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You know what... reply with album covers that changed your life
Let's go #GenX
Geoff Duncan@samvarma
I'll follow up with another oddball pick. I was that one kid in school who didn't much care for Yes's "breakthrough" 90125—Yesssongs or go home, right?—although a few bits have grown on me. But for some reason I really liked this Yes lineup that was half Yes, all of the Buggles (really!), and sparked off Asia (think Yes sounding like Journey), Rabin-era Yes (think Yes sounding like Journey and Art of Noise), GTR (think Marillion sounding like Journey) and cemented Steve Howe in my mind. I mean, he was already cemented there but this added more superglue.
I'll follow up with another oddball pick. I was that one kid in school who didn't much care for Yes's "breakthrough" 90125—Yesssongs or go home, right?—although a few bits have grown on me. But for some reason I really liked this Yes lineup that was half Yes, all of the Buggles (really!), and sparked off Asia (think Yes sounding like Journey), Rabin-era Yes (think Yes sounding like Journey and Art of Noise), GTR (think Marillion sounding like Journey) and cemented Steve Howe in my mind. I mean, he was already cemented there but this added more superglue.
NigelTufnel@geoffduncan @samvarma I saw GTR when they came thru SF Bay Area in 1986, playing the Warfield. Good friend of mine was a HUGE prog fan so this was Rock Royalty but I don’t remember any of it, sorry man! Too young for that to stick.
@NigelTufnel @geoffduncan Dream Theater was my biggest foray into prog, I remember seeing them live for the first time in Munich and being like holy shit it sounds just like the record, then seeing them again six months later in London at the Astoria, and being like yeah holy shit still sounds just like the record, and then again maybe a year later in Los Angeles at the house of blues. (1/2)
And I was like yo this is just boring, it sounds just like the album. The coolest thing that happened was Derek Sherinian strapped on a Les Paul with a shiny silver shirt on for a cover of some 70s rock. The bloom was off the rose after that. (2/2)
@NigelTufnel @geoffduncan
@NigelTufnel @geoffduncan
@samvarma @geoffduncan Oh I tried so hard to like early prog like Genesis and Yes because of my friend but just didn’t get it - Genesis especially was so keyboard - Mellotron heavy that most of it bored me. But Emerson Lake and Palmer? Hell yeah that shit rocks. Roundabout-era Chris Squire? Oh yeah, no Geddy Lee without that Rickenbacker tone. Years later I began to appreciate the earlier work of those bands but it still isn’t as immediate as Rush or Floyd to me.
@samvarma @geoffduncan Ah but to each his own. I have a healthy appreciation for what all the prog artists accomplished in their time. Musicianship was so important and it shows in their craft.
@samvarma
I still haven’t cracked open Dream Theater. I remember seeing them do a cover of Highway Star and I was really impressed but also didn’t understand the “why.”
@NigelTufnel
I was a keyboard player before I took up guitar and bass, so players like Emerson, Wakeman, and Banks loomed large for me. (Though Vangelis loomed larger: see above re: weirdo). I find a lot of old Genesis very twee, but there’s an early live album that is pretty great. Phil Collins could be mistaken for a thrash drummer at a couple points.
neverbeaten@samvarma @NigelTufnel @geoffduncan
This is my main issue with IEMs. I hate them because it almost guarantees that the band is using backing tracks from the album and won’t likely deviate from the album performance.
I want every live performance to feel unique. Ephemeral. You had to be there.
That’s where the value in live performance comes from.
If I want to listen to the album, I prefer to do that comfortably at home without distractions.
@neverbeaten @NigelTufnel @geoffduncan Then I'm happy to make you aware that my band, while using IEM and tracks, runs the show off Ableton and we never play the same show twice. We are live reacting to the crowd in front of us, playing a mix of what they asked for and what is working
Ryan Hyde 🇺🇦🏳️⚧️🇵🇸@samvarma @neverbeaten @NigelTufnel @geoffduncan Yeah, I was gonna say this isn’t my experience with IEMs at all.
@neverbeaten @samvarma @NigelTufnel
Agreed with others: IEMs and backing tracks are different things. Saying EIMs virtually guarantee a band is using backing tracks is like saying bands that use drum risers have terrible sax players. :) There are instances where that is true, but it's not a strong correlation and it's definitely not causation.
I've been part of one act that used backing tracks in places—we also had to play in sync to film. (Ever wanted to play the music for old Warner Bros cartoons live? It was like that.) No IEMs, all stage wedges. My IEM use has all been to support silent (or near-silent) stages—where we use them the same way we'd use on-stage monitors—or special cases like theater productions were a singer could be on a balcony 50m from the band with no sight line.
Chancerubbage@neverbeaten @samvarma @NigelTufnel @geoffduncan
Almost everyone wearing in ear monitors is doing so for a private monitor mix and flexible movement on stage. And that’s it. A drummer -might- get a click. If it’s a dance act, it might be backing tracks.
Are there genres where the audience doesn’t care? Probably.
@Chancerubbage Please don't tell me I have to move on stage I'll get lost. ;)
Well, in ears are also good for voiding monitor wedge feedback.
In the early days of wireless mics, etc, wireless was really good at picking up police radio calls.
@Chancerubbage
So I learned from Spinal Tap!
The feedback point is good, although on a couple occasions I’ve wanted to get feedback on a silent stage and…welp.
These days there are automated EQs that will notch out monitor feedback as it happens these days.
In ears solved the problem sooner than digital mixers without a sound guy did
Oh, the spinal tap thing was real. Actually, all you needed sometimes to pick up police radio was an unshielded cable
@Chancerubbage
I'm so poor I can count the times I've played on a wireless rig with the thumbs of one foot. ;)
I'm so poor I can count the times I've played on a wireless rig with the thumbs of one foot. ;)