[atlantaprog] Re: Give Me That Old Time Prog Rock

Prog-Metal, in my experience and proably worthless
opinion, is anything but the amazing "chocolate-in-my-peanut butter"
sensation that the rest of the prog crowd seems to regard it as.

I've tried to get into Prog Metal. I really have. But how many strangled, high pitch singers and fuzzed out chunka chunka guitar can one guy take? I think of Prog Metal as the "gateway drug" for head-banging teens to move towards more sophisticated music. That being said, I recently had a chance to review virtually the entire Dream Theater canon and I could only find ONE track I felt like putting on my ipod (6 oclock from Awake, in case your interested - curiously enough, this track has a strong melodic element in addition to the chunka chunka. Hmmm? What does this tell ya?)

Again, I
say this in full acknowledgement of my ignorance of plenty of the prog
landscape (i.e. the Italian acts mentioned). But to me, the difference
is completely about songwriting and melody -- it's almost completely
absent in modern prog.

It should be noted that the Italian acts mentioned were from the same era that spawned prog - i.e. the early 70s - and both PFM AND Banco (along with many other Italian acts from that era) had some of the strongest melodic hooks to ever grace the keys of a mellotron. I dare anyone to listen to Dolcissima Maria, from <x-tad-smaller>L'isola Di Niente, (aka "Just Walk Away" from "The World Became the World" and the live album "Cook" for you anglophiles) and not find yourself humming those melodies for the next few days?</x-tad-smaller>

RE: the aspect of innovation; is there really anthing new under the sun?
I'd say, if there is, it certainly isn't in the realm of what any of us
might term "progressive rock", esp. as it exists now. Or for that
matter as it existed then -- it died a death because it lived out its
service life. That which is "progressive" now is significantly
different from what was "progressive" in 1969 or 1976 or 1982. I
personally believe that even such as Radiohead is about 100 times more
progressive than most stuck-in-a-rut "prog rock" of today.

Ask me sometime about what I call "Post-Progressive"!

For what's worth - this was my (slightly edited) contribution to the same PE thread that gave the link to the article:

<x-tad-bigger> I recently went through my entire itunes library revising the genre tags in to something that meant something to me. When I got to The Flower Kings, I named a genre "new Prog". As I worked through the library, I realiazed how many recent groups do indeed have a very formulaic approach to prog - not much differentiation, not much innovations - the very things that made prog so special to me in the first place.

When I find myself wanting to listen to prog, I more drawn to the 70s groups, because in their music I hear a desire to "progress" - a desire to forge new identities and explore new approaches. This desire gives a tangeable excitement to the music from that era. And while most of the "new prog" bands out there have adopted the trappings of the 70s pioneers, I have yet to hear that same excitement in any of them.

This isn't to say that I don't enjoy the music of these "New Prog" bands. I am quite fond of most of these groups. They wouldn't be in my itunes playlist if I didn't like them! But most of their work lacks the timelessness of the originals. The music of Yes, Genesis, ELP, Gentle Giant, Nektar, Floyd, etc. will live forever. But the Flower Kings, Spocks Beard, Echolyn, Glass Hammer, etc. will eventually fade away. </x-tad-bigger>

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