I can't remember any specific case but yes, I know that if I happen to be in some certain intense state of mind, certain songs or passages can surely tie a knot in my throat. Maybe the a cappella begining of Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, indeed Turn of the Century, Queen's Nevermore or You Take My Breath Away, The Lamia...

This ethereal Zeuhl classic just might do the trick:

Seriously though, I might've shed a tear or two the first time I heard The Madcap Laughs, but that is because I have a deep affection for Syd. I really feel him - and to some extent I can relate to his insanity - I am just able to hold it together - currently that is...

 

Not only "progressive" music ... but any music really.

 

The last piece in Nektar's Recycled is one of the saddest things I have ever heard. The band was done and broke and tired and it was over. The material in the next album was almost all from previous stuff they had done in concert before, so that album was not "new" per se, and since then ... I personally have not felt that it was as good or strong as it could be. I did, enjoy tremendously their concert in America (Nearfest?) which was good, but ... but ... but ... I had tears in my eyes ... it felt old, tired, and trying to find a spark that was not there.

 

Fairport Convention - One More Chance from the album "Rising for the Moon". Sandy Denny did not survive this song and died a couple of weeks later. To make matters even more nerve wrecking, on the remastered CD there is a piano version that is far more hauntingly beautiful than the massive voice and instrumental jam on the first version on the album, which is magnificent already and a very honest and touching tribute to the lady ... one of the most powerful and saddest moments in rock music for me! A truly beautiful voice.

 

AD2 - Apocaliptyc Bore on the Side 2 of Vive La Trance -- It is an anthem of sorts but it really helps tell the story of the band and its work ... and after that piece ... it was over. No more jams that mattered and that enthralled us, instead a few pieces of some synthesizer touch here and there in the album "Made in Germany" that were pathetic and were mostly meaningless as opposed to the previous montages they had done. The lyrics kinda tell it all, that the days of drugs and fun were over ... and the music in their albums never again regained the power, strength and intent that it had before. There always was one or two cuts worth listening to, but hearing "Loosey Girls" is not the same thing as "Yeti" or anything in "Wolf City" ... and to me it was ... not good.

 

AD2 - Part 2. The hatred and the disgusting attitude that they have towards a lot of their music. The album "Utopia" is very good and has a lot of nice things ... yet John calls is "b*****d" on an email. The album No blah blah number is also very good ... it's not even listed on their website! In the end, this is sad, and a disrespect to the art of creativity and experience. You can not tear out a piece of your heart and not pay the price for it! And in art it is visible ... and as Guy Guden would say ... get thee off your bummery!

 

Can - I saw Damo with a band over here in the west coast. I took pictures on the show and such (posted on teh website) ... and just before the end of the show ... I left. I felt empty. I felt out of time and place. Because of my film/theater work and studies and background, I loved the free form that this was and what it brought about. For people on stage and film (and hopefully music ... as Can is that example!), stuff like this is very important and valuable ... and all I saw was ... a sort of top ten rendition now of what was left of it. It was not good. Not even close. It had nice bits ... but it was not that great. When I got home, I started crying ... it was like our friends had left. I certainly do not want Damo to be on my wall like Elvis is on so many walls, but what I saw ... was not "creative" ... and it lacked spark.  I kept thinking of the old like in the old days ... these guys needed to be and get stoned, because they stunk!

 

The Who (At Knebworth or equivalent about 6 or 7 years ... not sure which). There is a moment in there that I had seen inside my dreams several weeks earlier and one of the reasons I wanted to see The Who do their thing (and hoped the screwed up tv transmissions would show it!), was to try and find/catch that moment. It's very subtle, last a few seconds and it's just before a loud scream ... and the moment before it was what I was looking for it ... it was him saying to himself "I don't want to do this anymore. It doesn't mean anything to anyone in here!" .... and I have always agreed and thought that the album "Who Are You" was specially important because of that and what this group had come through and how they were also revolting to a lot of the social bs ... and guess what ... that scream is about that ... and I know what Roger meant and wanted to say, and could no longer say it, because it didn't matter anymore ... we're just a bunch of __________ fans that don't give a cahoot about the music and what it means. We also believe in prog ... not because of what it means, but because of our own ideas. And that is not the main reason why most artists ever get on the stage. It was sad ... and the real end of my generation as a bunch of geriatric hippocrites that don't know what the word "love" really means, and on top of it, they mostly don't care and are not capable of showing it. And it's a totally disassociated group ... that believes in the top ten, but not in the music itself. How much more vain can that be? Roger you can scream again ... but no one will hear you! And you know it!

 

The Man Band -- The long cut of C'mon in "Back Into the Future". I think this is Mickey in that long version of the piece that does the yodeling and lala's alongside the choir and the guitar. It sure sounds like him. A few years back I saw the DVD about Tom Dowd and him talking ... about "catching the magic when it happens" ... you can't set it up, and sometimes it is not perfect, but the moment itself ... is glorious ... and he found us ... one of the best moments in rock history ... in Layla. Every time I hear that long piece and that wonderful lala'ing in the middle of it, you know one thing about music, or ideas ... you have to FEEL IT to do it ... and you will never find a better example, in live music than those few minutes of the most amazing feeling ... and here was ... a very special moment that you can not script ... to me this is as good as anything else ... and I still cry ... because you can hear the dreaminess and the desire coming through ... at least what the piece meant to Mickey that no one else could relate to is my thought!

 

Klaus Schulze with Lisa Garrard - Das Rheingold. This is not for everyone, and not something that progressive afficcionados even enjoy listening to ... but yeah ... when I was done hearing that I applauded the grit, the courage and the essential desire to just live through the music ... regardless of what it is. Someone in this board once sais that LIsa was boring repetitive and stuck up ... and I ... I cired. I thought that Richard Wagner, Mahler and many others would have loved to have heard this, and might have added/changed the course of opera ... Italy is/was way too melody minded to appreciate something like this ... and what I heard there was ... yeah ... I have few words for it, but I will dream with this forever. It talks more than anyone will ever know.

 

And finally ... Magma in San Francisco 1999 at the Music Festival that Sean Ahearn lost his shirt and shorts on. He didn't deserve that loss for his insane efforts with "progressive music" but we're a fickle and f**ked up group sometimes. I was the first out of my seat for a standing ovation that ended up lasting almost 15 minutes and had Christian in tears. I had a camera and was shooting the whole event, and I could no longer focus and the last 45 minutes ... just let it go ... you gotta see it to believe it. Maybe it was the feeling that after all these years, like 30 of them, FINALLY a validation that all this is important and means something for me ... but I was very glad to shake Christian and Stella's hands and thank them ... for some reason I kept thinking this would not come off well live ... despite having heard a couple of their live albums ... and of course ... sublime is not enough of a word for this hour plus of music!

 

And the reprise of "Hey baby, with your guardian eye so blue" at the end of Supper's Ready.

 

 

I feel tears at awesome moments during live concerts sometimes. Even with cover singer, when I saw Yes a few years ago and they got to "I get up, I get down" I felt it.

That's interesting. I can not say I did not feel somewhat like that when I bought the album ... and thought ... good God ... who is that ... when compared to the work he had done with Pink Floyd ... so the stuff with PF, was able to take his lyrics and create a massive atmostphere around it ... Syd by himself? ... was almost invisible and the words ... lacked meaning.

 

Something was not right.

 

But then, almost all of that group that came out of that house with Syd ... the only one that cleaned himself up quicker and sooner than anyone else, was Daevid Allen ... the others survived, but there is a lot to them that ... is sad, and sometimes strange and then ... downright bizarre and weird. I'm not sure I like thinking of my generation like that at all ... we have way too much great music and art ... that was much more indicative of our spirits and souls ... than the blatant dismembering of Syd ... and it is not better on his next album either!

I think he was brilliant also when he went mad. Yes it is a different Syd - and one that he couldn't shake off - one that brought him down and everything, but the music and his words still inspires me. I felt the first impact of that album very closely and beautifully - even if it was downright bizarre at times. Still is. 

