echolyn - the 2nd-6th coming of Jesus himself??

[JAMOOL]

I realize that the hyperbole on PEv2 got a little out of hand with respect to these guys. But then I realized that a) PEv3 doesn't have a thread on them yet, somehow, and b) they are arguably one of the best prog groups of the last 20 years. Right now I'm getting heavily into Suffocating the Bloom; they seem to do all the little things right and as a result I find myself wanting to listen to them all the damn time. I'm thinking about getting into their solo stuff plus whatever happened between As the World and Cowboy Poems but I'm a little apprehensive. Those discs are hard to find to boot. Who else likes 'em?

[bill g]

I like 'em. 'Speaking in Lampblack' is just one of many great songs that shows the combination of prog and great songwriting. Also, love their production-the tone of guitars, the precise vocal harmonies, the little subtleties that add up.

[Nearfest2]

I love the Finneus Gauge stuff. They could use a serious remix/remaster (mostly due to the recording of the drums), but the music itself is great. It's a decent departure from Downtown Echolynville. The Always Almost et all stuff is more straight forward and rock oriented, but still cool. Brett's solo albums are very well liked and are singer-songwriter material. Ray's solo stuff is much darker in lyrical content.

I think you can get most of these, if not all of them, from the band's website, echolyn.com.

[proggrl]

echolyn? Yes please! Top notch talent, great song writing, harmonies to die for and real down-to-earth guys.

As Chad mentions the side projects and solo albums are worth the time as well. Always Almost may be more straight forward than echolyn, I wouldn't say it's overall 'straight forward'. Lots of really cool jazzy bits and proggy bits too. LOVE the GG cover they did.

[sonic]

Seriously overhyped retro prog IMO. Instrumentally they are very nice ... and then the vocals start. Those are some pretty dire vocals. I had to double check to see if it wasn't William Hung himself on vocals.

[proggrl]

:o We may not be listening to the same band. Ray, for being the gruff soul he is, has an angelic voice that can kick you square in the teeth. Brett's has a more soothing, laid back quality to it. The vocal quality is one of things I love about this band.

[ItalProgRules]

Seriously overhyped retro prog IMO. Instrumentally they are very nice ... and then the vocals start. Those are some pretty dire vocals. I had to double check to see if it wasn't William Hung himself on vocals.

That's pretty much my take as well.

[JAMOOL]

that's a weird take. the vocals maybe aren't the greatest thing about them but they do harmonize very well and they handle the more emotional passages very well. what songs in particular strike you as William Hung-like ?

[sonic]

that's a weird take. the vocals maybe aren't the greatest thing about them but they do harmonize very well and they handle the more emotional passages very well. what songs in particular strike you as William Hung-like ?

I put on Island and was digging it until the vocals hit a few minutes into the tune. It was like listening to a seriously out of tune Robert Plant wobbling all over the place.

[bill g]

echolyn? Yes please! Top notch talent, great song writing, harmonies to die for and real down-to-earth guys.

As Chad mentions the side projects and solo albums are worth the time as well. Always Almost may be more straight forward than echolyn, I wouldn't say it's overall 'straight forward'. Lots of really cool jazzy bits and proggy bits too. LOVE the GG cover they did.

I need to check this out.

Not familiar with William Hung, but I really like the way Brett and Ray harmonize. I suppose the vocals are stronger in the mellower tunes, such as disc 2 of their latest. Loved that disc throughout. If they sound like this William Hung person, perhaps I should check his stuff out?

[sonic]

If they sound like this William Hung person, perhaps I should check his stuff out?

Yeah, you'd love him.

OK. Maybe William Hung is a little harsh. But the tracks where they are reaching for it with high vocals sound seriously out of tune to me. The quieter tracks are OK.

[ItalProgRules]

Thread titles like this one, and the over-blown titles at PE V.1, do nothing to help their reputation as over-hyped.

[100423]

If they sound like this William Hung person, perhaps I should check his stuff out?

Uhh, nooooo....
Don't do it.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Seriously overhyped retro prog IMO. Instrumentally they are very nice ... and then the vocals start. Those are some pretty dire vocals. I had to double check to see if it wasn't William Hung himself on vocals.

I'm not so sure I'd call them "retro-prog" (check Areknames, Wobbler, La Torre dell' Alchimista, Odessa, Diagonal et al.), seeing how their basic aesthetic was always rather current. As with, say, Discipline or Somnambulist or Anekdoten or Deadwood Forest or Liquid Scarlet, they were very clearly alluding to given glories of yore, but the main attitude itself was contemporary.

FWIW, I quite like Echo. But I guess it's sort of telling that my fave of theirs is actually Cowboy Poems. And I'll take Weston's vox a million times over the bongiovian horrors of the Morse code. But for "very complex" stuff breaking away from the "song form" and such, I'll have to move outside of the "trad-prog" binge.

[ca1ore]

:o We may not be listening to the same band. Ray, for being the gruff soul he is, has an angelic voice that can kick you square in the teeth. Brett's has a more soothing, laid back quality to it. The vocal quality is one of things I love about this band.

I agree. Far better vocally than many of their contemporaries.

[JAMOOL]

Yeah I'd say both singers are good and they harmonize really well; the part in "Meaning and the Moment" that goes "Create a mood indeed, set the tone or make the moment" gives me chills every time.

[Digital_Man]

I love the Finneus Gauge stuff. They could use a serious remix/remaster (mostly due to the recording of the drums), but the music itself is great.

That's how I feel about the first two Echolyn albums. Both are great but it sounds like Paul was hitting the bottom of a bucket turned upside down with his drumsticks. So if they were to be remixed or remastered with a sharper drum sound that would be fine with me.

[Haruspex Carnage]

i don't quite get what all the hate is about in terms of vocals (as someone else mentioned guys like Neal Morse [and REALLY William Hung? if you even mention that guy it's enough to show you don't exactly get it] are the bane of my existence; the Backstreet Boy of "progressive" as i call him)...if anything i would say the hate people could throw their way is more in terms of their sentimentality here and there lyrically.

Whatever happened to the rest of the 7 series songs they promised to post up per month since October?

[Haruspex Carnage]

Spoke too soon lookit that! Two new ones up now!

[Boceephus]

Downloading now.

For me, echolyn hits all the right buttons & I really dig the vocals. Ray & Brett are among my favorite singers. Straight to the heart.

[gpeccary]

For me, echolyn hits all the right buttons & I really dig the vocals. Ray & Brett are among my favorite singers. Straight to the heart.[/QUOTE] Agree one hundred per cent. Some of the above comments are just so preposterous, so far off the mark and beyond reasonable I cant even take the authors seriously. As far as over hyped, the fans posting on echolyn threads, myself included, as far as I can see, have all just been about being really jazzed about the band. If you want overhyped go join a Yes thread.

[sonic]

Some of the above comments are just so preposterous, so far off the mark and beyond reasonable I cant even take the authors seriously.

Kind of like the title of this thread, wouldn't you say?
If people are going to dish out over-the-top hyperbol, they shouldn't be surprised if they get some back in return.

[JAMOOL]

If you think the thread title's inaccurate, it's because I'll be damned before I count Tom Hyatt

[gpeccary]

I am at a loss as to what that title is actually supposed to mean. But yeah, you've got a point unfortunately. Cheers!

[JAMOOL]

I was trying to one-up the echolyn threads on the last PE. lets just say the band has their supporters around here. which is a good thing! I can't think of any other message board (without the word 'prog' in the url) that's even heard of them!