Godspeed You! Black Emperor

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=129555
Printed Date: June 07 2024 at 16:24
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Subject: Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Date Posted: August 16 2022 at 13:26

F♯A♯∞ (2 track LP, 1997, 3 track CD, 1998) 1,2, 3

Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada E.P. (1999) 4, 5

Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven! (2000) 6, 7, 8, 9

Yanqui U.X.O. (2002) 19, 11, 12, 13

'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (2012) 14, 15

'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress' (2015) 16, 17

"Luciferian Towers" (2017) 18, 19

G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END! (2021) 20, 21

I think every single track included in the poll is great actually, but their first three releases somehow feel more important and essential to me (and probably to most). Maybe they are, or maybe it's just because I heard them first. If you don't know their music yet you should do something about it. Their music is beautiful, intense and cathartic. One of a kind although I can't think of any existing band out there that has more copycats than GY!BE. But "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" and some of them do a decent job at it.

There wasn't room for everything they've ever recorded, so I dropped the seven tracks in thir discog lasting less than ten minutes (not counting the 26 tracks on their 1994-cassette).

-------------

Replies:

Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: August 16 2022 at 13:44

I haven't heard all of these. The first Godspeed album I got into was Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven! And then F♯A♯∞, then Yanqui U.X.O. (which I haven't heard for a long time). Without revisiting now, and I have been listening to Godspeed of late, I went with "Storm".

-------------
Just a music fan passing through trying to fill some void. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Various music I am into now: a youtube playlist

Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: August 16 2022 at 14:09

Providence gets my vote.

Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: August 16 2022 at 16:14

I haven't heard the 2015 and 2017 releases (I should, I know) and was somewhat disappointed by the 2021 one, but I really love their earlier material. I vote for Static over Dead Flag Blues, but I agree that all (before 2015) are ultimately great.

Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: August 16 2022 at 18:01

Not possible to choose.

I'll toss a vote to Mladic to do something.

-------------
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: mathman0806
Date Posted: August 16 2022 at 20:18

I agree it's really difficult to pick one. I could choose differently at any time. My vote today goes to East Hastings.

Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: August 16 2022 at 23:08

Lewian wrote:

I haven't heard the 2015 and 2017 releases (I should, I know) and was somewhat disappointed by the 2021 one, but I really love their earlier material. I vote for Static over Dead Flag Blues, but I agree that all (before 2015) are ultimately great.

I've been a little undecided-or on the fence with basically all of their post-comeback albums actually. They've had less impact on me than their earliest "classics" that's for sure. Pre-millenium GY!BE made music that felt like it was of great importance, both to me as a listener and to the performing musicians themselves. The rambling maniacs, the sounds from the streets and all things added to their extremely patient, slowly building ascending/descending compositions made the whole experience feel larger than life. Most if not all of the armada of bands from all over the world that took inspiration from their sound, lack these elements that made GY!BE so special. So unique.

Now the strange thing about their "new" quartet of albums is that they've all felt somewhat dissapointing to me at some stage (on second listen in particular). But upon revisiting maybe after a year or two, I usually end up asking myself "what was my problem again? - this is great!". When I get back to F♯A♯∞, LYSFLAtH... - I'm reminded of what isn't there anymore though. -Still, while I'm in the midst of listening, it's all great - even overwhelmingly great. That's what matters the most.

Btw: That said my biggest frustration is with Luciferian Towers. Which features parts of what should or could have been their ultimate post-comeback magnum opus known from their live sets as 2 Nouveau Tower. As a studio version they split it into Fam/Famine + Undoing a Luciferian Towers. Also it's played in reverse order as track 3 and 1. Anticlimatic to say the least. In the CD-age those two combined would surely been the 20 minute+ monster epic it was always meant to be... now it's not even in the poll:(

-------------

Posted By: Rick1
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 02:14

Can't understand why this band gets overlooked by prog fans who tend to salivate over their much less interesting compatriots, Rush. My introduction was Yanqui U.X.O and I was amazed.

Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 02:18

Rick1 wrote:

Can't understand why this band gets overlooked by prog fans who tend to salivate over their much less interesting compatriots, Rush. My introduction was Yanqui U.X.O and I was amazed.

two very different bands, i think both bands are respected and appreciated in their own way.

Posted By: Rick1
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 03:00

Cristi wrote:

two very different bands, i think both bands are respected and appreciated in their own way.

I think I still suffer from having Rush rammed down my throat as a 14 year old in the form of the execrable 2112!

Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 05:32

Rick1 wrote:

My introduction was Yanqui U.X.O and I was amazed.

I had all their three previous releases in my collection before I got to this one. So it was actually a little dissapointing at first. Not anymore though. Over the years listening to this, I feel like this the most compostionally interesting and sophisticated release. A mature work - which is not a bad thing. I now feel that its the perfect conclusion of their first era.

