My Road to Prog Enlightenment

 

I did not attend my first rock concert until the week or so after graduating from high school.  The first concert that I attended was David Lee Roth during the Skyscraper tour and he had Poison opening for him.  It was the 2nd ever show to be performed at the Palace of Auburn Hills which had opened the night before.  I can't remember who played the night before to open the Palace but I am pretty sure it was someone famous like Elton John or Paul McCartney or someone else in that vein.  At any rate, my next show was the Monsters of Rock concert which was an all-day concert that was playing down the road at the Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the Detroit Lions.  This concert consisted of Van Halen, The Scorpions, Metallica, Dokken, and Kingdom Come (the Led Zeppelin sound alike not the prog band).  It was an awesome experience and the one and only time that I have attended a show with more than 3 bands. 

 

Anyhow, on with the prog part of the story.  During this time period me and my buddies from high school would spend every evening playing basketball or wallyball and then head over to one of our houses to shoot pool or play cards and listen to each of our most recent purchases.  The one evening at my buddy's house he put on his brother's 2112 record from Rush.  We had the speed on 45 instead of 33 1/3 so it sounded kind of strange but since we weren't familiar with this album it played quite a bit before we realized our mistake.  Anyhow, we switched it to the correct speed and the rest as they say is history.  Shortly thereafter I went out and bought my first Rush CD which was Caress of Steel.  Bastille Day was absolutely awesome and it is still one of my favorites from them to this day.  Needless to say it didn't take long before I had their entire discography.  In 1989, they released Presto and it was the first brand new album that I owned from them.  I must have listened to it a hundred times if not more.  It was so awesome.  That tour was the first tour that I got to attend a Rush concert and I don't think that I have missed a tour since then.  Hence the nickname that I chose for this site and other sites that I have used it on, Rushfan4.  The 4 is just because the first time I selected it elsewhere, 1, 2, and 3 had already been chosen.  I assumed Alex, Geddy, and Neil had all been there first.

 

Since I was hooked on Rush, it was now time to set out and explore bands of a similar ilk.  In order to try out these bands I would purchase the various greatest hits packages that were available at the time.  If I liked them then I would explore further and expand my exposure to these various bands. I discovered Yes by purchasing the Classic Yes album.  I discovered Emerson Lake and Palmer by purchasing The Best of Emerson Lake and Palmer (I was sceptical that I would like it since the cover had a picture of Japanese women on it, so I was afraid I might be getting something like Turning Japanese).  I discovered Jethro Tull by purchasing Original Masters.  I am certain that I had heard all of these bands at one time or another on the radio plus everyone knew Pink Floyd for The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon and Genesis for Genesis, Invisible Touch, and Abacab (what do you mean Peter Gabriel once sang with them and they had good long progressive rock epics?)  King Crimson came later.  I don't think that I have ever heard them on the radio, but maybe I have heard Schizoid Man, I don't remember. 

 

My first new Yes album was the Union album (technically it would have been 90125 or Big Generator but I didn't purchase those until after I had gotten into Yes. And yes, I liked those albums enough that I continued to delve into other Yes albums). So again Union was an album I listened to hundreds of times and I absolutely loved.  This was also the first tour in which I saw Yes in concert.  What a spectacular show that was.  Two awesome drummers, two great guitarists, two excellent keyboardists (although obviously one is much better than the other), and the one of a kind bassist and vocalist.  Absolutely awesome show, and again another band that I have seen almost every other time they have come to town. 

 

My first "new" Pink Floyd album was Momentary Lapse of Reason.  My first new Emerson Lake and Palmer album was Black Moon.  The first new King Crimson album was Thrak.  My first new Genesis album was We Can't Dance, although obviously I had no choice but to be familiar with them because they were on the radio everywhere. 

