MOTM

I've been enjoying this thread as I always do when we start drifting off 
towards music since I always learn something. And I always enjoy Mr. T's and 
Trenkel's stuff since they always have a bunch of things which I recognize 
and like, and a bunch of stuff which I haven't heard before.

I was just listening to a CD by Gong today and I started thinking how few 
bands have done a harder edge rock with electronics (and I'm not thinking of 
Uriah Heep). I guess I'm thinking less prog and more hard rock, and more 
noisy than "keyboardy" -- Crimson, Gong, Pere Ubu, Bowie (Low through Scary 
Monsters), Talking Heads (Remain in Light), Ornette Coleman's Prime Time (Of 
human Feelings), Zappa, Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society -- these 
all kind of hit the mark at least in some way.

Anyone have any suggestions here?

BTW, for the Eno ambient crowd let me recommend Jon Hassell -- especially his 
"Fourth World vol. 1 Possible Musics" with Brian Eno. Really great music!

JB



In a message dated 3/3/2003 8:56:35 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
ken.tkacs@... writes:

> *POP ELECTRONICS*
> 
>  _(Not primarily electronic music, but synthesizers get used to good 
> effect)_
> 
>  "Tubular Bells" who doesn't know about Mike Oldfield? "Hergest Ridge" is a 
> classic, too, but he remixed and ruined it, and you just can't find a copy 
> of the original anymore. "Five Miles Out" is fun if you've only heard Hall &
> Oates' version of "Family Man."
> 
>  Anything by "golden age" YES, but "Close to the Edge" is a real high point 
> for progressive rock. Complex, long compositions that just seem effortless. 
> "YesSongs" for Wakeman's solo...
> 
>  As for solo albums by YES members, you just have to have Wakeman's "Six 
> Wives..." album, and "Criminal Record" is also a classic. "White Rock" sent 
> me to the store to buy an MS-10 with my allowance, decades ago. Do not 
> begin your Wakeman collection with "No Earthly Connection," an album I've 
> always assumed was a dig at Jon Anderson for "Topographic Oceans."
> 
>  "Olias of Sunhillow" is one of my favorite albums of all time, yet it's 
> virtually unknown, even being the first solo work of Jon Anderson. It's 
> alien electronic folk, if you can imagine that. My father called it 
> "Chinese music" I think because of Anderson's layered, high-pitched vocals 
> and lots of cymbals and bells. But he recorded it in Vangelis' studio, and 
> you can sorta tell.
> 
>  Anything by Gentle Giant, but "Octopus" and "Freehand" are incredible. The 
> pieces "Knots" and "On Reflection" got my high school band reading books on 
> music theory to understand counterpoint better.
> 
>  The band Premiata Forneria Marconi (aka "PFM") has some good stuff, 
> obviously inspired by many of the great 70's bands. "Photos of Ghosts" gets 
> a lot of play here.
> 
>  Emerson Lake &Palmer ("ELP") surely needs no introduction, nor does their 
> paramount album "Brain Salad Surgery." But don't miss "Trilogy" either, 
> gentler but very well done.
> 
>  Genesis: "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" has some very good moments, 'Carpet 
> Crawlers' being fantastic.
> 
>  King Crimson: intense, and with attitude, these guys keep going! Check out 
> "Red," and "Discipline" may be their best album ever, with every note a 
> jewel, but for Mellotron second only to 'Six Wives,' you have to have "In 
> The Court of the Crimson King." Recently remastered.
> 
>  "War of the Worlds" by Jeff Wayne. I didn't want to like this 2-CD set, 
> but I do. I loved the novel, and the George Pal movie, and here's the "rock 
> opera." It dwells too long on certain less-important plot points, but in 
> general it's catchy and moving. After a second listen, you will be humming 
> '...but still they came,' "Forever Autumn," and "Spirit of Man." "Red Weed" 
> sounds like the whole track was recorded with the mod wheel pushed up... 
> weird, but it works.
> 
>  "Ashes are Burning" &Scheherazade" by Renaissance. Progressive folk. Good 
> stuff. Not prog-Celtic like  Steeleye Span (whose 'Below the Salt' is a 
> must-have). Great vocals.
> 
>  "Trans Europe Express" by Kraftwerk. Gotta have a little Kraftwerk!
> 
>  "Birdy," "Security" by Peter Gabriel. Larry Fast on keyboards during 
> Gabriel's golden age.
> 
>  "Eskimo" by the Residents. Love the fresh approach to music these guys 
> take. "George &James" and "Stars &Hank Forever" are classics, too.
> 
>  "Happy the Man" &"Crafty Hands" by Happy the Man. Boy are these good 
> albums. The first two minutes of "Starborne" just lulls me into some weird, 
> big, dark, empty space that I don't want to leave. Also check out Kit 
> Watkins' solo career on albums such as "Azure," which is fantastic.
> 
>  "Mister Heartbreak" by Laurie Anderson. Some people hate her for "O 
> Superman," but she really created some unique, landmark works during her 
> career, and this is one of them.
> 
>  "Fish Rising" by Steve Hillage (of the original 'Gong'). Psychedelic, 
> swirling, Echoplex, mystical lyrics, guitar... a kind of a classic that not 
> many have discovered. Fun album.
> 
>  "Spartacus" by Triumverat. At the time, many griped "ELP rip-off," but in 
> the dearth of good music that followed for decades, don't we need more good 
> progressive rock? ;) 
> 
> "The Story of i" by Patrick Moraz. 'Thick' album, needs remastering, 
> ostensibly rushed so that he could work on YES' "Relayer" album, but still 
> has wonderful moments. A very knotted up concept album.
> 
>  "Glassworks" by Philip Glass. It's true---Koyanisqaatsi is a high point of 
> Western music (and the movie is a must-see, too), but don't miss this 
> collection of "smaller" hypnotic works.
> 
>  "Winter Songs" by Art Bears, and "In This Life" by Thinking Plague; ReR 
> Records has some weird stuff, like demonic folk music. Unusual scales, 
> attention-getting vocals.
> 
>  "Low," side 2, by David Bowie. Fabulous, incredible... Brian Eno!
> 
>