The Dark Elf File

I just wanted to say that I love your work! Your style is very informative and honest and I can tell you truly have a passion for the music that you are discussing. I also think it's ironic how you recently reviewed two albums that I discovered just a few days ago: Days of Future Passed and Liege and Leif and perfectly worded my feelings on those records. I especially enjoyed the way you discussed how The Moody Blues and bands of the time made beautiful music, and it truly brought me back to a lot of popular music, and I realize that this is why I don't have a taste for it. However, I don't think that all new music is lacking this beauty (see Phideaux's Doomsday Afternoon or The Decemberists' The Hazards of Love, among others), but I agree that most of it is, exactly how you described it. All in all, two of my favorite reviews that I've seen on PA. I'll be certainly looking forward to reading your blog (the part about the Psychedelic Rock looks interesting). Keep up the good work!

The Dark Elf wrote: Thanks so much Zombywoof  -- or would that be "the Zomby Woof behind your eyes"? (I love Over-Nite Sensation).   I appreciate the feedback. I look at things from a strictly subjective point of view (objectivity is highly overrated), and as a musician of 30 years and a lover of music of all kinds for even longer, it seems to me that there has been a definite and highly noticeable erosion of musical composition (or musical taste perhaps) beginning in the late 70s and continuing unabated up to the present. Oh sure, there are bands here and there that still put out amazing music (the bands you mentioned, for instance, or Tool, Gov't Mule, Cactus Tree, and even Radiohead occasionally); but for the most part we live in an aural wasteland of Diddies and Ga-Gas and Kanyes, and other infantile blather. And I will argue the point with anyone -- anytime, anywhere.   I have been reviewing literally a couple hundred albums for my next article (aptly titled "The Greatest Albums from the Progressive Rock Era" , Parts I and II), and it struck me how some rock albums from the 60s and 70s that I considered mediocre at the time are light years better than what is available now. Is that just me getting older and more curmudgeonly? Perhaps, but I don't think so. Particularly since my musical appetite is far more diverse than when I was a teen or in my 20's.   *Steps down quickly from soap box*   Ummm...sorry. Runaway hyperbole. Thanks again for the gratifying post. Cheers!

I think that it's a matter of taste. People want that 'instant gratification' and they don't really want to sit and listen intently, many times, to every pitch on a Magma or Henry Cow album to get it! Personally, I enjoy music that is like this, but I've noticed that most folks find the current music more comfortable and easy to listen to. I really tried to bring creative music back through my school radio station. After sitting through 2 years of "Ga-Gas" and "Kanyes", I decided to bring some of the music that I was into to the airwaves, in hour long weekly shows. It was a ton of work and a ton of fun (hey, much like listening to prog!!), but I gave up after a year when I realized that I couldn't reach anyone who already had their ears and minds shut. I then came to the conclusion that there really isn't such thing as "good" or "bad": only music and individual tastes, and I have no taste for music that is very bland and unoriginal! I have a theory that in just a few years time, pop music will become so dull and lifeless that you won't be able to discern one note from the next and there will be no sense of identity or change what-so-ever.

I'm a musician, too (about 9 years on flute due to my Tull obsession!) and I also agree with your statement on the decline of popular music in the late 70's. Why is it that the majority of my favorite records were released between 1967-1975? I honestly believe that it has more to do with record companies than musicians. Have you seen the youtube Zappa interview on this very subject? If not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZazEM8cgt0 .

I loved your blog on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by the way! The whole thing is a sham. I can't believe that it took Jeff Beck nearly 40 years to be recognized! I was a huge fan before everybody thought so, because the TV told them he was cool. It was a small win to hear the guy from Phish say that Selling England By The Pound was his favorite Genesis record ... that made the whole thing worth watching!

Oh, and you could say that I'm just about as evil as a boogie man can be!


Edited by Zombywoof - February 02 2011 at 20:39

The Dark Elf wrote: I completely agree with your assessment regarding the music industry. There is a discussion on another thread on this forum about Tull's A Passion Play, and I made the comment that the album would not be released today by any major label because the industry does not want you to think. They aren't interested in album length songs like Thick as a Brick or lengthy suites like Supper's Ready because they cannot make money of single iPod downloads.   And I too play several Tull tunes ("Salamander", "Mother Goose" and all the acoustic sections from Thick as a Brick are my favorites to play). I've retired from bar bands but I still have several Ovations and Martins lying about that I pick up whenever possible.

Can you imagine a world without A Passion Play? That was probably my first prog love, as I grew up listening to it ... while other kids were listening to NSYNC songs, I was usually listening to my favorite "song", too! About iPods, did you hear the story recently where Roger Waters made all of the Pink Floyd albums available only as complete albums, not individual songs? And I agree with your statement, but I think it's not the industry that doesn't want you to think, it's the audience majority! I recently read the liner notes in an Egg remaster that pointed out how in the early 70's, prog and underground music was becoming popular, so record companies would create divisions in their company that specialized in these bands and sold them at a reduced price so as to attract listeners. Although I used to blame the companies, I now have concluded that record companies are into one thing, unfortunately: business. Basically, if it sells, they'll jump onto the band wagon!

