Tried listening to Yes today.....

[tauzero]

I prefer post-Fish Marillion to the piscine era, WYWH to DSOTM, and Gabriel era Genesis to Collins. I also prefer Akkerman-era Focus to post-Akkerman. Can't get on with Rush at all - I have tried a few times but that voice is just so awful. I like Yes but I haven't heard everything by them, more a cross-section. Time for a more in-depth listen.

[4000]

11 hours ago, spectoremg said:

IMO preferring Wish You Were Here to Dark Side is pure pretentiousness, Dark Side is a masterpiece. 

Or maybe I just much prefer it. 🙄

[4000]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Think the 2 Floyd albums have a different feel so its probably just down to your own personal taste or maybe even something as simple as what album you heard first. For me i heard DSOTM first and it amazed me. 

Dave

I heard WYWH first. It’s my joint favourite album, along with Moonmadness by Camel. I was really disappointed when I heard Dark Side, I found it a real let down after WYWH. 

[Woodinblack]

I find DSOTM a classic album that changed a lot but it is not something I would listen too much, I think WYWH is a more complete album, as is the wall.

I enjoy listening to PG era Genesis, but to me it is the group that would become the PC era Genesis which is what Genesis is in my head from Trick of the Tail down. I think PG leaving Genesis was the best  thing that happened to music, I think it produced a better Genesis and a better Peter Gabriel.

Rush, anything before Hold Your Fire are fantastic albums that I can listen to any time, and on any different day I would pick a different album as a favourite, even down to the first 2. from hold your fire on I never really got into it, and although I had friends that said 'oh you should listen to the new album, its like they used to be', it never was fro me.

[dmccombe7]

I first heard Seconds Out by Genesis so i think that influenced my preference to PC Genesis.

I heard Close to the Edge first but still prefer Going For the One. 

With regards Rush my first album was 2112. I enjoyed the implied story behind the songs back in the good old days. One of my fav Rush songs from the early years is By-Tor and the Snow Dog. Amazing sound for a 3 piece band and probably what impressed me most about them. By the time they got to Farewell to Kings they sounded far bigger with introduction of keys and electronic percussion coming along. Happy days . I had a fantastic imagination when i was younger and used to dream up stories behind every album or song. 

So my theory on what album you heard first might influence your preference to be a load of TOSH. 

Ah well !!! back to the psychology drawing board.

Dave

 

[Bilbo]

Pink Floyd do nothing for me whatsoever. Can't see what the fuss was/is about. DSOTM sounds turgid to me. There are odd moments I like but, generally, its all a bit iffy. My loss, I guess.

[dmccombe7]

1 minute ago, Bilbo said:

Pink Floyd do nothing for me whatsoever. Can't see what the fuss was/is about. DSOTM sounds turgid to me. There are odd moments I like but, generally, its all a bit iffy. My loss, I guess.

Not so much your loss. Just not to your taste. That's what makes us all different 

Dave

[FinnDave]

Various people have tried over the years to help me to understand the appeal of Yes, Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd and their ilk, but without success. All I hear is notes and drums, all very accomplished but utterly lacking any feel or passion to my ears.

Now, the Grateful Dead, on the other hand have swing and humility in their music, sadly lacking in the above, as far as I am concerned.

[Woodinblack]

1 minute ago, FinnDave said:

Various people have tried over the years to help me to understand the appeal of Yes, Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd and their ilk, but without success.

Its fairly pointless to try and make someone to like something they don't like, as at best all you are going to get really is appreciation for skill, but not like.

1 minute ago, FinnDave said:

Now, the Grateful Dead, on the other hand have swing and humility in their music, sadly lacking in the above, as far as I am concerned.

Yep, case in point. After you mentioning them I listened to what you recommended. I really don't hear any of that, or anything memorable or interesting in it.

I think there is something that gets fixed somewhere and after a point, certain types of music just don't chime.

[wateroftyne]

10 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I think there is something that gets fixed somewhere and after a point, certain types of music just don't chime.

As Neil Peart once said: ‘Different hearts beat on different strings...’

[Leonard Smalls]

Funnily enough I prefer Dark Side as it was meant to be heard, in the original reggae.

When Floyd covered it they sucked out much of the groove and all of the fun!

[Woodinblack]

2 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

As Neil Peart once said: ‘Different hearts beat on different strings...’

He did, then Geddy Lee sung it. He is such a copycat, must be irritating.

[Bilbo]

It has to resonate and things resonate with different people in different ways. For some, it is the dance, for others the song. For me it was always the notes, the chords, the harmony, the sounds. Prog does that for me in a way that other genres don't. I don't like Floyd because the rhythms are generally unsophisticated, that harmonies a little too diatonic and so on. Yes and Genesis had more of that going on, arrangements that went somewhere unpredictable, glorious range of instruments, solo guitar to massive soundscapes etc etc. I do think a lot of new Prog lacks that breadth and it can be a little 'formulaic' but the music industry in the 70s let some brilliant stuff through: would CTTE er Relayer be underwritten by record companies today?

