stoopid

I listen to a fair bit of prog, so pretty much all those bands aren't mainstream.

I had similar reservations going into the SW solo live show I attended years back, when Marco and Guthrie moved on. Turns out the scabs [Craig and Dave] were just as accomplished, despite me up to that point not being familiar with either musician.

I've been focusing on some other new releases in anticipation of seeing PT this Friday in LA. Figure I can binge listen on my 4 hour drive. I'm confidently putting it 4th behind the generally accepted best three (in no order) DW, FoaBP, and IA. Like all their albums, it's different from the rest.

Finally had a chance to run through the surround mix last night. It's really really really good. A lot of detail brought out, vocals are very clean/present, bass guitar jumps out in a good way, more synths than on the original. Everything this album could have been has been realized now.

The Animals 2018 remix is out. Waiting on my 5.1 surround bluray to arrive, but have heard the stereo 2018 mix and it's vastly improved on the original. It sounds like a proper 'modern' recording (and it's not over compressed), and now is one of PF's best sounding albums instead of one of their worse.

Haken's always been a guitar-centric prog band for me, but like PT the use of keyboards are excellent and fit well to accentuate mood. I also like The Cocoon although I haven't listened in a few months. It's got a variety of genres/styles, not as much pure riffage and more melodic than Haken's more proggish material can be. He has a good voice too. I previewed some songs from Tiktalika, and while 'fine' nothing grabbed me enough to bite on buying the whole album. Nothing I've heard from fans has convinced me otherwise.

Looking at the varied and sometimes contrary replies/reviews since release doesn't speak the positive things fans think it does.

Keeping true to recent posts on prog, Lonely Robot have a new album "A Model Life". There's a few youtube lyrics videos available. I've been avoiding listening to any of them, about to give the album its first spin. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lonely+robot+model **update -- have managed a few times through on the album, so far I'm enjoying it. Noting some repetition or themes from prior albums/songs (I'm giving benefit of the doubt to call them 'themes'). The one issue is certain ear piercing frequencies at very specific times with the vocals, almost like something he was using to increase presence is over hyping some upper frequencies in his vocals. I only have my free Amazon MP3 right now, but once the disc finally arrives I will be EQ'ing that flaw out as best I can.

Full on beast mode. Nice touch doing all the synth parts too.

I like the production a lot [super rich/full sounding, he tends to excel in his mixing]. Music is fine but more restrained than I prefer from Devy. Video is a throwaway/filler.

Fixed. :)

The whirl

You're just so dark and mysterious.

Probably need to revisit the album. Been years since I gave it a complete spin. Based on memory definitely not top 10. This thread was started in 2012 when CA was released, suspect there's a lot of "new album" hype behind some of the opinions expressed. In retrospect, it was a blip on their musical radar when taken in context with the rest of their career (IMHO).

I'd agree that Vector is the 'weakest' of the last 4 albums. I also don't care much for Aquarius, despite as you say it being very old schoolish proggy. Visions is the best of their earliest, although I haven't played it enough times to know anything other than it's not as strong as their newer albums.

I really need 20 albums to be what I would think is an accurate representation of the important albums to me. Several missing from my list that appear on other lists would be 12, 15, 16, 18, etc on mine.

Devin Townsend and Meatloaf (RIP) had a lovechild. They named it Ghost. "Spillways of your soul" what f%^&ing schlock.

No. [mostly because it's a list of albums, can't help it if some bands are better and/or have more genre defining releases than others] In no order and with no sense of objectivity, these are my personal faves... Close to the Edge - Yes 2112 - Rush A Farewell to Kings - Rush Brain Salad Surgery - ELP [but I'm slowly warming to Trilogy and the self titled] Falling Satellites - Frost Red - King Crimson THRAK - King Crimson Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd Animals - Pink Floyd The Mountain - Haken [despite being a Genesis and Dream Theater fan, neither are really my jam nowadays]

I don't think Haken can put out an album I won't enjoy, at this point in their career. Even the first couple albums are fine, since The Mountain though they've been on fire. Eagerly anticipating this one.

Good to hear a drummer of your ilk vocalize that, because to my ears it seemed sloppy as well. 'Fine' but not the kind of approach I'd would have credited to Gavin in a blind listen. I'm through probably 20 or more listens and certainly primed for the show in September, but I still don't feel fully engaged with the material. There's sections that come on and I think "Okay, this is really good" but I still couldn't tell you what section is attributed to which song. It's like a bunch of really good ideas that got sewn together. If you're into folk art quilts, that's fine, but I've always liked how PT did this in a more seamless way. And no, that pun (metaphor?) was not planned. Deal with it. lol

Funny, I was working on a song with a collaborator last night and they busted out a Cat Stevens track as a stylistic reference. He mostly flies under my radar, but certainly knew this along with his handful of other hits.

That's a good point, but I didn't notice there were two other artists listed in the title. lol

100% SW is a kludgy guitarist, at best. He's very creative and that offsets his technical deficiencies. And yes, all fine. He's a songwriter first, and multi instrumentalist. He doesn't need to be a shredder / virtuoso to have my respect and enjoy his output.

I wonder if anyone who previously voted would change their vote to Closure/Continuation, now that they've had some time to digest the album. The general consensus is that it's a welcome release, comparable in quality to prior albums, but not an instant favorite.

Honestly? Nah