I love all three Tull titles you mentioned, especially "Salamander"! I can play bits and pieces of "Thick as a Brick", as well as some sheet music that I have around my house.

The Dark Elf wrote:   As I stated in the article you referred to, it is absolute asininity bordering on criminality that Jethro Tull, Yes, Rush, The Moody Blues and King Crimson are not in the RRHoF. Stupid! Ludicrous! But it is all based on a sinister cabal led by Jann Wenner, publisher of Rolling Stone, and stuffed-shirt critics like Dave Marsh and Robert Christgau,  to stop progressive rock bands from getting on the ballot. If they cannot get on the ballot, then the voters can't vote for them. They despise prog-rock, and have admitted as such.   Do you really think Genesis would've been elected to the RRHoF if they had quit being Genesis after Peter Gabriel left, or after they made Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering and Steve Hackett left? They  were elected based for their banal 80s commerciialism, not for the grand music they made in the 70s. It is a joke.   Do what I did, boycott Rolling Stone magazine. It is no longer a rock and roll resource in any case, particularly since it now hands out 5 star ratings to hip-hop albums, which in itself is farcical.

The problem with boycotting Rolling Stone is that I'd have to start buying and reading it first! I've never had an interest or "time for Time magazine ... OR Rolling Stone" (sorry, I really couldn't resist the reference!). I have not heard Trick of the Tail or Wind and Wuthering, but I’ve heard all of the Gabriel material and bits and pieces of the self-titled album from the 80’s and I agree. The Genesis of the 70’s would never have made the Hall of Fame, because it’s just not radio friendly and therefor the stations will not play it! Is it possible that if radio stations started playing Genesis (as opposed to what I call Genes-isn’t), Rock Band had Frank Zappa tunes, and Facebook advertised for Tull concerts, that maybe the music might come back? Who knows. People don’t seem to like to take chances, and the only way to get them into new music seems to be to be through mediums such as these. It’s amazing how, due to Guitar Hero, people my age are listening to Rush and Dream Theater! It’s really rather sad, if you ask me, that people want to play plastic instruments instead of real ones … but, oh well, that's another discussion entirely. Also, to do a Zappa rock band, the designers would have to come up with a plastic marimba somehow...

Another article on the Dark Elf File:
Manic Progression! Great Albums from the Progressive Rock Era, Part I...

http://darkelffile.blogspot.com/2011/02/manic-progression-great-albums-from.html

The first installment of a three-part exposition on the sixty greatest rock albums from the Progressive Era (in my opinion, of course, but then subjectivity and blogs are relatively synonymous).

Edited by The Dark Elf - February 15 2011 at 13:54

Reading the Prog Rock list there were no surprises as to most of those choices though it was interesting you chose Gabriel's debut, Gentle Giant's Octopus is a strange choice - perhaps their worst album IMHO, and I thought i had heard all the quintessential albums but then you added Procol Harum Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Santana III is one of the only Santanas I dont have, so I will try to get hold of that,  anyway, thanks for the list and the way you justify each inclusion is admirable. But you are totally right in your disclaimer:

Edited by AtomicCrimsonRush - February 15 2011 at 15:59

Thanks Dark Elf

More Manic Progression! Great Albums from the Progressive Rock Era, Part II...

http://darkelffile.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-manic-progression-greatest-albums.html

 

avestin wrote: I enjoyed reading it, thanks

The Dark Elf wrote: avestin wrote: I enjoyed reading it, thanks   No, thank you for stopping by!

The Dark Elf wrote: avestin wrote: Will you also cover more recent periods of progressive music "activity"? I'd be interested in reading your take of, say, 90s so-called resurgence of progressive music.     The final 20 album installment of the current piece will include an added extra bit on my favorite "new era" albums, but I am going to devote a separate article in regards to newer albums of, as you say, the "so-called resurgence of progressive music".   To be honest, what a lot of posters on this forum refer to as progressive music bears little resemblance to what we of an older generation would refer to as "prog". For instance, I find it hard to categorize a thrash or death metal band like Opeth as "progressive". Just because they throw in some progressive flourishes here and there does not make up for the idiotic growling and shrieking. Growling and shrieking were never a hallmark of classical, folk or jazz influenced prog bands of the 70s. It is really unfortunate and detracts from their music, and the lead singer has a fine voice when he doesn't imitate an extra from The Exorcist. They seem to have more influences from older bands like  Korn or even Type O Negative than bands like Yes or ELP.