Return Of The 6th Interference Album Listening Party - Axver's Modern Prog Edition

[hippy]

Hi patti!


Saxophone solo? interesting track this is... and apparently I've morphed into Yoda. It's late and it's been a long week lol

 

[pattip2000]

hey there hippy


I'm liking what I hear so far

 

[hippy]

My idea of prog is pretty much an attitude where you don't let anything restrict you. You don't stick to formulaic procedures such as writing all your songs in 4/4 time. You don't stick to a basic verse/chorus structure, nor to the traditional qualities of a radio hit. But as much as that affects the sound, there's also the important attitude component, that you want to take your music somewhere, or in other words, progress. Why stay bogged down in the same territory when you can push on into other places?

I don't think you can have one without the other. Definitely not the attitude without the music. You can have a prog desire as much as you like, but it's not prog if you're just playing three chords and sound like a Blink 182 cover band!

 

[Axver]

Interestingly enough, despite the fact PT is one of the most popular prog bands, Steven Wilson himself doesn't consider the band to be prog. He often thinks the music is quite simple, just his form of art as a conduit for emotions and thoughts.

But yeah, the definition is really up for debate. Some prog fans would call Queen's first couple of albums prog. Some might even give that term to the Passengers project U2 did. Others are far more strict. Heh, you'll find some narrow enough to apply it only to bands that sound like Dream Theater or Pink Floyd.

And now we're up to This Is No Rehearsal, my second favourite on the album.

 

[pattip2000]

Just before I came on I looked up prog rock on Wikipedia too

 

[hippy]

Guitar solo

 

[Axver]

I would LOVE for Bono to snippet This Is No Rehearsal at the end of The Fly:

I've gotta go, yeah I'm running out of change
There's a lot of things, if I could I'd rearrange
This is no rehearsal
Play it back and throw things at the screen
This is no rehearsal!
Somebody interpret this for me!
This - is - no - rehearsal!
Play it back and THROW THINGS AT THE SCREEN!
THROW THINGS AT THE SCREEN!

 

[pattip2000]

I would LOVE for Bono to snippet This Is No Rehearsal at the end of The Fly:

I've gotta go, yeah I'm running out of change
There's a lot of things, if I could I'd rearrange
This is no rehearsal
Play it back and throw things at the screen
This is no rehearsal!
Somebody interpret this for me!
This - is - no - rehearsal!
Play it back and THROW THINGS AT THE SCREEN!
THROW THINGS AT THE SCREEN!

that would be great

 

[Axver]

that would be great

Especially on a tour with a big screen for us to throw stuff at.

 

[hippy]

hehehe

I think the poor man gets enough things thrown at him!

but that would be a fun snippet

 

[Axver]

I love this Steven Wilson quote about Baby Dream In Cellophane:

The baby in the song is basically singing the song: 'I am in my pram'. And it's quite a cynical song because he's basically saying that the boy's life is almost mapped out already as the child is born, it's already predetermined by society and the baby's kind of singing from the pram if you like, saying 'well, actually no, I'm not going to go down this path that's been laid out for me. I'm gonna break out.' It's almost like a very surreal teen rebellion song. If you imagine Nirvana, if they wrote about rebellious teenagers, I write songs for rebellious babies.

 

[pattip2000]

sounds like my kind of song

 

[Axver]

Stranger By The Minute is my third-favourite on the album. It sounds like such a nice, upbeat song, but the lyrics are so morbid and dark!

Still, this could just about be my motto:

Strange as I seem
I'm getting stranger by the minute
Look in my dreams
They're getting stranger by the minute

 

[pattip2000]

Ok, so I’ve only heard three songs but I REALLY like this stuff. Great chose all you who voted in the poll (I didn’t )

 

[hippy]

I write songs for rebellious babies.

That struck me as really funny

 

[hippy]

Ok, so I’ve only heard three songs but I REALLY like this stuff. Great chose all you who voted in the poll (I didn’t )

I forget which one I voted for...

