OK, so, back when I started this blogging stuff, I thot I was gonna B this Big Prog Guy who was gonna gently ram down yer throat all this Great Overlooked Progressive Rock that I've bn listening-2 4 years, & go on&on about what a Crime it was that all this great stuff failed 2 make its genius creators in2 millionaires, etc. etc. etc. ....
& I've done summa that. But what I've discovered as I've tried repeatedly 2 Xpand my listening horizons (had another bash at that earlier this year, see below), is that I need TUNES 2 hum or whistle along with. I need LYRICS that I can screech along with. It is no longer ENUF 4 me 4 music just 2 B Strange. I gotta have something 2 hang on 2. I've gotten kinda boring in my old age.
So: True Confessions. Below is Another List of artists whose albums I have somehow never been able 2 get all the way thru 4 whatever reason. There's some fairly big gaps here, on some fairly big names that I should Know Better if I Really Am a Big Prog Guy.
Should B good 4 some laffs. & maybe you share my frustrations with summa these folks...?
* Pink Floyd -- Got all the way thru PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN about 35 years ago. Loved "Flaming," liked "Chapter 24" & "Bike," marvelled at the strangeness of the rest even tho I barely remember it now. Nobody did psych like Syd Barrett. But I never Got "Interstellar Overdrive," & "Astronome Domine" sounds way better live on UMMAGUMMA. Thot SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS was mostly noise, didn't even notice "Jugband Blues" til I heard it on the ECHOES best-of. Got all the way thru MEDDLE a few times but forget the 1st side after "One of These Days." & I've heard none of the soundtrax, ATOM HEART MOTHER, last 1/2 of UMMAGUMMA, etc.
* ELP -- Think I got all the way thru TARKUS 1nce, but a note from Rastro a coupla yrs ago told me I needta re-listen, soon as I find another copy. Got all the way thru TRILOGY awhile back, it was OK. Heard mosta BRAIN SALAD SURGERY & agree it's their best, but I drifted off somewhere in the last 2/3rd's of "Karn Evil 9," so.... Mosta the time I can't take their EGO....
* Tull -- Speaking of Ego.... I think they're great, but when they get on2 a Big Concept I usually can't take it. Have never gotten thru all of AQUALUNG (the song or the album) or THICK AS A BRICK (tho I like the opening 3 mins or so) -- & A PASSION PLAY showed me it wasn't worth the work anyway. STAND UP is pretty strong, even if I don't remember 1/2 the songs ("Back to the Family" was my fave). Better when they're funny, but HEAVY HORSES drags, & the later stuff smooths out all the rough edges so there's not much left 2 hear....
* Who -- I love these guys, & their box set taught me a lot. But I've never been able 2 make it thru QUADROPHENIA even tho I love a lotta the songs ("Bell Boy," "Love, Reign O'er Me," "5:15," "Doctor Jimmy," "I'm One," etc.) -- I actually liked the movie soundtrack more cos it was EZer 2 get thru. Heard mosta SELL OUT & would love 2 hear the rest. & I spose I should listen 2 TOMMY again. If I have to....
* Yes -- Love their early stuff but needta hear more. Their middle period I generally like better live. & the stuff from the last 20+ years I've heard none of. Got RELAYER back in the house 4 another try, & I actually got thru 2 sides of TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS awhile back. But please, not TORMATO again....
* Genesis -- I'm weak on their early stuff -- FOXTROT, NURSERY CRYME, SELLING ENGLAND, THE LAMB, like that. I've gotta problem with Peter Gabriel's voice. I've heard maybe 1 track with him that I can stand, offa THE LAMB, & now I can't even remember which 1 it was....
* Bowie -- I just can't take much of his voice, tho I think he has about 4 great songs -- "Suffragette City," "Changes," "Modern Love," "Space Oddity." But I'm sure no Xpert....
* King Crimson -- I've heard almost none of POSEIDON and LIZARD, & only bits&pieces of BEAT, THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR, THRAK, CONSTRUCKTION OF LIGHT. But I'm working on it....
* Rush -- Beyond the best-of's, I haven't heard much. Think I got all the way thru FAREWELL TO KINGS about 30 years ago. & I've never heard a note of 2112, far as I know....
* Zappa -- All I've heard 4 sure is WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH, which had 3 good songs & a LOT of noise. Heard 1/2 of TINSELTOWN REBELLION. & other bits&pieces over the years. Keep hearing WAKA/JAWAKA is pretty good jazz-rock. Or was that GRAND WAZOO...? HOT RATS? UNCLE MEAT? Can't remember. & I could spend a life trying 2 find out....
* Eno -- I tried TIGER MOUNTAIN and WARM JETS & they were OK, diffrent. But I really wished they were a little less clever & a little more straightforward....
* Roxy -- I prefer the later, smoother stuff, but I really love "The Thrill of it All" & should do more investigating of their 1st 4 albums -- that Concorde-like rush they sometimes get is really thrilling....
