Author: Time Lord

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King Crimson: “Venturing Unto Joy — Part 1” (2014)

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King Crimson 2014

From DGM:

Well, here we are. A bit of King Crimson 2014. One should always be wary of coming to judgement about anything based upon a clip that lasts less than a minute and a half but, but, but… Taken from the rehearsals in Elstree Studios, this snippet has four of the seven-piece Crimso clearly enjoying themselves. There’s a wealth of back and forth interplay detail between Reiflin and Harrison and of course Levin and Fripp not only grab the lapels but go straight for the jugular. Oh, never mind about the rush to judgement: this is King Crimson and they’re on fiery form!

The Progarchy Motto?

On By Time LordIn Progarchy2 Comments

Haha, I like to think of this as Progarchy.com’s unofficial motto:

“Too many notes, Mozart. Too many notes!”

All Rush Albums as ranked by 3RDegree’s Robert James Pashman @3RDegreeONLINE

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RUSH

To help you think about my “Top Ten Rush Albums EVER” challenge, here is a repost of a most excellent Facebook post by 3RDegree’s Robert James Pashman:

All Rush Albums as ranked by 3RDegree’s Robert James Pashman:

[from October 3, 2013 at 2:33am]

Caveat — even not so good “albums” have some, even many great “songs” so take the tendency toward judging Rush (and other bands) by ALBUM with a grain of salt.

1. Moving Pictures 1981

I’ve fought this forever, claiming my fave as Permanent Waves but its appeal is undeniable. Too obvious because it’s their best seller but it’s Rush at its Rushiest and is practically a greatest hits collection on its own. When there’s a Rush best of collection made, it’s often interesting to see what song from Moving Pictures is left off of it. Has probably the best album side ever made by anyone.

2. Permanent Waves 1980

I think this is the archetype for Moving Pictures and has an even better epic song on it than Moving Pictures does (“Natural Science” being better than “The Camera Eye”). Has 2 radio staples (“The Spirit Of Radio” and “Freewill”) and even 2 out-of-character love songs (or relationship songs) that are both home runs (“Entre Nous” and “Different Strings”).

3. Power Windows 1985

This one is chock-full of orchestration, keyboards and even a choir (all on “Marathon”) and has some of the best Peart lyrics ever committed to paper. It was used as a teaching tool in schools even.  Some saw this as the apex of the band getting in too deep with keyboards and far away from what made them great, but I see it as the band successfully staying relevant, strongly melodic and not afraid of dressing up the songs any way they saw fit.

4. A Farewell To Kings 1977

Probably the most interesting Rush album as it incorporates keyboards for solos and effect and includes lot of sci-fi overtones. The staple “Closer To The Heart” sneaks its way into the madness too.

5. Hemispheres 1978

More of the same from the previous album but with slightly more “filler” moments and perhaps a bit too much repeating of themes on the side one long epic.

6. 2112 1976

Many would have this higher but that’s probably based on how good side one’s title track epic is. It’s sort of legendary now if you’ve seen the documentary how this is the album that they held up a big middle finger to the music industry and got rewarded for it from fans and never had to answer to the “suits” again. For that alone, it’s totally cool.

7-9. Signals 1982, Grace Under Pressure 1984, Hold Your Fire 1987

I think all of these are pretty equally interesting, incorporating the keyboards of the time and reggae and pop stylings. I think Signals gets a little “samey” synth-wise, whereas GUP and HYF offer more variety but Signals has great lyrics and a few of their best (“Subdivisions”, “Losing It”) and their only Top 40 “hit” (“New World Man”). GUP has a dark feel to it and HYF the excellent underrated “Open Secrets”.

10. Clockwork Angels 2012

A band staying relevant decades into their career. The title track is one of their best songs ever. The album hasn’t a clunker really and it’s got an over-arching theme. It’s their first entire concept album.