And I still remember him for Piper at the Gates of Dawn too. Wonderful record that one! 

I'm with you on Stevie boy. He is magnificent!

Incidentally, do you know Finnish band WigWam? This band, especially the frontsinger, sounds like a white boy version of Stevie Wonder gone Canterbury. Khan meets Wonder.

Here's a clip:

always has been an emotional piece for me ...

Innuendo isn't exactly an 'epitaph' song but... One day (it was a couple of weeks ago) I listened to this song and I really cried. As I've found out, I've never really understood this song before. There was such a dark feeling inside me, it was like mourning for every misjustice on this terrible planet. Other highly emotional Queen song is 'These Are the Days of Our Lives', I almost cry each time I hear the guitar solo.

The other prog songs wich can lead me to tears are 'Half Light' by Porcupine Tree, and, probably. 'Islands' and 'Starless' by King Crimson.

 

Koenjihyyakei from Angherr Shispha - the first track towards the end made me cry because it matched those noises and the emotion coming out of it is the kind of emotion i feel constantly.

 

The ending of Aberkinula by the mars volta

Drunkship of Lanterns- the ending- dang its crazy

 

Baying of the Hounds by Opeth (The heavy part after the first acoustic break)

 

Gorguts- when the violin comes in on Obscura... damn

 

Deathspell Omega- Chaining the Kacheton - after the beginning craziness subsides and the band comes together and they strum similar chords

 

Sometimes Wolves in the Throne room makes me tear up too.

 

etc, etc, etc- there are tons of songs and instances

 

Also, sometimes when it isn't crying that comes out its more like a weird insane body buzz that feels like doing lines and tripping. I get crazy tingles all over my body and all of my senses become more aware.

Off the top of my head, I transcend and almost always cry when listening to Close to the Edge (Yes), One For the Vine and Ripples (Genesis), Song Within a Song and Echoes (Camel), Nothing At All (Gentle Giant), 2112 (Rush), and probably many many more to a lesser extent.

Honestly, whoever said that men don't cry is awful. The entire point of music to me is the emotional strength of it. Music besides prog has no sway on my emotions by comparison. I guess this is why some people don't understand it..

AND the end of track 10 made me well up and I felt as though I had left my body.

 

Also, RIP by banco, and l'evolutiozone(spelling), and track 4 on their 3rd album whatever its called.

Let's all be happy that music has this amazing power. Music is the most powerful thing man can create.

 

If aliens landed on Earth, I would show them music as proof that the human race was worth keeping alive.

Its the same with me although I actually haven't ever cried because of music but I have come close .  Rope Ends and Trace of Blood always bring me pretty close to tears.  The Perfect Element(the album) also brings me close to tears along with the end section of Supper's Ready, especially the live version with Peter Gabriel.

Also happened in NYC at Madison Sq Garden Yes 35th anniversary concert----And You and I was so powerful and loud---and god Howe so into it---that at the big climatic last section the whole audience was on their feet cheering and Howe miked the slide guitar part and the crowd stood cheering for what seemed a long time----preventing Jon from singing the last little part----thousands on their feet still cheering a 35 year old group was very moving for me.

Bravado, Rush

Postcard, Steven Wilson

La Villa Strangiato, Rush

Stars Die, Porcupine Tree

Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel

By the end of any VdGG or Gabriel-Genesis album, I 'll probably be crying because those are the most powerful albums I've ever heard.

Pain of Salvation and A Perfect Circle and Tool will do the trick. 

Sometimes Circa Survive. Soon by Yes. The "Do you believe in the day" section of TAAB, and if Slipstream and a cheap Day Return were longer they'd do the trick. Thin Air by Anathema as well as The Beginning and The End.

Hmm, Gilmour's guitar, especially High Hopes.

King Crimson's Cadence and Cascade.

An odd one is Chain Lightning by Rush. I have no idea why.