* Gong -- I really can't take the early silliness -- tried a 2-CD best-of earlier this year. Didier Mahlerbe is a helluva sax player, & guitarist Steve Hillage & synth-guy Tim Blake add some good stuff, but I guess I wasn't stoned enuf.... & the later jazz-rock stuff can get REALLY boring....
* Tangerine Dream -- Never made it all the way thru NE of their albums. Have ENCORE in the house & listened all the way thru Side 3, "Monolight," which I still think is their best piece ever. 1nce had a really bad dream while listening 2 "Fly and Collision of Comas Sola" off of ALPHA CENTAURI. Have heard lotsa bits&pieces, but.... "Igneous" offa their THIEF soundtrack is a pretty great guitar-meltdown....
* Mahavishnu Orchestra -- I've tried 2 treat them like King Crimson without tunes but it just doesn't work. Their quieter moments R kinda nice, like "A Lotus on Irish Streams." But the only loud 1 I've been able 2 get in2 is "Awakening." & McLaughlin's solo albums seem pretty dull -- tried DEVOTION and EXTRAPOLATION, didn't get THEM, either....
* Strawbs -- I should like these guys a lot more than I actually DO: British-folk-based songs, Rick Wakeman/John Hawken/Blue Weaver on flamboyant keyboards, etc. But Dave Cousins' voice is sometimes whiny -- he's best when angry or bitter. Their CLASSIC STRAWBS has 1 GREAT side: "Hero and Heroine"/"New World"/"Down by the Sea"/"Where is This Dream of Your Youth?," but I can't get in2 the rest. Their HALCYON DAYS CD-best-of adds some more good things ("Backside," "Keep the Devil Outside") but drops most of Wakeman -- why?
* Barclay James Harvest -- I don't have enuf patience 4 their wild uneven-ness. I'm sticking with their best-of's.
Other items 4 future research: Al Stewart's PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE Side 1; Gentle Giant's LIVE: PLAYING THE FOOL, IN A GLASS HOUSE, POWER AND THE GLORY; Nektar, Clannad, Mott the Hoople, Soft Machine, Jade Warrior, Focus, Return to Forever, Mannheim Steamroller, early Journey, Kevin Ayers....
Complaints? Agreements? Please add yer 2 cents below....
Coming Soon: Reviews of Richie Unterberger's WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN: THE WHO FROM LIFEHOUSE THROUGH QUADROPHENIA, Ken Scott's FROM ABBEY ROAD TO ZIGGY STARDUST, and Jason Weiss's ALWAYS IN TROUBLE: AN ORAL HISTORY OF ESP-DISK.
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2 comments:
Hey TAD, got change for a dollar?
Most of side 1 of Thick As A Brick I can listen to and most of the second side before it falls apart about the 6 minute mark. It works okay for me since I'm familar with it but Passion Play take a bit getting used to. This Was with Mick Abrams I think was better than Stand Up but Mick was more blues based than Ian Would like to be.
ELP, I think I like the first album and Trilogy over Brain Salad Surgery which kinda falls apart on the second side. Tarkus isn't for everybody although I do like the goofy fun of Bitches Crystal or Are You Ready Eddie.
Pink floyd: The Ummagumma live sides are space rock best, The David Gilmour and Roger Waters pieces are better than Nick Mason's drum noodling. The More Soundtrack is really more dark and metal sounding (nile song) but still employs a bit of that Ummagumma experimentation that makes me think nice thoughts about that album. Atom Heart Mother you wouldn't like, Obscurred By Clouds owes a lot to Meddle and flows better than that. Anything else youre on your own.
Yes. First album was rough but I thought was better than Time And A Word although neither are like Yes Album and Fragile.
Rush, first three albums have them as a Led Zeppelin via Budgie sound, before 2112 redefines them. Not a big fan of Farewell To Kings or Caress of Steel but Hemispears is probably their best of the 70s.
I thoroughly enjoyed Pink Floyd's Obscured By Clouds. It seems more like stepping stone to their next album, Dark Side of the Moon. Atom Heart Mother was a bore. Meddle is great. Never was a big fan of of their early days save a few tracks like "Intersteller Overdrive". My mainstay of Pink Floyd will always their prime years starting with TDSotM to The Wall with an emphasis on Animals, which I think is a cult classic.
Any album from The Yes Album to Drama is worthy to have from Yes, especially Close to the Edge.
I'm a confessed Rush nerd and proud of it! The first does sound a bit like Zeppelin so to say. Neil Peart replaced John Rutsey on the their effert, Fly by Night and gave them more color to their sound. Since then, they have progressed impressively. Sometimes a little much at times. The second side of Caress of Steel was a weak example of them trying to do a 20 minute suite. When they did 2112, they finally got it right! It's a masterpiece! The rest of their albums from Farewell to Kings to Moving Pictures are prime materiel. When they released Signals in '84 Rush dumped their epic length pieces for the shorter, synthesized songs-which wasn't all that bad either.
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