-------------

Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 11:41

Rick1 wrote:

Can't understand why this band gets overlooked by prog fans

It's interesting to compare. At PA we're lucky if we get this poll to a second page. This is how the music fans at RYM rate this band: Only Beatles, Radiohead, Pink Floyd and King Crimson and a couple more are "bigger"

-------------

Posted By: Rick1
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 13:02

Saperlipopette! wrote:

Rick1 wrote:

Can't understand why this band gets overlooked by prog fans

Then we get into the question of what is prog rock... c'est la vie, as the late, great Greg Lake once sang...

Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 13:09

Rick1 wrote:

Then we get into the question of what is prog rock... c'est la vie, as the late, great Greg Lake once sang...

Do we? How?

-------------

Posted By: RockHound
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 15:12

I can't vote.

Their song titles mean nothing to me, yet their music means everything to me.

Imagine that!

Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 15:14

RockHound wrote:

I can't vote.

Their song titles mean nothing to me, yet their music means everything to me.

Imagine that!

I was actually in the same situation; I had to quickly check what is what before I voted.

Posted By: Progmind
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 16:06

Static gets my vote

Amazing band

Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 19:19

F# U# ∞

-------------

Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: August 17 2022 at 22:53

Lewian wrote:

RockHound wrote:

I can't vote.

Their song titles mean nothing to me, yet their music means everything to me.

Imagine that!

I was actually in the same situation; I had to quickly check what is what before I voted.

Same here. Besides these are their actual full titles (and they're sometimes change from release to release)

(Dead Flag Blues)*

Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful...
- "...Nothing's Alrite in Our Life..." / Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)
- The Sad Mafioso...
- Kicking Horse on Brokenhill
- String Loop Manufactured During Downpour...

Antennas to Heaven
i. Moya Sings "Baby-O"...
ii. Edgyswingsetacid
iii. (Glockenspiel Duet Recorded on a Campsite in Rhinebeck, N.Y.)
iv. "Attention... Mon ami... Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La..." (55-St. Laurent)
v. She Dreamt She Was a Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone in an Empty Field
vi. Deathkamp Drone
vii. (Antennas to Heaven...)

A Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind) (4521.0kHz 6730.0kHz 4109.09kHz) / Job’s Lament / First of the Last Glaciers / where we break how we shine (ROCKETS FOR MARY)

Sometime in between Lift Yr. Skinny... & Yanqui U.X.O. they even changed their name from Godspeed You Black Emperor! to Godspeed You! Black Emperor

*originally not written as a main title

-------------

Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: August 18 2022 at 03:20

I've liked pretty much everything they have done, although Yanqui UXO has always been the runt of the litter for me, but the album I return to most is Lift Yr Skinny Fists. On this occasion Sleep gets my vote.

-------------
'Like so many of you
I've got my doubts about how much to contribute
to the already rich among us...'

Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom

Posted By: digdug
Date Posted: August 18 2022 at 07:22

all are great

voted

East Hastings

-------------
Prog On!

Posted By: rushaholic
Date Posted: August 18 2022 at 07:27

rushfan4 wrote:

F# U# ∞

LOL

love both bands. no song picks atm though. very much appreciate their (GYBE) earlier stuff though.

Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: August 18 2022 at 08:33

My friend burned me a copy of one Godspeed' CD with a long 20-minute plus track where towards the end is heard an AM/PM gas station recording warning customers of persons not associated with the company performing unapproved activities on the premises. He labeled the CD with only the band's name, so I don't know the track's name. Anyway, it's a epic track that speaks well for the band. Unfortunately, I can't vote here.

-------------
"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno

Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: August 19 2022 at 00:25

Rednight wrote:

My friend burned me a copy of one Godspeed' CD with a long 20-minute plus track where towards the end is heard an AM/PM gas station recording warning customers of persons not associated with the company performing unapproved activities on the premises. He labeled the CD with only the band's name, so I don't know the track's name. Anyway, it's a epic track that speaks well for the band. Unfortunately, I can't vote here.

That's from Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (first track) "Storm" (part III, from ca, 17:25) "Welcome To Barco AM/PM..." [L.A.X.; 5/14/00]

"Welcome to Arco AM/PM Mini-Market. We would like to advise our customers that any individual who offers to pump gas, wash windows, or solicit products is not employed by or associated with this facility. We discourage any contact with these individuals, and ask that you report any problems to uniformed personnel inside. Thank you for shopping at Arco AM/PM, and have a pleasant day"

-------------

Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: August 19 2022 at 09:25

^Thanks, Saperlipopette!.

-------------
"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno

Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: August 23 2022 at 00:19

^ :)

GY!BE is one of the (few) bands I'd love to own a official live album from, but they never made one. But among loads of bootlegs (that I haven't heard), we got "Hung Over as the Queen in Maida Vale" - their unique Peel Session version of:

1 0:00-10:11 - movement II of 'Sleep' 'Monheim',

2 10:11-12:41 - movement III of 'Static' - 'Chart #3')

3 12:41-18-50 (the stunning, unreleased) - movement 'Steve Reich'

-which combined could have been the highlight on Lift Yr etc... I'd say this is just as essential listening as any of their studio classics.

-------------