Funny Ways: Your Unusual Prog Opinions

Tony Banks had an angelical voice in "The Shepherd" (a song from a Genesis box set where he sang a small part) and he should have taken the lead vocal role instead of Phil Collins after Peter Gabriel left (although I like Phil's vocal work on A Trick of the Tail).

HosiannaMantra wrote: The.Crimson.King wrote: HosiannaMantra wrote: The.Crimson.King wrote: 11) I think if Italian prog has it's own genre with RPI, French prog should have their own with RPF. I don't think that Lard Free, Ange, Pulsar, Heldon, Tai Phong, etc. are so tightly connected sonically to make a separate subgenre. And there is already Zeuhl, that started in France.  Also, RPI already includes many ELP & Genesis clones that don't have anything distinctively Italian apart from lyrics in Italian language, as well as Le Orme, Osanna and Area that don't have much in common with each other. As far as I can remember, it was originally called "Italian Symphonic Prog", but you could also derivate "Italian Eclectic Prog", "Italian Heavy Prog", and "Italian Jazz-Rock" from that, there are at least 2-3 quite original artists for each category. I'd say if any country needs it's own subgenre, it would be Spain (or Andalusia, for that matter).  I do agree with your take on the various French bands...the only non-Zeuhl ones that I consider at all similar are the "chanson" bands like Ange & Mona Lisa....along with perhaps Versailles and Elohim.  Could be those unique sounds are also illustrated in the way many of them are nicknamed with Brit prog bands (Ange = the French Genesis, Pulsar = the French Floyd, Atoll = the French Yes, Pinhaus = the French Fripp, etc).    Honestly I'm just jealous that my fave non-English lyric prog gets treated like 2nd class citizens compared to the darn Italians who get their very own subgenre  Well, that nicknames are unfortunately present everywhere outside of USA or UK. And even there you can find "Poor man's Moody Blues". But, I've somehow missed the comparison between Ange and Genesis, actually they somehow sound more as Peter Hammill/VdGG's take on Jacques Brel to me, at least on their debut. While Pulsar had some awesome Mellotron parts a la Tony Banks. And Pinhas at least arranged for himself to sound more as Fripp in early Kraftwerk than Fripp in King Crimson.  And I didn't mean to say that those bands are second class by saying that there's no need for separate subgenre, I just stated that RPI already contains bands as diverse as 90% of 70's British bands on this site. It's almost like having Camel, Family and Henry Cow under Rock Progressivo Ingleso.

progaardvark wrote: Finnforest wrote: It would have been interesting to hear what ELO would have been if that guy that left the band after the debut had remained (can't remember his name).   That would have been Roy Wood. He had a knack for picking up any instrument and playing it on the spot without any prior training.

Wood was the "Brian Jones" of ELO? 

I just remember last time I played that first album it knocked my socks off, compared to their later stuff which I'm fairly  ho-hum about.

If you guys have trouble understanding the reasoning behind PAs inclusion of RPI as a genre of prog rock, then why not read up on it? 

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I'm also probably not the only person on Prog Archives to say it.  However, the forum section is so large that it's a little hard to search.  I think The Cure are more creative and innovative than many neo-prog or post-rock bands.  They would fit very nicely under the Prog Related banner.

progaardvark wrote: I'm re-evaluating my previous post about RPI. It hadn't dawned on me that there are some subgenres that are linked geographically (mostly, but not always), such as Canterbury, Zeuhl, and Krautrock. I think my difficulties lie with how eclectic RPI is. Well, regardless of the confusion, RPI has been a wonderful experience for me even if I don't necessarily know why things are the way they are.

For whatever reason, I can't get into 90's prog. Maybe because the synthesizer sounds back then were kind of cheesy. I think the only exception so far is "The Wake" by IQ.

