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Topic Closed2nd Round Clas: Scheherazade v. Hall of the Mounta

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Poll Question: Pick One!!!
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
33 [62.26%]
20 [37.74%]
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micky View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: 2nd Round Clas: Scheherazade v. Hall of the Mounta
    Posted: July 25 2015 at 08:35
hahhha.. yeah.. stylistic extermes man.  Both awesome albums though


In this corner.. the majestic Renaissance ClapClapClapClap. Reviewed so wonderfully by Daniel.. shame he disappeared. Ouch He had great tastes.

Renaissance - Scheherazade And Other Stories CD (album) cover

SCHEHERAZADE AND OTHER STORIES

Renaissance

 

Symphonic Prog

4.30 | 877 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

ZowieZiggy
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5 stars I am almost sorry (just kidding) to review this album. It is another one of those classic ones than fully deserves plenty of your attention. Such album that reminds my youth.

This work is full of fantastic prog / classical moments and some might call it superfluous / pompous. I just love it. The intro of the opening number is such a beauty. as the great vocal work of course. But this is just a constant from the band. To be able to rely on Annie is so easy.

Great melodies and sumptuous piano playing is such a pleasure to listen to. Every second of this great album is of course such a wonderful travel in time, such a great remembering. A song as "Trip To The Fair" is just a jewel. No other band could have released this one. Grandeur, classical approach, melody and more than all : superb, passionate (you know how keen I am on this topic.) Annie's vocals. A highlight of their whole work.

The band is even flirting with a more commercial sound with "The Vultures Fly High". But who could blame them? Such a great melody and upbeat approach is so appealing. Such a great introduction to the last song of the first side of this album which I really love.

I have been so in love with this album for over than thirty years and it is difficult to mention anything bad about it. "Ocean Gypsy" is such a pleasant and bombastic number. The band is again at its glory. No need to say that Annie adds so much feeling to the song.

Now comes the epic. On the original album, you could read the story of Sheherazade. I can tell you that it was quite a discovery for a sixteen years old boy. These thousands and one nights stories were quite amazing. Some might call it pompous, but my feeling has never changed since I first listened to this great song. A masterpiece of prog music? Yes, IMHHO it fully deserves this rating.

I won't describe each inch of this great song. It is full of sublime moments. Not boring for an instant. At least this is how I have felt for over thirty years. I don't know how I could have coped with these classical moments; but so it is.

Magnified music, perfect and powerful vocals, grandiose interpretation, great theme. Genuine prog music, my friends. No other words. I have never felt any weak parts in this great song. And believe me, I am rather an old folk to convince. But the complexity, the diversity, the sweetness of such a great epic is so simple to listen to.

Twenty five minutes of pleasure. What else do you need ?

This is a great album. Five star rating is not a common habit of mine. Five per cent of my reviews, maybe. But no doubt, this album is one of them. A gem. But lots of you have rated this great album as such. Do listen to this fantastic work. Their best album IMHHO.

Five stars of course.



and in the opposite corner.  The mighty Hawkwind!! ClapClapClapClap  Reviewed by the ex-master of the dope smokers genre team himself. LOL EETU!!! ClapClap

Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill CD (album) cover

HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL

Hawkwind

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

3.98 | 346 ratings

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Eetu Pellonpaa
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5 stars "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)" opens the album with electric waves, giving birth for the menacing guitar riff. Pleasantly out normal note count the chorus of voices starts to sing the theme of the song, contemplating possibilities for escaping the grey dullness of everyday life. The constructed motive morphs as a long hallucinogenic improvisation, having fine saxophone solo from Nik Turner, interesting surreal instrumental passages and reverbed echo chaotix. The song disappears in a thick wall of blasting wind, which evokes then a very beautiful and dramatic instrumental number, main melody drawn by a violin over orchestrated shimmer. Two last tracks of the first side are merged together; "D-Rider" oscillating between anxious internal depressions and relieving explosion to grandiose cosmic verse, and "Web Weaver" spinning more acoustic rock tapestries before getting lost in space.

The B-side of the vinyl starts with classic heavier rock punch of "You'd Better Believe It", dropping to infinite caverns of black vastness when the melodic phrases have been successfully computed. The album title song is a dramatic piano composition, a cosmic synthesizer orchestration bringing more dimensions to it. This is followed by Lemmy's tune "Lost Johnny" which he also signs. A quite nice rocker, predicting his upcoming Motörhead career, but maybe deviating little from the more thoughtful and highflying feeling of the other songs of the album. "Goat Willow" is just a short peculiar aural vision as an intro for album closer "Paradox", which I understood is recorded from a live concert. This song has really brilliant metaphorical lyrics, and the composition itself builds from powerful but simple minor chord progressions. The drums enter the song only after the singing is completed, opening the rockier improvisational sequence only after the beginnings recital. A set of Mellotrons have been brought to the stage also, and the farewell tune is on of the finest songs from the group I have heard.

This record introduced me to the cosmic realms of Hawkwind's spacey atmospherics and long improvisational progressions, and thus certainly affected for my own internal models regarding the expectations about the group. For a long time this along with the records "Space Ritual" and "Warrior on The Edge of Time" formed a trinity of most albums on the band's 1970's, but with more age gathered I started to find more appreciation also for the other albums of their unbalanced discography. The album also gave a very strong experience to me, motivating to search further the distant galaxies of this band's universe, and orientating my own growth towards more meditative record listening. A real classic, which I would warmly recommend to anybody interested of cosmic rock music.


The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 09:16
Both are great but I'll go with Hawk.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 09:18
Hawk Mountain
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 09:20
^ Ya better believe it!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 09:36
Renaissance all day

Edited by fudgenuts64 - July 25 2015 at 09:36
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 09:38
Tough vote.  Going with Scheherazade but if it was Ashes are burning, I wouldn't have had to think twice about the vote.  Or Novella or SFAS but those are unlikely to feature in this sort of poll anyway with their ratings.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 09:58
This is the easiest one yet, Hawkwind.
"The wind is slowly tearing her apart"

"Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:09
^

funny.. hardest one yet. Sitting squarely on the fence with this one.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:11
Probably not hard for diehard fans of either band, tough one for the rest though the name Hawkwind is going to sway votes imo.  I am supposedly a diehard fan of Ren but the epic leaves me cold. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:18
yeah.. I toyed seriously with going with Ashes are Burning...  for the longest time it was favorite album of theirs.  This one really grew with time however.. the opening track hit like a ton of bricks on the first listen.. however the epic did need to fully grow on me.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:20
Ditto.  Trip was a keeper from the get go.  Never could warm up to the epic.  It's nice enough and all that but doesn't pay off for the investment of 25 min.  I am not too fond of Arabian Nights to begin with.  Much rather Arabian Knights. ;)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:21
As much as I think Hawkwind need more atention, I'am going with Renaissance.
- From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:34
Hawklords
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:36
Renaissance, easy.
Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:36
Seriously? SaoS
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 10:51
Hall of the Mountain Grill
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 11:34
Scheherazade and Other Stories.


One of my best achievements in life was to find this picture :D
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 16:31
Originally posted by GKR GKR wrote:

As much as I think Hawkwind need more atention, I'am going with Renaissance.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 16:40
Originally posted by Atkingani Atkingani wrote:

Both are great but I'll go with Hawk.
THIS 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2015 at 18:54
Renaissance. I can't get into Hawkwind.
A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!!
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