| Author | Message | ||
     Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
After listening to two and a half hours of Yes last night, I now understand why people use Prog as an insult to musicians. My god they were tedious boring rubbish. At least it meant I could get some reading done as the audience were too sleepy to get injured. Ah well, I had Motorhead on Saturday who were ace (of spades) and I've got Alice Cooper tomorrow night who should be rather good as well... | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.228.92 |
What was it? The new singer's lack of charisma? | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Have to say I never got Yes. Their sound never did it for me. Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd & Jethro Tull were more my bag in the 70s. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
It seemed like they only played 2 songs in the two and a half hours. A slow one and a slightly slower one. If I hadn't had my book with me (and a quiet private first aid room) I'd have gone mental by the end of it. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.179.197.176 |
The first couple of Yes albums were ok, including "Close to the Edge", but after that (and that's over 40 years ago!) they went downhill. I last saw them live in the mid 'seventies at QPR football ground, and they weren't that good then. I'd certainly not bother nowadays. I seem to recall when I was a lad that the preference was either for Yes or Genesis; very few folk liked both, although a lot liked neither. A friend recently lent me six Genesis albums, including two Peter Gabriel era ones, as I'd not heard their stuff and wanted to give them a go. I think I can safely borrow Weber's description - boring tedious rubbish - I listened to two tracks from each album and thought they were some of the worst things I've ever heard. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I agree... Genesis were atrocious! They evolved from the bland to the hideous imho. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
However... there was one prog rock band of the 1970s who combined the best elements of Pink Floyd (at their most ambitious), Jethro Tull (at their most hard rocking) and Fairport Convention (at their most beautiful). Horslips - hands down the best band ever to come out of the Emerald Isle!!!!  'The Tain' and 'The Book Of Invasions' are intricately produced concept albums the equal of 'Dark Side Of The Moon' or 'Wish You Were Here' and with just as pretty tunes. Seriously... I kid you not. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
I have to confess to liking some Peter Gabriel solo work - and his duet with Kate Bush is phnonemol.. phemonem... really good. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Prog rock really was a strange animal. I was at high school during the height of its popularity - early/mid 70s, and - being more of a Deep Purple / Led Zep / Alice Cooper man - was basically pitied for being an ignoramus. For the intellectual elite, bands like Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Greenslade, etc, were almost beyond criticism. If you didn't like everything they did, there was something wrong with you. If memory serves, Bob Harris had a vaguely similar attitude on THE OLD GREY WHISTLE TEST. Didn't he get turfed off it because he tried to ignore the arrival of New Wave? The only band from the 'prog rock' stable - and I use the term loosely in this case - that I retained a fondness for were Tull, primarily because they were never tedious or pretentious, and had no hesitation in producing hard rock if it suited the message they were trying to put over. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I have to agree that the vast majority of prog rock was god-awful pretentious codswallop. As soon as melody and energy went out the window in favour of endless fiddling with their instruments Rock was in trouble. The best virtuoso bands of the 70s never forgot that and, if they sometimes started to, there was always The Who and The Stones to pull them back to their roots! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Oooo, some more Jethro Tull fans here - lovely!  Re Genesis, I've one album (can't recall the name, but it's the one with Trick of the Tail on it) which is absolutely brilliant (IMHO). Similarly, Close to the Edge is by far the best Yes album. All these bands have been through several incarnations, and changed considerably from one to the next. Sometimes they were superb and sometimes not. I confess to being the world's biggest Tull fan, but even I admit that I don't like much of their more recent stuff. However, I reckon they've managed to change, yet stay consistently brilliant, more than most bands have. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
The last Tull album that really impressed me was 'Crest Of A Knave' in 1989 I think... I've heard they're still fabulous live though. Ian Anderson is one of the great charismatic bandleaders very much in the tradition of Miles Davis, Frank Zappa or Mark E. Smith. His OTT personality, showmanship and songwriting lights up the various incarnations so they appear to merge into one entity. Some achievement! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I couldn't have put that better myself, Stephen! You haven't heard me wax lyrical about the times I've been to see them live yet, have you?  | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.228.92 |
