My Psuedo Spock's/Rush/Yes Bass Pod XT tone...

lshaia · Post by **lshaia** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:11 am

Hi Randy,

The first six Beard CDs (The Light, Beware of Darkness, The Kindness of Strangers, Day For Night, V, and Snow) featured Neal Morse, who sang, played keyboards and acoustic guitar, and wrote most of the material. He left the band for "religious" reasons; their first CD without him is Feel Euphoria, and I believe there is second one due out after the first of the year.

I would start with one of the first six, they tend to be more "prog" than FE, which is a bit harder and more mainstream (but good)IMO. My personal favorite, and one of my "desert island" CD choices, is The Kindness of Strangers. It doesn't have a 15 minute prog epic like most of the others do, but the songs are consistantly good. If you want heavier prog then you might try Beware of Darkness or V, although they're all very good, but with some uneven spots here and there. Their music has a lot of Yes in it (they did an excellent cover of "South Side of the Sky" on a bonus CD), but a lot of Genesis and Gentle Giant and pop as well. They're not "clones" of anybody, though. Jack's suggestion of looking at their web site is a good one, while there you might check out the message board; "the best Beard CD" is a topic of nonstop discussion.

My lengthy two cents.

learning_curve · Post by **learning_curve** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:34 am

Thanks Jack & Lindsay I'll start with the earlier stuff and work my way through. Always looking for new music? Wonder why these guy's have not hit the Radio yet? It sure looks like they have paid there dues.

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 1:07 pm

Randy, the answer to your last question can be summed up in two words:RADIO SUCKS! If I had to rely on radio to open me up to new GOOD music like I did in the 70's, I'd idolize Mark Hoppus instead of Chris Squire. I've been on a CD buying spree aquiring a bunch great progressive rock, some fairly current, that I would never have known existed if I wasn't Google searching for it. I found some great live stuff by Asia,UK, StarCastle and John Wetton solo stuff that's off the hook incredible. It's no wonder with the over-commercialized state of music today that NO progressive rock bands are in the R&R Hall of Fame while Rolling Stone magazine votes Emerson Lake and Palmer one of the 50 worst bands of all time.

learning_curve · Post by **learning_curve** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 3:25 pm

Worst Bands!! You gotta be kidding me! Ohh MY GOD! What happened to respect! Even bands like YES back in the day, when they were new, admittedly looked up to and, were inspired by names like Les Paul, BB King, Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins, Chuck Barry, Muddy Waters, even "The King", you name it, and the fans also knew that these old guy's were the best of their time. at least I did! Now it seems there is no loyalty and the fans are busy trashing the icons for no good reason? Example;

I could not believe the rudness and outright ignorance of the bunch who sat in front of me at the YES concert I went to with my Daughter. They were all guy's in their teens & mid twenties and drunk out of their minds. They screamed the whole time Dream Theater was on! One guy was so pumped up on Dream Theater and Booze that after Yes startd this guy had the nerve to stand on his chair to boo Steve Howe! It happened to be at a point we were all standing up so when I got up I saw to it that his chair went out and he went down! His whole group looked at me but I am lucky enough to be quite large and in great shape, from years of construction work, so I yelled at them all and told them to PICK UP THEIR DRUNK or I'd see to it he didn't get up at all! Didn't here much from him or any of them again. Got lots of smiles from the rest of the crowd around me, my daughter could now see the stage, and I got to enjoy the rest of the YES concert.
I guess I mentioned this because I remember being young and wasted and going to concerts but I never tried to ruin someone else's night and boo an Icon like Steve Howe. I would have been honored to see one of these old dudes rock the house back when I was a kid! Steve was fantastic that night too! Never missed a note!
And Yeah I know Radio sucks but I heard the Stone Temple Pilots for the first time on the radio, Queensryche, Puddle of Mud you name it all kinds of bands I would not have known about unless they came on the Rad'id'io. Not defending Radio it is a sad, sad, market from what it was. But it seems if there is a game to play either the record producer or the bands promoter needs to grease a few palms (at clear channel) to get these guy's out in the open. That's the way of it. And the Radio is still a good venue to get new listeners to buy there stuff and spread the word if you can get them to play it!
Your right about that Hall of Fame! as far as I know YES is not in there yet either? I read this somewhere? How can this be. They have been at the top of the Heap bottomed out and climbed to the top more than once! Hate to bash Rap Music but hey it just plain "sucks the big one"! this is the stuff that generates the money now.
Trash Bands rule, musicians drool.
Guess it's a Prog Rock Google search for me too.

Wow sorry that was long.
Dane what other bands have you found? I want the new stuff we play to be as hard hitting as some of this old stuff we like. looking for new ideas.

