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Topic ClosedNew Phideaux album "Number Seven" now out

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Slartibartfast View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2009 at 20:37
Originally posted by Roland113 Roland113 wrote:

Phideaux,

Congrats, not only on a fantastic album, but the fact that it keeps climbing slowly up the charts of all time best albums on the Prog Archives.  I realize that it's still early in the life cycle of the CD, but 43 of the 51 people gave it five stars, including everyone who took the time to accompany the review with a rating.  Strong work Phideaux.

Clap

Are we some kind of hive or something? TongueLOL


Edited by Slartibartfast - July 26 2009 at 11:51
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2009 at 21:25
I just ordered this. I can't wait to hear it.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2009 at 21:33
Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:

Originally posted by Roland113 Roland113 wrote:

Phideaux,

Congrats, not only on a fantastic album, but the fact that it keeps climbing slowly up the charts of all time best albums on the Prog Archives.  I realize that it's still early in the life cycle of the CD, but 43 of the 51 people gave it five stars, including everyone who took the time to accompany the review with a rating.  Strong work Phideaux.

Clap

Are we some kind of hive or something? TongueLOL


Hah, well played Slarti
-------someone please tell him to delete this line, he looks like a noob-------

I don't have an unnatural obsession with Disney Princesses, I have a fourteen year old daughter and coping mechanisms.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 25 2009 at 22:24
Great Album! LOVE it!Smile
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 10:14
Hey everyone,

Well this is my first post here on PA (though i have been around for quite some time) and I just couldn't resist complimenting your latest effort.
I've been an admirer of your music for some time and after having given this album about 15 spins I have to say that Number Seven is a masterpiece, maybe even better than Doomsday Afternoon.
The melody, the complexity and the flow of the album as a whole is all perfect to these ears. Congrats on the end result Phideaux!

Oh and I might write a review (my first one) later ;-)



Edited by Zebedee - July 26 2009 at 14:46

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 12:28
I have listened this new album and I loved it.
This is the music I love: very close to Doomsday Afternoon's retro prog.
Sometimes it seems like Mike Oldfield. Anyone realize it too?
Let the sunshine in
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 13:43
Sorry to rain on the parade here, but I have now spun this album 3 times (not wanting to jump the gun) and I am afraid I have a very different take on it.
 
A sprawling album that spends alot of its time trying to work out what it wants to be, which is awash with muddy reverbs and features some very dubious timing issues in the drums and keys department.
 
There are some great ideas here struggling to get out from under the obvious desire for gravitas through over arrangement. A pity because the basics are very well crafted.
 
The hat is passed around and Tull, Renaissance, Moody Blues, Jeff Wayne drop into it, as the album unfolds, ticking some unseen boxes 
For me the highlight is "My Sleeping Slave" for its inate simplicity and clarity
 
If this is indeed a 'masterpiece', then I for one am very disappointed.
 
Maybe next time?
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 13:47
lolz, attack on the first post.


Your opinion is your opinion. It seems a lot of people think differently than you. I've even seen 1 star ratings for Close To The Edge and Thick As A Brick. Does that make them bad? No, not at all. If you don't like it then you don't like it. Sorry for you.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 14:35
Nigela, I would be curious to know where the keys and drum timing issues are.  Always interesting to hear something from someone else's perspective, so I'd love to know where it goes off the rails for you re: timing.

As for Jeff Wayne, I've not gotten that before.   I have not ever heard him, except for the Hayward sung track (from Moodie's box).  Perhaps I should check him out.  I thought he was along the lines of Alan Parsons, never really checked it out.

cheers and thanks for the thought and input from everyone.  And Nigela, thanks for giving it the old college try with the spins!  That's more than I'll listen to some albums that annoy me!

EDIT:  Nigela, you should rate it and post a review.  Then your opinion will help balance all the hoopla and hype surrounding it!


Edited by Phideaux - July 26 2009 at 14:38
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 15:51
Just upacked and heard "number 7".
Oh God ! it seems to be my 2009 number 1 album!
congrats Xavier!  my review will follow soon  Smile
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 16:05
I'll get back to you on the bits that I though were a bit woolly.
 
King By-Tor, please do not feel sorry for me... that is really patronising as my opinion is equally as valid as yours and I know what I like (in my wardrobe)
 
No, I do not want to do a review really, I have said all I needed to. My opinion after all, but I do like alot of Phideaux material, so I was wanting to air my concerns, do with them what you wish
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 16:17
I thought my 1,000th post would some memorable thing but here goes:

I have been through it four times and it is a challenging listen.  I am hamstrung in that I have difficulty with any of my music in being able to sit down and concentrate on what is going on.  Short commute to work. Although I listen at work, I lose focus on the music as I work.  Wife and kids at home who could care less about my music so I don't play it at home.  An album like this is something that needs to be listened to intently, not as background music.  It will be hard album to review and do it justice because a lot is going on and not many melodies stick with you.  I appreciate the scope and the desire to keep moving forward that Phideaux shows.  You are someone who stands out from the pack and defies convention.  If I had to rate it now, it would be four stars with the hope that more listens will hook me deeper than it has so far.  For those who like a challenging listen and appreciate what the man is all about, a must buy.  For those with simpler tastes, look before you leap.
Biggles was in rehab last Saturday
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 16:37
I tend to think of it as an album of 3 or 4 songs with a lot of transitions.  However, I'm interested that the melodies don't stick, that was always something I thought we had, was simple melodies.  perhaps this one is getting more abstruse!

