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you might say he put the E in ELP.
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Mar 19, 2016 16:01
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I've been watching a ton of ELP youtube videos all week. I had no idea there were so many professionally shot videos of their performances out there. Even some of The Nice. I've seen some of them before in my youth (the 1974 welcome back my friends concert and the 1970 Pictures at an Exhibition Concert), but the videos I saw were just hour long snippets of those concerts. Youtube has sections of those concerts I've never seen before plus entire concerts that I never knew existed, shot professionally, like the band had released it at some point, yet I don't ever remember seeing it at my local record store back in the day when record stores existed. Emerson was so much fun to watch live. Even in recent years with his own band (which in many ways played the songs better than ELP). He looked like a Mad Scientist with that huge Moog.
Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Mar 19, 2016 |
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Mar 19, 2016 16:07
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Even though I am a keyboardist, I listened to ELP much less often than the other major prog bands of the early 70's (and I can't stand anything they did after the early 70's) - I always felt their music was sort of like a cake made entirely out of frosting, good stuff in small doses but way over-indulgent. and when Keith Emerson died I put on Tarkus of course but I just left it at that, didn't do the whole career retrospective thing or even listen to any other ELP albums. And yet his death, or maybe the reason for it, has affected me more than I thought, ever since he died I keep getting his riffs in my head - sometimes while I'm writing or improvising or sometimes when I'm not doing anything musical at all. Or maybe I've always been unintentionally ripping him off and his death is just making me aware that he'd influenced me far more than I thought
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Mar 19, 2016 16:08
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Earwicker posted:Even though I am a keyboardist, I listened to ELP much less often than the other major prog bands of the early 70's (and I can't stand anything they did after the early 70's) - I always felt their music was sort of like a cake made entirely out of frosting, good stuff in small doses but way over-indulgent. and when Keith Emerson died I put on Tarkus of course but I just left it at that, didn't do the whole career retrospective thing or even listen to any other ELP albums. Maybe his ghost is mad that you didn't like his band enough and is haunting your brain by playing sick keyboard riffs
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Mar 19, 2016 23:07
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ELP got a lot of stick for having such grand tours (40 tons of gear on the 1973 tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ryce1O5IA ), though I am not sure they were much extravagant than Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis. ELP definitely went over the top but on the other hand you could say that they were popular and they had the money and they were at least putting that money back into the shows. For me the Michael Jackson History tour is more grotesque because MJ had this martyr complex and he was actively generating a cult of personality while ELP was at least attempting to do something musically unusual. Or is that just me rationalising my preference for ELP over MJ?
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Mar 22, 2016 13:08
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:ELP got a lot of stick for having such grand tours (40 tons of gear on the 1973 tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ryce1O5IA ), though I am not sure they were much extravagant than Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis. ELP definitely went over the top but on the other hand you could say that they were popular and they had the money and they were at least putting that money back into the shows. For me the Michael Jackson History tour is more grotesque because MJ had this martyr complex and he was actively generating a cult of personality while ELP was at least attempting to do something musically unusual. I don't know much about MJ other than what I've picked up through cultural osmosis, but I've always felt that behind all the bombast (a word I've seen a lot in connection with those guys), ELP were sort of winking at us. Yeah, we know we're over the top, but why do this if we can't have fun with it? I would never claim to know what was deep down in their heart of hearts, but I'd insist the whole thing works a lot better if you take it that way. I mean, there are few things better than three guys in a local dive bar playing the blues with gear they were able to pack up in their cars, but there are also few things better than three guys playing prog with forty tons of gear that require three semi trucks to haul around—if it's presented right.
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Mar 22, 2016 13:29
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:though I am not sure they were much extravagant than Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis.
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Mar 22, 2016 13:39
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Secret Agent X23 posted:I mean, there are few things better than three guys in a local dive bar playing the blues with gear they were able to pack up in their cars I can think of a lot of better things than that.
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Mar 22, 2016 13:44
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X_Toad posted:Palmer's (in)famous stainless steel drum set. Ah yes... the drums: "In 1973, Palmer commissioned British Steel to design a custom stainless steel drum kit using one-quarter-inch thick shells, the only off-the-shelf equipment were the hoops manufactured by Gretsch. He also had a jeweller engrave the shells with various animals. The kit, along with other percussion instruments and a rotating platform, had a total weight of approximately 2.5 tons and many of the stages on tour had to be reinforced, with some venues cancelling shows because of it. Also, the kit was electronically designed to be "synthesized" to sound like electronic drums." And touring with an orchestra cost them $3m... I suppose MJ's tours made money at least. E: Cozy Powell (drummer with ELP for a short time in the 1980s) died in a car crash. I never read the details until now: "Powell died on 5 April 1998 following a car accident while driving his Saab 9000 at 104 mph (167 km/h) in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol. He had been dating a married woman who was having troubles with her husband. Upset, she phoned him on 5 April 1998 and asked him to come quickly to her house which was approximately 35 miles away. As he was driving to her house she phoned him again and asked "Where are you?" He informed her he was on his way and then she heard him say "Oh poo poo!" followed by a loud bang." That's a phonecall that will stay with you for a while. 
