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Topic: "Most adventurous" albums included in PA Posted: June 18 2013 at 10:54
Simple question really: Which prog albums do you consider to be the most adventurous and far reaching?
Any speculations as to what "the most adventurous" means to each of us are also very welcome. There are no boundaries here. I acknowledge the fact that we all hear music differently, which is something that preferably should be taken into consideration when people post in here.
No bashing peeps for believing Phideaux's Doomsday Afternoon is the true recipient of said honour, nor that it befalls some new black metal act.
So without further ado, please tell me about the albums you find the most adventurous. Doesn't have to be the most successful - hell it doesn't even have to be good Again you make your own rules, I'll just read whatever you post.
<span style="line-height: 1.2;">Two albums I personally think among the most boundary pushing and adventurous are without a doubt King Crimson's Larks' Tongues in Aspic and Amon Düül ll's Tanz der Lemminge.</span>
Edited by Guldbamsen - May 15 2014 at 16:15
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 11:15
I'll let more informed people tackle the way-out-there stuff, but one album that was more in the rock mainstream but still adventurous, in my opinion, is Rush's Vapor Trails. They basically ditched their style and decided to make a wall-of-sound prog grunge masterpiece that is the heaviest and most complex thing they've ever done.
As I understand it, Vapor Trails followed some tragic events in Peart's personal life. Writing about that afterwards - throwing it straight into the core of the music could also be considered quite adventurous.
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 11:54
For me, determining the "most adventurous" means looking at the album in a historical context...in other words, what came before it? Did it push the boundaries that were accepted at the time it was released? Was it something new and revolutionary? Based on those criteria here's a few I'd go with...
The Beatles - Sgt Peppers (turned the album from a collection of singles into a self-contained art form)
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (defined the genre of prog rock)
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (paired loud guitar with demonic themes creating the first heavy metal album)
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick (1 album, 1 song...had this ever been done?)
Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans (2 albums, 4 songs. How dare they! How pretentious! How cool!)
King Crimson - Red (the first marriage of heavy metal and prog)
Devil Doll - Eliobabalus (a cross between prog and a horror movie)
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 11:55
First, I'll define how I interpret "most adventurous". To me, it means
albums that employed the most unusual (at the time) musical sounds or
recording methods -- albums that achieved a sound that hadn't really
been heard before.
with that as my definition, I submit these:
Magma
- MDK. Just completely different. Up-front choral voices, choppy
rhythms, pianos and horns, even their weird first 2 albums didn't
prepare anyone for this.
Can - Tago Mago. The most adventurous
thing about this was not the repetitive rhythm grooves, nor Damo's
crazed yowling, but the way the album itself was created. Can recording
sessions often took the form of jams, but the songs and the album as a
whole are expertly pieced together from hours upon hours of jams,
creating these strange collage like pieces that still manage to feel
organic and elemental.
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon. Maybe
too obvious, but just think about what that album accomplished from a
sounds and recording standpoint. It's music taken into a new dimension, a drastic widening of the sonic palate. Alan Parsons (engineer) nearly repeated the success a couple of years later with his own I Robot.
Kayo
Dot - Choirs of the Eye. Maybe the most adventurous album of the past
ten years. It took me a few years to like it. It's the first album I'm
aware of to combine chamber music with roaring metal drama, in a way
that doesn't come off forced, and doesn't sound like either a metal album or a chamber album, yet sounds like both (wut?); rather, it's like a strange nightmare
that's been perfectly reconstructed in the real world. It's beautiful
and ugly in equal doses.
Edited by HolyMoly - June 18 2013 at 12:00
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 12:18
King Crimson definitely comes to mind. For me it would be Discipline - a comeback album that saw them redefine their sound for a new decade.
A modern equivalent in my mind would be Mars Volta. Reforming after At The Drive In to make the delightful Deloused in the Comatorium.
Of course 2112 should also fit in here - The band was basically done after their "Down the Tubes Tour" in cupport of Caress of Steel so they decided to go all-out with no compromise on a concept album and well... look where it got them!
*can't seem to get a youtube link for this one working so please whistle the opening whooshes of Overture while you look at this album cover*
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 12:38
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum- Donkey Headed Adversary of Humanity
And you know... I find some of the avant-garde black metal out there to be some of the most adventurous music. I would say "La Masqurade Infernale" by Arcturus definitely feels like an 'adventure.'
I like the fact that we've gone from Tull to Volta to Sabbath to CAN to Kayo Dot. A strange mix of differentiating styles, eras and expressions.
Also really cool to see you guys approaching this thread in your own way. Specifying why you choose what you choose.
I'll elaborate a bit on Tanz der Lemminge then. Going straight from the heavy tumultuous Yeti, ADII went all out and beyond with Tanz. You've still got the wild experimental laissez faire approach lingering, only now disturbed by a series of wonderfully zany, off kilter, cabaret like tunes, that are as orchestrated and composed as a Beatles album, only waaaay more out there on a ledge. I don't think any other band could've pulled off an album like this. Especially back in 71.
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 12:41
Guldbamsen wrote:
Like I said, any input is welcome
As I understand it, Vapor Trails followed some tragic events in Peart's personal life. Writing about that afterwards - throwing it straight into the core of the music could also be considered quite adventurous.
Yes, plus the fact that nothing like it had ever been made before. That's one of the reasons I love the album - it's totaly unique. It takes two seemingly incompatible musical concepts (garage-rock bad production grunge and complex, layered progressive rock) and smashes them together.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum- Donkey Headed Adversary of Humanity
And you know... I find some of the avant-garde black metal out there to be some of the most adventurous music. I would say "La Masqurade Infernale" by Arcturus definitely feels like an 'adventure.'
I'm more of a Sham Mirrors guy myself, but I can dig it.
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 13:11
Ambient Hurricanes wrote:
Guldbamsen wrote:
Like I said, any input is welcome
As I understand it, Vapor Trails followed some tragic events in Peart's personal life. Writing about that afterwards - throwing it straight into the core of the music could also be considered quite adventurous.
Yes, plus the fact that nothing like it had ever been made before. That's one of the reasons I love the album - it's totaly unique. It takes two seemingly incompatible musical concepts (garage-rock bad production grunge and complex, layered progressive rock) and smashes them together.
That must be why I've always had trouble listening to that album. I just couldn't quite process it. You make a good case for it though, maybe I can approach it better now.
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 14:39
Smurph wrote:
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum- Donkey Headed Adversary of Humanity
And you know... I find some of the avant-garde black metal out there to be some of the most adventurous music. I would say "La Masqurade Infernale" by Arcturus definitely feels like an 'adventure.'
Of Natural History is a great album, definitely adventurous!
on a somewhat related (not not really) note: Porcupine Tree's On The Sunday of Life is likely their most varied and eclectic. A favorite of mine
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Posted: June 18 2013 at 15:30
Smurph wrote:
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum- Donkey Headed Adversary of Humanity
And you know... I find some of the avant-garde black metal out there to be some of the most adventurous music. I would say "La Masqurade Infernale" by Arcturus definitely feels like an 'adventure.'
Not sure if they're considered "avant-garde" black metal but I would point to Enslaved. I think their 2001 album "Monumension" would qualify as adventurous as it mixes black metal with Norwegian folk and viking influences to create something new.
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"Most adventurous" albums included in PA
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Again you make your own rules, I'll just read whatever you post.
(wut?); rather, it's like a strange nightmare
that's been perfectly reconstructed in the real world. It's beautiful
and ugly in equal doses.
Guldbamsen wrote:
