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Prog Rock albums with impressive bass

#82
sanderic said:
In reply to the Greg Lake comments, his tone on "Welcome back my Friends" live triple album, the cut "Tarkus": absolute T-O-N-E. Love Kansas "Leftoverture" album, Rush from Geddy's Rickenbacker days, and, of course, (the king of it all) Chris Squire, on Yes Album, Fragile, Close To the Edge, Yessongs (INCREDIBLE), even "Going For the One" has some great bass lines. Honorable mention, a band called StarCastle, from the mid 70's. Hard to find, but some great, great, bass playing.
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+1000000000000000000000000000000000000
 
#83
handofseven said:
One of mine too. I grew up on Moving Pictures, Signals and Grace Under Pressure. I don't understand how anyone can say that Signals was no good.
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Signals was Rush taking what they'd learned up to Moving Pictures and synthesizing it into a newer sound. I think it puts some people off because it is Rush's first step away from hard rock and into more new-wave-oriented stuff.

The only Rush albums that I have trouble finding the enthusiasm to listen to are the first one and Hold Your Fire . . . the first one just doesn't have what appeals to me, and Hold Your Fire seemed like the band had left me behind and gone into this very mechanical realm with their music. I was delighted to hear them tear it all apart and practically start over again with Presto, and I'm a big fan of what I guess would be called "the fourth phase" of Rush's career in the 1990's -- the four albums Presto, Roll the Bones, Counterparts, and Test for Echo -- although again of those four I listen to T4E the least and Counterparts the most.

On the topic of "impressive" bass, Hemispheres would be my all-time pick for bad-ass crazy bass lines, but these days I listen less to pyrotechnics and 32nd notes, and more to tone and construction of the line. And really, a lot about tone. The sound a bass player makes is very important. Some of my favorite bass tracks were played by significantly less-renowned players. I REALLY like the bass sound on Pearl Jam's "of the girl." It is fat and intense. I also dig the bass tone of XTC's Skylarking.
 
#87
jimmyjames said:
nothing of his is all that complex, but Justin Chancellor of tool, as he progressed with the band, he came more and more out of his shell, and on the last album (10,00 days) every song is full of random fills and licks where each one is better than the last....

karnivool - their bassist uses 6 strings better than any given guitarist.

Tesseract - not only does he looks like Hugh Grant, but he is like a little beast in a pocket lol

and there is a local band here in Queens, NY called "consider the source" that has a BEAST of a bass player

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YouTube - ‪Consider The Source - Abdiel - Live at The Weekend Off 2 on 8-6-2010 in Warsaw, NY‬‏

mmmmm good stuff
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After seeing Tool and Karnivool in this post I knew the other suggestions would fall under my taste for music. "Beastly" couldn't have described the bass player from Consider the Source any more accurately. Thanks for introducing me to this band.
 
#89
lucas vigor said:
Doesn't have to be an argument at all. I used the terms "Mostly" and "In general" for all my statements. Because the characteristics of what I just describe are what rock critics would mostly, generally and usually define a traditional prog rock band to be. In my opinion, the band YES is basically the archetype and template I base my characterizations on.

People are saying "dream theatre" are a prog rock band. To my ears, they are a form of heavy metal, or a form of heavy metal fusion...similar to what artists like Mike Stern, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen or even John Scofied do.

People say "spock's beard", but when I listen to the clips, I hear "Jam band".

If prog rock means just anyone that plays something that sounds far off or different then mainstream rock, then that could mean a lot of things....including Primus, for example.
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Having cut my musical teeth (and thankfully having moved on) with the jam scene, Spock's Beard is definitely one of the clearest examples of modern prog, and very far from the jam scene. While some jam bands (Phish obviously comes to mind) have long composed songs (and some elements of prog), most of their long songs are from improvised jams, hence the name of the genre.

And band like Spock's Beard has super arranged compositions, leaving next to no room for improvisation. Also the conceptual elements, virtuosic instrumentalists and penchant for orchestration separate them from the jam scene.

That and their fans don't smell :hiding:
 
#92
BKBassDude said:
Having cut my musical teeth (and thankfully having moved on) with the jam scene, Spock's Beard is definitely one of the clearest examples of modern prog, and very far from the jam scene. While some jam bands (Phish obviously comes to mind) have long composed songs (and some elements of prog), most of their long songs are from improvised jams, hence the name of the genre.

And band like Spock's Beard has super arranged compositions, leaving next to no room for improvisation. Also the conceptual elements, virtuosic instrumentalists and penchant for orchestration separate them from the jam scene.

That and their fans don't smell :hiding:
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After going back and listening to some Spock's beard again, I may have confused them with another band (The clips fly so fast a furious around here)...


From what I can tell, they may be one of the only modern bands that really capture the sound and feel of original prog rock, with no jam bandiness or metal/math influences. It sounded to me like a really good early yes cover band.....so, I stand corrected.
 
#93
Genesis- The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Gentle Giant- Octopus
Rush- Moving Pictures & Permanent Waves
Yes- Fragile
Camel- Stationary Traveller (some tracks, like "Fingertips" have really really nice fretless playing)
Dream Theater- Images and Words
 
#95
In no particular order....

YES! Fragile and Close to the Edge standout. Chris Squire = Bass God

King Crimson - Red. Wetton is Ball$ to the wall on the Great Deceiver as well.

Gentle Giant! So much great groove by Ray Schulman - try Playing the Fool Live for a good sampling.

Pink Floyd - The Wall [DEL]Roger Waters[/DEL] David Gilmour lays down some inspired lines (hey you) :eyebrow:
 
#96
I agree with all of the mentions of Yes, Rush and early Genesis. For some of the newer prog stuff out there I will add Jonas Reingold - whether it be with the Flower Kings or his own outfit, Karmakanic.
 
#98
How did this thread exist for so long with no mention of Gentle Giant and Ray Shulman's work there? Thankfully someone finally did recently. lol

I'd recommend pretty much anything they did, but the two albums already mentioned, Octopus and the amazing Live - Playing The Fool, would be high on my list, along with the albums the Power And The Glory, and Free Hand. Must listening for anyone that loves Prog! :)
 

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