Bands whose albums all sound the same

SteveG wrote: Grumpyprogfan wrote: ^Ha ha. FYI, I'm a brain surgeon. I wouldn't expect anything less from a prog fan.

Barbu wrote: BaldJean wrote: richardh wrote: Mortte wrote: richardh wrote: When I was growing up just about everyone seemed stylistically  consistent but I remember thinking that Genesis hardly ever veered from a basic sound. Tull and VDGG were also the same album after album. I believe Gentle Giant are a really bad example but hey ho. This could become the ultimate trolling thread. I give it about 3 pages max before its locked by admin. From Genesis to Revelation sounding same as Lamb? This Was sounding same as Thick as a Brick?   Once many of the legendary seventies bands found their groove they tended to stick to it until punk told them they had to change. I don't count FGTR for obvious reasons. Genesis in the PG era from Trespass to Lamb were very consistent sound wise although Eno's influenced did change the sound of Lamb so I concede that one. After that there were some changes mainly due to personell changes. Tull hardly changed from TAAB through the next 4 or 5 albums and then punk bit Yes through The Yes Album to GFTO likewise ELP dived off the end of the cliff with Works Volume One . That was a real change but no one liked it! I think Floyd certainly achieved more evolution than many of their seventies counterparts but again like ELP they ran into problems with Animals which was a major bone of contention. I am very puzzled though why anyone thinks Gentle Giant albums sound the same. To their credit they carried on changing and evolving from album to album from 1970-1976. This is one of the biggest reasons they failed to achieve commercial success in the seventies and are now much more highly regarded. IMO I actually think each Genesis album (like most albums of the analogue age) has its own distinctive sound. which is the main reason that I don't believe "Twilight Alehouse" was recorded during the "Foxtrot" sessions as Wikipedia says. the sound of "Twilight Alehouse" is the sound of "Nursery Cryme", not the sound of "Foxtrot" Twilight Alehouse has been written between FGTR and Trespass but it was effectively recorded during the Foxtrot sessions. The rendition surely sounds like the Nursery Cryme band but the overall feel of the composition definitely belongs to the Ant Phillips Trespass era.

SteveG wrote: cstack3 wrote: SteveG wrote: Another negative thread. Yippie!  We are but a ghetto of aging male Prog fans, drifting through life, griping and groaning all the way!     Hey buddy, who you callin' old?

Barbu wrote: BaldJean wrote: I also disagree about the composition sounding like "Trespass" It most definitely sounds like a slightly immature 69-70 Genesis composition to me...played by the confident 72 band. Nursery was released in November 71 and Twilight was an integral part of the set-list during the first half of 72 (they barely played it live before that) and they decided to put it on tape when they entered Island Studio in August for the Foxtrot sessions.

BaldJean wrote: Barbu wrote: BaldJean wrote: I also disagree about the composition sounding like "Trespass" It most definitely sounds like a slightly immature 69-70 Genesis composition to me...played by the confident 72 band. Nursery was released in November 71 and Twilight was an integral part of the set-list during the first half of 72 (they barely played it live before that) and they decided to put it on tape when they entered Island Studio in August for the Foxtrot sessions.   try the following: create a CD of your own consisting of "Foxtrot" with the addition of "Twilight Alehouse". "Twilight Alehouse" sticks out like a sore thumb there due to the sound. then do the same with "Nursery Cryme". the track fits perfectly there. the only explanation for this is that "Twilight Alehouse" was NOT recorded during the "Foxtrot" sessions (if it were it would sound that way) but during the "Nursery Cryme" sessions. you can actually make this experiment with any analogue album. add a track from album "A" of a certain band to album "B" of that band; you will definitely here the difference in production. this is due to the different parameters that existed during the recording of these analogue albums. with modern digital production the effect is much less pronounced

Sorry but I don't buy that esoteric argument and I will stick to the facts.

