Losing Hope In PA's Top Album Lists

P.A. Serves as a guide to prog music, they are the most credible site and have the most extensive collection of info and music/albums

Edited by Kati - June 26 2015 at 22:05

I do take an active effort to promote new groups I think deserve more of an audience here, in particular if I find them to have well thought out original takes on their genres. Earlier this week I started a thread about the progressive sludge metal group Inter Arma, who had a new record out in Autumn last year titled The Cavern, which is very ambitious and interesting. Though officially an EP, it's one single 45-minute composition... like a sludge metal Thick as a Brick! Thing is that so far it's only one person who's replied.

For the record I don't listen to quite as much 1960s/1970s music as I used to but more from the last 20 years or so, which I guess means I'm somewhat out of synch with many people here's cultural frames of reference. My recent last.fm playlists show very little music from before the 1980s, and that which is there is from artists who are recognized today as ahead of their time.


Edited by Toaster Mantis - June 28 2015 at 03:51

Guldbamsen wrote: Oh and I listened to that Northlands album too, Austin, and found it extremely sleep inducing. I wouldn't rate it above To be Kind or Twilight Cinema either, but I think a lot of peeps on here would. Another thing worth mentioning is that neither of the latter two albums sound like classic prog rock....Northlands does. I think a lot of PA members got their hands on To be Kind after having read all those wonderful reviews, only to feel cheated when they first played it 'That's not prog momma!!!!!' WTF!?!?!?!!!'....which then translates into bad ratings. On the other hand, it seems like the members who bought Northlands knew what they were getting into. Major Parkinson and Swans are divisive acts just like Can is. Took me a long time to understand why Tago Mago didn't feature in our top 100, but it came to me eventually: when music starts veering too far away from the symph prog mold you are going to get very scattered opinions. For a more interesting way to make lists (which I also do), then experiment with the filters. I often use the one that deals with the amount of ratings and set it to maximum 50 or 20 ratings. A whole new world opens up.

Right on the money. I have little interest in listening to/purchasing that a Northlands album. It features Steve Hackett, a big name that I've lost faith in. But most of those who buy that album are those that are expecting to like what they find, and they're probably right. But To Be Kind and Twilight Cinema are from names that less people in the prog realm know. The reviews and descriptions pique their interest, but the purchase is more of a gamble. Not to say that the music can't be appreciated on its own merit by people besides avantmanic sadomasochists. But you can't expect everyone who buys an album they are unsure about to love what they here. Especially on first listen.

Dean wrote: Who are "Losing Hope"? What's their album called?

we're all doomed, doomed I say...