Album Rating: 4.0

"Quality is quality, and genre is helpful to provide a hint as to what we are about to listen to, but there is too much excellent music to stay boxed in."



amen to that

I took a look at my iTunes IQ section, and I have an extended version of 'Promises' on their B-Sides and Lives album J'ai Pollette D'arnu, this album is a mixed bag, but if you like promises, then you will likely like the 7+ minute version, and the highlight of this compilation is the prognostic, 'Dans Le Parc Du Chateau Noir.' It's a weird little record, in a good way. the live tracks aren't very well recorded, but the studio stuff is pretty good for that era.

I can't get over how good the re-mixed versions of wake and lush attic sound. It sounds like they were re-recorded, such is the increase in quality. (what they usually call 'remastering' is usually remixing which is what you want). Anyway any "remaster' remix of a classic album after 2009 benefits from a stellar leap in technology, (see Steven Wilson's amazing remix output), so they are very much worth it. Pink Floyd, Rush, King Crimson, Smashing Pumpkins all the SW mixes...get them. And these guys really understand and don't get caught up in the "loudness" war.

Album Rating: 4.0

is that version of 'Dans Le Parc Du Chateau Noir' different to the bonus track on the wake ?



ive got the old LPs of lush attic and the wake not sure what versions of them i listen to when im

streaming stuff though.

Album Rating: 4.0

yes some of wilsons remixes are good, like the caravan/pink and grey one

Yes, Canterbury Sound music is great, Hatfielid and The North's Rotter's Club, their first, The early Camel records, Caravan, all highlights for me...very unique pastoral jazzy prog with a sense of humor. the wiki article on it is pretty good. I just heard the yes album remix from SW yesterday, it's outstanding, as is close to the edge, the first three ELP, and especially the King Crimson sets he did with Fripp. He did Hawkwind's Warrior at the Edge of Time. I love the Genesis remixes, but I would like to see him do those as well. The Floyd Catalog was just re-done, and it's fantastic as well. His mixes of Aqualung and Benefit from Tull are great well. he has a great ear, and a gift for proper separation, and he always retains the dynamic range....

People don't realize that the first CD transfers that were rushed out when CDs became huge, a lot of them were terrible, and that's why in the 1990s and 2000s people preferred vinyl because the analog reproduction of masters even with the crackles was a lot warmer and the benefits of detail weren't relevant because the transfer tech hadn't caught up with the medium. Around 2007, the transfers from master analog tape to digital is finally done with care and the proper software and engineers who know all about current tech. There has been a huge leap in quality, even with compressed music with ALAC and mp4 with logarithms that comprehend the human ear. It's a good time for digital music...and now we have the FiiO x5, which means we have a DAC/Amp/ uncompressed digital music player the size of an iPod for around $300, that can hold a ton of music and takes memory cards. Pretty amazing. Great time to be a music nerd.

Album Rating: 4.0

Ive got a cheapo setup streaming FLACS to a squeezebox and old nad amp, sometimes fire up an old LP12 when i listen to LPs, sounds ok.

I'd have to spend so much money to hear a real leap in sound quality just cant afford it really.

There is a 90 gig collection called The Progressive-Kraut-Avant garde Rock Collection floating around, I highly recommend any music enthusiast to write down the albums contained within and buy them. Even if you are a Prog fan, there are so many International rares, that you will be turned on to a lot of new stuff. Pregnant Rainbow For Colourblind People: The Essence Of Swedish Progressive Music 1967 - 79 is also pretty interesting, There is a 259 track collection in a set of volumes called "Krautrock - Music for Your Brain", that is a great intro to this sub-genre. Musea records has some interesting intros to Italian and French prog too. Most people hear the classic bands, the English bands, but the Scandinavian, German, Italian, French, South American stuff is the alternative to the alternative....

great review. this must kick ass then

Album Rating: 4.0

yeh ive heard a lot of krautrock and RPI and theres some decent stuff coming out all over Europe but im sure theres loads out there i never get to try

Album Rating: 4.0

i dunno savaah you might like it, neo-prog does annoy some people even if they are prog fans tho hehe

I use Sennheiser headphones, open air flow 558s or 598s, and a Fiio E-17 Alpen small Amp, just plugged into my mac book, so I can listen while I work. If you check amazon, Sennheiser 558s, are pretty affordable, as are FiiO digital to analog / amps very small and inexpensive. Great values, as price meets quality. I have that new Digital audio player on the ol' wish list. For less then $400 I get what a lot of people spend over a $1,000 for. If you do compress audio, AAC is the way to go, and the human ear can't hear anything over 256 kb/s the logarithm is great, (it's also called mp4), and I've done blind listening tests, which are on the internet, you can't discern 98% of the time. Usually the problem with sound is the recording, so long as you have a decent set-up. I would love to use only lossless, but i have too much music. I need to look into the cloud....

A new user that has some cool knowledge, awesome

PragPro best user of 2014

Krautrock is really difficult to put in one genre, as Amon Duul II is nothing like Eloy...and Can is nothing like Samla Mammas Manna, (which is a great band.) Klaus Schulze is nothing like Guru Guru. R.I.O. is 'Rock In Opposition", and band like The Muffins and Henry Cow...Univers Zero...this is Avant, difficult music, but a lot of the Krautrock I mentioned isn't. Cuneiform Records is a great place to hear modern versions of the more difficult sub-genres. I think a band like Anglagard with an album like Epilog is a great place to jump in. You will see how much the more popular bands have benefitted from band like these. They along with Sinkadus, Landberk, Anekdoten led a Scandi revival in the 90s, that is just wonderful. Areknames have an album called Love Hate Round Trip, an Italian Band that does wonderful Post-Prog...(Post-Prog is like the stuff that K-Scope and Burning Shed Records puts out.) K-Scope, Cuneiform are leading the charge in my book.

Thanks guys, truth be told, I have been lurking for years....I love this weird little record review website. It's what the internet CAN be. thousands of ears are better then two, and pitchfork has some utility but it's super pretentious, and seriously, most of those guys don't play any instruments...their dissertation length reviews and total genre-phobia is often very annoying. The message boards are too disorganized, the Genre Specific Sites, are again Genre-Phobic....I just really dig this place, and it's always my first stop on new-relase day....(which is every day in the inter webs.)

I have discovered so many great bands here...Motorpsycho, RX Bandits, Sinch....bands that skirt genres that other sites do not cover....some of these lists on modern rock style prog bands that I hadn't heard about, just because they weren't "proggy enough" or "metal enough" or straight Rock....that's the benefit of this community.

Please, please, please stay in sputnik

Hey, you said you were into some south american stuff too, I'm from there, what kind of bands do you
know?

I was very fond of the Mexican band Cast, (I know North America...but) This site has an interesting selection of Peruvian Prog, http://rockprogresivoperu.blogspot.com

Os Mutantes, Cartoon, Tempus Fugit and Eclipse from Brazil. I wish I heard more of the new cutting edge bands, but in the US, we don't cover South America in the news, it's like it doesn't exist. I guess it's easier to exploit the people and resources of the South that way... : (

Brazil http://www.progarchives.com/Bands-country.asp?country=108
Argentina http://www.progarchives.com/Bands-country.asp?country=1
Chile http://www.progarchives.com/Bands-country.asp?country=42

Honestly, I would love to be told who is great and am ready to listen. Eastern European, Asian, South American...prog is awesome....when I get to hear it. A good place to find highly rated bands from emerging markets...let's say...is http://gnosis2000.net because the search engine and rating system is awesome.