BassTractor

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1439220688' post='2840978'] Was Manfred Man Chapter 3 ever considered a Prog Rock band? [/quote] If once is good enough as "ever" then yes. I do! To me personally, prog is mainly about the unexpected, and about a preference for everything multi or poly. Multi-style, multi-meter, polyphony, etc. (Progsters aren't regular phonies; they're polyphonies.) To the degree that that personal take is workable, I'd say Chapter 3 were prog. Great call again. Luvverly band they were.

When I still played piano for jazz bands as a dep, before I got an electronic piano module, I used to lug around a huge and heavy Fender Rhodes electric piano as a back-up solution for a possibly bad local piano. Normally the piano at the venue was OK though. Once or twice the band leader actually commanded me to use a local, bad piano in preference above my perfect Rhodes - - something I've never really understood. BTW for those interested: Rhodes and Wurlitzer = electric, Nord = electronic.

[quote name='ForestPoetry' timestamp='1439146764' post='2840409'] Discipline by King Crimson [/quote] Great call! Another one, probably not after your liking though, is "Focus" by Cynic. A fantastic album in my book.

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1439142716' post='2840369'] Bloody vultures I tell you! [/quote] What are their BC user names? I think we should politely ask them to help us keep up the BC myth... :-D

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1439041240' post='2839587'] That's the first time I've seen Jazz From Hell described as progressive. [/quote] I wouldn't call it progressive as such, but personally still think of it as part of the prog direction (whatever Zappa thought about the term).

Count me in on the yes side. I think a metronome is a great tool for learning With a simple one beat metronome (as opposed to metric pattern ones), if something goes wrong, you just pick up the next beat again. I like it that way, and so I prefer an old-fashioned metronome above drum loops or (shudder) complete tracks to play along to. Personally, I couldn't stand the electronic metronomes I've heard, but that was a long time ago. I'd guess modern electronics offer both nice sound and tweakable feel of the meter.

I too was there, and thought it was overwhelmingly fantastic on first listen. After that first listen though, I prefer Rubber Soul, Revolver, Abbey Road and that Phil Spector wall-of-sound thingy. Will give it a new spin though, as I still did buy the CD.

Thanks for drawing my attention to "A Curious Feeling". I've never heard it, but am sufficiently intrigued now. As to the the greatest prog album, I wouldn't be able to choose at all, but for me the most [s]archetypal[/s] edit: iconic one would probably be "Close to the Edge". However, I don't trust my choice there, as CttE happens to be the album of my life. Others: Gentle Giant: The Power and The Glory Van der Graaf: The Quiet Zone / The Pleasure Dome Frank Zappa: Jazz from Hell The (Dixie) Dregs: Unsung Heroes

[quote name='ladywithabass' timestamp='1438941102' post='2838790'] Peavey 115 TNT I have read somewhere they are indestructable. [/quote] Yes, they are. Just do NOT turn the special key ten times and press the red T handle down. You should be OK as long as you avoid that. ;-) My Peavey practice combo is roughly 25 years old, and it doesn't even have noisy pots. Perfec! :-) Welcome from another Dutchie - one who started with bass at age 55. I hope you'll enjoy BC like most do. It's basically a friendly place with decent people.

Yes. They normally go by air. Nike Air. :-)

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1438869633' post='2838253'] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]And it's not every well-loved, iconic bass player who gets an entire range of basses named after him by Fender [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color] [/quote] Hehehe. Ya know, a Dutch musicians' mag once stated that in all seriousness, and they had even noticed the difference in spelling. .

Skylarking, Oranges & Lemons, Nonsuch, Apple Venus Volume 1 To my ears, they are four of their very best albums, and, if one disregards the Dukes of Stratosphear's "Psonic Psunspot", these albums were made consecutively, and after the mentioned breakdown. My take would be that that breakdown did NOT have a negative effect on their music. Also, do we really know the exact nature of the breakdown and its effect on Partridge's health in the decades after it? I guess we do not. I do agree with the OP's warm words regarding Moulding though.

If their original Dutch site is anything to go by, I'd say: buy with confidence. I've nothing but praise for Bax-shop in their Dutch guise, and prefer them above Thomann as they have been clearly better with pre-order communication, are stellarly quick, and are great with aftersales service like warranties and returns, whilst maintaining good prices. However, as I communicated with both Thomann and Bax-shop in Dutch, the whole experience might be slightly different for Brits communicating in English with both. IME, the Dutch department of Thomann often do not understand the same question that Bax-shop understand immediately, and also, Bax-shop have been far better at returning with the info the customer needs rather than the answer that saves them some time. Highly recommended.

