The ***Official*** Progressive Rock Thread

[Hi-FiGuy]

Dream Theater~Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Music On Vinyl MOVLP781 (2013)
George Marino mastering/RI pressing

Huge DT fan but had a hard time getting into this album as well as Octavarium. Stopped engaging in any new DT when the soul of the band left, post MP has no feeling.

 

[Catcher10]

Huge DT fan but had a hard time getting into this album as well as Octavarium. Stopped engaging in any new DT when the soul of the band left, post MP has no feeling.

SDOIT is an excellent album, as usual some of the lyrics are very cheesy, a trademark of Petrucci. Overall what this album has is excellent music and performance. Octavarium is similar, I don't enjoy it as much as SDOIT.

I feel the same, after BC&SL the music lost heart and soul, honestly the music became very bland and easily forgettable. I have yet to listen to Astonishing in full, I can only assume this new album will be similar. I do like that they are recording it together as a band and not like most just sending music files back and forth.

At the end of the day Portnoy was right, they should have taken a long break........

 

[Skylab]

I LOVE Dream Theater also. I think Dramatic Turn Of Events is a fantastic album, but it’s the only really great one in the post-Portnoy era. And “The Astonishing” was dreadful. The single from their new album is really good though so I have high hopes. Especially since I am seeing them in March!

 

[Catcher10]

I do enjoy ADTOE, we did see that tour and enjoyed it. I have seen Portnoy with Transatlantic and Neal Morse several times, the guy is a great drummer and performer. But as most report, he is/can be a peckerhead on stage to the audience, I have seen it. He has thrown sticks at people for taking pics and gets super pissed when people do not "get into" the music. Not all the music is fist pumping, head banging moshpit style, and I think that is why he played with bands like A7X and created bands more in the hard rock style Adrenalin Mob and Sons/Apollo.

DT became too technical and precise.....I bet he wishes he was in Haken, more thrashy/metal prog.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Mike Portnoy's biggest problem is that he's not Neil Peart LOL.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

At the end of the day Portnoy was right, they should have taken a long break........

100%

Mike Portnoy's biggest problem is that he's not Neil Peart LOL.

They are equals in my mind, just different styles.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

I do enjoy ADTOE, we did see that tour and enjoyed it. I have seen Portnoy with Transatlantic and Neal Morse several times, the guy is a great drummer and performer. But as most report, he is/can be a peckerhead on stage to the audience, I have seen it. He has thrown sticks at people for taking pics and gets super pissed when people do not "get into" the music. Not all the music is fist pumping, head banging moshpit style, and I think that is why he played with bands like A7X and created bands more in the hard rock style Adrenalin Mob and Sons/Apollo.

DT became too technical and precise.....I bet he wishes he was in Haken, more thrashy/metal prog.

I have never experienced this with him as many times as I have seen him perform, other than the spitting.
I have met him at a drum clinic and out of the 3 high profile drummers he is the only one that stayed and answered questions and signed autographs, we were there until 10:30 at night. The other two booked with in 10 minutes, however I did come out of it with a signed copy of Awake and got the stand on the drum platform 3 feet behind him while he played Erotica.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Mike, OCDs. Different, but still OCDs. I'm afraid I'm going to take the classic argument, and say that in the prog field, Bruford > Peart >>>> Portnoy.

 

[asiufy]

I like Portnoy's drumming, but he's far, FAR from Peart. He lacks the subtlety, the invention, the right touch at the right time.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Alex, my issue is too MANY touches.
The only album I've been fully convinced by him is the first Transatlantic one. There we had taste, discretion, technique and a good kit sound.

I was actually a bit disappointed w him when he publicly dissed Rush come back album Vapor Trails. Yes, I know it's a polarizing album for Rush aficionados. But Peart's drumming on it is stellar, and a truly amazing comeback and reinvention for a singular talent, esp bearing in mind the turmoil in his life just 3 years earlier.

 

[astrotoy]

This is the first time that I have looked at this thread. Ron has done an encyclopedic job in explaining prog rock, especially to someone like me who knows just about nothing about the subject. This past year I have started engaging in some serious trading of tapes (15ips 2 track) with different collectors. Although my main interest is classical music, most of them have non-classical as their main interest, so I have acquired a large number of these genres of music, well over 100 reels.

