Awesome, those dudes are tight
― frogbs, Friday, 25 August 2017 01:32 (seven years ago) link
Anyone like Family?
Bought a copy of their album Fearless, mostly because it has multiple diecut levels that fan out really cool
Any I dig em a lot, def prog but from a different, more blues/RnB perspective...um... Hard to pin down I guess, they definitely have chops and get out there but it's not fancy pants or fantasy oriented....I guess Jethro Tull is the closest, but sub the jazz flute for almost Stax gone prog horns, or maybe Blood Sweat & Tears as a heavy prog band. Singer is really something, has that feral quality of Ian Anderson or Peter Hammil
Anyway, interesting group worth checking out. Had some big names pass through their ranks, John Wetton, Ric Grech & Jim Cregan
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 27 August 2017 14:39 (seven years ago) link
I've been trying to get people here interested in Family for ages! Are they really a prog band though? They seem pretty unclassifiable to me.
― Wewlay Bewlay (Tom D.), Monday, 28 August 2017 00:15 (seven years ago) link
have a really hard time getting into them.
― akm, Monday, 28 August 2017 01:04 (seven years ago) link
i dig Family. roger chapman is a beast. they're up there for me with Audience, Comus, and (not the NYC one) Spyrogyra in deep woods british yodel folk prog
totally unrelated by prins thomas' remix of dungen's häxan is the hot stuff
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 28 August 2017 20:07 (seven years ago) link
― Wewlay Bewlay (Tom D.), Sunday, August 27, 2017 7:15 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah...I guess I feel like they are but they def don't fit in a way, but where else do you put them? They are definitely too complex and eccentric to be just another 70s hard rock band
Is Jethro Tull considered prog by most?
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 28 August 2017 20:20 (seven years ago) link
yes, jethro tull is prog
― imago, Monday, 28 August 2017 20:41 (seven years ago) link
also it's always better than you think it's going to be, like the simpsons (but less good than that)
― imago, Monday, 28 August 2017 20:42 (seven years ago) link
Tom you know I like Family!
― starving street dogs of punk rock (Odysseus), Monday, 28 August 2017 20:48 (seven years ago) link
actually thick as a brick is about as good as a good simpsons episode and probably contains a similar level of decent satirical humour
― imago, Monday, 28 August 2017 20:51 (seven years ago) link
oh shit, this actually happened
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmWq6yTcXNo
― imago, Monday, 28 August 2017 20:59 (seven years ago) link
wanna check out one record each from a.) Patto and B.) Family that shows 'em at respective peaks etc etc…help me ILM…
― veronica moser, Wednesday, 30 August 2017 13:20 (seven years ago) link
Ha, wow
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, 30 August 2017 14:09 (seven years ago) link
this isn't 'the best' by any stretch but given what's going down with harvey . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwzSB_Mcr6o
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 30 August 2017 14:25 (seven years ago) link
Family Entertainment is very good, and stylistically diverse, although the band had no input on the final track listing or mix. That's the only one I'm familiar (har!) with.
― "Celebration" encourages the listener to celebrate good times. (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 30 August 2017 14:53 (seven years ago) link
Family - Music In A Doll's House is the one to start with
― starving street dogs of punk rock (Odysseus), Wednesday, 30 August 2017 15:05 (seven years ago) link
I started there but I was a little underwhelmed after hearing it's such a classic."Mellowing Grey" was totally worth it though, great song.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 17:48 (seven years ago) link
I love Family. I only first heard them when their stuff was reissued in late 90s. I like 'em in this order:
A Song For Me (Reprise, 1970) Music In A Doll's House (Reprise, 1968) Fearless (Reprise, 1971) Entertainment (Reprise, 1969) Anyway (Reprise, 1970) Bandstand (Reprise, 1972)
Thanks for the heads up on the Wobbler release. Right after it's released on Oct 21 they play down the street from me at Reggie's for Progtoberfest III. I won't get to see Motorpsycho so this'll have to do!
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 19:27 (seven years ago) link
Alas, I thought the Weigel book was ultimately a missed opportunity. Besides the occasional (and avoidable) factual errors, it just kind of peters out to an almost dishonest "death of prog" conclusion, conveniently ignoring the fusion of prog and metal in all but the most cursory of ways (there's a bit on Opeth, but I think Iron Maiden earns just one mention, as a favorite band of Dream Theatre, and I'm not sure Metallica gets mentioned at all, major oversights when odd time signatures and epic suites are constantly cited hallmarks of prog) and also ignoring (entirely?) a vital prog pump primer like "OK Computer." Also weird how it gives maybe a sentence to Krautrock, or how it focuses so much on Vangelis but not how new age (a la Vangelis) was really just a watered down form of prog, via vectors like Yanni, Mannheim Steamroller, etc. Maybe that's for a different book, but as for this book, it felt like a hunk was cut out (or ignored) in search of a narrative shape.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 September 2017 20:29 (seven years ago) link
I hate it when they do that.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 21 September 2017 20:48 (seven years ago) link
yeah, the book seems cursory, or severely edited. i was expecting so much more.
