Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra

Why are we debating an arguing in the "genre of the week" thread"? I don't know if it's a rule or not, but I find it very rude to the spirit of the thread. It's like calling somebody you hate a "****ing retard" on his or her birthday. Completely uncalled for. There are other threads to bitch about things in.

Now, As for the concept of technical skill. Prog is NOT about technical skill, but requires you to use your technical skill to the fullest. Many people are kind of ignorant on how little technical skill you are required to have in mainstream rock in comparison to genres like classical, or jazz. Prog however throws that concept out the window, and forces an instrumentalist to showcase the really sort of suppressed skill that most rock doesn't allow to develop.

The reason for this however is NOT to show off. Prog is about challenging oneself. It's about making the most difficult music possible so that next time you make music, you have something to push yourself to top. Inherited strongly from Jazz, prog forces an instrumentalist to develop a relationship with his, or her, instrument. Also, though, prog enforces the unit to work together, each of which contributing the fullest of a member's skill to the greater good of the sound as whole.

As for length, **** it, I love lengthy songs. Too many people are pacified with the 3-4 minute radio formula of instant gratification, and mindless hooks on loop. Prog forces the listener to think. Is it more difficult to get through a prog epic? Yes, it is. But saying that's a dent on quality is like saying that The Bearenstein Bears books are superior to Moby **** because they are easier to get through. It's missing out on the real point of what prog is about.

Prog is a genre that typifies man's will to discover himself, and his fullest potential. It's not dead, it can never really be dead. Whether it be in the mainstream or not, it's the spirit of prog that counts, really, and for that reason, this is a week well deserved.

Mrd00d

What a great week. This thread might go for pages and pages.

This DVD just came out pretty recently. Loved the album version but this is pretty awesome.

Transatlantic f. Steve Hackett - Return of the Giant Hogweed (Genesis cover)



Portnoy - drums
Morse - keys/vocals
Trewavas - bass
Stolt - guitar

__________________
Mrd00d's Last.fm

Bulldog

I won't lie; me and prog rock are just never gonna hit it off. Pretty much all of what I've heard of it I haven't really liked.

There are a couple of exceptions though. I love what I've got of Mike Oldfield in my music collection (Tubular Bells I-III and Ommadawn) for example.



^ I think I can level with Oldfield's work more as it takes in a very new age kinda sound, which is something I really dig.

And then there's Camel's Mirage which is just all kinds of awesome;



And I haven't listened to Jethro Tull properly before (if ever), but from this cover...



...and everything I've been told about Thick As a Brick, I guess I might like them.

Guybrush

I'm having a harder time finding a real love for recent prog as 70s music just has a special place in my heart. Although I listen to quite a bit of prog, almost all of it is from that decade.

Anyways, here's a swedish favourite : Samla Mammas Manna and their opening track from 1973 record "Måltid". Pure avant-prog genius

__________________
Something Completely Different

Dotoar

A couple of obscure favourites of mine:

__________________

Dotoar

Cameltoe!

__________________

Guybrush

Certif1ed, it's very hard to write a very few paragraphs introduction post about prog which is entirely accurate and does justice to a whole genere. I think you would've complained anyway because your comments are nitpicky. For example you mention that use of untraditional time signatures wasn't that widespread. I never wrote that it was. I wrote that it was something they had in common, so that's a nitpick. You write that all prog musicians were not excellent at playing instruments. That's a given. When King Crimson released their debut, it had huge influence on prog. Part of that was because their bar-raising skills at playing. Sure, instrumental excellence may not flavour the sound of every band as much, but was there ever a rock genre before when it had the same amount of importance? If you're sitting here in our time judging what they did then and thinking "Nahh, they're not that good", then you're doing it wrong. Your mind is out of the context of that time. And besides, skill is often treated as something entirely subjective. Many people here write that Yngwie Malmsteen is a **** guitar player, just because they hate his music.

The only way to satisfy a nitpick is generally to let them do it themselves, so if you want to give it a shot, go ahead and do a write-up. I'll exchange it for the one I've written in the OP.

__________________
Something Completely Different

Mrd00d

Rishloo is a 2000s prog rock band. Prog archives had them, listed as crossover prog. Whatever... Influenced by Tool, vocalist sounds similar to Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, Tool, and his own style.





Porcupine Tree, pretty great 90s era albums...

This is my favorite...



and here's one for you 70s diehards...

Tasavallan Presidentii

__________________
Mrd00d's Last.fm

Urban Hat€monger ?

I've always seen the musical differences in Prog & Punk as a bit like screwing women.

Prog is like the mousy plain girl who's kinky as hell in bed once you get to know her.

Punk is like the stunningly attractive girl that grabs your attention straight away & you might only get a bunk up in the back of a dark alley but you remember it forever.

__________________

Dotoar

As the librarian took off her glasses and let her hair down, ELP released "Love beach". (And someone got raped by "Never mind the bollocks").

__________________