Abundance of one-man "bands" in modern prog

Well I guess most of JT's output was really that of one man?  Did Steve Hackett really fare far worse than Genesis in the late 70s?  I think even some Genesis fans would disagree there.   Donald Fagen sounds revitalised and vibrant on Nightfly, following on the heels of the brilliant but downbeat and pessimistic Gaucho.   You are correct that it takes a gifted composer to compose an album full of great prog all by himself but it also takes an extraordinary band to get the most out of jamming as a means of composition and frankly most of them don't.  The musicians might find the experience very satisfying but whether it really makes such a telling difference to the listener is another matter.   I felt the influence of collaboration was positive in KC but they also relied much more on improvisation than many other of their contemporaries.  Even in democratic bands, there are one or two dominant composers who call the shots and that is what lends coherence to their work.  If every track was entirely everybody's baby and every band member had widely divergent tastes, would it make much sense as an album experience?

Coming to performance, it can have a detrimental impact IF one man plays all the instruments and the music revolves around traditional rock/blues/jazz instruments (and that too is contingent on his skills...if he is as good as Stevie Wonder, then why not).  I don't find any remarkable difference in creativity between Bjork and Radiohead, who got more and more collaborative by the time of Kid A.  So if the music revolves around electronic elements, it is the creativity - individually or collectively - of an artist or band that would matter.  

A friend of mine makes some sort of prog rock/metal and in the early days, his approach was more like a dictator.  His ideas, his compositions and the band's job being to only play them.  His last track however was more collaborative and he was thrilled with the results.   But as a listener (and as someone who knows a lot about his musical influences), I still hear his own voice in the music and if I hadn't been told it was collaborative, I would never know.   It did reflect an improvement over previous tracks but that could be down to his own improvement as a composer, the band gelling well at this point and performing the music better and improvement in recording.   I wouldn't have thought it would be impossible for him to compose that track all by himself because I thought he did when I heard it the first time.  

Also, excellent point about the 'classical' music composers who (can) (seemingly) leave very little room for individual interpretation from their texts/scores. 'Classical' composers, in my opinion, follow a kind of mathematical, mental formula for constructing their pieces. Many progressive rockers have kind of taken that experience of 'classical' training and experimented with the more improvisational side or 'jazz' of music play--especially in the live and recording phase. Others seek a rigid adherence to the original compositions and studio recorded versions (to please fans/audiences). Wasn't the Canterbury 'movement' kind of a combination of both? (Plus, throw in a few mind-altering substances . . . )

Anyway, I do not think that the solo/mostly solo album recordings coming out are any less valuable, or are producing music that is any less creative, less accomplished, or less magical--and certainly not any worse qualitatively--than the full bands. The listener, in the end, is the decision-maker. It's all rather subjective, of course, isn't it?

Yes, I do! Zerothehero started to evolve the day I realized some of the material was not suitable for fungus. But if we had time and money to record an album every year, well... you'd hear everything played by a "real" band, recorded in a "real" studio. By now, that's the best I can do (but I'm quite satisfied, even because to satisfy one's mind and ears is easier than a five people's!)

My guitarist also writes with his computer, but his compositions are so articulated he usually leaves everything in MIDI or sheet music, until the band "takes care" of it. And that's a pity, because we put aside so many good pieces of music... 

Not sure, but probably not.

 

My comment was more about the rock/jazz music design, as opposed to a classical music design ... honestly I would like to see bands in "progressive" do 17/32 instead of 3/4 or 4/4 or some of the easier things in music ... which kinda suggests the ability to COLOR one's imagination, is limited ... to what one knows ... not to what one perceives! The day that we here a rock band do the Firebird Suite, is the day that some rock musicians will open up ... that there is more music without the "beat", than there is with the "beat". At least, I admit that is so in my imagination ... the beat brings it down to the industrial level ... and I prefer the non-industrial levels all around! Less mechanical!

 

The perception can help create a lot of things ... the limitations of music and notation, tend to cut things down, and take the intangibles out.

 

I don't think many folks can understand this, until you get used to hearing musics from 1000 countries ... and I don't mean a 30 second sample! By the time, you get to the really evolved and different ones out there, it is so far and differet from rock and jazz and classical ... that too many folks automatically dismiss it ... Ex: When I say that Terje Rypdal and David Darling's album EOS is Chamber Music for Electric Guitar and Bass ... I am not sure that most folks here can even conceive what it is ... and what those two accomplished with a couple of effects ... skip the first cut ... you have been warned. And in the end, it is some of the prettiest things ever recorded with an electric guitar and the biggest and highest compliment to Jimi Hendrix I have ever heard. Only one other guitarist, ahs ever shown that much shine and care to his playing, specially in the early days, and it was Toni McPhee with The Groundhogs, before he became a blues and this and that guitarist ... put on Crosscut Saw and Black Diamond. It is rock music, but ... it also is more than just rock music ... and it is a one man's vision for the most part ... and this was the guy that taught Jimi to do the American Anthem, when Jimi saw him do Amazing Grace!

 

These things "expand" the realm of perception and experience ... and yes, a "one-man" band has to stand up for it ... but it can also be done by any composer ... and no one here, including myself, can really say outright that the "one-man" band IS ... what the history of music is all about! And eventually the credit goes back to the originators of the music, not the kissers!

Your opinion is interesting because if I'm not wrong you play both in band (Fungus) but also as a one-man project Zerothehero, correct?