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Progressive rock

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RDreamer said:
Pain of Salvation's Road Salt Two is also a pretty brilliant album. At first I didn't quite like it as much as RS1, but it's grown on my quite a bit, especially after hearing the limited edition with the two bonus tracks which are callbacks. One of those bonus tracks is a great callback to one of my favorites from RS1 (Of Dust). It's still got that old sound that RS1 had, but it sounds a bit different. Healing Now is definitely my favorite track, but To the Shoreline, Eleven, and 1979 are way up there, too.
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Holy shit. Was completely oblivious that this even existed.
 
Yeah, how are those remasters? Are they as good as the Beatles remasters of a few years ago? I'm not sure I want to replace my whole PF collection since they sound pretty good the way it is, but I'm curious.
 
Fleet_of_Foot said:
JnGel.jpg


Anyone listening to this today? I'm just finishing my first play through.

Despite being a HUGE Porcupine Tree fan, I couldn't get into SW's first solo album. This one seems better, but it's really hard to say after only one listen. I'll listen to it at least once more today.

It's definitely not much like Porcupine Tree, which is fine. It's pretty mellow, with a lot of instruments I'm not used to hearing.

So much good stuff coming out lately, with both Opeth and Dream Theater. I love that there's a Steven Wilson/Mikael Åkerfeldt collaboration album coming out in the spring, but I have a feeling there may not be a new Porcupine Tree album until 2013 and that's what I'm most excited about. Hard to imagine how they're going to follow up The Incident.
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LOVE this album. It just may very well be my 2011 AOTY. IDK. I might check back in here in December to edit this post, or whatever. I think I've only heard one song from Porcupine Tree, so I had no idea who this Wilson fellow was till clicking in here.

Have not heard the new Dream Theater album. From what I've gathered online though, the new DT and this Steven Wilson solo debut are among the top five highly rated prog albums released this year. I'm waiting for the upcoming Animals as Leaders album (I think we all are).

These have been my favorite albums in the last three years:

About Tess - Song of the Bird
Animals As Leaders - s/t
Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
Ephemeral Sun - Harvest Aorta

As for 70s stuff, for Italian prog, I like Arti & Mestieri, and like somebody in here said - DAT DRUMMAH. I'm particularly fond of prog that is on the heavy side of jazz fusion. Been meaning to give Triana a listen. Japanese? Yonin Bayashi, no question.
 
RDreamer said:
Grace for Drowning is amazing. It's absolutely my album of the year, and I kind of knew it would be. It might even compete to be one of my favorite releases of all time. It's just exactly what I wanted to hear right now. My favorite track for right now is definitely Deform to Form a Star. My other favorites right off the bat were Postcard, Index, and Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye. Raider II is also starting to really hit me. It's very King Crimson (vocal line taken straight from Cirkus), but it's much darker than KC really ever went.

Pain of Salvation's Road Salt Two is also a pretty brilliant album. At first I didn't quite like it as much as RS1, but it's grown on my quite a bit, especially after hearing the limited edition with the two bonus tracks which are callbacks. One of those bonus tracks is a great callback to one of my favorites from RS1 (Of Dust). It's still got that old sound that RS1 had, but it sounds a bit different. Healing Now is definitely my favorite track, but To the Shoreline, Eleven, and 1979 are way up there, too.
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Jesus Christ, Grace for Drowning is pretty damn awesome. Raider II is sick...I have no idea if they'll be able to play this song live.
 
So, I'm a huge Dream Theater fan and their music takes up something like 70 to 80% of my music listening time. I've tried many different prog bands like Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation, The Flower Kings, Opeth and Ayreon but none have really hooked me as much as Dream Theater has.

But recently on a holiday to the UK, I picked this up:

411ED3G9DCL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


I've only just started listening to the two CDs but my goodness, what an awesome band. I am a huge fan of John Myung and Yes has got some truly awesome bass lines. Now, my question is, how much ground does these two CDs cover in terms of the essential listening for Yes. Any particular iconic or classic albums that I *MUST* pick up and listen to in its entirety to know this band even more?
 
ElyrionX said:
So, I'm a huge Dream Theater fan and their music takes up something like 70 to 80% of my music listening time. I've tried many different prog bands like Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation, The Flower Kings, Opeth and Ayreon but none have really hooked me as much as Dream Theater has.

