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prog bands ranking

Started by Dirty Boy, July 27, 2016, 03:34:55 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Dirty Boy

Without getting bogged down in "but, that's not Prog" hell.

Henry Cow
Gentle Giant
King Crimson
Van Der Graaf Generator
Magma
Gong
National Health
Hatfield & the North
Soft Machine
Egg
Genesis
Yes
Jethro Tull
Pink Floyd















































ELP

innit?

Dirty Boy

Forgot Caravan and the Pink Fairies. Are they any good?

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Dirty Boy on July 27, 2016, 03:38:39 PM
Forgot Caravan and the Pink Fairies. Are they any good?

Pink Fairies are up in my top 5, but they ain't prog. More psychedelic space rock, then proto-punk and then psychedelic blues punk/festival rock

Dirty Boy

OK, i'll start three other threads.

Your avatar reminds me of another too, or are they considered Kraut?

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Dirty Boy on July 27, 2016, 03:51:26 PM
OK, i'll start three other threads.

Your avatar reminds me of another too, or are they considered Kraut?

No, avant-french rock

Stoneage Dinosaurs


Dirty Boy

I just remembered Marillion, but i don't want to break my enter key.

Stoneage Dinosaurs

I'm sure there are probably worse bands, but no one's gonna read this thread if it's a great big ream of empty space.

I really really fucking hate dream theater though

Twed

Quote from: Dirty Boy on July 27, 2016, 07:25:20 PM
I just remembered Marillion, but i don't want to break my enter key.
Nah, fuck 'em.

NoSleep

OP missed out The Soft Machine, who did two albums before "Third" (featuring the name change) and are also responsible for the blistering live "Middle Earth Masters" (the only thing that comes anywhere near it is VU's White Light/White Heat album, and both were probably created without the knowledge of one another).

BlodwynPig

You can add:

Greenslade
FM
Arzachel
Egg
Triumvirat
Epidaurus
Camel

NoSleep

Tempest (especially whilst they had the twin guitars of Allan Holdsworth and Ollie Halsall)

BlodwynPig

Quote from: NoSleep on July 28, 2016, 09:06:14 PM
Tempest (especially whilst they had the twin guitars of Allan Holdsworth and Ollie Halsall)

I can see you are on the more angular side of prog. Do you like High Tide?

BlodwynPig

Just relistening to Epidaurus' track Silas Marner and it has this amazing bit.

A favourite prog synth passage akin to Camel's Lunar Sea intro from A Live Record.

BlodwynPig

here's one for you NoSleep (and me too)

Zeus B. Held doing Fool on the hill

NoSleep

Quote from: BlodwynPig on July 28, 2016, 09:07:17 PM
I can see you are on the more angular side of prog. Do you like High Tide?

Was that Simon House's group pre-Hawkwind? I've always meant to check them out. I've heard the bass player tuned his guitar with fifth intervals between each string (instead of the usual fourths) like a violin; he also worked with Annette Peacock on X-Dreams.

BlodwynPig

Yes Simon House and Peter Pavli, I believe they did an album a few decades later too (actually quite a few!)

More Zeus

Shit Good Nose

Add in SBB, Happy the Man, Focus, Steve Hackett (solo), 801, Grobschnitt, The Nice, Patto (sort-of), Procol Harum, mid-period Traffic, Kaipa, Porcupine Tree (and, by association and cos he's finally embraced the prog title, Steven Wilson's solo stuff is pretty fucking excellent).

And on the fringes - Brand X, Wishbone Ash, Colosseum, Gryphon, Popol Vuh, later Talk Talk.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on July 29, 2016, 01:53:17 PM
Add in SBB, Happy the Man, Focus, Steve Hackett (solo), 801, Grobschnitt, The Nice, Patto (sort-of), Procol Harum, mid-period Traffic, Kaipa, Porcupine Tree (and, by association and cos he's finally embraced the prog title, Steven Wilson's solo stuff is pretty fucking excellent).

And on the fringes - Brand X, Wishbone Ash, Colosseum, Gryphon, Popol Vuh, later Talk Talk.

You saying Henry VIII was Prog?

I don't care about any of the choices in this thread as long as Rush are way down at the bottom.

Thanks.