I seem to recall when I was a lad that the preference was either for Yes or Genesis; very few folk liked both, although a lot liked neither. It was the same over here on the Continent. I believe we thought we were some sort of elite. I took to early Genesis straightaway. The lyrics on albums like Nursery Cryme appealed to me greatly and the mysterious costumes of Gabriel added to the overal charisma. It's fair to say Selling England by the Pound became a cult album to prog lovers everywhere. I still like to listen to it. I learned to play the guitar because of Steve Hackett's solo on "Firth of Fifth". A friend recently lent me six Genesis albums, including two Peter Gabriel era ones, as I'd not heard their stuff and wanted to give them a go. Most prog lovers were also into fantasy, horror and science fiction, by the way. Around the time I got into Genesis I discovered an antient tome called Ghost Stories from an Antiquary and found the stories therein and certain types of prog went together rather well. The follies of youth? | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 174.88.55.175 |
Well, I quite like early Genesis, Yes, Marillion, Pink Floyd. The musicianship and arrangements were quite innovative (at least for rock music). Same with The Who. Pete Townsend's chord changes are fairly elegant and powerful, notably on Tommy and Quadrophenia. At heart, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool classics rock fan: Stones, Zeppelin, Grand Funk, The Who, UFO, Uriah Heep, and yes, Jethro Tull. Saw them live in 2002 and they were great. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 212.121.214.114 |
Hawkwind ruled, if we're talking prog rock. As for Yes... I may have posted this quote before, but it's worth repeating... It's from a comic strip called 'Sooner or Later', by Pete Milligan. The main characters, Swifty and Clinton, have to travel through time, spending 24 hours in each time zone: 'We arrived at a gig in London some time in the 70s. A band was playing. They were called 'Yes.' '"No," I said to Clinton, and we went to sleep. 'When we woke up 24 hours later, 'Yes' were still playing. 'The same song.' | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Simon ... after I dropped you off in Swinton en route home from Fantasycon in September, I tuned in to Radio 2, and there was a feature on Yes in which members of the band listened to some of their old numbers and passed comment. After one particularly long track - I think it was GATES OF DELIRIUM - one of the band, I can't remember who, said: "Bloody hell, didn't we go on a bit in those days?" The general consensus from the rest of Yes was 'yes'. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.106.220.19 |
Hawkwind were bloody excellent, although I'm sure they'd quibble about the 'prog' label - they always used to say it was 'space rock' - make of that what you will. I first saw Hawkwind play back in the days when Lemmy was still with them, although unfortunately Stacia was nowhere to be seen on the night I went. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
"At heart, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool classics rock fan: Stones, Zeppelin, Grand Funk, The Who, UFO, Uriah Heep, and yes, Jethro Tull. Saw them live in 2002 and they were great." Great to hear UFO mentioned. One of several superb British early-metal bands. Almost forgotten by young headbangers of today, but in the 1970s they were a tour-de-force. I saw them on the 'Strangers In The Night' tour in Manchester, and was completely blown away by Michael Schenker's motor-driven lead guitar. | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.243.56.198 |
Hey Finchy, I think Strangers in the Night is one of the finest live albums ever. There's a raw energy to it that I've not heard captured on other live discs. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.105.158 |
Aye, and Tonka Chapman was no slouch either! gcw | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.105.158 |
'Cherry' - WHAT A SONG! Come to think of it, 'Obsession', what an album. Lets not forget Cheap Trick either! gcw | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 174.88.55.175 |
Hey, GCW, agreed. Chapman could throw it about. Obsession, yes. And also Phenomenon. Good stuff. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
Alice Cooper was fantastic last night. Hanged himself live on stage, impaled himself on 30 swords live on stage, stabbed someone right through with an iron Bar, another grisly death that I couldn't see because of the bloody speakers but there was a nasty squelching noise and half the audience went "Urgh!" - and all the time singing some pretty good songs. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Does he still have a snake, Weber? | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
oo-er missus I didn't see a snake on stage with him. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Have Uriah Heep ever played on Later with Jools Holland – or would that be a tautology? | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 174.88.55.175 |
