Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation - Anathema - Untouchable 2. Emotion vs technical

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Anathema - Untouchable 2. Emotion vs technical

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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
Forum Description: Discuss specific prog bands and their members or a specific sub-genre
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=120399
Printed Date: February 22 2025 at 14:52
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Topic: Anathema - Untouchable 2. Emotion vs technical

Posted By: Ridgeback
Subject: Anathema - Untouchable 2. Emotion vs technical
Date Posted: July 02 2019 at 06:55

When Lee Douglas sings her part of the song, it gives me outright chills. Makes the hair on my arm stand up. It’s the only song I have ever heard that facilitates that response. Truly emotional and just haunting. That song (parts 1-2) is truly a masterpiece. The YouTube video of anathema playing at the ancient structure in Bulgaria was a perfect backdrop for the lament contained in this song. The more I hear of anathema the more impressed I am. The emotions inherent in their songs strike far more a chord in me than the cold, detached technical brilliance from a King Crimson, Yes, Genesis etc. When I think about it, if I want utter technical brilliance I’d just listen to Tribal Tech - a musician cant get more technically perfect than them.

Replies:

Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 02 2019 at 23:52

I totally agree about Anathema and thank you so much for your post. I was in the midst of replying with a long message and accidentally clicked the wrong button and lost the whole thing (aaargggh!) Have you checked out the Liverpool Cathedral gig?

The general point about those seventies prog bands being a bit emotionally detached I think has some validity. I know that I have been able to embrace many bands that are clearly not of the same technical level as those you name because they have 'soul'. IQ are one obvious example but more recently Anathema , Big Big Train and Porcupine Tree have also encompassed a more rounded emotional experience that isn't just about how many notes and tempo changes can be crammed in to a piece of music.

Anyway keep on posting please!

Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 03 2019 at 21:19

I do love some Anathema, though I'm rather new to them and only know their albums since "We're here because we're here". My favourite is Weather Systems, and the first one I got it Distant Satellites, which I like just about as much. However, I don't really understand the usual complaint about emotion on prog, or the classic prog bands. I can hardly imagine a more emotional song than Epitaph, and starless can capture the agnst as well as Anathema can, with that sad melody beginning the song, and then making it's triumphal return at the end. And then there's things like Prince Rupert Awakes, Bolero, Exiles. And Schizoid Man can be very accurate at transmiting some, well, schizofrenic emotions. And then sadness and desperation are not the only emotions there are, and so I would say Yes comes in, often portraying some more positive emotions. And so on.

Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 04 2019 at 00:00

I imagine its probably not easy to make music that is emotion free. The likes of Pete Hammill and Peter Gabriel certainly had no problem getting emotion across. However ELP and Yes were often accused of cold technicality and they are more admired for their playing.

Anathema and the other bands I mentioned are not exactly lacking on the technical front either. In terms of modern bands Haken are one of the best technically I listen to but they do get across emotion really well also. So it's a complex argument and probably more down to taste as much as anything.

Posted By: Ridgeback
Date Posted: July 08 2019 at 07:01

Coming down to taste is undoubtably accurate, since interpretation differs for all of us. I hear a Yes or King Crimson song and while I hear the many facets of the music, I hear (and see when video is avbl) the utter lack of emotion. It’s as though it’s all occurring by rote. I hear/see Anathema or Sylvan or Pendragon and I see/hear passion and a locked in body/emotional/mental state that pours through the songs. I appreciate the talent and brilliance that a King Crimson puts forth, but invokes no other emotion in me other then a ‘job well done, lads. Played perfectly’. Cold sterile endeavor accomplished. Compared to the raw emotions that an anathema both puts forth and creates via their music / live shows.

Worst concert I ever went to was in the late 80s - the Cars. They just stood on stage motionless and emotion-free and cold sang their songs. Time and money not well spent. That’s what I see and hear within too much prog rock. The concentration and motive to make complex music at the cost of not reaching for ones soul.

Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 09 2019 at 00:12

I find that VDGG and Genesis (early years) carry as much emotion as anything I've heard although they also have plenty of complexity obviously.

King Crimson also in my view have plenty of emotion in their music for a band with high technical ideals.

Prog rock definetly got 'harder' in sound through the seventies for a lot of bands. It did become as much about the bombast and performing in giant stadiums as being innovative and probaly a major reason why it's popularity waned. In the rush to be the best techncial band , many lost their way and the whole 'jazz fusion' thing was a massive yawn to me. Hey ho!