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deadwing posted:Speaking of Steven Wilson... Just saw this on his facebook page. I am really excited as well, the clips in the LA recording session videos all sound great, and the lineup is killer. I'm not terribly keen on the artwork but I will probably preorder the deluxe book version and LP 
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Nov 29, 2012 02:19
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Rollersnake posted:Edit 2: Also I'll probably never understand why Selling England is regarded by so many as Genesis' masterpiece. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight and Firth of Fifth are brilliant, but I think they're the only truly classic tracks on there. The Battle of Epping Forest in particular I've always thought is poo poo. I'd recommend Nursery Cryme or Trick of the Tail over it as a starting point. I do think they perhaps surpassed this highwater mark as instrumentalists and arrangers on A Trick of the Tail, and as much as I love The Lamb (my personal fave) and appreciate Collins' efforts on Trick, I almost wish Trick was the followup to Selling England with Gabriel still on vocals - with probably better lyrics as a result. *That* would be easily regarded as their masterpiece and best starting point.
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Dec 2, 2012 04:25
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BajaBurrito posted:I admit this is a belated replay, but I think the biggest appeal of Selling England by the Pound is how instrumentally tight they are. It's easily the best they sounded on album during the Gabriel era and the musicianship is outstanding, even if it might not flow as well as their other albums on the whole. Why not just start with Trespass? It's their second album, and the first one available in the US. Everything about that album is beautiful. Collins and Hackett hadn't joined the group yet, but the drumming and guitar work (John Mayhew and Anthony Phillips, respectively) is still quite good. It's incredibly well-rounded melodically and lyrically. Though, to be fair, it was my introduction to Genesis, so there may be some bias there.
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Dec 2, 2012 15:27
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Prog Doctor posted:Though, to be fair, it was my introduction to Genesis, so there may be some bias there. Yeah I think so. Nursery Crime is a way better starting point (just a way better album by far really).
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Dec 2, 2012 19:08
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For what it's worth, I just started listening to Genesis a few months ago and loaded up their early albums in order starting with Trespass on Spotify. I got hooked before even getting to Nursery Cryme, but yeah, Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot are my favorites now. I haven't listened much to Selling England yet, though. You can't really go wrong with that period of Genesis is the point, though. Speaking of Spotify, does anyone else have some good prog playlists on there? There are a few, but they're kind of lacking and a little all over the place. Here's my current massive prog list. It has to be missing some stuff. http://open.spotify.com/user/glompix/playlist/6KVKEfMOO0PiqCHYtsieQi
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Dec 3, 2012 15:56
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Prog Doctor posted:Why not just start with Trespass? It's their second album, and the first one available in the US. Everything about that album is beautiful. I agree that Trespass is an excellent album and generally very underrated. To add some extra color and heft, I also placed Happy The Man and Twilight Alehouse from the Genesis Archives in between Stagnation and Dusk in my personal version of the album - I think this works rather well.
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Dec 4, 2012 06:56
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Just listened to Rush - Headlong Flight. This is the same band that did Manhattan Project...  I stopped listening after Hold Your Fire. But now I want more Clockwork Angels.
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Dec 4, 2012 23:07
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Cancelbot posted:Just listened to Rush - Headlong Flight. They definitely fell off the rails with Hold Your Fire. I'd even argue that Grace Under Pressure was their last really good album in the 80s. Presto was OK, as was Roll The Bones, but Counterparts is awesome. Start there. I'm still not completely sold on Clockwork Angels. I'd say it's 50% of a great album. Some of the tracks just seem (to me) to be tracks that just didn't make it onto Snakes & Arrows, musically, anyway. Prog Doctor fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Dec 7, 2012 |
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Dec 5, 2012 00:50
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I like Hold Your Fire, dammit. Someone has to. (I wouldn't jump to Counterparts from there, though. I say go backwards from Clockwork, hit Snakes & Arrows first.)
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Dec 5, 2012 20:41
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Allen Wren posted:I like Hold Your Fire, dammit. The only two albums I didn't like were Test For Echo(Dog Years is pretty much the worst song Rush ever made) and Vapor Trails. If you liked Clockwork Angels, get Snakes and Arrows too. It's pretty close to the Clockwork Angels sound and it's drat good.
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Dec 5, 2012 21:22
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The only Rush album I don't like is Presto. I don't hate it, but it's just dull to me. The lyrics are good though. But I agree that Clockwork Angels is the best album since Grace Under Pressure. I do rather like Test For Echo and Vapor Trail though.
