Literature
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Polls
Forum Description: Create polls on topics related to progressive music
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=112621
Printed Date: April 19 2024 at 17:09
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Topic: Literature
Posted By: mlkpad14
Subject: Literature
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 05:24
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I thought this would be a cool poll to do. Peter Hammill - The Fall of the House of Usher In 1839, Edgar Allan Poe published The Fall of the House of Usher, and to this date it is considered one of his most important works. It is a classic in gothic literature, and it is one heck of a wonderful short story. Chris Judge Smith wrote the opera, and Peter Hamill (Roderick Usher and the House) sang in it, along with Lene Lovich (Madeline Usher), Andy Bell (Montresor), Sarah Jane Morris (the Chorus), and Herbert Grönemeyer (the Herbalist). It was released November 1991. The Alan Parsons Project - Tales of Mystery & Imagination In 1976, the debut studio album by The Alan Parsons Project, Tales of Mystery & Imagination, was another nod towards Edgar Allan Poe, and his awesome discography. The lyrical and musical themes of the album attracted a cult audience. The Alan Parsons Project included more literary themes in their other release I Robot (1977), which drew on Isaac Asimov's science fiction Robot trilogy. Note: In general, they are the kings of the concept album, and always include interesting themes in their work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alan_Parsons_Project_discography Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Rick Wakeman, was released in 1974. Its concept was based on the science fiction novel of the same name, by Jules Verne. The album tells the story of Professor Lidenbrok, his nephew, Axel, and their guide Hans, who approach Earth's center using the method Arne Saknussemm originally discovered. In 1999, Wakeman released a sequel called Return to the Centre of the Earth, to positive reception again. Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is the debut studio album by Jeff Wayne, released September 6, 1978. It retells the story The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (1897). The album was met with praise, and since, it has generated other versions of the album, as well as video games, DVDs, and live tours. For more on the structure of the piece, see this wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Wayne%27s_Musical_Version_of_The_War_of_the_Worlds#Reception ------------- https://gamecrazyprofessional.weebly.com/ |
Replies:
Posted By: Matti
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 05:35
| A very very easy choice: Parsons/Woolfson and E.A. Poe. |
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 05:45
| My vote goes to Rich Wakeman, excellent piece of literature from Jules Verne. Alan Parson's Project comes in second. |
Posted By: Mormegil
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 06:50
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Alan Parsons. It has Orson Welles :-) ------------- Welcome to the middle of the film. |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 06:53
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Haven't heard Hammill. Wakeman and Wayne leave me totally cold. Parsons' debut is excellent. ------------- 
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Posted By: maryes
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 07:26
| Wakeman "Journey..." and "1984" |
Posted By: Michael P. Dawson
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 08:07
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Hammill by a mile; Wakeman a distant second. Never heard the WotW album in its entirety. ------------- Buy this thing! https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelPDawson" rel="nofollow - https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelPDawson |
Posted By: digdug
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 09:03
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Since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception, music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry. Music without the idea is simply music. ------------- Prog On! |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 10:10
| this poll really needs a "too close to call" choice. I don't know the Hammill take on Poe, but the other 3 are all great IMO. I'm going to give the slight nod to Wakeman's Journey. I just happened to listen to side 1 recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. Parsons is a great album but the orchestral part could have been left out. If I Robot was on the list the choice would have been more difficult. Jeff Wayne's is great but side 4 is a mess. |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 10:15
Ricky for the win  ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 10:16
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This is a neat idea for a poll. I've not heard the Peter Hammill or Jeff Wayne, so really can't vote. I just thought I would mention Shadow Circus' On A Dark and Stormy Night, which is based on The Wrinkle In Time series. There are probably a number of other albums based on stories too, but that was the first one to come to mind. ------------- 
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Posted By: Wanorak
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 12:29
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Alan Parsons. ------------- A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!! |
Posted By: mlkpad14
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 16:52
Thanks, and I will make sure to check it out! Personally, my favorite is the opera by Hammill. ------------- https://gamecrazyprofessional.weebly.com/ |
rushfan4 wrote:Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: January 09 2018 at 21:27
I'm in the exact same boat. Didn't vote since I haven't heard the Peter Hammill album and could very well like it, but if I were to vote I'd go for Alan Parsons Project. ------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: January 30 2018 at 16:41
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Hammill ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: Squonk19
Date Posted: January 30 2018 at 16:56
Agreed - Tales is very good, but the Project went onto even greater things. Rick's album remains a true prog classic - especially Side 1. Haven't heard War of the Worlds for quite a while - some great songs, but a bit of soft rock filler too. The Caped Crusader for me! ------------- “Living in their pools, they soon forget about the sea.” |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: January 30 2018 at 17:01
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I love those Wakeman and Wayne albums, but as a Poe fan, I can't vote without first revisiting the one by Hammill. I concur we need an "All of the above" option! ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: mlkpad14
Date Posted: January 30 2018 at 19:02
That is what I would vote for! ------------- https://gamecrazyprofessional.weebly.com/ |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: January 30 2018 at 21:49
For me Tales is the best Parsons album (though I agree that the orchestral section, I guess you mean form The House of Usher song, really doesn't work very well), closely followed by I Robot. However, I don't really know how well I Robot would work for this poll, as I understand it, it doesn't really have much to do with Asimov's book (at least I don't find much relation apart from the name and it's theme is robots... I think there's some other book with the same name, I don't know if the album might be related to that one instead). |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: January 31 2018 at 01:03
