Prog Cover Fight

HansGruber · Post by **HansGruber** » Tue May 03, 2005 11:15 am

j$ wrote:I'd certainly be up for helping someone out on a prog cover

Oh, man it's tempting. Real music would be great...I'm considering songs based on my patience with the sequencer and my mini keyboard...not the ideal setup for Prog Rock!

j$ wrote:I would call Queen Pomp-rock not prog-rock and Fat Bottomed Girls is clearly clearly not a prog song.

You have a point. We're having a little difficulty clearly defining the boundries on this fight. I like to make exceptions where I believe it would be appropriate, and I think Jack doing FBG would be exquisite. Let me know if I went too far.

j$ wrote:Otherwise I will be bringing Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick, replete with MIDI flute patch.

Johnny, that's just too perfect for you. Can't wait to hear it. Glad we got an Englishman in here.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Tue May 03, 2005 11:18 am

Kinda surprised no one's called anything off Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Pictures at an Exhibition" yet.

Oh hey, sidefight means instruMentals are cool. Sweet.

HansGruber · Post by **HansGruber** » Tue May 03, 2005 11:33 am

Rabid Garfunkel wrote:Kinda surprised no one's called anything off Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Pictures at an Exhibition" yet. Oh hey, sidefight means instruMentals are cool. Sweet.

Especially if you're thinking about EL&P. Someone (I think) brought up 'Fanfare for the Common Man'.

I met Aaron Copeland on my 16th birthday. Kinda exciting. He was really old.

deshead · Post by **deshead** » Tue May 03, 2005 12:27 pm

THC wrote:depends on what province you are in....I can tell you that in British Columbia the crop is..well, ....nice.

Yeah, out here, not so much.

tonetripper wrote:a true Canadian contingent. (no offense Des or Puce)

Heh, all the better to break out my campfire-clearing acoustic version of Red Barchetta.

Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime.

HansGruber · Post by **HansGruber** » Tue May 03, 2005 12:43 pm

THC wrote:depends on what province you are in....I can tell you that in British Columbia the crop is..well, ....nice.

I'm told that's where NYC gets the good stuff. You can usually tell when it's from Brooklyn, anyway. So...Thank you.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Tue May 03, 2005 12:44 pm

HansGruber wrote:
Rabid Garfunkel wrote:Kinda surprised no one's called anything off Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Pictures at an Exhibition" yet. Oh hey, sidefight means instruMentals are cool. Sweet.
Especially if you're thinking about EL&P. Someone (I think) brought up 'Fanfare for the Common Man'.
I met Aaron Copeland on my 16th birthday. Kinda exciting. He was really old.

Not to brag...OK to brag...

I saw ELP with a live orchestra do both these ditties...1977?

I met Aaron Copeland on his birthday. Actually played in the orchestra in a concert for the occassion. 1980

HansGruber · Post by **HansGruber** » Tue May 03, 2005 12:54 pm

roymond wrote:I met Aaron Copeland on his birthday. Actually played in the orchestra in a concert for the occassion. 1980

Goddam, will you quit blowing my mind? ....can't ....take ....much ....more

<pop!>

jack · Post by **jack** » Tue May 03, 2005 2:28 pm

j$ wrote:I'd certainly be up for helping someone out on a prog cover - I would call Queen Pomp-rock not prog-rock and Fat Bottomed Girls is clearly clearly not a prog song.

If you want me on yr song, then let me know. Otherwise I will be bringing Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick, replete with MIDI flute patch.

j$

if it was called fat bottomed boys, you'd have no problem with it.

yeah, there's alot of Queen that is more prog than FBG, but it's not progsongcoverfight, it's progartistcoverfight.

and fat bottomed girls has my tatoo all over it.

Justincombustion · Post by **Justincombustion** » Tue May 03, 2005 3:06 pm

It'd be really cool to "b-side" it with a cover of Bicycle Race!!

HansGruber · Post by **HansGruber** » Tue May 03, 2005 3:53 pm

jack wrote:it's not progsongcoverfight, it's progartistcoverfight.

I like. Good clarification.

justin wrote:It'd be really cool to "b-side" it with a cover of Bicycle Race!!

I was thinkin' the same - in fact, "bicycle, bicycle" popped into my head when Jack mentioned FBG. Maybe the two of you could issue a 45.