But recently on a holiday to the UK, I picked this up:

411ED3G9DCL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


I've only just started listening to the two CDs but my goodness, what an awesome band. I am a huge fan of John Myung and Yes has got some truly awesome bass lines. Now, my question is, how much ground does these two CDs cover in terms of the essential listening for Yes. Any particular iconic or classic albums that I *MUST* pick up and listen to in its entirety to know this band even more?
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Their only real good full albums are: Fragile, Close To The Edge, Relayer and Tales From Topographic Oceans. This is when the band had arguable their best lineup (Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman, Bruford/White)

That collection pretty much has all the other good songs covered.
 
Also, I totally forgot about this thread back when I posted my impressions of Dream Theater's new album in the other thread about a month or two ago. Might as well repost them here:

Alright. So the new album has been out for a couple of weeks now. Anyone else listening to it?

My impressions: fucking awesome! Like many of their older classics, this album keep growing on me the more I listen to it. On the whole, it's far more proggy than their last few albums which tended to skew towards the metal side of the genre. John Myung can finally be heard in the mix again which is a truly wonderful thing and I think this is La Brie's best performance in a long long time as well.

With Portnoy's departure, the drums sound remarkably different as well. They no longer stand out as much as before and I'm not so sure if this is the best thing. Don't get me wrong, Mangini does a fantastic job in this album but Portnoy's sound was just so much a signature of DT's sound that I *think* I might miss it.
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After even more listening, a lot of the songs have grown on me even more. Outcry is sounding better and better and has some truly epic moments.

My only compaint so far is that the album does not sound very well-produced at all. I am listening to the tracks (lossless) on some pretty high end audio equipment (both speakers and headphones) and there's always a certain "muffle" to the sound and overall there's just a lack of clarity and separation. Are there any other audiophiles in here having the same experience?
 
ElyrionX said:
So, I'm a huge Dream Theater fan and their music takes up something like 70 to 80% of my music listening time. I've tried many different prog bands like Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation, The Flower Kings, Opeth and Ayreon but none have really hooked me as much as Dream Theater has.

But recently on a holiday to the UK, I picked this up:

411ED3G9DCL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


I've only just started listening to the two CDs but my goodness, what an awesome band. I am a huge fan of John Myung and Yes has got some truly awesome bass lines. Now, my question is, how much ground does these two CDs cover in terms of the essential listening for Yes. Any particular iconic or classic albums that I *MUST* pick up and listen to in its entirety to know this band even more?
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Most of the songs from that collection are from The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge. Other albums are represented with only one or two shorter songs.

The next albums you should buy:

Tales from Topographic Oceans
Relayer (very jazzy with Patrick Moraz on keys)
Going For the One (Awaken!)
Drama
Keys to Ascension 2 (live CD has Close to the Edge, studio CD has Mind Drive which is Yes' last great epic.)

Plus Chris Squire's first and only solo album Fish Out of Water
 
Drama is my favorite Yes album. The lack of Jon Anderson is actually refreshing and Chris Squire's basslines and Steve Howe's shredding is God-like on that album.
 
ElyrionX said:
Also, I totally forgot about this thread back when I posted my impressions of Dream Theater's new album in the other thread about a month or two ago. Might as well repost them here:



After even more listening, a lot of the songs have grown on me even more. Outcry is sounding better and better and has some truly epic moments.

My only compaint so far is that the album does not sound very well-produced at all. I am listening to the tracks (lossless) on some pretty high end audio equipment (both speakers and headphones) and there's always a certain "muffle" to the sound and overall there's just a lack of clarity and separation. Are there any other audiophiles in here having the same experience?
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I can't speak to the quality of the audio, but after listening to it a few more times it's grown on me but it still doesn't have the memorable qualities that I like from Dream Theater albums.
 
Thanks guys. I did some googling as well and it does seem like the Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge are the three key albums for Yes and those are well-represented on the Ultimate Yes collection already so I'm going to listen to this a bit more and decide how to progress from there in a while.

I also just noticed that I already have Going For The One in my collection which I picked up for cheap at some sale a while back so I'm going to listen to that as well.
 
Entropia said:
Speaking of - where the heck is their new album? Didn't they put out the single for it last year?
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They switched labels so it got pushed to 2012. A live album is supposedly coming out in the fall - probably the shows where they played Moving Pictures in its entirety.

ElyrionX said:
Thanks guys. I did some googling as well and it does seem like the Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge are the three key albums for Yes and those are well-represented on the Ultimate Yes collection already so I'm going to listen to this a bit more and decide how to progress from there in a while.

I also just noticed that I already have Going For The One in my collection which I picked up for cheap at some sale a while back so I'm going to listen to that as well.
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Yup, those are the Yes "classics". Their creative apex is considered to be Tales of Topographic Oceans - 2 discs of super-indulgent, symphonic-level prog. It's a little too bloated for some people, but it's truly an astonishing work.