From Ron's essays and other postings, I think these would qualify for the prog rock categories. The advantage to these are that they are 15ips 2 track copies of master tapes or copies of copies, done with high quality professional machines, about 4 to 6 generations closer to the master tape than a typical vinyl pressing.

Led Zeppelin - LZ1, LZ2, LZ3, LZ4, House of Holy, Physical Graffiti
Pink Floyd - The Wall, Momentary Lapse of Reason (in addition my safety master collection has DSOTM, Animals, WYWH, Meddle, Atom Heart Mother, The Wall Live in Berlin)
Roger Waters - Amused to Death
Renaissance - Novella, Scheherazade and Other Stories, Prologue, Ashes are Burning, Turn of the Cards, A Song for All Seasons
Genesis - Abacab, Genesis
Peter Gabriel - Shaking the Tree
Alan Parsons Project - Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Eye in the Sky, I Robot, Turn of a Friendly Card
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Later, Pink Moon
Steely Dan - Aja (in addition in my safety master collection Katy Lied)
Moody Blues - Days of Futures Passed, To Our Children's Children's Children, Seventh Sojourn
ELO - Messages
Yes - Fragile

I may have missed these artists in the thread - not sure whether they are prog rock.
Dire Straits - Dire Straits, Love Over Gold, Brothers in Arms, Communique, Making Movies, On Every Street
Fleetwood Mac - Mystery to Me (also have in my safety master collection - Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, Tusk)
Christine McVie - Christine Perfect
Stevie Nicks - ( in my safety master collection Bella Donna)
The Who (in my safety master collection - Tommy, Who's Next)

Now I have to start listening to most of these.

Larry

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

I was actually a bit disappointed w him when he publicly dissed Rush come back album Vapor Trails. Yes, I know it's a polarizing album for Rush aficionados. But Peart's drumming on it is stellar, and a truly amazing comeback and reinvention for a singular talent, esp bearing in mind the turmoil in his life just 3 years earlier.

Do you have any links for this statement as all I can find is Neil sharing discontent for the Working Man Tribute album. Also Mike did the liner notes on the Japanese pressing of Vapor Trails.

Oh in the process of research I discovered Spastic Ink.

 

[Catcher10]

I have never experienced this with him as many times as I have seen him perform, other than the spitting.
I have met him at a drum clinic and out of the 3 high profile drummers he is the only one that stayed and answered questions and signed autographs, we were there until 10:30 at night. The other two booked with in 10 minutes, however I did come out of it with a signed copy of Awake and got the stand on the drum platform 3 feet behind him while he played Erotica.

I've only seen attitude from him a few times, the throwing of sticks was the worst. He then had his drum tech come around and tell people no more pics! I never saw any flash going off, maybe I just missed it with lights and all. My wife takes pictures but she shuts off the flash and also the auto-focus light.
On the Neal Morse T2 tour, all band stayed after and signed stuff, even Neal stuck around and took pics and signed anything for about 2 hours after show. Portnoy never showed his face, other band members when asked said he was probably already on the bus sleeping. I really have no issues with that, some did.....the guy plays hard.

I don't care much about his personality, I'm not that type of a fan, if he is a prick in real life then so be it. He is a talented drummer and musician overall and I like what he does.

I've never heard him diss Neal Peart, maybe Rush after Hemispheres like many do, I've never heard anything about Vapor Trails and Portnoy.
For me Peart and Portnoy are part of what I call extreme drummers, they are almost a separate genre. Bruford was not this type of drummer, to me he is more that jazz-rock drummer....apples and oranges for me to compare Peart and Bruford. Now Bruford and Collins is a better topic.

I'm a huge Gavin Harrison fan, I think he is much better than Portnoy, I don't think Portnoy could play with King Crimson.....some how some way he needs to finish his musical career back with Dream Theater and complete the circle. Everything else he has done has been project bands.

 

[asiufy]

Gavin Harrison? Oh please... I don't get what people hear in his playing, it's just boring, standard, run of the mill. He worked fine for Porcupine Tree, as that was somewhat simple music.
If you put together the 3 drummers Fripp has now, it'll be the equivalent of 1 of Bruford's limbs.
The drummer situation is one of the things that suck big time with the recent King Crimson line ups. He needs one decent drummer. Since Bruford isn't available, he thought he could do with 3, but it's just wrong.

