I heard Klaatu, California Jam on the drive home from work on Deep Tracks. I don't think I've ever heard that on the radio...ever. And we have Canadian content rules here so Klaatu gets played on classic rock stations more than you would think.
I heard Klaatu, California Jam on the drive home from work on Deep Tracks. I don't think I've ever heard that on the radio...ever. And we have Canadian content rules here so Klaatu gets played on classic rock stations more than you would think.
When I see a thread title like this I am thinking(and hoping)that there is some kind of new prog channel added or something then I click on it and start to read the thread and am disappointed.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Is the music mentioned here on a specific show, or on at a specific time. The next time I have a rental with Sirius XM at the right time, I'll check it out. However, Deep Tracks to me has been Deep Shit most of the time. For Headphones Only, the show, was great even though the data compression was bad.
For headphones only was actually a radio show back in the eighties on WMMR in Philadelphia. This newer version is based on the older version. It's basically a prog rock show without actually calling it a prog show. There was another interesting show on XM Serious called the Blacklight Room which played psychedelic stuff. I'm not sure if that is still on though.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
For Headphones Only and The Blacklight Room both went away around the time Jim Ladd joined Deep Tracks.
I'm not sure that was a good trade off.
I didn't read through the entire Thread because once I read your post it triggered a really strong reaction: XM used to be so much better. When I started listening in 2003 they were just going commercial free on most of their "stations" and they had some fabbo stations. They had "The Music Lab" which was ALL PROGRESSIVE music. And I was turned onto lots of great stuff I had never had a chance to run down. It was great...they'd play Supper's Ready and other 20+ minute progressive epics by all sorts of bands. They went deep and played many of the more rare old and new progressive rock, art rock, etc.
And they had "Beyond Jazz" which was all jazz-rock fusion and related genres (that were not trad or "smooth jazz"). They had a number of other great stations as well. And then in 2005 or so they killed them all so that there could be more of all the same, basic rock, country stations and the silly, one-artist (Springsteen, Floyd, Jimmy Buffet, Sinatra) stations.
They never explained why they were killed off. They mumble about Deep Tracks playing more progressive music than they used to play and that the Trad jazz station does a fusion hour or two every week. Too little. I dropped my car subscription but still monitor their heavily-playlisted stations in my wife's car and at work. They could be so wonderful but they opt for mediocrity and repetition.
Phew...i feel better now...
Last edited by Gizmotron; 12-23-2014 at 01:20 PM. Reason: clarity
Anyone else notice Deep Tracks using a clip from Spock's Beard's "Chautauqua" (a Neal Morse solo acoustic instrumental piece) as a music bed during a channel promo? I heard it and was floored. I've heard Gentle Giant, Nektar and Flash on the channel myself. It's always a pleasant surprise when these (relatively) obscure prog bands pop up.
My brother had an XM radio in his car in the early 2000s, so I remember that channel. I was super stoked to find an entire channel dedicated to my favorite genre. Unfortunately, things change. I guess it wasn't very popular. With the resurgence of prog in recent years, they should give it another try. I would certainly rather have it than something like the Pearl Jam channel.
Yesterday they played these three in a row:
John Entwistle - Made in Japan
Genesis - Another Record
David Bowie - Velvet Goldmine
A pretty interesting trio of songs. Another Record just for its randomness.
I don't get it, at all
As fellow music lovers, don't you boys and girls have ridiculous libraries and an I-pod?
I don't see the value in letting someone else program my soundtrack
Perhaps more importantly, if you have any kind of system in your ride the sound quality is a major fail - the fall off in quality between their stream and high bit rate MP-3 is fatal
That said, I'm a subscriber, my bride likes it : )
BG
"When Yes appeared on stage, it was like, the gods appearing from the heavens, deigning to play in front of the people."
We spend a lot of time listening to the 40s channel and the Sinatra channel - both are pretty good. Also, my son is getting an education in classic rock from listening to Deep Tracks, Vintage Vinyl (or whatever it's called), and whatever the other classic station is next to that.
I do admit I spend too much time switching away from (what I consider) redneck stuff and Springsteen. I usually put it on when with the family or when a CD or album on my phone ends and I'm too busy driving to do anything else.
I like the variety that satellite gives me. In addition to prog, I enjoy all kinds of different genres. I listen to XMU and Alt-Nation a lot and have discovered some good bands from Satellite that I might not have heard otherwise. My iPod is full of music that I already know. I use the radio to find new music to listen to.
I had XM back then, and when it was announced that Music Lab was going away, I wrote to Lee Abrams, who at the time was an exec at XM, and he replied that it was essentially a business decision. The one thing I remember most clearly from his reply is that he said some local traffic channels on XM had a bigger audience than Music Lab and some other channels that got the ax around the same time.
I canceled my subscription when Music Lab went away.
Lee Abrams was the brains behind AOR FM radio back in the 70s. XM dropped Music Lab but still had Fine Tuning which was the greatest music radio station I've ever heard for eclectic music. In addition Deep Tracks started out good, and Top Tracks played a lot of the more popular songs from 70s prog acts. Truth is that XM blew a big wad on Oprah Winfrey trying to one up Sirius and Stern.
Damn Deep Tracks was playing some atrocious Yes song this morning. Forget the title - thought it might be from OYE as I've still never heard that. But none of the OYE titles seem right. Anyone catch this?
I have heard All The Seats Were Occupied from Aphrodite's Child-666 at least 3 times in the last couple of months on Deep Tracks, including some Irene Papas vocals.
About two weeks ago I heard Gentle Giant's Three Friends (track) on Deep Tracks! Bravo! I've certainly never heard any G.G. on any radio station in the U.S. ever in my life. Last year I heard an abridged version of Tarkus.
Deep Tracks = Deep Sh!t
I never got to hear Music Lab. The only reason I get Sirius is because I went back to Dish. Listening to Deep Tracks to hear prog is like playing the same slot machine for days trying to win a jackpot.
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