Tormato is considered to be their absolute worst and regularly gets shit on. I never sat down and listened to it, but I can imagine bad Yes is really bad.
 
ElyrionX said:
Thanks guys. I did some googling as well and it does seem like the Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge are the three key albums for Yes and those are well-represented on the Ultimate Yes collection already so I'm going to listen to this a bit more and decide how to progress from there in a while.

I also just noticed that I already have Going For The One in my collection which I picked up for cheap at some sale a while back so I'm going to listen to that as well.
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Well represented, sure, but they're not fully represented. You need to get out there and buy those three albums, dammit! I just looked at that collection and it doesn't even have Close to the Edge on it!
 
Rush is the greatest band on Earth. That is all.

actually The Jimi Hendrix Experience is, but this is about prog rock so....
 
ElyrionX said:
Also, I totally forgot about this thread back when I posted my impressions of Dream Theater's new album in the other thread about a month or two ago. Might as well repost them here:



After even more listening, a lot of the songs have grown on me even more. Outcry is sounding better and better and has some truly epic moments.

My only compaint so far is that the album does not sound very well-produced at all. I am listening to the tracks (lossless) on some pretty high end audio equipment (both speakers and headphones) and there's always a certain "muffle" to the sound and overall there's just a lack of clarity and separation. Are there any other audiophiles in here having the same experience?
Click to expand...

ADTOE is so good. Just when I think I'm starting to get sick of it I go back a week or so later and it still rocks. I'm no audiophile but you're right, the mix sounds terrible. Mangini in particular is way too low and drowned out.

I started with Yes same as you, with The Ultimate Yes collection. Only other Yes albums I have are Fragile and Relayer; Relayer is still really good, but pretty much every good song on Fragile is on Ultimate Yes. I still need to go back and check out some of the other albums that were recommended in here.
 
dLMN8R said:
This is the first time I've been excited for a Dream Theater album in more than half a decade. Losing Portnoy is probably the best decision they could have made, and the new track sounds great so far. Reading further interviews about how Myung is finally contributing to songwriting and lyrics again, and how Portnoy basically brought them all down, makes me only more excited to hear the new album.
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Holy crap. Lost Portnoy? Where have I been!??
I had slowly lost almost all interest in Dream Theater, especially with the last few albums.
It seemed like they were trying to be too 'metal' for my tastes... which I could see maybe being an effect of Portnoy.
Black Clounds and Chaos weren't terrible but I really miss the Awake and Images and Words early kinda sound.
 
blackwatchplad said:
Holy crap. Lost Portnoy? Where have I been!??
I had slowly lost almost all interest in Dream Theater, especially with the last few albums.
It seemed like they were trying to be too 'metal' for my tastes... which I could see maybe being an effect of Portnoy.
Black Clounds and Chaos weren't terrible but I really miss the Awake and Images and Words early kinda sound.
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Yeah, he left in Sept 2010?

I can't say it was a bad thing. I felt he had far too much control over the band. It was clear he wanted to take it too far into that metal direction and we got things like Train of Thought and Systematic Chaos. :|

Black Clouds... just seemed completely phoned in.
 
teruterubozu said:
They switched labels so it got pushed to 2012. A live album is supposedly coming out in the fall - probably the shows where they played Moving Pictures in its entirety.
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Time Machine: Live In Cleveland? It's out. It's on Spotify, anyway. Yep, it has all of Moving Pictures (including Camera Eye, fuck yes fuck yes fuck yes).

Now they just need to do a tour with all of A Farewell to Kings.
 
Green Scar said:
Time Machine: Live In Cleveland? It's out. It's on Spotify, anyway. Yep, it has all of Moving Pictures (including Camera Eye, fuck yes fuck yes fuck yes).

Now they just need to do a tour with all of A Farewell to Kings.
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As long as they do Hemisphere as well! :D
 
All right guys. Looking for some new music and thought this might be a good place to check. I'm a huge fan of almost anything Steven Wilson touches so needless to say I'm enjoying the new solo album. I have all the PT albums and Blackfield. I really enjoyed the Opeth Damnation album (not a fan of death metal). I have a bunch of Ayreon albums and the Guilt Machine album. A bunch of Dream Theatre and a whole lot of early King Crimson. Love the moodiness of Riverside. I've also really been enjoying Phideaux.