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Dec 6, 2012 14:23
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I love Test For Echo and Vapor Trails! There are soo many layers to the songs on Vapor Trails. I recently replaced my car stereo and put in VT, and there were overdubbed bass parts I'd never heard before (my last stereo was REALLY lovely). It was pretty awesome to have something new to appreciate about an album after 11 years... And Test for Echo was the album I was raised on. I can't count the number of times I've watched the Work In Progress videos. The songwriting on TFE is spectacular, and the playing at each musician's peak. Clockwork Angels is good, but it's only half the album Snakes and Arrows is. S & A was much more inventive and the songs were just better. I'm really hoping they change their sound with the next album. I just don't think they can do anything more with the style they've been doing. Prog Doctor fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Dec 7, 2012 |
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Dec 7, 2012 00:32
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It's a wonder you were able to distinguish any layers in Vapor Trails at all considering the whole album sounds like unusually loud mud. I remember there was some talk about an eventual remaster, but unfortunately nothing's come of it—it's a shame, because it might have been a great album if not for the awful production.
Rollersnake fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Dec 7, 2012 |
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Dec 7, 2012 01:08
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Rollersnake posted:It's a wonder you were able to distinguish any layers in Vapor Trails at all considering the whole album sounds like unusually loud mud. I remember there was some talk about an eventual remaster, but unfortunately nothing's come of it—it's a shame, because it might have been a great album if not for the awful production. I've never had a problem with how it sounds - it does sound overly compressed, yes, but I've never had an issue hearing what's going on, musically and lyrically. I'd love to hear it remastered. It would sound incredible. But production doesn't matter all that much. The songs on the album are amazing.
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Dec 7, 2012 02:31
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I personally have an issue with how MOST Rush CDs sound. I have the Different Stages live CD and it's so loud and brickwalled that I actually can't listen to it at all. I'm really reluctant to pick up their 5.1 remasters honestly because of the quality of their production (plus reading about some people's experiences with their DVD-As are really off putting). Having said that though, I got the Sector 2 box set and A Farewell To Kings sounds great in 5.1
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Dec 7, 2012 04:02
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IIRC, the Vapor Trails songs that made it onto Retrospective III were remastered. So there's that.
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Dec 7, 2012 06:25
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iamathousandapples posted:The only two albums I didn't like were Test For Echo(Dog Years is pretty much the worst song Rush ever made) and Vapor Trails. You are saying "Dog Days" is worse than "I Think I'm Going Bald". This is what you are saying correct? If so, then i respectfully disagree.
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Dec 10, 2012 01:57
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Well if we're going with worst Rush song I think "Rivendell" might want to have words with you. On a more current note, I've been recently listening to Ancestors' "In Dreams and Time" which is a kind of psychedelic sludge-metal meets analog synths and piano. A nice departure from the typical prog-metal wank-fest.
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Dec 10, 2012 02:14
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Dog Years is badass. Best song on T4E. Maybe the best drum chart Neil's written.
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Dec 10, 2012 15:35
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BigFactory posted:Dog Years is badass. Best song on T4E. Maybe the best drum chart Neil's written. I can't stand T4E beyond the title track, Driven, and Limbo. Vapor Trails is fantastic. A tie for worst Rush record in my mind is Presto... beyond "The Pass" "Available Light" "Red Tide" and "Show Don't Tell" it seems to showcase weak songwriting without the usually sick playing and has thin production. Then again I used to loathe Power Windows and now it's my single favorite album of theirs.
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Dec 11, 2012 00:16
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solids2k posted:I can't stand T4E beyond the title track, Driven, and Limbo. Vapor Trails is fantastic. A tie for worst Rush record in my mind is Presto... beyond "The Pass" "Available Light" "Red Tide" and "Show Don't Tell" it seems to showcase weak songwriting without the usually sick playing and has thin production. I love Vapor Trails, but it makes my ears bleed. I find myself trying too turn it up louder and louder to make out whats going on, and it stays inscrutable.
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Dec 11, 2012 22:22
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david puddy posted:I personally have an issue with how MOST Rush CDs sound. I have the Different Stages live CD and it's so loud and brickwalled that I actually can't listen to it at all. I think every live album they've done since Exit Stage Left sounded lovely in comparison. ESL is one of the best sounding live albums I've heard and then they started sounding like they were recording with a cell phone. That Guy From Pearldiver posted:You are saying "Dog Days" is worse than "I Think I'm Going Bald". BigFactory posted:Dog Years is badass. Best song on T4E. Maybe the best drum chart Neil's written. Somehow Neil Peart actually wrote posted:
Checkmate bitches. I know you weren't just talking about lyrics, but I couldn't help myself.
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Dec 11, 2012 23:37
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solids2k posted:I can't stand T4E beyond the title track, Driven, and Limbo. Vapor Trails is fantastic. A tie for worst Rush record in my mind is Presto... beyond "The Pass" "Available Light" "Red Tide" and "Show Don't Tell" it seems to showcase weak songwriting without the usually sick playing and has thin production. Hey, I thought Totem was fun. 
