The Most Challenging Prog You've Ever Heard

A Passion Play

I would have to say Spiral Artichet  for me. Although I love technicality, this band is just too technical to the point of being confusing! I could perhaps listen to them now since I have learnt a bit of music theory. I might give it a go.

UndercoverBoy wrote: Epignosis wrote: A Passion Play I actually didn't find that album challenging at all, even though I was expecting it to be really out there because of what the critics said of it.  One (in Melody Maker, I believe) said it was the most painful album from a British band he's ever experienced.  I'm surprised you call it the most challenging Prog after listening to that John Zorn album.

Zorn tends to be noise...not progressive rock.  Big difference.

As for this album-

It was complex, yet I couldn't like it.  I literally fell asleep listening to it multiple times.

Later, for some reason, I started just listening to it while I was drinking.  And I loved it.

Now?  It ranks as my second favorite Jethro Tull album.  Wonderful.

The RIO stuff is way too out there for me to appreciate...

Evolutionary Sleeper wrote: progfannick1991 wrote: The RIO stuff is way too out there for me to appreciate...

I feel your pain, man.

A Person wrote: Henry Cow's Concerts maybe, if you are not a fan of improvisation it would be hard to sit through.

Textbook wrote: Someone not even on PA, Chicago Underground Duo. Their album Boca Negra had me really reaching.

Chicago Underground are jazz rather than rock, so they don't really belong on PA at all, although there is a link with Tortoise. Some of their earlier albums like 12 Degrees of Freedom are mayber more challenging, but they're always rewarding to listen to. The trio and quartet albums are also well worth checking out.

I actually found Zeit and Passion Play immediately accessible; it's the popular stuff like The Power and the Glory and The Lamb that I found hard to digest, I think it's all down to personal tastes and expectations. If an album is hard to get into, does that mean it's a work of art that requires genius to appreciate; or does it simply mean it isn't any good? Reviewers of Björk's Medulla seem to be torn between the two, George Starostin was too intimidated by it to even give it a rating out of 10.

As for some albums in my own collection that I find... challenging... MERN3336 - A Mirror To The Marble-Coated Solar System by Moon Fog Prophet, Lizard by King Crimson, Halber Mensch by Einstürzende Neubauten...

=F=

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. After nearly a year of listening I'm only just beginning to truly hear how good it really is. It had no effect on me at all first listen, but very gradually, the more I hear it the more I like it.

I don't regard any music as "challenging" in that case. Someone mentioned Henry Cow's "Concerts. I like the first part of it, but the improvisations I don't like. But not because they are too challenging. I  really like improvised music, but sometimes the resulrt simply is not good when you improvise, and I think that is the case with the second part of Henry Cow's "Concerts". The improvisations sound as if nobody listens to what the others play, there appears to be no communication at all, and in  that case improvisations are pointless, in my opinion.