Dr.Tchock

I'll give you this point. There is more to sonwrinting than lyrics. I suppose the style just doesn't attract me.

I'm all for variety. But I'm against gimmick variety. I might be dead wrong, but I find the "Look, I can put jazz and classical together in a 40 minute suit" to be more exabitionist than an actual artistic statment. I find it robotic. Again, my opinion. I'm not bashing anyone who thinks otherwise.

boo boo

If classical composers can do long suites, why can't a rock band? It's their music, they can do what they want and take inspiration from what they want, I'm tired of people praising rock n roll, this genre that was all about rule breaking, and then saying closed minded stuff about subgenres that don't conform to the rules of rock n roll. People like that are no better than the pipe smoking, Pat Boone loving, bible thumping moms and pops who looked down on rock n roll back in it's heyday.

Eh, I'm a little bitter, but when you like music that most people hate, it's hard not to be, don't mean to be a d*ck, I'm just very defensive.

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Anteater

Well, just for future reference Tchock, not all progressive rock is made up of albums with forty minutes suites and such, lol.

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Dr.Tchock

I'm pretty open to suggestion on good prog rock, actually. There is alot more portential in a mega talented band than in a average rock band that's for sure. I like Porcupine Tree, are they considered prog?

boo boo

Yes they are.

But it's still all pretentious shite, argh.

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Dr.Tchock

Well Steven Wilson is a pretty good songwriter.

Unknown Soldier

The great beauty of Jon Anderson`s lyrics, are the fact that they don`t make any sense.

anticipation

comus by miles and miles and miles.

boo boo

Nor are they supposed to, not many prog bands really give two sh*ts about the lyrics, vocals are treated more like an instrument than a way to use lyrics to translate some point of view, and more often than not music comes first, and the lyrics are intended to just fit with the music. I think it's one reason fantasy themes are used so often because it fits with that kinda music.

But yeah, I'm pretty sure 90% of Jon's lyrics are made up on the spot and used just because they fit well with the music, I think he just uses words he really likes, like "River" and "Mountain".

Of course that's not to say there aren't prog bands with emphasis on lyrics, Ian Anderson, Peter Garbiel, Richard Sinclair and Peter Hammill are pretty tight lyricists IMO, and have a great sense of wit and humor that people often overlook. And Waters of course.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

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Unknown Soldier

There`s certainly a lot of wit in the lyrics of both Ian Anderson and Peter Gabriel and I think there is also a lot of tongue-in-cheek with Roger Waters as well.

I think as far as Prog bands go, Rush do seem to put more of an emphasis on their lyrics, especially given Neil Peart`s admiration on Ayn Rand.

I`d never really listened to too much by Van der Graaf Generator but listened to one the albums that you recommended and besides liking the album the album a lot, I was very impressed with Peter Hammill`s vocal range, on further investigation found John Lydon of all people, was greatly influenced by his vocal style. Kinda of strange really that a punk artist would draw inspiration from a prog one but then again I`m sure there are similiar musical disparities out there.