I was wondering where most of the good bands come from.
So I wanted to make a nice topic about it.
It seems that France doesn't give us much prog bands.
America has a lot of bands, but America is a big country (countries) of course.
The UK has the most prog bands I think, maybe 'cos everything started there.
Although today I think the prog bands are coming mainly from the scandinavian countries.
Let's take a look and you can help me of course! Correct me, add some, delete some.
The bands must be (or must have been) great (maybe you don't think they're great, but it's about what the main prog community thinks). So "great" means famous.
Example: Dream Theater are great, they're famous, and they're from America.
Example 2: Tangerine Dream are great, they're famous, and they're from Germany. (Although I don't think they're great actually.)
Wrong sample: Beardfish, I like them, but they're not that famous, they're from Sweden. (But you should check them out!)
By the way, I've included bands that are upcoming, but had a great impact right from the beginning. (Credo, Darwin's Radio, Kino)
THE GREAT BANDS OF EACH COUNTRY
France:
- Jarre, Jean-Michel
- Magma
- Nemo
Germany
- Amon Düül
- Amon Düül II
- Anyone's Daughter
- Can
- Eloy
- Kraftwerk
- RPWL
- Schulze, Klaus
- Sylvan
- Tangerine Dream
- Vanden Plas
Sweden
- A.C.T
- Anekdoten
- Änglagård
- Bodin, Tomas
- Brother Ape
- Carptree
- Evergrey
- Flowerkings, The
- Kaipa
- Karmakanic
- Landberk
- Meshuggah
- Mind's Eye
- Moonsafari
- Opeth
- Paatos
- Pain Of Salvation
- Stolt, Roine
United Kingdom
- Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe
- Anderson, Jon
- Arena
- Asia
- Barclay James Harvest
- Barrett, Syd
- Beatles, The
- Brand X
- Bruford, Bill
- Bush, Kate
- Camel
- Caravan
- Credo
- Darwin's Radio
- Deep Purple
- Electric Light Orchestra
- Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- Eno, Brian
- Fish
- Fripp, Robert
- Frost
- Gabriel, Peter
- Galahad
- Genesis
- Gentle Giant
- Giles, Giles & Fripp
- Gilmour, David
- Hackett, Steve
- Hammill, Peter
- Hawkwind
- Howe, Steve
- IQ
- Iron Maiden
- It Bites
- Jadis
- Jethro Tull
- Jon & Vangelis
- King Crimson
- Kino
- Landmarq
- Led Zeppelin
- Magenta
- Magnum
- Mann's Earth Band, Manfred
- Marillion
- Moody Blues, The
- Mostly Autumn
- Muse
- Oldfield, Mike
- Ozric Tentacles
- Pallas
- Parsons Project, Alan
- Pendragon
- Phillips, Anthony
- Pineapple Thief
- Pink Floyd
- Porcupine Tree
- Procol Harum
- Pure Reason Revolution
- Queen
- Radiohead
- Renaissance
- Strangefish
- Supertramp
- Thorne, Steve
- Threshold
- Twelfth Night
- UK
- Urbane, The
- Uriah Heep
- Van Der Graaf Generator
- Wakeman, Rick
- Waters, Roger
- Wetton, John
- Yes
I've listed too much, so I want to ask you to say "that band doesn't really belong in the list". I want the pure greatest bands.
Ok, I did France, Germany, Sweden and the UK.
More to come, but list ahead ofcourse.
Now I take a break.
I have a strong impression that a lot of people in The Shattered Room are oblivious to the fantastic prog that's being made in the States. Let me list some of the absolute greatest: Redemption, Zero Hour (both played killer concerts at Headway), Thought Chamber, Michael Harris, Anacrusis, Fates Warning, Dream Theater (specially Six Degrees), Symphony X, Aghora, Steve Vai. With these groups you can pretty much get any of their albums and be sure that they are great; but if requested, I can deliver more specific descriptions, as I know all of these groups' albums well.
I guess I've been listening to a a lot of prog lately.
OK, I'm English (very much so, although living abroad), an avid devotee of Floyd for (hm, how many?) 38 years (Good God, am I that old), so it's quite natural that Arena should become my all-time favorite band, carrying the bright light of Floyd further through the Universe.
Nicky.
How's that for a copy/paste post ;)
Quote from: Nicky007 on Tue, 2007-05-08, 20:50:23
I have a strong impression that a lot of people in The Shattered Room are oblivious to the fantastic prog that's being made in the States. Let me list some of the absolute greatest: Redemption, Zero Hour (both played killer concerts at Headway), Thought Chamber, Michael Harris, Anacrusis, Fates Warning, Dream Theater (specially Six Degrees), Symphony X, Aghora, Steve Vai. With these groups you can pretty much get any of their albums and be sure that they are great; but if requested, I can deliver more specific descriptions, as I know all of these groups' albums well.
I guess I've been listening to a a lot of prog lately.
OK, I'm English (very much so, although living abroad), an avid devotee of Floyd for (hm, how many?) 38 years (Good God, am I that old), so it's quite natural that Arena should become my all-time favorite band, carrying the bright light of Floyd further through the Universe.
Nicky.
I agree with you on this one, Nicky007. The bands you've mentioned should clearly be on that list.