11. Counterparts 1993

The best from the 90s. Has their answer to grunge (“Stick It Out”), a too-wordy but excellent emotional masterpiece (“Nobody’s Hero”) and their best instrumental out of the many they put out in the 90s (“Leave That Thing Alone”).  Also has one of my favorite dark horse tracks with “Double Agent”.

12-13. Snakes & Arrows 2007, Presto 1989

Two of the best of the “medium quality” Rush albums. S & A‘s “Far Cry”, “Armor & Sword” and “Spindrift” are hard hitting, excellent tracks and Presto‘s “Show Don’t Tell” signified the band with the guitar and the riff in the forefront after many albums with Alex sharing space with keyboards.  “The Pass” is one of Rush’s most emotional and melodic tracks with “Available Light” a close second.

14. Vapor Trails 2002

Strange with its orchestrated and overdubbed bass and guitar tracks on almost every track but has the standout “Ghost Rider” and ultra-strange “Freeze”. At this point, we were just happy to have them back.

15. Fly By Night 1975

Lots of interesting proto-prog (as pertaining to Rush only) mixed with single length tracks.

16. Roll The Bones 1991

Some of Rush’s best and worst songs are on this thin-sounding album. It’s probably their most overrated—if only because it did well at the time. “Face Up”, “Neurotica” and 2 others are just horrible. There’s way more interesting things about some of the worst tracks on other albums but these lesser-known RTB tracks are borderline embarrasing.

17. Test For Echo 1996

“Driven”, “Time & Motion” and “Totem” are really interesting but the rest of the album is just meh. Judging from Rush’s set lists, I think they agree with me.

18. Caress Of Steel 1975

They get an “A for effort” here but ultimately failed at the time only to try again and succeed with 2112. This album interests me when I hear it if only because I know it the least and it sounds “new”.

19. Rush 1974

Not bad, just not quite Rush yet.

Top Ten Prog Over Ten Minutes Long ★★★★★

On By Time LordIn Progarchy11 Comments

In order to meet the challenge of listing my own Top Ten Prog Albums EVER, I imposed upon myself an additional requirement over and above the ones Brad specified.

Each album on the list, I insist, must contain at least one song that is over ten minutes long.

And so, given that sonnet-like constraint, here is my list:

★★★★★

Big Big Train — The Underfall Yard (H/T: “The Underfall Yard” [22:54] and “Victorian Brickwork” [12:33])

Kate Bush — Hounds of Love (H/T: “The Ninth Wave” [= Side Two of the LP, clocking in at 27 minutes])

Flying Colors — Flying Colors (H/T: “Infinite Fire” [12:00])

Genesis — Foxtrot (H/T: “Supper’s Ready” [23:06])

Haken — The Mountain (H/T: “Pareidolia” [10:51] and “Falling Back to Earth” [11:51])

King Crimson — Red (H/T: “Starless” [12:26])

Rush — A Farewell to Kings (H/T: “Xanadu” [11:12] and “Cygnus X-1” [10:26])

Sound of Contact — Dimensionaut (H/T: “Möbius Slip” [19:36])

Transatlantic — The Whirlwind (H/T: The entire album is one song 78 minutes long! Or take “Dancing With Eternal Grace” [12:04])

Yes — Fragile (H/T: “Heart of the Sunrise” [11:33])

★★★★★

If I were allowed doubles then maybe I would substitute Yes’ Close to the Edge for the Haken and Big Big Train’s Far Skies Deep Time for the Sound of Contact.

But can I instead invent a new challenge?

How about the “Top Ten Rush Albums EVER”, ranked not alphabetically but in order of preference?

Jacob’s Ladder

On By Time LordIn progressive rock musicLeave a comment

Jules Evans in a recent post — “Is pop music bad for your soul?” (June 25, 2014) — has some interesting observations. For example:

For ordinary people, pop music was our equivalent of Jacob’s Ladder. It was our way to climb up and see beyond our lives, to connect with the deeper and darker emotions which the shiny world of capitalism did not allow us to express during the week. Our way to express our loneliness and longing for togetherness, our way to express our hope for a better world. Pop music, not classical music, kept spirituality alive in the dry decades of the 20th century, and (to quote Dylan) it ‘got repaid with scorn’.

