What albums did you listen to today?...continued

Dream Theater - "Images and Words"

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

Le Orme - Felona e Sorona I did not particularly enjoy the previous one, this one was far better, for me. The instrumental parts are the highlight for me. Very skilled. The vocal parts sound a bit poppy, but still in great taste. And (probably I'm the only one), but Aldo's voice reminds me very much of Martin Turner from Wishbone Ash.

Happy the Man - Happy the Man I'm happy I'd decided to check out Happy the Man a while ago. Althogh they sit in the eclectic prog category, they are very much up my Canterbury/avant-rock alley. Sometimes, the string synth overtones annoy me a bit, but still, the band sounds very creative here.

Il Rovescio Della Medaglia - Contaminazione Along with Palepoli, Area's and Banco's debut, Zarathustra, and a few others, this is my favorite RPI album by far. It's hard to describe, but those guys really fulfill my aesthetic taste and I absolutely love their performance of the music.

News From Babel - Letters Home I prefer this to their debut, which I'm not saying is of lesser quality, by no means. It's less accessible in my opinion. We've got Robert Wyatt singing on this one. Not even a second in his singing, my mind already patches little cables to call the final message - Wyatt. I would recognize that voice in every situation. Amazing album, very Cow-like I'd say.

Premiata Forneria Marconi - L'Isola Di Niente It's very interesting, it sounds different from PFM's previous albums. And it is indeed very Yes-like. It's kind of hard to say anything specific about this album for me. It's pretty enjoyable and the choir is a nice touch!

John Zorn - O'o After seeing José listen to this album often, I was curious to check it out. A few minutes in and I'm thinking "but where is the saxophone?" And then I realized John Zorn does not even play on this album, I take it these are his compositions. But look, we've got the amazing Mark Ribot. The music serves for great background and is very chill.

^ Operation is the only album I have that I still don't really like, it's been a few years since I last heard it so it might sound different now, I'll give it a spin now.

^  I agree, it is an awesome album and the guitarist is excellent.

In The Silence - A Fair Dream Gone Mad

ALotOfBottle wrote: Maxophone - Maxophone Hmm.... interesting sound. They alternate those powerful organ/guitar passages, in the vein of Banco, Museo Rosenbach, which I've found I like in RPI and more popular song-like parts, rightfully compared to Peter Gabriel. Great musicianship and it's definitely well-thought. Pretty nice!

I bought it recently, I'm still getting into it. I'm not happy about the sound quality of my reissue though

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Rush – Moving Pictures P.F.M – Chocolate Kings P.F.M – Paper Charms Live (disc one) - Live PFM performances were incredible in the early 70’s (there’s several nice bootleg recordings scattered around the net too), especially the lengthy improvised/jamming passages – I just wish they resisted more often the urge to go `Full Tonto’ with their frequent fall-back on the William Tell theme! )

Listening to Lanzetti after Geddy? I don't think I could do that

There is no PFM concert without William Tell

All first and second listens today:
Eloy - Live (I didn't notice many significant differences from the studio versions, but it always sounds different live)
Pulsar - The Strands of the Future (It seems better than the first album, it has such a great spacey atmosphere)
Birth Control - Operation (I really liked it, there's certainly Deep Purple influence but some songs had percussion and lots of Hammond that reminded me of the early Santana albums. The last track was also quite different from the previous ones)
Cherry Five - s/t (It's funny, I had the sudden idea to give this album another listen and curiously one of the songs is the title of the book I'm reading. It sounds a lot like Yes but it doesn't sound like an imitation to my ears)
T2 - It'll All Work Out In Boomland (Very nice album and quite heavy for 1970)

mechanicalflattery wrote: ALotOfBottle wrote: Henry Cow - LegEnd As I mentioned over in that Henry Cow Appreciation Collective thread, this listen today did something that music rarely does to me. The atmosphere was so tense at one point, I started crying like a little kid. This is as good as music gets for me. It's unbelievable what it does to me. Was it the transition from Teenbeat Introduction to Teenbeat? That build up from scattered improvisational playing to a grandiose, unified crescendo is easily one of my favorite Henry Cow moments. In general, I love songs that subtly transition from free-form to structured or vice versa.

No, that is tense indeed, but it was actually two moments. The very beginning of "Teenbeat Reprise" and the closing of "Nine Funerals." But you've got a great point there! I exactly see what you meant!

What a great day!

Maxophone - Maxophone Hmm.... interesting sound. They alternate those powerful organ/guitar passages, in the vein of Banco, Museo Rosenbach, which I've found I like in RPI and more popular song-like parts, rightfully compared to Peter Gabriel. Great musicianship and it's definitely well-thought. Pretty nice!

Henry Cow - LegEnd As I mentioned over in that Henry Cow Appreciation Collective thread, this listen today did something that music rarely does to me. The atmosphere was so tense at one point, I started crying like a little kid. This is as good as music gets for me. It's unbelievable what it does to me.

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso Being in an outstanding mood, I decided to carry on with my favorites. And heck, is this one of them! There is nothing I would ever want to change about this album. It's one of the reflections of my character and my soul. I only wish I could speak Italian.

Kollektiv - Kollektiv Kollektive lays on a jazz-rock-influenced, jam-based side of krautrock music. And this album is very representative of the style. Very enjoyable, if (like me) you like listening to bunch of guys jamming to one chord for 10 minutes. The flute playing is definitely a highlight!

Robert Wyatt - The End of an Ear This is one of the CDs I bought on my trip to London and it was a good idea to finally get myself to revisit Wyatt's first solo effort. I was pleasantly surprised, I remembered this one as sort of dull and uninteresting, while in reality it's a highly original journey through a twisted, original mind of a visionary.

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Storia Di Un Minuto I think I actually like this one better than Per Un Amico, as I mentioned in the Italian Poll thread today. The compositions are very fulfilling, romantic, satisfying, and aesthetic - just how I like it.

Earthstar - Salterbarty Tales Only a supreme reptilian elite knows this band. It's as obscure as Berlin School gets. Although these guys come from the US, they allegedly travelled to Berlin and were embraced by Klaus Schulze and co. Their music is a very avant-garde take on Schulze-like ambient. Tasty!

All of the above mentioned works go so well with my current lecture - Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut (which would make for an amazing prog concept album).

Edited by ALotOfBottle - August 24 2016 at 13:37

Thanks guys  I'll listen to all albums between "Operation" and "Backdoor Possibilities" then.