Progressive Rock / Art Rock - Autism, now in music form!

Look, for you Cans and Brahms defenders, all I've got to say is get ready to have your minds blown: have you ever tried listening to...Classical Music?
A brief classical motif is great, but it’s different than just outright listening to classical music.

I'd find it way easier to defend the idea of a perfect album triplet in the Alan White era.
Tales of Topographic Oceans is a bloated mess like all double albums, and a hallmark of the swift decline Yes took after (but not necessarily because of) Bruford’s departure.

I just don't know what to do with someone who's certain Queen was never a prog band and Deep Purple was.
One live album that was certainly unintended to be so. Another unintentional Prog piece would be MacArthur Park:
 
I like Rick Wakeman's King Arthur album.
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I always like looking through the solo works of individual proggers, I really liked this album! Also that font reminds me of ABWH, what the hell was ABWH, man?

I remember watching some interviews from the group and they were all talking about how they wanted to make music catered to their artistic interests, which is why they took a break from Yes, le corporate sanitized music, and they wanted to make music that "pushed le boundaries of music", or whatever. (1) (2) Personally, I hate how the album sounds. I specifically hate the sound Rick uses in this song so much! Though on a second listen, Brother of mine is pretty good!
 
You're not supposed to like this song, but literally everyone likes it. It's like the musical equivalent of racism.
Admittedly, the reasons I enjoy it as a Prog song are very valid criticisms for any actual music. From the pretentious lyrics to the point of nonsense to the sudden jump from a dramatic pop ballad with classical instruments to an attempt at an upbeat semi-rock bridge (that was soloed over by Glen Campbell).

Relatedly, I really like using Heart of the Sunrise as the prime example of, not the best Prog rock song (though it is very good) but one whose structure very clearly and distinctly exemplifies how Prog songs differ compared to Rock’s standard three verses and a solo.
 
Admittedly, the reasons I enjoy it as a Prog song are very valid criticisms for any actual music. From the pretentious lyrics to the point of nonsense to the sudden jump from a dramatic pop ballad with classical instruments to an attempt at an upbeat semi-rock bridge (that was soloed over by Glen Campbell).

Relatedly, I really like using Heart of the Sunrise as the prime example of, not the best Prog rock song (though it is very good) but one whose structure very clearly and distinctly exemplifies how Prog songs differ compared to Rock’s standard three verses and a solo.
That's the song that made me fall in love with Fragile, and Bruford's drumming! Still chewing on Bill's own work with Bruford and Earthworks. Here are some of my favorite songs from his extensive discography

If Summer Had It's Ghosts off of Footloose and Fancy Free by Earthworks (This album is criminally unlistened to! >:()
Gothic 17 off of Gradually Going Tornado by Bruford
Beelzebub off of Feels Good To Me by the same band, and this specific performance he did in Uruguay that I listen to religiously. I do think it's good!
 
(It's not double posting if it's a day apart right? :))

What do you guys think about the current state of King Crimson? I don't like any of their new recordings because I can't stand Jakko's singing at all.
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Also who takes crim after Fripp? I have a feeling he'd make it die with him but there's an equally likely chance of someone else taking the Crimson throne. I say this because Fripp is one of the most indecisive people in Prog. Some days he'll say "we will never do a greatest hits tour" and then do exactly that. Other days he'll scold Jakko for saying nice things about him because he wants to be seen as a sour little turtle... Only to then post the silliest videos of him and his wife for everyone to see. What's up with him?!
 
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It's not double posting if it's a day apart right?
It's also the "Progressive Rock" thread, so it's going to be the same five posters making discussion at the speed of molasses. We'll hit 260 posts in more than 1129 days.

What do you guys think about the current state of King Crimson?
The problem with a lot of Prog groups is few of them survived the 80's (pretty much Rush), partially because the genre was starting to stale by '74. KC specifically already had burnt out a lot of their creativity after Larks Tongues came out, though never quite reaching the lows of Love Beach. There were already low points in their earlier works, notably the improvised section of Moonchild that goes nowhere and does nothing (Focus does the concept way better in Answer? Questions! Questions? Answer!). By the time '03 came around, they were already competing with groups that could be considered their legacy, such as Dream Theater.