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Dec 12, 2012 03:26
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a medical mystery posted:Hey, I thought Totem was fun. "I've got celestial mechanics, To synchronize my stars" is engraved on my iPad. 
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Dec 12, 2012 04:37
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No matter what you think of Neil's lyrics on T4E, the music is awesome. And for anyone who's a musician, how can you NOT have fun playing to those tunes? Granted, Resist is pretty boring, but all the other songs are (musically, at least) fantastic.
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Dec 12, 2012 05:57
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As much as I hate to break up a Rush circlejerk (no seriously, I love 'em. Favourite obscure song: Chain Lightning) I'm wondering if anyone has heard much of England. (http://grooveshark.com/album/Garden+Shed/4690608) They're kind of cutesy 70s Brits, and if I were to label a prog rock band as generic, it would be them - but not in a bad way. I'm just wondering if they had anything else of theirs, since I have no idea how they ended up in my library, and the Google is pretty dry.
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Dec 13, 2012 02:08
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^^^^Apiary posted:. That's a really tough band to Google. Their 1st album "Music" provides even more difficulties! Seriously this sounds like the beautiful lovechild of: Tony Banks, Commodore 64 and Gentle Giant = AWESOME!
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Dec 14, 2012 18:31
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something_clever posted:...Their 1st album "Music"... Wow, all they need is an obscure single called 'Song' to close the loop of terrible name design.
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Dec 15, 2012 01:33
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Maguro posted:Yeah I think so. Nursery Crime is a way better starting point (just a way better album by far really). I was introduced to progressive rock through Foxtrot and Trespass and I never understood why Nursery Cryme seems to be looked upon more favorably than those two. The only things that really grabbed me from Nursery Cryme on the first few listens is the last part of The Musical Box, Return of the Giant Hogweed, and the Fountain of Salmacis, whereas I loved all of Foxtrot and all of Trespass immediately. Don't get me wrong, Nursery Cryme is a great album, but I can see where the meandering in The Musical Box and the weaker tracks could turn someone off. Then again, I like post-Gabriel Genesis (including Calling All Stations if someone would've just forcibly removed the lyrics pen away from Mike and Tony since it's incredibly clear they just stopped trying at that point) and also like Dream Theater so I have bad opinions.
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Dec 16, 2012 01:26
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Needs More Ditka posted:I was introduced to progressive rock through Foxtrot and Trespass and I never understood why Nursery Cryme seems to be looked upon more favorably than those two. The only things that really grabbed me from Nursery Cryme on the first few listens is the last part of The Musical Box, Return of the Giant Hogweed, and the Fountain of Salmacis, whereas I loved all of Foxtrot and all of Trespass immediately. Don't get me wrong, Nursery Cryme is a great album, but I can see where the meandering in The Musical Box and the weaker tracks could turn someone off. Post-Gabriel Genesis is great. Post-Hackett Genesis though you might get controversial. Hell, I still like And Then There Were Three and Duke.
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Dec 16, 2012 10:09
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iamathousandapples posted:Post-Gabriel Genesis is great. Post-Hackett Genesis though you might get controversial. Hell, I still like And Then There Were Three and Duke. In my defense, I don't like Post-Hackett Genesis for their contributions to Adult Contemporary Prog, which will never exist and will never be good no matter how hard they tried. I just really like my ears being captured by a sea of never-ending synthesizers, which is something Tony Banks did really well no matter how objectively terrible the music became.
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Dec 16, 2012 15:39
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I'm a terrible pop classicist at heart, so my opinions are generally not those of the people who feel that anything that can be said in a three-minute tune is better said at thirty (I'm looking at you, Dream Theater), but even on the weakest Genesis records, there's always at least one song that's pretty interesting sonically. I won't defend Calling All Stations, but looking back at the post-Hackett material, we've got stuff like Deep in the Motherlode, Duchess, Duke's Travels, Dodo, Second Home, Brazilian, Fading Lights...there's a lot there still worth hearing.
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Dec 17, 2012 01:20
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As per my username, I'm a huge Genesis fan, and Nursery Cryme is my favorite album. I don't have a good reason for it being my favorite. I guess all I can say is it was the first album from them that "grabbed" me, mostly because of the first track, The Musical Box, which I think was the song where they really found their sound. It's still my favorite Genesis song. And I disagree with the person who says it meanders. It's moody, frustrated, almost bipolar, but I like that about it. I heard it at the right time in my life. I was 15, an angry and frustrated teenager, but one who longed for the peace I enjoyed when I was younger. Nursery Cryme just seemed to carry that mood, and it really spoke to me. It became my favorite band ever since. I don't like the post-Hackett stuff as much as the earlier stuff, but there's still a lot of great stuff on those later albums. I think their last great album was Invisible Touch. After that they lost a lot of the energy they had. We Can't Dance had some cool moments, but Calling All Stations was mostly dull and un-memorable.
