Is Italian prog epigonic? |
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Frenetic Zetetic
Forum Senior Member Joined: December 09 2017 Location: Now Status: Offline Points: 9233 |
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It's often the most uncreative, close-minded people that think they have to come up with super-articulate genres, labels, and titles for everything.
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"I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
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jamesbaldwin
Prog Reviewer Joined: September 25 2015 Location: Milano Status: Offline Points: 5985 |
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Now the message is edited. GERMANY: tHERE ARE: CAN, two albums FAUST POPOL VUH, two albums TANGERINE DREAM SCHULTZE AMOON DUUL. Edited by jamesbaldwin - May 30 2022 at 11:06 |
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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Lewian
Prog Reviewer Joined: August 09 2015 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14691 |
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^Ay! That's a LOT of prog indeed! It also shows that the list is very subjective. I mean, all such lists are subjective in one way or another, but quite certainly the author doesn't care much for balance and representativity when listing. Almost 1% of the "most important" 1000 albums are made by Frank Zappa? I ask you! Chances are you'll find some whole countries that for sure have contributed to 20th century great music that have fewer albums listed than Frank alone! I can see why you miss more RPI, but then as a German I can complain even more, I mean where are Can, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk? And France? Where is Magma? (Oh, I just realise that you may not yet even have listed all prog!?) Then given that there's two "core prog" Italian albums listed, it isn't exactly the best representation of RPI to have Demetrio Stratos fronting them both. (Of course I'm not saying that Zappa or Stratos shouldn't be listed at all, but...) Anyway, everyone can make the lists they like, but for sure not being listed here doesn't mean that much. Surely it doesn't mean everyone who isn't listed is epigonic.
Edited by Lewian - May 30 2022 at 10:58 |
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jamesbaldwin
Prog Reviewer Joined: September 25 2015 Location: Milano Status: Offline Points: 5985 |
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You're right. I must write the prog albums included by Merlin in his ranking. I start with the leaders of PA Top 100 of all time. YES: 1) The Yes Album 2) Close to the Edge 3) 90125 PINK FLOYD: 1) The Piper at the Gates of Dawn 2) Ummagumma 3) Meddle 4) The Dark Side 5) The Wall + SYD BARRETT: The Madcap Laughs GENESIS: 1) Selling England + PETER GABRIEL: 1) III 2) So 3) Passion KING CRIMSON: 1) In the Court of.... 2) Larks Tongues in Aspic 3) Discipline 4) Thrak FRIPP + ENO: No Pussyfooting FRIPP: A Blessing.. Vol II JETHRO TULL: 1) Aqualung 2) Heavy Horses VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: 1) The Least We Can Do PETER HAMMILL: / PFM: / BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO: / MUSEO ROSENBACH:/ ORME:/ mAXOOPHONE:/ CAMEL: / Rush: 1) 2112 FRANK ZAPPA: 1) Lumpy Gravy 2) Hot Rats 3) Lather 4) Joe's Garage 5) Shut Up 6) London Orchestra 7) Jazz from Hell 8) Civilization Phaze III MCLAUGHLIN: Extrapolation My Goals Beyond Shakti MAHAVSHNU ORCHESTRA The Inner Mountain Flame MIKE OLDFIELD: 1) Tubular Bells MILES DAVIS: 1) Round About Midnight 2) Ascensour 3) Kind of Blue 4) My Funny... 5) Miles Smiles 6) Bitches Brew 7) On the Corner 8) We Want Miles + GIL EVANS: Skethes of SPain GONG: 1) Camembert Electrique GENTLE GIANT: 1) Octopus CARAVAN: 1) In The Land of Grey and Pink ROBERT WYATT: Rock Bottom + SOFT MACHINE: 1) Vol I and II (box) 2) Vol. III KEVIN AYERS: 1) Whatevershebringswesing MATCHING MOLE: Matching Mole ALLAN HOLDSWORTH: Road Games NATIONAL HEALTH: Of Queues EL&P: 1) Tarkus 2) Pictures AREA: 1) Arbeit Macht Frei SANTANA: 1) Abraxas 2) Caravanserrai SUPERTRAMP: 1) Breakfast in America TOOL Aenima OPETH: Still Life BACAMARTE:/ HARMONIUM:/ HACKETT:/ HAMMILL:/ MAGMA:/ RENAISSANCE:/ BUBU:/ AL DI MEOLA:/ HATFIELD:/ ANGLAGARD: / WOBBLER:/ ALL TRAPS ON EARTH:/ MARILLION: / IQ:/ STEVEN WILSON: / PORCUPINE TREE:/ CARDIACS:/ DREAM THEATER: / RIVERSIDE: / ESKATON: / GORGOUTS: / DEATH:/ RETURN TO FOREVER:/ BILLY COBHAM:/ EDGE OF SANITY:/ RIVERSIDE:/ PAIN OF SALVATION:/ QUEENSRYCHE:/
Edited by jamesbaldwin - May 30 2022 at 11:00 |
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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SteveG
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Edited by SteveG - May 30 2022 at 08:43 |
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moshkito
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Hi, Thank you. With only one very small detail ... Ug hit a rock, or another Neanderthal ... I'm not sure they had invented skin drums then!
