are porcupine tree overrated ?

not overrated, just good

Problem with using the word genius. By whose standards is one considered one and another not. Generally with artists it is after they are dead that they get the recognition. That's why I don't blame Steve Wilson for trying to make a buck out of an industry that is not exactly righteous across the boards in either recognising real talent or supporting artists that are trying to do something different and original in an excellent way.

One of the reasons why David Gilmour has been recognised by some people as a bit of a genius is because of the way he measures sound. Its not the amount of notes you put in a composition or even the speed that you can play them at that creates an excellent composition IMO, it is the ability of the artist to create a soundscape for the soul, including where to place the silences because it understands that world and knows how to speak its language. Artists are like listeners, they have either got it or they haven't.

i see a musical genius as someone that is not only is able to compose good music but also is able to compose something new and original and steven wilson fails at the last...

...atleast compared to The Mars Volta

Porcupine Tree? Very good and influential band

barbs wrote: maidenrulez wrote: i see a musical genius as someone that is not only is able to compose good music but also is able to compose something new and original and steven wilson fails at the last... ...atleast compared to The Mars Volta I think if we were to try and get a consensus on this site about who is a genius and who isn't that we would end up with every fanboy opinion including the eccentric ones.

Hardly... i think you must admit that Steven Wilson is hardly making anything as original as forexample Yes, Genesis,  Van Der Graaf or Gentle Giant where for their time?

[QUOTE=Tony R]

We should celebrate and
cherish bands like Porcupine Tree.They are the
"here and now".Bands like Genesis,Yes,Gentle
Giant et al are the past -the very distant past.

couldn't have put it better, mate!

maidenrulez wrote: barbs wrote: maidenrulez wrote: i see a musical genius as someone that is not only is able to compose good music but also is able to compose something new and original and steven wilson fails at the last... ...atleast compared to The Mars Volta I think if we were to try and get a consensus on this site about who is a genius and who isn't that we would end up with every fanboy opinion including the eccentric ones. Hardly... i think you must admit that Steven Wilson is hardly making anything as original as forexample Yes, Genesis,  Van Der Graaf or Gentle Giant where for their time?

The point is, I guess, what is genius. The Beatles. Some might wish to call some of the artists that have been touted as genius, opportunists. In the right place at the right time with the right connections and the ability, just like a good salesman to seize an opportunity. I do not doubt the musical ability of alot of the people mentioned but every true genius I have ever heard of worked primarily on their own. The world was busting its gut to hear the stuff that those guys were knocking out in the 60s and 70s, and good on them, many were excellent musos and they recognised opportunities and they took those and ran with them. They sold heaps of albums and made scaggs of money along the way. But genius. Beethoven was a genius. I also think Mozart was to although some, more highbrow musical intellectuals here will probably disagree with me about that because Mozarts compostitional structures were actually not as complex as some of the other masters. But to some, that was his genius, his ability to build on a simple chord structure and turn it  into something ethereal and novel.

Anyway, in order to finish on topic I suppose I should say that for pure musical enjoyment, I place listening to Porcupine Tree at the top of my list of artists. I don't particularly care if they are considered genius or not. Throughout their catalogue I find very little that is boring or of no enjoyment and many of their compositions are part of my regular listening along with Yes, Genesis, Opeth, King Crimson, DT, Orphaned Land etc.

Tony R wrote: maidenrulez wrote: the most ORIGINAL new bands today are bands like Fantomas, the mars volta, sleepytime gorilla museum and so on... You mean to say those Heavy Metal bands are actually original Prog Rock bands?

Haha i meant, as i am sure you realized that they stand for the most new and daring musical expression in terms of composing and experimentalism...And only Fantomas has some real metal influences...

The answer to the question is....

No.

 

Next question, please.

barbs wrote: Tony R wrote: maidenrulez wrote: the most ORIGINAL new bands today are bands like Fantomas, the mars volta, sleepytime gorilla museum and so on... You mean to say those Heavy Metal bands are actually original Prog Rock bands? Actually, shouldn't Sleepytime Gorilla Museum be given a genre on its own, like Shockorrorheartattak rock or Freakinscarypsycho rock. I sometimes wonder how the music I listen to would go down if I were to play it in a retirement village or a childcare centre. Now imagine playing Sleepytime fullbore at one of those places.

Yea listen to Fantomas-Delirum Cordia..that is too pretty disturbing