Weirdest time signatures in traditional prog

There are lots of odd time signatures on Khan's "Space Shanty"; anything from 5/4 up to 13/8.

Ronstein wrote: Zappa created some eye-watering time signatures.  I remember Pye Hastings of Caravan talking about playing and recording with The New Sinfonia Orchastra. Some of the classical musicians were utterly baffled by the time signatures

moshkito wrote: Ronstein wrote: Zappa created some eye-watering time signatures.  I remember Pye Hastings of Caravan talking about playing and recording with The New Sinfonia Orchastra. Some of the classical musicians were utterly baffled by the time signatures  Hi, And the story goes that they did not want to do the encore because of the money ... not included! So Pye flicked them off and took the band to the encore and the orchestra decided to show up!  It's a great album ... and not appreciated by folks that know music "better" for doing something that at the time, only The Moody Blues had actually done it, though one could not say that it was "prog" or "progressive" in any form, but Caravan's ability and quality of musicianship made the orchestra look good!

Sometimes the artistry comes from how the time signatures work mathematically. You don't have to do everything by "feel." For many, the "feel" comes from the novelty of the numbers. Art comes in all forms, it's a reflection of life. Sometimes, life is about emotions, and other times, it involves ordered patterns, equations, forms, etc. So I'm sure math rockers wouldn't appreciate an attack on their art. It is every bit as valid as dreaming away music. And don't me started on Jazz. The best Jazz artists practiced for hours on the numbers and the math that comes with tonality, scales, chords, key signatures, chromaticism, etc. Only then could they do it effortlessly by feel. 

FatherChristmas wrote: 16/8 in Firth of Fifth.

I would say The Crunge by Led Zeppelin. Not the most complex song around, but you have to give them credit for trying to make their own James Brown song in a weird, lopsided 9/8 time signature. I know they're technically "prog-related", but come on, Houses of The Holy is basically a prog album.

Don't know crap about time sigs but this song immediately came to mind.....

There was a point made about time changes flowing naturally no matter what signature you wind up in, and I tend to agree with that as a value. However, I do think it can be very fun to listen to music with passages that go out of their way to get into weird times and use weird chords and melodies. A lot of Dream Theater songs have these absurd breakdowns in the middle where you can tell they're showing off, but it works because you can tell they're all having a blast (and it doesn't last too long). Even if I can't tap my foot along, just trying to find the beat and anticipate when the next hit is going to come can be really fun, especially in shorter passages that eventually lead back to something more natural. So I guess I'm saying there are definitely valid artistic reasons to writing in strange times for the sake of writing in strange times, but one has to be careful to make it sound convincing or else it just comes off as overly indulgent.

moshkito wrote: Argo2112 wrote: moshkito wrote: SteveG wrote: ugh! math rock! Hi, I was just thinking that ... it's now about the math and not the music. When you are dreaming away, and flying with the music, who gives a flying fudge what signature it is? Obviously only poor musicians that don't know how to get out of the score and the sheet with the music! Sorry ... that's not progressive at all ... in fact, it reeks of something else in music ... academic classicism!   Hello, the thread is about time signatures. What did you expect people to post here?  Hi, More information that most people don't know, or feel, or understand since they don't play. Also, it is a fact that a lot of those "changes" are often an accidental mistake, and not devised on paper or actually composed ... so people thinking that those are there for important reasons, is not a good likely choice, although some musicians are very good at making use of those moments.  It's the same in theater and film ... an adlib slips by and IT FITS ... and makes the piece better. It actually makes it "more real" for all of us! Go listen to the birds. Go listen to the ocean ... the signatures change all the time, and no one says anything ... meaning that in this case some are not listening to the music ... they are breaking it down instead!  They are missing the point in music altogether!

Edited by Awesoreno - October 21 2020 at 23:45

My kind of thread! " Money" is just the tippy top of the odd time sig ice burg, lol.