Best ’neo-prog’ keyboard player?
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Topic: Best ’neo-prog’ keyboard player?
Posted By: Progger
Subject: Best ’neo-prog’ keyboard player?
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 18:48
Ok, I know some of those mentioned aren't in 'neo-prog' bands but I thought I would include them!
So who do you think is the best keyboard player to emerge since Emerson, Wakeman, Bardens, Moraz et al?
My two personal favourites are Clive Nolan & Martin Orford!
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Replies:
Posted By: hukt on fonikzz
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 19:09
haha keyboards.....
------------- there is no spoon...
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Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 19:09
Jordan Rudess by about 1000000000 miles
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Posted By: Progger
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 19:12
King of Loss wrote:
Jordan Rudess by about 1000000000 miles |
Isn't he only capable of playing 'one' keyboard on tour?
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Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 19:14
Progger wrote:
King of Loss wrote:
Jordan Rudess by about 1000000000 miles |
Isn't he only capable of playing 'one' keyboard on tour?
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That's his style. Well, its actually two. If you have Live at Budokan bonus disc, watch the Jordan Rudess video.
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Posted By: greenback
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 21:07
martin orford! SURE!
a special mention to Krzysztof Palczewski (collage)
------------- [HEADPINS - LINE OF FIRE: THE RECORD HAVING THE MOST POWERFUL GUITAR SOUND IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF MUSIC!>
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Posted By: Progger
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 21:36
greenback wrote:
martin orford! SURE!
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A great player and composer. Seen him many times with IQ, Jadis and John Wetton. His solo album is also excellent
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Posted By: dropForge
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 22:07
Jordan Rudess plays prog-metal and prog-fusion.
Richard West plays prog-metal.
Erik Norlander plays electronic/symphonic.
What exactly is neo-prog again? 
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Posted By: Cesar Inca
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 22:35
dropForge wrote:
Jordan Rudess plays prog-metal and prog-fusion.
Richard West plays prog-metal.
Erik Norlander plays electronic/symphonic.
What exactly is neo-prog again?
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That's right!! There are a lot of wrong numbers in this poll!
Bodin plays old-fashioned pomp prog in a different decade, while Gardner's band Magellan is getting increasingly closer to prog metal than neo-prog. Where are the keyboardsmen of Citizen Cain, Iluvatar, Metaphor, Satellite and Pallas? They ARE neo-prog.
Regards.
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Posted By: Man Overboard
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 22:50
And Bodin's freaking amazing.
------------- https://soundcloud.com/erin-susan-jennings" rel="nofollow - Bedroom guitarist". Composer, Arranger, Producer. Perfection may not exist, but I may still choose to serve Perfection.
Commissions considered.
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Posted By: Progger
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 22:54
dropForge wrote:
Jordan Rudess plays prog-metal and prog-fusion.
Richard West plays prog-metal.
Erik Norlander plays electronic/symphonic.
What exactly is neo-prog again? 
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Read my first post in the thread. I said some of those listed aren't in 'neo-prog' bands. I'm just trying to get a feel of which modern day keyboard players you guys rate! Jeeeeeez
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Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 23:16
Clive Nolan by large, strongly influenced by Tony Banks and as him a band man, great style and sensibility.
Iván
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Posted By: Progger
Date Posted: May 05 2005 at 23:27
ivan_2068 wrote:
Clive Nolan by large, strongly influenced by Tony Banks and as him a band man, great style and sensibility.
Iván
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I'm glad he formed 'Arena' as I felt his playing in 'Pendragon' was always restricted by Barret. Nolan has a great stage presence for a keyboard player and his solo's on the Arena epics are top drawer.
His Shadowland albums are worth checking out but one thing he isn't good at is singing.
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Posted By: dropForge
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 00:12
Pendraggin' sucks. Shadowland isn't far behind, I'm afraid.
Clive should stick to Arena. 
I do like the first Strangers On A Train CD. Pretty cool.
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Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 00:18
Honestly I stay with Pendragon over Arena, The Masquerade Overture is an excellent album.
Iván
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Posted By: Progger
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 00:58
ivan_2068 wrote:
Honestly I stay with Pendragon over Arena, The Masquerade Overture is an excellent album.
