The art of building an epic

Very good discussion. A nice example is Pink Floyd; just check out this sequence:

Atom Heart Mother --> Echoes --> Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

The epics on Animals are like a recapitulation of all these previous phases, just before going into a short songs period.

Speaking of Floyd, I much prefer the early work to the lethargic, sprawling, and utterly smooth works of the post Dark Side albums (though even Meddle, my favorite Floyd album of them all, and Dark Side have those qualities I suppose........but they were the rough templates of what was to come, the initial experiments if you will).  I think Wish You Were really marked the end of their wild experimentation (or maybe even Meddle), which I just find so enjoyable and interesting...........and, well, PROGRESSIVE

Many people say their albums were spotty in the old days, but I say they were varied and interesting.

But we are talking about epics.  I'd have to say that there is more variation in Atom Heart Mother than in any of the epics that followed.  Certainly more distinct sections.  Of course, Echoes is my favorite epic of all Floyd epics and it probably has the least amount of variation of any of them.

I think Genesis is really the best example of a band making their epics more seamless as they went along.  And I really think they lost more than they gained in the process (though I love W&W as well).  Duke contains a quite lengthy epic, though it is cut up and spread across the album, but it is the most smooth and seamless of them all.  And I find it rather dull and lifeless as a result.



 

For me on this I like to look to Rush - my favourite epic by them, that I've heard, is the Fountain of Lamneth. I wouldn't necessarily say it's their best epic, or their strongest epic, but when I listen to it, I can hear the experimentation, I can hear the band stretching themselves, figuring out what works and what doesn't, and it's a lot of fun to listen to.

Anglagard is another good example - I feel as though Hybris has a lot innocence whereas Epilog is much more matured. In this case, it's actually the more mature work, Epilog, that I prefer.

With Genesis it's hard to say. It depends on my mood, really. I will agree that WAW has a more sophisticated edge to it. I think in part that has to do with matured songwriting, in part that has to do with more down-to-earth lyrics with Gabriel's departure, and in part I think it has to do just with the general "dark-and-gray" vibe of the album. It has a sort of quiet and calm elegance to it - it is possibly one of the best cases of the album cover describing the music inside. That being said, I find myself reaching for Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot far more often, so who knows?

How about Caravan? Did they get to craft mature epics? I haven't listened too much of their stuff, and what I heard was more of the "theme and variation" type.