Topic: Prog rock? (Read 23516 times)

ExplodingBunnies · « **on:** 16 Dec 2004, 21:45 »

OK, I have to wonder if I'm stepping on tacks with this one, but I LOVE prog rock. It's pretentious, wordy, abstract, weird, and totally wonderful. I guess it's the complete antithesis of hardcore/indie and what have you, but I have room in my heart for both. I love Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Rush, King Crimson, King's X, Shadow Gallery, Yes, and all that good stuff. Anyone else?

exliontamer · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Dec 2004, 22:00 »

Rush is cool. I really enjoy some Boston as well, and a little Kansas for good measure. No one can knock Point of Know Return, its a solid fucking album.

ExplodingBunnies · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 Dec 2004, 22:03 »

Gotta agree there. I saw them for free at Ribfest on my birthday and they were awesome... can't believe how good they sounded for how long they've been at it. Also saw Rush a few years ago, and I worked backstage at their concert here last summer. Watched the drum solo from side stage... DAMN!

c1utch · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Dec 2004, 22:11 »

only ever heard of Yes, but the keyboard was great.

flowers for charlie · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 00:09 »

tell me some stuff to buy (download) and i'll run right out to the store and buy it

ForteBass · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 07:45 »

I love King Crimson...

ExplodingBunnies · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 08:19 »

Charlie - Here are some great prog albums.

Rush - Moving Pictures, 2112
Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
Yes - Fragile
King's X - Gretchen Goes To Nebraska
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic (This is probably the hardest to get into, but if you can, it's very rewarding)

Enjoy!

Spencer · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 09:00 »

Prog Rock is far from a dead genre. Modern Prog Rock (Post-Prog?) has some really incredible and diverse groups out there. Of course, everyone knows about G!YBE, but then you have lesser known acts like Coheed and Cambria (yes, they are prog. No. Don't argue. They are. Get used to it.) and, my favorite of the progs, The Mercury Program. The Mercury Program wins all. if I was a "listen to music while going to bed" type, I would listen to The Mercury Program, and have dreams of being awesome in all sorts of different scenarios.

krug · « **Reply #8 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 13:19 »

Ahh now we're getting into the fun parts of my dad's album collection

Genesis, before they gave Phil Collins a mic they were quite prog, Foxtrot is still my favourite Genesis album.

Pink Floyd. Up until The Wall, that is.

The Who - Quadrophenia, great album.

Jethro Tull. Hurrah for insane-looking flute players standing on one leg.

Queen, believe it or not, their first two albums were pure prog, and they kept going back to the theme on albums like A Night at the Opera.

Emerson Lake and Palmer. Brain Salad Surgery is a work of art.

Alan Parsons Project.

Electric Light Orchestra.

Camel.

Yes. To add to Fragile, I'd also recommend Close to the Edge and The Yes Album.

David Bowie. One can hardly forget Space Oddity when mentioning prog rock.

ExplodingBunnies · « **Reply #9 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 14:24 »

I agree with you on those! Even some artists like Bowie and Queen who most consider within the "classic rock" or whatever genre you like dabbled into some progressive stylings at some point.

Outshined · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 01:05 »

I dig me some Dream Theater... in fact I revel in their occasional cheesiness. I really enjoy the album "A Change of Seasons" which is essentially one long kickass song. It might also have my favorite guitar solo from any album, period.

icky · « **Reply #11 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 02:31 »

In a previous previous version of this thread I mentioned SubArachnoid Space. They're a band that took the step beyond space rock that space rock took from prog rock and went back towards intellectual avant gardish noisy rock music. Quality music, if you're into it. I suggest "Endless Renovation" and "Almost Invisible".

arkturus · « **Reply #12 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 10:50 »

I like prog, mostly.

My favorite prog bands:
Rush
Yes
King Crimson
Pink Floyd
Flower Kings
Pain of Salvation
Ayreon
maudlin of the Well

All is not well, however. Some prog is boring as hell, and some prog is just cheesy, and other prog is simply ass. I dislike Marillion.

ExplodingBunnies · « **Reply #13 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 11:22 »

As with any genre... that's true.

