The Necks
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Other music related lounges
Forum Name: General Music Discussions
Forum Description: Discuss and create polls about all types of music
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=134986
Printed Date: May 28 2025 at 11:10
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: The Necks
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Subject: The Necks
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 04:41
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One of the greatest bands out there in the last three decades. I think they have a natural place in the Progarchives, but it's not of great importance to me. I included both live and studio, as the live ones feature original material/improvisations anyway. Vote for up to three, and post a list of all your favorites - if you like. Sex, 1989 - not heard Next, 1990 - 5/10 Aquatic, 1994 - 9/10 Silent Night, 1996 - not heard The Boys (Music for the Feature Film), 1998 - 7/10 Piano Bass Drums (live), 1998 - 8/10 Hanging Gardens, 1999 - 10/10 Aether, 2001 - 6/10 Athenaeum, Homebush, Quay & Raab (live), 2002 - 7/10 Drive By, 2003 8/10 Photosynthetic (live), 2003 - not heard Mosquito / See Through, 2004 - not heard Chemist, 2006 - 9/10 Townsville (live), 2007 - 8/10 Silverwater, 2009 - 6/10 Live at WFMU on Brian Turner's Show 2/10/2009, 2010 - not heard Mindset, 2011 - 7/10 Open, 2013 - 8/10 Vertigo, 2015 - 7/10 Unfold, 2017 - 8/10 Body, 2018 - 8/10 Drift Underworld & The Necks (collaboration), 2020 - not heard Three, 2020 - 8/10 Travel, 2023 - 9/10 Bleed, 2024 - 8/10 Back to Top |
Replies:
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 04:45
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Voted for: Hanging Gardens (1999) Travel (2023 Aquatic (1994) -seven more for a top ten: Chemist (2006) (love it just as much, but I got to follow my own rules:) Unfold (2017) Three (2020) Piano Bass Drums (1998) Bleed (2024) Open (2013) Townsville (2007) |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 07:00
| Haha, a super specialist poll... given that I consciously only know four, it's hard to vote for three.... anyway, Hanging Gardens is so good, I throw the first vote in here. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 09:12
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I love what I know of The Necks, and I too think of it as PA worthy. While I don't know most of these albums, I voted for Hanging Gardens which I find incredible. So second vote there. I also very much like Drive By, Body and Three and enjoyed Travel a lot. I really like the jazzy post-rock qualities of various The Necks. And in The Body, which I should have mentioned in my three tracks topic over 40 minutes long, I like the Krautrock sounds. And Drive By for there too. Awesome. ------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me. |
Posted By: Gordy
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 09:43
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Ahem https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=125790" rel="nofollow - https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=125790 I love a great many of their records, but Sex will always hold a place in my heart (and was on when I had my first DMT trip). |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 09:54
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^ I know you linked to this album in that topic. It's jazz plus. Can they do the Can can? https://youtu.be/qE8g2W0mWOY?si=dyRdCg1-4YhUZF5Q&t=1463" rel="nofollow - https://youtu.be/qE8g2W0mWOY?si=dyRdCg1-4YhUZF5Q&t=1463 Yes they Can. Let's see what the new album holds too from this year. In or out of PA, great band regardless that I find has music fit for this site. By the way, not suggesting mutiny, but I wish some of us could get together and create our own site sometimes. One that embraces a wider diversity of progressive and art music. I'd love to work with all who have posted in this topic on some project at least. ------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me. |
Posted By: Gordy
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 10:07
| ^I just realised I'm actually on the Post/Math team, so there's no reason why I shouldn't take them to Luca and see what he thinks. "Post-rock" is one of the many tags listed on RYM. If that fails, Greg, would you be down to make a case for them in Related? |
Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 10:15
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It was via PA'S very own Sean Trane that I acquired my first CDs by The Necks a couple of decades back. I now own most of their discography in one form or another and I have seen them live in London a couple of times. As for narrowing it down to my three favourites, that's a very tall order. I will go with Hanging Gardens Piano Bass Drums Unfold Hanging Gardens is perhaps the most PA friendly, and sounds a bit like parts of In A Silent Way Piano Bass Drums is a good example of their long form live improvisations, with no electronic instruments or overdubs. Unfold is my favourite of their releases featuring 3 or more tracks in the 15 - 20 minute range. Overall their discography is remarkably consistent, and there isn't anything that I wouldn't recommend. ------------- '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: Logan
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 10:27
