Please vote for the tracklist you LIKE THE MOST.
Welcome to the third heat of the B&C Prog Island Album Game! This competition is essentially edition 2.5 of the Desert Island Album Game, serving as a mini-tournament bridging the gap between the second and third editions, and we are trialling some new format ideas. This tournament alters the basic premise of the game a little. Instead of being stranded on a desert island and seeking the best tracklist to enjoy while there, we're heading off to Prog Island to savour the best that the prog genre has to offer. There is a strong emphasis in this competition not just on good individual songs, but on creating a cohesive work of musical art.
In the second heat, liamcool appeared to be running away with the game, leading 7-0 at one stage, but the Supertracklist fought back. It wasn't quite enough though; Liam won 8-5. The table for Group 1 is now:
Forum name: total competition points, played, won, lost, votes for, votes against, votes difference
GibsonGirl: 2; 1, 0, 12, 4, +8.
liamcool: 2, 1, 0, 8, 5, +3.
Supertracklist: 0, 0, 1, 5, 8, -3.
Axver: 0, 0, 1, 4, 12, -8.
This heat is the first clash from Group 2, Screwtape2 versus phanan. This round was meant to be just 48 hours long, but will be 72 hours for personal reasons. I'd rather it stay open an extra day than be pointlessly closed when I'm not available to start the next round. We will soon revert to 24 hour rounds. Anyway! Below, you will find the contestants' tracklists.
If you are not familiar with the songs, leave your e-mail address. We have links!
Forum name: Screwtape2
Screwtape writes: My entry is called The Black Forest: Letters To My Son From Namibia, South Africa And The Land Of The Zulu. In short, The Black Forest. It is from the perspective of a young boy who is reading letters sent by his father who is in the military in Africa. The father is trying to explain what he is seeing in ways that his young son can understand. Unfortunately, there is no way to explain the need for suffering and pain to a child. In the end, the father realizes this and hopes his son carries this epiphany with him for the rest of his life. I wanted it to feel like a fairy tale book written by a disillusioned man in a schizophrenic world. The ability to use multiple artists allowed me to create the sense of long suites broken apart and scattered through out the playlist like broken thoughts in the father’s letters. I hope you enjoy my little playlist. In a world where we kill our heroes and our myths our last hope is that there is still a place where fairy tales exist.
Tracklist decisions are explained in more detail at: http://screwtape2.livejournal.com/2007/06/12/
The Black Forest
1. Roger Waters- “It’s A Miracle” –In The Flesh Live (8:11)
2. Pure Reason Revolution- “The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning” –The Dark Third (11:56)
3. Passengers- “Theme From Swan” –Original Soundtrack Vol. 1 (3:24)
4. Pink Floyd- “Dogs” –Animals (17:08)
5. The Alan Parsons Project- “(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether” - Tales Of Mystery & Imagination (4:20)
6. Utopia- “Overture: Mountaintop and Sunrise/Communion With the Sun” –Ra (6:54)
7. Yes- “Starship Trooper” –Yesstory (9:25)
8. Camel- “Earthrise” –Mirage (6:42)
9. Wishbone Ash- “Sorrel” –Wishbone 4 (5:01)
10. Renaissance- “The Black Flame” - Tales of 1001 Nights, Vol. 1 (6:26)
11. Genesis- “The Return of the Giant Hogweed” - Nursery Cryme (8:12)
12. King Crimson- “In The Court Of The King” -In The Court Of The King (9:26)
13. Focus- “Le Cathedral Strasburg” –Hamburger Concerto (5:03)
14. Queen- “The Prophet’s Song” –A Night At The Opera (8:21)
15. Porcupine Tree- “Sleep Together” - Fear Of A Blank Planet (7:28)
16. Utopia- “Windows” - Oops! Wrong Planet (4:21)
17. The Alan Parsons Project- “The Fall Of The House Of Usher: I. Prelude” - Tales Of Mystery & Imagination (7:02)
18. Todd Rundgren- “Initiation” –Initiation (7:03)
19. Utopia- “The Ikon” –Todd Rundgren’s Utopia (30:25)
20. Yes- “Heart Of The Sunrise” –Yesstory (10:34)
21. The Moody Blues- “Candle Of Life” (4:18)
22. Pink Floyd- “The Gunner’s Dream” –The Final Cut (5:03)
23. Genesis- “Supper’s Ready” –Foxtrot (22:50)
24. Focus- “Birth” –Hamburger Concerto (7:49)
25. Pink Floyd- “Sheep” –Animals (10:20)
26. Roger Waters- “Perfect Sense (Part 1 & 2)" –Flickering Flame (7:22)
Forum name: phanan
phanan writes: When I set out to do this, I briefly considered constructing it around a certain theme, but in the end, I decided that the best theme was to present an overall snapshot of how vast the progressive rock music genre is, from its early beginnings in the late 60's to now. Consequently, a majority of the artists represented here are well-known, and a good portion of the selections will be ones that are quite familiar to most people. But it's the beauty of arranging those songs in a certain way (and mixing them in with either more obscure titles or cuts that break away from the traditional progressive vein), that tend to give them a certain musical freshness when you listen again. Let's face it - you're not going to hear Anathema and Kraftwerk back-to-back very often, but it's amazing how the two songs by these artists work so well together in this sequence (due in no small part to the major presence of the vocoder on both). Same thing with King Crimson and Can. Who knew that such a well-known epic with quite the sudden ending would work well being followed by a 3 minute tour-de-force of improvisational and experimental sounds with strange vocals. But hey, that's what progressive rock is all about, isn't it?
