JudasMyGuide
The resident reactionary recalcitrant
Does it mean you don't like JT in general? I quite like Benefit, but it's not my favourite.
Progressive rock / metal
- Thread starter Forostar
- Start date
I've listened to just about everything up to A Passion Play multiple times, always seeing if something grows on me. There's usually something I can appreciate but overall not my thing. For example, Thick As A Brick Side 1 has some great moments, but Side 2 ruins it. Benefit was by far the most consistent thing I've listened to so far.
JudasMyGuide
The resident reactionary recalcitrant
Okay, I get that. I also think they're inconsistent, though for me it's more discography-wise. That is, the number of meh to bad albums possibly surpasses the number of the really good ones.
I'm still completely crazy about Passion Play and (mostly) TAAB and Minstrel. Songs from the Wood, Horses and Too Old, while patchy, are also quite enjoyable. Aqualung's quite hit and miss, so is Stand Up. Stormwatch is already a boring retread and I don't think I've listened to any of the Eighties and Nineties albums and This Was more than once.
That said, their 70's rhythm sections are, IMHO, absolutely astonishing and Martin Barre is a truly excellent guitarist, in fact, throughout the second half of their career Barre was quite often the reason to listen to the band at all.
I'm still completely crazy about Passion Play and (mostly) TAAB and Minstrel. Songs from the Wood, Horses and Too Old, while patchy, are also quite enjoyable. Aqualung's quite hit and miss, so is Stand Up. Stormwatch is already a boring retread and I don't think I've listened to any of the Eighties and Nineties albums and This Was more than once.
That said, their 70's rhythm sections are, IMHO, absolutely astonishing and Martin Barre is a truly excellent guitarist, in fact, throughout the second half of their career Barre was quite often the reason to listen to the band at all.
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Cat Milk Supreme
Ancient Mariner
Tull 50th Anniversary tour next year is hitting the UK. Il have some of that.
http://jethrotull.com/tour-dates/
Pretty sure its only Anderson but still worth a look I'm sure
http://jethrotull.com/tour-dates/
Pretty sure its only Anderson but still worth a look I'm sure
Already posted this in black metal, but this song is so good I'll spam it here too:
bearfan
Ancient Mariner
This is a really good album ... I got into them earlier this year. quite good.
terrell39
Ancient Mariner
Warrel Dane, singer for Nevermore, has died. This really bums me out. Friend of mine turned me onto them about 7 or 8 years ago as they were breaking up. Hoped to see them reunite one day. Oh well
He had a good solo cd as well
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/ne...r-warrel-dane-dies-of-heart-attack-in-brazil/
He had a good solo cd as well
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/ne...r-warrel-dane-dies-of-heart-attack-in-brazil/
He looked really unhealthy when he played here last year, I'm sadly not surprised. He was way too skinny, based on pictures (I didn't go to the actual show.)
On the other hand I saw him with Sanctuary and he was pretty good there.
On the other hand I saw him with Sanctuary and he was pretty good there.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Saga plays their final show tomorrow.
For historical reasons, I recommend everyone to read this article. Better even is getting into this band. I hope I've tagged all active members who have showed interest Saga. Also people who have country connections (Canada and Germany) and/or who are into Elton John ;-).
@LooseCannon @mckindog @Perun @Mosh @JudasMyGuide @terrell39 @Cosmiceddie @Brigantium
Elton John was perplexed. He was on stage in front of 100,000 Germans at the 1985 Rock am Ring festival. He was the headliner, but chose to go on in the early evening so he could take his helicopter back home to England. Near the end of his set, he could hear the crowd chanting with increasing volume: "Sa-ga! Sa-ga! Sa-ga!" Backstage, Ian Crichton of Oakville, Ont., couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were chanting the name of his Canadian band, due next on stage, drowning out the end of the superstar's set.
Saga is left out of most histories of Canadian music. A couple of their songs still surface on classic-rock radio – On the Loose and Wind Him Up, both from 1981's Worlds Apart – but Saga is never spoken of in the same sentence as Rush, the Guess Who or the Tragically Hip, even though Saga has sold eight million records worldwide. Granted, only 250,000 of those were sold in Canada, between 1980 and 1983. Most of the rest of their sales were in Germany and Scandinavia – that's where they spent most of 2017 on a sold-out farewell tour, after deciding to pack it in after 41 years. They play their final Toronto show Feb. 24 at the Phoenix.
Saga is a band of square pegs, playing pop songs with technical wizardry and a harder rock edge. Jim Gilmour's synths duel with Crichton's lead guitar in ways not heard outside of funk or jazz or, well, Rush.
Rush already had a core audience when it brought in the synths in 1980 (and hired Saga as an opening act). Saga's self-titled debut came out in 1978, a time of disco and punk, when prog rock was a dirty word. That didn't bode well for a bunch of Gentle Giant fans with a penchant for synths that required a bank loan to purchase. Bassist Jim Crichton (brother of Ian) bought his first Moog synth from a local appliance store; he found it displayed between two washing machines.
"We didn't want to be looped in with prog," says Gilmour, who joined in 1979.