Pie Pie Eater

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on July 29, 2016, 01:53:17 PM
Happy the Man

Argh, had forgotten about them! This record (in particular track 1) is a cracker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRera802pUU

the science eel

YES were always the most accessible, Beatles-y almost. The Yes Album is essential, Fragile is mostly very good

then KING CRIMSON, who made some interesting noises later in the 70s after their classic Mellotron-soaked debut

then GENESIS, who were quite good up until around 1980, when they went very slowly but inexorably to complete shit, ending up by producing the worst song ever released by anyone in 'Invisible Touch'

then probably VDGG, who were very interesting for quite a while (and also unlistenable on occasion). Their debut has a fabulous cover, there's a fine song called 'Afterwards' which I recommend you seek out. And of course there's 'Theme One' which is an absolute stonker

then I'd go for GENTLE GIANT, who made music about 100 times more complicated than anyone would ever want, and sort of got away with it. 'Black Cat' is fucking A, Acquiring The Taste and Octopus are at least worth a listen

then PINK FLOYD and JETHRO TULL, neither of which I have any time for at all after their very early material

and then everything else, except





ELP - who should always, always come last

Dirty Boy

I don't disagree with most of that.

Dunno what you mean about VDGG being "unlistenable" though, unless you mean Hammills occasional histrionics. I rather like the intensity of it myself.

I love Gentle Giant precisely for the reason you reckon people don't. Instead of stretching out the songs to interminable lengths they compacted it all into five or six minutes, just like that other band we don't mention.


the science eel

I just think it's strange that they were working in the rock world, producing these insanely complex pieces with unorthodox time signatures and medieval instrumentation. I don't get their motivation, really. They're sort of the opposite of T Rex.

BlodwynPig

Octopus by Gentle Giant comes top of the pile for the conventional canon (there are greater albums by much more obscure prog bands). It is beautiful and refined and I actually think very accessible. If it was an Elton John album it would have been no. 1.

BlodwynPig

Most of the bands listed are just scratching the surface

How about

May Blitz

I've never really got into Gentle Giant sadly. I love their more discordant, aggressive tracks like Knots (which has some fucking incredible apocalyptic vocal interplay), but a lot of it just sounds like Prince of Thieves soundtrack music to me. Any other stuff by the Shulmans that touches that same dark, twisted feel and I'll snap it up.

Serge

KRAUTROCK BANDS RANKING:

Kraftwerk
Neu![nb]plus the first couple of Rother solo albums.[/nb]
CAN[nb]plus some of the solo stuff - mainly Holger Czukay's.[/nb]
Cluster[nb]including solo & collaborative releases by Roedelius and Moebius.[/nb]
Harmonia
Faust[nb]'70s incarnation only.[/nb]
Tangerine Dream[nb]up to 'Poland', roughly.[/nb]
Popol Vuh
Ash Ra Tempel[nb]including Ashra & Gottsching solo albums[/nb][nb]Klaus Schulze solo albums would go between Faust & Tangerine Dream.[/nb]
Cosmic Jokers
Agitation Free
La Dusseldorf[nb]First album only. Never got the later stuff.[/nb]
Nektar
Amon Duul II
Guru Guru
Floh De Cologne
Xhol Caravan
Kraan
Embryo
Eloy
Wallenstein[nb]Pushing it on whether they're really Krautrock with the last half dozen + Nektar, but all worth checking out.[/nb]


wosl

Quote from: the science eel on July 29, 2016, 11:43:24 PMELP - who should always, always come last

Nah, I'm not having that.  Greg Lake's voice represents a major saving grace (especially when he's in reflective/introspective mode); clear, honeyed, powerful.  Imagine how ghastly EAP[nb]Emerson, Anderson & Palmer[/nb] would sound.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Serge on July 30, 2016, 04:47:38 PM
KRAUTROCK BANDS RANKING:

Kraftwerk
Neu![nb]plus the first couple of Rother solo albums.[/nb]
CAN[nb]plus some of the solo stuff - mainly Holger Czukay's.[/nb]
Cluster[nb]including solo & collaborative releases by Roedelius and Moebius.[/nb]
Harmonia
Faust[nb]'70s incarnation only.[/nb]
Tangerine Dream[nb]up to 'Poland', roughly.[/nb]
Popol Vuh
Ash Ra Tempel[nb]including Ashra & Gottsching solo albums[/nb][nb]Klaus Schulze solo albums would go between Faust & Tangerine Dream.[/nb]
Cosmic Jokers
Agitation Free
La Dusseldorf[nb]First album only. Never got the later stuff.[/nb]
Nektar
Amon Duul II
Guru Guru
Floh De Cologne
Xhol Caravan
Kraan
Embryo
Eloy
Wallenstein[nb]Pushing it on whether they're really Krautrock with the last half dozen + Nektar, but all worth checking out.[/nb]

Good one serge for mentioning the last half dozen. That's where the meat is. Have you got A Crack in the Cosmic Egg book? You can feast yourself for years in there.

I would say:

Amon Duul II
Guru Guru
Embryo
Kraan
Missus Beastly
Yatha Sidhra
Popol Vuh
Harmonia
Tangerine Dream
Kin Ping Meh
Electric Orange
Electric Sandwich
Sand
Agitation Free
Neu!
Emergency!