Tago Mago · « **Reply #14 on:** 18 Dec 2004, 20:44 »

I love Genesis and some Yes ("Soon", "South Side of the Sun", and "And You And I"), but most prog is pretty crappy.

flowers for charlie · « **Reply #15 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 02:37 »

I've got to be honest with you, so far prog rock is seeming like a lot of fluff

ExplodingBunnies · « **Reply #16 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 08:26 »

I guess the disclaimer at the top still applies... it's bombastic, pretentious, longwinded, and totally out there, but still. It is, I will grant you, an acquired taste, and it sure as heck isn't for everyone. Most people I know get turned off by the sheer song length.

What have you heard so far?

reff · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 Dec 2004, 16:25 »

Essential Progressive Music*

Yes: Time and a Word, The Yes Album, Fragile, Relayer, Close to the Edge.. all great albums.
Genesis: Lamb Lies Down, Selling England by the Pound, Trick of the Tail (Foxtrot is great.. but im not sure if its as necessary as the above three)
King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King was my initial album in jr. high.. but youre safe with almost any of the albums before the 80's.
Can: im not sure that they were entirely progressive(maybe progressive, but not prog rock..), they strike me more as more of a psychedelic sound, but they are great: Monster Movie, Soundtracks, Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi, anything before the 80's. This band is slightly more forgivable during the 80's, but not a complete exception!
Pink Floyd: Soundtrack for More, Meddle, Obscured, and theres an excellent 1970 BBC session live thing floating around the internet with - embryo,green is the color,if.. get that!

I never honestly got into an entire Rush album, but I know of plenty of people that love them. Also, Air's "Virgin Suicides" OST is nice and has a similar feel to it. There is a song you can probably look up on p2p by Greenslade or David Greenslade called "Melange" that is a great song.. completely resembling a typical 'Progressive Rock' song.

*Note: Albums being good before the 80's seems to be the trend amongst most of these bands.

Spencer · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 Dec 2004, 10:13 »

I find the lack of discussion of Modern Prog Rock in this thread upsetting.

freestyle trombonist · « **Reply #19 on:** 23 Dec 2004, 10:17 »

spock's beard!! spocks beard is an awesome modern prog rock band. i love them, they are so fun. also, the flower kings. they are really really happy prog rock. in fact, i'm gonna go listen to spock's beard and the flower kings right now!

El Opium · « **Reply #20 on:** 23 Dec 2004, 23:37 »

Quote from: ForteBass

I love King Crimson...

One of the few Prog bands I have stuff by (their first two LPs). Anyone else like Caravan? I wouldn't mind getting hold of some stuff by Univers Zero, Soft Machine or Magma.

arkturus · « **Reply #21 on:** 24 Dec 2004, 21:50 »

The only modern prog rock bands I know that aren't metal are Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, and The Flower Kings. I'm only really partial to the Flower Kings.

Thal · « **Reply #22 on:** 25 Dec 2004, 03:29 »

One of the few I have heard out of this genre would be Spock's Beard and that is due to my dad who really likes them. Not really my taste but they had a few good songs if I recall correctly.

-sam · « **Reply #23 on:** 27 Dec 2004, 17:58 »

Quote from: Spencer

I find the lack of discussion of Modern Prog Rock in this thread upsetting.

Personally I consider Umphreys McGee to be sort-of prog. But I'm probably alone in that assessment.

-sam

Jeridus · « **Reply #24 on:** 22 May 2005, 21:52 »

Hrm.. prog huh?

Well, Mars Volta is prog... kinda sorta, right... THEY say they are

as for Coheed and Cambria... they are very Rush-esque, and it's the fact that rather than make individual stand alone songs, they make whole cohesive albums that are designed to be played as a whole (like any Mars Volta, as well as Rush's 2112)

ah well, into the classics I guess

Rush -- 2112 and Caress of Steel

and I'm also gonna agree with krug on a bunch:

Any Genesis is good Genesis in my opinion
The Who -- Both Quadrophenia and Tommy
David Bowie -- The absolute pinnacle of Bowie prog is definitely Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, though
All Jethro Tull (Mostly Aqualung)
ELO is pretty awesome, yeah
And yeah, Alan Parsons Project is pretty much the definition of old prog

sp2 · « **Reply #25 on:** 22 May 2005, 22:02 »

Quote from: Jeridus

Well, Mars Volta is prog... kinda sorta, right... THEY say they are

Strange time signatures, lots of time signature changes, key changes, and so forth, not to mention excessive experimental fiddling.

