Vocal Harmonies in Prog

[Progbear]

[happytheman]

Which originally is on 'Blomljud', which is a great place if you want a studio album.

Thanks just ordered it..

[Guess Who]

Moon Safari

I've to recommend another Swedish outfit, Dynamo Bliss. Being a three-piece act, vocally they are equal good as Moon Safari (if not better).


http://dynamobliss.com/album/21st-century-junk

[Guess Who]

Another suggestion, 10 cc. Strange enough, nobody mentioned them yet.

[bob_32_116]

^^^ The only 10cc song where I really notice the harmonies is "I'm Not In Love" - and I think that's mainly overdubbing rather than real time harmonising (not that there's anything wrong with that).

[progeezer]

I've to recommend another Swedish outfit, Dynamo Bliss. Being a three-piece act, vocally they are equal good as Moon Safari (if not better).


http://dynamobliss.com/album/21st-century-junk

I love Dynamo Bliss. I even love their equivalent of XTC's Dukes of Stratosphear, State Cows (2 albums with great Becker-Fagen influenced pop-jazz tunes).

But equally as good or better than Moon Safari?? They're very good, but not that good. I also think that Norway's Magic Pie has vocal harmonies that rival Dynamo's.

IMO

[Guess Who]

I love Dynamo Bliss... But equally as good or better than Moon Safari?? They're very good, but not that good. I also think that Norway's Magic Pie has vocal harmonies that rival Dynamo's.

IMO

To each his own.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I don't think that's how they did it, though. Reason being, I saw them live just before they broke up, and they had considerable trouble reproducing the Namesake Caution material on stage. Which is hardly a surprise.

I know; how COULD they have reproduced it? The very wonder of Namesake Caution is its apparency of rawness (like you said), with full-on fake mistakes and everything - and in a genuinely *convincing* manner. Interestingly, there are snippets of "making of..." footage from sessions for both the Sarcast While and Namesake Caution albums, and you can easily see and hear how incredibly calculated everything is, even tiny percussion details, synth effects and flaws. I sometimes wonder if the sheer difficulty of the music's live execution was part of the reason why they decided to call it a day; working your ass off for a year rehearsing meticulous material each and every day and releasing it to sales of 1000 - although perhaps critically rewarding (they received much love in media such as the Village Voice and even NYT), it could never "pay off" in any other sense.

[interbellum]

I love the vocal harmonies on the albums from Altered State, like this one in "Step Into My Groove":



My only album from Moon Safari is "Lover's End" with this killer song: "Heartland":

[interbellum]

[bigbassdrum]

Peter Gabriel - Mercy Street

[progholio]

Don't take OUR word for it:

Yes, i see what you mean, very good stuff.
i was curious and listened to more of their stuff and came across this



I never thought i would come across a prog song that had the word "chinamen" in the lyrics. It's ok though, they seem to pull it off.

[Mascodagama]

Far cry from CSN&Y but I want to mention The Knells, which is progressive with classical polyphony from soprano, mezzo-soprano and alto voices:

https://theknells.bandcamp.com/releases

Very nice record. The guitarist / composer Andrew McKenna Lee is a bit of a genius, his records Solar/Electric and Gravity & Air are also really worthwhile. No vocals on those though.

[zombywoof]

Magma - ethereal. The Knells is another good one.

Side note, Scrotum Scissor, this is the second thread I've seen you mention Time of Orchids. Can you recommend something?

[Scrotum Scissor]

this is the second thread I've seen you mention Time of Orchids. Can you recommend something?

Well, I wrote hundreds of recensions on progressive rock releases (real and "fake" ones) in the period 1997-2011, and I don't think I was ever more pleased with the one I did on ToO's Namesake Caution in 2007. Here was a band, seemingly an "indie" act of sorts, creating extraordinarily quirky and innovative yet wholly listenable reinterpretations of various well known traditions, yet all through their own lens; Brian Wilson, Beefheart, King Crimson, Yes, Butthole Surfers, Shudder to Think, 5UU's or whoever. And their music completely juxtaposed attention to the logics of ordinary components and their functions with that of total dissonance (harmonically, rhythmically), the latter forming the main metric and with static flow reduced to secondary points of release in the patterns of dynamic, every voicing taking an orchestrated role in weblike structures of melody. I honestly never heard anything quite like them neither before nor since, I only know that I soon got to love the band and their entire output. Their material was sincerely powerful yet never exhibitionist, experimental but unpretentious, dreadfully intricate 'though still retaining a core of spontaneity - and both genuinely apocalyptic and humane at the same time. Namesake Caution remains one of my fave rock albums from the last 10-15 years. Sarcast While and Much Too Much Fun were both great as well, alas a little bit different.

[Progbear]

[MJBrady]

Valensia dutch artist.

and

[JKL2000]

The vocal harmonies on the new Hackett are a bit much for me.

[Scrotum Scissor]

[No Pride]

^^^ The only 10cc song where I really notice the harmonies is "I'm Not In Love" - and I think that's mainly overdubbing rather than real time harmonising (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I don't know if it's mellotron or a hundred vocal overdubs on that, but they did harmonize quite nicely live.

[Progbear]

How about prog with female vocal harmonies? I’m trying to think of an example other than the Northettes, and I’m drawing a blank.

[Dave (in MA)]

Somebody needs to combine Sardinian cantu a tenore singing with a prog instrumental band. That'd be something.
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...nores+sardegna

[progeezer]

How about prog with female vocal harmonies? I’m trying to think of an example other than the Northettes, and I’m drawing a blank.

Don't remember specifics, but I'm pretty sure that Heather Findlay & Anne Marie Helder did that when they were both in Mostly Autumn.

[SteveSly]

How about prog with female vocal harmonies? I’m trying to think of an example other than the Northettes, and I’m drawing a blank.

Some of the Ayreon albums have some great duel female harmonies.

[bob_32_116]

How about prog with female vocal harmonies? I’m trying to think of an example other than the Northettes, and I’m drawing a blank.

I think there's some on certain of the later Anathema albums.