3rd Rd. Classics: Aja v. The Alphabet Album
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Topic: 3rd Rd. Classics: Aja v. The Alphabet Album
Posted By: micky
Subject: 3rd Rd. Classics: Aja v. The Alphabet Album
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:06
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Starting off the 3rd round classics with a bang.. even if the bands are not the most explosive out there. One of the Vegas pick 'em's and expected to go to the last votes In the near corner.. Steely Dan!!! and in the far corner... Harmonium!!! may the most popular album win!   ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Replies:
Posted By: Meltdowner
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:24
First vote for Harmonium  Why do you call it "The Alphabet Album"?  |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:26
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if I have to cut and paste the album title everytime I reference it... it earns that moniker ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:28
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2nd vote for Aja.. a no doubter for me.. it transcends being a great mere prog or progressive rock album... it is simply one of the best almost letter perfect... albums ever made. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: zravkapt
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:30
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Asia > Quebec ------------- Magma America Great Make Again |
Posted By: Meltdowner
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:32
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That makes sense I think it's also called "Les Cinq Saisons", I saw that title many times... it's much shorter |
Posted By: The Bearded Bard
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:40
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Si On Avait Besoin d'une Cinquième Saison for me. Yeah, Micky, typing it is a chore. -------------  
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Posted By: Xonty
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:46
"The Alphabet Album" comes way out front. Utterly unique and gorgeous, plus Harmonium single-handedly helped me ace my French speaking exam. So in return, here's a vote! 
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Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 08:49
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First listen to Aja. I wish I could say I hated it to create more drama but I don't. It's immaculately executed fusion with an emphasis on real instruments and sits somewhere between Joni Mitchell's forays into jazz and what Bill Bruford would be going for a couple of years later. Reminds me a little of Songs in the Key of Life at times. If The Rotters Club and Aja were crisps, Aja would be like the Rotters Club crisp with all the flavour licked off by a cat (nb. I know cats that do this). I can't say I'm terribly fond of the vocals (nothing ventured, nothing gained), the musicianship is really fine stuff but split between excellent execution of extraordinary parts (that pair of solos on Home At Last is *wonderful*) and excellent execution of completely safe parts. I'll be giving it more time and attention in the future, certainly. I warmed to it as I went and felt the second half was way stronger than the first if still prone to dipping its toes in the cliché pool but I'm not sure the dynamic here was ever really going to sit with me like a proper band line-up would. Now, I think Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquieme Saison might be the best (and honestly, other than the Strawbs and Pentangle prog folk is largely in the realm of affectation rather than real influence) prog folk album we have on the site and will make an argument for that in my next post. |
Posted By: GKR
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 10:11
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Aint fan of Harmonium, but I'am going with them. ------------- - From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 10:35
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Harmonium by several seasons. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 11:14
| Aja |
Posted By: LearsFool
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 12:37
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Harmonium -------------  
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 14:39
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Aja.......and I can't believe that people are voting for some Frenchies over the Dan. Are you serious...?  ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 17:45
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Two of my favorites. ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |
Posted By: Nightfly
Date Posted: August 08 2015 at 18:09
| Aja...simply flawless. |
Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 13:02
| Si On Avait for me. Extraordinary piece of work, and one I completely didn't appreciate at first. I liked bits of Steely Dan but a bit too toothless. |
Posted By: Wanorak
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 13:10
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Not a fan of either but my vote goes to Steely Dan. Harmonium is boring to me, sorry. ------------- A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!! |
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 13:26
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Harmonium quite easily, SD does nothing for me. ------------- Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/ |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 13:50
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If we ever need a fifth season....and quite easily too. I dig Steely Dan's Countdown to Exstacy plus a couple of other ones but have never been able to get into Aja. I miss some balls whenever I pop it on. It just flows by me without notice. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Michael678
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 14:08
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Aja ------------- Progrockdude |
Posted By: addictedtoprog
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 14:19
| Aja |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 14:29
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C'mon....2 more votes for Aja....we can't let those French baguettes win. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 14:48
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Oh, this is very, very difficult! Maybe the most difficult of this round of classic polls. Well... Okay, voting for Aja, then... |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 14:51
  ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Moogtron III wrote:Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 14:59
I think I forgot the mention Donald Fagen's Nightfly in my top 100 recently. Love that album. Steely Dan is not far from it and there's something about their music which is totally cool. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 15:02
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I noted that... the Nightfly was just outside mine. Such a great album! ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 15:11
One of the few albums where I love the lyrics, the thematical material, almost as much as the already brilliant music. Taking your girlfriend to the atomic bombshelter (New Frontier), the International Geophysical Year... The concept of the Nightfly, the guy deejaying jazz records in the night, the picture at the front of the record... So atmospheric, so totally cool. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 15:16
exactly... it was an album that did exactly what Fagen likely intended for it to do.. to transport the listener to HIS childhood. Fabulous stuff man. I need to put that on later.. been awhile since I've played it  ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: August 09 2015 at 16:49
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Si on avait ------------- |
Posted By: memowakeman
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 13:39
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Harmonium ------------- Follow me on twitter @memowakeman |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 14:04
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WTF? AJA! ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 18:21
Enlist your recruits, gringo. We're waiting for you!  ------------- |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 18:28
but but Aja still has its ace in the bullpen.. how many arms you all have left to throw out ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Cailyn
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 18:33
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Ajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaja!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------- http://www.cailynmusic.com |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 18:33
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amen brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Cailyn
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 18:49
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um, sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------- http://www.cailynmusic.com |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 18:50
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------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: emigre80
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 18:56
Yeah, Cailyn! also: AAAAJJJJAAAA!!!!!! Just saw SD in Nashville this past Saturday - one of their usual great shows.
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 19:03
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AMEN SISTERS!!!! ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: t d wombat
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 20:13
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Wow, I voted yesterday and without the usual blather. How odd. I still don't get how AJA makes it into a Prog rock poll ffs but for me it still rates as a near perfect piece of pop that I could go no other way even though Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquième Saison is quite lovely. ------------- Andrew B “Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” ― Julius Henry Marx |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 20:47
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you aren't the first Andrew... their addition here was... ummm.. highly contentious. Some did not think they belonged.. but enough did. They were actually added in Xover.. but the J-R team wanted them.. actually were the first to accept them. I just took them in Xover to ease the shock as some have very narrow conception of J-R.. mistaking the whole branch for the 1000 note a second flurries of the musically talented.. but songwriting challenged. Steely Dan was a intended.. yet not without controvsery.. ie.. BLOOD! .. expansion of the notion of what the site (and J-R/F) means to cover. Some disagreed.. some agreed.. and the site won by having them added.. let the listener decide. The funny thing.. the best part... for such a famous group.. I've gotten PM's thanking me (as my name is on the addition and old timers caught wind of the bloodshed behind the scenes) thanking me for helping expose them TO the group. that is the mission of the site.. not definitely stating this band is prog or this one is not.. it is taking those that CAN be considered and getting them. Respecting all views.. not strictly a catholic view. the name of the game is exploration and exposing people to this music. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: t d wombat
Date Posted: August 10 2015 at 22:17
I find that very hard to believe but we'll let you and your delusions alone.  Please refrain from mentioning Catholic tastes .... I'm still having Ivanmares ..... to the last line but shouldn't that be exposing this music to people ?------------- Andrew B “Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” ― Julius Henry Marx |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 11 2015 at 05:51
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oh no Andrew... don't mistake todays forum for yesteryears... it was quite the lively and engaged forum. Additions back then did generate a lot of interest and feedback. Plus my reviews of the albums did seem to get some response..I thought they were the best series of reviews I did, even if incomplete.. I did indeed get PM's. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Flight123
Date Posted: August 11 2015 at 05:59
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Well, I am mystified as to why Rush are counted as 'prog rock' but I guess its all down to opinion - Steely Dan make the cut for me and the title track of this album stands alongside the more 'traditional' prog rock classics. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: August 11 2015 at 07:26
Actually, I have a hard time believing that 5è saison could get eliminated by a (however good) pop album on a prog site, especially when the prog album is one of the best example of symphonic prog folk.  If I was a bit mischievous, I'd suspect tampering from micky (SD is is fave band overall, if memory serves), just like his sudden avatar change would be also an enticement against Salty Dog JK, micky, of course.