Iván
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Agree it's an excellent album but Pendragon swayed too much into Pink Floyd territory. Arena started off by sounding like Marillion clones but developed their own as they progressed. John Mitchell coming on board is the main reason for that IMO. 'Immortal' & 'Contagion' in particular are far better albums than 'The Masquerade Overture' IMHO
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Posted By: video vertigo
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 02:32
my vote goes to Okumoto
------------- "The rock and roll business is pretty absurd, but the world of serious music is much worse." - Zappa
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Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 03:04
Progger wrote:
My two personal favourites are Clive Nolan & Martin Orford!
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I totally agree .
I voted for Nolan, because I especially like Shadowland, and he did a lot of things for (neo-)progressive rock, like Arena, Strangers On A Train, the Tracy Hitchings - album etc . I love Pendragon too, though indeed he is restricted there. Nevertheless I like his keyboards there a lot as well, especially on The Window Of Life and The Masquerade Overture. But my favourite Nolan - cd is Casino, where he and Geoff Mann really did a peak performance.
My nr. 2 would be mr. Orford, although I do think that IQ is not what is used to be anymore. I miss a sense of adventure. But I love The Wake, Nomzamo, Are You Sitting Comfortably and Ever. So his solo-album is good too? It's still on my list of cd's - I - must - check - out - sometimes.
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 03:22
Orford. (his solo album is excellent).I was listening to Subterannea last night ...superb album.Orofrd is more of a Tony Banks type player while Rudess is an Emerson/ Wakeman type.
I also rate Par Lindh,Clive Nolan and the very talented Rob Reed (Magenta)
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Posted By: Valarius
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 03:36
King of Loss wrote:
Jordan Rudess by about 1000000000 miles |
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Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 05:30
My vote goes to Mark Kelly, who has an instinctive feel for strong melody and creating exactly the right sound and atmosphere.
That, to me, is real musical talent - not technical prowess, which anyone can learn 
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Posted By: sigod
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 08:20
Yer man Martin everytime.
All hail Mr Orford.

------------- I must remind the right honourable gentleman that a monologue is not a decision.
- Clement Atlee, on Winston Churchill
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Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 08:23
Mark Kelly. Mr Offord in very close second for me. 
------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
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Posted By: Jim Prog Wizard
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 08:48
Progger wrote:
Isn't he only capable of playing 'one' keyboard on tour? |
Rudess uses one "master" keyboard through which he runs the sounds of multiple keyboards that are stored at the back of the stage. He only needs the one!
Also, I think he's the best out of those mentioned. A virtuoso if ever I saw one.
------------- "Progressive Rock is the ultimate form of music" (Mikael Akerfeldt, 2003)
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Posted By: MikeSweedish
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 08:55
Definetly Jordan Rudess!!! Many slate him as Dream Theaters worst keyboardist(compared to Shrinian, Moore) but I love those goofy little parts he trails off on, Change of Seasons live on Metropolis 2000, and some verry impressive solos(Dance of Eternity).
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Posted By: Cesar Inca
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 08:57
ivan_2068 wrote:
Honestly I stay with Pendragon over Arena, The Masquerade Overture is an excellent album.
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An excellent album, indeed, but ARENA's career is more consistent, their music feels much more energetic (even for the slow numbers), and contains a much larger amount of gems (75 % of "Songs from a Lion's Cage", 50 % of "The Cage", "The Visitor", "Contagion"). Pendragon's discography is soooooo uneven... and they get soooo corny so many times -- Twelfth Night, Citizen Cain and IQ kick their butt, indeed.
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Posted By: Progger
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 17:28
Surprised no one mentioned Oliver Wakeman. A 'chip off the old block'. His two concept albums he made with Clive Nolan 'Jabberwocky' & 'Hound Of The Baskervilles' are excellent. I suppose it's hard to tell who's playing what though!
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Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 18:08
MikeSweedish wrote:
Definetly Jordan Rudess!!! Many slate him as Dream Theaters worst keyboardist(compared to Shrinian, Moore) but I love those goofy little parts he trails off on, Change of Seasons live on Metropolis 2000, and some verry impressive solos(Dance of Eternity). |
Jordan is miles better than Derek and Kevin in the playing aspect fields.
Other keyboardists I like on there are Neal Morse (I'm a big Trans-Atl fan) and Tomas Bodin (I love the Flower Kings), two really impressive keyboardists and in Neal Morse's case- amazing singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, etc.
