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Bricksnbeatles said:
Never really connected with hawkwind, though I like some of their stuff.

Anyone here dig Van Der Graaf Generator?
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Wow, now there’s a blast from the past. Haven’t listened to them in years, but two great albums. Thanks, I’m going to revisit them in due course.
 
mybud said:
Wow, now there’s a blast from the past. Haven’t listened to them in years, but two great albums. Thanks, I’m going to revisit them in due course.
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Which two?
My favorite is H to He, Who Am The Only One

Pawn Hearts is of course the most revered, and with a haunting track like A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers it certainly deserves all the praise it gets, but I’d put Still Life and The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other above in my own personal ranking.

Have you ever listened to Peter Hammill’s solo albums? I’m a big fan of The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage, with its standout track, A Louse Is Not A Home, as well as the album Nadir’s Big Chance.
 
I don't like hawkwind either 🤣 wishbone ash on the other hand, I do, but I always thought of them more as a folk rock band and not a prog band
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Which two?
My favorite is H to He, Who Am The Only One

Pawn Hearts is of course the most revered, and with a haunting track like A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers it certainly deserves all the praise it gets, but I’d put Still Life and The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other above in my own personal ranking.

Have you ever listened to Peter Hammill’s solo albums? I’m a big fan of The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage, with its standout track, A Louse Is Not A Home, as well as the album Nadir’s Big Chance.
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H to He and Least we can do were the ones I had in mind. Don’t know Still Life but did hear a couple of Hammill’s solo albums in those days. Again, worth revisiting. Thanks @Bricksnbeatles.
 
Coda said:
There are a number of British "prog-lite" bands that I have never been able to get to into. Wishbone Ash, for example. First two albums are pretty good. Goes downhill for me after that. Hawkwind is similar...
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I like Hawkwind but I wouldn't call them "prog.." maybe something like "fiction fantasy rock?" That's my jam!
I think they'd make a really bad prog band.

I'll check out Wishbone Ash- I might like them too 🙃
 
dawson said:
I like Hawkwind but I wouldn't call them "prog.." maybe something like "fiction fantasy rock?" That's my jam!
I think they'd make a really bad prog band.

I'll check out Wishbone Ash- I might like them too 🙃
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I can't vouch for anything other than Argus
 
I used to enjoy music where the players obviously knew a lot about music, technique, scales, all that stuff, and liked to show that they knew it. But the older I get the more I get bored with all that. To me it's not that different from any geeks who know a particular jargon and insist on using it to the exclusion of those who don't know the jargon. It just gets tedious. It has its place and sometimes it can be impressive but you have to be very careful it doesn't become showing off. When it all comes together in a natural, affecting way then it's great, but too often it's just boring unless you're in on the joke. A lot of "prog" is impenetrable to me! Same with Jazz. Sometimes brilliant and affecting, often just dense and purely for the clique.

I can relate to Surfer Rosa though. I LOVE Bossanova and Doolittle. Technically accomplished but more importantly full of intense emotion and incredible moving at times, while retaining a keen sense of humour. For me there is not a dud song on any of those albums - they're all brilliant little gems. My wife and I flew 3500km to Melbourne a few years ago just to see the Pixies because they weren't venturing west that tour. As I sat soaking it all up they played one of these gems after another - it was such a visceral experience. They'd finish one incredible song and follow it with something even better.

BRMC are another band who don't dazzle with technique but they have full control over what they are doing and manage to reach inside and move you. Take Them On, On Your Own is what the Jesus and Mary Chain wished they were - melodic, powerful and evocative. And Specter At The Feast is an album to sit back and absorb with a drink with the lights down! Beautiful. Unpretentious, no lyrics about goblins and incredibly moving. Amazing live, too.

While I'm working I like to listen to Billie Holiday, early Cure, Black Keys and the first Pretenders album. And of course the Beatles. Seeing Get Back gave me a new appreciation of the album, especially the de-Spectorised version.
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Krautrock definitely has prog ties in more than one place. I’d say depending on the band, I’d say they range from prog to prog-adjacent
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I think prog is a particularly difficult genre to agree on a definition.

I dig King Crimson and YES but I always labeled them as "Classic Rock but Cooler," rather than "prog," while other "prog" bands I've heard really don't do much for me.

We don't necessarily need to classify stuff though, we could just talk about bands.
 
HamishR said:
I used to enjoy music where the players obviously knew a lot about music, technique, scales, all that stuff, and liked to show that they knew it. But the older I get the more I get bored with all that. To me it's not that different from any geeks who know a particular jargon and insist on using it to the exclusion of those who don't know the jargon. It just gets tedious. It has its place and sometimes it can be impressive but you have to be very careful it doesn't become showing off. When it all comes together in a natural, affecting way then it's great, but too often it's just boring unless you're in on the joke. A lot of "prog" is impenetrable to me! Same with Jazz. Sometimes brilliant and affecting, often just dense and purely for the clique.

I can relate to Surfer Rosa though. I LOVE Bossanova and Doolittle. Technically accomplished but more importantly full of intense emotion and incredible moving at times, while retaining a keen sense of humour. For me there is not a dud song on any of those albums - they're all brilliant little gems. My wife and I flew 3500km to Melbourne a few years ago just to see the Pixies because they weren't venturing west that tour. As I sat soaking it all up they played one of these gems after another - it was such a visceral experience. They'd finish one incredible song and follow it with something even better.

BRMC are another band who don't dazzle with technique but they have full control over what they are doing and manage to reach inside and move you. Take Them On, On Your Own is what the Jesus and Mary Chain wished they were - melodic, powerful and evocative. And Specter At The Feast is an album to sit back and absorb with a drink with the lights down! Beautiful. Unpretentious, no lyrics about goblins and incredibly moving. Amazing live, too.

While I'm working I like to listen to Billie Holiday, early Cure, Black Keys and the first Pretenders album. And of course the Beatles. Seeing Get Back gave me a new appreciation of the album, especially the de-Spectorised version.
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I'll look up a couple of those names I don't recognize after I finish this Wishbone Ash album.
No goblins for you, @HamishR ?
 
dawson said:
I like Hawkwind but I wouldn't call them "prog.." maybe something like "fiction fantasy rock?" That's my jam!
I think they'd make a really bad prog band.

I'll check out Wishbone Ash- I might like them too 🙃
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I like the first two Wishbone Ash albums, myself...
 
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