"Tightest" prog band ever in your opinion

KABSA wrote: Yes ., for a big name act so many live albums show how they reproduce their arrangements so well for a lesser known act : `carmen`

Excellent call! One of my personal favourites.

esky wrote: Juan Carlos de Mulde wrote: The tightest musicians I've ever heard are not Progressive Rock musicians. Especially live performances with Drummers like Simon Phillips, Dennis Chambers or Vinnie Colaiuta are really f**kin tight.  1. Toto live with S. Phillips and J. Porcaro (+) I had the opportunity to see them live in 2006. Awesome musicians. Dream Theater are just beginners compared to them.  2. CAB with Dennis Chambers on the drums.  3. John Mclaughlin and Chick Corea (Five Piece Band) with Vinnie Colaiuta 4. John McLaughlin Trio - Live At The Royal Festival Hall I'm a big fan of Mr. Phillips myself, but Toto? Ouch! La cuenta, por favor. I'll go with the Giant, gently.

The Quiet One wrote: AtomicCrimsonRush wrote: ^^^ I will check those songs out soon!   They're in the Roxy & Elsewhere live album, one of the greatest live albums and probably one of Zappa's finest releases ever.

I will definitely own that yesterday!

So the consesus is :

AtomicCrimsonRush wrote: The Quiet One wrote: AtomicCrimsonRush wrote: ^^^ I will check those songs out soon!   They're in the Roxy & Elsewhere live album, one of the greatest live albums and probably one of Zappa's finest releases ever. I will definitely own that yesterday!   actually next year will do for that gem.

Edited by himtroy - January 02 2011 at 13:01

I'm probably also going to have to say Gentle Giant.

I don't think people recognize this much, but even though the compositions themselves aren't the apex of rhythmic irregularity, the way the parts are arranged between the band members demands absolute precision from every single one of them. One phrase may be played by three different instruments - each person has to know their own parts and the other parts very, very well, as it can be very counter intuitive on it's own.

For that reason, when using the word "tight" the first that hops into my mind is GG.

Of course Zappa probably beats everybody in terms of instrumental prowess of his band. He simply demanded the absolute best.

I really don't get that people choose Genesis here for example... They really don't have anything that impressive showing. (In case anyone thinks this is an attack on Genesis, absolutely not, the early era of the band remains one of my absolute favorites in music overall)

Baggra wrote: I think its safe to say that generally the fusion bands are going to beat out the proggers when it comes to tightness.   But this begs a question: does compositional complexity have to go hand-in-glove with tightness? Someone mentioned Phish, but Phish is (also) a lot of jamming / spontaneity, right?  How can spontaneity be tight? To be tight you have to know what the next note is going to be, dont you? (That is, unless you are INSTINCTIVELY tight.)   Just wondering.

This is correct. To put further detailed definition on "Instinctively tight", one must of course consider that musicians know each other's playing in an improvisational situation like husband and wife in a marriage. Weather Report with the prime line up of the "Heavy Weather" period could predict each other's patterns of riffing without even a glimpse of each other visually. Some people would assume that those particular sections were written where it was really all about prediction and knowing each other's playing. It's where a sax will play a series of about 15 notes, and repeating them as the drummer, bassist, and keyboardist accent those notes with dynamic rhythmical reflections of the pattern causing the entire affair to sound like pre-planned composition. A very natural sequence for the musician and sometimes a rare one.

There is a music genre all dedicated to tightness. It's called smooth jazz!

Edited by wilmon91 - January 08 2011 at 07:10