Thank you Pete for taking my questions! And thank you George and Chuck for providing good answers! I appreciate all you guys putting yourselves out there and taking questions.
I loved the shout-outs to 20th-century classical composer, Bela Bartok, and contemporary jazz pianist, Brad Mehldau! I agree with the thoughts expressed about being open to sounds outside of one's musical "comfort zones"-- that openness is an integral part of the very spirit of progressive music. Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra" and "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta" are incredible pieces that prog fans should hear!
@@aldebaran4154 Yes, it's used to great effect in a few sequences. In fact, those sequences are where I was first exposed to Bartok's music, as a child, watching Kubrick's "The Shining" on TV in the early '80s. Memorable (and terrifying) experiences! 🙂
@@JarrettMehldau Thanks for the recommendations of pieces by Mehldau! I'm just beginning to really check out his work, and these pieces give me some suggestions to go deeper.
Thanks to all the panelists for their participation in this interesting episode. Particularly enjoyed some of the discussion of what you would like to discuss in future episodes. This show has brought a lot of new and new 'old' music to my attention and has added a lot to the personal listening library. Thanks again, gents. Much appreciated.
Away in Europe- sorry didn't get to ask a question. Phenomenal show, insightful questions and thoughtful response. Thanks to you all for reigniting my interest in Prog and introducing me to many new bands.
I didn't know Luis was a physics professor before tonight. The math teacher and beginning musician in me likes to hear that. Plus our guitarist is a (just retired) physics teacher.
I love when you guys talk about obscure bands. I've learnt a lot and bought a lot of albums due to Sea of Tranquility. My thirst for new music is inexhaustive. Thanks guys. Great episode.
Very good show. Thank you all! Excited to listen to the Renaissance album 'Scheherazade' study in two weeks. I really like your album studies. I think that they are very interesting. Please continue doing them.
Hi everyone in the Prog Seat. It would be great to have a discussion on Chris Squire's " Fish Out Of Water" Album. It deserves some love and attention because it's truly epic prog and if it had been a Yes Album, it would of been one of their best. I can hear the Beatles influence and a similarity with Eddie Jobson, Chris's vocal style, the layered arrangements and the bass sound cannot be denied. All in good fun.
Holy crap, I didn't know Luis was a physicist until now. And I love astronomy, I'm an amateur astronomer thus my screen name, and follow astronomers and physicist and pretty much any type of science, so you'd think I would know that! I follow the astrophysicist Dr. Becky Smethurst for my astronomy news, Myron Cook for geology, Forrest Valkai for biology, Gutsick Gibbon for anthropology etc etc. Luis, if you have a channel on RU-vid on physics I'll definitely subscribe.
A Chilean over here, in our country the most famous band its a prog band "Los Jaivas", they are pretty much loved by the entire country, that says a lot from us, their lyrics are based from Pablo Neruda poems, I recommend you to hear them, in youtube they have a video in Machu Picchu playing the song "La poderosa muerte" it's amazing.
Los Javias sacaron alturas de Machu Pichu algunos años tarde en 1981 el mundo estaba escuchando otra cosa mas new wave y por eso no fueron mas conocidos en el resto del mundo
Los Jaivas (al menos los que perduran con el nombre) se iban a presentar en Viña Del Mar un par de días después de que me fuí). Saludos! Y grande el Prog chileno: Fulano, tryo , akineton, asceta…
Really interesting show guys. As to Chad`s question of most surprising NearFest act, for me without question it was Kraan. As I remember, they were the first act to come on after the lunch break, so I was feeling very relaxed and receptive. Had never heard of the band before but they blew me away. Their mix of rock, prog, jazz and spacey psych had me riveted. Went to the basement and picked up their first album, and have been a huge fan ever since.
I have been a prog fan since the golden age of prog. I'm 64 now and I am constantly looking for new bands and only listen to prog. Absolutely the best form of music.