I have several important notes to a few of the tracks listed here. The third song is by Asia. Yes, this is the supergroup from the 80's that became a brief sensation in the corporate rock world, but by the dawn of the 1990's, this group as we knew it ceased to exist, and transformed itself into more of a progressive entity. Having only one original member during this era (Geoff Downes, the keyboardist), they took on an entirely new sound that worked on some albums and misfired on others. Their crowning achievement came in 2001 with the album Aura, a beautiful piece of work that is highlighted by "Free". Take a listen for yourself and tell me they're the same group (the original members have since reformed though, which is a shame, because they'll never match what this other version came up with at times).
There will be other selections that people unfamiliar with progressive rock may raise an eyebrow at. Electric Light Orchestra? You mean ELO? They're not prog! To be fair, they did take a turn to a more conventional rock sound as their albums progressed, but in the early 70's, they were as progressive as anyone else. There certainly weren't too many bands out there combining rock with classical music. I'd say that's progressive. And Kraftwerk are the true pioneers of electronic music, creating a unique sound never heard before. Why? Because they were progressive.
Finally, when you look at my listing, I will be indicating the original albums where the selected songs come from, because people should know where to look first if interested in hearing more. However, for the purposes of this playlist, two selections will not technically be drawn from those albums due to different edits being available, or for sound quality purposes. The first is "The Cinema Show" by Genesis. You'll find this song on the classic Selling England By The Pound album, but the version on my playlist actually comes from the Platinum Collection, which has better sound quality and a nice fade out that worked well here for sequencing purposes. Also, with ELO's "Mister Kingdom", a version from the Flashback box set was used because of the use of a fade out, whereas with the original album it's on (Eldorado), it goes right into the next song. Other than those two, everything else is the original album version.
Enjoy!
1. Porcupine Tree - "Even Less" - Recordings (14:06)
2. Dream Theater - "Metropolis, Part 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper" - Images And Words (9:32)
3. Asia - "Free" - Aura (8:12)
4. Spock's Beard - "At The End Of The Day" - V (16:29)
5. Tangerine Dream - "Cloudburst Flight" - Force Majeure (7:26)
6. Genesis - "The Cinema Show" - Selling England By The Pound (10:49)
7. Kansas - "The Pinnacle" - Masque (9:37)
8. Electric Light Orchestra - "Mister Kingdom" - Eldorado (5:08)
9. King Crimson - "The Court Of The Crimson King" - In The Court Of The Crimson King (9:26)
10. Can - "Spoon" - Ege Bamyasi (3:04)
11. Crack The Sky - "Ice" - Crack The Sky (4:38)
12. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - "Knife Edge" - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (5:06)
13. Yes - "Starship Trooper" - The Yes Album (9:27)
14. Rush - "The Camera Eye" - Moving Pictures (10:59)
15. IQ - "Failsafe" - Subterranea (8:57)
16. Pure Reason Revolution - "The Twyncyn/Trembling Willows" - The Dark Third (7:16)
17. Porcupine Tree - "Anesthetize" - Fear Of A Blank Planet (17:45)
18. Anathema - "Closer" - A Natural Disaster (6:19)
19. Kraftwerk - "Europe Endless" - Trans Europe Express (9:39)
20. Vangelis - "Pulstar" - Albedo 0.39 (5:46)
21. Pink Floyd - "Echoes" - Meddle (23:31)
22. Tangerine Dream - "Sequent C'" - Phaedra (2:17)
23. Transatlantic - "Bridge Across Forever" - Bridge Across Forever (5:33)
24. The Third Ending - "Fingerprints" - The Third Ending (28:25)
Total Time: 239:21
UP NEXT: hardyharhar vs notAxver
Competition master list.
Have fun!