Hopefully this gives a bit of the taste that I enjoy. Not really looking for metal and would prefer something newer. I like melodic, mult-stuctured albums that generally fall more towards the softer side. Pink Floyd like guitar solos and/or piano stuff is always a plus. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
 
If you like Riverside you might know/like Indukti (earlier stuff sounds more like Riverside while the newer stuff seems more heavy). And if you like Steve Wilson you might know/like No Man.

Otherwise you listed most of what I would just recommend you. I used to like a couple of tracks of Sylvan and I am a big fan of Amplifier (The Sick Rose, Motorhead), maybe throw in some older Dredg stuff.
 
Jarlaxle said:
All right guys. Looking for some new music and thought this might be a good place to check. I'm a huge fan of almost anything Steven Wilson touches so needless to say I'm enjoying the new solo album. I have all the PT albums and Blackfield. I really enjoyed the Opeth Damnation album (not a fan of death metal). I have a bunch of Ayreon albums and the Guilt Machine album. A bunch of Dream Theatre and a whole lot of early King Crimson. Love the moodiness of Riverside. I've also really been enjoying Phideaux.

Hopefully this gives a bit of the taste that I enjoy. Not really looking for metal and would prefer something newer. I like melodic, mult-stuctured albums that generally fall more towards the softer side. Pink Floyd like guitar solos and/or piano stuff is always a plus. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
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Anathema: Pick up We're Here Because We're Here and work your way backwards through A Natural Disaster, A Fine Day to Exit, and Judgement. You'll love all of them.
Example - Thin Air

OSI: You can't go wrong with any of these albums, Office of Stretegic Influence, Free, or Blood. Steven Wilson Guests on their first album
Example - Hello Helicopter

No-Man: As he said up there, this is another of Steven Wilson's projects. The singer takes a bit to get used to, but once you do he's pretty magnificent. Check out Schoolyard Ghosts, Together We're Stranger or Returning Jesus.
Example - Truenorth

Memories of Machines: Check out Warm Winter. It came out this year and has the singer from No-Man and the guitarist from Nosound. Has some really Gilmour-esque solos throughout. Really magnificent stuff.
Example - Before We Fall

Pure Reason Revolution: All three of their albums are magnificent. They start out more spacey and proggy but then get a bit more electronic. They're full of vocal melodies you might like since you like Ayreon.
Example - The Twyncyn/Trembling Willows

Dredg: I think El Cielo or The Pariah The Parrot The Delusion might be up your alley.
Example - Same ol Road
 
Been listening to a lot of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso and wondering if anybody has some great albums that are from Italy, France, Spain, or any other country that has a romantic language
 
Jethro said:
Sad, that they are no more at the end of the year.
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Losing them and Oceansize seriously bums me out beyond belief. Those were two of my absolute favorite up and coming bands and some of my top all time, really.
 
Jarate said:
Been listening to a lot of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso and wondering if anybody has some great albums that are from Italy, France, Spain, or any other country that has a romantic language
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What ymmv linked, also let's see what I can remember in other languages.

Triana - Abre la puerta (Spain) For me the whole album is just alien.

Imán - La canción de la oruga (More Andalusian prog)

Iceberg - Nova (Spanish Jazz fusion. Instrumental, anyway I'll just leave it here)

Máquina - Why (from Spain but with english singing, anyway ^)

Ange - Fils de Lumière (France) Artsy Rock Early genesis Style.

Harmonium - Depuis L'automne (Canada) This album to me is just is one of the most beautiful ever.

Bacamarte - Smog Alado (Brazil) Also an awesome album

If anyone wants I could still drop a few more.
 
Pollen - La Femme Ailée (French Canadian prog, sort of a mix between PFM and Genesis)

Et Cetera - Entre Chien Et Loup (Quebec's answer to Gentle Giant)

Morse Code- La Marche des Hommes

Bubu - El Cortejo de un dia Amarillo (excerpt) (the first track on Bubu's Anabelas, the best south American prog album in my opinion)

Part 2 of El Cortejo de un dia Amarillo


My favorite French progressive masterpiece is nowhere to be found on Youtube unfortunately: the title track of Shylock's "Ile de Fievre"
 
CrankyJay said:
Jesus Christ, Grace for Drowning is pretty damn awesome. Raider II is sick...I have no idea if they'll be able to play this song live.
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Just discovered this thread and had to say, I saw Steven Wilson this past weekend in Philadelphia and Raider II was played, and it was pretty much perfection. The whole show was probably the most tightest live performance I've ever seen, and the 5 people with me shared that opinion.
 
It is so good to see appreciation for Drama by Yes, many prog rock fans seem to absolutely hate it for some reason and I haven't been able to figure out why that is.
 