― akm, Thursday, 21 September 2017 23:08 (seven years ago) link
for me, the best part of the book was the fripp narrative weaving in and out
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 21 September 2017 23:34 (seven years ago) link
I agree, as sort of progs prickly conscience.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 September 2017 00:49 (seven years ago) link
i would have liked to have seen legit reckoning with contemporary prog (glass hammer, battles, thinking plague, these new puritans, teeth of the sea, motorpsycho, godspeed, wobbler, etc) but probably it's asking too much that a guy who's fortunate enough in other ways to wind up a 'washington post' reporter would win the karma lottery twice and be clued into the really good new stuff too. not a lot of people are in on the secret that prog started not sucking again a while ago. he's a pretty smooth writer though and it's a nice read for what it is
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 22 September 2017 01:16 (seven years ago) link
There's a really good column in (I think) Prog magazine called "Prog or Not Prog" iirc, where they address bands like Talk Talk, say, and sort of theorize around whether or not they fit the bill.
Still say overlooking the impact of OK Computer was kind of weird. Or even (going backwards) the Fairport et al. folk-rock stuff, which definitely played a huge part in prog.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 September 2017 01:40 (seven years ago) link
Anyway, clearly (per the title) the book was structured around the rise and fall of ELP, with Fripp as a sort of purist through line.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 September 2017 02:40
I liked it when they profiled Sparks because they were actually interviewed about it and they said they were surprised more people hadn't picked up on their prog influences.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 22 September 2017 11:38 (seven years ago) link
have we talked about the Physics House Band?
I guess you could say they were math rock, like Battles or something, but they feel more prog in some way to me than Battles...I dunno, it's a fine line. Dudes are monsters though and I like it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgLB_t2DcfU
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 September 2017 18:49 (seven years ago) link
I don't know--you guys keep bringing up all these recent bands, but how many of them wear capes?
― President Keyes, Friday, 22 September 2017 18:56 (seven years ago) link
street prog
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 September 2017 18:56 (seven years ago) link
How many prog guys who aren't Rick Wakeman wear capes?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 22 September 2017 19:03 (seven years ago) link
Last time I saw a cape was maybe ... Jason Falkner when he was backing Air? Am I remembering that correctly?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 September 2017 19:03 (seven years ago) link
the dude from Gong had angel wings when i saw them
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 September 2017 19:05 (seven years ago) link
David CrosbyJames BrownScreamin' Jay Hawkins
also iconic rock n roll cape wearers
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 September 2017 19:06 (seven years ago) link
james brown is the proggest of all
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 22 September 2017 19:38 (seven years ago) link
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown)
these fuckers spell "imipolex" wrong
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Saturday, 23 September 2017 01:49 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Q7Wj8IQTQ
I like this weird old school Italo/prog electro thing. It's got a good message.
― carpet_kaiser, Saturday, 23 September 2017 02:10 (seven years ago) link
yes, they named themselves after the henry cow song
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Saturday, 23 September 2017 02:23 (seven years ago) link
It's funny that Rick Wakeman got a reputation for wearing capes and his flamboyant keyboard style and for being a guy that is often held up as some sort of figurehead of prog excesses when of all the members of Yes circa Close to the Edge he was probably the most straight-ahead, no-bullshit, down to earth member who hated what he perceived to be the very indulgent nature of Topographic Oceans and Relayer...
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 23 September 2017 08:45 (seven years ago) link
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, September 22, 2017 3:03 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
quick image search gives me caped Chris Squire, Peter Gabriel, Pete Hammill
Fripp used to wear one a lot too according to Tony Banks
― President Keyes, Monday, 25 September 2017 14:02 (seven years ago) link
I presume Fripp wears one in his down time. Gabriel cape was part of Watcher/bat creature costume, right?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 September 2017 14:16 (seven years ago) link
Roger Waters used to wear one in the Syd era.
― The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 25 September 2017 14:28 (seven years ago) link
A be-caped Keith Emerson:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pf3ywR5DERA/hqdefault.jpg
― めんどくさかった (Matt #2), Monday, 25 September 2017 15:08 (seven years ago) link
― more Allegro-like (Turrican)
his "no-bullshit" nature didn't keep him from smothering "tales from topographic oceans" in indulgent birotron solos. and the dude can hate "relayer" all he likes. he wasn't on it.
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Monday, 25 September 2017 16:10 (seven years ago) link
I thought Tormato was the one with the Birotron
― frogbs, Monday, 25 September 2017 16:11 (seven years ago) link
OK, had to google Biroton.
― The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 25 September 2017 16:18 (seven years ago) link
ok, i guess it wasn't a birotron on tales and the album was really just smothered in plain ol' mellotron solos. if it had been a birotron i'm sure the album would've been yards better, as the birotron is to a mellotron what the vako orchestron is to the optigan.
from wikipedia: 'Wakeman played it backstage noting it sounded "more mellow than a Mellotron"' - but was it more chamber than a chamberlin?
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Monday, 25 September 2017 16:36 (seven years ago) link
here's mellotron advocate mike dickson playing the beach boys' "prayer" on birotron samples. it sounds fucking awful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SqLl5fOokA
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Monday, 25 September 2017 16:42 (seven years ago) link
I assume this is some Wiki vandalism in progress:
The Birotron (pronounced by-ro-tron) is a tape replay keyboard conceived by American musician and inventor Dave Biro of Yalesville, Connecticut, US, and funded by English keyboardist Rick Wakeman, Campbell Soup Company-Pepperidge Farm Foods in the 1970s.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 September 2017 16:44 (seven years ago) link
Last time I checked Wakeman loves Relayer.
I don't know what instrument he uses but some of the atmospheric washes in Topographic are gorgeous and among the highlights. Worthy of Tangerine Dream.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 25 September 2017 16:59 (seven years ago) link