 

Herein lies my dilemma.  I got hooked on all of these prog rock bands with their 1980's and 1990's material.  I became a "prog rock" fan because I loved all of the "prog rock" that these bands were producing in the 80's and 90's.  I come to this website and I am told that this music is not prog rock and that this music sucks.  So am I a prog rock fan or what?  The 7 bands that I listed above are the ones that I consider to be the Big 7 Classic prog rock bands because that is what I read on a couple of threads here and because they are all bands that I have been exposed to for a long time.  Bands like Camel, VDGG, and Gentle Giant are often referred to as replacements or as candidates for the top 10 bands, but until the past few years I had very little exposure to any of these bands. 

 

I pretty much love everything that these 7 classic prog bands have done from the classic albums of the 70's to the not-so classic albums of this millennium.  Yes there are some that are way better than others but all and all almost everything that these bands have done is better than what passes for mainstream music. 

 

Over the years I have discovered many other prog bands that I like.  However in recent years, between my subscription to Progression Magazine and hanging out here on Prog Archives I have discovered many other prog bands.  I have discovered that I really like most of what I have heard under the three categories that use to make up Art Rock, although I think Heavy prog is my favorite.  I also really like everything that I have heard under Neo-prog, and Symphonic prog.  I for one, am extremely greatful for the 3-way split of the prog metal category.  I like almost everything that I have heard that remained in the new Prog Metal category.  There are a couple of bands in both of the other two categories that I like, but the rest from what I have had heard are outside of my tolerance level.  I suspect in my mind that the bands that I do like that are in those categories are probably mislabeled but I am sure that the Collabs have their reasons and I don't have any problems with that.  I have dabbled in Jazz-fusion and have not been disappointed but I do prefer lyrics with my music so keep my listening there to a minimum.  I have not spent much time in the other categories but really have been disappointed in what I have heard.  I am sure that the music in these categories is really good if that is where your tastes are, but as of yet mine are not there.  Never hurts to keep trying. 

 

My purpose of this blog will be to continue my growth into knowing what is prog.  I hope to become enlightened by those who are the enlightened ones.  I know that music is art and categorization of art is subjective.  The old different strokes for different folks.  You say tomato, I say tomato (alright so that doesn't work well typed but I think you know what I mean.  Alright maybe I say Tormato).  From time to time I will post here various miscellaneous questions that come to mind or items that come up in other threads that particularly intrigue me.

 

Am I a lost cause since I grew up on 80's and 90's prog music, and I actually like it?

 

What is the difference between a well-crafted pop song and a poorly-crafted prog song?

 

What is the difference between symphonic rock and symphonic prog and symphonic metal? 

 

Why does stringing a couple of pop song ideas together to make a long song make it a prog song, and yet a similar sounding pop song is kept separate and kept to 3 1/2 minutes and it is but a pop song? 

 

These and many other thoughts may pop up here and certainly may be spun off into their own threads.  Any input is extremely welcome and hopefully kept positive. 

 

If you have made it to this point of my ramblings than you should now have further insight into who I am and somewhat of how I came to be here.  Hopefully, you haven't put me on the automatic "block all posts from" list, but I can certainly understand if you have.  I hope that some of you have taken similar paths, and also that some of you have similar questions and are looking for the same enlightenment and we can help each other along this road.   I can help with pumping gas, but not so much with changing flat tires, although I'm sure I can help if necessary.  If you have read this far, thank you.  Hopefully, we may all benefit from what might be posted in this blog from time to time.  If not, then at least hopefully we will be entertained.

 

 

 

Thank you Andu.  In a recent discussion regarding Lana Lane I was informed that her band and her were more symphonic rock than symphonic prog, which kind of confused me.  To my untrained ear the music that I have heard sounds very familiar to other bands that I have heard that are symphonic prog or symphonic metal.  The music may or may not be prog, and I suppose the difference may be in what you say is "the treatment they get".  What sounds complex to me may actually be simple to those in the musical know. 

