Quality vs Quantity

Hi,

moshkito wrote: dr prog wrote: Quality all the way. Give me a 2 minute gem over a 20 minute borefest Hi, "Borefest's" ... are not that bad ... in the old days when you were stoned immaculate at the Fillmore, all the "borefests" were far out ... and no one has ever complained about The Grateful Dead ... maybe because they were far richer than anyone else ... and they couldn't careless about the comments anyway. They still played and did their thing ... and while I'm not a great fan, they have, in every concert, some really fine moments! I think that "commercial music" has taken away the ability of a lot of "fans" to enjoy music ... and I kinda see folks that say that about "borefests" as someone that will not appreciate classical music later in their life ... and find some far out and wonderful things done with it ... and rock music tried ... were it not that we now consider "progressive" anyone that develops something from a riff only ... and then the whole piece still has exactly the same parts as any song listed in the top ten! To me, THAT is a borefest ... continually doing the same thing ... over and over ... and it's about time that drummers go back to school to learn how to "accent" the music, not just playing a beat straight through it and make it sound .... the same ... and expect the lyrics to bring it alive. This kind of thing is by far the poorest of all "progressive" bands, many of which are listed here. They deserve their mention and nickel, but perhaps not within a "progressive" mold since what they do is not progressive at all! Quality is about developing something different and doing it well ... or you can give that guitarist a 9th string so he can solo even longer! AND he still won't be able to be as good as Egberto Gismonti was!

As long as I enjoy the composition then I’m fine with a 15 minute song. If it’s just a very simple melody then I’ll be bored. There has to be some complexity and cleverness to keep me interested

Quality over quantity, of course.

Yet I wouldn't complain if an artist/band is/are very productive, albeit still inspired.

dr prog wrote: Quality all the way. Give me a 2 minute gem over a 20 minute borefest

Edited by moshkito - August 24 2020 at 16:52

Quality of course. The more albums a band produces the more it tends to repeat themselves. And rare exceptions like Bowie-type chameleons only confirm the rule. I mean if you're not a die-hard fan of a certain sound and don't limit yourself with one genre, do you really need ALL Motorhead, AC/DC or Rick Wakeman albums?

chopper wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: ^ I totally agree. If Drama had been the last Yes album, then I would have missed out on so many great Yes albums that followed it, including 90125, ABWH, Talk, The Ladder, Magnification, Fly from Here, and Heaven & Earth.   Exactly, not to mention that 90125 is their biggest selling album I believe

Davesax1965 wrote: Anything that is not "quality" is not "music", in my book.  It's "product".

moshkito wrote: chopper wrote: ... Exactly, not to mention that 90125 is their biggest selling album I believe Hi, I just have to ask ... why does the biggest selling album is important in a discussion of "quality vs quantity"? Again, is all we can talk about just commercial success because we don't believe in things that we think are not right or good? I happen not to thing that album is very good, and is one of the few of their albums I DO NOT HAVE!

Psychedelic Paul wrote: ^ I totally agree. If Drama had been the last Yes album, then I would have missed out on so many great Yes albums that followed it, including 90125, ABWH, Talk, The Ladder, Magnification, Fly from Here, and Heaven & Earth.

ssmarcus wrote: Argo2112 wrote:  I was looking at the 10 Ten Progressive Band thread going around now.   When I was trying to make my selection and figure out what order to put them   in I realized I had to balance out bands that had a lot of very good, but not necessarily great material vs   bands may have fewer songs I like , but the ones I like are outstanding.  So where do you fall on the Quality vs Quantity discussion? I will die on the hill of quality. I wish bands would have more self awareness about their legacies and know when to say enough is enough, my band has no more to say. I know I read somewhere that Robert Fripp has said somethign similar when asked about making mor King Crimson albums.  For my taste, a tight high density discography like say Led Zeppelin's or Tool's carries so much more weight than say Yes. I mean just imagine Yes called it a quits after their late 70's breakup and their last album was Drama. Think about how much more mythical Yes' legacy would be had they done that. At this point, not only do we see them as mortals, but deeply flawed ones. In number terms, at this point, most of their musical output is actually sub-par which is crazy to think about.

If Yes had called it quits after Drama, then I would have missed many great songs that I love, like Be The One, Mind Drive (at least half of the song), Endless Dream, The More we Live, Birthright, Shock to the System, Spririt of Survival, Dreamtime, In the Presence of, and even Owner of a Lonely Heart (as well as some of my favourite versions of their classic songs that were played in the 90's). Actually, they would have had to quit before Tormato. And for me, many of the albums done after the 70's actually have as many songs that I love as their 70's albums (the only albums that I love as a whole from them are Fragile and CttE). Still, Yes are my second favourite band, because those 2 albums are so great that they deserve it, and all the bunch of songs they have doned besides those 2 albums make a really wonderful collection of music that I have to go back to often enough.