Josef K. Sourdust fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Mar 22, 2016 |
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Mar 22, 2016 13:48
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:For me the Michael Jackson History tour is more grotesque because MJ had this martyr complex and he was actively generating a cult of personality while ELP was at least attempting to do something musically unusual. Kind of a strange comparison given they work in entirely different genres. I mean yes much of ELP's music was more unusual than Michael Jackson's music... but honestly, I think most of MJ's music was actually better. Obviously it's more conventional, but it's pop music. as for their touring setup, I don't think the other prog bands were as extravagant instrument-wise but I do remember Yes had some truly ridiculous (and awesome) sets based on Roger Dean's artwork
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Mar 22, 2016 14:32
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:
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Mar 22, 2016 15:14
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BigFactory posted:Weird to think of Cozy Powell being a working musician with some pretty big bands for the better part of 3 decades and driving around the same kind of car that I could have been driving in the late 90's. Most rock musicians are just regular schmos, even the ones who played with some pretty big bands. There's a very select few who got rich off of it, and even most of them had blown most of their money by the time the gravy train stopped coming around. Nowadays it's almost impossible to make a decent living as a rock musician unless you play in a decent cover band or you've already made a name for yourself from back in the day. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Mar 25, 2016 |
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Mar 25, 2016 19:52
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No, I get it. It's cozy Powell, not Mick Jagger. Still, the dude was in Whitesnake back when there WAS a lot of money being tossed around. Seeing that glimpse into his life is weird. Be like learning that Erik Singer drives a Ford Focus or something.
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Mar 26, 2016 00:44
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or maybe the dude simply spent his money on other things or kept it in savings or investments or whatever and preferred to drive a sensible and economic car
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Mar 26, 2016 07:12
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If only he drove it sensibly, he might still be hitting the skins.
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Mar 26, 2016 07:35
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Cozy Powell is a big reason why I like Rainbow Rising so much
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Mar 27, 2016 00:46
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He was good on those lovely 80s black sabbath records too, although it's not hard to outshine the most phoned in riffs ever recorded.
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Mar 27, 2016 01:38
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Is this the thread I go to to say that I think the best Porcupine Tree album is Recordings? tia
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Mar 28, 2016 06:51
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Astrochicken posted:Is this the thread I go to to say that I think the best Porcupine Tree album is Recordings? tia Similarly, golden retrievers produce the best dog turds.
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Mar 28, 2016 09:35
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Astrochicken posted:Is this the thread I go to to say that I think the best Porcupine Tree album is Recordings? tia yes, friend, share your thoughts on recordings. 'tis a good album.
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Mar 28, 2016 10:28
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A human heart posted:Similarly, golden retrievers produce the best dog turds.
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Mar 28, 2016 14:07
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I have been listening to prog rock in various amounts for over 20 years and I still have not heard a single Porcupine Tree song that I like. same for Dream Theater
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Mar 28, 2016 17:06
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I liked Dream Theater's cover of Funeral for a friend/love lies bleeding when I was a teenager. Don't know if that still holds up or not, but I probably wouldn't have gotten into Elton John back then without that, and those Elton John records through Yellow Brick Road or Caribou are practically perfect. But in 1995 or whenever, Elton John was firmly in Lion King/Goodbye England's Rose schmaltz territory, and seeing some hard rocking dudes rock out to this proggy Elton John song was pretty cool.
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Mar 28, 2016 17:54
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I had already gotten into Elton John due to his cover of Pinball Wizard (I was crazy about that song as a kid) so thankfully I didn't need Dream Theater to teach me that he's more than a Disney ballad man
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Mar 28, 2016 17:57
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Dream Theater is not a good band.
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Mar 28, 2016 18:03
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I used to really like Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree when I was 14 Porcupine Tree are still good, DT is borderline unlistenable
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Mar 28, 2016 18:25
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Earwicker posted:I have been listening to prog rock in various amounts for over 20 years and I still have not heard a single Porcupine Tree song that I like. same for Dream Theater https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzpuHjeeaM deadwing posted:Porcupine Tree are still good, DT is borderline unlistenable
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Mar 28, 2016 18:28
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I like most Dream Theater but recently they slid into boring and then fell off a cliff with the Astonishing
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Mar 28, 2016 18:34
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better than most things I've heard by them but those vocals are too terrible to put up with
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Mar 28, 2016 21:22
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Porcupine Tree is okay but sometimes they just come across as boring Radiohead to me. I was a Dream Theater fan in high school and it's one of the only bands I wince about being into.
