Pascal's Prog Journey

Before going to a jazz concert, let me give my opinion on my first few albums by modern bands:

Shamblemaths - Shamblemaths: excellent structured album. Very eclectic, without lots of repetition but very cohesive so that it deserves a lot of great listens. The many variations on the main theme of the opening epic is very creative! 9

Earth, Invisible - Earth, Invisible: sweet introduction for me to post-rock. The genre seemed and seems not something which I truly adore most of the days, it's a lot about sound and guitars, andless about complexity in many melodies- but it doesn't fail in hitting me very deep. Mixed with nice time sigs it's though very enjoyable to listen to. The album is on the other hand a little short. But it deserves an 7.5 and I might try some other post-rock in the future.

Thank You Scientist - Stranger Heads Prevail: a wow-album! This really got me hooked for weeks, and still there are few days in the week I don't listen to some (note: some, let me return on that later) of this wonderful album. The blend of jazz and metal arrangements beneath contemporary pop vocals is simply stunning. The instrumental parts are so interesting; complex, technical and creative- innovative beyond instrumentation as well and the vocal parts are sometimes very emotive. At first hearing the vertical composition is outstanding, but horizontally it also has very good parts, my favourites are: Mr. Invisible, Need More Input and Rude Goldberg Variations. I can't dismiss this album, however, without mentioning it's flaws. It's a very tiring whole, takes a little too long and I wish they would've done more jazz influenced parts, because they show they can arrange excellent jazzy parts, they don't delve too deep in it and leave it with just a little length compared to the more than 60 minutes whole. And that's why it's just not as good as my very favourites, and deserves a 9.

Battles - Mirrored: Another one which doesn't suit my personal taste completely, I find it hard getting really well into repetitive, minimalistic music. It is indeed very innovative and mainly the drums are outstanding in the music, but for me it's too boring to listen to for a longer while. At such a point I doubt if it's good to rate it, but for now I'll leave it with a 7.

Gryphon - Red Queen To Gryphon Three - A spectacular blend of symphonic prog with English renaissance and folk music. Plenty of great timbres to be appreciated here, from bassoons to crumhorns to classic 70's synths. I think you'll really appreciate the compositional style, too; very intricate and seamless arrangements. It almost feels more like listening to a symphony than a prog album, but with a distinct rural vibe throughout.

Yep, because then he'll definitely give up on Tull! 

 

I'd rather recommend Thick as a Brick instead. A Passion Play is nothing more than a partially succeeded retraining exercise which might even give him some food to give up on JT.

I haven't listened to many new music lately, so it's been a while for a post here now I got a little moment to rattle. I've tried some things, albums which I'm still not quite sure how to rate them, the Earth, Invisible debut which is an obscure post-rockish release, a genre which was I never have given a real try, but I quite like it when I'm in the right mood, a very emotive sound and of course very complex rhythmics. 

Also I tried some Jethro Tull, but found this band will probably not become one of my favourites, I gave the debut some listens and some songs are very nice and fun, but only a few I'd like listen lots of times, maybe some I can appreciate later albums more, but at first listen I didn't really like Aqualung.

What I do enjoy a lot currently is complex compositions, a lot of time in the day my thoughts wander in the area of composition. I really love listening very close to some GG favourites, but sometimes I find it lacks a bit of... Hmmm... Well the ambiences they could create in their early albums, fortunately those are full of great composition as well. I'd love to hear any recommendations of bands with such great composition and with also a lot of emotion.

DDPascalDD wrote: The difference is that I listened to BC&SL before I heard Awake. Awake may indeed be more original/unique which defenitely has value, but still BC&SL is an album I like better.

I understand your preference.

Although I'll admit that I am often surprised how some love later day DT more than the Kevin Moore DT albums. As someone who has been listening to DT since the Moore era, I just don't get it.