Entropia said:
Their only real good full albums are: Fragile, Close To The Edge, Relayer and Tales From Topographic Oceans. This is when the band had arguable their best lineup (Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman, Bruford/White)
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But Going for the One and The Yes Album!
 
XNarte said:
Just discovered this thread and had to say, I saw Steven Wilson this past weekend in Philadelphia and Raider II was played, and it was pretty much perfection. The whole show was probably the most tightest live performance I've ever seen, and the 5 people with me shared that opinion.
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Pretty great that the performance is so tight, considering Wes only had less than a week to learn his guitar parts (the other guitarist couldn't secure a visa)

The wife and I are going to see him tomorrow in Chicago. We're also heading down early to see if we can catch him at the signing at FYE so I can get my Grace for Drowning Deluxe signed. I'm pumped.
 
ElyrionX said:
So, I'm a huge Dream Theater fan and their music takes up something like 70 to 80% of my music listening time. I've tried many different prog bands like Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation, The Flower Kings, Opeth and Ayreon but none have really hooked me as much as Dream Theater has.

But recently on a holiday to the UK, I picked this up:

411ED3G9DCL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


I've only just started listening to the two CDs but my goodness, what an awesome band. I am a huge fan of John Myung and Yes has got some truly awesome bass lines. Now, my question is, how much ground does these two CDs cover in terms of the essential listening for Yes. Any particular iconic or classic albums that I *MUST* pick up and listen to in its entirety to know this band even more?
Click to expand...


Saw this post a couple of days ago and read some of the replies, and noticed a couple of albums that weren't getting much mention. There are some very awesome Yes albums beyond the four essential early classics.

1. 1999's "The Ladder" is one of their true classics. It should be listed right alongside their early albums, and it has music that was composed for the game "Homeworld" which is kind of an interesting tidbit from the perspective of gamers. The lineup is mostly classic members and the music has a lot of the energy and fire. In many ways, it sounds a lot like real classic yes... only different.

2. Relayer is absolutely insane and one of their most technically accomplished albums. Some of the songs are fantastic.

3. The 80s album 90125 isn't really typical Yes, and it was a very different version of the band, but the music has some interesting qualities and there are some great songs.

4. The early live album Yessongs is probably the best live album they've recorded with Very intense performances and a lot of energy.

edit// Also, Tales from Topographic Oceans is kind of an uneven mess at times.. I consider it an important album from their early catalog, but honestly, Relayer and The Ladder are both better.
 
Ok proggers, you owe yourselves to go listen to these two phenomenal releases from this year:

fU0Ae.jpg

Phideaux - Snowtorch

Just found this today, actually, and I'm absolutely in love. It kind of sounds like a Roger Waters fronted Yes or Camel album (though it's not near as snarky as later Waters, so get that out of your mind). It's got hints of Wish You Were Here and The Snow Goose all mixed together.


KQ8Hk.jpg


White Willow - Terminal Twilight

This is a female fronted prog rock band with influences from the 70s. You can kind of here a bit of King Crimson in there, but mainly they're pretty symphonic. There's some great soaring guitar solos, and also some really nice more pop type songs. It's really beautiful at times and almost commands you to stop what you're doing and listen.
 
One of the best Concepts Albums gets a sequel! Thick as a Brick 2. And Anderson will go on tour with both albums!


TAAB2 - Whatever HappenedTo Gerald Bostock? - is a full length Progressive Rock "concept" album worthy of its predecessor. Boy to man and beyond, it looks at what might have befallen the child poet Gerald Bostock in later life. Or, perhaps, any of us. To be released in two formats: the simple jewel case CD with 8-page booklet and the Special Edition with CD, audio-visual DVD and 16-page booklet. The DVD contains 5.1 surround mixes, 24-bit stereo mix, videos covering the making of the album, interviews with the musicians and the lyric reading where ian Anderson reads the lyrics in various settings. Also on the DVD are the pages of StCleve.com, the online update of the St Cleve Chronicle, fabled newspaper of the original album, and the multilingual lyric translations in Italian, German, Spanish, Czech, Polish and Russian.

The 2012 tours feature the performance of Thick As A Brick One AND Two in most of the concerts.
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www.j-tull.com
 
Really enjoying a band called Koyaanisqatsy at the minute. Their album "From The Yearning To Burst The Perpetual Circle" is great.
 
So I saw The Musical Box play The lamb Lies Down on Broadway in its entirety yesterday. One of the best concert experiences I've had. The Lamb is such a great album and these guys are masters at emulating the original Genesis performances.

Oh, and I just read that The Flower Kings will release a new album this year. Really looking forward to this.
 
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