Yes: Roundabout. Yeah!
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Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
Ha ha I used to have this album
To be fair though that's probably the worst track on it. The rest of it' s OK as far as I can recall; not great IMO but listenable.Try this;
and they opened the album with it as well! What were they thinking?
Ha ha I used to have this album
Try this;
and they opened the album with it as well! What were they thinking?
That has redeeming features. They were at least trying to be a bit experimental there. I hate Greg Lake's vocals, though (how come he was so great in King Crimson but so awful in ELP?). ELP at their best = ELP, Tarkus, Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery anything beyond that - someone get me a ladder. But for one reason or another they still bug me even at their best - melodically horrible songs, irritating keyboard fanfares, flash but quite crap drumming. They were alright when they channeling modern classical music or being a bit dissonant. I quite like the Nice in places as well.
Bands that did this sort of keyboard based prog rock better than ELP (IMO):
Egg
Collegium Musicum
Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso (as mentioned above)
Le Orme
Which was worse? ELP after they went shit or Yes after they went shit? The answer - Gentle Giant when they went shit. All these bands tried to weather punk by selling out and going pop. Horribly. You'd appreciate later Genesis after hearing how bad these bands were in the 80's (not forgetting prog rock supergroup Asia of course
). I just don't understand what the appeal was supposed to be - neither fish nor fowl.
Of course King Crimson bucked the trend by disappearing and then coming back with a genuinely brilliant new record.
But I think I'm now straying from the uncool corner...
). I just don't understand what the appeal was supposed to be - neither fish nor fowl.Of course King Crimson bucked the trend by disappearing and then coming back with a genuinely brilliant new record.
But I think I'm now straying from the uncool corner...
In terms of uncool, I get double plus points - this morning I was not only playing this, I was also learning how to play it on't guitar. Uncool and politically barking, but still a great riff.
I was once lent a tape with this song and a few others (Tom Sawyer, Limelight,...). I just couldn't get into it. Somehow these songs are just lacking something. There's a lack of energy or something. Listening to it now, I can hear that there are technical things going on especially with the drumming, but it doesn't thrill me. I even think that's a good song on paper and indeed a great riff. I bet someone could do a great cover version.
I should say on the other side of the tape there was Budgie which was great. Listening to Rush after Budgie - hard going.
Stop me if I go into a monologue, by the way.
Wilf
Slouching towards Billingham
Yes, I do know what you mean, it's hard to pin down - it's all there, tight riffs, great playing and a kind of energy. It's all a bit decaff passionless though. Not much of an authority on them, but aren't most of there songs sex free, not even about relationships? God save us from 70s rock gender attitudes, but they are almost a-sexual - and that comes out in the music. There's a beat, but not a groove.
starfish2000
Well-Known Member
I just like music, a lot of what I like is uncool, some o f what I like has been embraced again like PIL, but the whole cultural stalinism of British music kinda fucks me off. Its not made for better experimental bands in the mainstream thats for sure. Guitar based music in the UK seems fucked at the moment
That could be said about most prog rock bands though! I can think of one or two songs which might qualify as sexy. There's the awful Lady's of the Road by King Crimson (musically poor, lyrically grim, just grim *shudder* (and the worst thing is KC actually had their own specialist lyricist!)) and there's the much better Easy Money also by King Crimson. But that's all I can think of at the minute. Robert Fripp and co. Not exactly sex on legs. But a great live band.
I regard that as really quite exciting.
Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
Thanks for the tip. I'm listering to "Battlefield" (from "Tarkus") at the moment and enjoying it.
Even "The Endless Enigma" isn't too bad once you get to the singing, but I think most people would bin it before they got that far.
I don't think you should pay much attention to tips from me about ELP. I don't really like the band and I like them best when they sound the least like themselves. Egg, Collegium Musicum and Le Orme were geeky bands for back rooms of pubs not some great stadium showcase. But you might like the big stadium sound, so who am I to tell you? (I think you've got Endless Enigma exactly wrong - it goes bad when the vocals start.)
Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
Knotted said:
Interesting, but I thought the keyboards were too low in the mix especially the solo which could have done with being louder and more dominant.
I don't know why I keep going back to prog rock. It's like an old unwashed sock that nevertheless fits comfortably. Here's a bit of Gentle Giant. It's a good song, but lots of bands did good songs. What makes this special is that it starts off as a folky tune backed by violin and cello then breaks out into a rock song with trumpets and then drifts off into a jazzy vibe solo and then back to the folkiness at the end. Actually that's not that special, the reason I like it is that it holds my attention for 8:20 whereas most nice songs bore me after 30 seconds. Easy listening for the short attention span.
Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
This band's worth a listen (track chosen more or less at random);
I've heard of (but not heard) Spock's Beard but with the words "Christian", "neo-progressive" and "rock" in the same sentence, so I've avoided them. Listening to that now... OK it's not truly terrible all the way through ie. the instrumental sections are tolerably complex if very, very cliched. They seem to have distilled two horrible genres - 70's prog rock and 80's poodle rock/pop - and then drained the energy out of them. You definitely get marks for uncoolness for that .
You should try listening to Pendragon, IQ and Jadis (warning - only Meltingpot should nobody else should).
.You should try listening to Pendragon, IQ and Jadis (warning - only Meltingpot should nobody else should).
billy_bob
Air of bewilderment model's own
Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
Here's another great track, a lot like Trilogy-era ELP only better;
Dr. Furface
One small step for me
To be fair I think you could say the same about Can - there, I've said it - and they're always rated right up there on the cool-ometer (and rightly so). I know sod all about Yes really but I always knew they were never a band I wanted to have anything to do with, and the tracks on here aren't about to change my opinion!
hash tag
Reaching out
savoloysam
Pigman's pigman's ha ha charade you are..
Drop some acid and it's all about Starship Trooper, Awaken and Close to the Edge. Maaan!
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Best version is the single in my opinion
