CRM114

I've been listening to pretentious progressive rock a lot recently. I go in phases with this stuff. Sometimes, it's amazing. Sometimes, it's pretentious. Sometimes it's boring. Sometimes its exhilarating.

For me, it comes down to the late 60's, early 70's output from Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson. I can't really rank one ahead of the other. I think King Crimson's Larks Tongue in Aspic is the best of the best but I can't really give it an edge of Yes' Close to the Edge. They are different. But I will attempt to rank the musicians.

Best Guitarist? (my choice in bold)

Yes: Steve Howe (tie)
King Crimson: Robert Fripp (tie)
Genesis: Tony Banks



Best Drummer?

Yes: Bill Bruford
King Crimson: Bill Bruford
Genesis: Phil Collins



Best Bassist?

Yes: Chris Squire
King Crimson: John Wetton
King Crimson: Tony Levin (I cheated here)
Genesis: Mike Rutherford



Best Keyboardist:

Yes: Rick Wakeman
King Crimson: n/a
Genesis: Tony Banks



Best Floutist:

Genesis: Peter Gabriel



Best Vocalist:

Genesis: Peter Gabriel
Yes: Jon Anderson
King Crimson: John Wetton
King Crimson: Adrian Belew

CRM114

Fav albums?

King Crimson: Larks Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, In the Court
Yes: Close to the Edge, Fragile, The Yes Album
Genesis: Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound

And THIS is a Mellotron:

islandclaws

King Crimson

Red is one of my favorite albums. I could listen to Starless on an endless loop.

bunkaroo

For those three bands from that time period, Yes wins easily for me. Fragile and Close to the Edge are about as good as it gets for the genre. Sadly the band reach their peak of the 70's style Yes in that period IMO. I do enjoy the 80's Yes quite a bit though - I'm one of the weirdos that loves Union. Also as a bass player who uses a pick most of the time, it's hard for me to not like Squire, though I prefer Levin's bass work on the prog records he's done. But Squire has written some pretty iconic lines.

I'm just now starting to digest a lot of the older King Crimson. Their recent influence on Steven Wilson's solo work due to his remastering work on the KC catalog has brought them more into focus for me. I do like the later KC though, meaning Thrak and Power to Believe.

As far as Genesis, for some reason I don't really connect with the Gabriel-era Genesis. I love his solo work much more, and Trick of the Tail is my favorite Genesis record, which was the first without Gabriel. Probably just comes down to that being the first prog record of Genesis I was exposed to. Until I was in my late teens I never knew they had anything older than "That's All".

ELP probably deserves some mention as well, though the lack of a lot of guitar on their stuff has always made them a "second shelf" prog band for me.

Hiro11

Favorite classic 70s UK prog: Genesis, especially "Foxtrot".
Favorite obscure 70s UK prog: Gentle Giant, especially "Octopus".
Favorite classic prog album: "Close to the Edge". It's the obvious pinnacle.
Favorite "is this prog?", 70s artifact album: Hawkwind "Hall of the Mountain Grill"
Best classic prog band technically: King Crimson
Best relatively recent prog album: Porcupine Tree "Fear of a Blank Planet"

Actually, I prefer the related, contemporaneous, highly pretentious krautrock bands: Neu!, Can, Faust, Amon Duul II, Cluster, Kraftwerk etc.

CRM114

^ I'd like to go off into current prof rock and other not as well known 70s prog rock bands if anyone likes to contribute more.

Plus, I totally forgot "Red" - it's the one 5.1 Crimson remix I don't have yet so it wasn't registering.

I saw King Crimson on the "Three of a Perfect Pair" tour. Fripp, Levin, Bruford, and Belew. Pretty fantastic. Adrian Belew and Fripp really worked.

Supermallet

King Crimson is the most experimental, and ultimately the most impressive. Genesis were the most theatrical, and my personal favorite. Yes were the best at combining rock and symphonic music. They're all fantastic bands.

Rocketdog2000

inri222

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A8DgdYaasuw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

bunkaroo

That's pretty hilarious - I don't think that would convert anyone.

I won't get into why I chose the way I play since it would bore everyone, but like anything there are pro's and con's. Squire's bass sound is such an integral part of the Yes sound, I can't imagine hearing the songs with a less aggressive rounded-type bass sound.

Phodg

Eloy. That is all.

inri222

Hey I play with a pick 100% of the time. Some people don't consider that "real" bass playing. I don't care, it goes with the kind of music I play. Besides I couldn't play with my fingers to save my life.

bunkaroo

Oh cool I didn't know you played too. What kind of music?

For some reason when I was 13 it seemed easier to start with a pick since I was playing with guys 2 year older and further along on their instruments who wanted to play Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, etc. So the pick just worked for me.

I still run into the occasional jackass who has to say something about the pick, but those are usually the types who listen with their eyes.

rw2516

Are Captain Beyond and Wishbone Ash considered prog? Lately I haven't been able to get enough of Wishbone Ash.

arminius

Some other band-Atomic Rooster

bunkaroo

Both of them have prog listed as one of their genres on Wiki so sounds like they are. Never heard either of them personally.

Jason

Camel. The Mirage album is incredible.

rw2516

I'll second that. The one I've heard though.

Then there's Jethro Tull. Hard to think of Thick As A Brick as anything but prog.

inri222

Right now I split my time between a hardcore & punk band. I also sometimes fill in for a metal and an indie rock band.

bunkaroo

Yeah the pick makes perfect sense then I think. I'd be stunned if someone thought you should only use your fingers in a hardcore/punk band.

islandclaws

Totally agree. Camel is fantastic. Their first 4 albums are excellent.

bunkaroo

I picked up Moonmadness based on the small clips I heard through playing SongPop and form hearing they were a big influence on Mikael from Opeth. I liked what I heard - need to check out the stuff before it. Does it tend to be more instrumental than not?

flagstone

One band that hasn't been mentioned yet is Gentle Giant. Don't know that I'd list them as my favorite (I don't really prefer classical/medieval leanings personally), but I don't mind when their songs rotate in from my playlist from time to time.

Also, I don't know that Kayak would be considered influential, but I do like the song "Royal Bed Bouncer" .

foofighters7

That's a pretty funny video.

#1- what he was doing was pretty easy. #2- it isn't even interesting.
#3- he thought this was good? #4- why did the interviewer act like that was good too?

I don't mess with bass very much but I can do that. Any guitar player could.

Funny video.

bunkaroo

About the only thing you could say about that lick is it is potentially a little more defined in the attack due to the pick. That pretty much goes for any fast picking though. The trade off is you don't get as much body to the note as you would with a finger pluck. The pick tends to be a little more precise as well. Really depends on the sound you want.

Squire should have done a sweep arpeggio.