Henry Kaiser
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Polls
Forum Description: Create polls on topics related to progressive music
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=98660
Printed Date: April 26 2024 at 19:57
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Topic: Henry Kaiser
Posted By: HackettFan
Subject: Henry Kaiser
Date Posted: June 19 2014 at 13:37
| Here is a positive, neutral, and negative comment about Henry Kaiser I found on YouTube, edited for space and chosen for lack of cuss words. I like his playing, but the positive and neutral comments were quite hard to find. The venom over his playing is really quite extraordinary. Time for a PA vote, I think. Which comment most reflects your opinion of Henry Kaiser's playing. |
Replies:
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: June 19 2014 at 14:02
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He's a good one. So option #1 for me. ------------- 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: HolyMoly
Date Posted: June 19 2014 at 15:09
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I'm surprised there are that many people talking about him. He seems to have been under the radar since the more high profile days of the 80s/90s. So I wasn't even aware he was a controversial figure at all. I mean if you like that kind of music (experimental), what objection could one possibly have against him in particular? And if you don't like that kind of music, how did you come to hear it in the first place? Maybe I missed something, I dunno. Anyway, to the point, I have a few albums of his, mostly rock-oriented stuff, and he's quite a player. Maybe even a virtuoso. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: June 19 2014 at 15:50
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Man With Hat wrote:Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: June 19 2014 at 16:41
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Ah. That makes sense, I wasn't aware of those videos. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: June 20 2014 at 01:20
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Sorry, who is Henry Kaiser? ------------- Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half. My poor home recorded stuff at https://yellingxoanon.bandcamp.com |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: June 20 2014 at 01:35
| The only Kaiser related LP I have is a collaboration album by French, Frith, Kaiser and Thompson. It's a great album.... |
Posted By: argybargy
Date Posted: June 20 2014 at 03:45
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Apart from the collaborations with French, Thompson and Frith he's also done some interesting work with other people. He did an album "The Mistakes" with Mike Keneally, Prairie Prince and Andy West. And also an album called "Invisible Rays" with Trey Gunn and Morgan Agren. Both are quite rocky with some great instrumental work, some of it improvised I guess , from all the participants. ------------- music adds meaning |
Posted By: BarryGlibb
Date Posted: June 20 2014 at 03:48
Tom, I reckon you are talking about their album Live, Love, Larf & Loaf I have that as well, and their follow up Invisible Means....two all time favourite albums of mine. Very experimental; wierd, sad, spine tingling and lots of humour as well...... Surfin' USA and Loch Lomond as you've never heard them before, March of The Cosmetic Surgeons, Now That I am Dead (hilarious!) . This quartet has been discussed before and I still don't understand how they are not on PA for those 2 albums. Kaiser is a avid appreciator of Richard Thompson (the Thompson in the quartet) whose guitar work, both acoustic and electric, are well known....well I assume they are.. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: June 20 2014 at 04:54
Why yes, Surfin' USA - total crack-up  ........and some more 'serious' pieces as well : Where's The Money?, Drowned Dog Black Night, Tir-Nan-Darag etc. Naturally, I picked up the LP in the 90's coz it had Frith on it. I did know of Thompson, but the other two folks were lost on me. I don't know what sub-genre they'd be under - perhaps R.I.O. ?? This L,L,L&L album is a winner for sure. |
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: June 20 2014 at 05:49
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I'm honestly ignorant about this guy. Does he deserve a listen? ------------- Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half. My poor home recorded stuff at https://yellingxoanon.bandcamp.com |
Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: June 20 2014 at 12:16
Oh, yeah. He's a product of the California scene, was a friend of Frank Zappa from what I understand and probably belongs in the same RIO/Avant sub-genre. Be willing to laugh. He invokes humor in a lot of things. His guitar style is very idiosyncratic and a common component of his style of humor. I get a real kick, for instance, out of his YouTube video, Radio Flyer. Live, Love, Larf and Loaf, which was already mentioned, is a fine recommendation. His pairing with Fred Frith on With Friends Like These... has some pretty avant-garde guitar torture. I don't know what they're doing, but I'm pretty sure it involves in some part scraping stuff with pliers. FYI, Henry Kaiser is also the grandson of the highly rich industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. It is clear from several YouTube comments that that is held against him. |
Posted By: Cali_Dreamer
Date Posted: July 22 2014 at 00:51
| Wait, did I understand that right? You thought Radio Flyer was funny? An example of his humor? How do you figure? Although I thought it was generally a good performance piece, the narrative freaked me out! I mean, WTH, grandson of HJK grows up institutionalized year-round in an abusive military boarding school? It blows my mind. |
Posted By: Evolver
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 12:33
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I have a bunch of his albums, and love them all.
Very complex, so not for everyone. ------------- Trust me. I know what I'm doing. |
Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 20:47
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Posted By: Mirror Image
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 21:02
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The number two option for me, but I would extend it to say that he's just not my cup of tea. ------------- “Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov |
Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: July 23 2014 at 21:37
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Posted By: Cali_Dreamer
Date Posted: August 11 2014 at 23:07
| I think that's because he does a poor job of his Zappa and Beefheart covers. I found videos of the originals to some of his covers, and they have a melodic quality that his renditions lack. I can't help wondering if he can't hear the difference, or if he deliberately plays them the way he does. If the latter, I don't know what the point is, what he's aiming for. Maybe for him, it's more about experimenting with extreme pedal effects. But I can see why he gets flack for those. |
Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: August 12 2014 at 09:42
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Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: August 12 2014 at 10:29
Moose and Salmon is probably his most Avant-Garde, full of squeaks and squeals. I like it, but it would be a hard listen for most. Lemon Fish Tweezer is a highly recommended album of solo guitar improvisations from 1973 to 1991. Where Endless Meets Disappearing is a more recent solo improv album from 2009 that's absolutely beautiful and highly recommended. Requia and Other Improvisations for Guitar Solo is another recent album that I would recommend. |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: August 12 2014 at 12:51
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I've only tried a couple. I love http://thehenrykaisercollection.blogspot.com/2010/12/henry-kaiser-those-who-know-history-are.html" rel="nofollow - http://thehenrykaisercollection.blogspot.com/2010/12/henry-kaiser-those-who-know-history-are.html
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: Cali_Dreamer
Date Posted: August 13 2014 at 14:10
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I've never understood the comments about him being "smug". I even looked the word up, cuz I didn't understand why they were applying that to him, I though maybe I was missing something, lol! And those comments about his family background are irrelevant to the music. It's obnoxious how people imply that he's bought his way into the scene. But what's the most revealing about those trolls is that they ignore his better playing; they ignore the diving vids that have very cool accompaniment, a couple of acoustic guitar vids he's got on there, and some interesting experimental stuff that doesn't involve extreme FX, and gets very positive comments. So you know his critics have an agenda. But what agenda? Why the dogged bashing? And some of those critiques are ignorant. "He doesn't know the fretboard." Really? How is that even possible? It's just spewing trash. I don't get it.
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