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octopus-4

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RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 12:37

I've never liked Genesis

Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half.
My poor home recorded stuff at https://yellingxoanon.bandcamp.com

CPicard

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 12:38

- Most of Genesis' stuff.
- Every Yes release.
- King Crimson and everything Fripp-related.
- Soft Machine and the whole Canterbury School.
- RIO, zeuhl, kraut-rock, avant-garde and all this socialist crap.
- ELP, overestimated virtuosos whose only interesting repertoire was their cover of classical music, butchered by drums and electronic keyboards.
- Rush, a band that I just don't understand.
- Prog-metal, a hideous thing in itself.

HosiannaMantra View Drop Down

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Joined: May 14 2016
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Posted: November 24 2016 at 12:46

micky wrote:

^ pfff... they stole that intro from PFM's Appena un Po' .. and trust me man... they owned it. No one does melody like Italians... no one does bad food and great beer like the English LOL

I listened to both songs million times, and I missed the link. OK, both start with Mellotron, but different melody. However, Genesis must've had PFM in mind while doing "Selling England by the Pound".

On topic:

Prog (& related) classics that never really clicked with me:

Rush - Somewhat OK band but not really my stuff.

Queen - The same.

Van der Graaf Generator - Their "unexpectingness" became very expecting and sound-alike after 3 albums, but that didn't stop them from 10+ minutes of noodling and trying to keep up with Peter Hammill's increasingly dramatic interpretations of increasingly hermetic texts. Some gems aside, I'd always choose SBB over VdGG if I'm in a mood for sinister eclectic prog.

David Bowie - OK, he had a couple of good albums that I suspect are more of Brian Eno's ("Heroes"), Robert Fripp's ("Scary Monsters"), and Donny McCaslin's ("Blackstar") brainchildren than Bowie's. Otherwise, he quite sucked at performing art rock and I don't think he really knew what to do with influences from Neu!, King Crimson, Pink Floyd etc. most of the time. Generally, his Rn'B albums work much better to me.

Alan Parsons Project & ELO - Never felt an urge to listen to them closely.

...and there are some more recent prog classics like Radiohead, Muse, The Mars Volta that simply don't work for me.

Edited by HosiannaMantra - November 24 2016 at 12:56

Barbu

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 12:49

Can't think of any, really.

Progosopher View Drop Down

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 14:02

I like Zappa best when he shuts up and plays his guitar, even if it is aimless noodling.

Foxtrot is my least favorite of the classic Genesis albums.

Anything by early Soft Machine - Elton Dean's sax sounds like a strangled goat. So does Any Mackay in the early years of Roxy. Even further, I don't think Roxy knew their instruments until their second album.

Radiohead is dull as dirt.

Most Prog Metal. At best, yeah, good stuff, at worst, technical claptrap with no soul or inspiration. I am looking at you, Symphony X, among others.

It is perfectly fine to do Pop as Pop, but don't pretend it is anything else.

The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"

souio

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 14:42

Progosopher wrote:

I like Zappa best when he shuts up and plays his guitar

I see what you did there!

EddieRUKiddingVarese View Drop Down

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Points: 1802

Posted: November 24 2016 at 15:36

Anything Moody Blues

"Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes"
and I need the knits, the double knits!

Magnum Vaeltaja View Drop Down

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 18:57

Individual albums:

Camel - The Snow Goose (the original, anyway; the 2013 re-recording is pretty good)
Genesis - The Lamb
Genesis - A Trick of the Tail
Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
Gentle Giant - Free Hand
King Crimson - Discipline
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
Rush - A Farewell To Kings
Rush - Hemispheres
VDGG - Pawn Hearts
VDGG - Godbluff
Yes - Going For The One
Zappa - Hot Rats

Entire discographies:

ELP (Generally don't care for their stuff but I respect them)
Jethro Tull (the same cannot be said about these guys, unfortunately)
Le Orme (sorry Micky; I just don't find them nearly as enjoyable as any other RPI I've heard)
Mahavishnu Orchestra
I'd also include Marillion, but that would be stretching the definition of "classics", wouldn't it?

when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents

Dellinger

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 21:01

souio wrote:

For me, it's "Watcher of the Skies". Despite probably having one of my favourite intros of all time, the content of it never really did much for me, sadly. The vocal melodies outside of the verses, and flow of the song don't seem to click with me much. It's a song I'd love to like

Oh yeah, "Watcher of the Skies", that's a frustrating one. There's some cold mechanical quality to it that totally puts me off. However, even though I never liked the Genesis song, there's a Steve Hackett solo version on Tokyo Tapes, with John Wetton on vocals, that I somehow ended up loving. Much warmer, both on vocals and playing. Perhaps you could give that one a listen.

Dellinger

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 21:04

micky wrote:

definitely a Plague of Lighthouse Keepers... many of you all are frickin nuts...

yes the first half of it .. said it once.. said it a hundred times.. the first half on it is one of the best.. most evocative pieces of prog I've ever heard.. but then there is the 2nd half where it does a 180 and becomes one of the most awful dogsh*t pieces of prog I've ever heard...

a prog classic? hah.. pfff....only in illustrating the dangers and extremes of prog rock.

When great.. it rules.. when it sucks.. oh god how it sucks...

