Prog and Intellect

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 seventhsojourn wrote:

 Blacksword wrote:

 Symphonie wrote:

I think people here who listen to progressive music share a common experience to see life as a beautiful, complex and intense way. This is the essence of progressive music. In life, I feel that intellectual stimulation provide the same kind of pleasure, the essence is similar. If more intellectuals listen to progressive music than non-intellectuals, it may be a matter of looking for some emotions. I've had friends in gothic perception of the world, and they listened to music that 'shared' their emotions sought, potentialy less positive. When I listen to Genesis, I feel the world is grand and complex, feelings that I got also in a reflective mode.PS: Nietzsche is not a dick, and you should not have any qualms in thinking that you are intellectual, some are more profound than others, this is a kind of fact. These people are not superior, they share a different way of seeing the world. In saying this, I hope not to give the impression that this is a kid of 18 who speak to you, but someone who takes his thoughts.I hope you understand what I mean. Sorry for my English, I'm not used to.
 I guess peoples motivations are different for listening to any type of music. I dont regard the world around me in a very positive way at all, so for me, music, especially progressive music, is an escape and distraction from reality. Also, the pleasure it gives me, is not derived from knowing that a band is playing in alternating bars of 7/8/ 5/4, and using every ingenious musical approach ever established. The pleasure comes from the effect that this approach has on the finished article, and how that makes me feel. I think it's often the case that you can tell when an artist has written a riff or musical phrase that 'happens' to be in an odd time signature (for example) as opposed to having started out thinking "Right, we're going to write something 'clever' ok" With regard to more intellectuals listening to prog, than non intellectuals, I'm not convinced. What do we mean by intellectuals? Nuclear physicists? mathamaticians? Computational chemists? Intellect is measured in quite specific terms, and has little to do with emotional response. People speak of 'emotional intelligence' but I dont really believe there is such a thing. People who may claim a high level of 'emotional intelligence' are simply sensitive people, who are capable of empathy with others and appreciate art, music, nature etc, without thinking of these things in terms of equations and scientific processes.

Just my opinion... but I'm not sure I agree with this bit. So-called improvised music is often highly structured. Similarly, if you think of something like Topographic Oceans... was it by chance that Yes wrote 4 side-long tracks? Just ignore me if I'm talking pants though   

Your opinion is just as valid as the next persons, good sir.. 

In the case of TFTO, it's clear Yes wanted to produce a long and profound sounding work. Wakemen disliked the album because he thought it was not 'clever' musically, had been solely composed around Andersons lyrical concepts, and contained lengthy pointless passages of utter guff. It's true, they set out to create a four side work, but that, argues Wakemen, was part of the problem. They were working within a restrictive pre-determined template, and what with time constraints, and being under pressure to follow up CTTE with something good, they failed to deliver an album of comparable quality. Arguably they should have just stuck to being a great prog rock band, instead of trying to prove that they were also great philosophers. I think you'll probably find they were just very stoned, and feeling invincible after CTTE   

That said, 'The Revealing Science of God' on its own is superb..