Mars Volta are definitely prog.

normz · « **Reply #26 on:** 22 May 2005, 22:23 »

ooh you guys are getting me all excited at the mention of all my fav bands; dream theatre and liquid tension, king crimson, porcupine tree, pink floyd ..... YAY I also like Tool which some people nominate as prog but i say their in a whole awesome categroy of their own. I mean they do have the trippy time signatures and experimental fiddlings in Lateralus but hmmm i dunno .......

sp2 · « **Reply #27 on:** 22 May 2005, 22:26 »

Tool is pretentious but I'm not sure it would qualify as prog.

normz · « **Reply #28 on:** 22 May 2005, 23:14 »

They may be pretentious but their also soundgasmic *giggles* oh i love that word

Robbo · « **Reply #29 on:** 23 May 2005, 00:40 »

I lisetn to a fairly big chunk of Prog stuff. Including stuff like: Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes, King Crimson, Flower Kings, ELP, Porcupine Tree, Spock's Bear, etc

And moveing into Metal stuff like Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Pain of Salvation, Queensrÿche, Ayreon, Shadow Gallery, Star One, Symphony X, Threshold, Sun Caged, Acid Rain, Wuthering Heights, Control Denied, Opeth, etc.

Yeah, just a little bit of a Prog fan.

Borondir · « **Reply #30 on:** 23 May 2005, 10:47 »

The only prog I really listen to much would be metal like Dream Theater or Opeth. I do love old Rush and King's X too, just don't own any albums.

Robbo · « **Reply #31 on:** 23 May 2005, 10:56 »

There's far to much good Prog Metal out there...there's about 1000 bands I'd like to hear stuff from if it was possible.

Borondir · « **Reply #32 on:** 23 May 2005, 12:09 »

I'm more into atmospheric and avant garde stuff, rather than prog.

Robbo · « **Reply #33 on:** 23 May 2005, 12:10 »

Avant Garde works for me. Slow managing to hunt down more and more the Metal based stuff and I'll probably end up branching out from there as well.

Hector Gilbert · « **Reply #34 on:** 23 May 2005, 12:28 »

Yes are one of my favourite bands - anything in the timeframe 1969-1983 I dig with the exception of Tormato, and that's just because I haven't yet heard Tormato or albums from outside that timeframe. Some other stuff I dig...

Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, A Saucerful Of Secrets, More, Ummagumma (live and studio), Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, Obscured By Clouds, Dark Side Of The Moon
King Crimson - Larks Tongues In Aspic, Red, Discipline
Genesis - Trespass, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and I have not yet heard anything past that point

Yeah, just the very basics I'm afraid. I never dug any of the "neo-prog" that I heard much.

Robbo · « **Reply #35 on:** 23 May 2005, 12:35 »

Yeah, while I like "Neo-Prog", straigh up Prog Rock is by far the better of the two styles.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #36 on:** 23 May 2005, 14:57 »

My Dad is a good man. Growing up I listened to Genesis and Floyd avidly, and also fell in love with Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (don't know if you'd call it prog but it's definitely in somewhat of the same vein). Criminally, I only recently discovered my fathers complete vinyl discography of Yes (not to mention all of Rick Wakeman's solo albums). Never has listening to something simply on the strength of its cover art produced such great results!

As well as sticking to my roots, I also very much enjoy Hawkwind (again, I don't think you'd call them prog, but PF have linked prog and space pretty inextricably in my mins), lots of prog-metal, avant-garde and post-metal, everything from the hard rockin' Hawkwind-worshipping glory of Star One to the sheer awesomeness of Borknagar. If I had to pick three prog musicians, I would arrive with the refined metalheads three obvious choices: Dan Swano, Devin Townsend and Arjen Lucassen. Anyone who enjoys Opeth should check out the body of Swano's work, particularly Nightingale, his solo album 'Moontower' and all but the first couple of Edge of Sanity (EoS were brilliant: despite never producing any truly great albums apart from the Crimson/Crimson II concept albums, their complete body of work represents a vast body of musical innovation. I still think they were one of the best bands ever). Devin Townsends solo stuff away from Strapping Young Lad is proggy as fuck, and Arjen is just legendary.

I would list all the stuff in this, to me, rather broad vein that I listen to, but it would take yonks.

Hatebunny · « **Reply #37 on:** 23 May 2005, 22:36 »

I love the Moody Blues.
I love Focus (Dutch? They used yodelling, flute and guitar)
I like Jethro Tull.
I like the pre-prog type beatles stuff, like I am the Walrus, Tomorrow Never Knows, It's all too much, that kinda stuff.