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Peter Hammill for me. the 1999 version, not the 1990 one. the two versions are very different; the 1999 version is for example completely without drums, and there are many other changes in arrangement too. here an excerpt, the beginning of the second act: and here one of my favorite passages, the duet between Madeleine Usher and Montresor the line-up of the album is this: Roderick Usher - Peter Hammill Montresor - Andy Bell the Chorus (in the sense of the Elizabethan theater) - Sarah-Jane Morris Madeleine Usher - Lene Lovich the Herbalist - Herbert Grönemeyer the Voices of the House - Peter Hammill (in a chorus with himself) Peter Hammill plays keyboards and guitars (and in the 1990 version drums and percussion too); Stuart Gordon adds some violin in the 1999 version -------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: hellogoodbye
Date Posted: January 31 2018 at 01:31
| Poe, translated in french by Charles Baudelaire. |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: January 31 2018 at 02:07
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Peter Hammill actually did another piece of literature in collaboration with the Kronos Quartet, "The Music of Erich Zann" (based on a story by H. P. Lovecraft). the music was composed and played by the Kronos Quartet, Peter Hammill read the story (there were other narrators on other occassions the Kronos Quartet played this piece of music). they performed this three times at the Barbican. anyone who is curios about this can listen to it here: https://archive.org/details/PapersForTheBorderEpisode8" rel="nofollow - https://archive.org/details/PapersForTheBorderEpisode8 ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: mlkpad14
Date Posted: January 31 2018 at 04:41
I will make sure to check it out! ------------- https://gamecrazyprofessional.weebly.com/ |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: January 31 2018 at 07:40
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Hi, I did not enjoy Rick's doing when this came out. It felt cartoonish for my tastes and simplified to try and make it important, and worse ... fit on the length of a LP ... about 40 minutes or so ... which meant ... trim the heck out of the story for it to fit. This, might not have been an issue TODAY, and Rick probably could release a COMPLETE version of the whole thing at about 60 to 80 minutes, and it would sound way better and complete to my tastes ... it just felt like a Cliff Notes version of it, and I quit on it quickly. Probably better, although also limited to the LP sizes, were David Bedford's "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner", and then later "The Odyssey" ... which should have been listed here, but they were more "classical" pieces with voice narrating than a full blown "opera" or work that was more cohesive than just a quick read. But to me, these are interesting, but things like "The Snow Goose" is much better, and more "centered" on its subject/themes to make it much tighter and better. Would have loved to hear/find the one time that supposedly Spike Milligan did the reading for Camel on this ... if it was true. No one was as good about telling stories as he was ... and he left us with many albums and books of these stories! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: mlkpad14
Date Posted: January 31 2018 at 08:53
Personally, I really liked the Wakeman album, and I did not enjoy "The Snow Goose" nearly as much, but that is all very subjective, ain't it? Actually, I love Camel, and that is one of their not as good albums, in my opinion. Well, I can appreciate it, but I never really listened to it all that much... Anyways, I should look up David Bredford. Sounds interesting! ------------- https://gamecrazyprofessional.weebly.com/ |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: January 31 2018 at 22:23
Well, Rick did re-record Journey a few years ago, with better production and a few new songs. Still, I think it lost a bit of the edge of the original release, and Ricks keyboards were stronger and more interesting... the new recording sort of gave way to focus more on the orchestra. |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: February 01 2018 at 05:01
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Tangerine Dream did a few albums based on literature. based on the "novel" of the same name by James Joyce. based on the novel "Der Engel vom westlichen Fenster" by Gustav Meyrink; the English title is a translation of the original German title. their album "Tyger" contains a famous poem by William Blake: the album "The Island of the Fay" shares title with a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe the German band Agitation Free used the lyrics of the poem "Dreamland" by Edgar Allan Poe on their second album for the track "Haunted Island": ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: February 01 2018 at 08:11
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Hi, Tangerine Dream also did Kafka ... The Castle ... and it is a very nice album! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: February 01 2018 at 09:02
yes, and the albums "Inferno" and "Purgatorio" are based on Dante's "Divine Comedy" ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: February 01 2018 at 11:03
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Didn't realize you were a TD fan, BaldJean. I need to pay more attention! Tyger consists of four Blake poems adapted to song (vocals by Jocelyn B. Smith): "Tyger," "London." "The Fly" and "The Smile." Upon release, Tyger was quite the left turn for TD. It was only their second studio album with Paul Haslinger, who filled the void left by Johannes Schmoelling. The band's only other album with vocals was 1978's Cyclone. (And then two more songs would show up on the Shy People soundtrack, released later in '87!) Of course, I liked Tyger upon first listen. It's just that good. The CD also featured instrumental bonus tracks left off the LP/cassette versions.  ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: February 01 2018 at 11:26
| Only album that I´ve heard is Wakeman. It´s long time, but what I remembered, it was quite boring. Have to listen it someday. Anyway I choose Hamill just because I am a big Poe-fan. |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: February 01 2018 at 12:07
and I am a fan of literature. I read all those novels and poems, though I did not understand "Finnegans Wake". but no-one does ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: Dopeydoc
Date Posted: February 01 2018 at 12:11
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My great 1976 vinyl: Tales.... |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: February 02 2018 at 07:41
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when one speaks of prog and literature one must not forget Bo Hansson's "Lord of the Rings" ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: February 02 2018 at 12:04
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Wakeman's project because the late, great David Hemmings did the narration. ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: February 02 2018 at 13:17
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Gentle Giant had a great interest in Rabelais' "Gargantua and
Pantagruel". the songs "Pantagruel's Nativity" and "The Advent of
Panurge" both refer to that novel, and even the band's name was inspired
by it. let's not forget that the "Alice" books by Lewis Carroll inspired both the band Bruford (the song "Fainting in Coils" starts with a quotation from "Alice in Wonderland") and Chick Corea (the album "The Mad Hatter") ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |