Difficult To Get Into Bands
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28273
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Topic: Difficult To Get Into Bands
Posted By: WaywardSon
Subject: Difficult To Get Into Bands
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 20:02
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I´m just curious if there are other people here who find these bands difficult to get into?
I have a problem with all three of those bands so I won´t vote.
(This isn´t meant as a bashing thread and I have absolutely nothing against the bands listed)
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Replies:
Posted By: Cygnus X-2
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 20:03
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All are okay with me, the hardest I found to get into actually were Magma and Captain Beefheart (but now I love Beefheart and I like Magma a lot more than I did).
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Posted By: alias10mr
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 20:45
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Still find TMV difficult to listen to.
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Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 20:47
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Gentle Giant is the hardest of those three for me to get into but Mr Bungle has been the hardest of all so far.
------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005 
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Posted By: Bastille Dude
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 20:52
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TMV is one of those bands that I want to get into, but I haven't yet. It may take some time for it to click. Although Gentle Giant took me many years to appreciate, now they are one of my favorites.
------------- DEATH TO FALSE PROG! |
Posted By: Fassbinder
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 20:56
| Not acquainted with TMV. Both KC and GG had a normal level of difficulty, just fitting the level of their complicated, intricate music and arrangements. Of all bands the hardest to get into for me was Yes, mostly "thanks" to the vocals. |
Posted By: WaywardSon
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 20:57
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I actually put them in order
The Mars Volta borders on insanity for me
Second, Gentle Giant has "some" songs I can get into..
King Crimson is the easiest to get into (out of these three)
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Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 21:03
I agree. No problems with GG and KC whatsoever. VDGG was much more of a challenge. Just don't like TMV all that much. ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
alias10mr wrote:Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 21:13
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I voted for The Mars Volta... I quite enjoy them, but I really never developed a taste for them. There's so much stuff I find great out there that I haven't made much effort. Still, they intrigue me. So I will go back at some time, but as there's such a huge amount of prog that I hardly know or don't know that I wish to discover that I don't know when I'll bother. As for Gentle Giant, it was love at first REAL listen. It just took one downloaded song to do it. After seeing Gentle Giant listed so highly in the top 100 list of this site, and reading the rave reviews, I decided to download a song for testing purposes (the mp3s at this site didn't show up due to a very aggressive program I was always running at that time). The song happened to be Free Hand. On first half-listen I was just expecting something quite different, so I was a little taken aback (it being listed under Symphonic Prog at the time, and well, it was very different from the stuff I was listening to like ELP, Genesis, Yes, Camel, and others). But a little jazzy bit of the song stuck in my head, and I felt I just had to listen to it again. Next time I heard it it clicked in a big way, and a Gentle Giant fan was born. Subsequently I immediately 'got' all their songs off their first eight studio albums (okay some of those songs I consider a little weak). Never did develop a taste for the final studio albums, and don't really want to. I just don't think those post-Interview studio albums are that good (though I enjoy some songs off them). As for King Crimson, I liked them right away. Again, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I happened to download "21st Century Schizoid Man", (MUCH harder than most of the stuff I was listening to at the time) and by the second listen it was blowing me away. Then on to other mellower KC stuff, and not so mellow stuff. Actually, I started with all three bands at just about the same time -- when I decided I'd let myself be music deprived for too long. Always liked prog, though my knowledge was limited to a fairly small group of bands (ELP, Genesis, Yes, Rush, Jethro Tull, Pink FLoyd, Alan Parson's Project, Frank Zappa, and Focus), and a smattering of prog songs by quite a few other bands. The bands I tried to get into but gave up on are Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings, UK, and a host of neo-prog and prog metal bands. Another one I bought due to the rave reviews at this site that disappointed me was Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia." I just found it a little boring, and not so proggy (as I thought of Prog) compared to the other prog bands I was discovering at the time (like Anglagard's Hybris). Actually bought that along with Djam Karet's Recollection Harvest (was looking to update my tastes at the time from predominantly 70's prog) -- found Djam Karet's considerably more satisfying. EDIT: VDGG, though I love some of their songs, is not one I particularly wish to pursue due to the singer's histrionics. To each his or her own. |
Posted By: el böthy
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 21:14
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This three where quite easy for me to get into... But VDGG!...uuuhhh...that took some months...and Camel also took me a while to realize how good they are! ------------- "You want me to play what, Robert?" 
