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Thread: FEATURED CD - Gerard : The Ruins Of A Glass Fortress

  1. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post

    But I totally agree with you about Pochakaite Malko, who are one of my favorite bands, particularly their debut.
    I think that they are a valid example of great 90s japanese prog.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post
    Yeah, I can totally see how one might feel this way. This stuff is not for everybody.

    Bill
    Honestly, I like some Ars Nova, especially Transi and half of The Book Of The Dead but I cannot get past the feel of passionless than the listening of their albums evokes to me. Count me among those that are more after Mr. Sirius, Mugen and early Ain Soph.
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  2. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    Count me among those that are more after Mr. Sirius, Mugen and early Ain Soph.
    Yes. As I've stated here rather tiringly, these (along with Kenso, Mongol, Naikaku, KBB and a few others) are possibly the finest "non-avant" or "non-psych" progressive nippon acts of the post-mid-80s. Mugen-offshoot Ie Rai Shan's sole album was arguably the best of all those 'femi-vox symph' groups of which there came an abundance from Japan ultimo 1985 onwards.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
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  3. #28
    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Ie Rai Shan's album is beautiful but Pageant's first one is probably the zenith of "Japanese-symph-with-killer-female-lead-vocals."

  4. #29
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    Honestly, I like some Ars Nova, especially Transi and half of The Book Of The Dead but I cannot get past the feel of passionless than the listening of their albums evokes to me.
    Well, as I say, it's a subjective thing. I'm not sure why you'd feel Transi was any less "passionless" than Fear & Anxiety, or Book of the Dead less passionless than Goddess of Darkness. But if that's how you hear it, then I really can't argue. Gerard and Ars Nova do what they do, and different listeners will react differently. I'd never hold either group up as a bellwether of top quality Prog Rock, and Ars Nova isn't among my top favorites by any means. But their stuff makes me smile, and I actually think at times they transcend the cheese and do something pretty original and worthwhile. Gerard less so, of what I've heard.

    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    Count me among those that are more after Mr. Sirius, Mugen and early Ain Soph.
    Mr. Sirius and Mugen never did much for me. I love Ain Soph's first album, but everything after that left me wanting.

    Bill

  5. #30
    Member mellotron storm's Avatar
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    One of the Ars Nova girls guests on Gerard's Sighs Of The Water.
    I love the review that was chosen here, especially the summary. I'm guessing he's not a big Neo fan.
    "The wind is slowly tearing her apart"
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  6. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    Count me among those that are more after Mr. Sirius, Mugen and early Ain Soph.
    More or less agreed, only I can’t really get into Mugen. Hypothetically, I should enjoy their brand of Renaissance/Enid-inspired refined sympho, but I just find it all too twee/precious/affected. And the singer’s “boy alto” voice is just unbearable, especially when coupled with those silly staccato vocal melodies they love for some unfathomable reason. And let’s not even get into that track on their debut where the keyboardist blatantly steals a half dozen Tony Banks riffs in quick succession! If I must indulge, I’d go for Léda et le cygne, but the long track with the clackety drum machine was a huge error in judgment!

    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post
    I love Ain Soph's first album, but everything after that left me wanting.
    A Story of Mysterious Forest is a classic. Marine Menagerie grew on me with time; it unfortunately begins in that prog-adjacent new-age territory that one too many bands of this era inhabited (think early Asturias or some of Kenso’s stuff on their third-fifth albums). But the later tracks blossom into something really nice if you can get past the sometimes woeful keyboard tones (another unfortunate product of the time).

    The only other album I have by them is Ride on a Camel, which is a tad superfluous as there is significant overlap with the above two tune-wise, only in rather poorly-recorded live versions. However, “Turkey’s March” and “Oddessa” [sic] make this worthwhile, as does the version of ASOMF’s title track. The latter does not supersede the studio version in quality, but the alternate arrangement is interesting, as is the inclusion of the Dada guys on extra synths.
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