The Strange Omissions of the Archives

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Jaketejas wrote: By band, I tend to agree. By song, their fusion work may fit the bill. So, some jazz rock fusion = yes and some = no. Some go in the tent and some don't. Then, the camel sticks its nose in the tent. Pretty soon it has its head inside the tent. Then it's body. Next thing you know the camel's inside the tent and we're out of the tent. Don't get me wrong. I like a lot of that stuff and Morning Dance in particular is a very good album. At some point though it gets too close to elevator music and it's not too difficult to draw a line from Spyro Gyra to the later stuff. It depends on the jazz rock fusion. I don't think all of it is pure smooth jazz and some does have a more fusion edge while some does not. Some straddles the line too but I suppose you could say that about Steely Dan(who some consider a precursor to smooth jazz). Others like Lee Ritenour actually had some prog elements as well as fusion. But yeah some good stuff in the old days before it became too saccharine. I think you could make the same analogy with new age music. Some is more on the electronic side(progressive electronic)while some is more typical new agey. For example, I noticed that Kitaro and Shadowfax are on here but Yanni is not.

Easy Money wrote: Fela is the essence of progressive in every sense of the word, but not progressive rock I would imagine.

Raff does touch on something I think is important..  of course she does.. me and her were indeed a 2 headed monster at one time. And did bring this up the other night...

Edited by micky - August 02 2019 at 16:31

I appreciate your honesty. I'm sorry to ask tough questions, but it gives me a much better understanding of how the site functions. I love the site, and I do appreciate how hard everyone works to review bands and get them noticed and archived. I think that folks are genuinely trying to make the right calls. It must be difficult, with music evolving in different directions. Nowadays, with improvements in technology, I believe there are a couple of ways that could improve on the model. One has to do with social networks, nodes, and connectedness (e.g.,https://faculty.ucr.edu/~hanneman/nettext/C4_netdraw.html). With the right data inputs, that could help delineate genres and subgenres, and provide a wealth of data regarding the connections among bands. Another factor is oversight by bringing in the different stakeholders when making a decision as to who gets in and who doesn't so that bands know the reasons why they were excluded. I can imagine that including a spokesperson from the band, as well as prog archives experts who are listeners, and ideally having a band member who has already been accepted to the subgenre in controversial cases, with the aim of achieving some kind of consensus regarding a band's standing.

Easy Money wrote: Re Micky n Ginger: Go ahead and do what you want, I'll be happy to erase my previous decision, no problem. One of the reasons I quit working on the site is because I honestly have no idea what is "prog' anymore and what isn't, I mean that, and I have no idea who belongs on the site or not. Whatever happens at this site from now on is no concern of mine. I just come here for some conversation about whatever people are talking about, thats all. A long time ago I knew what "progressive rock" was, it was what a certain group of my friends were obsessed with, they were the experts, my tastes were more broad and eclectic. When progressive rock became 'prog', i really didn't know what was up; Radiohead, The Residents, The Swans etc, I don't get it at all and thats okay, you guys are the experts now.

Re Micky: You and Raff are always welcome to visit, just know my wild years ended quite a while back.

Re ABB: I saw your post in the other thread, I will be glad to testify that their first two live albums contain superb creative jazz rock, but I won't get much more involved than that.

what's stopping you.. a system that barely functioned.. and royally f**ked it up anyway with caprcious and poltically driven decisions... a decade or more ago.