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Posted By: fire_i
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 21:36
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I never listened to The Mars Volta, but I easily got into King Crimson
and Gentle Giant. As soon as I heard one of their songs, I loved the
band. Same with other, hum, "difficult" bands, like VdGG. Judging from this track record of mine... I should try out Mars Volta. :P |
Posted By: Asyte2c00
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 21:39
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Of the Three Gentle Giant, I love them now, but there was a time I despised this band
I started with Three Friends. I thought it was musically hackneyed lyrically shallow, however, I moved to Octopus liked it a lot (loveed it a lot lin time)
Shulman's voice is such a far departure from some of my favorite vocalists.
I belive Geddy Lee and Peter Hammill are WAY more accessible in terms of vocals than Schulman.
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Posted By: heyitsthatguy
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 21:48
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Well, I for some reason or another don't have trouble "getting into" bands.....I liked Mr. Bungle and The Mars Volta from minute one, and KC's "Red" I got into instantly.....
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Posted By: mukster
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 22:10
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Those bands were all ok to get into. I am having a tought time with VDGG, having recently purchased Pawn Hearts. I have now read here that its not the "easiest" listen of their albums.
------------- "Johnny calls the chemist, but the chemist doesn't come" |
Posted By: moreitsythanyou
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 22:18
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I was gonna go with The Mars Volta and then I realized that they were the first prog band that I listened to regulary, and given what I was listening to at the time, for me to make that transition must say something about TMV's accessibility, no matter how covered it may be. The other 2 I liked instantly. I'd say the hardest band to get in to that I got in to would be Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but oh how it's worth it -------------  <font color=white>butts, lol[/COLOR] |
Posted By: Lex C
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 23:17
| I would say Meshuggah Kicked me around for a very long time. Mr Bungle Came Suprisingly easy and I guess I could say KC and GG were easy as well. Volta and Opeth were my intro to prog, So I would say that those are 3 very difficult bands. |
Posted By: Masque
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 23:40
I won`t bore you with my thoughts perhaps it gets down to personal taste ... I can get into the strangest music at times that others dismiss as garbage ... I can`t explain why  ------------- |
Posted By: Drew
Date Posted: September 06 2006 at 23:44
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Of that list- GG- but the others are hard as well. ------------- |
Posted By: KeleCableII
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 00:26
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Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 02:15
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Liked'em all first time I listened to them. Especially Gentle Giant's music! ------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! |
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 02:34
| All of these bands are perfectly OK with me - KC are amongst my all-time favourites, and I got into TMV and GG pretty much right from the start. Even VDGG were not that hard to get into. Oddly enough, I find Gabriel-era Genesis much harder to get into that these so-called 'difficult' bands. |
Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 02:38
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Had no real problems, mostly the first time became the genuine walk.
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Posted By: Tony Fisher
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 02:48
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I have found all 3 very hard to get into. I have succeeded with GG and now enjoy their music enormously. KC I still only like bits and can't see at all why others rate them so highly; to me, composition, style and musicianship are nothing special though I don't actively dislike them. The Mars Volta I simply cannot enjoy at all and find it increasingly difficult to listen to. |
Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 02:58
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"Getting into" a band should be an enjoyable process whatever band it is, it's nothing to do with the band, i don't think there are any "difficult" ones, just ones i like and ones i don't. Myself i found early Genesis the "easiest" of all, they were just crying out to me - at last a band made for me - i thought i'd discovered a secret no-one else knew about. The times a mate has said to me "awww..you gotta hear this band they're brilliant the best i ever heard fantastic!!", they dump a pile of albums in front of you, then all the music is totally lost on you, and you wonder what they're on about! I always got into a band as naturally as possible, without major effort - i may see something on the TV (first saw Rush on The Old Grey Whistle Test) that hooks me in and leaves me very curious to find out more, or you see a support act and like them better than the main group! or something on a compilation album or PA MP3 you hear that grabs you. Either you "get it" or you don't. I feel sad for young Prog fans who think they "must" like Yes, KC or Genesis and feel bad because they see nothing in them, find them "difficult" - i agree anything worthwhile requires patience and effort, but it's not an exam question is it? go where your heart (or ears!) lead you and you won't go wrong.