I say this because Fripp is one of the most indecisive people in Prog.
Fripp has never been as smart/clever/interesting as he believes he is. Simple as.
 
We'll hit 260 posts in more than 1129 days.
I can't wait!
Fripp has never been as smart/clever/interesting as he believes he is. Simple as.
Yeah, I see some crim fans laughing at the assertion that someone like Tim Henson is a better guitarist than Fripp... though he is? Fripp showed off once in Fracture, and as far as I know that was it. I'm not a guitarist so I wouldn't know how hard it is to actually play these songs, but Henson seems to push himself much more than the little turtle. Polyphia is mostly a showcase of technical skill, and as a result I don't like many of their songs. I can still appreciate the amount of skill that goes into them though.
 
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Tim Henson
Who?
Oh, he’s an instagram guitarist. He crams as many technical tricks into what is essentially a flamenco song. It’s backed by nothing bass work and drumming with a veneer of editing effects to make it seem more substantial than it actually is. It’s all just harmonics and tapping, a concept Eddie Van Halen did forty years ago, made it sound better with overdrive and actually making a song out of it. Your song needs an actual hook and basis for the listener to grab onto, what Henson is doing is just masturbatory.*

Fripp is competent at guitar. If you want jazz-style note explorations, Jan Ackerman did it better. If you want strange chords that somehow work, look to Steve Howe. If you want better showmanship, Alex Lifeson. Fripp is a great all-rounder who can handle these weird chromatic runs, but KC was always elevated by other musicians: Greg Lake, Bill Bruford, David Cross, etc.

*I’m very aware of the irony of saying this in this particular thread.
 
Who?
Oh, he’s an instagram guitarist. He crams as many technical tricks into what is essentially a flamenco song. It’s backed by nothing bass work and drumming with a veneer of editing effects to make it seem more substantial than it actually is. It’s all just harmonics and tapping, a concept Eddie Van Halen did forty years ago, made it sound better with overdrive and actually making a song out of it. Your song needs an actual hook and basis for the listener to grab onto, what Henson is doing is just masturbatory.*
I see. Also, what was up with that preddit brony tranny album?
https://www.vyletpony.com/monarch-of-monsters
The hard left prog communities are fun because of my pet lolcows, but even if you had six braincells you wouldn't call this a good prog album. I tried my level best to give it a shot and immediately got bored because it sounded like an emo Taylor Swift song. Why on Earth would you open with such a weak song?! I then tried listening to the next few and couldn't bring myself to finish it. What do people see in it, seriously?

I also want to appreciate the essay our beautiful true and honest woman wrote on xir own album. Why explain your album and how it connects to Your Struggle if you already made the album to explain that? I tried looking at reviews to see what others saw in it and the word salads and nothingburgers I was consuming made me feel for anorexic teenagers.
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https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=88509
Has progarchives always been like this?
 
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what was up with that preddit brony tranny album?
Wtf that is the worst album cover I've ever seen. Roger Dean would be crawling out of his grave if he saw that. Nevermind he's still alive. There may not be a billion classic prog albums but you can listen to them each a million times and get something new out of them every time. All the new prog slop is terrible and will not stand the test of time.

I suppose since we're talking about album covers what are your favorites?
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I always thought the hidden easter island heads in the background were cool.
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HR fucking Giger!
 
Can someone explain this song to me? Every time I hear it. I think it is about being a pedo. The whole "Sitting on a park bench....Staring at little girls" thing makes me worry.
It's about a dirty old pedohobo yes. And Cross-Eyed Mary is about a schoolgirl prostitute.
Am I the only one who likes some modern prog stuff?
Depends on how modern you mean. The Mars Volta is one of my top three bands, even if their most recent album was kind of gay and boring.
I'd probably like Thank You Scientist a lot more if all their songs didn't sound the same.
 
Wtf that is the worst album cover I've ever seen. Roger Dean would be crawling out of his grave if he saw that. Nevermind he's still alive. There may not be a billion classic prog albums but you can listen to them each a million times and get something new out of them every time. All the new prog slop is terrible and will not stand the test of time.

