So, which album should be next week's Prog & Fusion Album Club Homework? If you have no idea what this is about, check out the following thread :
PS! I encourage you all to read each album's write-up before you decide. Oh, and poll is public!
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior (1976)
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior (1976)
This is a fusion album and arguably the most popular in the Return to Forever discography, the band led by keyboardist Chick Corea who previously played with Miles Davis. The line-up here is incredible, Chick Corea on keyboards, Al Di Meola on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass and Lenny White on drums. Unlike a lot of the improv-flavoured fusion out there, this album is incredibly composed with complex arrangements played with amazing skill. The production is also damn near-perfect!
Supposedly, after recording it, they figured this was as good as they could get and so this was the last RTF album with that line-up, similar to why Bill Bruford left Yes after Close to the Edge.
I obviously know this one, but I'd like to get to know it even better. You should as well! 
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Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow (1976)
Quote:
Originally Posted by boo boo
Olias of Sunhillow by Jon Anderson.
This album is very strange indeed. Jon plays almost all of the instruments here (guitar, harp, percussion, synthesizers, bass) and all the backing vocals. No he is not a virtuoso like his bandmates, though I'm surprised by his harp playing chops, shame he never got to use them in Yes (except Wonderous Stories if I recall).
The emphasis here is Jon's vocal harmonies, the layering of instruments and the ambient and ethereal atmosphere throughout.
This is a hard album to describe, some have called it proto new age music, I dunno about that, but there is no "rock" in here whatsoever, the emphasis is on repetition and atmosphere rather than complex rock suites and musicianship, and it sometimes has an oriental vibe to it. The lyrics are a change of pace for Jon. There's actually a story and coherent narrative here, which is inspired by the art for Fragile, about an an alien civilization who make a trip to a new world.
And that's pretty much the best possible metaphor I can make for the music itself. Certainly not for all tastes. But I really love it.
I think people forget that Jon really is a great songwriter and his contributions to Yes are really underestimated. |
When an album has been decided on as the coming week's homework, we'll give people a week to absorb it, then a discussion thread will be created for that album!
PFAC Homework for Week 24 Poll
Linear Mode