 

[Axver]

Ok, so I’ve only heard three songs but I REALLY like this stuff.

Awesome!

That struck me as really funny

Me too!

 

[Axver]

I forget which one I voted for...

This one? I know I said it's the one to vote for and that "you can't go wrong with Porcupine Tree."

Next time I do a party, I don't think I'll do a vote as I already know what will win, Dream Theater's Images And Words: most people familiar with prog will vote for it (it's the seminal album of modern prog and spawned the genre of prog metal), and I'll be recommending it so anyone following my lead will vote for it too.

 

[pattip2000]

the shame of a typo!!

 

[Axver]

Now we're onto A Smart Kid, which is apparently Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt's favourite PT song. Steven Wilson has produced a couple of Opeth albums and has sung backing vocals for Opeth - Akerfeldt, in return, plays some guitar on PT's Deadwing album.

I love this part of A Smart Kid:

And I will wait for you
Until the sky is blue
And I will wait for you
What else can I do?

The song itself is basically about the aftermath of nuclear war and its sole survivor.

 

[pattip2000]

how many albums do these guys have?

 

[Axver]

I really must say, Steven Wilson is easily one of my favourite musicians. He's one of the best guitarists, lyricists, vocalists, and producers I know - and in all cases, completely self-taught. I listen to HTDAAB and can't believe a professional producer can butcher it so much while the self-taught Wilson does beautiful jobs on anything he touches.

(I can't wait to hear Orphaned Land's next album, as Wilson's producing it. Orphaned Land + Steven Wilson = guaranteed to NOT suck.)

 

[Axver]

And now Tinto Brass, my least favourite song on the album, but still good. It's an instrumental; the sound sample of a woman speaking in Japanese is Steven Wilson's girlfriend.

how many albums do these guys have?

Depends what you count. The traditional count gives you eight albums, though the first, On The Sunday Of Life, is a compilation of two earlier demo albums Steven Wilson made. There's then a number of live albums, EPs, and limited releases floating around.

 

[pattip2000]

There's then a number of live albums, EPs, and limited releases floating around.

I think I have a new band to get into while I wait for new U2 music

 

[Axver]

Steven Wilson, by the way, is a crazily prolific musician. Besides Porcupine Tree's eight albums between 1991 and now, he's made enough side projects to make your head spin, and produced other band's albums too. The man doesn't seem to rest - and I haven't heard him make a dud either, though he's certainly experimented in a lot of fields.

 

[hippy]

This one? I know I said it's the one to vote for and that "you can't go wrong with Porcupine Tree."

Next time I do a party, I don't think I'll do a vote as I already know what will win, Dream Theater's Images And Words: most people familiar with prog will vote for it (it's the seminal album of modern prog and spawned the genre of prog metal), and I'll be recommending it so anyone following my lead will vote for it too.

hahaha... I think I probably did vote for this one on your recommendation because I was completely lost on any of the selections

 

[Axver]

I think I have a new band to get into while I wait for new U2 music

Do you like Pink Floyd? Porcupine Tree's earlier albums are more psychedelic with lengthier compositions. The Sky Moves Sideways is very reminiscient of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here (album, that is, not song).

Porcupine Tree's latest two albums have been more influenced by metal and there is some metal riffing, though still very much prog. The last album, Deadwing, has the beautiful Lazarus, a very soft song that I think most U2 fans would like.

 

[Axver]

And now for the last song of the album, the beautiful Stop Swimming. These are quite possibly my favourite Porcupine Tree lyrics ever:

This song leaks out onto the pavement
It could be a joke, it could be a statement
The more that I fake it and pretend I don't care
The more you can read into what isn't there

 

[hippy]

This song leaks out onto the pavement
It could be a joke, it could be a statement
The more that I fake it and pretend I don't care
The more you can read in to what isn't there


great lyric... in that sweet, pure voice

 

[pattip2000]

This song leaks out onto the pavement
It could be a joke, it could be a statement
The more that I fake it and pretend I don't care
The more you can read into what isn't there

Wow