Defiantly true !Originally Posted by klothos
But not for punk (Circle Jerks, etc.) Not very marketable names could be a new thread.
A bit off-topic, here's a TV pilot that never made it. Could it have been the name ?
https://archive.org/details/bliptv-2...sMyTwoDicks954
I would like to say Kevin Gilbert (specifically Toy Matinee s/t, but Thud could qualify). However, I think if he would have lived, his output would have been increasingly behind the scenes as a producer ala Trevor Horn
"So it goes."
-Kurt Vonnegut
Two stick out in my mind off the top of my head and they are both by the same band:
Porcupine Tree- Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun. They got back a few albums later and even In Absentia wasn't as big as it could have been at the time but these two in particular are the bands' high point(in terms of over all quality imo)and are better than their most commercially successful albums(Deadwing and FOABP). This of course is just my opinion and as always ymmv.
Also, some of the early Genesis albums weren't as big as they should have been (at least in the US). Any of the PG era albums after their very first one but even "Trick" and "Wind" could have been bigger.
I will also mention the Bruford/Wetton era of King Crimson and the first several Gentle Giant albums particularly Octopus and Free Hand.
Several of the seventies US bands weren't as big as they could have been also. The band Easter Island comes to mind but there were several others.
Also, (and not strictly prog)I must mention "remote control" by the Tubes. One of my favorite albums and it is imo one of the most under-rated rock albums I know of.
I feel that way about "Holidays in Eden" and don't understand why it wasn't bigger. There are a few songs that could have been top forty singles imo. I don't even remember hearing any of those songs on the radio when it was new but I remember buying it anyway and liking it(even though it was admittedly rather poppy)when it was still rather new. I think sometimes a label or the music industry loses interest in a band after the lead singer leaves and I think that was sort of the case with Marillion(but also Genesis after PC left and Yes after Jon left after Tormato).
Holidays In Eden failed because the 'pop' songs didn't cross over to any great degree and the existing fans weren't happy about the change in direction...a worst case scenario! Having heard it again a few months back it struck me as very disjointed...not many bad songs per se (although I'm not keen on the title track) but it doesn't gel IMHO.
Brave and Afraid Of Sunlight sold reasonably in the UK, considering the changed musical climate of the mid 90s. I think this was probably Marillion at their creative peak.
I always thought so too. Evans had the looks, the voice. The songs were great. the debut was '72 right? I don't think they were behind the times... Maybe just too classy?
I remember "Split Part 2" getting a lot of FM airplay for a little while in summer '71, but it didn't seem to stick.
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
I never did get that album (It's the only album up to and including Brave that I don't have), but I do remember the singles. I remember actually seeing the No One Can video on VH-1, I think exactly once! Then I eventually got the Six Of One, Half A Dozen Of The Other video comp, and was horrified by how ridiculous Hogarth came off in most of those videos, like he was trying to be the next Simon LeBon or something. I can't even remember which songs were the other singles. Was Hooks In You and Dry Land on that one, or were those on Season's End? I honestly can't remember.
Where The Groupies Killed The Blues had some really strange songs. The first album having organ and Groupies added piano ...which the keyboardist was phenomenal! The Pink Mice is actually the entire Lucifer's Friend band minus John Lawton and his keyboard playing on that is very impressive. I forget his name....right?? Some people have an observation about the band outright mixing styles and influences and coming across ridiculous sounding....but I don't feel that way about "Where the Groupies Killed The Blues", "Mother", "Rose On The Vine" and "Prince Of Darkness" as those songs sound naturally unusual and certainly not forced . Their debut should have been a huge seller.
I only like the first two albums . I don't really listen to the band anymore, but every so often I return to the Groupies for its strangeness. Well, strange for the times . I had several albums on Billingsgate and on the inner sleeves the label would advertise Guru, Guru and yet Guru, Guru were supposedly never on that label. I liked to talk to Mani and ask him about that one day. That's a strange and ignorant set of circumstances.
In the Stadium Rock era ...Montrose released their first album and it's hilarious that it didn't hit the big time like Van Halen. That band missed their window for some reason. I recall seeing them on "In Concert" Don Kirshner.....which was good international exposure but then the next three albums were even less popular than the first.
Wow first time I've seen Fatima Mansions mentioned around here! I loved their album Viva Dead Ponies, but it was too arch to really hit in the mainstream.
Do you remember Microdisney too? They had some terrific songs and could have Ben more successful in a more welcoming world.
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There were some AOR albums in the mid-late 70s that were among the finest examples of the style, yet despite many AOR bands breaking through, these did not.
Starz -s/t, Violation
Angel -s/t, Helluva Band
Artful Dodger -s/t
City Boy -Dinner At The Ritz
Really surprised that Canadian act Moist -Silver didn't hit it big in the early 90s. Likewise another Canadian act, The Tea Party. I thought they were a lock, but never could break through.