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Posted By: Prog Sothoth
Date Posted: August 11 2015 at 11:33
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Two of the better "prog that goes well with sex" albums. Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquième Saison has the advantage of being French, although the sex it compliments is more of the flirty-playful kind. Aja is a much steamier affair, involving more bodily fluids & functions (more post-lovin' clean-up as well). Both are real good, but I'll give the slightest edge to Aja...quite the dish. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 11 2015 at 16:32
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amen brother!! That is one way to look at them ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: t d wombat
Date Posted: August 11 2015 at 18:08
Nah ... just pullin'your leg mate. I'm sure you did and do get PMs ..... however abusive they may be.
I still feel a bit guilty about that vote. Trouble is I absolutely adore Aja, always have ... otoh I've had Saison playing through yesterday afternoon in the off ice and last evening at home. It really is, to repeat myself yet again, a truly lovely album.
Nothing wrong with flirty/playful after all.  ------------- Andrew B “Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” ― Julius Henry Marx |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 11 2015 at 23:15
Actually... I never thought Aja would make it past Bitches Brew..nor beat Eros... the album is playing with house money now. Interesting potential matchup with Ommadawn if it gets out of this one. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: akaBona
Date Posted: August 12 2015 at 17:34
| Aja |
Posted By: Komandant Shamal
Date Posted: August 13 2015 at 02:02
| i voted for ultimative jazz-rock masterpiece "Aja"! |
Posted By: Andrea Cortese
Date Posted: August 13 2015 at 15:29
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Harmonium for me. Never cared that much for Steely Dan. Don't know why.
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Posted By: Warthur
Date Posted: August 13 2015 at 15:46
| I love both of them, but Aja takes me to a place other albums just can't reach. |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: August 13 2015 at 19:14
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Hilarious. ------------- 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: WrytXander
Date Posted: August 14 2015 at 10:52
Though it is the saddening kind of hilarity... ------------- 20+ prog bands discovered and explored in 3 years, still going strong... |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: August 14 2015 at 12:09
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Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows that the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That's how it goes Everybody knows ------------- |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 14 2015 at 15:10
well.. Aja sure took off here. Last time I looked at this they were only ahead by one. So much for the spread on this one. Then again.. it is just another whimpy sympho snooze fest.. against one of the most perfect albums ever made. Perhaps it shouldn't have even been this close. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: August 14 2015 at 15:45
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Though it's not my favourite SD album, Aja gets my vote. What I've heard of the Harmonium album didn't exactly set my world on fire. |
Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: August 14 2015 at 16:48
Pfff - schmaltzy jazz pop by committee without one ambitious note against real prog folk with things like structure and ideas and a heart. It's a disgrace. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 14 2015 at 18:24
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doesn't say much for your opinion then ...Rob now does it. But...Hey join the club. .every swinging dick on this forum loves Genesis.. the few that don't are pariahs. I'm King of the Pariahs here.. I'll take you into the club! Ahhh.. a depth of intellectualism that most ham-handed amateurish psudeo-intelectual wannabe lyricists can only dream of... musical talent that most bands can only dream of having... and a complexity all the more brilliant for being hidden in the velvet glove of 'accessible music' Nice writeup on the album... Those who hate the band call them sterile, surgical, cold. Which is sort of the point. Fagen and his band mate Walter Becker - fundamentally sociopaths masquerading as benign dictators - like to give the impression they're being as insincere as possible, the very antithesis, frankly, of almost everyone else in the music business. Aja is as gentrified and as anal a record as you'll ever hope to hear. Fagen and Becker's masterpiece is a homage to passive-aggressive studio cool, even though they were as disdainful of the palm tree and flared-denim world of Los Angeles as the whey-faced urchins from west London. The band's nihilism is plain for all to hear, disguised as FM-friendly soft rock. Fagen's lyrics are dispassionate, the architecture of their songs often labyrinthine, the guitar solos ridiculously sarcastic. Yet on Aja they made some of the most sophisticated, most polished, most burnished music ever heard: "Black Cow", "Deacon Blues", "Home At Last" and the rest. Aja is also the record that many musicians rate as the personification of musical excellence. Technically and sonically it is beyond compare. (The late New York Times critic Robert Palmer - no relation to the singer - said that Steely Dan's music sounded like it had been "recorded in a hospital ward".) You rarely meet a musician who doesn't love some aspect of Aja, and whenever I've interviewed a rock star at their home, I've often seen a CD copy around the place somewhere. It used to be played constantly in those places where you went to buy expensive hi-fi equipment, and can still be heard in the type of luxury retailers who understand the notion of immersive wealth.------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: August 14 2015 at 21:20
Listen more closely, friend. ------------- |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: August 14 2015 at 21:32
What exactly defines an ambitious note, though? Aja is full of weird chord progressions, even if not nearly to the same extent as Pretzel Logic or Royal Scam. Maybe that's part of the problem; the chords on the title track or Black Cow are so beautiful SD disguise how counter intuitive it actually is. So by that token, I would submit that Aja is the more ambitious album. It actually explores harmonic possibilities. Harmonium is very pretty...and that's it.
