Your "Big Six" that aren't in the "Big Six"

Hi,

WOW ... and such a deserved mention ... the show he did with his wife and their band (The rocket Scientists) still is, for me, the best performance and the most professional of all of them at the SF Progressive Music Festival in 1999.

Sadly, their work is not always mentioned and because he is from LA and not from London, he will forever be considered a minor Keith Emerson, when the comparison between the 2 is ridiculous ... to say the least, even though there are many who think there is a link. At the time, KE could not mix all the instruments he wanted to play, and later it became about the mixing and using of all of the instruments "together" and not just for what we consider a "solo" ... in many ways, Eric's work is less about the solo, than it is about its entirety and his ability to make sure that the keyboards ADD to the whole thing, instead of him showing off his skills. I don't see, neither did I feel when I talked to them, that this guy was merely playing out his keyboard tricks and licks he learned in school! One of the few at that, btw!

Outstanding player ... who deserves a lot more credit, and it is kinda sad to see that he and his wife (Lana Lane) have not done a bit more in the last 10 to 15 years ... she's not exactly a weak singer, and my only thoughts are that the words she sings need to be evaluated better and create better "poetry", though I imagine that it would change some of her abilities and inflections ... but in their show, she was as good an all the others.

One other detail ... the bass playing by Don Schiff ... a massive bass player that knows what he is doing and I think is better than Tony Levin and some of the others in the quartet and group of Stick players ... but I think that Don is more into the completeness of the music and its continuity than he is into the solo style of the others involved ... one of the saddest things in rock music, that the solo style is more important than the music itself ... I don't dislike the Stick Men ... but I would rather listen to Don Schiff and what he adds to the music in general ... which is excellent and a very important part of The Rocket Scientists.

I'm not quite sure why Genesis is some kind of slam dunk for whatever BIG #(choose a number). They only played prog for about 10 years and only sold albums once they started playing Motown show tunes.