A question for progressive fans...

EddyC15

Where on Earth did this video come from?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRX76HIPErA

Is it an official music video for Magic Dragon Theatre or what?
I know that you can find "Singring" played live alright, but this is completely different territory.

Any info at all?

chin_grin

Yeah looks like an official vid........to a terrible f*ckin' song!

viadah

One minute 39 seconds, to one minute 45 seconds.....

JBnaglfar

As chin_grin said it looks official, but I have no idea.

The song seems fairly okay, if you completely ignore the lyrics.

EddyC15

It's a great song! Lyrics an' all!

LH Pathe

Isn't progressive in the modern day just a byword for arrogant ignorant twats given there's no real room for progression like there was in the seventys whilst they're just retreading old meditative paths?..ah.

That's a lovely horse

JBnaglfar

LH Pathe wrote: »

Isn't progressive in the modern day just a byword for arrogant ignorant twats given there's no real room for progression like there was in the seventys whilst they're just retreading old meditative paths?..ah.

That's a lovely horse

I don't know, but that's probably a discussion for another thread. After all this thread is about a prog song from the 70's.

And yes, it is a lovely horse.

LH Pathe

am for a new wave of 'progression' if it prompts a revolt in the form of proper punk again.. maybe we'll get a somehow more caustic form of punk in the face of 'prog' metal if thats even possible..

It's not. Nebula horsehead is the very definition of prog in all it's spaced out technicolour glory

bnt

I've generally seen a divide between truly progressive music on the one hand, and a derivative style called "Prog" on the other. The former gave us genuinely new music like In The Court of the Crimson King, Close To The Edge (Yes), and Selling England By The Pound (Genesis). The latter gave us attempted copies of the former e.g. early Marillion, IQ, Jadis, and the like.

Marillion is an unusual case, since I thought they grew out of their early Genesis fixation quite successfully and found a progressive attitude of their own - one strong enough to survive the departure of their lead singer (Fish). You can see other progressive bands fighting to avoid falling in to cliché by various means, often by going more mainstream (Genesis, Yes, Saga) or by getting more technical (Dream Theater). I don't quite know what to make of most American attempts at progressive - sometimes quite decent (e.g. Gentle Giant), sometimes just ill-judged and clumsy.

Anyway - my point is that is there is no single "progressive" style, or a single judgement to be made about the whole genre. I tell people that "progressive" is not a style, it's an attitude.

TheStickyBandit

bnt wrote: »

I tell people that "progressive" is not a style, it's an attitude.

WTF? That's just absurd!

120_Minutes

TheStickyBandit wrote: »

WTF? That's just absurd!

I see his point, tool, karnivool, porcupine tree, oceansize (rip) and now opeth are all considered progressive, but sound only vaguely similar.

What makes modern prog? Odd times? Heavy guitars? Long songs? Melodic vocals? The above all have that, but tool are often considered metal, oceansize indie, and opeth death ( despite having a split personality for years)

You don't have to have wanky solos to be prog nowadays, but you don't have to not have them either...

Richy06

I think he's hit the nail firmly on the head to be quite honest.

TheStickyBandit

120_Minutes wrote: »

I see his point, tool, karnivool, porcupine tree, oceansize (rip) and now opeth are all considered progressive, but sound only vaguely similar.

What makes modern prog? Odd times? Heavy guitars? Long songs? Melodic vocals? The above all have that, but tool are often considered metal, oceansize indie, and opeth death ( despite having a split personality for years)

You don't have to have wanky solos to be prog nowadays, but you don't have to not have them either...

Where does any of what you just said describe progressive music being 'an attitude'?

Progressive music is exactly what it is called for a reason.
Definition of progressive -Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step. No more of this artsy attitude tripe please!

nyarlothothep

Magic Dragon Theatre is growing on me and the video has a Monty Python zaniness that appeals to me. At least its better than Sum41 or MCR.

120_Minutes

TheStickyBandit wrote: »

No more of this artsy attitude tripe please!

Can't it be both?

JBnaglfar

TheStickyBandit wrote: »

Where does any of what you just said describe progressive music being 'an attitude'?

Progressive music is exactly what it is called for a reason.
Definition of progressive -Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step. No more of this artsy attitude tripe please!

That's one definition of progressive. Another would be 'favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are'. Another is 'making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods'. (source of definitions, which also includes the one you mentioned)
Both of these would fit more with the idea of progressive music as an attitude, avoiding cliches in favour of experimentation.

mike65

Progressive do not just mean long and no gaps between songs.

Rush are still progressive rock in the best sense, they haven't recorded anything longer than 7 minutes since 1981.

bnt

Sorry - didn't mean to kick off a row here! I think one thing that might not be known to the younger folks here is that there was a rash of "prog" bands, especially in the 80s, who basically copied the more established progressive bands (especially early Genesis), and gave "progressive" a bad name. It didn't help that some of the early bands went stale or, got too ambitious. But I think it's fair to say that a real progressive band won't set out to copy another band, even if that other band is an earlier version of themselves - that's pretty much the opposite of what progressive should be, I say. :cool: