Now Playing Thread

[Peter]

np: Far Corporation - Stairway to Heaven

Lawl... think "One night in Bangkok" + Boney M. + "Rain in May".... plus the old classic.

[Teunis]

IQ - Tales From The Lush Attic

[Nicky007]

Whoa, just found the whole album on YT, this is a real rocker. Very old-school'ish. Somehow.

Yup, A7S are really super. I wouldnt at all call them old-schoolish, they'r actually quite innovative, they just know how to rock at the same time 

Dream Theater - (some song from Octavarium)

like both of them

Good to see ya goin heavier, Cap. Even a captain can be adventurous 

Very catchy tune, I like it

Yeah, but it's really the only catchy song on the album. Listened to the full album once again. If one's a big Reinholdz fan, like me, there's a lotta fine guitar here and there. But the songs are mainly Rhapsody meets Dragonforce. I saw that the two Amazon reviewers aint too impressed either 

Don't forget King Crimson. 21st Century Schizoid Man rocks pretty hard.

Yeah, it's good ... but it didn't quiiite make it to my Classic list. The list now has its own life, so it aint my fault 

But Thanx anyway, Paxi, cuuuz: The Court Of The Crimson King definitely has to be on any Classic list - man, how could I have missed that one - straightaway remedy that, hope nobody noticed the lapse 
   
Well, I guess even I aint perfect - or, Paxi ? 


NP  Mike Oldfield:  Amarok

Oh man, is this wonderful. Mike O has put some of his loveliest music in here. An hourlong epos without a break, an hour of pure bliss 

Paxi, this is definitely an album for you 

-Nicky

[PH]

The Court Of The Crimson King definitely has to be on any Classic list - man, how could I have missed that one - straightaway remedy that, hope nobody noticed the lapse 

I think it's the real start for Progressive Rock. Of course there was Pink Floyd and even The Beatles who started it all, but KC really made it a standard.

Well, I guess even I aint perfect - or, Paxi ? 

Far from it, Nicky, far from it!

NP  Mike Oldfield:  Amarok

Oh man, is this wonderful. Mike O has put some of his loveliest music in here. An hourlong epos without a break, an hour of pure bliss 

Paxi, this is definitely an album for you 

You bet! I think it's fantastic!

[Teunis]

Muse - The Resistance
Riverside - Memories In My Hand
Classic Rock Society - New Species ~ Volume IX (cd I got with a prog magazine, most of the time a 'once in a lifetime' experience )

[Peter]

np: Alter Bridge  - Addicted to Pain

Again. Me, jumping around in the living room. Cool way certainly, not silly. Pffft.

[Peter]

btw, this is the playlist of the TV show i stumbled upon. Quite an interesting choice of stuff, quite along this forum, methinks.

http://www.gotv.at/story.php?id=253

[Nicky007]

I think it's the real beginning of Progressive Rock. Of course there was Pink Floyd and even The Beatles who started it all, but KC really made it a standard. I'm a professional linguist.

Hey, little professor, now you got your tongue runnin wild again 

There was a lotta prog before Crimson King. In my book, prog started with Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' 1964, and got clinched musically with Beatles' Rubber Soul in '65 

You gotta get down to listening properly to Beatles and Dylan, young man 

And then there were Floyd with Piper already in 1967 - 100% prog and made a big splash in the prog community - Stones with Her Satanic Majesty in 1967, Byrds (e.g. Turn! Turn! Turn!, '65), Lovin' Spoonful (e.g. Summer In The City, '66), Cream, Doors, Country Joe & The Fish, already in '67, Steppenwolf and Simon & Garfunkel (e.g. Mrs. Robinson) in '68, and all the bands that I already mentioned in '69. Beatles' Abbey Road and Who's Tommy made a much bigger splash in the prog community than Crimson King.

Of course, if it's the flute that determines prog or not, then you'r righto 

Far from it, Nicky, far from it!

So you'r not a gar ? Gar nicht ? 