I do know that the next one (which is mostly in the can) is a bit more stripped back and hence a bit simpler...

Let me know if anything gets into your mind from this one, Johnobvious
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 16:59
Originally posted by Phideaux Phideaux wrote:

I However, I'm interested that the melodies don't stick, that was always something I thought we had, was simple melodies.


Hmm... interesting indeed. I find the melodies on this album to be much more memorable than on, for example, Doomsday Afternoon. The first vocal lines in 'Waiting for the axe to fall' will probably be stuck in my head for weeks LOL

Friendship is like wetting your pants: everyone can see it, but only you can feel its warmth.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 20:14
Tried listening to it today, here are my thoughts:

Great production
Great playing (especially piano)

BUT

I lost my attention after about the 5th or 6th song. I don't think I was in the mood for it, so I'm coming back to it later this week and I'm going to give it a more proper listen.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 26 2009 at 20:25
Originally posted by Phideaux Phideaux wrote:

I tend to think of it as an album of 3 or 4 songs with a lot of transitions.  However, I'm interested that the melodies don't stick, that was always something I thought we had, was simple melodies.  perhaps this one is getting more abstruse!

I do know that the next one (which is mostly in the can) is a bit more stripped back and hence a bit simpler...

Let me know if anything gets into your mind from this one, Johnobvious


PX, man you are cool.  I want you to know I think it is great you are spending time here on the forums and are looking for the stripped down truth from people on this site.  People who most usually are brutally honest and not the fan boys you would find on myspace and whatnot.

I am worried that you are to hung up on feedback here from people whose credentials are dubious at best.  I have never played an instrument or wrote a note of music. I am 43 and have heard my fair share of prog but am no expert.  You have made a wonderful album.  I have heard Chupacubras and DA and like both very much.  When you offered up Fiendish for free on your website, I downloaded it, hated it and threw my burned copy away.  I was never going to give you another chance but all the positives for DA thankfully convinced to do just that.  I also respect your business model.  Your CD's are low priced but I would assume you make money since you have your own label.  Since there is very little touring, I would hope you get compensated from CD sales since seeing musicians pour their heart and soul into their music and not get monetarily rewarded tends to depress me, especially when I like what they are doing.

I would like to think you and I have something in common.  We make something from nothing and hope people get it.  Stay with me here.  I work for a well known pet products company here in the states.  Pet products is a hugely fragmented industry with hundreds of companies selling tens of thousands of items trying to get their piece of the pie.  My job is to crunch huge amounts of data into a usable format that means something for my management, sales and marketing forces.  I would like to think that I am the preeminent authority on this stuff in the entire industry.  The pain I go through to do it is monumental but people only see the end result and are quick to find fault instead of appreciating the scope of what I have done.  I am sure you feel the same way.  The old saying, "Don't tell me about the pain, just show me the baby" is something we both can relate to.

What I am trying to say is you have put something out there that is good and the people here at PA will acknowledge that and hopefully that will translate to sales.  Please don't second guess yourself and worry about some of these ratings and other comments.  The cream rises my friend.  I wish you only the best.
Biggles was in rehab last Saturday
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 27 2009 at 01:37
Oh Johnobvious, thank you for your concern and kind words.  I am actually in a pretty zen place and although it is a bit of a rush to see ratings come in, I'm really not hung up or second guessing.  Don't worry.  I had a great piece of advice in poetry class in college.  The teacher said that we were not to try and defend our work.  If people got it, great, if they didn't - they didn't.  Meaning:  Criticism is valid because it shows you what people "got" without you there to explain it, etc.  He also pointed out, however, that just because someone comments one way or another doesn't make them "right".  Also, 20 people could all hate the thing you create and you still love it.

For instance, I love Fiendish and it is exactly as I intended it to be.  It has lived up to my hopes and goals.  The fact that you felt it was so bad you had to throw it away interests me.  PROBABLY if I wasn't on my 7th album, I'd take it more personally.  Now, I am just mostly interested. 

So, don't worry.  I'm curious and interested in feedback, but not overly internalizing the results.  Besides, I'm already onto the next album and it is what it is - and I LOVE it.  Just as I love Number Seven.  However, there are secret things about Number Seven that bug and annoy me as well!

So, it's all very fun and cool that I can read people's critique and have a give and take.  I see what is popular in the "progressive rock" genre.  I realize that what we do is not exactly in step with certain avant or metal trends, so I expect a bit of antipathy.  I say bring it on!

cheers and thanks (it's late and I'm just home from a party!  Excuse the ramblings...)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 27 2009 at 02:27
"...I expect a bit of antipathy.  I say bring it on!"
 
 A big thumbs up from me for this attitude Mr P on behalf of all of us out there swimming against the tide!

Crtiticism can be hard to take especially when you have invested so much of your own time and personaility into something leaving little room for objectivity, post release
The very fact that so many people are actually bothering to write down their praise and/or issues with the album shows that you have made an impact. (I wish I could get this number to sit and discuss my stuff , despite my fragile ego!)
 
Carry on the good work, hope to see you soon (you never know, I might get invited to the USA!)
G
 


 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 27 2009 at 11:19
I'm hopeful to see you here in the USA soon mr. M.  I trust you got my parcel.  If not, let me know.

PX
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 27 2009 at 21:38
Well, there you go, Phideaux. Your new album gets its first, unabashed, hateful review. Enjoy differing opinions! Though this one is a touch scant on actual reasons, at least it's not perfect glowing praise...
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