Haven't seen much love for Mead Hall in Winter yet...I just love that one!
Haven't seen much love for Mead Hall in Winter yet...I just love that one!
Likewise!Originally Posted by progfan915
Was that a brand name?
Any news on Dave Gregory's band "The Fire Merchants"? I like 'em!
It was made by a company called Triang I think, the trains and rails were extra big!
Spawton said in a recent interview that it was the name of a train set he possessed as a kid and he suggested it as the name for his elder brother's new wave band. That band finished and then some years later it got used for the band we know and love today!
It has always sounded like a goofy kid name for a band to me.
Yep!
<sig out of order>
I love that song! You bet!
I've given the new album one spin in headphones. There is a lot to like on this release, but I do feel the one thing that really bothers me about it is the lack of any dynamic tempos. It seems like all the songs (with the exception of Alive) stay in second gear. Think of epic Genesis tracks like Driving the Last Spike or Domino...but only if the first sections were dragged out for the full length of the songs. BBT knocked everything else out of the ballpark (melodies, production, themes, etc)...but never kicking a song into overdrive (especially the epics) keeps this from attaining bona fide classic status. --Peter
I downloaded the Swan Hunter EP from Bandcamp and have ordered The Grand Tour cd
As I get older, I find it more important than ever to evaluate things by what they are, not by what they aren't. Because tastes calcify if you let them, and pretty soon, if you're not careful, you only like things that are just the same as what you already like.
This is the well-known phenomenon that fuels most popular culture, of course, but it can happen to us, too.
Nice comment.
I tend to speak to soon sometimes. I now absolute adore 'Roman Stone'. Among my very favorite BBT songs. Just beautiful.
Last edited by bill g; 06-17-2019 at 02:23 PM.
Are you sure you don't mean London Plane or Roman Stone?
As a 2 minute acoustic guitar instrumental, I find it hard to believe London Stone could be singled out as one of the best BBT tunes...
Not just a Genesis fanboy.
Aargh, my bad. 'Roman Stone'. I will edit my foolishness.
I'll take the title track to London Stone over either one of them.
Finally had my first spin of the new album, cased in it's beautiful hard booklet (similar to the Merchants of Light set I picked up from Ken in the same order)… a wonderful first outing. I know these guys are "trying to make hay while the sun shines" in terms of their rather prolific output...but thus far they haven't gone wrong by me!
Two years since their previous studio release seems like a rather studied pace to me, especially for a band with a very limited live performance schedule.
I've been really getting into it over the last few days too. Voyager is my fave, have always been fascinated by the space probes so its right up my street. I love all the subject matter, the historical characters who have left a huge legacy to the world, Theodora and The Florentine are wonderful too. Of the epics I think Roman Stone is the least interesting musically, while Ariel is growing on me although I know nothing of Shakespeare so the lyrics have me baffled. I tend to skip Alive, it was bugging me as to what it sounded like, then I realised: Subdivisions by Rush crossed with The Old Man & The Angel by It Bites - anyone else spot the similarities? All in all though this is a great album, yes they do sound a little too like Genesis at times but they have their own thing going too.
The first two times I heard it I thought it was going to be one of my favorite songs of theirs. But it rapidly got worse each listen after that. I can't say I dislike the song now, but I have zero desire to ever turn it on, and I usually skip it when it comes up when I'm listening to random music.
I've listened to the album again from start to finish a few times over the last week during some long drives. Most my thoughts still hold. I've grown to love The Florentine musically though. I've been listening to it a lot despite the lyrics. I will likely never listen to Theodora on purpose again. Alive is so god awful that I could barely make it through each time; I've removed it from my downloads. Ariel is still good despite those few segments. I've grown to appreciate Voyager and Homesong a lot more too. Overall the songs feel like they have a similar formulaic structure that the band has apparently resorted to, and I wish they would maybe experiment a little more in the future. There has been a dearth of new good music this year, and this might be the most enjoyable so far.
Well, to me, there have been so many strong releases this year, that it is getting hard to keep up...Strata, Morglbl, Snarky Puppy, Beat Circus, The Mercury Tree, Ikarus, Panzarpappa, IZZ, Jordsjo, Kamencello, Dopapod, Thank You Scientist...I just can't keep up! Different strokes, as they say.
I continue to try with Big Big Train. I should like their music, as I love the lyrical content, and the pastoral feel of many of their songs. I think the obstacle for me, is that a lot of it sounds too...melancholic, for me to enjoy it. Not sure how else to put it. Glad for those that find it easy to get in to. They are obviously, very talented.
neil
OK now that the hype and the accolades have died down are there any other fanboys besides me ready to admit this album (and the last for that matter) are just "eh"? I've easily listened to it over 25 times and I often find myself in the middle of the record thinking "what's for dinner?"
It does lack some excitement at times. I think the only song with a real prog instrumental section is Voyager which is certainly the best track for me. I have just been enjoying it for the songs, lots of great melody and harmony.
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