Read more at: Philosophy for Life

“Dark Places” (June 2014 single) by @Quinn_Archer ★★★★☆

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@Quinn_Archer

Maybe you heard “Dark Places” by Quinn Archer recently as you were watching the excellent sci-fi TV show Continuum (which happens to be both set in and filmed here in Vancouver, British Columbia).

If so, then you certainly won’t want to miss her great song “Walk Through the Fire” either.

And if those two songs don’t win you over to being thoroughly convinced of her mega-talent, then check out her new video, in which she transmutates the currently popular Ariana Grande (with Iggy Azalea) song, “Problem,” into something very cool.

An earlier version of the “Dark Places” single appears to have been released in January, but now the June release improves on that stripped-down version with superbly crafted musical production and performance.

Clearly, Quinn has the right stuff and it will be interesting to hear what she does next.

Quinn Archer — “Dark Places” [June 2014 single]

Progarchist Rating: ★★★★☆

Weezer: “The Blue Album” (1994) ♫♫♫♫

On By Time LordIn progressive rock music1 Comment

The forthcoming album from Weezer this year sounds promising: Everything Will Be Alright in the End.

Their stunning 1994 debut is the standard by which they will be forever judged. For me, the standout tracks on it are “My Name is Jonas,” “Buddy Holly,” “Say It Ain’t So,” and “In the Garage.” The other tracks, save for one, are great but not upper-echelon essential in their musical status. (Although you may be able to talk me into including “Undone” and “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here.”)

That one more track — perhaps the standout track as far as citizens of Progarchy are concerned — is the epic, eight-minute album closer, “Only in Dreams.” It shows what the power of a song, not afraid to go to prog-quality lengthiness, can achieve from a build-up in musical intensity not otherwise available in a shorter, more standard-length pop song.

The last time Weezer made me sit up and take notice since 1994 was when I heard “Dope Nose” from Maladroit (2002): a not-so-prog two-minutes-and-seventeen-seconds of crunchy power-pop perfection.

Prog or not, I’m really looking forward to the new LP. So, while we’re waiting, let’s acknowledge Weezer’s place in the musical pantheon. Because I really love that little hint of prog power and promise at the end of their first album.

Weezer — “The Blue Album” (1994)

Progarchist Rating: 8/10 ♫♫♫♫

Hunky Dory ★★★★★ Still, Even If Bowie Bonds Going Through Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

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Since they were originally issued, the Bowie Bonds have gone through ch-ch-ch-ch-changes:

When music icon David Bowie in 1997 introduced an unusual marriage between the rock scene and Wall Street, it was first billed as an innovative union.

The rock ‘n’ roll legend issued bonds backed by future revenue of the 25 albums he had recorded before 1990, paying a generous 7.9% interest rate over 10 years. The bond issue earned Bowie $55 million, which he used to buy back songs owned by his former manager.

Maybe a good idea on paper, but in March 2004, Moody’s Investors Service cut the Bowie Bonds to just one notch above junk. A spokesperson from the ratings agency … said the downgrade “was prompted by lower than expected revenues generated by the assets due to weakness in sales for recorded music,” according to The Telegraph.

The rating on the bonds may have changed, but some things will always remain the same.

Classic albums are — by definition — forever classic.

So let’s reaffirm the rating…

David Bowie — Hunky Dory

Progarchist Rating: ★★★★★

Natural Science: Rush and Evolutionary Biology

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I couldn’t resist quoting Rush in this book review that I did of Brendan Purcell’s From Big Bang to Big Mystery: Human Origins in the Light of Creation and Evolution (New York: New City Press, 2012):

For my part, after presenting the material of Chapter 9 (on Kierkegaard and how “we choose to choose”) in the third week of my seminar, I would enjoy citing Neil Peart’s lyrics for a famous Canadian musical ensemble: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice” (Rush, “Free Will,” Permanent Waves).