I'm not a big fan of modern prog stuff, or even the big mainstream guys that are popular now...come to think of it, I can't stand pink floyd.

DeathrockZombie · « **Reply #38 on:** 24 May 2005, 16:25 »

Our guitarist is a HUGE prog junkie.

He reccomends CAMEL, CARAVAN, HAPPY THE MAN and of course, RUSH

moonman9j9 · « **Reply #39 on:** 26 May 2005, 17:45 »

Dream Theater is my absolute FAVORITE band ever.

They release a new album on June 7th. It's awesome.

Kai · « **Reply #40 on:** 26 May 2005, 17:56 »

I still don't know what qualifies Dream THeater as progressive, except for the 23 minute songs and John Petrucci's Guitar wankery.

Robbo · « **Reply #41 on:** 27 May 2005, 00:44 »

Let's see, all of Images and Words. All the long sweeping instrumental sections, all the style changes, the drum, keyboard and bass wankery. The self-referencing lyrical and musical ideas and evolution of songs. And all that crap that it's fair to early for me to explain and make sense.

All seems Progressive to me and outside of the relams of just being a Tech Metal band. But then, there are better Prog Metal bands out there. Dream Theater have become the Slayer of Prog Metal (can't think of a more fitting example)

I dunno, never seen anyone doubting them actually being a Prog band before...more just doubting if they're any good.

zekterellium · « **Reply #42 on:** 27 May 2005, 01:27 »

<3 dream theatre.

_grace_ · « **Reply #43 on:** 27 May 2005, 07:23 »

what IS prog?

normz · « **Reply #44 on:** 27 May 2005, 07:33 »

Quote from: sp2

Strange time signatures, lots of time signature changes, key changes, and so forth, not to mention excessive experimental fiddling.

that seems like a pretty good definition for you .... it's like rock with a twist i guess; very experimental type stuff

_grace_ · « **Reply #45 on:** 27 May 2005, 07:36 »

sounds good!

Hector Gilbert · « **Reply #46 on:** 27 May 2005, 12:15 »

Quote from: _grace_

sounds good!

What bands/sort of bands do you like in general? That might give some indication of where you should start...

Johnny C · « **Reply #47 on:** 27 May 2005, 16:53 »

Quote from: arkturus

Ayreon

x10 <3

Psiogen · « **Reply #48 on:** 28 May 2005, 02:22 »

No offense, people who are recommending Rush and Dream Theater and Kansas and the Flower Kings, but those bands are probably enough to make most people despise the genre for the rest of their lives.

My favorite prog albums:

King Crimson - Larks Tongues in Aspic or Red:Mindblowing mixture of hard rock, free jazz, and experimental pop.

Gentle Giant - Octopus: Genre-hopping weirdoes with a knack for cramming more ideas into a 4 minute song than should be possible.

Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh: Maxi-minimalist hypnotic rock opera written in a fictional language.

Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening: Hard-rockin' instrumental jazz-prog.

Yes - Close to the Edge: Gorgeous shimmering art-pop symphonies.

Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts: A psych-goth nightmare. The sound of a man teetering at the brink...

Can - Tago Mago: Gotta have some krautrock in there! Jaki is a god among drummers.

_grace_ · « **Reply #49 on:** 28 May 2005, 06:17 »

Quote from: Hector Gilbert

What bands/sort of bands do you like in general? That might give some indication of where you should start...

you want me to LIST bands i like? why, that would mean writing a novel.

want a general idea? rock. soft, hard, it's all good. as long as they aren't growling.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Prog rock? (Read 23516 times)

ExplodingBunnies

exliontamer

ExplodingBunnies

c1utch

flowers for charlie

ExplodingBunnies

Spencer

krug

ExplodingBunnies

Outshined

icky

arkturus

ExplodingBunnies

flowers for charlie

ExplodingBunnies

reff

Spencer

freestyle trombonist

El Opium

arkturus

Thal

-sam

Jeridus

sp2

normz

sp2

normz

Robbo

Robbo

Robbo

Hector Gilbert

Robbo

Hatebunny

DeathrockZombie

moonman9j9

Robbo

zekterellium

_grace_

normz

_grace_

Hector Gilbert

Psiogen

_grace_