I love every episode of in the prog seat. I’ve started to orders cd’s from the lasers edge store owned by Professor Ken Golden. Very influential! What I would love to see on prog seat is a show where all the panelists tells us what each components are in their audio systems that they listen to. Being a music enthusiast and a vintage stereo hi fi nut, I’d find that extremely interesting!
This was an excellent way to bring back the QandAs - would love to see more, maybe has an every 3-4 months kinda thing to give time to pick the best questions
Great show guys, very enlightening and entertaining. Scheherazade and Other Stories!!!! Fantastic pick Ken. By far my favorite Renaissance album. Can't wait for that episode
Radiohead may not be out and out prog, but they certainly have some prog tendencies/elements to their music over the years. And it was the fact that the music press referred to them (and Tool) as prog a lot when I was getting into those bands around 2000/2001 that got me to look into this prog thing and find out what it was all about. Because before that if I ever came across the word prog (which was rare) it was always made out to be bad and something embarrassing and pretentious and that you don't want to be. But if Radiohead and Tool were in the prog sphere how bad could it be? As it so happens not bad at all; I discovered some of my favourite bands after that: King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Anglagard and Van Der Graaf Generator.
Some of Ken's comments harken back to a few topics covered on the Friday episodes with Martin from the not-too-distant past. There does seem to be a difference between the younger and older audiences concerning attitudes toward music. I think this could have something to do with the multitudinous conduits through which music is being heard and discovered nowadays. Those from Gen Z and on? They've had the world at their fingertips from the get-go, so to speak, whereas those born much earlier did not. They grew up with platforms like YT (and social media in general), so their exposure to tons of music encompassing many eras, genres, etc was far beyond what most from earlier generations got to experience, thereby increasing the likelihood of them taking to a wide variety of musical styles/artists with relative ease. Of course, this doesn't necessarily explain everything, but I do believe it is a major factor. I like what Steven said concerning the challenges of his listening habits. Those waters can be tricky to navigate, and I don't think this gets talked about nearly enough. I own quite a number of unopened CDs that have lain on the shelves for aeons; sometimes, I will go through periods of not buying a single item just to devote time to the things I had long neglected. And, yes - I, too, get burnt out on prog. Much as I love it, there are times when I don't want to hear a lick of it. Cuneiform? That would be a great episode! I bought tons of music from there years ago. Loved this episode!
I love the band HALLOWEEN from France . They released an album titled MERLIN which is a Prog masterpiece. Its Classical...its jazzy...its even a bit Univers Zero in sections...you know RIO oriented. Interesting vocals...male and female that are smooth and melodic. Its atmospheric and creepy and they produce dark soundscapes. Its a great album 😊
I remember in the early 80s reading an article that said Americans don't play metal and that heavy metal was a British genre. The what is prog question reminded me of that.
As with the music, so with the channel. Us oldies love our comfort food, but it’s not all we crave. Does “new” have to mean recently released or can it mean anything you haven’t previously listened to? I’m not one of those it’s all crap after 1975 merchants (well I suppose I am a bit), but I just seem to find something from back in the day that I didn’t listen to at the time has more power to float my boat - I suppose it’s comfort of sorts, but it can still be challenging music. I never would have coped with VDGG or Gentle Giant back then, I’d only just graduated from The Moody Blues to Yes and Genesis.
What a great episode. As a Prog fan, I have absorbed the "In The Prog Seat" shows - and it has been so refreshing to have Ken Golden, George L, and Luis Nasser challenge us with new/old material. This team is awesome. Bravo, Pete!
George as the prog metal guy, if you have any Persefone then you have a band from Andorra. If you don't have any Persefone then you need to get some. The show for sure needs an In the Prog Metal Seat offshoot.
