I once saw Jordan Rudess play live at NAMM. He is an amazing keyboard
player. In terms of technique he is certainly up there with Wakeman and
Emerson, though I'm not so sure any of his recordings have shown that.
He also played on the live Wendy Carlos concert that happened a few
years ago.
John Loffink
jloffink@... The Microtonal Synthesis Web Site
http://www.microtonal-synthesis.com/The Wavemakers Modular and Integrated Synthesizer Web Site
http://www.wavemakers-synth.com/ >
> Gentle Giant is probably my favorite as well. I would recommend
> that anyone who is unfamiliar with them to start with "Playing the
> Fool" which is probably the best live album I have ever heard. I
> have every album they ever did and although some of the earliest
> albums are somewhat raw I love them all.
> I also love Genesis, but mainly "Nursery Cryme," "Foxtrot," "Selling
> England," and "Lamb Lies." My favorite is the live version
> of "Lamb" from the Genesis Archives Vol. 1. The first two albums
> after Peter Gabriel left are also pretty good, but after that they
> sort of lost me, although there is still a lot of good playing in
> the later stuff.
> Yes is very good as well. I like the epic albums "Close to the
> Edge," and "Relayer" in particular. The Keys to Ascension live
> recordings are quite good, but too obviously sweetened. I have the
> DVD to "Keys" and quite often the sweetened audio that you're
> hearing does not match the video, especially where there are
> multiple vocal parts and no one appears to be singing!
> I would also recommend the Larry Fast stuff mentioned by others.
> Peter Gabriel has some unique music which I like very much as well,
> particularly the "Security" and "So" albums. I found his latest
> album depressing. Too many downer songs.
> As for the more electronic stuff.
> I like the Tomita albums. Although some of the sounds strike me as
> odd, some of them are absolutely outstanding. (I'm speaking of the
> synthesizer voicings chosen.)
> Vangelis is one of my favorites. I would
> recommend "Spiral," "Beauberg," and "China." I also really
> like "Heaven and Hell," although I think parts of it are hokey.
> I also have an album called "White Noise" that I know absolutely
> nothing about, but I like it a lot.
> In both prog rock and electronic music, I like stuff that is layered
> sonically rather then beat based. I like lush backgrounds rather
> then in your face virtuosity.
> One more recommendation: Jordan Rudess - Feeding the Wheel. This
> guy is one of the most outstanding keyboardists I have ever heard
> and I think he could give Wakeman a run for his money. However, the
> stuff he does with Dream Theater does absolutely nothing for me at
> all.
>
>