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Posted By: symphonicman
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 00:03
Harmonium, Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison.------------- Master James of St. George. Of the fields and the sky. He used to build castles of stone, steel, and blood. But lines get broken down. |
Posted By: Cailyn
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 00:29
That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read here. Schmaltzy jazz pop?  It's a brilliant album--production, songwriting, musicianship, vision, scope--progressive in ways that escapes many people. Obviously. Yes, you are entitled to your outlier opinion but most of the music world rightfully disagrees with you. ------------- http://www.cailynmusic.com |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 01:10
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I think he's being tongue-in-cheek in response to Micky's....erm..."Mickyness" If it's any consolation, I feel the same; I don't hear anything remotely prog or progressive about Aja either ....not that I need to. I love a good pop record. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 01:16
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 01:43
^Again, you guys are taking a post out of it's context.
------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 01:57
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 02:03
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Pop can be very progressive and shapeshifting....doesn't make it rock/prog or fusion. Milton Nascimento, Pescado Rabioso and Lucio Battisti can all testify to that. I still think Aja is a (progressive) pop album. Pop is not a derogatory word y'know. I love (some) pop. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 02:14
He didn't just say jazz pop, though. He said jazz pop without a note of ambition. I personally do find Aja a lot more ambitious than, as micky calls it, the Alphabet album. Just because it's prog doesn't make it ambitious.
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 02:26
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I know I know - I was merely continuing in the same vein as the aforementioned combattants It's kind of the thing in these polls. I do find Aja to be progressive too.....and very ambitious. I just don't like it that much. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 03:02
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 03:27
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Alright then. It must be true if you say so. After all you were the one that brought it to my attention that Sade is a post rock artist and that The Tubes were prog. Thanks for enlightening me. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 04:08
By the way, Sade is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhijV9i5bXU" rel="nofollow - mathy as hell so I was suggested Sade for PA' Post/Math sub-genre, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh6ZX9mOke0" rel="nofollow - The Tubes's debut is progressive rock and therefore the band should be in PA Prog Related section.
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Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 04:30
To be honest I'm mostly trying to wind up Micky, though Aja twigs my 'too smooth' senses a bit. Si On Avait - I love the concept (Quebec's escape into an imaginary Fifth Season), the instrumentation (I know people love slinging it in 'symphonic' but the lack of drums and the addition of the martenot, e-piano and mellotron to what would otherwise be all folk instrumentation really makes it radically different to the half-a-million Italian, British and German ELP/Genesis/early Crimson-inspired bands), the lyrics actually meaning something (though that accent's a bit tricky for me) and sounding gorgeous. I think a lot of the guitar playing is straight up excellent folk almost, and radically unlike the approach a lot of prog musicians who are much stronger on electrics take. Anyway, I think this is the best piece off it. |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 04:42
| To be very honest, in terms of the texture (as in more acoustic than electric) I don't find it that much different from Strawbs/Renaissance/Steeleye Span/Pentangle. And it leans so much on the mellow side that without drums and electric guitar, it lacks momentum (for my taste). I don't even mind soft prog per se but this is just too much and not harmonically very interesting either (unlike Gryphon). I need some drama in music and even the smoothness of Aja has room for an outstanding drum coda. |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 05:01
The ingredient that they do not like at Aja is not that "pop" actually, it's jazz. They don't like jazz.
