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The Hemulen View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: After Crying
    Posted: March 15 2005 at 17:40
These chaps haven't been mentioned anywhere near enough on this board!

I'm sure there must be a LOT of fans round here, especially with the King Crimson crowd (they have that same tendancy to drift towards menancing and dark sounds with their music). So, let's talk about them! What are your favourite albums? What do you like most about them? OR do you hate them? And if so, how?

Thoughts.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 15 2005 at 17:57
Well I've only heard the track available in the Bio section "Welcome on board".I really enjoyed it but reviewers of the album "Show" seem to be saying that it is not representative of their work.
Can you enlighten me?



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 15 2005 at 20:11
i know after crying 6 and it is absolutely outstanding!
[HEADPINS - LINE OF FIRE: THE RECORD HAVING THE MOST POWERFUL GUITAR SOUND IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF MUSIC!>
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 15 2005 at 21:01

I've only heard Megalozottak, and really liked it (see my review).  I haven't been able to find any of their other albums.  I'd like to.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Peace.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 15 2005 at 21:18

I second Greenback's choice. "After Crying 6" showcases everything that's good about the band: the strength of the compositions, excellent musicianship, top-notch production (only equalled by the subsequent album "Show") and not a single weak track. One of my personal all-time favourites.

 

[IMG]http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b311/Progueuse/Album.jpg">
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2005 at 02:12

Yeah, After Crying is a superb band - excellent musicians and innovative composers. My favourite albums of theirs are De Profundis and Föld És Eg.

Föld és Eg (Fire and Water) might appeal to fans of ELP due to the very Emersonesque piano playing.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2005 at 04:56
Originally posted by Reed Lover Reed Lover wrote:

Well I've only heard the track available in the Bio section "Welcome on board".I really enjoyed it but reviewers of the album "Show" seem to be saying that it is not representative of their work.
Can you enlighten me?


No that's not representative of their older work (still good though). Check out some of their older albums, I've only heard parts but they were good parts for sure.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2005 at 06:07
I've still not heard "Show", but I shall at some stage, no doubt. Though they have experimented with various styles in the past, (the first half of  Föld és Ég for example bears a nasty resemblence to ELP ), they generally stick to their own brand of moody, pseudo-classical ...jazz, really. The jazz element seems to manifest itself SLIGHTLY more than the rock, but really the over-powering feel of their music very modern-classical and filmic. Ocassionally I refer to Godspeed You! Black Emperor as the poor-man's After Crying, as they share this overtly orchestral feel, but AC has oodles more power, bombast and musical skill. What GY!BE lacks in those departments they have to make up for in pretension.

Megalázottak és Megszomorítottak is a ripper of a debut album and a fine place to start. If you like that then move on to De Profundis (a little patchier, but twice the length, so perhaps that's forgivable), and 6 (which I only acquired the other day and haven't really had a chance to explore properly yet, but seems to be up to their usual very high standard). I'd say they're one of the truly essential modern prog bands - unlike the neo-prog clan, After Crying are completely uncommercial, and totally original in their approach to music making.

As for where to get their albums... I am but a poor student. A poor student with a good internet connection... *coughs* But their albums are available to order online from quite a few sellers, I believe, though you might have more difficulty getting them in a real-life music store. Regardless, their music is worth pursuing to the ends of the earth! For the unitiated they will prove to be a real breath of fresh air!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 04:37
yeah, I'm starting to explore this band and like what I hear so far. There's also another good Hungarian band called Solaris which I'd like to hear more about ... any ideas?

Edited by felona
I was never really sure what I was waiting for. When the moment came I was looking away ......
The Church "After Everything Now This"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 04:40
Originally posted by felona felona wrote:

yeah, I'm starting to explore this band and like what I hear so far. There's also another good Hungarian band called Solaris which I'd like to hear more about ... any ideas?


I have Marsbéli Krónikák (Martian Chronicles) and I know for a fact you'd go for it in a BIG way, Felona. Very melody-driven, gorgeous harmonies, piano, moog, flute etc Oh, and it's mostly instrumental. Very much your thing, I think. Does the site have a sample? If not I'll send you one.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 04:46

yeah, I've *just* downloaded a sample from that album you mentioned ...

oh dearie me, I can feel my wallet drifting upwards, getting lighter... and lighter ...  

I was never really sure what I was waiting for. When the moment came I was looking away ......
The Church "After Everything Now This"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 04:49
Originally posted by felona felona wrote:

yeah, I've *just* downloaded a sample from that album you mentioned ...

oh dearie me, I can feel my wallet drifting upwards, getting lighter... and lighter ...  



