Most Synthesizer oriented Bands

Which bands do you think are the most sythesizer/ keyboard predominant bands ? (including organs mellotron,fender rhodes etc..)

in the older groups Genesis comes to mind or Tangerine Dream if you include them in prog.

in the newer ones probably CAST or IQ.

What are your thoughts ?

TD is an important reference in term of synth-prog band...from their beginning until today, they used all kind of keyboards ( 'electric organs' farfisa & teisco type in 'Alpha Centauri'...the big Moog in 'Zeit', Hammond organ, analog (virgin years)& numeric synth.

In the same genre we can also include K.Schulze and all the Berlin scene...so, the most electronic side of prog music

Eno

German band Eloy have a heavy synth laden sound.Check out their early eighties albums Planets and Time To Turn.

As far as organ based prog then Genesis (1970-1975) and more recently Par Lindh Project spring to mind although I'm sure there are loads of other examples.ELP are the best example of keyboard based prog because they were lead by a keyboard player and didn't have a lead guitarist Check out their album Brain Salad Surgery(1973) .Also worth mentioning is the solo stuff of Rick Wakeman including Six Wives of Henry VIII(1973) and Dave Greenslade.

Canadian band Rush used synth a lot on their eighties albums including  Moving Pictures (1980) and  Power Windows (1986) ,the latter being the closest they got to ELP 'territory'.

 

 

I know I keep bringing up this Hungarian band which apparently nobody cares for but Omega features a lot of synths in their music from 1973 onward when they started to record in West Germany and began to have access to  better equipment. Check out the albums Hall Of Floaters In The Sky, Time Robber and Gammapolis. Their trademark song, Nem tudom a neved ( I Don`t Know Your Name) was synths all the way and this song even caused a Rolling Stone Magazine reviwer to sum up the band in one short sentence, " For everyone who wants to grow up to be a synthesizer".  Hawkwind also incorporated a lot of keyboards throughout the years. Spirit Of The Age, Electric TeePee etc. Just about every band who was playing within the style of Prog Rock was experimenting with the new keyboard technology to some extent back in the early 70`s. The guy who did it right though, in my humble opinion, was Kerry Minear of Gentle Giant. I guess having being formally trained he knew how to keep it subtle you don`t hear him doing all the freaking out like a lot of guys did like Emerson, Van der Linden and Wakeman, doing the Hendrix thing only on keyboards. Rather Minear`s playing was always more integral rather than "flashy".

Edited by Vibrationbaby

Aztech wrote:   I don't know Niacin I wish there was an MP3 to sample this band. Any other synth predominant bands you can think of not mentionned ???

 

Niacin is playing a kind of fusion thing but sometimes they sound like ELP but a bit faster and the bass is louder...3 band members, Drums, Bass and Organ/Keyboards (I think Hammond B3 or so)

I only have the live album 'blood sweat and beers' and I love it...try it if you like fusion or ELP...or Keyboards, Organs   

If you want a band that is Synth predominant try 'Ozric Tentacles' I like it but SOMETIMES I think it's techno  ...a bit exaggerated

Aztech wrote: I don't know Niacin I wish there was an MP3 to sample this band. I know autobahn and others from Kraftwerk and it is not prog to me. Any other synth predominant bands you can think of not mentionned ???

 

Prog4you: they have a Niacin MP3, as well as others.

Check this out:

http://www.prog4you.com/mp3.htm

well, Cairo is a good example of the keys oriented bands nowadays..., hummm, perhaps Genesis in the very begginings, chroma key of course..., well not to much but Planet X... and  ELP, let me search a little bit harder...

THE ENID : their mainman, Robert John Godfrey is a gifted keyboardist, classical-influenced.

JORDAN RUDESS : he released some great albums. "Listen" in 1993 had good moments and blistering keyboard work. His collaboration with Rod Morgenstein gave rise to exciting songs. His latest solo effort "Feeding the wheel" is a jazz-fusion-metal opus that features such monsters as Terry Bozzio on drums, Steve Morse on guitars and there is a wide range of keyboard styles. With Tony Levin and other DT mates, he played also a wide variety of styles in the "Liquid Tension Experiment" project.

AYREON : on their masterpiece, "Into the electric castle" There are some interesting keyboard parts, played esentially by Eric Norlander (but I wouldn't recommend his solo discography).

 

Schicke, Führs & Fröhling

http://www.nordseemusikanten.de/sff/

Edited by Rui__