whats your personal most pefect song ever recordd?

"I" by Meshuggah is pretty much the masterpiece among masterpieces, at least in metal

and... hate to be obvious... but "Close to the edge"

Well, in terms of trying to , describe a song by using its recording abilities is a bit harsh... But I guess if I would have to choose a song it would Porcupine Tree's "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here", because that song from my extensive musical collection as a lot of recording/producing techniques that would make you feel mellow and astonishingly goosebumpy at the same time ( at least it happens with me all the time hehe ). I would certainly choose any particular song to express my congratulations to they're wonderfull and quite detailed studio work.
  Other eventual Heavy Prog bands could be thrown into this category, for exemple the artistically complicated Mars Volta (band I love a lot when it comes too full-edged live performances), because of their awkward technique of making challanging art, and then recording it very simply. I could give more accurate Univers Zero's or Henry Cow's Avant-Garde/RIO revolutionary studio albums( although I prefer not to speak so loudly about avant-garde bands when it comes to describing awsome recording techniques, because they make awsome live performances but the studio albums have quite the same audible quality, except for Magma I presume hehe). Well I guess that's about it.

Kohntarkosz - Magma (part 2 to be a little bit more precise). There's something that just really gets me with this song. It's insane.

And, Heart Of The Sunrise - Yes.

There's surely more.

Monster Magnet's Cyclops Revolution. The sound effects switching between left and right speaker, the use of dynamics, the "desert punk" atmosphere, all the strength and power with which Dave Wyndorf proclaims "I'm alive, not you!"... it's the single best rock song of the early 1990s. Period.

Pilgrims - Van Der Graaf Generator of "Still Life"

A number of reasons really:
- It's not self-indulgent but you can tell they are good musicians
- Some really nice organ playing by Mr Banton, if you are a keys player, you will appreciate it for sure!
- Amazingly schizophrenic yet tuneful vocals that portray one of the best melodic lines i've ever heard
- Really quite deep lyrics, I welled up the first time i heard them because i felt the lyrics describe me in a way "unknown in our purpose; alone but not worthless at home"
- Great arrangement over two themes: theme 1 x2, theme 2, theme 1, theme 2, instrumental along melody lines of theme 2, where David Jackson and Guy Evans deserve a mention
- It feels like an epic but is a mere 7 minutes, so you don't get bored but still experience the epicness of it

I think that is all that can be said, and the song is quite simply perfect, no question. There's nothing wrong with it for me.


Edited by kibble_alex - May 01 2008 at 11:59

For most perfect prog song I would go with Jean-Michel Jarre's Equinox Pt 4, its not too long, its upbeat and never disapoints.

ten years after wrote:   Big Country never tried to be a prog band and so there is a special virtue in the fact that they did achieve perfection in one song.  It is so good that they could be given honourary prog status for this one effort. That song is Porroh Man. It has one of the best introductions of any rock song, superb vocals, incredible drumming, a marvellously complex construction in the best prog tradition and it even manages to introduce a hint of Scottish folk.

A great and sorely missed band.  Their mastery of that weird ebow effect and their fantastic song writing led me to categorize them as "progternative."  I'll have to go back and listen to Porroh Man.

Prog tends to seek perfection and there are a large number of prog songs that i could not see a way of improving. I am finding this impossible to answer. 

I would have to agree that Awaken is the perfect song (above).  It has got to be just about the most climactic piece ever written.  You think it reaches a climax, but then it moves on to an even greater one, and an even greater one after that, finally culminating in Howe's seagull slide guitar effects up in the stratosphere somewhere.

If I were a smoker, I'd have to have a cigarette after that.

I've never heard a more perfect piece unless you count Beethoven's 9th, but even then I put them in the same league.

Here are others that approach perfection for me (and looking over the list I seem to favor climactic pieces):
Jethro Tull: A Passion Play (especially the last quarter or so, the "Hail! Son of kings" section)
Renaissance: Scheherezade (that last note - oh my God!)
Gentle Giant: Aspirations (pure beauty)
Genesis: Supper's Ready (another multiple climax)
It's a Beautiful Day: White Bird (not prog maybe, but a near perfect song)

I'd better quit there.  I could fill up pages -- as could all of you.

Queen - My Fairy King