do you like the "dark side" of the discography?

The Dark side..

I guess Genesis is easily the hottest topic on this thread, but I have to follow suit with Invisible Touch and ABACAB being so called, dark spots on their discography. I find nothing wrong with those 2 albums, but it Was quite a shocker how different those albums really were compared to the 'classic era' of their music.
We can't dance is ok, but I do not favour it.

RUSH-- I love Hold Your Fire and Presto.

Pink Floyd--A Momentary Lapse of Reason. I can't for the life me figure out why so many have a real 'hate on' for this album. The final Cut has absolutely nothing on this album, yet some think it is a better album? That goes way over my head. AMLOR is a great album with just a couple of blemishes on it where as The Final Cut is a bloody world war 2 bandage soaked in sh*t. Lol. Sorry that is just how I feel.

Dream Theater-- I happen to really like, not love SYSTEMATIC CHAOS.
Like AMLOR it has it's small dark patches on it, but otherwise it is a good album.

Neo-Romantic wrote: The only bands I can honestly say I like even the "dark sides" of their discographies are Rush and King Crimson. They never seemed to stagnate or lost their creativity. Their writing just changed. Maybe not for the better overall, but there are still some gems to be found. Vapor Trails, Power Windows, and The Power to Believe are excellent albums in my book, and they would definitely be missed from my collection if I never heard them again. I'll admit though that the only reason I list those two groups is because they're also the ones whose "dark sides of the discography" I'd consider myself comfortably familiar with. A lot of my favorite groups are recent additions thanks to discovering this site not too terribly long ago, so I'm still not too familiar with a lot of groups' entire catalogs just yet.

The.Crimson.King wrote: Neo-Romantic wrote: The only bands I can honestly say I like even the "dark sides" of their discographies are Rush and King Crimson. They never seemed to stagnate or lost their creativity. Their writing just changed. Maybe not for the better overall, but there are still some gems to be found. Vapor Trails, Power Windows, and The Power to Believe are excellent albums in my book, and they would definitely be missed from my collection if I never heard them again. I'll admit though that the only reason I list those two groups is because they're also the ones whose "dark sides of the discography" I'd consider myself comfortably familiar with. A lot of my favorite groups are recent additions thanks to discovering this site not too terribly long ago, so I'm still not too familiar with a lot of groups' entire catalogs just yet. It's funny but I don't really consider Crimson as having a "dark side" to their discography.  Each decade brought a different approach and different personnel that could be considered a different band.  I've stated in earlier posts that I wish the 80's entity would've gone with their original plan and called the band Discipline because the approach was such a radical departure from the 70's entity.  Further, the 90's version might as well have named themselves, "D'Double T'Trio" or something because, once again, it was a radically different approach that brought in new players.   Or maybe I'm just too much of a Crimso fan boy to admit they have a 'dark side' to the discog

Haha nothing wrong with that viewpoint whatsoever 

Dark side is just a relative term for me (albeit not a very endearing one) as there are just times I prefer more. I never really cared for their 80s efforts as a whole, and regard the LTIA - Red lineup as one of the best prog ensembles to ever exist. It's all a matter of comparisons to me, especially since I enjoy The Power to Believe, an album from outside their "peak", as better than other groups' entire discographies.

Well I should make this one clear about Ozric Tentacles Paper monkeys, where by I love the album even though it has not been very well received here on PA. It's a great album to my ears.

All the great Prog bands started making crap albums.  Some recovered a bit.. but I don't see any of the classic Prog bands as continuing upward from where they were. 

Yes was over for me after Drama.
Tull's "A" was the end
Genesis ended when Hackett left.
Camel ended with "I can see your house from here"
Rush ended with "Signals"
ELP ended on a beach somewhere
Mahavishnu ended with "Inner Worlds"
Floyd last great album was  "Animals"
VDGG ended at" Pawn Hearts"

I did find King Crimson's 80's trio of albums to be very progressive using 80's sounds.
I also think they continued to experiment and push new boundaries through "Construction of Light"
and even "Eyes Wide Open"

Hackett had a hiccup with a couple weak efforts "Cured" and "Highly Strung" which were awful.. but bounced back
and all his releases now are excellent.

Ultimately once technology replaced musicianship, digital editing instead of practicing, ones and zeros instead of analog tape... the great music ended. 

I always looked to Prog for inspiration.. not entertainment.

^ well Surrealist I can only disagree with on your Rush opinion. Many great albums have come after Signals. Actually, Grace Under Pressure was a terrific album. Neil's drumming is out of this world on 'Between The Wheels.'
You can't deny that. ;)

^ Well progbethyname I can only disagree with your Pink Floyd opinion. The Final Cut was a terrific album lyrically and musically. The excellent use of satire and emotion Waters put into it surpass the more superficial quality AMLOR had. Gilmour Floyd was good, but he's a second rate lyricist compared to Waters.
You can't deny that ;)


Edited by CKnoxW - August 01 2013 at 12:47

CKnoxW wrote: ^ Well progbethyname I can only disagree with your Pink Floyd opinion. The Final Cut was a terrific album lyrically and musically. The excellent use of satire and emotion Waters put into it surpass the more superficial quality AMLOR had. Gilmour Floyd was good, but he's a second rate lyricist compared to Waters.You can't deny that ;)

In some cases I can agree with you, but I don't agree with you where you say that AMLOR has superficial qualities to it...well maybe a little bit on Dogs of War, but AMLOR has every bit of the same emotion and heart felt subject matter about the post traumatic cases of War, as The Final Cut.
Its just my opinion though. :)

The.Crimson.King wrote: ... It's funny but I don't really consider Crimson as having a "dark side" to their discography.  Each decade brought a different approach and different personnel that could be considered a different band.  I've stated in earlier posts that I wish the 80's entity would've gone with their original plan and called the band Discipline because the approach was such a radical departure from the 70's entity.  Further, the 90's version might as well have named themselves, "D'Double T'Trio" or something because, once again, it was a radically different approach that brought in new players.   ...