson as irreplacable. And though I am a Chris Squire fan, I'm satisfied with his replacement too. While I agree with those who think of Heaven & Earth as being pants, tonight's show was as good as any Yes lineup I've seen. And minus Banks, Horn, or Moraz, I think I've seen them all.

The real shocker for me is that Carl Palmer actually seems...younger than he did the last time I saw him two years ago. He did not seem winded after the ELP Legacy set this time (one more song than last time, with the addition of Fire), and did the whole of the Asia set to boot.

And Arthur Fucking Brown. O.M.G. of hellfire.

I saw this concert in Dallas and Carl Palmer stole the show twice. First with his own drum solo , then a shorter, faster-paced one with Asia. Usually a long drum or guitar solo is my cue to visit the restroom, get drinks, or both. Not Carl Palmer or Steve Howe.
 
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I continue exploring Glass Hammer's extensive backcatalog. I picked up Lex Rex the other day. It's meant to be a full on prog concept album. I've only listened through it a couple of time so I don't really have an opinion on it yet. I shall report back.

I've been listening to Lex Rex now for a couple weeks. I find it a mixed bag. The first half is rather good, but I lose interest come the second half. In fairness, given the nature of personal preferences, it's quite normal for an album to contain a mix of tracks one like and tracks one doesn't (that is why we have playlists). However as Lex Rex is very much a concept album, it is clearly intended to be listened from start to end as one musical experience. Other Glass Hammer concept albums like Valkyrie and Perilous do this really well and the albums do becone as whole greater than the sum of their parts. With Lex Rex I can see myself just pulling out the tracks I to add to my playlists and forgetting about the rest.

And there is the matter of the subtext. Regardless of whether I personally agree with the political or religious views being put forward or attacked, I don't like my rock and roll preachy. The way I see it, just because you can play a mean guitar does not make you any an authority on the big questions.

I was vaugley aware that Glass Hammer to a some extent a Christian band. I have no issue with that and in any event I tend to be pretty dense when it comes to lyrics so I can't say I really noticed it before. They fact that they are D&D players is a lot more evident from their lyrics (one of their most recent tracks is called "Roll for Initiative"). Lex Rex is clearly a Biblical story of sort, in Ben Hurr sort of way. I haven't made out the details but it involves a Roman legionnaire who discovers Christianity. I guess there is no real not to write a song about that and it's not necessarily preachy as such, but I still find it a bit of a turn off.
 
My second favourite King Crimson record (next to Lark's Tongue...) is Starless and Bible Black, which was recently featured in the psychedelic horror film Mandy btw.



When Slint first came out some punk rockers dismissed them as KC, it was intended as an insult by the Punk Gestapo but this track does sound like a punkier take on Lark's Tongue-era KC.

 
Oh and speaking of memorable use of prog rock in a film.



Great use of Yes' 'Heart of the Sunrise' here in the same film. NSFW and Spoiler if you haven't seen the film btw.

 
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What? When? Where? I hope I haven't missed too much
 
What? When? Where? I hope I haven't missed too much

Hopefully they archive it. It started with Magenta, who I know is a favourite of yours. Jordan Rudess is on as I type this.
 
Hopefully they archive it. It started with Magenta, who I know is a favourite of yours. Jordan Rudess is on as I type this.
Listening to Rudess now, it's amazing. The whole things is.
 
Ame Son were an avant-garde proggy French band, fans of Magma, Floyd at their most out-there and Krautrock should dig it.

 
Managed to catch up and listen the online concert from the start by simply dragging the Youtube scrollbar back all the way. I managed to catch the Magenta's Lizard King, which sounded a little rough compared to how polished some of other artists perfomances turned out. Disappointed that both Kansas and Glass Hammer just left voice messages, but still awesome show.

Also fun to read the comments in which some of the artists joined with the fans scrolling by. During Neal Morse's performance Mark Portnoy casually commented "Hey, the guy ain't half bad" or something that effect.
 
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