I suppose since we're talking about album covers what are your favorites?
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I always thought the hidden easter island heads in the background were cool.
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HR fucking Giger!
I looove Roger Deans stuff so much!
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I was most intrigued by the shadows in the foreground cast by the tree above, it's such a nice little detail. I believe that Roger made this by cutting and pasting different pictures together so he could compose a scene and find the details in the references.

There's also this extended version that I've never seen before.
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And this horse riding guy.
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Dean was a much more versatile artist than I thought. I wonder what influenced all of these vast, naturalistic yet fantastical landscapes that make up the brunt of his work
 

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I'm gonna go out and say it. Abominog is Uriah Heep's best album. Fuck the 80s hating boomers who say otherwise.

 
I'm gonna go out and say it. Abominog is Uriah Heep's best album. Fuck the 80s hating boomers who say otherwise.

I dunno, the keyboards are 80's to the point of parody, and it can't be their best album because Salisbury exists (and the US version is also a qualifier for top tier album art).
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the keyboards are 80's to the point of parody
That's the boomer take I'm talking about. "too 80s, not prog enough" then proceeds to listen to washed up 90s "prog" slop. Uriah Heep imo is very underwhelming as a prog band, besides their first 1 or 2 albums Abominog is the only album worth listening to, much like Styx with Roboto being a fun good song and their 70s stuff being boring boomer hard rock.

I might be biased because I like the 80s sound and 80s prog is fun as it's own thing with it's synths. I've even grown to like Phil Collin's 80s era genesis and Yes' 80s stuff more.




 
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too 80s, not prog enough" then proceeds to listen to washed up 90s "prog" slop
I don’t know what you’re talking about, Salisbury was their second album and the trio of Look At Yourself, Demons and Wizards, and The Magician’s Birthday are all great albums. While I’ll admit Heep tends more towards the Deep Purple end of the spectrum at their most straight-forward, I can’t float this concept alongside the idea of “80’s Prog.” The 80’s were infamous in that it was when the Prog groups abandoned the tenants of the genre in pursuit of a more mainstream sound, effectively rendering “80’s Prog” an oxymoron.
 
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I don’t know what you’re talking about, Salisbury was their second album and the trio of Look At Yourself, Demons and Wizards, and The Magician’s Birthday are all great albums. While I’ll admit Heep tends more towards the Deep Purple end of the spectrum at their most straight-forward, I can’t float this concept alongside the idea of “80’s Prog.” The 80’s were infamous in that it was when the Prog groups abandoned the tenants of the genre in pursuit of a more mainstream sound, effectively rendering “80’s Prog” an oxymoron.
I liked the Magicians birthday but it's really nothing to write home about compared to other 70s prog.

80s prog hatred is a boomer mentality that ran rampant online when they had access to the internet. I would say 90s prog was when a lot of bands really fell off and became cringe and pretentious. 80s stuff had at least cool synth solos and some complicated rhythms and tempo changes, like Under Wraps by Jethro Tull.

If I would name the worst albums of most late 60s-70s prog greats I would say the vast majority of them from the 90s-2000s. Like Yes, Genesis, Wishbone Ash, Caravan... ect. Some made great stuff like King Crimson but most of prog from that era were shit. And boomers embraced that slop and decided contemporary prog is this shit and bland pretentious stuff and mostly the symphonic side of prog like Dream Theater (their first album was ok), Opeth's post-black metal stuff, Steven Wilson soyslop. And bands who really had the spirit of raw eclectic prog were labelled as alternative rock like Tool and Primus.
 
If Summer Had It's Ghosts off of Footloose and Fancy Free by Earthworks (This album is criminally unlistened to! >:()
I love that album and Bruford is one of my favourite drummers. I am completely fascinated with the way he navigates odd time signatures so effortlessly, but you gotta give it up for the rest of the band too, none of those songs are easy even with a great drummer. With that said though Relayer (which neither Bruford nor Wakeman played on) is my #1 favourite album. I don't love the snare sound but everything else about the entire album is perfect. I was going to say you chose the wrong three consecutive albums (I like the Yes Album, too don't get me wrong) but I realised Tales of Topographic Oceans was in between there.
 
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