I'm not sure that this is going too far with today's audience, most of which more often than not are incapacitated by commercial music, and then when they hear something different, it is always odd, wrong, and out of left field somewhere! I, personally, don't like the pigeonholes because of all the poop in them. First of all, too much is "decided" based on the "sound" alone, and this says absolutely nothing about the composition, or the work itself and its mechanics that work it into what could/would/might be a different state of mind, and thought. For this reason alone, a lot of "metal" would fall off for not being original at all ... meaning that all we are doing is adding more copies to the copies and what we considered "originals", something that we can not even agree, since most of the folks voting and making these decisions, in my eye and ear, do not have a strong enough background in the HISTORY of the music over the years, and seeing another Admin make what amounts to a really bad comment on a band's this or that, to me, just shows that the folks deciding these things, probably shouldn't be there, but there is not much you can do when the leadership lacks the ability to tell the difference, IF that is the case! Each country's music is never epigonic ... it just is a part of its culture and tendencies and other local details that might make it seem "epigonic", but it likely is not. "A second-rate imitator or follower, especially of an artist or a philosopher" The other issue here is that, IN GENERAL, all instruments sound the same ... and many times saying that some band from Milan sounds like Genesis just because one of the synths used is the same or a related version, and to me, that is a serious CORRUPTION of the evaluation of the music, which ends up being, then, considered "epigonic" because the listener can not tell the difference in how the instruments are used and show on the scales/notes for the band. For me, right away, that writer is just another middle class nobody that does not listen to music and every time he does, it always sounds like some "master" out there, something which is soooooooooooooooooooo VERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY academic as to stink up the place and PA in one fart! Again, we have to get smarter about this, and I don't want to give anyone credit for something so stupid as to consider all music that way ... he obviously has never heard Eastern music, African music, Latin American music or equivalent, and all he knows is the "western pop/rock" idioms in music. The same is to be said about that book about the "instruments" ... which is ridiculous, when it is the player that matters, not the instrument, and it becomes somewhat of a selling point for many music centers by suggesting that this instrument is better than all the others ... like the Fender Jazz that Jaco used still is not superior to almost all of the stuff being done out there on 5 or 6 string basses! Some folks don't see the forest for the trees. Or better yet, they see a tree and immediately call it a forest!
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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The Anders
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If you look up, say, Per Un Amico on Wikipedia, the genre label is simply 'progressive rock'. But then, that goes for most things prog, except the likes of zeuhl and krautrock which tend to be seen as different genres. I don't recall having seen labels such as 'eclectic prog', 'symphonic prog' or 'crossover prog' anywhere but on PA, so I guess for most people it is all just prog...
Edited by The Anders - May 30 2022 at 06:24 |
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Saperlipopette!
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I prophesy disaster
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^ Maths is good.
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No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man.
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Lewian
Prog Reviewer Joined: August 09 2015 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14691 |
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Being a numbers man, the first thing I wonder is about the statistics... so there are 1000, I suppose international, albums. All genres, all over the world. You ask whether 4/1000 for Italian prog is too few. I'm not so sure. How many prog albums are there overall in this collection? How many Italian albums? One country, one genre, reaching say 10 would be a lot, don't you think? That's 1% and only leaves space for 99 more "genre-countries" of this size. I'd expect maybe around 25 countries to feature prominently in such a collection, rather more, some much larger than Italy, and at least 25 genres of the overall impact of prog or higher. Let's say I'd expect prog overall to have at most 40, rather 20-30, and Italy would be well served with having 4 out of those. (Even if it were just 2, not counting the jazz rock, 10% of all prog would arguably be about right, so only if there are far more than 20 prog, they'd have a case for complaining, but then the context would be that prog overall may be overrepresented.)
