This a version of the Art in America song from their debut album. The album version sounds smoother, but I like this rougher mix. Sounds very Drama era Yes to me...
Nice. Yes, very Drama, the one picture in the video even resembles the inner gatefold Drama photo. Oddly liked the first track you posted more... Who influenced more prog music Yes, or Genesis....? Silly question I know. I guess a more direct Genesis influence produced the biggest new prog band of the 80s.
Marillion sort of continue where '70s Genesis left off - he even does the Gabriel-esque face paint, but unfortunately didn't quite have the physique to pull off some of the theatrical moves so gracefully
Anyway, here's a rollicking, toneshifting boogie on down jamathon: The Baker Gurvitz Army* – The Baker Gurvitz Army Label: Vertigo – 9103 201 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo Country: UK Released: Jan 1975 Genre: Rock Style: Prog Rock, Hard Rock, Blues Rock
I must admit, I don't often find myself listening to Floyd as much as I used to but there's something about Animals that continues to retain its potency for me. The entire band play so superbly on this one and there's so many great extended instrumental passages that I've never felt it right that Waters mostly hogged the credits on this record.
NP: Teru's Symphonia - Egg the Universe (1988) Japanese neo-prog with female vocals. The singer is unsurprisingly outclassed by Lisa Ohki of Mr. Sirius, but I find the singing here to be enjoyable in its own right. Lotsa digital sounds but IMO the music and playing are good.
Spock's Beard - The Light Spock's Beard came out of the chute with fully formed prog mastery right on this, their debut. I've always been a big fan of this album, and today was no different, although I did find some of the vocal manipulation to be distracting. But when singing pure, frontman Neal Morse is wonderful. Transatlantic is a legitimate supergroup with all members from different prog acts making significant contribution, but when I listened to this today, it became apparent that for a lot of Transatlantic, Mores carries a little extra influence relative to his bandmates; that's not just because he is the vocalist as well as the keyboardist, but this also relates to compositional approach and overall sound and style. It's hard to imagine someone liking Transatlantic and not liking Morse-era Spock's Beard and vice versa.
Pardon the detour and double post, but I thought I'd go ahead and share my last post on the jazz page here also as it has prog relevance. Slivovitz - Liver I remember being confused when I read about "progressive jazz" and learned it is not at all like doing to jazz what progressive rock does to rock. It had nothing to do with frequent tempo changes, odd time signature, nonstandard instrumentation, or classical influence. Upon spinning this live set from this Italian ensemble (who crystalized their style after a visit to Hungary and taking on Balkan influences), I couldn't help but think this is what I was thinking when I first heard the term "progressive jazz." These guys are all over the place, refusing to settle into any kind of groove for any length of time. Dynamics are constantly shifting. Some times they just go straight hard rock, just with jazz instrumentation. Sometimes they get totally funky. And often, they're switching up those tempos and time signatures. They are always very active, maybe even hyperactive. And it all works superbly! These cats can rock and swing at the same time! Really, they get down, they get up with it, but no matter what they do, I dig what they're doing. This was really quite a find for me. Easily one of my favorite discoveries in this still young year.
NP: A good set for those who already have the classic Wigwam albums. Wigwam - Fresh Garbage - Rarities 1969-1977
When I picked up the big Tony Banks box set on release, I didn't know what to expect going in, but I was pleasantly surprised across the board. His stuff was always a bit more odd and less streamlined than Genesis - even in the later years - but you could really hear what his "voice" was within the band.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Neal Morse lately and I’m continually impressed by his composing skill. He has an incredible ability to compose catchy melodies and arrange them into sophisticated songs and extended suites. He’s very prolific, yet maintains a pretty high level of quality. You wonder if he ever suffers writer’s block. Artists like this intrigue me — seemingly compelled to make music 24 x 7. Recording a bunch of cover songs out of pure enjoyment. I could name many favorites from Spock’s Beard, Transatlantic or solo, but I’ll toss this one out as a perpetual favorite: The Similitude of a Dream.
Great choice. Such a great catalog! My never fail, never tire of is Duel with the Devil. Interestingly, that is an all time fave of my son as well. Got played on pretty much all of our road trips.
Motoi Sakuraba – Gikyokuonsou (1991) More well done Japanese neo-prog, this time in the k/b/d trio format. Sakuraba is the keyboardist from '80s prog band Deja Vu, if anyone here knows them. In fact, this sounds like it could have been Deja Vu's second album, which is no surprise since only the drummer is different. One of the songs, "Byzantium", is a remake from their sole album and sounds almost exactly the same as the original.
The only thing I have from Sakuraba is Force of Light from 1996, which is very high quality, has lush electronics and is cinematic in style. It's probably worth digging deeper into his catalog...
I never got around to that one. I might have gotten the impression at the time that he had gone new age or something, I can't remember clearly. But I just did a superficial spot check on Youtube. I hit spots which sound reminiscent of the album I posted (and indeed, Deja Vu), and I hit other spots which sound pretty different - cinematic, as you say. The parts I hit sounded promising, so I'm going to check out the whole album at some point soon.
Barclay James Harvest – Time Honoured Ghosts Genre: Rock Style: Soft Rock, Prog Rock, Folk Rock Year: 1975
Il Balletto Di Bronzo - Ys This is a very difficult album to assess. After a moody, almost creepy long intro, the music gets relentlessly heavy. The vocals, while clean (this is 1972) are consistently aggressive. Nominally an RPI album, this could also qualify as Heavy Prog, even being on the heavy side of that subgenre. There's a whole log going on here and none of it is easy going. It's easy to get into this frenzy most of the time, but then it's easy to feel like you've been rather bludgeoned by the music. It seems a lot of folks hail this a one of the greatest RPI albums of all time and yet others call it anything from jus t overrated to a total ugly heap. I have to fall much closer to the former camp; this is amazing music even if can be a bit of an emotional challenge at times. It's worth it to hunt down a reissue (or simply stream) as the bonus tracks are also excellent.
