Most Under Appreciated Musician

Me

Any band or group with more than 20 people replying here at PA in the last year is definitely NOT under appreciated. (BTW don't comparatively  negative and positive adverbs cancel each other out?????).

Edited by Dick Heath - June 05 2008 at 05:41

HACKETT and LAKE underappreciated???...i think they're mentionned in polls or discussions quite often and very much so!

Edited by febus - June 05 2008 at 11:17

febus wrote: HACKETT and LAKE underappreciated???...i think they're mentionned in polls or discussions quite often and very much so!   Let talk about MIKE RATLEDGE from SOFT MACHINE, M. NEUMEIER from GURU GURU, IAN CARR from NUCLEUS, JON HISEMAN from COLOSSEUM, DAVE GREENSLADE or KEVIN AYERS. ...Now  we have underappreciated musicians and i am sure fellow posters will come with hundred other ''forgotten'' names .. But hackett?????? he is everywhere here on PA. At least you didn't mention FRIPP or HoWE   Welcome to PA anyway

that deserves some clappies... just because not everyone worships at the altar  of Hackett or Lake (though prog fans should be excommunicated for not worshiping Lake at the very least ahhahha)  That does not make them under appreciated.

Brother Febus  knows the true scripture brought down from the Mt. Sinai of prog by M@X's disciples...  and those musicians he mentioned... deserve beautification here as well

hahhaha

"everyone in Area" is the hottest response ever. totally agree with Rocktopus =)

the two musicians you mentioned are revered but often in silence. yet among the line-ups of slightly lesser known bands there are musicians we should be shouting about o:) like Tim Hodgkinson who must have played a greater part in Henry Cow's ensemble and composition than I had ever noticed before the last time I listened to In Praise of Learning

chris210 wrote: This topic has probably been done a million times, but I like to get other peoples thoughts on who they think is the most under appreciated musician. In my humble opinion I think both Greg Lake and Steve Hackett are under appreciated. Greg Lake is just a amazing all around musician I have loved everything he has done whether it be with King Crimson, ELP, or his solo stuff his work I have thought has been somewhat overlooked.( I also think ELP as a band is overlooked) Steve Hackett is arguably the greatest prog guitarist, but I always thought he was under appreciated. We all know his work with Genesis was phenomenal, but his solo stuff is mind blowing.Voyage Of The Acolyte and Spectral Mornings are incredible pieces of music. He continues to put out quality music to this day. These maybe seem like dumb choices being that these guys are both legends, but I just feel they never really get credit.

I certainly don't think Hackett is underappreciated (as it seems that many of the faithful Genesis brethren have never gotten over his departure)

As for Lake, I do agree he is a very talented musician, but his gifts are mainly melodic and not technical. This was of great benefit to ELP for the first 5 albums as his contributions 'softened' their sound and made the technical maelstrom of Emerson and Palmer much more palatable to a wider audience.
Unfortunately I feel Greg's contributions nosedived thereafter, as most of his output became rather bland/conservative and his solo side from the 'Works Volume 1' album must represent the most indelible stain on a great band's legacy.
Despite a few good tracks, he must also be culpable for "Love Beach" being unworthy of the ELP moniker on the cover.
Some of his solo material post ELP is quite good and he certainly gathered around him a fantastic touring band in the 80's including Gary Moore and Ted McKenna, but the highlights of the set were the older ELP/Crimson material.
I think Greg's forte is the simple acoustic song and there are examples of great work in this style on the 'Black Moon' ELP album from 1992 eg 'Footprints in the Snow' and 'Affairs of the Heart' so he still has plenty 'gas in the tank'
Unfortunately, Mr Lake has always had a weakness for twee melodrama and buttressing his creations with huge fleecy pillow arrangements eg 'I Believe in Father Xmas' and "Closer to Believing' which are both great songs suffocated under this excess.

As for under appreciated proggers:

Arthur Brown - should probably sue both Alice Cooper and Peter Gabriel. The theatrical elements of live performance as appropriated by rock all bear his inimitable "designer label'

Tony Banks - not a brilliant technician, but a very tasteful player who has an unerring knack of playing the perfect simple part to enhance the musical materials on hand. The ultimate prog 'team-player'

Franco Mussida - seems to be able to play any conceivable guitar style effortlessly and imbue it with his own unique musical personality. His contributions to the entire output of PFM are just to be marveled at.

Patrick Moraz - has never been freely admitted into the pantheon of keyboard giants and you get the impression after reading reviews of his work that he is gatecrashing some sort of elite party ? Check out his work on 'Relayer' by Yes and the 'Refugee' album. A major talent.

Ian Wallace - The drumming on Crimson's 'Islands' album almost redeems a very patchy record entirely. I know drummer friends who still sit in awe during 'Sailor's Tale' from that record.

Vincent Crane - The organ work and arrangements on the 1st Crazy World of Arthur Brown album are truly sublime but seem to get relegated to '60's kitsch' on many of the reviews. A very underrated musician who perhaps suffered from Rooster's unwritten mandate to have to appease the metalheads most of the time.

Brian Davison - Thankfully, the digital revolution at least lets us hear on remastered CDs some of the fantastic drumming Brian contributed to the Nice. He is up there on a par with Ginger Baker as far as 'jazz influenced' 60's rock players are concerned.




Edited by ExittheLemming - June 05 2008 at 12:27

in my opinion Helmut Hattler. there are several bass polls on this forum; he is not named in one of them, though he is a supreme musician and highly influential in Germany. he played with Kraan, Guru Guru, Highdelberg, Liliental and Tab Two

Chris Karrer 
Guitar
Violin
Sax
Vocals
All round Krautrock Genius  

micky wrote: Hawkwise wrote: Chris Karrer  Guitar Violin Sax Vocals All round Krautrock Genius   nice...  that answer deserves some clappies

I have to add that he also plays oud!

I would say Martin Barre on guitars, duh!
John Evans on keys.
Richard Wright, though the majority know he's splendid, he's obscured in PA by keymasters like Wakey and Keithy.