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Mar 28, 2016 21:29
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I only ever really listened to three albums by them (Images and Words, Awake and Scenes from a Memory) more than a handful of times and between the three of those I'm only really embarrassed about James LaBrie's vocals Porcupine Tree walks the line between brilliant and cringeworthy on every song of every album, and I'm really happy Steven Wilson's doing a solo thing now with much less embarrassment attached
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Mar 28, 2016 21:36
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as someone who listens to way more prog metal than could possibly be considered healthy, dream theater aren't very good and a lot of bands (agora, suspyre, thought chamber, thessera, etc.) do DT-influenced prog way better. their first 3 albums are fairly decent at points though - awake being the most consistent, i&w only has 2 strong tracks (metropolis and glass moon) and most of the rest are really lovely radio rock ballad type stuff.
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Mar 28, 2016 22:21
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I love classic prog like Kind Crimson, Genesis, and Gentle Giant.. and I love some metal or at least metal-ish bands like Isis, Russian Circles, Pelican, Kowloon Walled City, etc. as well as classic stuff like the first several Slayer albums, Judas Priest, etc.... but just about every act I've heard regularly described as "prog metal" sounds really awful to me. Opeth might be the one exception as there are some really great passages in some of their songs
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Mar 28, 2016 22:26
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Earwicker posted:I had already gotten into Elton John due to his cover of Pinball Wizard (I was crazy about that song as a kid) so thankfully I didn't need Dream Theater to teach me that he's more than a Disney ballad man Haha, Elton John was a favorite of mine when I was a kid too. My older sister got Goodbye Yellow Brick Road when I was 12 and when I first heard Funeral For a Friend I flipped out. I listened to that album over and over to the point where she started to hate it. Eventually it just became my album. Another kick rear end song on that album, Grey Seal. The funny thing is the way I got into Genesis had a similar story. She bought We Can't Dance when it first came out I think because she liked No Son of Mine. I thought it was poo poo, honestly. I never really cared for Genesis up to that point. I always associated them with that Phil Collins band with the weird videos. But then she bought Three Sides Live. The second disc blew me away. I had to hear the album with Fountain of Salmacis. It wasn't long before checked out Nursery Cryme and soon I got all their albums and listened to them to death. She soon grew to hate Genesis and it became my favorite band in my teenage years.
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Mar 28, 2016 22:30
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yep I also had that first impression of Genesis as some lame band full of ugly middle aged people who made bad pop music. When I was like 15 I discovered King Crimson through my dad's record collection, I started digging around more and learning about progressive rock and it completely blew my mind when I found out that not only had Genesis once been a prog rock band, but that Peter Gabriel had once been their singer, and that Phil Collins was actually a great drummer, etc.
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Mar 28, 2016 23:10
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That reminds me. Have you guys ever seen these guys prog rock reviews? https://youtu.be/1i8WgfnLbr8 I like their reviews and it seems like they know their stuff (especially the guy on the left, the guy on the right just seems to be a rock fan, not necessarily a prog rock fan). But every once in awhile they surprise me by how much they don't know. Like with this one. It's hard to believe they never heard the classic 7 Moody Blues albums before. It's one thing if they were teenage kids just discovering their Dad's record collection, but these are middle aged Brit's who've been listening to prog for decades now. In their Genesis reviews the guy on the right had never heard the Gabriel era albums. I guess, to me, it's just strange to see prog afficianados older than me discovering these prog albums for the first time that I've had on rotation since I was a teenager. It probably shouldn't be though. They're not much older than me (in fact they may be younger than me, it's easy to forget how old I am) and there's albums that they've heard that I haven't. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Mar 29, 2016 |
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Mar 29, 2016 00:48
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Earwicker posted:and I love some metal or at least metal-ish bands like ... Kowloon Walled City, YES Gianthogweed posted:That reminds me. Have you guys ever seen these guys prog rock reviews? I actually think the format works really well, huge nerd with casual-to-moderate fan of bands, and usually comes at it with a fresh angle. They also have quite a sense of humor about themselves other than some other reviewers who I've gotten sick of. That being said when the one guy does the King Crimson reviews where he stacks his CDs on top of each other, I have a heart attack.
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Mar 29, 2016 01:55
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Attitude Indicator posted:yes, friend, share your thoughts on recordings. 'tis a good album. I'm not sure what happened to them after in absentia (and gavin's drumming on the "up the downstair" remaster is unnecessary) but Recordings has always seemed like their most respectable bunch of songs. Probably because it feels slightly like an afterthought though it has some cohesion. It's easygoing. No screenplays about serial killers or car crashes or whatever.
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Mar 29, 2016 03:55
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There seem to be two main PT eras, the more psychedelic older stuff and the heavier, darker later period. In Absentia is the dividing line between the two. I like both, but I can see why not everyone else does.
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Mar 30, 2016 05:15
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Iucounu posted:There seem to be two main PT eras, the more psychedelic older stuff and the heavier, darker later period. In Absentia is the dividing line between the two. I like both, but I can see why not everyone else does.
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Mar 30, 2016 05:36
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