Joel, the answer to that is the name of this thread. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
"I think Strangers in the Night is one of the finest live albums ever. There's a raw energy to it that I've not heard captured on other live discs." Completely agree, Mike. And what a cover! I went straight out and bought the album after the gig. Played it relentlessly for months afterwards. Strange though, like other power rockers of the 70s - Blackfoot Sue, Foghat, Nazereth, Black Oak Arkansas, Montrose - UFO didn't really make the switch into the 80s, when the NWOBHM suddenly came to dominate the scene. I'm not sure why. It wasn't that they were any less 'heavy' than the likes of Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Saxon, etc, but perhaps they weren't into the high camp that seemed to characterise that latter period. Bloody hell, this sounds like a dissertation, doesn't it! Suffice to say, I'm quite content to remember UFO the way they were, whereas another band I loved of that era - Rush - bewildered me (and still do) with a move away from metal into 'prog' just at the time when 'prog rockers' were starting to be seen as pretentious dinosaurs. | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 174.88.55.175 |
Paul, yes the Rush move bewildered me, as well. They were my very first concert. Saxon! Wow, the other day I was just looking up their stuff on YouTube. I remember them fondly, as well as Budgie, Slade, Savoy Brown, April Wine, The Sweet. I'm showing my age, to be sure. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
We're all showing our age on this thread, Mike. Interesting you should mention The Sweet. I was once present in a village pub called The Four Feathers in South Bucks. It was a summer evening, mid-week; not a party night or anything. Who should suddenly walk in but The Sweet and Ozzy Osborne. (Ozzy and Sharon only lived up the road to be fair, so it wasn't a big surprise to see him - but The Sweet were stopping at his house, and this was the first night of their arrival). They were all supeb - chatting with everyone, no airs or graces at all. They then (with a little help from me and various locals) proceeded to drink the pub dry - literally. Nearly everyone got carried out in the early hours totally wrecked. I seem to remember a couple of supermarket trolleys got pressed into serice as transport. What a rocking night (though of course it was too many nights of that sort that eventually did for Brian C long before his time). | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.105.158 |
The think the reason groups like UFO fared badly in the 80's was...They just got tired. You gotta remember, they had partyied all through the 70's and kinda peaked in '79. 80's...Shit decade. gcw | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.228.92 |
80's...Shit decade Lots of digital synthesisers, Talk Talk, David Sylvian, a resurrected King Crimson, Wendy & Lisa, Prince, Enya, a resurrected Pink Floyd, Kate Bush's greatest albums, Siouxsie and the Banshees' greatest albums etc. etc. And no more punk, hurrah. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.105.158 |
Fair point Hubert, but the 80's seemed such a drag to me at the time... I much preferred the 90's...the drugs were better! gcw | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.228.92 |
There was this element of 'all haircuts and no chops' in the early eighties - the New Romantics and all that - but from 1984 things got darker again, with Tears for Fears' magnificent "Songs from the Big Chair" leading the way. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.181.11.80 |
I still feel that the vast majority of recordings from the 'eighties that I've heard sound dreadful, and it's often hard to listen past that to the music - all that reverb and lots of snare drums! | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.181.11.80 |
...and although I agree about most of the other artists you mention, Hubert, I can't agree about Pink Floyd. I reckon they were well past it in the 'eighties. The Wall was the last good show they did, and they only had two albums in the 'eighties, The Final Cut, a disappointing last gasp of Waters' era Floyd, and the absolutely dismal A Momentary Lapse of Reason. I say all this as a big fan of their earlier work, which is perhaps why I find it hard to take their output from that decade. And don't even get me started about The Division Bell. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.105.158 |
I did like 'Not Now John' off 'The Final Cut'... Very few albums of the time escape the awful 80's production 'style' Kate Bush's & Peter Gabriel's still sound great though. S'funny, I have been mixing & mastering some songs tonight...Hmmm, Big REVERB & crashing DRUMS anyone?? gcw gcw | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.105.158 |
....One of the worst offenders were The Eurythmics...'Thorn In My Side' is a great pop song - but that production - Ouch! gcw | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.228.92 |