Exactly what I think of that piece of music, I had to edit just the first half of the song to enjoy it on my IPod.

Dellinger

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 21:09

micky wrote:

fredyair wrote:

I am a 70s prog fan, that's where and when all started for this music and for me too, yes I am old, but the music that never "clicked" for me is most of Genesis' work, don't know why or how, but I don't get it.

that is the point... there is nothing to get.. the love is just a product of revisionist fanboyism... boring.. boring boring.. at least until they found their true callings as a vehicle and backing band for Phil Collins LOL

that said... they did have the occasinal spark of prog brilliance.. but far too inconsitent to have anything they did ever be considered classic. Even their 'best' prog album was fatally flawed with a horrid More Fool Me and a compeltely flaccid 11 minute deathmarch... enough to knock a true 5 star classic down to a 4 star flawed masterpiece

Exactly what I think of Selling England too... though I'm not so harsh about their whole career... perhaps because I am content just to take out the good songs and enjoy them while I ignore the rest. Also, I could do with "More Fool Me"... not that I like it, but it's rather short and not as annoying as "Battle of Epping Forest". By the way, have you heard the live versions of "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" and "Cinema Show"... I really love those ones, specially Dancing gets heavier and more powerful... and Collins drumming is just something else (Musical Box is really wonderful live too).

Thatfabulousalien View Drop Down

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 22:46

Rush (even though I liked Hemispheres and Moving Pictures - minus Tom Sawyer

)

I never really had the motivation to pursue much Genesis or ELP either.

I liked Thick as a Brick but much Jethro Tull doesn't interest me, even though I love folk music

Classical music isn't dead, it's more alive than it's ever been. It's just not on MTV.

https://www.soundcloud.com/user-322914325

Thatfabulousalien View Drop Down

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Posted: November 24 2016 at 22:49

CPicard wrote:

- Soft Machine and the whole Canterbury School.
- RIO, zeuhl, kraut-rock, avant-garde and all this socialist crap.
- Prog-metal, a hideous thing in itself.

I find it amusing that this is some of the stuff I like the most in progressive rock/metal

Classical music isn't dead, it's more alive than it's ever been. It's just not on MTV.

https://www.soundcloud.com/user-322914325

someone_else View Drop Down

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Posted: November 25 2016 at 04:44

Änglagård.

Modrigue

Prog Reviewer

Joined: January 14 2007
Location: France
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Points: 1125

Posted: November 25 2016 at 05:04

From the top 100 albums list:

PFM

Änglagård

Supertramp

Renaissance - Scheherazade

Steve Hackett

SteveG

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Posted: November 25 2016 at 05:08

A whole lot, my friend.

This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State.

micky

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Posted: November 25 2016 at 06:42

Magnum Vaeltaja wrote:

Individual albums:

Camel - The Snow Goose (the original, anyway; the 2013 re-recording is pretty good)
Genesis - The Lamb
Genesis - A Trick of the Tail
Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
Gentle Giant - Free Hand
King Crimson - Discipline
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
Rush - A Farewell To Kings
Rush - Hemispheres
VDGG - Pawn Hearts
VDGG - Godbluff
Yes - Going For The One
Zappa - Hot Rats

Entire discographies:

ELP (Generally don't care for their stuff but I respect them)
Jethro Tull (the same cannot be said about these guys, unfortunately)
Le Orme (sorry Micky; I just don't find them nearly as enjoyable as any other RPI I've heard)
Mahavishnu Orchestra
I'd also include Marillion, but that would be stretching the definition of "classics", wouldn't it?

funny... Raff enjoys Snow Goose as a work much... MUCH more than I do LOL

but like you she doesn't dig the original recording.. when she wants to itch that particular infection... she plays the live version of it.

as far as Le Orme? ehh...can't win them all... Thumbs Up

They did beat Rush in the battle of the bands here.. so I can die a happy man knowing at least they are more popular here.. than Rush Thumbs Up

The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip

dwill123

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Points: 4460

Posted: November 25 2016 at 06:42

Never liked "Tales from Topographic Oceans". It just didn't seem like a good follow-up to "Close to the Edge".

(Oh yes, I don't like anything by Rush)

micky

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Posted: November 25 2016 at 06:45

Dellinger wrote:

Exactly what I think of that piece of music, I had to edit just the first half of the song to enjoy it on my IPod.

I just hit eject after the SHM section... I tried again yesterday to make it through the whole thing and I had to hit the eject button furiously when the blood started flowing from my ears.. again.. urrggg...

The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip

micky

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Posted: November 25 2016 at 06:52

Dellinger wrote:

micky wrote:

oh my dirty little secret is I enjoy a fair bit of prog Genesis.. I'd just never be loony enough to consider any of their albums masterpieces. Again.. hit and miss... see VDGG.. when they hit ..they were superb.. but much of the time they didn't to my ears. At least unlike VDGG.. they didn't induce blood flow from bodily orifices... they simply just put me to sleep. Unlike groups like Yes.. they simply weren't that interesting.. perhaps it was simply a matter of talent.. to keep me interesting in what they were actually playing when their songwriting cheekiness and cleverness failed them.

Oh yes... love the live version of Dancing.. not as much so with Cinema show...

The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip