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rushfan4

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Topic: Laura Meade
Posted: November 15 2007 at 15:24

Hi Ivan,

Thank you. It has been an enjoyable discussion.

In regards to your first statement, I know that I am in the minority in regards to being a latter day fan who likes the early days, and that you and Raff are probably right in that it probably is not going to covert too many fans and that it will upset some prog fans. Please let me know what your thoughts are on my "compromise" biography. However, if possible I have moved that discussion to Micky's thread regarding "what is the related in prog-related".

In regards to your second statement regarding the lyrics I both agree and disagree with you. And by that I mean that I mostly agree with you. This is another area where I am again in the minority in that I enjoy progressive rock music as much for the lyrics as I do for the music. The same applies to non-progressive rock music as well, and I think that we are similar in many instances in this regard. To use one of your examples, an artist like Bob Dylan has most certainly created some very intelligent lyrics in his career. I am not sure of his exact musical category but I suppose he would be considered either strictly Rock or Folk-rock, if there is such a thing. I think that because of these intelligent lyrics a prog rock fan would more likely be drawn to him than to a non-progressive rock artist with dumb lyrics. Of course, there are also many prog rock fans that probably do not like Bob Dylan because the music is not complicated enough for them. That being said to make your point the fact that he does have intelligent lyrics does not make him a progressive rock artist.

Bad lyrics set to good progressive rock music can, but doesn't always, turn me off to a band. And I certainly understand that many prog rock fans favorite lyrics are the nonexistent ones.

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 14:51

Great post Rushfan, I only partially disagree with two statements you made:

I been a member of the Genesis Official Forum, and I had to abandon it because the disgust expressed by most members towards early genesis and specially towards Prog, of course there were people as me who liked only the second era, but due to an age fact (Most people who joined that Forum were very young and only heard Collins era music) we were a tiny minority………There were also the guys who liked both eras, but this were mostly the ones of my age that were too young when Gabriel was in the band but got familiar with the band during the Duke era.

But the point is, very few, I would say insignificant portion of the three men era Genesis will become interested in Prog, as a fact they would never visit a site called Prog Archives, I read the comments about us and were very harsh.

By the contrary, as Raffaella well said, more Prog fans would leave the site forever if Collins was added, already for less conflictive additions people has abandoned the site.

Progressive Lyrics: There’s not such thing as Progressive lyrics Rushfan, as you well say Prog lyrics are more intelligent than in most mainstream genres, but this is not a prerogative of Prog, there are thousands of mainstream artists with great lyrics.

If you take the lyrics of Close to the Edge and place them in Salsa rhythm (I heard that in a Peruvian band that believed there could be Prog salsa), you get a mess, it ceases to be Prog, imagine Karn Evil 9 sung by N’Sync, that wouldn’t be Prog at all, by the contrary, it’s possible for Prog bands to take mainstream songs and turn them into Prog, a good example would be America by Yes or Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann, in the moment they recorded those lyrics, the song ceased to be mainstream by Simon & Garfunkel or Bruce Springsteen and turned into Prog.

Lyrics are neutral, they may be intelligent or dumb, but depending in the music they may be lyrics of a Prog or a Pop song.

Thanks for the kind reply, it’s good to discuss in this civil terms, I don’t share your love for Phil Collins, but I respect your taste and defend your right to express it, just I don’t believe he should be added as you have also noticed.

Cheers

Iván

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 14:47

I have copied a portion of my previous post and I will re-post it in the "help improve this site" section. Thank you for the suggestion.

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 14:37

rushfan4 wrote:

First off to try and keep this thread somewhat on point, I would like to mention that I really like the 4 albums that I have from Izz and I really like the singing on those albums. I have not heard Laura Meade's solo album so certainly cannot judge it's level of progressiveness, although from Natural Science's postings it sounds as though the music itself is not progressive. Based upon that I would say that she shouldn't be included. However, again based upon semantics I wouldn't have a problem with her being included in prog-related because she is a member of a progressive rock band. Accepting that therein lies the controversy of the understanding of prog-related. Based on the current definition as written by Ivan and accepted by the site she wouldn't qualify, but based on one literal meaning of the term prog-related, she is related.

Great to meet another IZZ fan, that's for sure.

You have encapsulated perfectly what I've been thinking these past couple days. Certainly I have never asserted that Laura Meade's output is prog, for it most definitely is not. I originally was told that there had to be a (still somewhat fuzzy) "musical relationship or connection" to prog, and that simply being a member of a prog band and releasing non-prog music wouldn't qualify. This latest rehash over her music stemmed from a new understanding that the actual policy was that non-prog works of members of prog bands were automatically prog-related (for some reason, Phil Collins being a notable exception perhaps due to the enormous vitriol his addition would engender). I am now told this is in fact not the case. Some very good arguments were put forward why it should not be the case, and to be honest I agree with them.

rushfan4: I don't care too much about the hijack, however, I feel discussion about Laura Meade doesn't need to continue. Might I suggest starting a new thread to discuss Phil Collins, or if it's more prog-related in general, there's a current thread about it in the Help Improve the Site section (or whatever it's called). At this point, to avoid using this thread as a jumping board for more prog-related matters, I suggest one of the admins simply close it.

Thanks again all, and sorry if I got anyone riled up. Wink

Edited by NaturalScience - November 15 2007 at 14:39

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 14:30

Ghost Rider wrote:

. I think there would be a much better MUSICAL case for adding The Police on the strength of two of its members having been involved with prog bands or artists, and also of their music showing much stronger progressive qualities than anything Collins has ever recorded.

Hi Raff,

Thank you for your kind response. I think that my response to Ivan also to extent responded to your comment. I have no problems at all with Phil Collins not being in Prog Archives under the current definition of Prog-related. Putting my theory aside that "if it is in my collection it must be prog", I certainly understand that any attempt to consider Phil Collins solo career as progressive wouldn't even qualify enough to be "tenuous at best".

In regards to the above quote, the Police's discography is in my collection so I must once again refer to my theory, and thus they must be prog.

Geez oh pete, where does it end!!!!

You all aren't going to make me rethink my theory are you????

Let me ask you this. Would it be such a bad thing if Phil Collins were added to PA and if his biography consisted of the following in big bold black letters in size 40 font: AS A SOLO ARTIST PHIL COLLINS DID NOT PERFORM PROGRESSIVE ROCK MUSIC, HOWEVER, HE IS A WELL KNOWN PROGRESSIVE ARTIST FROM A SEMINAL PROGRESSIVE ROCK BAND AND THAT IS WHY HE IS HERE. He was the drummer and vocalist for Genesis as well as the drummer in the jazz fusion band Brand X..... For progressive rock you should check out these bands or other similar bands such as.....

My guess is that if people choose to review his solo albums they will end up with an average rating of 1 or 2, based upon the review standards provided by this website. Although ratings don't matter that much that should lay to rest any doubt that the members of PA believe that this work is poor and for fans only.

To my way of thinking, I don't see why this is a bad thing other than that the front page will be dripping with venom for the first few weeks while all the negative reviews are being posted. I think that this does send the message that Phil Collins is not a prog rock artist, but if you do like Phil Collins you should try Genesis or Brand X or whatever other bands are listed there. Will it persuade anybody else to like progressive rock music? I don't know. I have seen others post in some threads that they were aware of Phil Collins and latter day Genesis and had no idea that progressive era Genesis existed until they came here. What I will say is that there is at least one person, being me, who is living proof that being a progressive rock fan and being a Phil Collins fan is not mutually exclusive.

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 14:02

Now to continue with the thread hijack:

To Ivan, I am well aware of your feelings and positions on the subject of both Phil Collins and the category of Prog-related both from reading other threads and discussing these subjects with you in other threads. I fully respect your feelings and positions on these items and I actually understand these feelings and positions. I won't say that I disagree with these positions because that would be too strong of a term, but I will say that my feelings and positions are different. I believe that this is mostly because of the timing of where we entered the progressive rock scene.

I think that we both realize that we have different points of view on both latter day Genesis as well as Phil Collins' solo career, and I also realize that my view differs with that of the majority of the prog rock community. I am just different that way. I happen to like both latter-day Genesis and Phil Collins while many prog fans do not like these. I am certainly not suggesting that Phil Collins solo career is made up of progressive rock music, but I do feel that there are some tendencies and influences there in some songs. Also, for what it is worth, I do agree with you that based on the current definition of prog-related as written by you and posted on this site that Phil Collins solo would not qualify. As long as that remains the site position and definition than it is what it is, and I certainly don't have a problem with Phil Collins being left off PA based on that.

In regards to your comment regarding "Do you believe a fan of No Jackett required will ever buy any Gentle Giant or Van Der Graff Generator albuim?" My answer is yes, because I would qualify to that answer. No Jacket Required was one of the top pop albums when I was in high school and I own and like that album. I have only "discovered" Gentle Giant and VDGG in the past couple of years. Although I had heard of these bands a number of years ago when I purchased the Super Natural Fairy Tales boxset, I hadn't really heard anything from them until the past couple of years. I do like Gentle Giant, but the jury is still out on VDGG. I am hoping that they will grow on me. I recently purchased the Real Time concert CD and actually liked it better than the studio albums that I have purchased, so maybe that is a sign that they are growing on me. This being said, I also realize that I am most likely in the minority in this category too. There really aren't too many people who are going to be Phil Collins fans who will become early Genesis fans. I am still working on that too. Granted, I am pretty much there, but I think that my enjoyment for early Genesis can still grow.

In regards to my "food on the table" quote, I really am not that familiar with the situation behind their break-up, so my apologies for my tabloid comment. In regards to Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, I own and enjoy many of their solo albums as well. I have no interest in denigrating either of them. However, I think that one of the reasons that Mr. Gabriel is not a starving artist is because of the hits that he had with Sledgehammer and to a lesser extent Shock the Monkey. I like both songs but have seen various arguments of the degree of prog or art rock quotients in those songs. I wish to preface this by saying that I certainly am not saying that he made his solo career up out of pop songs, and I would also agree that his solo career is more progressive or "artsy" than Phil Collins solo career.

Our position on lyrics also differ. I believe that there is to a degree such a thing as progressive lyrical content. The lyrics in progressive songs are generally far more intelligent than the lyrics in non-prog songs. Certainly not always and I am sure that we could both list hundreds of instances either way where this is not the case. Being a Rush fan, I am as much drawn to their lyrics as I am to their music (and no need to bring up a specific song from Test for Echo that is not very well liked even by Rush fans). Prog songs tend to talk about many subjects other than "I love you, you love me" or "I like big butts and I will not lie". I am always a sucker for a good love ballad so I don't have anything against them, but they are a dime a dozen. I would much rather hear about "The Spirit of Radio" or "Natural Science" or "The Trees", etc.. Despite this comment, I agree with you that lyrics alone do not make a song a progressive rock song, and that there are a good many singer-songwriters out there such as those who you mentioned that do sing songs with intelligent lyrics but are most definitely not prog.

One last comment to my overlengthy post. I have mentioned this before in regards to the All Music Guide format. I think that as awesome as this website is, it would be even more so, if it had some of the functionality of All Music Guide, that you would be able to go to a band on this site and be able to click on a link to related bands, or click on a band member on this site and be able to find all the bands he or she has performed with. Hence the addition of artists like Laura Meade or Phil Collins. As we discussed before this is both not practical, and at least this time, not the purpose of the Prog Archives. I think that this would be an awesome feature to have, but the fact that we don't just means that I need to go the All Music Guide in order to find these kind of things.

Peace be with you my friend. I have no wish to debate you on these items and certainly have no desire to offend you.

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 12:10

rushfan4 wrote:

Again it comes down to semantics. Phil Collins is prog related because he was a member of Brand X and he was a member of Genesis. He did influence a progressive rock band, being Genesis. From a progressive rock point of view, I will concede that that influence was not for the better, but from the point of view that the world of music is a better place because latter day Genesis was influenced by Phil Collins is an argument that would can be debated until the cows come home. I am a fan of latter day Genesis so unlike a certain member who uses blue fonts that I don't wish to provoke, I don't necessarily think that this influence was a bad thing. As far as his solo output I tend to believe that despite the fact that it was popular it still has some progressive tendencies. (But yet again, as I mentioned in the Boston thread I grew up with 80's and 90's "progressive" music instead of 1970's progressive music so I have a bit of a different slant on what is progressive"). Maybe it is well-crafted pop instead of progressive pop but that is again a matter of personal taste and opinion. Personally, I feel a song like "In the Air Tonight" is at least lyrically a quality progressive rock song, amongst others. I might even argue that his Phil Collins Big Band album might qualify under some definitions of progressive rock because it merges the two forms of music known as "pop" and "big band". Isn't it this merger of various forms of music that is so commonly referred to as to what makes a band progressive? I saw his live show a couple of years back for what he called his "first retirement tour". It was just as a good as the current Genesis tour. He and Chester started the show out with a lengthy drum duet similar but different than the one that they are playing on the current Genesis tour. It was as good as they get.

Rushfan, I will use the bold blue just to seperate our statements, not as an offensive method (Yikes you have to be careful this days )

There are four issues in this first parragraph:

Phil Collins as GENESIS MEMBER performed Prog and influenced other bands, as MEMBER OF BRAND X influenced Prog Fusion, so he's represented in Prog Archives AS A MEMBER OF BOTH BANDS.

Now, to open a page FOR HIS SOLO CAREER would be wrong, because his solo career was not Prog or Prog Related, it's Adult Copntemporary Pop and nothing more, so his solo career has no place here in Prog Archives

About the blend of two genres, this is not necessarilly Prog, we know neither POP or Big Band are Prog, so this is a simple mainstream merge of two different styles.

As an example, if we had to add every merge as Prog, we will have to consider REGGAETTON that is taking Latin America by assault, it's a merge of Reggae and Rap, we all agree it's a fusion of two different genres, but none of them is Prog, so there's no reason to consider Daddy Yankee as a Prog or even Prog Related artist.

Merges are Prog or Prog Related ONLY IF AT LEAST ONE OF THE GENRES MERGED IS PROG, otherwise it has no relation with Prog.

About the lyrics of In the Air Tonight, there's nothing as Prog lyrics, lyrics are neutral in matter of musical genres, they don't belong to any musical genre, maybe to a literary genre, The Scissor Sisters play Comfortably Numb with the same Pink Floyd lyrics, but it's only a hybrid between Hip Hop and the Bee Gees.

If we had to add artists exclusively for their lyrics, we would had to add , Cat Stevens, Donovan and of course Bob Dylan, but you don't see them here, because they never played Prog or were related to Prog, maybe Dylan 100 more times than Colins as predecessor, but not even him.

n the last part of the definition it's specified that the performing of an instrument, no matter the virtuosity does not alone justify an inclusion, we all know that Phil and Chester are superb drummers, but they were not playing Prog, as a matter of facts, even the prformance alone is not enough, being this a musical site, we have to focus in the composition.

Well Rushfan, by the time Genesis was playing The Lamb, they were bnopt starving, so it was not to put food in the table, that's what I expect from a tabloid or Melody Maker magazine but not from you because I read very intelligent posts by you. Peter Gabriel still plays art music and he's not starvig, he even has a plane if I'm not wrong, Steve Hackett played difficult music and he's more than wealthy.

They went to POP because Phil liked mainstream, he has repeated hundreds of times he's a Motown inspired musician, Tony and Mike wanted more and that's good for them, but doesn't make them Prog.

But I also agree with Easy Livin's earlier post from a website standpoint that having Phil Collins on this site might be a good thing from a standpoint of bringing people who are Phil Collins fans to this site to discover that at one time Genesis was a progressive rock band and that there is this whole website to explore with bands that were similar to that sound. Again growing up in the 80's and 90's I was aware of latter day Genesis and solo Phil Collins and solo Peter Gabriel long before I was aware of Progressive Rock era Genesis.

I ciompletely disagree, I'mmember of:

Prog Archiveds
Progressive Ears
Prog4ever
Melo's Prog Bazaar
Neptune Pink Floyd

And in eacgh and every site, Phil Collins is a joke for Proggers, a Proghead that comes here and sees Phil Collins who he )correct or wrong) blamesd for genesis debacle, will not come back ever, because it's almost like an offence to Genesis memory.

I was a member of the Genesis Official forunm, and most Phuil Collins solo fans dopn't give a damn for Gabriel Genesis or anything before ATTW3, they won't turn into Progheads only because Phiol Collins is here, that's incorrect, in that Forum they even harrassed the Gabriel era fans calling them Gabrielites and people who live in the past.

So that's a flawed argument, if you add Phil Collins you will scare most Prog fans and won't gain any Pop fan.....Do you believe a fan of No Jackett required will ever buy any Gentle Giant or Van Der Graff Generator albuim?

I would think that if Phil Collins were added his biography would have to be written well to explain in as nice a way as possible that Phil Collins was a member of Genesis. That although his solo music is not considered to be very progressive and is pop-oriented but that he is a key member of the progressive rock community because of his involvement with Genesis and Brand X. Therefore it is very clear that the majority does not consider him to be progressive but that he can be used to possibly bring users to the site.

Rushfan, his solo music is not Progressive or Prog Related at all, lyrics alone don't make Prog, music has to be Prog.

My two cents. Easy enough to ignore.

I believe it's more respectful to reply than to ignore.

Iván

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - November 15 2007 at 12:18

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 11:40

Scott, your post is very well-written, and I like the way you put your arguments forward. However, we must also consider another factor. Such an addition as Phil Collins' is bound to be EXTREMELY disruptive, as well as damage the site's credibility on the web. Resenting Phil Collins may be considered as narrow-minded by some, but the fact remains that his output shows very tenuous links to prog at best, and in most cases is just commercial pop music.

Personally, I wouldn't keep him out of the database because he ruined Genesis, whose fan I have never been, but because his music is a solo artist is simply not related to prog. I think there would be a much better MUSICAL case for adding The Police on the strength of two of its members having been involved with prog bands or artists, and also of their music showing much stronger progressive qualities than anything Collins has ever recorded.

As to bringing new users to the site, this is something I disagree with vehemently. If Phil Collins is added, the most likely effect will be to see a great number of established members leave, or, even worse, lose any motivation to do work on behalf of PA. It has already happened for much less controversial additions. Is it really worth it?

Edited by Ghost Rider - November 15 2007 at 11:43

rushfan4

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 11:31

Again it comes down to semantics. Phil Collins is prog related because he was a member of Brand X and he was a member of Genesis. He did influence a progressive rock band, being Genesis. From a progressive rock point of view, I will concede that that influence was not for the better, but from the point of view that the world of music is a better place because latter day Genesis was influenced by Phil Collins is an argument that would can be debated until the cows come home. I am a fan of latter day Genesis so unlike a certain member who uses blue fonts that I don't wish to provoke, I don't necessarily think that this influence was a bad thing. As far as his solo output I tend to believe that despite the fact that it was popular it still has some progressive tendencies. (But yet again, as I mentioned in the Boston thread I grew up with 80's and 90's "progressive" music instead of 1970's progressive music so I have a bit of a different slant on what is progressive"). Maybe it is well-crafted pop instead of progressive pop but that is again a matter of personal taste and opinion. Personally, I feel a song like "In the Air Tonight" is at least lyrically a quality progressive rock song, amongst others. I might even argue that his Phil Collins Big Band album might qualify under some definitions of progressive rock because it merges the two forms of music known as "pop" and "big band". Isn't it this merger of various forms of music that is so commonly referred to as to what makes a band progressive? I saw his live show a couple of years back for what he called his "first retirement tour". It was just as a good as the current Genesis tour. He and Chester started the show out with a lengthy drum duet similar but different than the one that they are playing on the current Genesis tour. It was as good as they get.

Before I am permanently banned from this site for speaking such blasphemy I really don't care that Phil Collins is not on this site and I respect that it is the way of the world that the long-time fans of Genesis from the early days consider it to be a badge of honor to resent Phil Collins because Genesis went from a band that wrote some really strange long songs that only a few people listened too, to making shorter catchier songs that made them money so they could put food in the table and lamborghinis in the garage at their third home in Malibu. But I also agree with Easy Livin's earlier post from a website standpoint that having Phil Collins on this site might be a good thing from a standpoint of bringing people who are Phil Collins fans to this site to discover that at one time Genesis was a progressive rock band and that there is this whole website to explore with bands that were similar to that sound. Again growing up in the 80's and 90's I was aware of latter day Genesis and solo Phil Collins and solo Peter Gabriel long before I was aware of Progressive Rock era Genesis.

My two cents. Easy enough to ignore.

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 11:02

That is an excellent summary Raf, and it does make sense (and re-reading Ivan's summary, all that is indeed contained in there). Of course, as always, the devil is in the details - we have a hard enough time determining what is and is not "prog", and now we have the (in my mind) more difficult time of determining a "prog music influence", or lack thereof, in a certain band's output.

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 10:52

Pat, I can answer you from my own, personal point of view - which, however, may not necessarily be someone else's. In my very humble opinion, being prog-related in a strictly musical sense means that the band or artist in question have either influenced the development of prog (and this is the case of the bands included in Proto-Prog), or have been influenced by it, as is the case of most of the acts included in PR. In some cases, such as one of the most recent additions, Black Sabbath, the band may have been influenced by prog and at the same time influenced the development of one of its more recent subgenres, Prog-Metal.

The main implication of this is that the output of any member of a prog band must show some relation to prog in its MUSIC. Phil Collins has always been refused admission because this relation is missing - I would even go so far as to say that Genesis were influenced by him, and not the other way around.

Though I am very open-minded as regards admissions to our database, the MUSICAL relation to prog of a PR addition must always be clear. If it was decided that every member of a prog band must be added to our database, even if their solo output consists of disco, reggaeton or melodic pop albums, I would do something that is very much out of character, and disagree loudly.

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 10:40

No worries Ivan, the internet is a difficult medium when it comes to getting the tone of a statement. I hate to put Easy Livin on the spot, but do you see where his statement generated some confusion?

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 10:36

NaturalScience wrote:

See what I'm talking about? And Ivan, no need to respond so harshly - if no one wants Laura Meade added, I won't lose any sleep over it, however, it's clear that prog related generates a lot of confusion -at least to me.

Honestly people, I'm not trying to flame or cause trouble, but you all say "the music has to be prog-related".... what exactly does that mean?

Natural Science, to avoid misinterpretations and being called ruide, i said nothing about Laura Meade despite having a lot to reply because I heard her music.

Only copied a description of her music posted in her side and asked if this is what Prog Archives is about, no offence, no sarcasm, nothing, only a quote and a question for others to answer.

About Prog Related, the definition is pristine clear, the connfusion has been caused by a couple of contradictory additions, but OK, those were mistakes,. they don't justify another one.

The definition says:

Prog Related is the category that groups bands and artists that:

- Without being 100% Prog, received clear MUSICAL influence of this genre (PROG), OR

- Are widely accepted as MUSICALLY influential to the development of Progressive Rock by the community, OR

- Blend characteristics of Progressive Rock with mainstream elements creating a final product that despite not being part of the genre is evident that are close to Prog.

http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive-rock.asp#38

It's clear, that's Prog Related, nothing else is, this definition despite written by me, was approved by M@X.

Sorry if I sounded rude, in this case it wasn't my intention, but quoting a ddescription and asking a question is hardly harsh.

Iván

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - November 15 2007 at 11:05

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 10:19

Herein lies the confusion:

From yesterday:

Easy Livin wrote:

All solo artists who are members of prog bands are prog related (except Phil Collins!).

And today:

chopper wrote:

Surely it's the music that has to be prog-related, not the person otherwise if Britney Spears married Roger Waters we'd have to include her.

Ghost Rider wrote:

Let's be VERY careful about adding people just because they are or have been members of prog bands, because this would alter the nature of our site almost irrevocably....
As Alan said, it is the MUSIC that must be prog-related, not the person. Remember that people like Lemmy or Stewart Copeland have been members of prog bands - which would lead to the immediate addition of Motorhead and The Police. And then, please, there's always the dreaded Phil Collins LOL

...

See what I'm talking about? And Ivan, no need to respond so harshly - if no one wants Laura Meade added, I won't lose any sleep over it, however, it's clear that prog related generates a lot of confusion -at least to me.