-------------  Prog Archives Tour Van 
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Posted By: Asphalt
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 03:26
ooooh die horror, ohhhhhh die Gentle Giant  just kiddingjoke aside, not only out of those but quite possibly out of the whole prog scene, Gentle Giant is the only band I am having serious difficulties in getting into; I guess I'll just have to wait for the right time KC wasn't love at first time, but i liked it a bit from the very beggining; it is now up there and nothing they do really dissapointed me as for Mars Volta, they're crazy but not that hard to get into; at most some may not like them  |
Posted By: ProgFan
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 04:06
| The Mars Volta for me... I think it's because of singer? |
Posted By: MattiR
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 04:11
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All are OK with me, though I don't listen to Mars Volta. Gentle Giant is wonderful, though I can't understand what is all about in "In A Glass House"... |
Posted By: Chipiron
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 04:25
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I adore KC, but I haven't been able to "get into" TMV and GG. ------------- [IMG]http://www.belderrain.es/GIFs/tora.gif"> |
Posted By: Angeldust
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 04:50
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All are ok with me two..The most difficult band for me to get into is Fantomas...Everything except the director's cut is really really sick and brilliant in a way but not my cup of tea..(allthough i love some of Mike's other bands..) ------------- 
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Posted By: Australian
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 05:14
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TMV is hard to listen to with me as there is a lot of inconsequential music being thrown around with some good stuff. ------------- 
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Posted By: Norbert
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 07:47
| All are OK with me now, but some time is necessary for each band's music . |
Posted By: Open-Mind
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 08:14
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GG
------------- "I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll this time, I feel my luck could change.. " |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 08:29
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I listened to some Mars Volta, I didn't like them that much myself.
As far as the others are concerned, I enjoy them because they're quite a challenge and the music is not only very interesting, their musicianship is great, too (IMO).
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Posted By: Kotro
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 08:43
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Of those posted, Mars Volta. Their latest effort is making me give them another chance.
Of all prog bands, I still can't get into Yes and later Camel (from Moonmadness on)... I like them, but can't really fall in love with them as most of the prog community. ------------- Bigger on the inside. |
Posted By: aapatsos
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 09:37
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GG from the list
I have listened to their albums several times and I cannot remember a single tune
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Posted By: Philéas
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 09:37
| King Crimson clicked directly, but Gentle Giant and especially The Mars Volta took some time and effort to get into (voted for TMV). Now that I have gotten into them though, they're among my absolute favourites. |
Posted By: Trickster F.
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 09:49
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None of those is really any difficult to get into, however, I have to say that in the case of The Mars Volta there is not much to get into anyway. ------------- sig |
Posted By: Philéas
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 10:13
Perhaps you just have to get into them?  |
Posted By: Harry Hood
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 10:25
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Gentle Giant is the least memorable of the three in that poll. The only song that ever stuck with me is "Free Hand". Everything else just doesn't hold my attention. ------------- 
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Posted By: Leningrad
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 10:47
Argh. The Mars Volta. Had a few "What the HELL is this??!!!" listens before I gave up. Never disliked GG or KC. Liked right away. 
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Posted By: Dirk
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 11:33
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I don't know TMV very well, Deloused has some exciting songs and some that may take some more listening to, basically i don't think it's so very hard to get into this band, you like their approach or you don't. With Gentle Giant it's two way for me, i like most of their songs within 10 listens if not it tends to stay that way. Raconteur Troubadour for instance seen by many as a great song still escapes me but i like most of the rest of the Octopus songs. Apart from the first 2 albums and Red i think KC is rather inaccessible. Lizard did nothing for me at first, now it think it's great (apart from Haskell's vocals that is). I also love Islands now but i still think Lark's tongue in Aspic is very difficult and somewhat weird. KC clearly gets my vote from the bands listed here. Personally from well known bands for me Tool is the most difficult. I give it a try sometimes but it doesn't stick with me. |
Posted By: Benjamin_Breeg
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 11:40
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Gentle Giant and King Crimson are not difficult to get in but The Mars Volta i didnt got into them till now xD ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Dream_Thief_/?chartstyle=Geldropdown2"> 
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Posted By: Kleynan
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 13:21
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All are OK with me. I'm a very patient guy, and I don't judge too quickly. If I don't like a CD I play it tons of times anyway. ------------- 
You've just had a heavy session of electroshock therapy, and you're more relaxed than you've been in weeks. |
Posted By: babydoctor
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 14:43
I'm with you there! But I do like some of their music; never got into Gentle Giant. KC and TMV--no problem. |
Posted By: Fassbinder
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 15:07
So do I -- the music is great. For now I've managed to bear with J.Anderson's voice and manner of singing...
