The Prog Rock Thread

[stijndeloose]

I was with you up till:

Magnification is worse then Open Your Eyes, imo.

You have to listen with better ears than that. Here, borrow mine.

Was expecting something like that.

I'm sorry, I just don't like it. I hardly ever like rock mixed with an orchestra, though. It just doesn't work for me. It's not that the songs are bad. It just he arrangements that I don't like...

Do you like The Ladder, btw?

[Paul]

A slightly obscure one, but Curved Air fans might be interested.

When violinist Darryl Way left Curved Air in 1972 he formed Wolf, with John Etheridge (later to join Soft Machine) on guitar, Dek Mesekar on bass, and Ian Mosely on drums (Mosely was in Steve Hackett's live band in the 1980s)

Wolf was the first band I ever saw live. They only made three albums, before Way went back to the reformed Curved Air in 1974.

The first album, Canis Lupus was produced by Ian McDonald (King Crimson), hence the title of this track, "McDonald's Lament"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yyto_ktW1E[/youtube]

"Toy Symphony" is from the second album, Saturation Point

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYM9kprx774[/youtube]

[tnjrp]

I wonder , Do you remember these guys

Way ahead of you with GG

One of my fave bands, it is. But then, I have so many...

Which brings to mind... [doing James Earl Jones imitation] "I find your lack if enthusiasm for zheul... disturbing".

Instead of applying force choke, I bring you a couple of more videos.

Eskaton with the eponymous track from the album 4 Visions:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDHjWFRJ1Pk[/youtube]

The greatest classic of them all, Magma (fronted by one of the top drummers of our time, Christian Vander) with the finale of Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandöh (and you aren't suppose to be able to tell what they are saying -- they are singing in an invented language):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlJKKtgreqw[/youtube]

From Italy, Universal Totem Orchestra (a sadly lazy outfit with only two albums out after some 10 years of on-and-off existence) with De Astrologia from The Magus:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbS3A-1w1vI[/youtube]

Unfortunately there is no really good "Finnish spam" for this genre, tho the avant prog of Höyry-kone gets mentions for being close so I'll post one from them then, shall I?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHFS42GOZSk[/youtube]

[j.mills]

Crikey, wot a lot of stuff there is!

I'm sorry, I just don't like it. I hardly ever like rock mixed with an orchestra, though. It just doesn't work for me. It's not that the songs are bad. It just he arrangements that I don't like...

Do you like The Ladder, btw?

I know what you mean about orchestral rock - it often sounds like that band's over here and the orchestra's over there - but I thought Magnification was the best fit I'd heard, with the orchestra acting as the harmonic 'fill' that would normally be supplied by keyboard. Top marks to the arranger: it works for me.

I love The Ladder though. So positive and lively.

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

prog rock is a curse. when you find a band you like invariably they have a back catalogue, and despite being old CDs they still keep their value extremely well.....

King Crimson CDs were the last ones I got (in the court of the crimson king and lizard)

and I'm loathe to buy MP3s as I like to have something physical for my money (which is near enough the same anyway)

[j.mills]

You are not wrong, PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn, even if you do have an untypeable username. Prog has fossil layers, shales stuffed with vinyl and CDs going all the way back to the '60s. Scary!

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

You are not wrong, PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn, even if you do have an untypeable username. Prog has fossil layers, shales stuffed with vinyl and CDs going all the way back to the '60s. Scary!

I apologise, its the username I've been using for years (note the up-down nature of the characters is down to forgetting passwords)

been using it for 10+years or so. so hard not to use it now.

thats the other problem with prog, unlike with pop, there is good stuff in the past, so you have to go back in time to get some really good stuff, and unlike other genres the cds dont seem to depreciate at all

[j.mills]

unlike other genres the cds dont seem to depreciate at all

That's yer guarantee of quality, sir! Reassuringly expensive.

[CookieJon]

prog rock is a curse. when you find a band you like invariably they have a back catalogue, and despite being old CDs they still keep their value extremely well.....

Other problem is that a lot of great tracks are long... really too long to post in a prog rock thread.

[Tangerine Dream]

prog rock is a curse. when you find a band you like invariably they have a back catalogue, and despite being old CDs they still keep their value extremely well.....

Other problem is that a lot of great tracks are long... really too long to post in a prog rock thread.

That's the beauty of it

[Tangerine Dream]

How is that possible not to have mentioned so far one of the greatest of all times n avant garde prog rock, Mr Frank Zappa

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQiSlG_ziVA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uqK3hqfuMQ[/youtube]

[tnjrp]

Maybe it's because Zappa has his own thread around these parts. Besides, I did mention him, admittedly somewhat disparingly.

[Matt_B]

prog rock is a curse. when you find a band you like invariably they have a back catalogue, and despite being old CDs they still keep their value extremely well.....

Other problem is that a lot of great tracks are long... really too long to post in a prog rock thread.

They invariably fall foul of YouTube's ten minute limit too.

[tnjrp]

[Martin Orford] delivered this great swan-song album, The Old Road, a couple of years ago, and promptly retired in protest at the direction of the music industry. The blurb on this YouTube calls this an "atheist anthem"

This brings to mind the great "evolutionist rock opera", Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's L'Evoluzione originally from their concept album Darwin!:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTq8IWHaRF0[/youtube]

[twistor59]

The wonderfully inventive Mr Hackett:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxDDHDXlzOc[/youtube]

[twistor59]

And the sadly too-neglected Manfred Mann's Earthband:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioHiBSKvgz0[/youtube]

[Matt_B]

I gave Hatfield and the North a mention in the band names thread, but they deserve one here too:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHldndv1o44[/youtube]

[Paul]

The wonderfully inventive Mr Hackett:

My tickets to see him at Milton Keynes Stables in December arrived the day before yesterday. Second row seats.

ETA: and my signed copy of Out of the Tunnel's Mouth (Special Edition) arrived in the post this morning

[twistor59]

The wonderfully inventive Mr Hackett:

My tickets to see him at Milton Keynes Stables in December arrived the day before yesterday. Second row seats.

ETA: and my signed copy of Out of the Tunnel's Mouth (Special Edition) arrived in the post this morning

Lucky you! Think I've seen him 4x over the last couple of decades, but not recently sadly.

[twistor59]

[quote="Paul";p="245483"]My favourite Focus album is Hamburger Concerto

Oh - just noticed this one. Love this album, I played it constantly - used to play (very badly) my Hammond XB2 along with the Thijs parts. I get shivers up my spine from the way the studio album ends with the sustained organ chord supplemented by the massive overdriven GROWL from the Leslie.