Honestly people, I'm not trying to flame or cause trouble, but you all say "the music has to be prog-related".... what exactly does that mean?

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 05:43

I don't know anything about Laura Meade but what I've read in Ivan's post, but this time I have to agree with the voices raised against her addition. Let's be VERY careful about adding people just because they are or have been members of prog bands, because this would alter the nature of our site almost irrevocably.

As Alan said, it is the MUSIC that must be prog-related, not the person. Remember that people like Lemmy or Stewart Copeland have been members of prog bands - which would lead to the immediate addition of Motorhead and The Police. And then, please, there's always the dreaded Phil Collins LOL

...

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Posted: November 15 2007 at 04:05

As much as I like IZZ and Laura, I don't think her music is prog-related, it's more of your typical singer-songwriter stuff. Surely it's the music that has to be prog-related, not the person otherwise if Britney Spears married Roger Waters we'd have to include her.

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Posted: November 14 2007 at 23:38

I feel that the music should speak for itself. It's the music's relation to Prog, not the individual's relation that should matter.

Just a fanboy passin' through.

Ivan_Melgar_M View Drop Down

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Posted: November 14 2007 at 23:30

“Equipped with a theater background, Meade became a member of the progressive rock band IZZ in 2002. And now we have her solo-debut, called simply “Laura Meade”, consisting of a 5 song EP.

Is this a new star on the singer/songwriter horizon?

Well, Miss Meade is at least well on her way there. Sparingly accompanied by the piano (her own playing), guitar, bass and drums, our good Laura first of all pulls a very effective “Charming” out of her hat, carried by the piano and by the reserved and very professional participation of her band members. Very catchy and good for the radio, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that song were to become popular all over, reinforced by the various radio stations.

“Best Defenses” is quieter, more introverted, again defined by the piano, and it’s mood reminds one a little of Patti Smith in the 70s. No doubt about it, Ms. Meade can sing, and sometimes some very difficult vocal sections parade across the stage.

On the other hand, “Kerri’s Song” seems to have wings. Again, very nice melodies and again very suitable for the radio, without ever cozying up to a particular trend...

The songs “Then I Could See” and “Plucking Whispers” confirm the very good impression that Laura Meade leaves behind. The texts are always about human relationships, though there are no soapsuds here and no ‘love-leave-cry’ clichés are used. On the contrary, there is some serious digging going on here in the suitcase of feelings, and even in the human soul. So here too: Thumbs up!!

According to the label info, the pianist and singer will be going on extensive tours to promote the EP. Maybe she’ll manage a few intermediary stops in the studio, since this EP awakens an enormous desire for a complete album.”

rocktimes.de"

From laura Meade's page http://www.laurameadeonline.com/reviews.html

Is this what Prog Archives is about now?

Iván

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - November 14 2007 at 23:59

micky

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Posted: November 14 2007 at 22:20

NaturalScience wrote:

Well, this is something I was trying to probe...somehow I felt that her relationship with a prog band wasn't enough, that some other criterion needed to be satisfied. But as to what that criterion is...this is the sort of fuzziness that surrounds prog-related.

I guess I'm being a troublemaker. Embarrassed

pffff.... I make a living here being a troublemaker and a pain in the ass... LOL

and yes... there is a hell of a lot of fuzzy surrounding PR.. What I brought up in yet hairball for the admins to choke on. Honestly.. if something had to go.. it would be the 'related' to a prog band addtions. If the music is not related in some way.. it really shouldn't be here. But I'm just putting out my two cents Pat.. that is for the admins to decide.. they are the ones who know what they can.. and can't manage as far as workload and how far they want to take PR. I just try to point out the pitfalls as I see them. Nothing against Laura there... but if the stress is going to drive Tony to drinking and crashing the Xover team thread laying waste to everything beyond the ramparts... we can probably live without her LOL

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

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Posted: November 14 2007 at 22:14

Well, this is something I was trying to probe...somehow I felt that her relationship with a prog band wasn't enough, that some other criterion needed to be satisfied. But as to what that criterion is...this is the sort of fuzziness that surrounds prog-related.

I guess I'm being a troublemaker. Embarrassed