Prog Rock

[Pedrito]

My yearly Prog thread..if you don't listen to any of the following sort your life out ffs.

It's literally mindblowing what came out of England in the heady days of Prog Rock back in the late 60's and 70's.

Currently listening to Foxtrot by Genesis after spending most of the week on Selling England by the Pound. You could literally write a book on each album. Unreal musicianship, talent, vision, genius really.

Foxtrot an unusually claustrophobic album, chock full of fairy-tale meets dystopia meets the middle ages and everything in between and beyond. Just listen to that first song Watcher of the Skies..what an almost black metal vibe to the thing. Supper's Ready is the masterpiece of course..incredible.

Then Selling England..musically perfect and the production is very bright and beautiful. Could do without the Phil Collins tune on it, but otherwise just pure quality. Complex, deep and way ahead of it's time, though it captures it's time so well. Firth of Fifth is probably my favourite tune..sublime. The title track, Epping Forest, The Cinema Show..no band sounded like them before or since. 

Haven't listened to Lamb lies down in a while and I won't gush over one of the greatest albums ever again.

Despite my love of Genesis there are gaps in my collection. Anybody recommend another album?

On to King Crimson. Been spinning loads of Lark Tongues, Thraak and Discipline lately. I think for metal heads trying to get into Prog Thraak might be worth a listen. Dark and unusual and with a more modern feel to it seeing as it was recorded relatively recently. Red gets loads of attention and while it's cool, I'd tend towards the likes of Discipline and the above two or the first album myself. It's still a great album..a definite entry point for those not familiar with them.

Apart from all that the Steve Wilson Yes remixes have been on constant daily loop in my gaff since they were released back last year. A band I'll be listening to when I'm grey and old and my cock is fizzled to fish bait.

Any other prog heads on here? Despite listening to plenty, I reckon I've only scratched the surface over the years. Any recommendations welcome.

[Hambeast]

I've never been big into prog, but I think this is maybe one of the best albums I was introduced to from WCD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChBCww96RKo

[leatherface]

Ozric Tentacles is an old psychedelic prog band (late 80s/early 90s) that I never see mentioned much anymore. Not sure much about their background as musicians but almost all of their albums have ambient/chillout sections with some rock solos thrown in randomly. Odd band, I always liked 'Pungent Effulgent' personally (1989).

[leatherface]

Ozric Tentacles is an old psychedelic prog band (late 80s/early 90s) that I never see mentioned much anymore. Not sure about their background as musicians but almost all of their albums have ambient/chillout sections with some rock solos thrown in randomly. Odd band, I always liked 'Pungent Effulgent' personally (1989).

'Strangeitude' is also great.

[Ducky]

I'm probably as big a fanboy of Rush as I am of Death. A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres are my two face for sure.

Really dig Yes' widdly era, Camel, Van Der Graaf Generator.

Love UK' self titled and Bill Bruford's "Feels To Me".

I've got "Nursery Crimes" sitting somewhere but I never got into Genesis!

[Kurt Cocaine]

Ozric Tentacles is an old psychedelic prog band (late 80s/early 90s) that I never see mentioned much anymore. Not sure much about their background as musicians but almost all of their albums have ambient/chillout sections with some rock solos thrown in randomly. Odd band, I always liked 'Pungent Effulgent' personally (1989).

Ding... Great shout.

[Scáthach]

Re Genesis, Trespass and Wind & Wuthering are worth a listen too. Love Yes up to Relayer, Owner of a lonely heart can fuck right off tho. I'm convinced there's a KC album for every mood and would happily give my left bollock to see them live. I'd give the right one too if I could time travel and see the Belew / Bruford / Fripp and Levin line up live.

[wiped]

Any Rush is good Rush (except Hold You Fire ... fair enough).

Try these for less well known classics

Khan - Space Shanty
Steve Hillage - Green
Steve Hackett - Voyage of the Acolyte

[wiped]

Despite my love of Genesis there are gaps in my collection. Anybody recommend another album?

Genesis die-hards won't thank me cos Gabriel had left  ... but I love A Trick Of The Tail ... possibly my fav.

[Ducky]

Any Rush is good Rush (except Hold You Fire ... fair enough).

I love Hold Your Fire. There's some great tunes on it (Time Stand Still, Turn the Page) and it sounds good. Which is a lot more than I can say for Presto, my least fave of their albums by a good stretch.

[Pedrito]

It's funny because as much as the outside world would consider Rush prog, lots of more CULT prog heads would say they're a heavy metal/hard rock band with some bells and whistles. I am a big Rush fan, though in recent years I find myself listening very little to them. That is sure to change in future. For me personally, I think Rush almost sounded better when they started honing their sound more.

Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves and even Power Windows would be my go to albums. Love Hold your Fire also. Hemispheres is let down by the opening track for me, though the rest of the album. Is amazeballs. 2112, Farewell to Kings, excellent, though with some iffy stuff going on in there too. Waves and Pictures are far more complete and high quality for me.

Lots of metal head Rush fans would be apalled with me for saying the above but I think we can be a bit too forgiving at times with some of the stuff.

That said, when they are good they are incredible. I'll never forget seeing them in Dublin. Me and Johnny my buddy got 4 or 5 of those massive beers each, sat directly in front of them and song along to every lyric, drum beat and solo, people progressively moving away from us throughout the gig until we were on our own almost. Amazing gig.

[Ducky]

Yeah but those kind of people are the same type of unrelenting mouth breathers that exclude the likes of Converge and Deftones from Metal Archives. 2112, Cygnus X-1, Book-2, La Villa Strangiato, Natural Science, Xanadu - how can any of those songs be anything other than prog?

I mostly agree with you about their sound  and consistency - Freewill is my favourite song (Permanent Waves got me into them) and I probably like Witch Hunt, Vital Signs and Between the Wheels more than any of the individual tracks from the earlier albums, and I certainly prefer the direction Peart went with his lyrics. I think all their 80s releases bar Presto are great.

I think if Bastille Day wasn't on Caress of Steel it'd be their worst album. And bar the title track and Bangkok, 2112 really isn't all that good either. For me, Farewell is their first consistent record.

I've pulled them up on Spotify for a listen and wow, the 40th anniversary editions of 2112, Farewell and Hemispheres... they've never had very appealing album art, but these require eye bleach, the one for Hemispheres is particularly bad.

Was at the 2011 gig too, fucking amazing. And now that we're 7 years on from Clockwork Angels it genuinely holds up as one of their best records, what a way to bow out.

[Pedrito]

Haha agree with everything you said there. Caress of Steel is muck in fairness. 2112 has it's charms, but yes Farewell to Kings saw them really create something very interesting indeed. Fly by Night also has an oul stomper or two.

Peart's lyrics definitely improved the longer they went. Show of Hands is a great live dvd if you can get past the haircuts and 80's suits. I also love Signals the album and Grace under Pressure. The later albums have some class songs spread throughout them. Might dust off my cd collection give them a blast..quality.

[Ducky]

Yeah I think Fly By Night is decent, but it has such a weird flow - the first four songs are great, By-Tor (which is great) s slap in the middle and the last few songs are shite acoustic tunes.

I've got the Replay x 3 DVD set, Show of Hands is class! Even though Presto is my least favourite album, I'd have love to have seen the tour - Dimension Hatross-era Voivod opening for them - sound! They have enough good songs on the latter albums to do a full set of them.

Just looking on Spotify here and the one album they don't have on it is the original version of Vapor Trails. I know the original is clipped to fuck and sounds cack at times, but the remix version was almost too cautious and sounds a bit flat. Think I might be rooting out the original tomorrow evening! (Vapor Trail and Earthshine are fucking class songs).

[Pedrito]

Earthshine one of their best songs..love it.