That was due to the advent of digital effects such as the trendsetting Yamaha SPX 90, an incredible device at the time. Every fx box that came after was developed from that. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
The first half of the 80s was awesome, the second half was mostly shit. Great 80s music in the collection: The Bevis Frond, Kate Bush, The Christians, Julian Cope, The Cure, The Dream Syndicate, Durutti Column, The Fall, Fine Young Cannibals, The Godfathers, Green On Red, Robyn Hitchcock, Hüsker Dü, The Jazz Butcher, The Jesus And Mary Chain, New Order, OMD, Pere Ubu, The Pixies, Prince, The Psychedelic Furs, PIL, REM, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The Sugarcubes, Talking Heads, Talk Talk, The Tom Tom Club, The Triffids, XTC. I love 'The Final Cut'. PF's most underrated album imo. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 212.121.214.114 |
I have to admit to liking Pink Floyd. Sorry. And 'The Division Bell' has 'High Hopes', which I still think is brilliant. But yes- 'The Wall' is a masterpiece, probably the peak of their post-Syd Barrett era... >>>gets coat and runs before Joel gets started on 'The Wall'<<< | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
'The Wall' is a monumental work of art. Probably my favourite album of all time. 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason' and 'The Division Bell' do pale beside what went before but are still great intelligent rock albums imho. I'm a bit of a die-hard Pink Floyd fan needless to say. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Even Tull succumbed to the awful 80s style of synthesisers, etc, with their dreadful Under Wraps album. I only found out recently why I dislike that album so much - apparently, they used a drum machine rather than a real drummer. I have a bit of a thing about great drumming - which can only be done by a human like Clive Bunker, Barrimore Barlow or Douane Perry - not a machine! | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
As did Neil Young on the frankly mind-boggling 'Trans' album. Love the guy! | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
The film of The Wall is worse than the album. I think Waters peaked with the clumsy but passionate Wish You Were Here and then disappeared up his own shapeless arse. The Wall would have worked as a B-side, with all its historical and personal insights rolled up into one brief lyric: London was bombed in the Second World War Now I chew razors and stare at the floor | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
The Wall is one of my all time favourite albums - and probably my most viewed film. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I listen to the album at full blast from start to finish a couple of times a year when in that indefinable Pink Floyd mood and it blows me away afresh each and every time. The movie is fascinating rather than entirely successful for me. A couple of New Years ago (instead of going out) I got blocked listening to 'Tommy' followed by 'Dark Side Of The Moon' followed by 'Quadrophenia' followed by 'The Wall' at full blast in one sitting timed to end at midnight. Sad? Not a bit... it was a fecking awesome night!! | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.105.158 |
Nice to see the marvellous Godfathers & Green On Red get a mention! Note: Neither band has albums with horrific '80's' productions, both quite 'retro' on feel. gcw | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.228.92 |
I listen to the album at full blast from start to finish a couple of times a year when in that indefinable Pink Floyd mood and it blows me away afresh each and every time. I listened to it a lot just after it came out. The anguish sounded genuine in 1980, but I have little time for it now. In fact, I'm beginning to rediscover their older work, like UmmaGumma and Atom Heart Mother, which I'd love to do with the music school orchestra. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.181.11.80 |
Atom Heart Mother's a real favourite - can't quite get on with UmmaGumma though... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
Please don't shoot me, but I never got into Pink Floyd. even on drugs, I used to find them a bit tedious...apart from a few very good songs. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.181.11.80 |
Bang! Must admit I've not listened to any PF for some time now. Don't seem to feel the need. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.255.28 |
Pink Floyd are one of those bands you really have to be in the right mood for but when you are... | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.228.92 |
One thing you have to grant them: their evolution is consistent, from outer space (via madness) to inner space. I'm surprised no-one's ever noticed this. And their use of musique concrète - distant voices, throbbing machinery, howling wind etc. - is exemplary. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 212.121.214.114 |
My favourite band of them all, though, New Model Army, are playing Manchester tonight. It looked like I might actually be able to afford to go see them after all... but then found the gig is sold out.  Ah well. Chinese takeaway for tea tonight then... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.170.177.102 |
Ditto Pink Floyd, Zed. |