The Prog & Fusion Album Club

Guybrush · 03-07-2011, 02:55 AM

I forgot to reset last week's poll .. I'm sorry! For that reason, I thought I would choose the album with the second most votes from last time as this week's homework album. That album is ..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

Mike Oldfield - Amarok (1990)

Far better than the ever-lauded Tubular Bells IMO, this 60 minute, 1 track effort from the master of ambient-prog is Oldfield's finest moment. Like previous works, Oldfield is responsible for most of the eclectic instrumentation. Worldbeat atmospherics, stabs at synthwork which wouldn't be too far out of place in a Legend of Zelda game, insanely good guitar and bass and loads of percussion are but a few of the things you'll hear in Amarok, but such is but a modest overview of how grand this suite is and I couldn't do it justice in 10 paragraphs, much less this one.

But basically, this is top class world-prog. fusion, and one of the 90's Holy Grails of prog. for those interested, so hope a few of you give it a whirl. xD

I've also made a thread for last week's homework album

http://www.musicbanter.com/prog-psyc...ht-1973-a.html

TockTockTock · 03-08-2011, 03:14 PM

Here's a GREAT album that I recently discovered (thanks to Anteater), and that I'll nominate. It's more fusion than prog, though.

The only thing I would like to add is that this album is called Lemurian Music and that it was released in 1974.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

Mu – S/T (1971)

"Captain Beefheart's #1 slide guitarist playing some killer psychedelic blues with friends."

1. Ain't No Blues (4:08)
2. Ballad Of Brother Lew (4:34)
3. Blue Form (4:09)
4. Interlude (1:59)
5. Nobody Wants To Shine (4:12)
6. Eternal Thirst (9:38)
7. Too Naked For Demetrius (2:36)
8. Mumbella Day (3:24)
9. The Clouds Went That Way (3:10)

The world is full of questions that may never be answered: Where do we go when we die? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop? Dude, where's my car? What would Captain Beefheart's Magic Band sound like doing psychedelic/jazzy rock?

We may never get to the bottom of most of those inquiries, but the last of them is brought to light in a spectacularly trippy fashion here on Mu's extremely rare yet fucking amazing 1971 debut, featuring Jeff Cotton from CB on slide-guitar and saxophone, as well as a host of other amazing musicians such as Merrell Fankhauser on vocals. Fun and fantastic while still retaining a very tight experimental edge, this is a work very different in feel and approach to most of Captain Beefheart's menagerie of records, but stands out more than anything Jeff Cotton did with Don Glen Vliet in some places in the sheer grooves issued, but never to the point where you forget to be engaged in what you're listening to.

Don't be fooled by the "blues-rock" tag either; this is a finely varied effort across the map, tipping its hat off to folk and art-rock even while it picks away to a West Coast sunset from 1967 with some sax crying out toward the rising night. Typical blues-bars will suddenly expand into odd time signatures without backing out any inch of melody or lick, a testament to the skill of Cotton and living proof that such a fantastic combination of elements and genre-fusion don't come around very often. This is best illustrated on tracks such as 'Nobody Wants To Shine' and the 9-minute cruncher 'Eternal Thirst', the latter of which morphs into something like Afro-pop midway through and only gets better as the minutes tick on by.

Ultimately, Mu's self-titled does a lot of things right and pretty much nothing wrong. It's got a bit of crossover appeal for nearly everyone, from folks who love the avant-garde to people who go nuclear for the blues and psychedelic rock, sitting at a wonderfully balanced happy place between some of Beefheart's more impenetrable songwriting and some of the more straightforward, dynamic energy that's seen more often in Krautrock and progressive rock circles.

Guybrush · 03-12-2011, 02:07 AM

Hey guys

I've reset the poll! We don't have much time to vote before monday, so please be quick! One of the reasons I'm slow this week is my computer basically broke (video card gone kaput) so I'm sorry about that. I'll start to reset the polls on monday now along with everything else I do here that day

Guybrush · 03-14-2011, 05:35 PM

This week's homework will be Gentle Giant's Free Hand ..

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

Gentle Giant - Free Hand (1975)

Although popular on musicbanter and in prog communities in general, some here may not know Gentle Giant. They were an extremely talented prog band from England largely made up by multi-instrumentalists whose collective musical style and compositions were creative and unique. They were perhaps just a bit too strange to ever quite tap into the mainstream like contemporaries Yes or ELP, but their influence within the prog scene is significant and far reaching both in time and space, making them a must-know for anyone who's serious about exploring prog rock.

The general consensus is that the bands first 7 studio albums are all gems of the prog genre. Free Hand from 1975 is the last in this line and is generally very well liked by fans. Like the other albums, it features some hard rock flavours, medieval influences, a capellas and more, often within a single track. However, I consider Free Hand to be slightly easier to get into compared to many of their earlier albums (except perhaps their 1970 debut) and it's also one of my favourite GG albums. I figure it's as good an entry point into this super-interesting band as any. Highly recommended!

And I've made a discussion thread for Mike Oldfield's Amarok.

http://www.musicbanter.com/prog-psyc...ok-1990-a.html

Guybrush · 03-21-2011, 07:59 PM

Hey guys!

I'm sorry, I've been a bit busy the last days and so I haven't been here on MB much. I did not sort out the poll for this week's album, so I suggest that we keep listening to Gentle Giant and then I'll fix a poll for next week's album tomorrow. Is that alright?

Anteater · 03-21-2011, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

Hey guys!

I'm sorry, I've been a bit busy the last days and so I haven't been here on MB much. I did not sort out the poll for this week's album, so I suggest that we keep listening to Gentle Giant and then I'll fix a poll for next week's album tomorrow. Is that alright?

