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Joined: April 11 2010
Location: Virginia
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Topic: Depressing Prog Posted: December 13 2010 at 15:25
Which progressive artists/albums/songs do you find to be particular somber/depressing? This can apply to sound, lyrics, or both. Personally, I can't help but feel a little bit somber while listening to post-rock, particularly GY!BE.
Joined: January 04 2007
Location: Grok City
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Points: 17529
Posted: December 13 2010 at 15:51
Hi,
I can not tell you of any music that has been that depressing at all ... but I can tell you some things that have a sad feel all over it, to the poin tof being scary.
All too often we get hung up on lyrics" to tell us that something is good, bad, or indifferent, and many times the music itself does not reflect that at all ... and falls into conventional categories that are 500 years old ... like "major chords" are uplifting and "minor chords" are sad ... that kind of thing.
That said, one of the prettiest songs I have ever heard, is also the saddest one I have ever heard. It's Sandy Denny in her last recording with Fairport Convention, on the song "One More Chance" ... and she died a couple of weeks later. And even sadder is if you get the remixed version of the album that has her promo on this song done on solo piano with her voice alone ... and it's down right scary ... and you know ... she didn't have another chance. She died soon after.
Put on "Reynardine", then "Quiet Joys of Brotherhood", and then both of these versions of the song ... and remember that the guitarist on Reynardine is Richard Thompson!
Nothing else in music is that somber, or sad for me, although there are a couple of songs in Amon Duul 2 that take me away ... the ending section of "Apocalyptic Bore" is sad in many ways, because you know it's over ... and the absolutely smashing rock pieces are over. It was all songs after that! And they were never half as good as the original. The other one was "You're Not Alone" in the HIjack album ... sung in a way that makes you feel like ... you're in a funeral or something like it. And I hate funerals!
In general, music for me, is always uplifting ... and I only cry for joy 999 out of 1000 times ...
Edited by moshkito - December 13 2010 at 15:53
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
Joined: January 04 2007
Location: Grok City
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Points: 17529
Posted: December 13 2010 at 16:22
Triceratopsoil wrote:
Any Colour You Like wrote:
I find most neo-prog depressing.
I was going to say that :P
You must mean music that has as much originality as ... the next carbon copy?
Well, to be fair ... there are a lot of genre's out there that sometimes don't make sense ... but it's only fair that we listen to the music without the label ... and check each artist individually ... as opposed to stick them to a group ... the problem being, of course, that if we learn to do this, we probably will never list Genesis as progressive, either since the majority of its work was not "progressive". In fact, I would call it "neo-prog" just for fun!
Edited by moshkito - December 13 2010 at 16:24
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
Joined: March 23 2005
Location: Caerdydd
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Posted: December 13 2010 at 16:38
Anthony H. wrote:
Which progressive artists/albums/songs do you find to be particular somber/depressing? This can apply to sound, lyrics, or both. Personally, I can't help but feel a little bit somber while listening to post-rock, particularly GY!BE.
Joined: March 08 2008
Location: New York
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Points: 3595
Posted: December 13 2010 at 20:30
Pain of Salvation, Later era Queensryche (Promised Land), Pink Floyd (1970's output and the Final Cut), Alice In Chains (dirt and Jar of flies, particularly), Early John Lennon solo material, most of Tom Waits music, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Green Carnation's acoustic Verses, some Opeth, a little dab of Ayreon, especially the Human Equation, a little Devin Townsend, Sigur Ros, some Vangelis, Radiohead (specifically Kid A), like it's been mentioned: a lot of post rock/metal, Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot out the Lights, Will Oldham's (Bonnie Prince Billy's) I See A Darkness, most of Johnny Cash's American Recordings.
Oh wait, I wrote all that and totally forgot that he was referring to only progressive music that's depressing. I'm too lazy to filter it out.
Joined: March 09 2007
Location: United States
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Points: 13373
Posted: December 13 2010 at 20:45
Not depressing but very, very sad, is Camel's "Harbour of Tears", which was written after Andy Latimer's father died, and he spent a lot of time with his family and learned about his Irish roots.
the music if uplifting though, at least to me, very emotional and beautiful.
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