Mortte wrote: richardh wrote: Mortte wrote: richardh wrote: When I was growing up just about everyone seemed stylistically  consistent but I remember thinking that Genesis hardly ever veered from a basic sound. Tull and VDGG were also the same album after album. I believe Gentle Giant are a really bad example but hey ho. This could become the ultimate trolling thread. I give it about 3 pages max before its locked by admin. From Genesis to Revelation sounding same as Lamb? This Was sounding same as Thick as a Brick?   Once many of the legendary seventies bands found their groove they tended to stick to it until punk told them they had to change. I don't count FGTR for obvious reasons. Genesis in the PG era from Trespass to Lamb were very consistent sound wise although Eno's influenced did change the sound of Lamb so I concede that one. After that there were some changes mainly due to personell changes. Tull hardly changed from TAAB through the next 4 or 5 albums and then punk bit Yes through The Yes Album to GFTO likewise ELP dived off the end of the cliff with Works Volume One . That was a real change but no one liked it! I think Floyd certainly achieved more evolution than many of their seventies counterparts but again like ELP they ran into problems with Animals which was a major bone of contention. I am very puzzled though why anyone thinks Gentle Giant albums sound the same. To their credit they carried on changing and evolving from album to album from 1970-1976. This is one of the biggest reasons they failed to achieve commercial success in the seventies and are now much more highly regarded. IMO I mostly agree with you. I think Genesis sound was little different in Trespass, Nursery & Foxtrot, but of course those all albums have that very recognizable Genesis sound that I also think changed the most in Lamb. Yes went a little bit jazz direction in Relayer then came back to symphonic prog in next album. But what´s interesting in this thread very soon all the bands from the big six (except Yes, you mentioned it first) were mentioned. I think the thread starter hadn´t got purpose to make this negative thread, it anyway turned and then naturally caused just offense. And as he says in some lines, I don´t think it´s always bad thing band doesn´t change. I don´t see Faust has had many big changes in it´s basic music, but anyway they have succeeded to make interesting music almost their whole career. Also I really love Motörhead although it has made the same album again & again (first is still their best). Have to say about Nirvana´s three albums, that they´re all quite different both musically and in their sounds. First is really punky, second pop album with very clear production and the last somewhere between those two (typical Steve Albini sounds).

Trespass, Nursery Cryme & Foxtrot sound very little like each other to me. Trespass had a more fairy tale flavor to it than any other Genesis album (short of TotT) and a bend toward ponderous meanderings, as with Stagnation [which I greatly adore, because I love ponderous meanderings]. It rarely had the big orchestral type sound they were later noted for. Those times when a big sound did appear in Trespass it was dependent on a synth pad-like organ sound that was more mystical than big [e.g. White Mountain] or multiple overlaid 12-strings [e.g. Stagnation]. The Rock element was heavily lacking. Only with Nursery Cryme did the grandiose orchestral sound and the Rock element fully converge, with Hackett's contribution coming into play and a little more aggression from Rutherford's base. Some of that overloaded the available headroom in the recording [e.g. Return of the Giant Hogweed]. The band clearly responded to this by stripping down their sound and taking turns a bit more with Foxtrot rather than having the whole bad go loud at once. It also incorporated the Mellotron, a new sound (for them). Again, when the bigger orchestral sounds of the mellotron were chosen, turn-taking prevailed and it was given the sole spotlight on the opening of Watcher of the Skies. That's the way I see it. The thing is, and this is rarely discussed, for a fan like myself, those are huge distinctions. For someone who is less of a fan, they may be but mere details, so I doubt any universal consensus will be forthcoming.

richardh wrote: miamiscot wrote: The correct answers are: AC/DC, Ramones and IQ. Now to the ridiculous notion that all Gentle Giant albums sound the same - listen to the debut, then Free Hand and then Civilian and they sound like three different bands to me!!!   indeed

You're comparing something from the classic era with something from 1980? Well sure, didn't every band sound different in the 80s? Some GG albums aren't relevant in the same fashion some Genesis albums aren't relevant.

Re:

HackettFan wrote: The thing is, and this is rarely discussed, for a fan like myself, those are huge distinctions. For someone who is less of a fan, they may be but mere details, so I doubt any universal consensus will be forthcoming.

M27Barney wrote: Strange. But every band/artist I don't like produces the same tedious music, release after release...is that JUST me?

No, not just you. I started a thread perhaps two or three years ago exploring the proposition that what people count as a innovation was subjective, depending on things of personal history, for instance, like whether one was a musician or not. I don't see why notions of sameness/differentness would be any more objective.

Thus I say that, for me, the same choppiness of GG's music that I cannot stand is commonly found throughout their catalog.





Edited by HackettFan - January 09 2020 at 16:02

Edited by richardh - January 10 2020 at 00:46

dougmcauliffe wrote: Genesis just shouldn’t be mentioned in this thread, the two most similar albums are wind and wuthering and ATTWT and those are still quite different. Genesis changed probably more than any prog band besides king crimson.

I agree. All of their albums sound very different to each other. I don't think W&W and ATTWT resemble each other at all. I think their closest sounding albums are probably Foxtrot and Nursery Cryme...and they don't sound anything like each other!

Even their later poppy albums sound distinctly different to each other.

SteveG wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: SteveG wrote: Grumpyprogfan wrote: ^Ha ha. FYI, I'm a brain surgeon. I wouldn't expect anything less from a prog fan. You don't really believe him do you?  With him yes, with you no.

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