Oh dear....
> Not at all; I assume you're closed-minded because your contribution to
> the topic was to toss a cheap Jon Anderson insult over the transom.
>
If JA insults are cheap it follows that they are also plentiful, and if
they are plentiful then it must be for a reason. Admitedly this is
because he's about as soft a target as you can get, but again this is
for a reason. In addition, the knee-jerk reaction of prog fans to leap
to his defence makes it amusing as well, particularly when they trot out
the usual 'impressionism with words' tripe that they parrot from JA
himself as his own somewhat limited defence.
Get over it Don; he's rubbish.
I like King Crimson. In fact, I like King Crimson ∗a lot∗. Arguably they
are my favourite band ever. I have all their official recordings and so
many bootlegs that at one time I was an 'official unofficial' fount of
knowledge for bootlegs of the band. I used to run the King Crimson
Internet mailing list and still do work for DGM. I'd also be the first
to step up and tell the world that Pete Sinfield was maybe the worst
lyricist I've ever heard, with the possible exception of Greg Lake. I'd
happily chuck Brian Wilson's lyrical attempts into the same bin, despite
the fact that I am a Beach Boys fan to the core. Their lyrics are
excrementally appaling. Do I still like their music? Sure do. I just
don't listen to the lyrics because they are bad to the point of
meaningless.
That's pretty much the way I listen to the three and a half Yes albums I
can tolerate. If you listen to it in a different way then ∗rock on Don∗.
Good for you. But to tell someone (or indeed, most of the rest of the
planet) that he's -wrong- because he thinks they are awful is taking
mindless egotism to a new level altogether.
As an aside, it's interesting to observe that this is at least one of
the reasons why Prog Rock has managed to maintain its level of
unfettered ridicule over the years; grown men still argue about the
'meaning' and 'value' of clearly randomly spouted lyrics, fuelled in a
hazing fug of dope smoke, from a record that is about 35 years old.
> > Donald, your comments are a very unfortunate example of an "I'm
> > right, so that makes you wrong" exchange.
>
> If you don't get JA, that's fine; I neither mind nor care.
I'd go as far as to say that this is patently untrue. You'd never take
the time or effort to write as much as you did if you cared so little
for the opinion of others. All I can hear is the fervent squawking of
someone who doesn't like his opinion being challenged at all, something
you did back in June when someone here dared to even suggest they liked
the idea of the Memotron.
--
Mike Dickson, Edinburgh