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Posted By: Empathy
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 16:29
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I love all 3.
------------- Pure Brilliance: 
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Posted By: Zac M
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 16:42
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Barclay James Harvest just kidding ------------- "Art is not imitation, nor is it something manufactured according to the wishes of instinct or good taste. It is a process of expression." -Merleau-Ponty |
Posted By: chamberry
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 16:55
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No problem here really. I only had some problems at the start with Gentle Giand and The Mars Volta, but 3-4 proper listen to their albums was all that I needed.
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Posted By: lightbulb_son
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 19:05
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I still cannot get TMV. A lot of people love them, but I just can't get their music. It's almost unlistenable for me.
Ill keep trying though, because afterall it took me 3 months to "get" Blackwater Park, and now I practically worship Opeth. ------------- When the world is sick Can't no one be well But I dreamt we were all beautiful and strong 
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 19:45
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hmmm... easy answer.. The Mars Volta if you think King Crimson and Gentle Giant are hard to get into... .you need to go back to your DT albums and forget about real prog rock... The Mars Volta... it's prog alright but the 'modern' nature of it makes for not an easy listen at times. IMO of course, not to mention that vocalist whatever the hell his name is... is an acquired taste for me. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Mad Bass Player
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 21:34
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All of them weren't that hard for me to get into, I liked all of them first listen (except for when I heard knots, but I liked pretty much every other GG song on this site). The hardest band for me to get into was the residents. I started to really appreciate them a year after I had first heard them. ------------- "Mister Fripp, your music is quite different than everything else out there. In one word, how would you describe it?" "Progressive.... yeah, that's it..." |
Posted By: Arrrghus
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 21:44
Extremely hard, but well worth it. ------------- 
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Posted By: fezman
Date Posted: September 07 2006 at 21:49
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Each one was great from the first listen!!! ------------- Can't think of anything cool at the moment ... |
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: September 08 2006 at 02:48
The vocalist's name is Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and his voice might very well be an acquired taste for some. I happen to like him a lot (as a matter of fact, I'm listening to TMV just now...) and would choose him over LaBrie any day - but I understand he can be a bit hard to take for some. Of course I agree 100% about DT albums and such, but I don't think there is any need to stress the point... just in case people begin to fear me going on a rampage and closing all DT threads! |
Posted By: Jochem
Date Posted: September 10 2006 at 19:53
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I can see why people find it difficult to get into the Mars Volta but I loved them from the first listen. I just like everything about their music. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Jochempie/?chartstyle=basic10"> 
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Posted By: Abstrakt
Date Posted: September 11 2006 at 01:55
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The stuff from "The Mars Volta" that i've heard is too damn difficult.
But otherwise, Captain Beefheart was quite a challenge, but now i love his music!
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Posted By: The Whistler
Date Posted: September 11 2006 at 02:07
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Whoah, wait, how hard are Gentle Giant to get into? ------------- "There seem to be quite a large percentage of young American boys out there tonight. A long way from home, eh? Well so are we... Gotta stick together." -I. Anderson |
Posted By: Philéas
Date Posted: September 11 2006 at 03:15
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Seeing that this topic has been brought up again, I must add that VdGG was quite a challenge for me aswell as the bands I already mentioned. However, VdGG is probably my favourite of the classics now that I have gotten into them. Listening to "H to He, Who Am the Only One" at the moment. |
Posted By: superprog
Date Posted: September 11 2006 at 04:19
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I find TMV pretty heavy-going in that the music is so dense and heavy.......i actually got a headache listening to Frances The Mute!!!
even with the few amibient passages i found it rather claustrophobic, with little breathing space for the listener. Maybe they like it this way.........