Again great show and loved the discussion on going beyond the top 5 Prog groups - would recommend shows on Renaissance, Riverside, Anathema, no man, no sound, Airbag, Pharaoh Sanders, windmill, mystery, drifting sun, Freddie Hubbard, Nektar Caravan, Karnataka , mostly autumn, Phideaux, Magenta, Eloy, Turner and kirwan of Wexford, Al stewart, lonely robot, Michael urbaniak, Michael quatro, Stray, tangerine dream, vangelis, Zappa, Wally, sebastian Hardee,
Two albums by English rock bands with an overarching theme of mental health/the modern condition (at the time recorded). That’s generally why they are compared and lets be fair here- Floyd were not the ‘proggiest’ prog band. I have seen other debates where people question whether Pink Floyd are prog (I think they are). If your problem is that you don’t think OK Computer is as good as DSOTM, doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same category as you do not like Radiohead, well that is your (subjective) opinion. I still think there’s a lot of “this is the established 1970s canon do not mess with it” going on there.
hi all ... great q&a. 😎Pete 😶 I hope that there's going to be the same crew for a part 2 edition ... also ... does the logic of you can't have American Prog mean there couldn't have American Metal or Prog Metal 🤔... UK 59 year old ... why do some people want to put restrictions on music genres when there's so much ... music is meant to be enjoyable experience ... can sometimes soothe and heal ... there's too much bad stuff going on ... good job SOT is like a musical oasis ✌🌻🎶❇⚜
Cool to hear Old Man Prog mention some of the great comic artists of all time. Unfortunately we lost Neal Adams last year and just lost John Romita Sr. Jim Steranko is still with us though and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
Good show. Would like to hear some discussion of Rock In Opposition bands, chief among them would be Henry Cow, Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, Marc Hollander & Aqsak Maboul and others.
While watching this and listening to the comments about Nearfest a question sprung to mind, so can i start the ball rolling for Q&A episode 2?🤭 Chad, if you were to organise a 2024 Nearfest, who would be the first 10 bands you contacted to appear?
@@chutch15 You dodged that question like a pro 😂 So here's an easier one. What was your criteria for booking a band for Nearfest? For example, theres a fine fine between art rock and progressive, so were there any bands that you considered booking that perhaps weren't 'progressive' enough (i know thats subjective and 'progressive' is only a label, ultimately its all music👍)
@@terrywalker8446 We certainly didn't apply a strict definition of "prog rock" to our bookings. We deliberately didn't use the word "progressive rock" in the title of the festival for that very reason; we used "art rock" because we though it would a) give us more reach, and b) avoid the "what is prog rock?" nonsense. We always tried to have a very diverse lineup, pulling from all sub-genres under the larger umbrella of what fit the festival. On the same bill, we could have neo-prog, RIO, space rock, fusion, symphonic and avant garde. We looked for bands that were popular at the time or being highly chatted about online from any particular subgenre. The headliners were a different story. We tried to book as many of the classic bands as we could while we could and obviously within our budget. We also tried not to repeat, but there were a few exceptions. As far as your first question, I still put on that NF hat when I listen to new music. There are definitely times where I'll think "yep, that's a band we would have booked". Some examples of newer bands would be Karaba, Aurora Clara, Special Providence, The Aristocrats, Paskinel, Jalayan and SKe.
@Luis - There is a HUGE prog rock section in the Tower records in Shinjuku in Tokyo. I was shocked at how extensive it was. You guys would love it. (Source - I live in Japan)
Wish I hadn’t missed the call for questions because I would have liked to ask you guys how big your listening backlogs are. I used to buy CDs pretty much when I was ready to listen to them, but during Covid I had a mad buying spree that I’d only recently managed to put the brakes on with a backlog of 200+. Then I started noticing that CDs that were once readily available at a reasonable price were no longer there or were only available used at stupid prices, and another mad spree ensued, buying what I could at a decent price new and used. Backlog now around 370. Probably small change for you guys.
Over the past 3 years, in regards to 'prog', I have gone from 0 to 60, purchasing several hundred new cd's covering almost every genre of prog, from classics to newer bands/releases. I go thru a few each week 'with the lights low' and it's been a fantastic journey. The only genre I have struggled to fully enjoy, and in fairness I've only dabbled into it a little thus far, is neo-prog. The only song I actually had to stop midway thru was the title track from Mystery - Redemption. Marillion Script was, for instance, enjoyable enough for sure but I didn't 'love' it so maybe some neo-prog will be the only struggle for me, for whatever reason. Everything else is amazing.