Enjoy it!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 04:53
*sighing wearily, extracting credit card from wallet ... whilst enjoying the music*
I was never really sure what I was waiting for. When the moment came I was looking away ......
The Church "After Everything Now This"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 04:56
I must be addicted ... need help ... mumble... wumble ...
I was never really sure what I was waiting for. When the moment came I was looking away ......
The Church "After Everything Now This"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 05:23
"Marsbeli Kronikak" is an essential album. Maybe not a complete masterpiece if we are critical, but it was released in the eighties!! Not many albums from the eighties that can top that. I also have "Nostradamus - Book of Prophecies" from 1999. It's excellent as well and nowhere near as spacey.

After Crying is great but like it has already been said avoid the album "Fold es Eg" if the three letters give you headache.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 05:28

Originally posted by geezer geezer wrote:

"Marsbeli Kronikak" is an essential album. Maybe not a complete masterpiece if we are critical, but it was released in the eighties!! Not many albums from the eighties that can top that. I also have "Nostradamus - Book of Prophecies" from 1999. It's excellent as well and nowhere near as spacey.

After Crying is great but like it has already been said avoid the album "Fold es Eg" if the three letters give you headache.

ah yes, those words do give me a headache - what a relief - so that's one less album to worry about getting ...

I was never really sure what I was waiting for. When the moment came I was looking away ......
The Church "After Everything Now This"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 05:37

Hi TP,

I had the album 6 (or G) on loan and thought they were a cross of ELP , KC with lots of classical music (reminding me very much of the late The Nice albums) but it lacked directions.

They came around six or seven times to play in Belgium and I caught them once! Brilliant musicians but something lacked in the unity of their show and I found the same on the two records I heard! They have a small but fidel following in this country!

I also heard De Profundis : it seems to be the most recommended album!

let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 06:25

Of their first four albums, I'd say "De Profundis" is the one for me. The others are good, too. "Fold es Eg" was incorrectly translated before, it means "Earth and Sky". I am still waiting for 6 more of their albums in the mail - from my parents in Hungary. I find the vocals in Hungarian, or any other language rather week and disturbing though. The Hungarian lyrics are sometimes interesting to me, but wouldn't represent any excitement to the rest of the World.  I could do with fully instrumental stuff instead.

There is a conflict of artistic direction between the two main people there, the cello and the keyboard player, hence the seeming lack of direction - while most compositions are still excellent. The first one is more into the KC style and largely responsible for the darker, more captivating approach - also for my renewed interest in cello....!  (I grew up next to a cello student practicing all day, every day and I never thought that I could bear another sound of that intrument, well, I was wrong.) The keyboard player is the Keith Emerson incarnate and he left the band to pursue his own stuff - something I haven't had the chance to hear as yet.

My copies of AC, SBB, Finnforest, Pohjola, Tolonen, etc were obtained by mail order through "Wayside Music" in the US. Over the last 15 years, they were reliable and I haven't had any disappointment with prompt delivery. I am not sure of their current catalog, I no longer use a credit card and as such, I can't obtain any more stuff. They are on the Net, but I only read the album reviews these days - when I have spare time.    

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 08:38
Originally posted by Trouserpress Trouserpress wrote:

Megalázottak és Megszomorítottak is a ripper of a debut album and a fine place to start.


Just a quick correction - Megalázottak és Megszomorítottak is not their debut. Overground Music is their debut, and a fantastic album in its own right. Not much ELP cloneism on that one, just beautiful classically-oriented symph prog in the style of MeM - my only complaint is that the vocals are in slightly awkward English. Still, "Shining" from that album is one of After Crying's best compositions regardless.

I think Megalázottak és Megszomorítottak is far and away their masterpiece though; the 22-minute opener is jaw-droppingly beautiful. An absolute must-hear. And while it's true that the first half of Föld és ég is too ELP-influenced, the latter half is another incredible, original, uniquely beautiful piece of music. The 13-minute closer "Kétezer év" might just be my favorite single piece by After Crying; I have no words to describe it other than "gorgeous." So don't avoid this album just because it has ELP-like parts - I hate ELP with a passion, but Föld és ég is my second favorite After Crying album!

I don't like After Crying's later stuff nearly as much - from 6 onwards but really starting with De Profundis. When they lost Vedres Csaba they really lost most of their unique personality imho. Luckily, Csaba released an album under the name Townscream called Nagyvárosi ikonok that is just as good as early After Crying - definitely the next album to get after the first three or four AC discs.

Fantastic stuff, I just wish Townscream/Csaba were still active in progressive rock but instead he's been releasing solo piano discs for the past few years.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 30 2005 at 08:43
6 is the only album i've got so far, though they're high on my list of priorities. Show i've wanted for ages but can't find it at a reasonable price. to be honest i'm not a big fan of the vocals on 6. they're kind of non distinct for the most part.
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