Most underrated prog band?

irrelevant wrote: handwrist wrote: Gilgamesh. IMO their self titled is one of the best albums ever made. I love both of their albums! The second one doesn't seem to get as much love (esp. on PA), but I think it may even be better. One of my favourite bands these days.

GingerFox wrote: What do you think is the most underrated prog band?

Saperlipopette! wrote: Lewian wrote: In this spirit I'm rather happy that in this thread even Yes qualify as underrated, because that comment has ultimately taken the last remaining shimmer of an illusion out of the idea that the concept could actually mean anything sensible. I think it was AFlowerKingCrimson, so congratulations for that posting! So if I state wrongly that "The Beatles weren't very popular" does the concept of "popular" become pointless from now on? We won't have many concepts left if this was the case.

Fates Warning

Edited by Fischman - June 08 2019 at 19:28

Maybe going off on tangents here, it's a late night...

While one should avoid making an argument from authority/appeals to authority, I commonly would trust a person's opinion more if I thought they had more experience when it comes to making their claims. I'd trust a neurosurgeon more to tell me which brain surgery option is better than asking an ice cream vendor, even if the ice cream vendor's arguments are really original (first we brain freeze you with loads of ice-cream, then we use a sugar cone as a shunt, squeeze in gelato...).

A good opinion is a well-informed and well thought-out opinion. I would expect someone who knows lots of Krautrock, Jazz-Rock and psychedelic music to be able to better assess the merits of Embryo than someone who expresses opinions on that albums worth and knows very little similar music (quite often such people resort to apples and oranges comparisons to justify their claims).

I've read reviews, I could link to one but I won't, that have claimed that an album is poor, overrated, and then compared it to music that wasn't even in the same category to make the argument, and clearly was not familiar with the style or had an appreciation of that kind of music. I would sooner value the opinion of someone who is well-informed when it comes to that kind of music, but that doesn't mean that I would necessarily accept their statements as valid (reasonable and rational).

What matters most to me is that there's a good argument and evidence with relevant, acceptable and sufficient premises to back-up the person's conclusions when it comes to the merit. Just saying, "Embryo is underrated" would be pretty meaningless to me whomever said it. Underrated in what way? How would you back up that assertion?   Both experienced and inexperienced people are prone to confirmation bias, and very experienced people can be so set in their ways that their opinions have become far too rigid.

While I would be more likely to trust someone who has demonstrated experience, I would still want cogent arguments to back up those assertions. A neophyte might discover something that demonstrates to me that something has been undervalued or overvalued, and come up with a good,logical framework for an assessment, and someone who seems to have good experience listening to certain music might still not be very insightful, nor offer good reasons, and might have clear biases and factual errors that render their assessments to be useless.

If someone says that x is overrated or underrated, I want to hear justification for the statement, and I want it to be clear how the term is being used.

Chaser wrote: This one's been done before and it always prompts a debate about the meaning of "underrated". I would say it's an artist who hasn't received the recognition they deserve in the prog community or the wider music press, as compared to other artists, based on the quality of their music. Two obvious ones for me are Gentle Giant and Van der Graff Generator. They are not considered "big six" and yet, for me, their output was often better than some of the big six.

Machinemessiah wrote: For me it is Maxophone... Although there appear to be only one album (or so) -their homonym- I find it highly enjoyable and well rounded: both the italian and the english lyrics versions alike; since this is an album where all songs are, IMO, of premium quality (something rare in albums from less well known bands, outside big six, etc., and a hallmark on the contrary); some are headbangable in the prog sense, some very delicate, with the finest classical guitar extracts and a falsetto which I yearn in more prog bands, so well employed (among other reasons, why I like Yes so much); others highlight the symphonic side, with horns and the like with a reference there to Bartok's Concerto for orchestra. But, when talking RPI, I miss it being mentioned more frequently alongside the Premiatas and the likes.