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Dec 19, 2012 00:45
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There's something pretty magical, for me, about Nursery Cryme. For some reason it's really the only Gabriel Genesis album I really get into all the way through anytime I listen to it. I think it's because, unlike Foxtrot or Selling England, there are beautiful, subtle, wonderfully melodic short songs - the even numbered tracks - interspersed with the longer songs - the odd numbered ones. If I'm just flipping through songs I love hearing Harlequin before jumping into the Fountain of Salmacis, which is probably my favorite Genesis song. Everything about that song, especially those short, awesome bass runs that introduce the later sections, is just wonderful.
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Dec 19, 2012 03:01
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I am currently working through buying King Crimson's catalogue, so far I have got In The Court Of The Crimson King, In The Wake Of Poseidon, Lizard, Islands, Larks' Tongues In Aspic and Starless And Bible Black. I love them all except Islands (which I still enjoy, just not as much) and I am planning to get Red when I can find a copy. I want to know if it's worth spending money on anything post-hiatus, I have heard good things about Discipline but I am not as willing to go and just buy them on sight like I have with this first era's albums. Are they just as good? Better? Anything I should skip? etc
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Dec 19, 2012 04:08
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david puddy posted:I am currently working through buying King Crimson's catalogue, so far I have got In The Court Of The Crimson King, In The Wake Of Poseidon, Lizard, Islands, Larks' Tongues In Aspic and Starless And Bible Black. I love them all except Islands (which I still enjoy, just not as much) and I am planning to get Red when I can find a copy. I want to know if it's worth spending money on anything post-hiatus, I have heard good things about Discipline but I am not as willing to go and just buy them on sight like I have with this first era's albums. Are they just as good? Better? Anything I should skip? etc Discipline kicks rear end. Seriously. Beat is great, but not as good. Three of a Perfect Pair is not quite as good as Beat, but it has its moments. Thrak is amazing, and I personally love their last album, "The Power to Believe". "Construkction of Light" is nice, but it doesn't seem to stick with me. Probably the worst album of the Belew era. edit: 80s Crimson on up to the "present" day is a different ball of wax from the early stuff. 80s Crimson is complex with interlocking guitars with some pop elements in a weird way. 90s Crimson and forward is a harsh loud beast. edit #2 (sorry): Many people consider the Discipline/Beat/TOPP lineup to be second only to the Larks' lineup. They are very different though. The 80s lineup has some Talking Heads influence happening, and Fripp is generally less distorted. It sounds clean, intricate, and complex. Buy Discipline. You'll thank yourself. The first two concerts I ever went to were Talking Heads in 1983 and Crimson in 1984. Ahhh good times. Mithra6 fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 05:35
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david puddy posted:I am currently working through buying King Crimson's catalogue, so far I have got In The Court Of The Crimson King, In The Wake Of Poseidon, Lizard, Islands, Larks' Tongues In Aspic and Starless And Bible Black. I love them all except Islands (which I still enjoy, just not as much) and I am planning to get Red when I can find a copy. I want to know if it's worth spending money on anything post-hiatus, I have heard good things about Discipline but I am not as willing to go and just buy them on sight like I have with this first era's albums. Are they just as good? Better? Anything I should skip? etc The guy who posted above me more or less shares the same feelings I do. Just go buy Discipline, Thrak, and The Power to Believe. Those albums are fantastic... the others have their moments but do not suck by any means.
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Dec 19, 2012 05:39
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I might be an odd one here in this thread. I'm a King Crimson boy all the way. I have everything they've done, and have most of Fripp's solo albums and most of his appearances in others' albums. Fripp can't go wrong in my book. Where I differ I think from many people in this thread, is I can't stomach almost anything ELP did except Tarkus. I sort of like early Genesis a little bit, but I get bored, and I have a love/hate with Yes except for a few songs (Close to the Edge, Roundabout, and few scattered songs here and there). I've really tried to like all of these guys more and I can't. Every so often I put on an ELP or Genesis album thinking that I'll hear it differently. I've tried to listen to most of the NeoProg bands like Porcupine Tree and same thing. Basically I'm a very finicky prog fan.
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Dec 19, 2012 05:47
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solids2k posted:The guy who posted above me more or less shares the same feelings I do. Just go buy Discipline, Thrak, and The Power to Believe. Those albums are fantastic... the others have their moments but do not suck by any means. Those are the 3 post-Red that are good, but the live albums Absent Lovers (1984) and Heavy ConstruKction (2000) are also very good and IMO better than the studio albums, even Discipline. So make sure you pick those up too.
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Dec 19, 2012 06:28
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If you get one thing from 80s Crim, get Absent Lovers. It's insanely good.
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Dec 19, 2012 07:09
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