I would be down to do that. Musically, of course I can link it to Post-Rock (Swans specifically), JRF artists, and Krautrock (like Can). It has collaborated/worked with Swans (and is one of Gira's fave acts) more than once so I would think PR should be quite easy. Be an easy yes for me. The more relations the better. I love various The Necks albums but don't know much about the band yet beyond that. By the way, a favourite of mine that is part jazz, part Krautrock that I thinkj various The Necks people would like is Niechęć. Maybe I will make a formal suggestion for that (I;ven been into it since 2016). ------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me. |
Gordy wrote:Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 10:28
I'd say sidelong pieces such as "Signal" from Travel (but most of the album really) and "Bloom" from Three (actually most of Three as well) both have more in common with Post Rock then with Jazz Fusion. Maybe that's a little surface level, but I associate quite a bit of their output with Post Rock. Something in the way they tend to groove steadily along - or drive, that just "rocks". |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 10:33
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^ The post rock qualities of The Necks is big factor of what appeals to me often about the band. And the Krautrock in Body which i reminscent of how Swans incorporates Krautrock in say The Glowing Meaning. Of course Swans' leaving meaning and The Necks, say, Travel have similarities. ------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me. |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 10:38
| ^ I should relisten to Body |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 10:40
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^ It's a wonderful album. I hope that any who might think it's only jazz might listen to, say, that track from about 24 minutes in. That album is a slam dunk (no-brainer) for PA to my ears, and of course the Necks has much other material that I would have thought would have made it easier for people to accept. Incidentally, I got especially into The Necks some years ago because of its Swans relations. The Necks is one of those, damn this is so great, bands for me. The more I listen...  While I like jazz, I got into The Necks for its post rock (or post rock-like) qualities to a very large extent.------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me. |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 11:21
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Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 11:31
I think the post rock feel is more overt when Tony Buck adds guitar overdubs, which I first noticed on Chemist. They are much more than the sum of their influences, though. ------------- '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: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 12:41
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^ Yes. And it's kind of what I meant when acknowledging that I'm probably hearing some surface level similarities. I do not think they actually are Post Rock as such. The effect their music has on me often feel quite similar though. It rarely remind me of experiencing other jazz. Maybe some of The Necks music is Post Rock in the way that Herbie Hancock's Crossings is jazz Rock Fusion. Meaning that the music came from a different mindset, and they've probably never attempted to create music in that (or any) specific style. Although the music itself is indifferent, a listener may still find a place for them in a (for them) familiar neighbourhood. Like when Silly Puppy hears things in early Durutti Column that makes him claim that they "created Post Rock". Vini Reilly and his band, much like The Necks carved out their own sonic space that they operate within. Then online nerds like me come in much later and insist that whatever band is this or that genre. That said, I refuse to believe that a good chunk of "Body" isn't the least bit inspired by Neu!/Harmonia type of Krautrock, though (much like a lot of Post Rock is). |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 15:18
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Seems obvious that Body was inspired by that kind of Krautrock (I mentioned Can, for a lame joke at first, but I should have mentioned Neu! and Harmonia which inspired various post-rock and a band like Stereolab). Since Swans and the Necks have worked together, The Necks personnel were involved with Swans' leaving meaning, it makes a link to post-rock/experimental rock clearer. Blue Mountain off Unfold sounds so post-rocky to me (it's the atmosphere, tension and release...). Call it post-jazz if one likes. ------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me. |
Posted By: Gordy
Date Posted: May 25 2025 at 15:47
Now added to the Post/Math charts with my Yes! |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: May 27 2025 at 11:00
| ^ Cool. I can think of many hours of music in total by the Necks that I stongly associate with Post Rock. |
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: May 27 2025 at 11:57
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Hanging Garden for me though I enjoy everything by them i have, maybe 7 albums. They are transcendental live. ------------- Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/ |
Posted By: Gordy
Date Posted: May 27 2025 at 12:08
Where did you catch them in performance? My prayers for them to come to Ohio were literally answered: they were meant to play just an hour from me... in April 2020 
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Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: May 27 2025 at 14:37
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I've seen them in Boston twice and at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. ------------- Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/ |