I admire the musicianship of many prog rockers, David Gilmore from Pink Floyd and Mike Rutherford from Genesis, along with Alex Lifeson from Rush are the definitive prog rock guitarists.
If you want to be slightly more adventurous and a bit more in the pop vein, then you might like latter day Marillion, the band that started out in life with the eccentric Fish as lead singer.
But if you like a bit of thrash metal thrown in with progressive rock, and a few winsome acoustic ballads along the way, then you might like one of the most famous bands who are famous because they have been such a lemon commercially speaking.
The band I'm talking about is Dream Theater from the USA. The band hasn`t been a complete disaster on the albums chart, thanks to a very loyal devoted hardcore fan base, but they have been totally unlucky over twenty years to only ever have scored one major singles hit, the thrash tinged epic `Pull Me Under` from the early 90`s.
They`re not a bunch of soulless musical mercenaries like you find with so many progressive rock bands, generally they are either write complex uptempo songs which
incorporates Metallica inspired speed metal with the keyboard laden dynamics of Genesis, or they stick to stripped bare acoustic tunes that are just as lyrically
convoluted but allow vocalist James LaBrie to showcase his voice to much better effect.
incorporates Metallica inspired speed metal with the keyboard laden dynamics of Genesis, or they stick to stripped bare acoustic tunes that are just as lyrically
convoluted but allow vocalist James LaBrie to showcase his voice to much better effect.
The band once had renowned keyboard whiz Derek Sherinian as a member, but friction in the band over musical direction and the lack of broader commercial success was the catalyst for his departure in the late 1990`s.
The best asset the band ever had was the unpredictable guitar dynamics of John Petrucci, who could be Steve Vai one minute and Jethro Tull the next, and the high
pitched penetrating howl of singer James LaBrie, who comes from the same school as Geddy Lee but is a lot better to be brutally honest with all the Rush fans out there.
pitched penetrating howl of singer James LaBrie, who comes from the same school as Geddy Lee but is a lot better to be brutally honest with all the Rush fans out there.
I wont waffle on too much tonight, I am not making out that I have listened to a lot of Dream Theater, in fact I only have their `Greatest Hit` album, not the `Greatest Hits` album on Rhino label from 2008.
Notice I said Greatest Hit and not Hits? The members of Dream Theater are renowned for their self depreciation and being able to take the piss out of themselves, and the album title is a humourous act of pisstake acknowledging that they only have ever had one singles hit in their entire career.
It`s a 2 CD set, the first CD is the fast tracks as they call it, the ones with a bit of thrash thrown in, and the second CD is dedicated al-
most entirely to the slower tunes, the acoustic ones and the ones where the vocals and keyboards dominate the soundscape. Go and buy the album now!
most entirely to the slower tunes, the acoustic ones and the ones where the vocals and keyboards dominate the soundscape. Go and buy the album now!
I think this soundtrack is terrific. When I grew up in the sixties, I remember being addicted to old time music and listening to it on our tube mono upright phonograph. Of course I didn't realize it was old time music as a little kid. I just knew it was easy to latch onto. This CD reminds me how much the world and popular music as changed.
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