Welcome to the third heat of the B&C Prog Island Album Game! This competition is essentially edition 2.5 of the Desert Island Album Game, serving as a mini-tournament bridging the gap between the second and third editions, and we are trialling some new format ideas. This tournament alters the basic premise of the game a little. Instead of being stranded on a desert island and seeking the best tracklist to enjoy while there, we're heading off to Prog Island to savour the best that the prog genre has to offer. There is a strong emphasis in this competition not just on good individual songs, but on creating a cohesive work of musical art.
In the second heat, liamcool appeared to be running away with the game, leading 7-0 at one stage, but the Supertracklist fought back. It wasn't quite enough though; Liam won 8-5. The table for Group 1 is now:
Forum name: total competition points, played, won, lost, votes for, votes against, votes difference
GibsonGirl: 2; 1, 0, 12, 4, +8.
liamcool: 2, 1, 0, 8, 5, +3.
Supertracklist: 0, 0, 1, 5, 8, -3.
Axver: 0, 0, 1, 4, 12, -8.
This heat is the first clash from Group 2, Screwtape2 versus phanan. This round was meant to be just 48 hours long, but will be 72 hours for personal reasons. I'd rather it stay open an extra day than be pointlessly closed when I'm not available to start the next round. We will soon revert to 24 hour rounds. Anyway! Below, you will find the contestants' tracklists.
If you are not familiar with the songs, leave your e-mail address. We have links!
Forum name: Screwtape2
Screwtape writes: My entry is called The Black Forest: Letters To My Son From Namibia, South Africa And The Land Of The Zulu. In short, The Black Forest. It is from the perspective of a young boy who is reading letters sent by his father who is in the military in Africa. The father is trying to explain what he is seeing in ways that his young son can understand. Unfortunately, there is no way to explain the need for suffering and pain to a child. In the end, the father realizes this and hopes his son carries this epiphany with him for the rest of his life. I wanted it to feel like a fairy tale book written by a disillusioned man in a schizophrenic world. The ability to use multiple artists allowed me to create the sense of long suites broken apart and scattered through out the playlist like broken thoughts in the father’s letters. I hope you enjoy my little playlist. In a world where we kill our heroes and our myths our last hope is that there is still a place where fairy tales exist.
Tracklist decisions are explained in more detail at: http://screwtape2.livejournal.com/2007/06/12/
The Black Forest
1. Roger Waters- “It’s A Miracle” –In The Flesh Live (8:11)
2. Pure Reason Revolution- “The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning” –The Dark Third (11:56)
3. Passengers- “Theme From Swan” –Original Soundtrack Vol. 1 (3:24)
4. Pink Floyd- “Dogs” –Animals (17:08)
5. The Alan Parsons Project- “(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether” - Tales Of Mystery & Imagination (4:20)
6. Utopia- “Overture: Mountaintop and Sunrise/Communion With the Sun” –Ra (6:54)
7. Yes- “Starship Trooper” –Yesstory (9:25)
8. Camel- “Earthrise” –Mirage (6:42)
9. Wishbone Ash- “Sorrel” –Wishbone 4 (5:01)
10. Renaissance- “The Black Flame” - Tales of 1001 Nights, Vol. 1 (6:26)
11. Genesis- “The Return of the Giant Hogweed” - Nursery Cryme (8:12)
12. King Crimson- “In The Court Of The King” -In The Court Of The King (9:26)
13. Focus- “Le Cathedral Strasburg” –Hamburger Concerto (5:03)
14. Queen- “The Prophet’s Song” –A Night At The Opera (8:21)
15. Porcupine Tree- “Sleep Together” - Fear Of A Blank Planet (7:28)
16. Utopia- “Windows” - Oops! Wrong Planet (4:21)
17. The Alan Parsons Project- “The Fall Of The House Of Usher: I. Prelude” - Tales Of Mystery & Imagination (7:02)
18. Todd Rundgren- “Initiation” –Initiation (7:03)
19. Utopia- “The Ikon” –Todd Rundgren’s Utopia (30:25)
20. Yes- “Heart Of The Sunrise” –Yesstory (10:34)
21. The Moody Blues- “Candle Of Life” (4:18)
22. Pink Floyd- “The Gunner’s Dream” –The Final Cut (5:03)
23. Genesis- “Supper’s Ready” –Foxtrot (22:50)
24. Focus- “Birth” –Hamburger Concerto (7:49)
25. Pink Floyd- “Sheep” –Animals (10:20)
26. Roger Waters- “Perfect Sense (Part 1 & 2)" –Flickering Flame (7:22)
Forum name: phanan
phanan writes: When I set out to do this, I briefly considered constructing it around a certain theme, but in the end, I decided that the best theme was to present an overall snapshot of how vast the progressive rock music genre is, from its early beginnings in the late 60's to now. Consequently, a majority of the artists represented here are well-known, and a good portion of the selections will be ones that are quite familiar to most people. But it's the beauty of arranging those songs in a certain way (and mixing them in with either more obscure titles or cuts that break away from the traditional progressive vein), that tend to give them a certain musical freshness when you listen again. Let's face it - you're not going to hear Anathema and Kraftwerk back-to-back very often, but it's amazing how the two songs by these artists work so well together in this sequence (due in no small part to the major presence of the vocoder on both). Same thing with King Crimson and Can. Who knew that such a well-known epic with quite the sudden ending would work well being followed by a 3 minute tour-de-force of improvisational and experimental sounds with strange vocals. But hey, that's what progressive rock is all about, isn't it?