Aye aye capitan!

Guybrush · 03-24-2011, 05:37 AM

Poll's been reset

Please vote for next week's album!

Guybrush · 03-28-2011, 03:21 AM

This week's homework album is Mu's Mu!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

Mu – S/T (1971)

"Captain Beefheart's #1 slide guitarist playing some killer psychedelic blues with friends."

1. Ain't No Blues (4:08)
2. Ballad Of Brother Lew (4:34)
3. Blue Form (4:09)
4. Interlude (1:59)
5. Nobody Wants To Shine (4:12)
6. Eternal Thirst (9:38)
7. Too Naked For Demetrius (2:36)
8. Mumbella Day (3:24)
9. The Clouds Went That Way (3:10)

The world is full of questions that may never be answered: Where do we go when we die? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop? Dude, where's my car? What would Captain Beefheart's Magic Band sound like doing psychedelic/jazzy rock?

We may never get to the bottom of most of those inquiries, but the last of them is brought to light in a spectacularly trippy fashion here on Mu's extremely rare yet fucking amazing 1971 debut, featuring Jeff Cotton from CB on slide-guitar and saxophone, as well as a host of other amazing musicians such as Merrell Fankhauser on vocals. Fun and fantastic while still retaining a very tight experimental edge, this is a work very different in feel and approach to most of Captain Beefheart's menagerie of records, but stands out more than anything Jeff Cotton did with Don Glen Vliet in some places in the sheer grooves issued, but never to the point where you forget to be engaged in what you're listening to.

Don't be fooled by the "blues-rock" tag either; this is a finely varied effort across the map, tipping its hat off to folk and art-rock even while it picks away to a West Coast sunset from 1967 with some sax crying out toward the rising night. Typical blues-bars will suddenly expand into odd time signatures without backing out any inch of melody or lick, a testament to the skill of Cotton and living proof that such a fantastic combination of elements and genre-fusion don't come around very often. This is best illustrated on tracks such as 'Nobody Wants To Shine' and the 9-minute cruncher 'Eternal Thirst', the latter of which morphs into something like Afro-pop midway through and only gets better as the minutes tick on by.

Ultimately, Mu's self-titled does a lot of things right and pretty much nothing wrong. It's got a bit of crossover appeal for nearly everyone, from folks who love the avant-garde to people who go nuclear for the blues and psychedelic rock, sitting at a wonderfully balanced happy place between some of Beefheart's more impenetrable songwriting and some of the more straightforward, dynamic energy that's seen more often in Krautrock and progressive rock circles.

And I've made a thread for Gentle Giant's Free Hand!

http://www.musicbanter.com/prog-psyc...nd-1975-a.html

Guybrush · 04-05-2011, 06:28 AM

I've now made a discussion thread for Mu's self-titled album here :

http://www.musicbanter.com/prog-psyc...mu-1971-a.html

Sadly, I think that will be the final act from me as leader of the Prog & Fusion Album Club. You may have noticed that I'm no longer a moderator. The reason is that it's become more work than fun - and it's been like that for a while. The Prog & Fusion album club is really what I'm interested in, but we're a very small minority here who like that sort of stuff, it's such a small part of MB. I've been trying to keep something like a sub-community going for a while now, but I don't really believe in it anymore. There is the occasional newcomer, but understandably, they don't tend to stick around. I can relate in a sense; if I wanted to discuss prog and fusion, I wouldn't really sign up on musicbanter. I'd go to progarchives or somewhere else.

So, I figured MB isn't going to change into a place which is really suited for discussing prog & fusion and so I recently created my own site called The Polite Force which focuses on the Canterbury scene. I may start an album club there once it gets some members, but as for me running an album club on MB, that's over with. I'll use MB to discuss other music interests in the future.

Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra · 04-16-2011, 11:34 AM

Everyone forget about this?

03-12-2011, 02:07 AM	#133 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	Hey guys I've reset the poll! We don't have much time to vote before monday, so please be quick! One of the reasons I'm slow this week is my computer basically broke (video card gone kaput) so I'm sorry about that. I'll start to reset the polls on monday now along with everything else I do here that day __________________ Something Completely Different

03-21-2011, 07:59 PM	#135 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	Hey guys! I'm sorry, I've been a bit busy the last days and so I haven't been here on MB much. I did not sort out the poll for this week's album, so I suggest that we keep listening to Gentle Giant and then I'll fix a poll for next week's album tomorrow. Is that alright? __________________ Something Completely Different

03-24-2011, 05:37 AM	#137 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	Poll's been reset Please vote for next week's album! __________________ Something Completely Different

04-05-2011, 06:28 AM	#139 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	I've now made a discussion thread for Mu's self-titled album here : http://www.musicbanter.com/prog-psyc...mu-1971-a.html Sadly, I think that will be the final act from me as leader of the Prog & Fusion Album Club. You may have noticed that I'm no longer a moderator. The reason is that it's become more work than fun - and it's been like that for a while. The Prog & Fusion album club is really what I'm interested in, but we're a very small minority here who like that sort of stuff, it's such a small part of MB. I've been trying to keep something like a sub-community going for a while now, but I don't really believe in it anymore. There is the occasional newcomer, but understandably, they don't tend to stick around. I can relate in a sense; if I wanted to discuss prog and fusion, I wouldn't really sign up on musicbanter. I'd go to progarchives or somewhere else. So, I figured MB isn't going to change into a place which is really suited for discussing prog & fusion and so I recently created my own site called The Polite Force which focuses on the Canterbury scene. I may start an album club there once it gets some members, but as for me running an album club on MB, that's over with. I'll use MB to discuss other music interests in the future. __________________ Something Completely Different