One song (More) sounds like Muse, to my ears. What are the others you're referring to?
How is it a waste of talent exactly? Because you don't care for the style of music? Because they're not doing "the prog"? I'm sorry you don't like it, but man, c'mon -- it's far from "awful" or a "waste of talent".
I listened to the whole thing at work today, and overall I enjoyed it. Aside from "Love Letter" (which I really like), I prefer the non-single tracks to the ones that were released in advance. "Geronimo" is a cool tune.
Bottom line: I'm glad to have it, and think it's probably as good as Second Nature, and definitely better than their first album (although I still love "Blue Ocean"). They're not really a prog-rock group, if you ask me. I think that their being marketed as a "prog supergroup" isn't really doing them any favors due to the expectations it might be setting for some folks.
Steve, Dave, Neal and Mike are incredible musicians. Compared to what they are capable of... The Dregs, Transatlantic, Spock's Beard, Dream Theater, this music is a total waste of their talents and my time. Glad you like it. I don't care if it's prog, I just don't like it or the style of music. The way Casey sings (his delivery and timber) sounds like Muse's singer to me, on every song. "Love Letter" is a complete rip off of Jellyfish/Beach Boy style and it's awful. I love Jellyfish so I enjoy other genres than just prog. Love jazz too and "Geronimo" is their jazzy tune and it falls flat for me. The only song that is halfway decent, for me, is "Last Train Home". Complete with that Neal influenced chord progression that we've heard so many times before.
You haven't mentioned what you think of the album. Is it your favorite of theirs, best release of the year? Why are you picking on me? There are so many stellar releases this year that I will listen to over this. I tried, it's awful for me. Not my thing. Why does it bother you so much that someone has a different opinion than yours?
No, it's nothing like The Dixie Dregs or Transatlantic -- that's exactly the point. This is an outlet for them to do things that are different from those groups. That does not make it a waste of their talents, IMO.
"Love Letter" is clearly an homage to The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Jellyfish. I wouldn't call it a "rip off", unless I was just wanting to disparage it.
See my previous post.
Picking on you? I asked you what songs you thought sounded like they were copying Muse on, and how it was a "waste of talent" as you described it. I don't care if you have a different opinion from me -- plenty of people in this thread have said they don't care for this particular group. Your extreme stance is why I asked you to elaborate.
Ultimately, it sounds like this band might not be for you. And life is too short to listen to music we don't like.
Last edited by aith01; 10-04-2019 at 12:21 PM.
So many new releases lately, I've got a stack of new CDs sitting here from Opeth, The Agonist, IQ, Anthony Phillips, the Stormwatch boxed set, Eloy, Tarja... but I'm still finding myself going back to this one on a steady basis. I'll admit to skipping You Are Not Alone which doesn't do much for me, but overall this is a winner in my books!
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
For whomever is interested, Third Degree is available in Hi-Res from HDTracks.
Not everything I listen has to be "sophisticated." Sometimes I wish to simply relax, and not have my brain try to analyze and study what's playing. In those moments, I'll listen to Heart, Deep Purple, Yanni, Boston, Nicks/Buckingham era Fleetwood Mac, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
First spin after picking this up at Newbury yesterday ($12.88) very positive. Wife feels similarly. Looking forward to Monday night's show in NYC!
Showed up in the mail a few days ago. Love the vocalist and he shines again on this one. Not ready to call it their best one yet but there's not a weak track on it and it's only growing on me with repeated listens.
I'm hoping they do a lot of this live.
Haven't checked out the bonus disc yet.
Very enjoyable.
Glad to see others enjoying this one! Apart from DocProgger up there, or whatever he's calling himself.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
To be fair, many people think of Jellyfish-as much as I love them-to be a tribute/rip-off/pastiche of Queen, Supertramp, etc. Funny to hear people calling out someone for taking from Jellyfish who so clearly took from others too!
A friend sent me the deluxe version with a bonus CD (haven't listened yet), a couple of drink coasters, and a photo/lyrics book. I like it. Funny thing - half way through the second song ("More") my 17 YO daughter says "sounds like Muse". "Guardian" didn't really do it for me, but it has a nice bass solo. I kinda cut them some slack when I first heard "Love Letter", but on second listen, I really don't like it at all. Similar to a lesser degree with "You Are Not Alone", which is saved somewhat by Steve's beautiful guitar work. Overall, a pretty strong album with a couple tracks that I'll skip. Also wanted to mention that there are some keyboard parts that sound very much like they were composed for violin. I would assume this is Steve's work. And not to go on a tangent, but he is SO great. I don't know why I so often forget about him in conversations about favorite guitar players.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
If you want some thoughts from bassist Dave LaRue on Flying Colors, as well as many other facets of his career, here's a brand new interview:
https://www.sonicperspectives.com/fe...th-dave-larue/
I wasn't very excited after the samples, but I ordered it anyways and I'm glad I did. There are some great songs and even the videos above sound better within the normal flow of the album. Probably won't ever be my favorite FC album and probably won't make my top 10 for the year, but it slots in nicely with "Music That I Like".
Fantastic show in NYC last Monday despite the band seeming a bit underreherased (first gig in a month; reminded me of Transatlantic's '00 Nearfest gig). Dug Randy McStine's opening set, as did the crowd!
Third Degree finally came up in my listening queue. Nobody will mistake it for Bartok or Shostakovich, but damn! It jams!!
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
Bookmarks