Bloody bad advice! My new band Rickenbacker 4003 immediately received less-than-agreeable e-mails. Don't do this, people! (Other than that: pure genius! )

[quote name='sykilz' timestamp='1437121593' post='2823694'] Steven Wilson performing The Raven That Refused To Sing. [/quote] Thanks for posting that. I enjoyed it a lot. Also nice that you wrote something about the song and your experiences with it. I think I need to edit my post.

Too many to mention, but I share Bilbo's reaction to Ravel's Bolero. Among other pieces it was istrumental in me becoming a musician. Others: Focus: "Sylvia" Yes: "Roundabout" Scritti Politti: "The Word Girl" Living Colour: "Type" as well as ... drum roll ... Mantovani: "Charmaine", some kind of 20s ballroom melody in so-called "cascading strings" wrapping. I'd never heard part of the orchestra playing the previous note(s) so as to create an orchestrated echo/reverb effect. Also, the melody itself invoked Beethoven feelings with me, which was a good thing in my young book: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__tm_j8FPl0[/media]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1436206898' post='2816010'] [i]Jeg er enig i at omgivelsene er en god egg, med rette stor tillit og talent i bøtter og spann; nok til å risikere utredning, og så kan børste av noen snidy vittigheter med letthet. Han er usannsynlig å vinne en "volum krig", selv om ..![/i] It may have lost something in translation, but I wouldn't know..! Yes, basically just confirming that ambient is OK. [/quote] I don't suppose it lost [b]anything[/b] in translation, as it means: "[i]I agree that surroundings are a good knife's edge, rightfully big trust and talent in buckets and nine kilograms; enough to risk thorough survey, and so can brush off some[/i] ... [snidy] ... [i]sally. He is unlikely to win a "volume war", even though..![/i]"

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1436197558' post='2815862'] (assuming you weren't 'trying' to be sarcastic..? ) [/quote] LOL. No, no attempts at sarcasm here. Just trying to be serious, open and direct - - whilst knowing full well that some people might assume I'm posteriorlicking instead. My limited English sadly makes I don't understand the rest of your post, but I gather it's all good.

Well, I for one am relieved it isn't me. I really am that funny, and only _think_ I'm being sarcastic. But on a serious note I'll say this: Dad, I hope you weren't being serious in checking whether it was you. I'm sure you've been nothing but extremely nice and helpful, especially as ambient is one of the people on BC who've had the balls to show also their weak sides.

[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1436132742' post='2815306'] You're obviously qualified to, if you can hear it. [/quote] Ain't that the truth. The Bible does not state: "In the beginning God created the Big Bang and He saw it just wasn't good enough, so then He also created music theory". It's musical ears that created music theory - - as a reflection of our shared musical experiences. The qualification is in the ears. The old joke of "just call it Jazz" does reflect that one can often not be entirely sure, but as I said above, the vast body of music listeners is well qualified to hear the bum notes in improvs in regular settings.

I think the guitarist does have a point. Sadly though it's a bum point. Then again, I'm not a pointillist, so I'm not qualified to comment. So I won't. Seriously though, if we may take your description of the music and the bum notes for granted, he's simply wrong. The vast body of music enjoyers are adequately equipped to hear bum notes like the ones you describe. Being a musician does not come into the picture at all. Musicality does of course come in all kinds of varieties, as does formal music education, but higher levels of both only mean one can judge more advanced types of music with more confidence. It does not even mean one is right (though chances of that do grow IME). As a point in case, I've been discussing pop and rock music with some of the great composers of new classical music. How they missed the boat (IMHO of course), as they only saw popular music's formal simplicity, and seemed unable to grasp that there's more to it than being advanced on paper.

As many other bands, Yes now is corporate bizniz - - a bizniz that will try to survive and will try and maximise profit. If my impression is correct that it was mainly Chris Squire who couldn't muster Jon Anderson anymore, I think there's no chance at all that the others are not thinking that they must at least do their very best to try and incorporate Jon Anderson again. Nobody knows if that will happen, of course, but my bet in that case is they will at least have talks with him, and I do feel we'll see "with special guest star" concerts rather soon.

Same story here: my very first regular wages went to "Fragile", and I was floored both by the music and by the bass parts and bass sound. "Close to the Edge" kinda repeated that feat, and especially the bass part of "Total Mass Retain" was a personal eyeopener to me as to what was possible in popular music. I see Chris Squire as a visionary bass player within rock music, and I understand he had a great influence on other bass players. Thanks, Chris! R.I.P. Here's the "Total Mass Retain" part from the "Close to the Edge" track: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Z3IKLl3cE[/media]

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1435478009' post='2809041'] on the subject of correct intonation, I do think it's the most overrated aspect of music. [/quote] That explains a lot. . . . . Sorry, I just could not resist. In real life, I do love Spoombung's stuff.