The Ultimate Prog Band

Completely unfeasible for several reasons, but:

Kerry Livgren - guitar / keyboards
Steven Wilson - vocals / guitar
Chris Squire - vocals / bass
Sarah McLachlan - vocals / keyboards
Tomas Bodin - keyboards
Neal Peart - drums

Aw man...

Jon Anderson (vocals)
Peter Hammill (vocals)
Robert Fripp (guitar)
Chris Squire (vocals/bass)
Rick Wakeman (keyboards)
Dave Sinclair (keyboards)
Bill Bruford (drums)
Guy Evans (drums)

So yeah...

Jonas Reingold- bass

Frank Zappa - Composer and Guitarist
Eddie Jobson - Electric Violin and Keys
Bill Bruford - Drums
Stanley Clarke - Bass

I kind of UK, but more complex and fun.

Off the top of my head:

Ian Anderson - vocals & flute
Andy Latimer - guitar, flute & vocals
Geddy Lee - bass, vocals
Okke Komulainen (Liekki) - keyboards
Bill Bruford - drums

^where's the bass player?


















Kidding....

woah.

WalterDigsTunes wrote: I'll play your game... I propose a power trio. Drums/Percussion- Chris Cutler Violin- David Cross Vocals- Mark E. Smith

Interesting!! I could actually see that working... kinda.

Most times people play this game (and yeah, this thread's happened 700 times now, no doubt) people tend to just pick virtuosos on every instrument, which is a mistake IMO. Music rarely survives when too many egos are involved.

So anyway, here's an interesting one. Not the "ultimate prog band", but certainly a line-up that could've produced a very interesting album or two of Canterbury oddities, I reckon:

Drums, Vocals, Trumpet, etc. - Robert Wyatt
Piano, Organ - Dave Sinclair
Bass, Vocals - Richard Sinclair
Words, Vocals, Harmonium - Ivor Cutler

Just imagining what an album made by that lot would sound like fills me with a warm glow!

^I agree on the virtuosos+virtuosos = fails many times, but still, the members of my "ultimate prog band" were chosen by style of each, rather than for their virtuosity: Bill Bruford jazz playing would fit perfectly in the case of Uncle Zappa, Zappa's wide range of styles could fit with any of these musicians, Eddie Jobson, well he worked before with Zappa, and I think he would give a great touch with his violin, and then Stanley Clarke's jazz bass would certainly fit in the likes of Bill and Frank.

Vocals - Bono (U2)

So, this is an unusual choice for a prog band, but hey, these are just concepts. Bono handles his voice extremely well, and I think that it would fit to more prog music also. He also brings many kinds of emotions up when he's singing, but he'd probably handle the rockier, maybe more positive parts. And to the next one..

Vocals  - Maynard James Keenan (Tool)

Yeah, Maynard. His voice is just awesome - he can do it clean, he can do it with distortion, but one of the biggest reasons I chose him is that he handles the anxious, maybe a little bit depressive / negative parts, the parts that aren't maybe so fast, but they have tension! I don't know, but I think that he could handle the more positive, mellower parts too, having the flexible voice he has. So, a diverse singer for the second vocalist, that's it! Let's continue to the instrumentalists...

Guitar - Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)

He's got the talent for more basic, streamlined rock'n'roll songs, but also for 10-minute psychrock jam sessions... He's also got feeling - no stupid tap-arpeggio-tremolo-spammings, just pure feeling with vibratos and bends to the right places. I like it!

Guitar - Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree)

The slower, mellower parts and acoustic songs would be given to Steven, I love his acoustic guitar -work! (Trains etc.) Blackfield's acoustics are too very good, but Wilson isn't any amateur with the electric guitar either, so he is my pick for the second guitarist.

Bass - Chris Wolstenholme (Muse)

Woah, his bass playing has got feeling and I like it a lot, even though sometimes it sounds very much like guitar, that is just good and it shows the diversity of his skills... But he can also play in the background, no need to solo all the time. So him.

Keyboards - Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)

I knew I couldn't make a band with at least one DT-member, and that would be Jordan, since his playing is the most recognizable in DT (LaBrie excluded xP) and I really like his solos and pitch bends and stuff. And even though Space-dye vest, the best keyboard-song DT has ever made isn't played by him, he does still have his own merits.

Drums - Tuomas Peippo (CMX)

Maybe he ain't the most technical polyrhythm-doublebass-speed-maniac, but he's got the rhythm, sometimes he has got cool musical solutions and on top of that, he's Finnish! (Go, Finland!) So, no overly complex decisions in the drummer part here.

So that's probably the basic line-up, though I can't say for sure that those are absolutely the best players of their instruments in the world. :P