Eriatarka, Halo of Nembuttals, Copernicus, and Roulette Dares by TMV, especially that guitar note about 4 minutes in. There are a lot!

when a got it,  6 months before my wife lost a 14 weeks  pregnancy and the first time i listen to the album with the booklet in my hand  reading the lyrics [ a always do that when a get a new album ]  i just cry really bad.i get a very depress feeling  every time a listen to it

Firth of Fifth instrumental break from Genesis in Rome DVD

The song on Neal Morse's Testimony 2 about his dying little girl who was healed.

Powerful stuff 

The same year Rick Wakeman played the whole Journey to The Center Of the Earth in one shot with Ashley Holt and the few people present under a tent raised up for a standing applause like at a classical music concert.

But the time when I cried more was at the first Pink Floyd concert in Rome in 1986. There was a riot outside the stadium and Police's tear gas was brought inside the stadium by the wind....

I have always thought that the line, and many others in this album, was much more about the poetry in them, than it was about the "singing", and this is quite evident later ... listen to him telling you ... "don't tell me lies" ... and Carl accentuating it with his bass drum! ... how much more of a hint do we need, right?

 

At the time, and it was a very big part of the theater and film work in the late 60's in NY, London, Paris and a few other places in the world, it was a time for a lot of experimentation and vocal work, and different expressions and styles. The fact that some of it got into rock music is not a surprise ... rock music was the "last" of these arts to take on many of those attitudes, and a lot of it has to do with the way that music is taught ... which tends to invalidate ALL the expressions that are currently being used in any local area -- which are constantly compared to the "standard". This is th emain reason why I would prefer the "progressive" description and definition to be more open to prevent people from hearing a synthesizer and automatically say ... that's progressive ... or the same in another style ... you hear a Hammond organ and it's automatically blues!

This is even better when you see him do this on the "Behind the Music" ... he knew he was gone, but he did not fear telling you goodbye and say thank you. That's pure art and understanding and puts Queen in a very different light when it comes to their music.

I find Clouded is a beautiful song. Hasn't quite brought me to tears, but the harrowing nature of the song is moving stuff. I'm glad someone has reacted that way to a track on Obscura.  

And my favorite, Neal Morse. So personal

 

It's a song about sharing an experience with a loved one, so I could see how you'd get emotional listening to it.

Most of what you wrote applies to me too. Floyd is certainly the band that moves me the most. I can cry, laught, etc. when I'm listening to them. "High Hopes", "Us & Them" are some of the songs that really touch me. I remember crying a lot when Rick died too.

Queen, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson, are also some bands that can make me cry (or almost) sometimes. I "More Fool Me" is a song that really moves me, although a lot of people don't like it. I think it's really emotional.

There are also songs that make me cry because they have a special meaning, like "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from Elton John, that reminds of my childhood, although that's not prog at all.

 

^Yes, he wrote it about watching meteor showers and such with his daughter. It's one of my favorites from "Presto," which is one of my favorite Rush albums.  

Kansas - Lonely Wind

La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros - Ruta Perdedora

White Willow - Chemical Sunset

Renaissance - Ocean Gypsy

King Crimson - Starless

But whenever I want to cry like a little girl, I play this:

I lol'd. 

 

The Snow Goose flying back from Dunkirk after Rhayader's death to say farewell to Fritha before leaving forever for her home in the North is extremely emotional and Camel's interpretation is perfect.

When my mom died a few years ago, I couldn't get the Pink Floyd song "Comfortably Numb" out of my mind.  Comfortably numb is exactly how I felt. 

The songs themselves didn't bring tears, but they were part of the grief experience, and for this I am grateful.  

Great post monsieur stack. 

Very forthright and something I can relate to. 

I truly treasure when PA gets "real" and "tangible", and your words just did that for me.

I've more often been moved in that way while listening to opera though, which is funny since I don't listen to it as often as I should. Who knows how or why music affects us like that. :P

Thank you for that!  They were two of the most traumatic, yet amazing, moments of my life, and I was glad to have this music with me.   I'm sure others on PA have similar experiences, it would be nice to hear them as well! 

Cheers, friend!