--- Sez George Erdner to Michael Doyle ---
 MD> GE>Do vocals that have a Wagnerian grand
 MD> GE>opera tonal quality and harmonies qualify as a "classical influence"?
If they trigger the old gagging reflex, sure, why not.
 
 GE> OK, but the questions I've raised have not been answered. Or rather,
 GE> there have been a slew of different answers that don't all agree with
 GE> each other.
Not my job.
 GE> When I attempt to discuss music that conforms to
 GE> one of the definitions of prog-rock that's posted in here, I get raked
 GE> over the coals because the artist in question didn't fit a different
 GE> definition that someone else posted.
The coals are dead now, aren't they?  Let's bury the rakes.
 GE> All I'm asking for a simple definition of prog-rock that is clear and
 GE> unambiguous. Is that such a hard thing to provide?
"If it sounds like Prog Rock..." is as unambiguous as I'M going to get!
 MD>  But there IS just one more thing I'd like to add, question I'd like
 MD>  to pose - what does the artist consider his music himself?
 MD>  Just my less than 2 cents worth.
Hmm.  OTOH, musicians are often poor judges of their own output.
Compared not only to my own impeccable judgement, but perhaps
yours as well.  Most Frank Zappa fans have noticed this.  Sometimes
the artist LIKES weird shit, too.  This is mainly problematic
to teenagers and others who get upset about things like Metallica
recording a "country and western" song.
 GE> Of all the serious musicians I've known (or known of), very few take
 GE> kindly to being pigeon-holed into a category, and most refuse to do it
 GE> themselves.
Very true indeed.  Were you a jock or a burnout in high school?
(Wow, that reads stranger than I intended.  No offense intended.)
 GE> Further, when one stumbles across an obscure recording by an obscure
 GE> artist, how is one supposed to find the artists to interview them
 GE> about where they want to be classified?
In the case of artists who are already dead, it can be tough.  When
Columbia released the Robert Johnson box set, somebody in the promotion
department apparently tried to set up some kind of appearance or
interview or something with the Artist...
King Crimson's favorite self-description: "prog rock pond scum set to
bum you out."  But Fripp doesn't like being lumped in with Yes, ELP,
and Genesis, because, after all, those were financially SUCCESSFUL bands!
 GE> * OLX 2.1 TD * Rap is to music as Etch-a-Sketch is to art
One nice thing about this echo is that one can troll and not get flamed
all the time.
DM
NP: "Progressive Frequencies" taped last night from WMSE 9:00-10:30 PM
NP: Ihrgarten (Forgive the laughable spelling, the radio announcer
              mumbles and it's a French-Canadian band): "Quiet Room"
... Shave The Whales    
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