[Rich]

21 hours ago, Angel said:

I love early Marillion

 

 

 

For me, the appalling drums on Script for a Jester's Tear make it pretty much unlistenable -- Fugazi was a quantum leap forward in quality. My favourite Fish-era Marillo album is Clutching At Straws.

[Woodinblack]

8 minutes ago, Rich said:

For me, the appalling drums on Script for a Jester's Tear make it pretty much unlistenable -- Fugazi was a quantum leap forward in quality. My favourite Fish-era Marillo album is Clutching At Straws.

Jesters tear is pretty much my favourite. After that it all went downhill!

[Frank Blank]

25 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Funnily enough I prefer Dark Side as it was meant to be heard, in the original reggae.

When Floyd covered it they sucked out much of the groove and all of the fun!

You, Sir, are bang on...

 

[4000]

46 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

Various people have tried over the years to help me to understand the appeal of Yes, Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd and their ilk, but without success. All I hear is notes and drums, all very accomplished but utterly lacking any feel or passion to my ears.

Now, the Grateful Dead, on the other hand have swing and humility in their music, sadly lacking in the above, as far as I am concerned.

Whereas I, after trying valiantly time and time again to get into GD, find the exact opposite. 😉

[mikel]

On 03/10/2020 at 16:36, ahpook said:

I know what you mean. I'm very partial to some prog, but Yes just don't do it for me.

They sound like a band trying hard to sound like somebody else, but failing...it's the only way I can describe it.

Hey, each to their own. But considering Yes started in 69 is it not other bands trying to sound like Yes. For me Close to the Edge is the ultimate prog album. Back in the day The Yes Album was a complete game changer where rock music was concerned.

Back to the OP. If you have to "Try" to listen to something you either come at it with the wrong attitude or you dont like the genre anyway. Music is music, you either like it or you dont.

Edited October 8, 2020 by mikel
Adition

[Leonard Smalls]

This is my sort of prog; pompous, unapproachable,virtuoso,completely barking and a 4 minute vocal intro in some Gypsy language! And no goblins...

 

[FinnDave]

42 minutes ago, 4000 said:

Whereas I, after trying valiantly time and time again to get into GD, find the exact opposite. 😉

Which just goes to show it takes all sorts - thank goodness! How dull life would be if we all liked the same things.

[prowla]

2 hours ago, FinnDave said:

Various people have tried over the years to help me to understand the appeal of Yes, Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd and their ilk, but without success. All I hear is notes and drums, all very accomplished but utterly lacking any feel or passion to my ears.

Now, the Grateful Dead, on the other hand have swing and humility in their music, sadly lacking in the above, as far as I am concerned.

I tried listening to the Grateful Dead and it sounded dull uninteresting countrified slop to me.

Maybe some year I'll give it another try.

[FinnDave]

11 minutes ago, prowla said:

I tried listening to the Grateful Dead and it sounded dull uninteresting countrified slop to me.

Maybe some year I'll give it another try.

That's more generous than I would be towards Yes, PF, Rush, etc. Each to their own, we like what we like and dislike what we dislike. Hard to imagine a piece of music that everyone likes.

[Barking Spiders]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

Which just goes to show it takes all sorts - thank goodness! How dull life would be if we all liked the same things.

It would also make life much easier e.g. when buying / receiving christmas/birthday presents,  taking the family where I want to go on holiday, having to eat food cooked by other people than me or the missus...

[wateroftyne]

2 hours ago, Rich said:

For me, the appalling drums on Script for a Jester's Tear make it pretty much unlistenable -- Fugazi was a quantum leap forward in quality. My favourite Fish-era Marillo album is Clutching At Straws.

Theoretically I should love Marillion. I do like some of it, but... what is it with them and their choice of drummers? Terrible. IMO.

[Beedster]

2 hours ago, mikel said:

Hey, each to their own. But considering Yes started in 69 is it not other bands trying to sound like Yes. For me Close to the Edge is the ultimate prog album. Back in the day The Yes Album was a complete game changer where rock music was concerned.

Back to the OP. If you have to "Try" to listen to something you either come at it with the wrong attitude or you dont like the genre anyway. Music is music, you either like it or you dont.

Odd post Mikel, it's exactly because people (like you) say things like the first paragraph above that I made what you clearly see as the error you describe in the second. If it is the ultimate prog album, I want to understand why. And to clarify, I came at it with exactly the right attitude, and given that like so many people in this thread I love the music of Rush, it's certainly not a genre issue.

I didn't like Miles Davis at all (did everyone sense Bilbo's attention being drawn back in just then?), I seriously had to try to like his music. Reading about it, listening to it with people who love it and could describe why in emotional and not mechanistic terms, and trying to overcome prejudice (musical, not colour I hasten to add) based on my musical experience and preferences to that point, all mean that much to my daughters' annoyance, Sunday PM in the kitchen tends to be Miles Davis time for Daddy, replacing Sunday morning which tends to be Taylor Swift. 

So, I reserve the right to try and like something that previously I didn't.