Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: The Mellotron Group

Oh now you'll get me onto another one of my Red Bull moments.

The lyrics to most prog rock are so bad they defy analysis. Bob Dylanand Van Dyke Parks' better lyrics need commentaries. The lyrics to'Siberian Khatru' need a doctor. Or maybe a priest. The words for'Supper's ready' Really ought to be taken outside and slapped about thearse with a wet haddock, and nearly anything Pete Sinfieldwrote sounds like it ought to be helping police with their enquiries.

Perhaps that's the root of why the whole genre troubles me. It's easyenough to rip off the twiddly bits of romantic composers (even if youare playing them over a fairly mundane six or seven chord figure)because you're playing for an audience who probably don't know betterand who just feel smug for the sound of it. But the nanosecond you haveto do something original that might find you out - like comeup with decent lyrics - is the nanosecond you sound completely andutterly banal.

Mark Pring wrote:

 

I think lyrics were one of the weaker points ofprogressive rock but I don't find the melodies sufficiently interestingfor them to stand on their own, so my favourite songs also tend to haveinteresting lyrics. --- On Sat, 8/29/09, tony1 <atm655@verizon. net>wrote: From: tony1 <atm655@verizon. net> Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] What's after supper? To: newmellotrongroup@ yahoogroups. com Date: Saturday, August 29, 2009, 10:11 AM   I was lucky enough to see "The Lamb Lies down onBroadway" at the auditorium theatre in Chicago about a month beforeGabriel left, and have been a fan since. Prefer Gabriel over Collins to be sure, I listen to themusic and not much of the vocals, period. Just never have with any bands and prefer instrumentals,no surprise eh? http://auditoriumth eatre.org/ wb/ What a venue! Tony #510   ----- Original Message ----- From: Mark Pring To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups. com Sent:Friday, August 28, 2009 5:56 PM Subject:Re: [newmellotrongroup] What's after supper?   Thanks Tony, Peter Gabriel was stillthere for "Selling England by the Pound" . The later Genesis doesn'tappeal to me as it seems to be primarily aimed towards what would selland of course it did.  In "Selling England by the Pound" I think I can hear the first signsof that change which makes me think that perhaps Foxtrot is the lastalbum for me. I have to admit there is some nice tron in SEBTP but nicetron isn't quite enough, the songs seem a lot stronger in the previousalbums "Times Table", "Can utility..." and "Seven Stones" being myfavourites. I think "The Lamb lies down.." is the next album and I wondered ifSEBTP was a "blip" or  the start of a trend. Mark --- On Fri, 8/28/09, tony1 <atm655@verizon. net>wrote: From: tony1 <atm655@verizon. net> Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] What's after supper? To: newmellotrongroup@ yahoogroups. com Date: Friday, August 28, 2009, 10:51 PM   Mark the wealth of good music made by postGabriel Genesis, I suggest you retry them. Selling England by the Pound is a personalfavorite, def one of the best post PG releases, imho. I'm afraid it you are unable to warm up tothat album, you might just not have anything left you'll like. I hope this is not true! Good luck and keep listening! Tony #510 -----Original Message ----- From: Mark Pring To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups. com Sent:Friday, August 28, 2009 3:11 AM Subject:[newmellotrongroup] What's after supper?   I have learnt to like Genesis, "Foxtrot" and"Nursery Crime" in particular, I am even quite fond of Supper's Readyand if I had to choose between being stuck in a lift listening to it orLizard, I would choose the former. I didn't care for "Selling Engand bythe Pound" and I am not interested in anything post Peter Gabriel, soare there any other albums I might like? Mark

-- Mike Dickson, EdinburghFree Music Project: http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/ Or http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+DicksonOr http://soundcloud.com/mikedicksonOr http://www.planetmellotron.com/revd4.htm#mikedickson