Aragorn224
New member
Which of these albums should I buy?
Which album should I buy?
- Thread starter Aragorn224
- Start date
John Watt
Member
Aragorn224! You must be having some kind of musical breakdown, asking such a big question. It sounds like you're looking for some direction, a basis for developing your own style. As a professional stage musician who started playing in the 60's, playing pro through the 70's, I can share some Ontario Canada perspective.
Genesis: This band might sound like a gimme, and they sound retro progressive, but don't fall into an old-style trap, unless you found old-style acid and equipment somewhere. Phil Collins broke big-time abandoning that sound and going motown with it. Even the reformed Genesis went with his and Mike and the Mechanics sound, not the original Genesis. And take it from me, the lamb isn't lying down on broadway any more.
Yes: Definitely progressive with excellent musical technique. There is the classic lineup, but Relayer with Patrick Moraz on keys is their most realized musical work. Don't beat yourself up trying to play Gates of Delirium on keys. Steve Howe did the battle aftermath on a double necked, pedal steel guitar.
King Crimson: One of the most listened to progressive albums with one of the most progressive guitar players in rock, Robert Fripp. Not tight and orchestrated like Yes, but more jazzy jammers. Unless you have a Mellotron, don't buy it to learn songs.
Moody Blues and Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Both classically influenced bands with new synths, and Mellotrons, but old with rhythms and beats. I'd listen to Keith Emerson as his first duo, The Nice, to get into technique.
Rush: Unless you want to learn songs note for note, using lots of samples and loops and preprogrammed synths, forget it. Maybe I'm too local, seeing the original Rush with Mike Rutsey on drums when they were a Led Zep clone, and jamming with Neil Peart at matinees when he was in Bullrush, a St. Catharines band. I can't imagine Rush jamming their way out of a blues bag. But considering what happened to Neil Peart that one year in his married life, they are the only band I've prayed for.
And Aragorn224, you are saying progressive, but your band list, the ones I recognize, are all rock-hippy. What was progressive back then was Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way, Chuck Mangione and Herb Alpert with different jazzy styles, and Stevie Wonder with his synthesizer. He heard about Kurzweil's first book-reading machine for the blind and phoned him, asking if he could do the same with violin and horn sounds, inspiring that invention and using it for Talking Book.
If I can recommend one piano solo album from a living artist, it would be McCoy Tyner's Echoes of a Friend, with Niama, my favorite piano song. But we are in the new millennium, and I consider myself a soundtrack musician, using a karaoke unit as a practice amp, jamming along to am-fm, C.D.s and cassettes. You have to develop sax and flute voicings, for example, to sound convincing today.
I also recommend subscribing to jazzwax to get Marc Myers, a very astute musical journeyman with incredible links and narrations. I learn every time and get real musical reinforcement. I have to play.
May All Peace shower upon you as heavenly notes.
Genesis: This band might sound like a gimme, and they sound retro progressive, but don't fall into an old-style trap, unless you found old-style acid and equipment somewhere. Phil Collins broke big-time abandoning that sound and going motown with it. Even the reformed Genesis went with his and Mike and the Mechanics sound, not the original Genesis. And take it from me, the lamb isn't lying down on broadway any more.
Yes: Definitely progressive with excellent musical technique. There is the classic lineup, but Relayer with Patrick Moraz on keys is their most realized musical work. Don't beat yourself up trying to play Gates of Delirium on keys. Steve Howe did the battle aftermath on a double necked, pedal steel guitar.
King Crimson: One of the most listened to progressive albums with one of the most progressive guitar players in rock, Robert Fripp. Not tight and orchestrated like Yes, but more jazzy jammers. Unless you have a Mellotron, don't buy it to learn songs.
Moody Blues and Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Both classically influenced bands with new synths, and Mellotrons, but old with rhythms and beats. I'd listen to Keith Emerson as his first duo, The Nice, to get into technique.
Rush: Unless you want to learn songs note for note, using lots of samples and loops and preprogrammed synths, forget it. Maybe I'm too local, seeing the original Rush with Mike Rutsey on drums when they were a Led Zep clone, and jamming with Neil Peart at matinees when he was in Bullrush, a St. Catharines band. I can't imagine Rush jamming their way out of a blues bag. But considering what happened to Neil Peart that one year in his married life, they are the only band I've prayed for.
And Aragorn224, you are saying progressive, but your band list, the ones I recognize, are all rock-hippy. What was progressive back then was Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way, Chuck Mangione and Herb Alpert with different jazzy styles, and Stevie Wonder with his synthesizer. He heard about Kurzweil's first book-reading machine for the blind and phoned him, asking if he could do the same with violin and horn sounds, inspiring that invention and using it for Talking Book.
If I can recommend one piano solo album from a living artist, it would be McCoy Tyner's Echoes of a Friend, with Niama, my favorite piano song. But we are in the new millennium, and I consider myself a soundtrack musician, using a karaoke unit as a practice amp, jamming along to am-fm, C.D.s and cassettes. You have to develop sax and flute voicings, for example, to sound convincing today.
I also recommend subscribing to jazzwax to get Marc Myers, a very astute musical journeyman with incredible links and narrations. I learn every time and get real musical reinforcement. I have to play.
May All Peace shower upon you as heavenly notes.
methodistgirl
New member
Welcome to the forum Ara. I had to choose one I like more. The Moody
Blues had out more than one album and some of them are great and that
includes all the others.
judy tooley
Blues had out more than one album and some of them are great and that
includes all the others.
judy tooley