 

[Skylab]

Huh. While I LOVE Bruford, I can’t say I agree about Harrison. I have seen him live both in Porcupine Tree and in King Crimson and thought he was spectacular. No, he isn’t Bruford - no one ever will be. Hell, Alan White wasn’t. But Gavin is a helluva drummer.

I also thing the current live lineup of King Crimson is awesome and can’t wait to see them this coming fall

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

I'm a huge Gavin Harrison fan, I think he is much better than Portnoy, I don't think Portnoy could play with King Crimson.....some how some way he needs to finish his musical career back with Dream Theater and complete the circle. Everything else he has done has been project bands.

I have always felt this will come to be, after all its actually his band, he put it together.

. No, he isn’t Bruford - no one ever will be. Hell, Alan White wasn’t. But Gavin is a helluva drummer.

I respect Alan White as a drummer but he does ZERO for me as a drummer, and Yes I am a huge Yes fan!

 

[Number9]

Chester Thompson and Steve Gadd are my two (old timer) favorites. CT with FZappa, Santana and embarrassed Phil Collins on stage when he toured with Genesis. Steve Gadd is just incredible in the studio!

 

[Skylab]

A Life In Yes - The Chris Squire Tribute (Various Artists)

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Chester Thompson and Steve Gadd are my two (old timer) favorites. CT with FZappa, Santana and embarrassed Phil Collins on stage when he toured with Genesis. Steve Gadd is just incredible in the studio!

Two GOATS for sure. Had the privilege of attending a CT drum seminar many years ago, hell of a nice guy.
Steely Dan's Aja is one of my favorite songs and album of all time. Steve walks in and nails one of the all time greatest drum tracks in two takes, unheard of with SD, drops mic and leaves. Its my number one demo track when listening to a system.
This from Wikipedia:
Drum solo[edit]
Gadd, whose part had designated sections where he was to improvise, took two takes to record his part, including the solos (the first drum solos ever on a Steely Dan record[5]), not one as is sometimes claimed;[23] they were edited together in the final mix. "[His] part was not written. We discussed the tune a little bit and by virtue of his musicianship he just knew what to do," said Becker. "I remember, through the part that became the saxophone solo, telling him just to play like hell through there. He said okay."[24]
"The session went real smooth," Gadd told jazz critic Ben Sidran in 1995. "Everyone had their head into it like probably it was going to take a long time to get it, if we ever would get it. And, that day, it just seemed to fall into place."[6] Ten years later he elaborated further that he had heard of Becker and Fagen's difficulties and "[a] lot of the musicians weren't very optimistic that they were ever going to get these things done." [23]
According to Sweet, Gadd's playing was so visually appealing that some of the other players became distracted and had to rerecord portions of their parts later.[12] Becker and Fagen were so satisfied with the drummer's work that they asked him back to play on some tracks from Gaucho, their next album.[19]

 

[Catcher10]

Gavin Harrison? Oh please... I don't get what people hear in his playing, it's just boring, standard, run of the mill. He worked fine for Porcupine Tree, as that was somewhat simple music.
If you put together the 3 drummers Fripp has now, it'll be the equivalent of 1 of Bruford's limbs.
The drummer situation is one of the things that suck big time with the recent King Crimson line ups. He needs one decent drummer. Since Bruford isn't available, he thought he could do with 3, but it's just wrong.

As much as I respect your opinion, it falls under the "I only listen to the old style music" category LOL. Which I have zero issue with, Gavin and the like are part of the newer generation of drummers. I mean Gavin is not too young either, he is 55, but easily plays well below his age IMO. Gavin is very talented, his triplets and ghost hits are some of the best and his cymbal playing is some of the best, although Portnoy is really good there too. What I like about Gavin is he sounds huge, fast and musical without beating the krapp out of his kit, there is a calm flow.
And yea he was awesome with King Crimson when we saw them couple yrs ago.

For sure when you listen to older music of Yes, KC and even some of the live performances with Genesis, Bruford was a talented musician, I like him quite a lot. But he is part of a music scene that is over 45+yrs now, time to listen to the new drummers.