Bolio · Post by **Bolio** » Wed May 04, 2005 9:34 am

What a great idea this was. One of my very favorite eras. Today I start the gruelling task of covering an <ouch> Yes song. Ambitious. Gimme couple months. 8)

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Wed May 04, 2005 10:15 am

Yes!
I was thinking some more about this and realized that any prog I try to write will really just be metal and I'm just not that familiar with prog rock to really cover anything...I guess I'm out. I'm going to use my "prog/speed metal" idea in an upcoming songfight but it'll probably end up more like "heavy emo". We'll see. I've learned a bit of Rush and Yes because I really love the musicianship. I've always thought that the Mahavishnu Orchestra was prog at its finest, but maybe I'm wrong. I love John McLaughlin's guitar work.

HansGruber · Post by **HansGruber** » Wed May 04, 2005 10:21 am

Bolio wrote:What a great idea this was. One of my very favorite eras. Today I start the gruelling task of covering an <ouch> Yes song. Ambitious. Gimme couple months. 8)

Which one?

Bolio · Post by **Bolio** » Wed May 04, 2005 11:12 am

Long Distance Runaround. Don't really like 'The Fish' all that much, maybe segue into 'Your Move' or something like that.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Wed May 04, 2005 11:42 am

by the way, i'd like to do something for this. dunno if i will be able to. i don't actually have 'chops.' probably something pink floyd, 'cause they're awesome.
-bill

HansGruber · Post by **HansGruber** » Wed May 04, 2005 11:50 am

HeuristicsInc wrote:by the way, i'd like to do something for this. dunno if i will be able to. i don't actually have 'chops.' probably something pink floyd, 'cause they're awesome.
-bill

I don't either, but we've a few months to program away. I'm trying to figure out how to quantize 5/7 time...

Bolio wrote:Long Distance Runaround. Don't really like 'The Fish' all that much, maybe segue into 'Your Move' or something like that.

Oh man, good choice. Stylistically dead-center. You will be penalized heavily, however, for not sequing into The Fish.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:32 pm

boltoph wrote:I've always thought that the Mahavishnu Orchestra was prog at its finest, but maybe I'm wrong. I love John McLaughlin's guitar work.

Fusion, that. With Return to Forever, etc. Awesome, too.

A general question - is it the intent to cover these artists or to emulate them? I ask because, as you may know, my covers rarely resemble the source. And so I'd like to stress to anyone fretting their lack of "chops" to pull off a Yes (or them or them or them) cover...doesn't matter! I frankly don't want to hear how close people can get to the synth solo in Lucky Man or the guitar solos in The Gates of Delirium. But I'd love to hear Heart of the Sunrise on uke and thumb piano

Mostess · Post by **Mostess** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:35 pm

jack wrote:a good cover of "peaches en regalia"

"Peaches" is its own cover. No more can be done.

jack · Post by **jack** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:43 pm

Mostess wrote:
jack wrote:a good cover of "peaches en regalia"
"Peaches" is its own cover. No more can be done.

so true. however, i saw phish bust out a version of this live and it was nearly note for note perfect. i flipped when i heard it. talk about ambitious.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Wed May 04, 2005 1:17 pm

i would say - cover the song, not try to emulate the artist. who wants to emulate artists?

i have a vague idea i may have downloaded one of those phish peaches somewhere around here. hmmm... can't find it.
-bill

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Wed May 04, 2005 1:32 pm

jack wrote:a good cover of "peaches en regalia"

The first time I saw Zappa, he played that cover of "Stairway to Heaven" (I think it's on the B'way the Hard Way disc) as an encore. Blew me away with all those horns doing the guitar solo! Genius

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Wed May 04, 2005 1:49 pm

There is value in either approach. That Zappa cover of Zep... fucking awesome. What I respect about it the MOST is how they bust into Zep's version after the solo... you know what I'm talking about. They show they can do EITHER thing... intrepretations are fun... who can forget Dread Zeppelin?

What isn't cool is when people trash talk those that pull off a note for note rendition. That's just sour grapes.

I think it'd be cool to hear either concept... or <gasp> BOTH in a cover.

From a stylistic perspective... Neil Peart's drum parts are COMPOSITIONS. They were always the same. So I'm gonna honour that. As far as the otherparts go... I'm not so keen on singing like Geddy... so ....