I have several important notes to a few of the tracks listed here. The third song is by Asia. Yes, this is the supergroup from the 80's that became a brief sensation in the corporate rock world, but by the dawn of the 1990's, this group as we knew it ceased to exist, and transformed itself into more of a progressive entity. Having only one original member during this era (Geoff Downes, the keyboardist), they took on an entirely new sound that worked on some albums and misfired on others. Their crowning achievement came in 2001 with the album Aura, a beautiful piece of work that is highlighted by "Free". Take a listen for yourself and tell me they're the same group (the original members have since reformed though, which is a shame, because they'll never match what this other version came up with at times).
There will be other selections that people unfamiliar with progressive rock may raise an eyebrow at. Electric Light Orchestra? You mean ELO? They're not prog! To be fair, they did take a turn to a more conventional rock sound as their albums progressed, but in the early 70's, they were as progressive as anyone else. There certainly weren't too many bands out there combining rock with classical music. I'd say that's progressive. And Kraftwerk are the true pioneers of electronic music, creating a unique sound never heard before. Why? Because they were progressive.
Finally, when you look at my listing, I will be indicating the original albums where the selected songs come from, because people should know where to look first if interested in hearing more. However, for the purposes of this playlist, two selections will not technically be drawn from those albums due to different edits being available, or for sound quality purposes. The first is "The Cinema Show" by Genesis. You'll find this song on the classic Selling England By The Pound album, but the version on my playlist actually comes from the Platinum Collection, which has better sound quality and a nice fade out that worked well here for sequencing purposes. Also, with ELO's "Mister Kingdom", a version from the Flashback box set was used because of the use of a fade out, whereas with the original album it's on (Eldorado), it goes right into the next song. Other than those two, everything else is the original album version.
Enjoy!
1. Porcupine Tree - "Even Less" - Recordings (14:06)
2. Dream Theater - "Metropolis, Part 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper" - Images And Words (9:32)
3. Asia - "Free" - Aura (8:12)
4. Spock's Beard - "At The End Of The Day" - V (16:29)
5. Tangerine Dream - "Cloudburst Flight" - Force Majeure (7:26)
6. Genesis - "The Cinema Show" - Selling England By The Pound (10:49)
7. Kansas - "The Pinnacle" - Masque (9:37)
8. Electric Light Orchestra - "Mister Kingdom" - Eldorado (5:08)
9. King Crimson - "The Court Of The Crimson King" - In The Court Of The Crimson King (9:26)
10. Can - "Spoon" - Ege Bamyasi (3:04)
11. Crack The Sky - "Ice" - Crack The Sky (4:38)
12. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - "Knife Edge" - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (5:06)
13. Yes - "Starship Trooper" - The Yes Album (9:27)
14. Rush - "The Camera Eye" - Moving Pictures (10:59)
15. IQ - "Failsafe" - Subterranea (8:57)
16. Pure Reason Revolution - "The Twyncyn/Trembling Willows" - The Dark Third (7:16)
17. Porcupine Tree - "Anesthetize" - Fear Of A Blank Planet (17:45)
18. Anathema - "Closer" - A Natural Disaster (6:19)
19. Kraftwerk - "Europe Endless" - Trans Europe Express (9:39)
20. Vangelis - "Pulstar" - Albedo 0.39 (5:46)
21. Pink Floyd - "Echoes" - Meddle (23:31)
22. Tangerine Dream - "Sequent C'" - Phaedra (2:17)
23. Transatlantic - "Bridge Across Forever" - Bridge Across Forever (5:33)
24. The Third Ending - "Fingerprints" - The Third Ending (28:25)
Total Time: 239:21
UP NEXT: hardyharhar vs notAxver
Competition master list.
Have fun!
Using y-s-i, since that's what I happened to have had open at the moment
Going to bed in an hour now so there's no way I'll be able to finish listening to Phanan's and Screwtape's lists. And this weekend I'm going away. I'm enjoying whatever I'm able to listen to though! Thanks for introducing me to Pure Reason Revolution, Porcupine Tree and several other bands. I'll try my best to listen to everything but I don't want to vote without hearing all of it.