 

I'm always interested in purchasing new music that blows my socks off, even if my wallet doth protest.  My explorations here have been hit and miss.  I have found some real nice new stuff with bands like Abigail's Ghost, Amaran's Plight, Black Bonzo, Oceansize, and Pure Reason Revolution, amongst others.  But there have also been major disappointments with bands like Fantomas, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Meshuggah, amongst others.  My biggest disappointment has been Opeth because as I have posted way too many times, their music is awesome but I can't stand the vocals. 

 

In regards to the pop song issue I have read many a thread where it has been discussed that bands, especially Genesis and Yes, really just wrote pop songs, but by merging two or three different song ideas and creating a longer song they now created a prog song or quite frankly an epic prog classic.  In their latter days, they still wrote those pop songs, but let them stand alone instead of merging them with other pop song ideas and now they were no longer prog bands but pop bands.  A classic example might be something like Genesis' Duke album which started out as an epic and then was broken up into separate songs because of the desire to distance themselves from prog.  If that had been kept exactly the same but merged as one epic song would it be a prog rock epic instead of a bunch of pop songs.  Not being a musician this is outside my realm of expertise in regards to the actual difference in the complexity of the songs from Duke versus their more classic epic tracks from the earlier eras, although this earlier complexity is more obvious to everyone else.  A band like Yes is constantly ripped for their hit Owner of a Lonely Heart, but one of their first minor hits was Time and a Word.  What's the difference? Neither song included Steve Howe or RIck Wakeman, but one was before they became great and the other was after? (Not saying that either is a prog song).  And I love I've Seen All Good People, but seriously, they repeat that same line over and over again at the end.  Did this influence Journey with their Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin' ending of "na-na-na-na-na-nas" that last forever at the end.

 

To quote Alex Lifeson's wife, what I really need to do is "Shut Up and Play the Guitar", And maybe, just maybe, one day I might just learn how to do that.

 

I probably haven't listened to Metallica, AC/DC or Krokus since Beavis and Butthead went off of the air either.

 

Thank you for the clappies Micky, they are much appreciated. 

 

In regards to Anthony Phillips, I will have to check out "The Geese and the Ghost".  I have a Finger Painting album from him but it didn't really hold my interest.  Mostly really short instrumental songs.  I don't mind instrumentals here and there but generally I prefer vocals.  Although, for the most part I like most of Steve Howe and Bill Bruford's solo output (and Earthworks) and much of Rick Wakeman's.  Artists like Niacin, LTE, and Derek Sherinian tend to hold my attention as well but the music is generally heavier than what I heard on the Anthony Phillips album.

 

I'm re-listening to Talk since I haven't listened to it for awhile.  I figured that well maybe I will hate it now since the derision is getting in to my head; but I don't.  The first three songs are very good.  The drumming is OK, not great, but Alan keeps a good beat.  Admittedly, Chris Squire doesn't seem to be doing anything to memorable.  But I really like Trevor Rabin's guitar playing and tone and Jon's vocals and the harmonizing are as good as always.  By the way, I'm listening to State of Play and it is a very good song.  Is this great, "can't stop listening to", "I can't believe that they did that" music?  No, of course not, but it is still very good in my opinion.  People complain when bands repeat the same formulaic music (DT) but then they also complain when they change their sound because why couldn't they have recaptured the sound of CTTE or TOTO or Relayer.   (Now up to track 6 and still liking all of the songs, and I know that I really like Endless Dream so I still like this album).

 

I guess some of my frustration is probably similar to Stonebeard's thread regarding elitism.  I certainly find many things in common with many people on this site, but then the negative comments come regarding these "poppier" albums that I like, but many don't and it is just frustrating.  To which of course the response is "Who cares?".  Which is true, I like what I like, and since I am happy liking what I like that is all that matters. 

 

For some reason either my ITunes or my computer's CD player is acting up.  The last couple of days my ITunes has become nonresponsive after playing every other song on the CD.  Now this is really frustrating.  My other frustrations are just trivial ramblings to pass the time.  Although I definitely enjoy the positive feedback.  Thanks for helping me on my road to prog enlightenment.