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Posted By: Miaugion
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 18:23
I've voted for Martin Orford as his solo in "Further Away" is ferking amazing.
Tomas Bodin is a very enjoyable piano player though.
And the "Golden Sausage" goes to Mr Clive Embarrassing Nolan for his unswerving interest in prog parodies. ("Flat..line, lala, waiting for a sign, lala", "And we'll go hun...ting deer, lala", deedledeedledeedle, doodle, widdle, widdle, widdle, widdlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddly, "... a clown's tale, lala". Argh.)
------------- You house proud town mouse
ha ha, charade you are
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Posted By: Progger
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 18:25
Posted By: Arsillus
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 18:56
Progger wrote:
King of Loss wrote:
Jordan Rudess by about 1000000000 miles |
Isn't he only capable of playing 'one' keyboard on tour?
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What does one keyboard have to do with anything? He's just as good. And he does it with one hand sometimes too.
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Posted By: Progger
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 19:45
Arsillus wrote:
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What does one keyboard have to do with anything? He's just as good. And he does it with one hand sometimes too.
[/QUOTE]
Because he may not have the dexterity & co-ordination to play two keyboards at the same time without hitting some 'duff' notes
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Posted By: threefates
Date Posted: May 06 2005 at 23:57
But if he can do on one keyboard.. what others need 3 for... then whose the duff one...?? 
I agree that Jordan is the more talented one technically, however his compostion skills are somewhat weak. I'd still pick him over all the rest listed.
------------- THIS IS ELP
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Posted By: dropForge
Date Posted: May 07 2005 at 00:16
People, people. The mystery behind Jordan's "mini-arsenal" revealed:
Endorsements. For a while, he was Kurzweil's boy, so all he used was their latest, greatest keyboard workstation in concert. Plus, think about the bands he was playing in:
Dixie Dregs. Imagine "battling" Steve Morse and Jerry Goodman for room to lay down some licks.* That must be quite a task. Not to mention the busy rhythm section. Jordan got to stretch out more with Rod as the duo, RPM, right?
*Of course, Jan Hammer had to do just that in Mahavishnu Orchestra. But not everybody can be Jan Hammer.
Dream Theater. Egads! The caterwauling of James Labrie. The nonstop crunch-chordings of John Petrucci. And John Myung and Mike Portnoy make a huge racket, too! It would be pretty stupid for Jordan to try and pull a Wakeman.
Anyway, Jordan is nearly 50, and has had a long, if somewhat understated (pre-Dregs, that is) career in music. He used to tour with bigger rigs, no doubt.
I agree that Jordan is the more talented one technically, however his compostion skills are somewhat weak. I'd still pick him over all the rest listed. |
Okay, Bobby! 
Actually, I don't even see why Neal Morse is on this poll. I view him as more of a "singer-songwriter" dude than a keyboardist. He plays geetar, too.
Too bad Jens isn't in that poll. 
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Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: May 07 2005 at 18:57
Well, well, Which Jens would it be?
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Posted By: novahead
Date Posted: May 09 2005 at 21:24
oh come on man i dont know most of these dudes (im pretty new to prog music) but jordan rudess shouldnt be up there sure hes insanely fast but what prog metal musician isnt? He has no taste at all. Did you here live at boudokai? I mean the rest of the band was kicking ass and he played fast but his note choices were umm less then satisfactory
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Posted By: tuxon
Date Posted: May 09 2005 at 21:43
Clive Nolan for me, Pendragon, Arena, Shadowland and many more bands/projects.
------------- I'm always almost unlucky _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Id5ZcnjXSZaSMFMC Id5LM2q2jfqz3YxT
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Posted By: Calvo
Date Posted: May 10 2005 at 09:50
Jordan Rudess is not a neo progressive player. But he is the best in the world so my vote goes to him.
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Posted By: Tristan Mulders
Date Posted: May 24 2005 at 12:07
Clive Nolan of Arena is the best one, closely followed by mister Mark Kelly of Marillion
------------- Interested in my reviews?
You can find them http://www.progarchives.com/Collaborators.asp?id=784 - HERE
"...He will search until He's found a Way to take the Days..."
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Posted By: Pablo_P
Date Posted: May 31 2005 at 04:46
NOLAN... great work in ARENA & PENDRAGON... 
------------- Pablo P.
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Posted By: Spacemac
Date Posted: June 24 2005 at 18:39
Martin Orford
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