Progressive breeding places

It's too bad that so many musicians/ composers can't make ends meet and need day jobs just to support themselves.  Perhaps we could start a fund for sending poor prog bands to band camp, or poor but very talented ones to band chateau.  Or maybe I could convert my basement cum dungeon into a recording cell (a few hours on the rack might rack up a few good musical ideas).

Getting away in those kind of situations has led to a lot of very good music.  I remember with Focus that musicians were often offered places to stay there, for free as I recall (I think there was some shagging involved too if I remember the documentary on a certain "matron of the arts" who would offer room in her "inn" to musicians.  Going on memory here...). 


Edited by Logan - March 20 2008 at 18:02

There is no "breeding" place for any kind of music, it all depends of the composing stile of the musician. Some need a quiet place with a lot of tranquility to come up with good music, some just out of nowhere have random good ideas and put them together when composing, some just try really, REALLY hard and writes something from scratch and some only can write from a agitated  "jam" session with lots of music listening  before it.
Mozart, for example, kept good ideas in his head and when he sited to write he simply wrote the whole music at once. Haydn wrote all his good ideas and then putted them together. Dream Theater only way to compose anything is to get into a studio and start a improvised jam.

Besides, the conditions for the musicians to write anything vary so much (from the person personality to his mood at the time) that may be impossible to say "hey, you are doing it wrong" you must write music THIS way and not that way".

My first thought was "the bedroom."

But then I remembered proggers never get laid...

.

tszirmay wrote: My first thought was "the bedroom." But then I remembered proggers never get laid... .

Edited by CCVP - March 20 2008 at 20:41

Aw, look at all the horny proggers, Eleanor Rigby ! You have been unmasked!

laplace wrote: This thread had an interesting topic before it veered toward lying. o:) here's one more I thought of: lappy's a total recluse and has reportedly been working on a single album for over a quarter of a century.

who's lappy, for Christ sake?

besides, i dont like, just like hookers


Edited by CCVP - March 20 2008 at 23:37

tszirmay wrote:  listening to the Ian Anderson interview on the remastered Thick as a Brick CD, we should all be showing humble respect as the band locked themselves into a horrible place , in a damp basement away from all the amenities and comforts and made this remarkable album. Purple's Machine Head was recorded with a "Mobile" "cause some stupid with a flare gun burnt the place to the ground" , just listen to the lyrics and check out the vinyl LP gatefold cover.

I know much of Japan's minimalist music has been influenced to some extent via venues one in particular, not exactly prog (I know) but this is one of the only examples I could think off. 'Off Site' which is one of their main recording/concert venues is situated in a densely populated apartment area, abutting many local residences. Because of this they took a very quiet approach to their playing in avoidance of numerous prospective complaints which would have been the resultant of run ins. In hindsight this has caused the players to be very thoughtful of the notes, tone, timbre they play and in my opinion has produced some of the most interesting music of the last decade. 

Logan: I think that's too bad indeed, that the conditions have changed. The band Yes, for instance, were left alone to experiment.

Laplace: yes, Robert Fripp was one of the more active thinking musicians. He disbanded KC before it could become a super group, and he was really thoughtful from 1974 to 1981 in terms of his own musical environment. I think most people couldn't follow his way of thinking, but I think time has proven him to be right.

CCVP: I tend to disagree with you to a certain extent. Of course individuality is a factor. Some people like to write songs from 9 to 5, and some others prefer creative chaos. But I think, on the other hand: the classical musicians you mentioned couldn't have blossomed in just any other age. I do think that some great masterpieces of prog wouldn't have been written if the group members didn't lock themselves up in a house, and that there would be more prog master pieces if that would happen again. Artists are exposed to soon (or do that themselves through MySpace) and I think often they need time to develop something original.

Tszirmay: Interesting, I didn't know that from Jethro Tull. One more of the classic bands who did that!

James: Martin Orford (IQ) once said: some musicians need to listen to every other possible music, for their compositions, others only listen to themselves. Nice to know that Peter Hammill belongs to the latter category, I didn't know that from him. As it comes to Amon Düül: I think both bands (I and II) were in the commune. One more band. Non-prog: the Dutch CCC Inc. (experimental folk) were also in a commune.

Moogtron, I don't know if Hammill did... I read it somewhere, but I may have accidently attributed it to him.  Obvious they do hear some music, but when they're recording, they deliberately shut themselves off from other music.  Remember, VdGG toured with Genesis and Lindisfarne, so they definitely didn't want too many influences creeping in.  As far as I'm aware, Hammill didn't listen to Genesis... infact, when they were on stage, I believe the band members of VdGG deliberately made themselves scarce.