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Posted By: Philéas
Date Posted: September 11 2006 at 04:37
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superprog: Yes, thats the way they like it, for some reason. But try to give it a couple more listens, when (if) you get it you will be rewarded! |
Posted By: blbx93
Date Posted: September 13 2006 at 11:24
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Gentle Giant. The voice and the transitions are off the wall; I am adapting though. For TMV, Deloused in the Comatorium is an easy listen and amazing, while Amputechture is a much harder listen (five plus times really). Don't listen to Frances first. Just don't.
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Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: September 13 2006 at 11:32
Well, I actually listened to FtM first, and I quite liked it too.. but I suppose I'm a bit of an odd character! However, I agree completely with you about "Deloused...", which is really a fantastic album (5 stars in my review of it). |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: September 13 2006 at 11:35
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Thinking Plague is definitely tough to get into.
Early Guapo and Don Caballero are real toughies too. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: eugene
Date Posted: September 13 2006 at 13:54
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All those on the list are perfectly OK with me. What I can't get is most of Can, Faust, and some extremely noisy experiments by Zorn ------------- carefulwiththataxe |
Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: September 13 2006 at 14:04
Can and Faust clicked pretty much immediately for me, and most of Zorn's material with the exception of the Classic Guide To Strategy.
The really difficult one for me (and I'm being serious here) is Dream Theater - they're clearly very good musicians, but I just can't get into them at all. The only related project I've enjoyed has been Transatlantic's second album, otherwise they just leave me cold. Likewise Symphony X and similar prog metal bands - although I do like Tool and Primus. ------------- 'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom |
Posted By: eugene
Date Posted: September 13 2006 at 18:09
Dream Theater can be annoying at times, but all in all they are not a bad band, as to Symphony X and the likes - I do not think there is much to get into, and same goes for Tool. This is not a matter of "difficult to get" it's just "I don't like it" thing. I started to suspect same thing about Can as well...but I still think Can efforts mean something to someone out there.
------------- carefulwiththataxe |
Posted By: Asyte2c00
Date Posted: September 13 2006 at 18:11
| Gnetle Giant, onece its "clicks" though, you will listen to them fro weeks onend, On vacation, listned to everything from Gentle Gaint to Interview about eight times. Its crazy. Fantastic Band. |
Posted By: eduardossc
Date Posted: September 14 2006 at 07:33
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I don't understand how some people find Gentle giant hard to get into. It was one of the very first prog bands I heard back some 16 years ago right after a whole teenager life of listening to pop. Gentle giant caught me from the very first notes of 1970's "Giant" track. Hasn't anyone noticed lots of their songs are pretty catchy and melodic?. How could they be hard to listen to?. I found much harder some Crimson songs. Specially from Lark's and Lizard, but still, I found them very accesible since they caught my attention for their interesting way of building notes and sounds in a very unnusual manner. I've never heard Mars volta, I would appreciate someone told me which are their finnest and most original and inspired albums?.
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Posted By: TheLamb
Date Posted: September 14 2006 at 11:53
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Neither were "easy", for me! took me a few weeks to get into Mars Volta... even longer to truely appreciate and love King Crimson's dark-feeling songs... The hardest was Gentle Giant which seemed like Chaos to me for months, but now I'm glad to say King Crimson and Gentle Giant are both in my top 5 favorite bands... Mars Volta are outstanding too... Love em, just not "top 5 quality" ------------- 
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Posted By: Philéas
Date Posted: September 14 2006 at 16:25
| Another band I've been trying to get into lately is Pain of Salvation. However, I just can't get myself to like them... |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: September 14 2006 at 18:16
I'd second that.. .and have honestly tried to get into them... or at least give them a fair listen... ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: THE_POLE
Date Posted: September 14 2006 at 18:59
Yea i started with remedy lane half a year ago. I just bought avery single album theyve released about month ago, and i absolutly love them. It takes a while for them to click tho. I haven't heard gentle giant, but the second i heard 'Cygnus... Vismund Cygnus', Frances The Mute became my favourite album and it is up there to this day. I loved king crimson after about 3 listens to Red. I found VDGG hard to get into but i like them now. Same goes for Yes. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/the_pole/"> 
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Posted By: Jochem
Date Posted: September 14 2006 at 19:01
I have tried that band for like 20 times but I Just can't get into them as well. But they are so high rated everywhere that I just need to see why everybody likes that stuff. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Jochempie/?chartstyle=basic10">
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