Groupies on the surface is more of that heavily LZ-influenced hard rock of the first, but I get the feeling they were listening to Gentle Giant and some modern classical music as they started adding in some really sophisticated musical ideas; odd time-signatures and twelve-tone rows, that sort of thing. This is what I mean about being on a completely different musical level as Uriah Heep, whose music almost never strayed far from basic major/minor triad chords and songs in common time. I believe Peter Hesslein was the keyboardist’s name.
I think the Billingsgate innersleeves were advertising projected releases in addition to the ones they actually got round to releasing. They also mentioned Jane and Elias (presumably actually Grobschnitt under a more Anglo-friendly name), but these releases never surfaced, either. They only released six albums and one single before the plug was pulled, and they sold their shares to the Passport label (the Billingsgate logo appears on the first two LF albums Passport released, Groupies* and Banquet).I only like the first two albums . I don't really listen to the band anymore, but every so often I return to the Groupies for its strangeness. Well, strange for the times . I had several albums on Billingsgate and on the inner sleeves the label would advertise Guru, Guru and yet Guru, Guru were supposedly never on that label. I liked to talk to Mani and ask him about that one day. That's a strange and ignorant set of circumstances.
I am fond of Banquet, which is this sort of odd Gil Evans-y thing that seemed to come out of freaking nowhere, and Mind Exploding, the latter something of a return to the Groupies style, though not quite as dense and weird. “Warriors” off of Good Time Warrior is a classic, but apart from the nice ballad “My Love,” the rest of the album is dire (sometimes bordering on laughable, “Old Man Roller” sounds like a parody of bad 70s boogie rock).
*though it was their second album, Groupies was not released in the States until 1975.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Hooks in you is from Season's End and Dry Land was on Holiday's in Eden but was originally recorded by Steve Hogarth's previous band(I forgot the name but there was a thread on here about them recently).
Wow, outside the obvious Marillion, Montrose (or Gamma in the previous pages) and the ones in Moe's post, plenty of bands mentionned on this page whose's names I'm not even aware of... So AFAIAC, they never even close to being big (let alone being huge).
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Animal Logic.
Sophisticated, clever, well-written pop songs -- not quite to the level of Steely Dan, but that rhythm section of Stewart Copeland and Stanley Clarke was pretty special. And Deborah Holland's voice was just gorgeous.
If I recall, the lead-off track got some minor airplay, but that was about it.
For me this is H's weakest album. IMO he's struggling to find his voice - channeling Bono and Sting at different points, and only in the final suite actually singing like he would from then on.
I'm also not a great fan of the material as it came across in the studio, but having heard various Front Row Club versions, the songs certainly blossomed in a live setting.
Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?
Hoelderlin - Live Traumstadt
Grobschnitt - Solar Music
Both should have been huge.
And of course everthing ever done by Pekka Pohjola.
I would say it's probably the most dated of the H-era albums. I always felt 'Splintering Heart' and 'The Party' were the best songs on it. The 'This Town' suite is more hit and miss for me...I'm not so fond of the opening part which is again Marillion in unflattering 'rock' mode. However, I like the last two parts.
I do think they lost quite a few of their 80s fans with that one...a pity if they never got to hear the following two albums.
[Grobschnitt - Solar Music]
And what from that album would have been released as a single?Typically for an album to be huge there has to be a single or short song that can be played on the radio.
^^^ I agree about the single factor. But weren't Grobschnitt actually pretty big in Germany though?
If you thought he looked ridiculous there...
Starz at least had a top 40 hit with “Cherry, Baby.” I don’t remember which of their albums it was from.
...as did City Boy, with “5.7.0.5.” Which was from Book Early. DATR was City Boy at their most 10cc-esque.City Boy -Dinner At The Ritz
Nektar’s Remember the Future cracked the top 20 and went gold, all without a single. But it was a different time.[Grobschnitt - Solar Music]
And what from that album would have been released as a single?
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
At least Nektar had the advantage of singing in English. Not that it matters all that much to me.
Grobschnitt may very well have been big in Germany. I'm not sure. I know Eloy were.
Holidays In Eden was also released right in the face of the onset of the grunge Tsunami, which rightly or wrongly saw bands such as Marillion that had been peddling a very 80s form of arena rock for a number of years beforehand seem very outmoded. In one respect then, Marillion were somewhat the victims of shifting musical sands. One the other hand, that the band also elected (or were forced by EMI) to record a very poppy album, and thus alienate a significant part of their existing fanbase didn't help, but the problems were definitely compounded by the fact that the 'crossover' audience EMI were desperate for the band the attract didn't really exist. I actually really like this album, and it's very much grown on me over the years. At the time, though, Holidays in Eden definitely felt like the wrong album for the period in which it was released.
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