Edited by Lewian - May 30 2022 at 03:35 |
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siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic Joined: October 05 2013 Location: SFcaUsA Status: Offline Points: 15242 |
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Sounds like an interesting book just to discover new music however the Italians were quite unique in how they carried out their prog. Each of the major prog bands from the 70s had some very interesting and unique prog albums. Sounds like this guy is only going for the absolute most unique and that's an interesting avenue to pursue. Area certainly did succeed in crafting a completely new sound not even close to any other Italian artist. Epigonic is definitely too harsh of a word though.
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BrufordFreak
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I was just listening to Tilt (by Arti e Mestieri) today (and yesterday), Cristi, and found myself reminded of many, many instances that reminded me, whether in sound, riff, melody, or chord progression, of other bands (including PFM and Mahavishnu Orchestra) but sometimes the music it reminds me of came later like Jean-Luc Ponty and Bruford/UK, so, in a way, good call, Cristi! Otherwise, Lorenzo, very interesting topic! Thank you for sharing. I know several of my reviews of 1971-74 RPI "classics" contain many references to bands like Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Mahavishnu Orchestra, as well as Genesis, Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Mike Oldfield, Procol Harum, Weather Report, etc. (I always feel weird that I find so few VDGG/Hammill similarities when I know they were a very popular band touring in Italia in the 1970s.) Still, I feel that some of the classical, religious, folk, and operatic in localized Italian culture lent themselves to the peculiarly "Italian" sound that RPI bands have earned. Interesting.
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Drew Fisher
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mellotronwave
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Merlin is a magician
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lazland
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I think people sometimes overthink all of this. It’s music, just music.
As I said on a recent review, you could argue that every single musician since Ug the Neanderthal picked up a bone and started hitting a skin drum and discovered some interesting noises that somebody influences somebody else. There was, on PA, a massive row a few years back. I started it, and regretted it pretty much instantly. I wanted to start a debate about sub-genres, or more to the point was making an argument to get rid of all or most of the bloody things on the site. I made an argument that RPI was, basically, symphonic prog sung in Italian, and I received a massive load of abuse for said argument. It made me resign as a collaborator, and I learned an important lesson then. That lesson was, don’t overanalyse. Don’t overthink. Don’t try to apportion this band to that sub-genre, or that band to that particular pigeonhole. Just enjoy the music, or not, as the case might be. If you enjoy it, tell the world and tell them why. If you don’t, then tell the world and tell them why in a respectful manner, because the artist put their heart and soul into the musical product you don’t like (I have not always lived up to those lofty ideals, but I do try my best).
Edited by lazland - May 29 2022 at 15:31 |
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Cristi
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"Epigonic" is too harsh a word here. Maybe some of the bands were influenced by British prog, but overall a lot of bands went beyond these influences. Listen to something like Arti & Mestieri's Tilt for example and if "epigone" is what you think, then i am wrong.
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Grumpyprogfan
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jamesbaldwin
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The musicologist and jazz guitarist Enrico Merlin has compiled a book containing 1000 records of twentieth century music. Music without barriers: from Mahler to Opeth. Not only western music. In his book, the criterion he followed to make his selection is exposed: As Merlin specifies, the criterion is NOT to select the "Best Albums", it is NOT to select "The Most Beautiful albums". The criterion is: "the historical importance of each work, especially taking into account the intrinsic innovative content from the perspective of a music historian who is also a musician." The assumption is that music always evolves, and that the evolution of music depends on the evolution of three of its characteristics: - melody - harmony - rhythm but, starting from the twentieth century, with recording techniques, with electric and electronic instruments, it is necessary to take into account three other parameters that DO NOT appear in the musical score: - musical timbre - dynamics - expressiveness. According to these criteria, Merlin has given ample space to musicians who during their career have developed very different creative solutions, while other musicians who have remained very faithful to one of their lines (a sound, for example, a genre, etc.) have been less represented. According to Merlin the Italian Progressive is epigonic, derivative of the English one, and in fact in his encyclopedia he did NOT insert: PFM BANCO ORME ROSENBACH MUSEUM MAXOPHONE OSANNA BALLETTO DI BRONZO None of these, that is to say the most highly rated Italians in PA, are present in his ranking. Who is present then? 1) Area with Arbeit Macht Frei 2) Demetrio Stratos with Cantare la voce Merlin considers the amalgamation of Area's sound to be very unique, and in particular the use of Demetrio Stratos' voice. Then, from the jazz-rock point of view, Merlin considers notable the sound of 3) PERIGEO with Azimut 4) NAPOLI CENTRALE with the debut Two bands that have been able to mix Miles Davis' jazz-rock with Neapolitan ethnic and Mediterranean sounds. Merlin only saves these 4 albums of the Italian prog. What do you think about it? Edited by jamesbaldwin - May 29 2022 at 14:33 |
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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