You bet! I think it's fantastic!

Did you already know it ?


Hacride:  Back To Where You've Never Been 

- Nicky

[PH]

Hey, little professor, now you got your tongue runnin wild again 

What did I do wrong now?

There was a lotta prog before Crimson King. In my book, prog started with Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' 1964, and got clinched musically with Beatles' Rubber Soul in '65 

Now you're really joking (joke-king, king of jokes). You can't label every artist who started to rock out a bit, prog. They are only progressive in the sense that they're not playing blues. Calling Bob Dylan prog is... is... not right. I know that the Beatles started to make way for the progressive rock movement, but to me The Beatles are not progressive rock. ProgArchives has a definition for it: proto-prog. I think that's pretty accurate.

You gotta get down to listening properly to Beatles and Dylan, young man 

I tried Beatles and I was bored to death. Bob Dylan is ok, but I can only take so much of acoustic guitars at a time.

And then there were Floyd with Piper already in 1967 - 100% prog and made a big splash in the prog community - Stones with Her Satanic Majesty in 1967, Byrds (e.g. Turn! Turn! Turn!, '65), Lovin' Spoonful (e.g. Summer In The City, '66), Cream, Doors, Country Joe & The Fish, already in '67, Steppenwolf in '68, and all the bands that I already mentioned in '69. Beatles' Abbey Road and Who's Tommy made a much bigger splash in the prog community than Crimson King.

No no no you got it all wrong.

So you'r not a gar ? Gar nicht ? 

Haha!

Did you already know it ?

I was blown away by it. My dad was a Mike Oldfield enthusiast (still is, but he forgot). I think that album is one of the best he (Mike, not my dad) has done. Full of nice ideas and cool themes.
I'm still waiting for a remastered edition. Gotta have patience.


Last night I was awake (terrible pain in my back) so I thought it a good idea to listen to Threshold's "March Of Progress" and Arena's "Songs From The Lion's Cage".

[Nicky007]

ProgArchives has a definition for it: proto-prog. I think that's pretty accurate.

Yeah, if you really wanna be sooophiiisticated 

To me there's prog and not prog. Prog means progressive, so you got musicians working seriously on extending their music, going beyond the established frontiers 

Beatles started out with pop, then created rock, and then prog - the greatest rock group in history 

Even bigger than Big Big Train 

This should do it, Paxi, from Wiki (Rubber Soul, omissions by me):

Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by English rock group the Beatles, released in 3 December 1965. Produced by George Martin, it was recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market. Unlike the five albums that preceded it, this album was recorded during a specific period, the sessions not dashed off in between either tour dates or during filming projects. After this, every Beatles album would be made without the need to pay attention to other commitments, except for the production of short promotional films.

Rubber Soul is a folk rock album, and also incorporates pop and soul music styles. The album was described as a major artistic achievement, attaining widespread critical and commercial success, with reviewers taking note of the Beatles' developing musical vision.

Rubber Soul was successful commercially and critically, and is often cited as one of the greatest albums in music history. In 2012, Rubber Soul was ranked #5 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In September 2013 after the British Phonographic Industry changed their sales award rules, the album was declared as having gone platinum.

Virtually all of the songs for this album were composed immediately after the band's return to London following their North American tour. The Beatles broadened their sound on this album, with influences drawn from soul music and the contemporary folk-rock of Bob Dylan and The Byrds. The album also saw the Beatles expanding rock and roll's instrumental resources, most notably on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" through George Harrison's use of the Indian sitar. He had been introduced to it via the instrumental score for their 1965 film Help!. Although The Kinks had incorporated droning guitars to mimic the sitar after a visit to India on "See My Friends", "Norwegian Wood" is generally credited as sparking off a musical craze for the sound of the novel instrument in the mid-1960s—a trend which would later branch out into the raga rock and Indian rock genres. The song is now acknowledged as one of the cornerstones of what is now usually called "world music" and it was a major landmark in the trend towards incorporating non-Western musical influences into Western popular music. Harrison's interest was fueled by fellow Indian music fan David Crosby of the Byrds, whom Harrison met and befriended in August 1965. Harrison would eventually be transfixed by all things Indian, taking sitar lessons from renowned Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar.

French-like guitar lines on "Michelle" and Greek-influenced ones on "Girl", fuzz bass on "Think for Yourself," and a piano made to sound like a baroque harpsichord on the instrumental bridge of "In My Life" added to the exotic brushstrokes to the album. Ringo Starr had frequently augmented Beatles tracks with standard percussion instruments such as maracas or tambourine, but on the track "I'm Looking Through You" unusually used taps on a matchbook, perhaps influenced by a similar trick as done by Gene Krupa in the 1941 film Ball of Fire.

Lyrically, the album was a major progression. Though a smattering of earlier Beatles songs had expressed romantic doubt and negativity, the songs on Rubber Soul represented a pronounced development in sophistication, thoughtfulness and ambiguity. In particular, the relationships between the sexes moved from simpler boy-girl love songs to more nuanced and negative portrayals. "Norwegian Wood" sketches a failed relationship between the singer and a mysterious girl, where she goes to bed and he sleeps in the bath. "Drive My Car" serves as a satirical piece of sexism, and songs like "I'm Looking Through You", "You Won't See Me", and "Girl" express more emotionally complex, bitter and downbeat portrayals of romance. John Lennon's "In My Life" depicts nostalgic reverie for younger days, while "Nowhere Man" and Harrison's "Think for Yourself" explored subject matter that had nothing to do with romance at all.

Recording commenced on 18 October with final production and mix down taking place on 15 November. The song "Wait" was dusted off after initially being recorded for but rejected from Help!. "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper" were recorded during these sessions, but the band chose to leave them off the album, releasing them instead as their first double A-sided single.

To achieve the mimicry of a harpsichord by the piano on "In My Life", George Martin played the piano with the tape running at half-speed. When played back at normal speed during the mixdown, the sped-up sound gave the illusion of a harpsichord. Processing used included heavily compressed and equalised piano sound on "The Word," an effect soon extremely popular in the genre of psychedelic music.

Until very late in their career, the "primary" version of The Beatles' albums was always the monophonic mix. According to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, Martin and the Abbey Road engineers devoted most of their time and attention to the mono mixdowns, and the band were not usually present for the stereo mixing sessions. Even with their landmark Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP, the stereo mixdowns were considered less important than the mono version and were completed in far less time.

While the stereo version of the original release of Rubber Soul was similar to that of their earliest albums, featuring mainly vocals on the right channel and instruments on the left, it was not produced in the same manner. The early albums were recorded on twin-track tape, and they were intended only for production of monaural records, so they kept vocals and instruments separated allowing the two parts to later be mixed in proper proportion. By this time, however, the Beatles were recording on four-track tape, which allowed a stereo master to be produced with vocals in the centre and instruments on both sides, as evidenced in their prior albums Beatles for Sale and Help!. Looking for a way to easily produce a stereo album which sounded good on a monaural record player, Martin mixed down the four-track master tape to stereo with vocals on the right, instruments on the left, and nothing in the middle, even though in "What Goes On", Starr's vocal is mixed on the left instead of the right, with Lennon and McCartney's harmony vocals on the right, while on "Think for Yourself" Harrison's double-tracked lead vocal is split between the two channels.

- Nicky

[Teunis]

Mystery - The World Is A Game
Vienna Circle - Silhouette Moon

[PH]

Big Big Train - "The Underfall Yard"

[Teunis]

Neal Morse - One

[Nicky007]

NP  Beyond Twilight:  Section X

Composed by Finn Zierler, with maestro on keys, Kelly Sundown singing (my fave singer, also on Outworld I), Exo and Jacob Hansen on guitar, Devillian on bass, Tomas Freden on drums, and graphics by Mattias Norén. Can it get any better ?

One of my fave albums 

Here, try it out, the title track:   www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLl-Kj0B0L8

- Nicky

[PH]

Yeah, if you really wanna be sooophiiisticated 

Yes.

To me there's prog and not prog. Prog means progressive, so you got musicians working seriously on extending their music, going beyond the established frontiers 

Yeah I guess you're right. But are you a fan of 'Progressive'? Which includes 'Progressive Blues', 'Progressive Classical', 'Progressive Country', 'Progressive Trance', 'Progressive Hip Hop'. Perhaps even 'progressive cars', 'progressive beer', 'progressive cheese', 'progressive animals'? Or are you more comfortable with 'Progressive Rock', 'Progressive Metal' and the likes?

I mean, I like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. And they were pretty progressive in their time. But I won't go as far as to say that everyone who likes Progressive Rock should also like Beethoven and stuff.
So yeah, I think there's prog and prog. There might even be prog.

Beatles started out with pop, then created rock, and then prog - the greatest rock group in history 

See what you did there Nicky? Now you're suddenly using the word 'prog' as a noun instead of an adjective.

I agree that the Beatles started out with Pop. They became Rock (in a very juvenile form), so they progress, which makes them progressive indeed. 'Progressive Pop' at that time. So that particular form of 'Progressive Pop' became known as 'Rock'. Now, I see their importance in that, but I can not see how they became 'Progressive Rock'.

Even bigger than Big Big Train 

Yeah. Well they might be big stars, but Big Big Train makes a lot more sophisticated (there's that word again) and demanding music. A lot more beautiful to my ears (which is of course subjective).

This should do it, Paxi, from Wiki (Rubber Soul, omissions by me):

[... lot of text...]

Could you not have omitted a bit more... Phew...

Well, you got me Nicky. I actually played the album on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMUqV6G3PY0

The first few songs are actually nice (although it sounds very dated to my ears). But after 15 minutes or so into the album (halfway) I get extremely bored and I want to listen to Opeth or something.

I like the occasional Beatles cover on a Transatlantic live album, but other than that, give me real Prog Rock anytime!

[Nicky007]

But are you a fan of 'Progressive'?

Yes, I support very much everything progressive, cuz that means that some people are assuming an active stance towards life 

I take "progress" as meaning everything that improves or enriches life, or the lives of a group of people, without worsening the lives of others.

"Progressive Blues"

Well, it's difficult to imagine "progressive blues", as blues by its very nature is about feeling and not progression 

"Progressive Classical"

By all means. Beethoven was tremendously progressive (for his times). So was Wagner. Sjostakovitch put his life on the line for his progression (under Stalin's terror regime).

Country is like blues, about feeling. The other genres I'll leave to others.

"Progressive beer" is maybe overdoing it, but there are lotta new beers with new exciting tastes coming out these years.

"Progressive animals", e.g. Paxis, fortunately there's only one of'm 

Or are you more comfortable with "Progressive Rock", "Progressive Metal" and the likes?

We may differ in where we put the division line between prog and nonprog, but I think all Roomies are very familiar (and comfortable) with "progrock" and "progmetal".

But I won't go as far as to say that everyone who likes Progressive Rock should also like Beethoven and stuff.

Agree, just like there's some progrock that I don't like. Proggies are also individuals with their particular tastes.

Now you're suddenly using the word 'prog' as a noun instead of an adjective.

I'v been doing that all along, Paxi 

I cannot see how they became "Progressive Rock".

E.g.   www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEo9Bh679wM

Nobody had heard anything like this before Abbey Road 

Big Big Train makes a lot more sophisticated (there's that word again) and demanding music.

Yes, so do thousands of other rock groups. Rock has progressed a lot since The Beatles. But without The Beatles, rock would be very different today.

Could you not have omitted a bit more... Phew...

I wanted to give you (and others) an impression of how much The Beatles had worked with Rubber Soul.