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 05:10
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Some of us love jazz but do not hear Aja as a jazz rock album. It has jazzy undertones sure, but by your logic Scatman John could be considered jazz. He scats after all and came from a jazz background. Anyway, who cares? Some of us hear Aja as a pop album while others don't. Resorting to strawman argumentation doesn't help anything. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 05:13
| ^^ In fact, I would argue Aja, like all Steely Dan, is jazz more in sound and style than approach. It's all calculated down to the last note which is the total antithesis of jazz. If anything, hardcore jazz fans are more likely to hate Aja like hell. |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 05:26
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^Agreed. In fact the one guy I know who owns Aja is a big jazz nut (Miles, Pharoah Sanders, Weather Report, Coltrane, Ellington and all sorts of fusion) absolutely hates it. I think he's played the album less than 5 times during the decade it's been in his possession. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 05:46
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 05:56
| (error) |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 06:00
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 06:08
Oh and there is more jazz at Aja than at any album by Mahavishnu Orchestra.
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 06:10
Why are you continuing with this strawman thing and put words in my mouth? I've never said any such nonsense. Accept that we don't agree and move on you silly man! ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 06:33
 I love jazz. I like pop. I'm not averse to a pleasant blend of the two. Aja's hardly The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, now, is it? |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 06:43
excellent point about the approach.. jazz fans have for the longest time embraced the Allman Brothers Band. Like Steely Dan .. not your typical 'jazz-rock'.. but unlike Steely Dan they kept the one thing that really epitomizes jazz in most peoples minds.. spontaneity. In that Steely Dan is very much like more traditional prog bands.. it is all about the composition. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 06:52
Very much the kind of review the really sh*tty Zappa albums get - that you're meant to enjoy it as some sort of clever in-joke with the artist where they send up what everyone else is doing by doing what everyone else is doing. Not really my sort of thing. Those lyrics are stylistically dreadful writing, rhymes all forc'd 'n' that. Still, this is the first decent *argument* for it in the thread and exactly why I poke the hornet nest with sticks shouting rude names at people. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 06:56
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here is the full writeup I lifted it from.. interesting writeup.. http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/comment/articles/2014-02/12-/donald-fagen-steely-dan-aja" rel="nofollow - http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/comment/articles/2014-02/12-/donald-fagen-steely-dan-aja ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 07:03
Aja is not pop, and especially wasn't pop in 1977 when Aja was released; at that time *pop* were Abba with Dancing Queen and Barbra Streisand with a love theme from A Star Is Born the movie
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 07:32
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http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/aja-19771201" rel="nofollow - Michael Duffy off Rolling Stone described it as a pop album at the time of it's arrival (1977), as I'm sure many others did. Pop is not a dirty word and it doesn't just stand for plasticy radio-friendly music. That may have been what it meant to you and your friends, but that was not the general consensus - not even remotely. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 07:54
I'd rather listen to a good pop album than to mediocre prog. Unfortunately, far too many people - here and on other prog sites - use "pop" in a derogatory sense. |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 08:11
In 1977, ABBA released The Album in which the song Marionette experiments with time sig changes. Just saying.
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 08:11
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/aja-19771201#ixzz3it9v4Jy6" rel="nofollow - http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/aja-19771201#ixzz3it9v4Jy6 |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 08:12
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Thanks ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 08:14
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Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 08:16
| You can accept sometimes that your arguments are wrong instead of constantly shifting goalposts to the next spot where you can post a ludicrous emoticon. Wouldn't hurt your ego too much at your age, I suppose. |
Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 10:06
No problem. I agree with Mr Duffy on that pop ingredient at Aja and I'd like to add only that that pop ingredient at Aja is very thin but just sufficient to push the whole stuff to be radio friendly, but again not for the masses who were listening to 70s pop icons Abba, Barbra Streisand, Leo Sayer an so on; that pop ingredient at Aja is like a bubble wrapped around an organic part of which is a tasty, sparkling cocktail of jazz and rock with vocals, and that amazing atmosphere. The Alphabet Album is a nice prog folk, but I heard much better prog folk albums than that one. For example, Songs From The Wood. Regarding vocally jazz-rock, I never ever heard some better album than Aja
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: August 15 2015 at 10:13
... yea, people in 1977 stopped to listening to Dancing Queen imidiately after heard that too complex Marionette and switch on Deacon Blues
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