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Ricochet 
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Joined: February 27 2005
Location: Nauru
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Points: 46301
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 Posted: October 09 2007 at 04:07 |
As always, the most popular epics seem to be discussed over and over and over again, though prog rock is such a diverse thing. I personally, right now, remember that I disliked Explorer's Club second album, made out of two full epics. It was a cold, even criminal, complex composition of new age and hard/metal rock. 
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iguana
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 01 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 825
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 05:17 |
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GRENDEL and the entire lot of TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS, with the
honourable exception with “revealing science“
which has some genuinely nice bits.
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progressive rock and rural tranquility don't match. true or false?
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fuxi
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 08 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 2459
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 05:36 |
 Ricochet wrote:
As always, the most popular epics seem to be discussed over and over and over again, though prog rock is such a diverse thing. |
Well you know, the problem is most of the longer pieces (mock-epics?) by Canterbury bands like Soft Machine, Caravan and the Hatfields are just too darn GOOD...
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toolis
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 26 2006
Location: MacedoniaGreece
Status: Offline
Points: 1678
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 05:39 |
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i'm not ver y fond of epics, so, i'll only mention the ones i really enjoy:
1.Dream Theater - A Change Of Seasons
2.Marillion - This Strange Engine/Grendel
3.Yes - Close To The Edge
4.Jethro Tull - TAAB
5.Pink Floyd - Echoes
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-music is like pornography...
sometimes amateurs turn us on, even more...
-sometimes you are the pigeon and sometimes you are the statue...
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Negru Voda
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 20 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 192
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 05:45 |
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Awaken Doesen't impress me much. It's kind of a dissapointment after the grand Gates of Delirium
And Magma's Khontarkosz bores the living daylight out of me.
Oh, and Supper's Ready isn't all that great either.
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Floydian42
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 13 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 846
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 06:24 |
Karn Evil 9, I'm sorry. I just did NOT like that song. 
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micky
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Joined: October 02 2005
Location: .
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Points: 46833
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 07:34 |
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have said it time and time again.... VDGG's Plague of Lighthouse
Keepers. The first half is simply incredible.. but the 2nd half
is a catatonious frickin mess and it completely ruins it.
People.... but even worse.. sometimes musicians ... seem to forget that
music first and foremost needs to be listeneable.
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Moogtron III
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 26 2005
Location: Belgium
Status: Offline
Points: 10616
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 07:50 |
For me Jethro Tull's A Passion Play.
In terms of music, I think Thick As A Brick is a much better epic than A Passion Play. APP sounds like JT bit off more than they could chew, a bit similar like Yes and Tales From Topographic Oceans (even though I like that album). Maybe they didn't know where to go with their music after Thick As A Brick.
On the other hand, maybe the music is just more than I can handle  |
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Gog/Magog
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 03 2005
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 398
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 07:55 |
micky wrote:
have said it time and time again.... VDGG's Plague of Lighthouse Keepers. The first half is simply incredible.. but the 2nd half is a catatonious frickin mess and it completely ruins it. People.... but even worse.. sometimes musicians ... seem to forget that music first and foremost needs to be listeneable. |
"The Clot Thickens"
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Some swear they see me weeping in the poppy fields of France 
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micky
Special Collaborator
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Joined: October 02 2005
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 46833
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 07:57 |
Gog/Magog wrote:
micky wrote:
have said it time and time again....
VDGG's Plague of Lighthouse Keepers. The first half is simply
incredible.. but the 2nd half is a catatonious frickin mess and it
completely ruins it. People.... but even worse.. sometimes
musicians ... seem to forget that music first and foremost needs to be
listeneable. |
"The Clot Thickens" |
there is no crying in prog
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Gog/Magog
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 03 2005
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 398
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 08:06 |
Yes, let's be sensible now and no more talk of Supper's Ready or Plague of Lighthouse Keepers. 
How about Harvest of Souls by IQ, full of bombast and trite lyrics and little else for 25 soul destroying minutes.
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Some swear they see me weeping in the poppy fields of France
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Shakespeare
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 18 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 7744
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 08:11 |
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The term disappointing epic is, as far as I'm concerned, an oxymoron.
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Shakespeare
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 18 2006
Status: Offline
Points: 7744
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 08:21 |
TheMadCap wrote:
For me the most disappointing epic is Thick as a Brick. This song is just to long and boring for me. I've listened to it only a few times and heard the whole thing only a couple. Every time I listen to it I find myself changing to another song at about minute 14. After that I just get bored and have to stop.