Randy

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 3:58 pm

My Google searching has not been random as I've been looking for specific artists whose names pop into my head during the day. After I research it a bit, I go to E-Bay to find new CD's and start buying. I usually pay around $7.00 per CD including shipping or even less. If you pull out any prog-rock album and go through the credits you'll find a world of great listening. Most of the stuff I'm getting is not current . Yes spin off bands like Flash or Badger. Bands that Bruford has played with like Gong and National Health. Phil Collins had a band once called Brand X. They were way better than the pablum Genesis was cranking out towards their end. John Wetton has been putting out albums since he left Asia that are great. I could go on forever.....

learning_curve · Post by **learning_curve** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:05 pm

Thanks Got a Spopck's Beard CD coming and I would like to see what John Wetton has been doing as well. Guess I better get with it!

lshaia · Post by **lshaia** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:11 am

Great discussion! In my opinion the best place to hear prog these days is on the web. If you have a high speed connection try this station:
http://www.live365.com/stations/haroldthebarrel
Get the free Live 365 player and off you go. This particular station plays mostly '70s English prog: Yes, Chris Squire, Jethro Tull, ELP, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Genesis, etc., but he also plays a fair amount of new prog: Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, Transatlantic, Porcupine Tree. NO Dream Theater, thankfully.

Randy, you might try Transatlantic, which was made up of guys from the Beard, Marillion, Flower Kings, and (gulp) Dream Theater. Now defunct because of Neal Morse's new career in Christian prog, they did two CDs of keyboard oriented, long melodic songs. From there it's easy to branch off into any one of the individual member's bands. The Flower Kings are also very good, although they can be a bit long winded IMO.

Dane, please share some of your finds with us, I'm always looking for new prog to listen to.

jaymi · Post by **jaymi** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:33 am

Neal Morse is coming out with a new album shortly. Lindsay, what did you think of 'Testimony?' I really am digging it. Too bad he doesn't use a Rick for those tones. He lives not too far from me..

lshaia · Post by **lshaia** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 5:17 am

I haven't heard it, but he's an amazingly gifted guy, so it's bound to be excellent. Too bad about the Ric, but I'm sure he doesn't want to sound too much like the Beard.

How's your new daughter, by the way?

learning_curve · Post by **learning_curve** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 6:21 am

Lindsay that sounds great? You brought back a memory with the name Marillion? I think there was a band named Trillion. I seem to remember an Album with a snow covered mountain or something? These guy's were good too? Have to see about finding it.

I have a standard phone connection so no downloads but I will certainly look into Transatlantic and these others. I am trying Dane's way of finding new music There are a lot of solo albums I am finding from members of these bands that I never knew about. Nice! THis list ought to keep me busy for some time!

Ahh I just did a Dogpile search? Found the lead singer from the band Trillion is now working on a project called "Ambition" his name was Thom Griffin. The article I read say's the music is Beautiful Melodic Rock filled with magnificent ballads and uptempo's WOW these guy's are way to litterate. anyway has one of the guy's from Ambrosia and Mecca etc. etc. working with him. You gotta love the internet, Dane's right back in the 60's & 70's you could be lazy and listen to the Radio to find new bands. That is a sad loss!

Randy on to new horizons!

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 9:17 am

Lindsay, check the "Favorite Live Recordings" thread for some of the new stuff I've found. In addition, I'vs scored all of StarCastle's stuff on CD(except Real to Reel of course), a live John Wetton CD called "Chasing the Dragon" with some of his best songs all the way back to 'Crimson as well as an excellent studio CD by him called "Archangel" and a live CD of Asia from the "Asia in Asia" tour with Greg Lake on lead vocals and bass. I got all of this stuff, brand new and sealed, on E-Bay so do a search.

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 9:39 am

Anyone here remember Druid? Before 96-ish I'd never heard of them, but I answered an ad in a guitar mag at that time advertising a 72 4001 (m/glo)for sale;I was after a spare the same spec as my 72. Whe I turned up it wasn't the same (had the skunk and non screw-top high gain and weighed way more than mine) so I passed, stupidly (aaaarrrrgghhhh!!!! Doh!). Anyway, the guy selling it was Neil Brewer, who told me he used to be the bassist in a band called Druid. Later on I came across an album by them in a 2nd hand store and its really good; kind of Yes meets early Genesis (although as he openly admitted not as good as either; not as far off as you'd think though). Lovely guy BTW.

mortivan · Post by **mortivan** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:25 pm

Neil Brewer's bass had to have had super low action. You can hear the fret buzz on almost every note on their albums

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:58 am

Actually John, his bass had pretty high action, much higher than mine; it was a bit of a struggle for me to play. I think Neil played quite hard. He said he bought his Rick after he saw Chris Squire.

mortivan · Post by **mortivan** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:57 pm

I would have never thought that bass had high action by the sound! It rattles quite well!