Do PA proggers have the right prog balance?

colorofmoney91 wrote: I like my progressive music to be absolutely stagnant.

^I get what you're saying, but it is still something that relies on personal opinion. Not fact.

A lot of people adore Tangerine Dream's Zeit. They think it is one of the most artistic and imaginative albums ever made, but calling it great from a compositional perspective is pretty absurd.
You mentioned Dark side of the Moon, and while I love the album myself, I think Ummagumma is a far better album. And yes I am also including the studio side, which incidentally is one of my faves.

How does one quantify music? Is Mozart a better musician than Stockhausen? How could you ever possibly find out?

Ahh snap Alex. Of course you are right. As a matter of fact, the majority is always right. Just because I happen to love eroding and improvisational music, does actually equate me being wrong and rather mad y'know.

ProgEpics wrote: Gentle giant and jethro tull are the most over-rated bands on here imo, They are an example of being overly complex with nothing else to offer. Prog is not complex instrumental sections that go on and on..prog is supposed to be emotional. Dark side of the moon is not even close to being complex technically but it has so much emotion and great melody and jazzy chord arranging..The great albums are straight to the point and dont noodle around for 15 minutes, you need substance..quality over quantity.

frippism wrote:   ProgEpics wrote: Gentle giant and jethro tull are the most over-rated bands on here imo, They are an example of being overly complex with nothing else to offer. Prog is not complex instrumental sections that go on and on..prog is supposed to be emotional. Dark side of the moon is not even close to being complex technically but it has so much emotion and great melody and jazzy chord arranging..The great albums are straight to the point and dont noodle around for 15 minutes, you need substance..quality over quantity. I don't like it when people use the word "should" in cases like these. Should? This is how it needs to be?? And what's noodling, and when is noodling and when is it improvising.  poaehrgpoahfgpoaifhvaefpogafdgpoaiuh

frippism wrote: Sometimes when I'm bored I like to skydive naked into a porcupine field. That is the only good answer you can get for such a silly statement, OP.

Evolver wrote: frippism wrote: Sometimes when I'm bored I like to skydive naked into a porcupine field. That is the only good answer you can get for such a silly statement, OP.   I declare this to be the winning post.

frippism wrote:   ProgEpics wrote: Gentle giant and jethro tull are the most over-rated bands on here imo, They are an example of being overly complex with nothing else to offer. Prog is not complex instrumental sections that go on and on..prog is supposed to be emotional. Dark side of the moon is not even close to being complex technically but it has so much emotion and great melody and jazzy chord arranging..The great albums are straight to the point and dont noodle around for 15 minutes, you need substance..quality over quantity. I don't like it when people use the word "should" in cases like these. Should? This is how it needs to be?? And what's noodling, and when is noodling and when is it improvising.  poaehrgpoahfgpoaifhvaefpogafdgpoaiuh

ProgEpicsFail... ;) Just kidding.  I do find the post odd.  I've felt that Gentle Giant is tight for a Prog band, doesn't go on and on (has brevity), and I certainly don't think complexity is all that is being offered.    I don't even think the music terribly complex -- complex for normal rock, or pop, but not that complex compared to academic music, and not compared to a lot of Prog.  Jethro Tull never seemed that complex to me. I guess you weren't referring to GG when you talked about noddling for 15 minutes as it is a band with relatively short for Prog music.

What is this about Prog being supposed to be emotional?  I've never heard or thought that.  Music generally evokes emotions in listeners, and that's the same with Prog, but I don't see why the music itself needs to contain emotion.

 I see Progressive Rock (i.e Prog) to an extent being about moving away from standard/ typical rock conventions, often by incorporating various styles of music, for instance jazz and classical into a  rock framework, but progressing away from typical rock expectations.  Jazz might often be considered noodly like Prog, well jazz, of course, influenced Prog.  Improvisation is a better term commonly for jazz.   A lot of complexity comes from the classical influence.  For me classical music, to use the general term, commonly evokes the strongest emotions.  To use the progressing away from standard rock conventions thinking (Prog is much more than that), Prog is not about progressing away from the intellectualism of rock music into a  more visceral form -- one does find the opposite commonly, so that's just a possible reason why I wouldn't think that progressive rock is supposed to be about emotions.  To me progressive rock can often be described well as unconventional rock, and appealing to the emotions is common with rock generally, as with other music, but being unconventional, it doesn't have to be about that, nor any of the ways I described Progressive Rock.

Anyway, I'm rambling and forgot my point when I got a phone call that interrupted my thought stream process  EpicLoganFail.

I appreciate prog rock that shows off their abilities, there are some times where im in the mood for more complex music rhythmically. In my opinion most prog bands don't write good hooks and do too much filler material. And I know GG does write short songs but its all complex in a rhythmic sense. I guess what im saying is odd time sigs and more rhythmically challenging music is seems to be most popular among progressive rock fans. I prefer a combination of both, to one side you have cheesy catchyness and to the other never ending instrumental sections that go nowhere. But you are right it is an opinion about what's good and whats not. I shouldn't have stated my opinion as fact.

Edited by ProgEpics - March 24 2012 at 15:49