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Yet you have Animals as your avatar...Animals is much more boring than TaaB. Do you find Dark Side boring? Because it is more or less two side-long songs, the only difference is it is cut into songs and Taab isn't.
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micky
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Joined: October 02 2005
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Points: 46833
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 08:45 |
Gog/Magog wrote:
Yes, let's be sensible now and no more talk of Supper's Ready or Plague of Lighthouse Keepers.
How about Harvest of Souls by IQ, full of bombast and trite lyrics and little else for 25 soul destroying minutes. |
not so fast my friend.. hahah
another sacred cow that I have to admit disappointed me was
Awaken from Yes. I just NEVER could get into that. Many
love that... but it simply never 'grabbed' me.
Edited by micky - October 09 2007 at 08:46
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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razifa
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 21 2005
Location: Costa Rica
Status: Offline
Points: 224
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 08:50 |
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Personally I have no doubt my most disappointing epic is the last track from DT's Octavarium. When it finishes I feel my sufferings finish too. Boring, unstabdable, lack-of--originality, etc.
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**********
**razifa**
**********
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Raff
Special Collaborator
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Joined: July 29 2005
Location: None
Status: Offline
Points: 24429
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 09:05 |
fuxi wrote:
Ricochet wrote:
As always, the most popular epics seem to be discussed over and over and over again, though prog rock is such a diverse thing. |
Well you know, the problem is most of the longer pieces (mock-epics?) by Canterbury bands like Soft Machine, Caravan and the Hatfields are just too darn GOOD... |
Very well said!  From my point of view, it's hard to fault 'epics' like "Nine Feet Underground" or the marvellous "For Richard" - yet, they are hardly ever mentioned whenever the subject of epics comes up. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, my own choice would be "Supper's Ready", which I've never been able to get into. I also share Micky's view of "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" - it's way too long, and it just doesn't hang together as it should. On the other hand, "Awaken" is IMHO much better than it's given credit for, though of course it's no "Close to the Edge". "Karn Evil 9" would also benefit from being a tad shorter, especially the final section.
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The Doctor
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Joined: June 23 2005
Location: The Tardis
Status: Offline
Points: 8543
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 09:18 |
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I found the IQ epic The Narrow Margin to be a disappointment. When I first heard Subterranea, I loved everything I heard, and was very excited to hear the 20-minute epic at the end. I thought surely it would be one of the greatest epics ever, as the finale to a great album. Perhaps I built it up to be more than it would be. Or perhaps, it's the fact that they hold the same melody line for 10+ minutes, and I don't find the melody that compelling. Whatever it is, this is probably the most disappointing epic I've heard. I love their other epics, Last Human Gateway, Harvest of Souls, Seventh House and so on. But this one never really impressed me.
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I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you?
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Cesar Inca
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Joined: May 19 2004
Location: Peru
Status: Offline
Points: 4888
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 10:21 |
Tapfret wrote:
Gates of delirium was absolute joy after enduring The Revealing Science of God. |
That's right! I would go further and say that 'The Gates of Delirium' is one of the best prog epics ever, with the rockier sections delivering amazingly disturbing ambiences. I don't know what other people regard as "enouch" or "much variation", but TGOD definitely comprises lots of variations, even during the development of one same motif. On the other hand, any of the four suites of "Tales" drags a lot, undisputed really.
Kind regards.
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Gog/Magog
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 03 2005
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 398
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 10:24 |
micky wrote:
Gog/Magog wrote:
Yes, let's be sensible now and no more talk of Supper's Ready or Plague of Lighthouse Keepers.
How about Harvest of Souls by IQ, full of bombast and trite lyrics and little else for 25 soul destroying minutes. |
not so fast my friend.. hahah
another sacred cow that I have to admit disappointed me was Awaken from Yes. I just NEVER could get into that. Many love that... but it simply never 'grabbed' me.
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Woah, yes I'm with you on that my friend, never has a song been so mistitled.
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Some swear they see me weeping in the poppy fields of France
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el böthy
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 27 2005
Location: Argentina
Status: Offline
Points: 6336
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Posted: October 09 2007 at 11:06 |
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Ricochet is right, let us talk about other epics, not just Yes and Jethro Tull...
How about Nemo? God, I just dont like Nemo, they are so souless to me, I get absolutly nothing out of them and their first epic Philéas just shows that good musicianship and some ideas here and there do not make up for 20 min of good music. Now, here Im being a bit too critical maybe... but Nemo is a band that I have heard so much about and has let me down so badly, specially when it comes to the epics!
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"You want me to play what, Robert?"
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Disapointing epics