And what about:
Enchant
Spocks Beard
Neal Morse ( ::) ;D)
Tiles
I personally like them allot especially Enchant is underrated over here in Europe.
Thanks, Maddox.
How could I forget Spock's Beard? They're one of my favorite bands, and I have their whole catalog. I guess I've let them rest for too long. Probably my favorite is their most recent, self-titled album.
I have three Enchant albums. I find them great musicians, but somehow, I miss the melody in their music. Maybe I have to hear them more.
Neal Morse is great, and being a devout Christian myself, I'm very touched by his lyrics and music. He's best in the mellow passages, where his vocals come to full expression. Unfortunately, a sizable amount of his music reminds me of American Halleluja music, i.a. the Hammond whirls.
Tiles I've never heard about. They're never mentioned by Amazonians. What can you say about them.
Stride's Imagine is also a great album (that I forget in my previous mail).
Nicky.
Maddox, I just checked you up. I saw that you're even older than I (884). How did you keep going for so long? Lots of apples, or sex?
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Tue, 2007-05-08, 23:55:29
Tiles I've never heard about. They're never mentioned by Amazonians. What can you say about them.
Tiles reminds me of Rush, especially the old Rush but with vocals. Pretty technical but song-based.
They made 5 albums thus far including one live album, which i don't have btw, and later this year they will release their fifth studio album Fly Paper.
Only have the last three albums )Fence The Clear, Presents Of Mind and Window Dressing). The first self titled album is hard to get but must confess that i'm not fanatically searching for it. :D
Quote from: Nicky007 on Wed, 2007-05-09, 00:02:52
Maddox, I just checked you up. I saw that you're even older than I (884). How did you keep going for so long? Lots of apples, or sex?
Nicky.
;D
I drink my tea from the fountain of youth. 8)
No, just a joke from my part. :D
I'm only 35 years old. ehm young...ehm..
Well... ;)
Actually, I would also like to add Queensryche to the great active American prog groups. They might not be as cutting edge as they have been, but they still make excellent prog.
Nicky.
PH, I don't think that it's possible to make anything like an "objective" list of the great bands of each country, because tastes are so very different.
I'd like to give you a few examples: I don't understand all the raving about Pain of Salvation, because they simply don't seem outstanding to me. Asia disgust me somewhat, because although their music is catchy, their lyrics are so banal, that I can't listen their music. Meshuggah I simply don't get, but that's probably because I'm too old (52) for that kind of music.
On the other hand, I'm real hot on groups like Zero Hour (partly because I heard them live), who would probably seem too "technical" for most Roomies.
However, I would very much like to see your personal final list of "The great bands of each country".
Nicky
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Wed, 2007-05-09, 22:19:52
PH, I don't think that it's possible to make anything like an "objective" list of the great bands of each country, because tastes are so very different.
I'd like to give you a few examples: I don't understand all the raving about Pain of Salvation, because they simply don't seem outstanding to me. Asia disgust me somewhat, because although their music is catchy, their lyrics are so banal, that I can't listen their music. Meshuggah I simply don't get, but that's probably because I'm too old (52) for that kind of music.
On the other hand, I'm real hot on groups like Zero Hour (partly because I heard them live), who would probably seem too "technical" for most Roomies.
However, I would very much like to see your personal final list of "The great bands of each country".
Nicky
Nicky.
You know, it wasn't the idea to list all the bands that we like.
I don't like Pain Of Salvation, Asia or Meshuggah (exactly for the same reasons (except for the age ;)))
So its not a personal list at all!!
I just wanted to see where most of the prog bands come from.
I don't like Asia, but I cannot deny that a massive lot do. So Asia is very popular in the Prog community. Therefor it belongs in the list of "Greatest prog bands".
Bands like Anacrusis or Aghora, I've never heard of them. And I think that most of the prog community doesn't know them or doesn't like them. So therefor they dont belong in this list.
Maybe they're REALLY good. I don't know. But they don't belong to the greatest prog bands.
Dream Theater again, they DO belong in this list. Everybody knows them and they're quite popular I might say. ;)
So in the list they are for certain!
Same goes with Queensrÿche.
I hope I made it clear now? ;)
OK, so you want to apply some sort of "sales figures among proggies"?
Then you run into the problem of where to draw the border between prog groups and rock groups. E.g. I would call Asia a rock group, and not a prog group (even though Steve Howe is one of the greatest prog guitarists, but he doesn't seem to have had much to say on the earliest Asia albums).
You also run into the problem that there are groups that have had an impact that far exceeds what one would expect from their sales figures, e.g. Scottish Pallas and American Shadow Gallery.
OK, I'll admit that we've come closer to some sort of objectivity, but for me it's still so remote that I wouldn't venture to make such a list.
Nicky.
I hope I didn't stop you in this project. I'm really sad if I did, wasn't at all my intention. Please forget that you ever met me, imagine that I never existed.
Whaaaaa, Nicky.
Not really a band, but a project. Still very much worth a mentioning though:
Netherlands:
Ayreon
Quote from: Nicky007 on Mon, 2007-05-14, 17:51:36
I hope I didn't stop you in this project. I'm really sad if I did, wasn't at all my intention. Please forget that you ever met me, imagine that I never existed.
Whaaaaa, Nicky.
Don't worry!! I liked you right away!