How come this guy was so far under our radar?

[Basshappi]

Mog...?

"I'm my own best friend!"

[Freuds_Cat]

One of my workmates is a huge Prog fan. He has enlightened me to the massive scale of Italian prog. I am quite frankly amazed at how many Italian prog bands there have been.

Its given my funny bone the itch to write a song called "Prog is big in Italy" 

[barend]

Well I like a lot prog! By the way, discussing interesting bass sellers this guy is one of the best bass sellers I have ever meet. He is located in Italy and has an impressive private collection, and sells a lot on ebay. I have purchased from him my Fender Jazz and my Thunderbird.

http://shop.ebay.it/bambibau/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

thanks for this link. His prices are very 'honest'. Some nice basses on that Gibson site too, although I wish some were just a little bit cheaper.

[uwe]

The Ian Gillan Band's idisyncratic mix of fusion jazz, latin music and English hard rock was great, Clear Air Turbulence is a masterpiece and Scarabus still a damn good album. And they could pull their intricate music off live as the Live at the Budokan release showed.

You are not alone, Ken. I see squirrels all the time too.

[Barklessdog]

One of my workmates is a huge Prog fan. He has enlightened me to the massive scale of Italian prog. I am quite frankly amazed at how many Italian prog bands there have been.

Its given my funny bone the itch to write a song called "Prog is big in Italy"  

PFM & Magma?

Prog like fusion, jazz & blues was killed when it become homogenized for the masses from bands like Asia (sorry Uwe), Late Genesis, Journey & Kansas. They tried to bring women to concerts, imagine that!

I remember reading an interview with Phil Collins talking about how horrible it was having a male only audience. Homogenization & compromise kill any genre, like a lot of the post punk bands who have the look, but music is top 40 & inoffensive.


I remember when Weather Report, "Birdland", Pat Metheney & smooth jazz came out. It was cool to go to a lawn concert with your wine coolers and tell people how much you love jazz. They had women who were fans.

Kenny G, John Tesche & Yanni were really hot.

[uwe]

Hey, I continue to like Asia!!! Their new album Omega is an entertaining listen.




Is it prog? No, it's skillfully crafted AOR by four elder men that all once played prog. Someone once called them "thinking man's Air Supply" and he wasn't far off (I like Air Supply!). Their music isn't any more proggish than a Meatloaf album is.

Speaking of John Wetton: Asked how he rated himself as a bass player in a current German muso mag interview he said (my own translation from memory): "I used to be pretty good in the seventies. But I've been plagued with carpal tunnel syndrome of my right hand for a long time and that seriously inhibits my playing now. These days I see myself more as a singer and songwriter."

It does explain why his bass playing has become much more rhytmically reduced over the years. He did weird stuff with King Crimson and UK.


Women at concerts are detrimental to the music, I agree.

[Barklessdog]

Women at concerts is detrimental to the music, I agree.

Funny what a great divide there is in music!. I have taken my teen daughter to some of her concerts & were inhabited by 99% underage teenage girls. One of the the bands made a crack "I see there is a guy in the audience, way to go!".

I guess it has been that way for a long time.

(Listening to Jean Luc Ponty as I type)

[gearHed289]

Steve Howe is starting to show his age.

[uwe]

He does look like a century-old chimp by now and his stage demeanor is as "unrock" as it can be. He reminds me of a benevolent math and music teacher demonstrating how an electric guitar sounds to his class. But wasn't he always like that? Blackmore, as a younger man, once quipped: "The guy from YES always sounds to me as if he is practicing scales when he solos." There is some truth in that, especially coming from a guy like Blackmore who could effortlessly combine different scales and modes in one flowing solo without any listener noticing the seams. Steve Howe, a nice gentleman no doubt and a tasteful player, always sounds very learned to me. 

[Barklessdog]

Funny how the only modern prog bands I can stomach are Porcupine Tree- who is more Floyd like & Oceansize which is not really that proggy.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTBlf686XMU&feature=related

[patman]

I actually used to like prog back in the day...doesn't do much for me now.

[Stjofön Big]

Always used to like Patto. Great band! Though I wouldn't call them prog, even though they were very different from anything else. Now, kids, that was looong ago. Long before I got hair on my nose and my ears...

[barend]

He does look like a century-old chimp by now and his stage demeanor is as "unrock" as it can be. He reminds me of a benevolent math and music teacher demonstrating how an electric guitar sounds to his class. But wasn't he always like that? Blackmore, as a younger man, once quipped: "The guy from YES always sounds to me as if he is practicing scales when he solos." There is some truth in that, especially coming from a guy like Blackmore who could effortlessly combine different scales and modes in one flowing solo without any listener noticing the seams. Steve Howe, a nice gentleman no doubt and a tasteful player, always sounds very learned to me. 

I really like Steve Howe! both his electric and acoustic playing. Doesn't sound like merely scales to me. Yes was great until the Going for the One album. Relayer is my favourite one.

[Highlander]

Would Pavlov's Dog be considered "prog..." ?

[chromium]

Relayer is my favourite one.

Me too.  The Gates of Delirium is a Yes favorite.   

There was some pretty good live footage of it out on Youtube, last I looked...