"That's why we have friendlier songs; it's not just all virtuosic playing, although we do that also." Three original members came from the band Fludd, which had a Canadian top-20 hit with the country-pop song Cousin Mary. Ian Crichton cut his teeth in the central-Canadian bar circuit playing Zeppelin covers. Singer Michael Sadler is a magnetic performer who also plays keys, bass and drums when called for.
There is an inescapably prog bent to Saga, however, starting with the fact they have 16 "chapters" spread across their albums – out of order, no less – telling a science-fiction story about Albert Einstein's preserved brain and aliens' role in humans' self-destruction. Because of course they do.
Saga's first six months as a band were spent writing original material before debuting it at the Tudor Tavern in Cambridge, Ont., in 1977. ... read on:
How Ontario’s Saga found stardom and longevity in Europe
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Saga plays their final Toronto show Feb. 24 at the Phoenix.
For historical reasons, I recommend everyone to read this article. Better even is getting into this band. I hope I've tagged all active members who have showed interest Saga. Also people who have country connections (Canada and Germany) and/or who are into Elton John ;-).
@LooseCannon @mckindog @Perun @Mosh @JudasMyGuide @terrell39 @Cosmiceddie @Brigantium
Elton John was perplexed. He was on stage in front of 100,000 Germans at the 1985 Rock am Ring festival. He was the headliner, but chose to go on in the early evening so he could take his helicopter back home to England. Near the end of his set, he could hear the crowd chanting with increasing volume: "Sa-ga! Sa-ga! Sa-ga!" Backstage, Ian Crichton of Oakville, Ont., couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were chanting the name of his Canadian band, due next on stage, drowning out the end of the superstar's set.
Saga is left out of most histories of Canadian music. A couple of their songs still surface on classic-rock radio – On the Loose and Wind Him Up, both from 1981's Worlds Apart – but Saga is never spoken of in the same sentence as Rush, the Guess Who or the Tragically Hip, even though Saga has sold eight million records worldwide. Granted, only 250,000 of those were sold in Canada, between 1980 and 1983. Most of the rest of their sales were in Germany and Scandinavia – that's where they spent most of 2017 on a sold-out farewell tour, after deciding to pack it in after 41 years. They play their final Toronto show Feb. 24 at the Phoenix.
Saga is a band of square pegs, playing pop songs with technical wizardry and a harder rock edge. Jim Gilmour's synths duel with Crichton's lead guitar in ways not heard outside of funk or jazz or, well, Rush.
Rush already had a core audience when it brought in the synths in 1980 (and hired Saga as an opening act). Saga's self-titled debut came out in 1978, a time of disco and punk, when prog rock was a dirty word. That didn't bode well for a bunch of Gentle Giant fans with a penchant for synths that required a bank loan to purchase. Bassist Jim Crichton (brother of Ian) bought his first Moog synth from a local appliance store; he found it displayed between two washing machines.
"We didn't want to be looped in with prog," says Gilmour, who joined in 1979.
"That's why we have friendlier songs; it's not just all virtuosic playing, although we do that also." Three original members came from the band Fludd, which had a Canadian top-20 hit with the country-pop song Cousin Mary. Ian Crichton cut his teeth in the central-Canadian bar circuit playing Zeppelin covers. Singer Michael Sadler is a magnetic performer who also plays keys, bass and drums when called for.
There is an inescapably prog bent to Saga, however, starting with the fact they have 16 "chapters" spread across their albums – out of order, no less – telling a science-fiction story about Albert Einstein's preserved brain and aliens' role in humans' self-destruction. Because of course they do.
Saga's first six months as a band were spent writing original material before debuting it at the Tudor Tavern in Cambridge, Ont., in 1977. ... read on:
How Ontario’s Saga found stardom and longevity in Europe
Saga plays their final Toronto show Feb. 24 at the Phoenix.
I only found out about the final show in Toronto once I had made plans to come to Indianapolis on the same weekend. Sad!
AncientMariner_Essex
Ancient Mariner
Talking of progressive rock/metal I can’t get enough of Orphaned Lands latest album, I absolutely love it.
Been on a massive orphaned land binge since it came out and been listening to nothing else lol. Superb band that I wish for more recognition. Found out they are playing in London this Monday at the pokey Camden underworld. Monday night gigs are an utter pain in the arse but if it was any other venue I might make the effort but the underworld is barely bigger than my broom cupboard and tickets are always oversold plus literally being underground as well as being uncomfortably packed it’s got no proper ventilation so it’s a total sweat box. Rant over ha ha.
Hopefully I’ll catch them at some other point in the future as I’d love to see them live.
Been on a massive orphaned land binge since it came out and been listening to nothing else lol. Superb band that I wish for more recognition. Found out they are playing in London this Monday at the pokey Camden underworld. Monday night gigs are an utter pain in the arse but if it was any other venue I might make the effort but the underworld is barely bigger than my broom cupboard and tickets are always oversold plus literally being underground as well as being uncomfortably packed it’s got no proper ventilation so it’s a total sweat box. Rant over ha ha.
Hopefully I’ll catch them at some other point in the future as I’d love to see them live.