But after 15 minutes or so into the album (halfway) I get extremely bored

Understandable. There's the generation difference. My generation grew up with The Beatles transforming music and culture. For us, they have a special magic 

- Nicky

[Bupie]

NP It Bites - The Tall Ships

I have a special relation with this album, between love and irritation ! But most of the time, there is a "too much of everything" factor that prevents me from liking it from beginning to end. Like 80's It Bites, some songs are too ... "talkative" or exuberant for my taste. On an individual level, I like most of them ; as a series, I sometimes feel overfed ad nauseam.

How is their latest compared to this one ?

[Bupie]

NP Riverside - Second Life Syndrome

I know it is supposed to be a great album and I know that many of you love it but it just bores me  On sale ...

[Peter]

Blown away by the pre-release of Alter Bridge's "Fortress" here:
http://smarturl.it/abfortress

Awesome. Absolutely Awesome. Gotta have it.

[Bupie]

NP Dream Theater - Dream Theater

I had not heard a single note until now so it's a complete discovery. Brilliant artwork from Hugh Syme once again.

[PH]

NP It Bites - The Tall Ships

I have a special relation with this album, between love and irritation ! But most of the time, there is a "too much of everything" factor that prevents me from liking it from beginning to end. Like 80's It Bites, some songs are too ... "talkative" or exuberant for my taste. On an individual level, I like most of them ; as a series, I sometimes feel overfed ad nauseam.

How is their latest compared to this one ?

The latest It Bites Album ("Map Of The Past") is more of a cohesive bunch of songs, it's a concept album. It's good, but I think "The Tall Ships" is better. With "The Tall Ships" I had the feeling I was listening to a revived Kino. This 'new' album doesn't remind me much of Kino. And to my ears the songs aren't that catchy as they were on "The Tall Ships". In the end I think I like the old It Bites (with Francis Dunnery) a bit better. But I also liked Kino A LOT.
Here are some of my thoughts, now where's my penny?

Blown away by the pre-release of Alter Bridge's "Fortress" here:
http://smarturl.it/abfortress

Awesome. Absolutely Awesome. Gotta have it.

I listened for a few minutes. Not bad. Who are these people? Never heard of them. Why are you listening?

NP Dream Theater - Dream Theater

I had not heard a single note until now so it's a complete discovery. Brilliant artwork from Hugh Syme once again.

Oh! I'm going to get me a copy today!

[Bupie]

The latest It Bites Album ("Map Of The Past") is more of a cohesive bunch of songs, it's a concept album. It's good, but I think "The Tall Ships" is better. With "The Tall Ships" I had the feeling I was listening to a revived Kino. This 'new' album doesn't remind me much of Kino. And to my ears the songs aren't that catchy as they were on "The Tall Ships". In the end I think I like the old It Bites (with Francis Dunnery) a bit better. But I also liked Kino A LOT.
Here are some of my thoughts, now where's my penny?

Thanks for sharing ... but it makes me hesitate to get it now As you know, I also like Kino a lot and I was hoping to find a bit of their magic here. About the penny and the magic, I am sur that Nicky will be glad to embark you on a magical mystery tour wih Penny Lane 

NP Dixie Dregs - What If

I'll come back to the new DT later. Enjoyed the first single - The Enemy Inside- at first listen though.

[Nicky007]

JP  David Bowie:  Outside

From 1995. "A non-linear gothic drama hyper-cycle" about "art-ritual murder" and stuff. Arguably the weirdest Bowie-album. For advanced proggies. Quite a challenge 

Brian Eno was in the mix, and that's a big part of the explanation. Eno may not be able to lift Coldplay to prog, but he helped making Outside a remarkable album 

From Wiki (Outside), my italics:

