Beards! Flutes! Capes! Keyboards! It's the PROGRESSIVE ROCK thread (2nd Impression)

I'm sure it will probably be me, commodorejohn (if he's actually on this board) and probably one or two others posting in here but that doesn't matter. Prog is an awesome genre comprised of many sub-genres and prog-adjacent bands that all make incredible music.

Title should really be "2nd Impression," just sayin'.

Okay if we're gonna do this, it's best to come out the gate swinging and windmilling around!



I love King Crimson, not least because of the influence they had on my favourite prog rock thrash punk sci fi band of all time, Voivod. Now there's a niche sub genre!

Seeing Steve Hackett on Monday. Pretty stoked, although I do wish I'd caught his solo tours before he joined up with the Peter Gabriel impersonator - he actually does a very nice job on the vocals himself, in a totally different way. Still, definitely looking forward to it.

Never a bad time for KC in this thread! They're an incredible band that I don't think I'll ever get to experience live but you never know with things opening back up again.

I've heard so many good things about the latest Hackett tour so you're in for a treat.

Headless Fett wrote:

I've heard so many good things about the latest Hackett tour so you're in for a treat.

Holy shit, was I ever. It would've been worth going just for "Supper's Ready"^* and "The Cinema Show." The whole crew was just on fire from get-go to get-gone, and I loved some of the things they did with the material (was not expecting the free-form jazz odyssey in the middle of "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe,)" but God damn was it fun - likewise the notably funkier rhythm section compared to the album version.^**) And in fairness, I do owe an apology to Nad Sylvan - while I wasn't impressed with some of the videos I've seen of prior shows, he absolutely brought more than mere mimicry to the table here. Just a damned great show - if any of you have a chance to catch this while it's in your area, freaking do it.

* (My all-time favorite Genesis song, and one of the major contenders for my top favorite songs ever. I've finally gotten to hear it live; I can probably die happy now, but if it's not playing at the actual Second Coming, I'm gonna have words.)

** (I don't know if it has anything to do with Hackett's collaborations with Chris Squire, or if it's purely thanks to Jonas Reingold, who certifiably kicked ass, but there's a lot more prominence for the bass here than on the classic versions. I've always considered Mike Rutherford to be a good-but-not-great bassist, one of the ones who probably would rather have been a guitarist but never learned to channel that into a dedication to giving the official guitarist a run for their money a la Cliff Burton, and it's terrific to hear what a genuinely dedicated bassist can do with this material, particularly considering how much a lot of classic Genesis tracks already rely on a strong rhythm section backing up Hackett while he jumps between rhythm and lead work. Would've killed to hear them do "Watcher of the Skies.")

Sadly I won't be able to go to see it here but I found an excellent video of the entire show from Dresden. So I'll be putting that in the queue with all the other great concert videos I keep finding on YouTube.

I'm so glad you had an epic time!

Now I need to get tickets lined up for Nick Mason this fall...

With all the testimonials for Vangelis over the last couple of days, I got turned onto his earlier work with Aphrodite's Child. It's technically more psychedelic rock per se, but it feels on the cusp where psychedelic was evolving into prog. Either way, it's damn good.

It's a weird one alright. Not my very favoritest album in the world, but there's absolutely nothing else like it.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but it needs to be said:

Frank Zappa? Holy goddamn shit.

That is all.

I need to dig into some more of his output. Freak Out! is at least 60% brilliant.

He was such an interesting dude when it came to music and I'm kicking myself for not checking out his stuff sooner.