Introduction

Hi everyone,

I have been visiting this site (and this forum) on a semi-regular basis for a good year and a half now, but this is the first time I explicitly show my presence, review and forum posting combined. Knowing how this site has helped me explore a great variety of bands and sub-genres from the prog scene, I feel that it is only reasonable that I write something at last.

Well, my name is Simon, and I come from Québec City (my mother tongue is French), in Québec (the Canadian province). I'm currently 18, thus not exactly what you could call a prog veteran I guess, but I did get introduced to symphonic prog from the 70's essentially, and never fancied prog metal much. Some of my first progressive encounters were with Pink Floyd, which I had unsurprisingly gotten to know through the Dark Side of the Moon album, and then maybe a little more appropriately by the three long songs on Animals. That was a few months before I discovered this site. I think I happened to stumble across some of the progarchives reviews as I was looking for reviews of "2112" by Rush and "Crime of the Century" by Supertramp. Those were some of the first prog albums that I got, but it didn't take very long for me to appreciate the likes of Genesis and Yes as well, in part due to my mom.  I quickly started to make proficient use of the mp3's available on this site, which has helped my CD collection grow to figures around the thirties.

As of now, some of my favourite groups include Van der Graaf Generator, Frank Zappa and Genesis, but the bands of which I own more than one or two albums are quite rare. In fact, I prefer to scratch the surface of the -large- progressive sphere before investigating into any band in particular. I have more recently found it highly enjoyable to listen to prog music that had a jazzier side to it, with bands such as Soft Machine, and to my amazement Captain Beefheart! (should have read the reviews before buying that CD, though) As for bands coming from the younger generation, I initially believed that I wouldn't find much interest with them, possibly because of a great disappointment that I've met with Dream Theater, which, it seemed to me, many acclaimed as the major progressive act of the past decade and a half. I have since given the "third generation" of progressive bands a new chance though, by getting albums that contains very refreshing music from Anglagard and Godspeed you Black Emperor, and hopefully soon Frogg Cafe, and maybe Sleepytime Gorilla Museum too if I feel courageous enough.

As for other aspects of my life in general, I'm currently studying at the cégep François-Xavier-Garneau (their student radio broadcasted a couple of prog songs once last year! ), in natural sciences (pure sciences). One other strong interest that I have apart from prog (and that is in no way related to it) is Mario Kart! I've been for the past four years involved in an online community where people compete in a friendly (yet all-too-excessive) manner for fastest times in the time trial modes of the games of the series. I currently maintain a web site with the help of other members of the community. I'd say that becoming so involved has gradually turned this hobby into a kind of responsability, and maybe a little less of a passion than it used to be, but still I must admit that my involvement there has contributed a lot to my psychological development as a teenage, and my present personality in general (one obvious attribute being my near-bilinguism).

Having said that, I'm not certain if there shall be more posts from me on this forum. I tend to have a very selective attitude in general in terms of self expression, and will usually only add some input to a discussion if I feel comfortable within the group of people that form the main base of the audience, and also if I think that what I say can truly add something new and constructive to the discussion. In any case, I will surely keep hanging out on here for a while, so we'll see... (but maybe you won't remember )

I enjoyed reading your novel....um....I mean your first post.

King of Loss wrote: WE Will Get you into Prog Metal!

I'm afraid it's not that simple. I actually used to like (prog) metal more than I do now.  When I said that my Dream Theater experience was a great disappointment, I oversimplified things a bit. I did appreciate my first few listens, but gradually grew tired of this type of music and also the theme explored in the particular album that I owned (Scenes II). It just doesn't suit me well. This is not to say that I've become reluctant to listen to any prog metal band. I liked a Liquid Tension Experiment song just about equally as much as other songs by Dream Theater about a year ago. When I listened to it again months later, shockingly I still liked it, despite my Dream Theater enjoyment being long gone. The sensibilities explored in the metal genre just don't reach me well I feel, yet I still think that the genre in itself is an interesting one.

And Progtologist, my first post a novel? Looks like someone has found a reason why I should not post too often.

mosni lamf wrote: And Progtologist, my first post a novel? Looks like someone has found a reason why I should not post too often.

Ignore TP. That TP, that is, not me. I'm TP as well, y'see and...

Oh f**k it, WELCOME! Some very impressive and interesting choices there. Have you given my beloved Gentle Giant a spin yet?