The liner notes feature a short story by Bowie, the Diary of Nathan Adler, which outlines a somewhat dystopian version of the year 1999 in which the government, through its arts commission, had created a new bureau to investigate the phenomenon of Art Crime. In this future, murder and mutilation of bodies had become a new underground art craze. The main character, Nathan Adler, was in the business of deciding what of this was legally acceptable as art and what was, in a word, trash. The album is filled with references to characters and their lives as he investigates the complicated events leading up to the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl. One is meant to assume that Bowie's character, Nathan Adler, works for the British government due to several references to the cities of London and Oxford, but in the liner notes these are revealed to be, at least in some cases, London, Ontario and Oxford, New Jersey, indicating that the entire story may take place in North America—or, indeed, that the distinction between the two places has become blurred and indistinguishable.

Bowie would claim that the album has "strong smatterings of Diamond Dogs ... The idea of this post-apocalyptic situation is there, somehow. You can kind of feel it."

In interviews, Bowie remarked that the album was meant to reflect the anxiety of the last five years of the millennium.


OK, so that's maybe why I like it so much 


Stones:  Let It Bleed

Their first album after Beggars Banquet, which I consider a masterpiece.

Admittedly I don't know Bleed well, so let's see. Till now 

Interesting, from Amazon.com, my italics:

"One of the Stones' most beloved albums, 1969's Let It Bleed was a benchmark for several reasons. First, founding guitarist Brian Jones died during the recording process. Second, the Stones take their last significant look at pure blues (Robert Johnson's spooky Love in Vain) and country (Country Honk, the two-stepping alter ego of Honky-Tonk Women) before folding both styles into a cohesive rock & roll vision. Third, it contains some of the band's most eerie hits, such as the flame-enveloped Gimme Shelter, the drug-reality anthem Monkey Man, the epic You Can't Always Get What You Want, and Mick Jagger's menacing Midnight Rambler." --Steve Knopper

And thus The Stones were lost to the prog community 

About the penny and the magic, I am sure that Nicky will be glad to embark you on a magical mystery tour with Penny Lane 

Exactly, Bupie    - whatever it takes 

Why are you listening?

Maybe cuz Cap thinks that we have somethin interesting to say 

- Nicky

[PH]

Thanks for sharing ... but it makes me hesitate to get it now

I'm aware of that. I play it every now an then. It's still fairly new to me, but I'm already sure that the previous album was better for me. So when I want to listen to some It Bites and I have a choice between these two... well... most of the time it gets outvoted.

As you know, I also like Kino a lot and I was hoping to find a bit of their magic here.

Obviously, there is a bit of their magic on "Map Of The Past", just less than on "The Tall Ships". If I had to put it in statistics it would probably look a bit like this:
"Picture" = 100% Kino
"The Tall Ships" = 75% Kino
"Map Of The Past" = 50% Kino

The other 50% is also good, but not Kino.

There's probably enough to find on YouTube. Here's a few songs:
Map Of The Past
Meadow And The Stream
Cartoon Graveyard

About the penny and the magic, I am sur that Nicky will be glad to embark you on a magical mystery tour wih Penny Lane 

When I say that I like cheese, it's mostly on a sandwich.

JP  David Bowie:  Outside

From 1995. "A non-linear gothic drama hyper-cycle" about "art-ritual murder" and stuff. Arguably the weirdest Bowie-album. For advanced proggies. Quite a challenge 

Brian Eno was in the mix, and that's a big part of the explanation. Eno may not be able to lift Coldplay to prog, but he helped making Outside a remarkable album 

Thanks for that. I'll check it out. I always thought he made pop music (or pop rock, or something).

[Nicky007]

Thanks for that. I'll check it out. I always thought he made pop music (or pop rock, or something).

Bowie is one of the most ingenious rock musicians eva 

Since you know nothing about Bowie, Paxi    Outside is not the right place to start. My fave Bowie-album is Diamond Dogs, but it may sound a bit outdated to you, so I can recommend Scary Monsters, from 1980, with Robert Fripp, Tony Visconti, and Carlos Alomar in the mix 

- Nicky