Lewa wrote: Dellinger wrote: LittleBig wrote: Lewa wrote: Hi. Could you perhaps recommend a clean vocals Opeth album? I didn't even know they had them and might give them another chance. Damnation (2003) Heritage (2011) Pale Communion (2014) Those are the 3 whole non-grunting albums they have released so far, though surely they will continue that way. What dissapoints me is that those albums have just about no metal in theim either, and I wanted metal Opeth without grunting. Now, besides those albums, there are some songs without grunting that I also like a lot: - Soldier of Fortune (Deep Purple cover). - Remember Tomorrow (Iron Maiden cover). - Would? (cover also, I just forgot from who... I think Alice in Chains). - Den Standinga Resan (Marie Fredrickson cover... yes, the one from Roxette). - Epilogue. - Face of Melinda. - Harvest. - A Fair Judgement. - Atonement. And Watershed, though still a grunting album, has already many songs without them: - Coil. - Burden. - Porcelain Heart. - Hex Omega. Also, I very much prefer the live version of Damnation on the album "Lamentations", specially Closure, which is my favourite song from the album (and one of my favourites from the band). And "The Drapery Falls" though it's got grunting, is so brilliant that I can't help but love it, specially the version on Lamentations too. Wow! Thank you so much for the detailed song-by-song information. This is immensly helpful.

Well, I was exactly in your same dilemma when I was interested to get to know Opeth... and that was before Heritage and Pale Comunion, actually, so I know this information would be very useful. I don't remember if someone actually gave me such a list, or more likely I just found it in a post of an Opeth thread... but I might have had to look for such songs in several threads and posts and reviews... but I guess there must have been one particular very useful post/thread. However, I have all this songs in my ITunes Opeth list, so it was very easy to open it and check them out. Many of this songs I actually bought individually on ITunes, for I wouldn't want the whole album. There's one song I also liked I wasn't able to buy because it was over 10 minutes, I think it's "To Bid you Farewell".

aglasshouse wrote: - Phish is deserving of eclectic prog status - Phil Collins Genesis is superior to Peter Gabriel's, specifically their self-titled in '83 - I like Electric Cafe / Techno Pop - Piper At The Gates of Dawn is terrible - I don't care for Magma and I strongly dislike ELP - Progressive metal overall is a joke of a genre - Dave Matthews Band has prog elements - Atom Heart Mother outstrips Echoes in terms of quality - Shine On You Crazy Diamond is undeservingly overrated compared to the rest of WYWH - My least favorite Yes album is Close To The Edge - Thick as a Brick is not even close to JT's best work - I hate Robert Fripp with passion (that may not be too controversial), as well as dislike most of KC's work. A bit harsh, sorry.

andreol263 wrote: ->I can't stand Rush, not because the Hard-Prog style, but the Lee's Vocal are terrible!

I agree! For this reason I never really got into Rush music.

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Anything that Peter Hammill sings on is more or less overwrought and excruciating, and I cringe most of the time when I hear his histrionic wail. A shame, because I can tell the music of VdGG behind his voice is terrific.

BrufordFreak wrote: I think Matthew Parmenter a far superior singer, performer than Peter Hammill

Finally someone said it! I like the music of VdGG but the vocals irritate me sometimes. I think Hammill uses too much tremolo in his singing. One of the reasons that I prefer Discipline over VdGG.

BrufordFreak wrote: I feel that here are prejudices against women in prog world.

Is this an unusual prog opinion? I am afraid, it is simply the truth ...

LittleBig wrote: Lewa wrote: Hi. Could you perhaps recommend a clean vocals Opeth album? I didn't even know they had them and might give them another chance. Damnation (2003) Heritage (2011) Pale Communion (2014)

Heritage and Pale Communion are two of my favourite prog albums!
When I first heard them I thought: wow, finally they are doing prog!
I do not care about the rest of Opeth's discography.

So now my very unusual prog opinion:

- Supertramp is one of my favourite bands (next to King Crimson, Yes and Genesis),
and I also like the solo albums of Roger Hodgson.