I love this panel. Great episode although I was getting frustrated with the quality (or lack of) with Chad's mic/connection. Sometimes I was having trouble hearing what he was saying and I don't want to miss a single syllable.
IMO: There is little, if anything, made today that's as innovative, interesting and progressive as prime period Rush, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Moody Blues.
We have people in Uk who buy 2 box sets of an album. One to unbox and show on RU-vid unboxing video other to put on shelf and will never be opened staying sealed.
When Pete started saying there’s a guy whose comments are always negative (& ridiculous), I thought, ‘Oh, no, he’s going to say my name!” What a relief it wasn’t me. I’m not that “ass-clown” at least.
That is difficult... for sure the 6 string quartets, but I also absolutely love Bluebeard's Castle, The Miraculous Mandarin, The violin Sonatas and Violin Concerto #2. It's all absolutely mesmerizing stuff to my ears when it comes to Bartok. I also love Shostakovich...
Sadly I am a little late, to this vlog, my question would have been, what technique do you use to get, the CDs out of the, Jethro Tull Broadsword box set.
It's a bit of a challenge isn't it? However, the best method is to push the top of the disc (the thin edge) down towards the little moveable lugs at the bottom of the round housing each disc sits in. This releases the top of the disc from the two nodules that click it in place. (Now, by the top of the disc I mean as if the set was sitting upright at 90 degrees to the table (or whatever) surface). Until I tried this it took me ages to remove any of the discs and with fear of snapping them or the plastic housing. With this method it is pretty simple by comparison. I hope this helps!
I’d like to ask any of the panel if they like the band All About Eve and if they’d consider them prog or not? Also their opinion of the band Solstice and their album Silent Dance.
Doskalle is one of the MANY bands that my brother from a Swedish mother Mattias Olsson plays drums for. You may know him from Anglagard, White Willow, Necromonkey, his own project called Molesome, and The Devil's Staircase, to name but just a handful.
I don’t get why people complain for the sake of it, especially complaining about the Mellotron on a prog rock programme! The most common instrument used in prog rock in the 70s. That’s like complaining about 80s pop musicians who used the Fairlight CMI. Very very strange. Another thing I don’t get is people buying physical media products, showing them off on social media & they’re still sealed & they have no intentions of watching/listening to them. People who do that are not really collectors, they are hoarders. I have a massive collection of movies from horror, sci fi, action, thrillers etc. Most of them are limited editions, & I rip in to them & watch the film, read the booklets etc. I have no intentions of keeping them sealed.
There's a lot of stuff to talk about. Even from 1970s. But the personal preference decides all. For example Pete don't like Strawbs though it's a notable band with vast discography.
I really don't understand this obsession with "is this or that band prog?" What freaking difference does it make, once you know the music it is simply what it is. The only use of the label "prog" (or any other stylistic label) is to give someone who has never heard a given band a general idea of what they sound like. Other than that who the hell cares?
@@bertkarlsson1421 I love the three bands mentioned. I saw Koenji live twice, once at Nearfest, and another time at a club in Chicago called The Abbey! They opened for Cheer Accident, a local art rock band.
@@lahloonatic I would love to see Koenji live! They seem like a great live band! Their drummer Tatsuya Yoshida has another band called Ruins! They are also great!
@@brucybabyy7355 From Wikipedia: Djent (/dʒɛnt/) is a subgenre of progressive metal, distinguished by a high-gain, distorted, palm-muted, low-pitch guitar sound. The name "djent" is an onomatopoeia of this sound.
@@brucybabyy7355 it refers to a stylo of playing 7 and 8 string guitars with heavy gated distortion and palm muting. Some people even designate it as a genre, but it isn't. Examples of that sort of playing can be found in albums by Periphery, Meshuggah, etc...
For years I stayed away from prog. I like all music but prog seemed a little too stuffy and self important. Since I’ve started listening to this show, I’ve discovered classic prog that I ignored as well as some really exciting new music in this genre.
