Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

yeah, that's hilarious!  i couldn't think of a better way to get old than every morning hearing Close to the Edge for the first time!

i see it from both ends.  for me, i wish production was a bit more down to earth.  i have yet to hear a band mix the best of neo and classic prog production aesthetics other than TFK.  

rush definitely could still write songs in the 80s.  the production of MP is just so good and universal at that.  why can't that be the norm...or was it a fluke? 

If you like your electro-pop or whatever Rush morphed into post 1980 - then quite possibly they may have produced a lot of music for your liking......With me it was the absolute loathing of "Signals"....hate that CD and still do to this day...thus I can't be arsed listining to anything later...I may be missing something I may like a bit - but I haven't got time to find out - too busy exploring the many avenues of symphonic prog left open to me.....I did like a bit of electronica when I was younger but I find it godawful now for some strange reason...I could put it on in the background, but I just couldn't LISTEN to it.......Unlike some of you my palate is seemingly narrowing rather than widening with age......By the time I'm ninety I'll be listening to a constant loop of a single prog epic..as the alzeimers kicks in it will as if I'm re-discovering the track every trip back round the loop......

Has anyone listened to Gotye before? He's famous for the wonderful (if you haven't overheard it already) Somebody I Used To Know.

I just got his previous album, Like Drawing Blood and it's rhythmic genius with mesmerizing vocal arrangements. 

Fairly Gabriel-ish. Highly recommended for anyone looking for complex indie-pop. 

Good music is good music, and post-MP has a lot of it. Their musicianship was being executed in the albums very well. Some of Geddy's best bass work is after Moving Pictures. Sure the music isn't like Cygnus X-1, but songs like The Analog Kid, Leave That Thing Alone, Force Ten, etc etc are still great songs. 

Why would a band want to keep making the same music for 40 years? I know i wouldn't. That's why a lot of these retro bands sound so cheesy, too bad they can't really keep up with modern music. 

...........Sad Really....

looks like our boys are playing ROSfest.  if this is on of only a few dates in the USA, i may be coming to visit you Infandous and Roland!

yeah, i find it utterly fascinating how bands lose their muse.  rush lost it long long ago, as did Yes.  it's really too bad.  artists tend to have a period of 10 years where they effortlessley create amazing works and then spend a good 30 trying to recapture the magic.  the thing with these bands is that it's the production.  rush working with some alt rock producer does them no favors.  they need to record bass, drums and guitar and vocals.  no over dubs, no compressioin, no reverb...NOTHING.  same with Yes.  if they did this, they'd be hailed more than they are for the drivel they've been putting out for years.  i wanna hear ged's bass up front and alex's guitar awash in flange panning the entire speaker set up.  and i want a fat snare right in the middle with toms panning as well.  

i've found rick ruben's work interesting over the last few decades as he's produced these so-called masterpieces by older artists.  the truth is, he does nothing.  he under produces and johnny cash's acoustic album is hailed as a masterpiece.  i'm just absolutely amazed at how stupid artists are about their own craft sometimes.

I must buy some of "The tangent", my dismissal of Signals is obviously a direct comparison of the subliminal works that preceded it.....I despair that a band of such talent spent the next 30 years producing commercial dirge, surely a double CD revisiting mid 70's pomp wouldn't have been too much trouble for them.......Sad Really....

The whole of The Count of Tuscany is amazing imo, especially the ending.