Featured Album: Thinking Plague - In Extremis

[Polypet]

A classic (nowadays) that propelled my tastes in prog forward in pretty profound ways. I'm too lazy to bust out the CD but "Dead Silence" contains one of my favorite moments of music ever....its in the middle after a slight break in the music, you know which part if you know this tune.

Yeah, that's a nice surreal bit in the middle. Fiendishly fun to play. One has to put on one's contemporary classical cap for a moment and then quickly swipe it off again.

An aside: making sound changes during this tune while trying to hold it all together live was a challenge. But we did it. Oh, and Davey K played the entire set with chopsticks, hand to God. Trooper that he is, it helped the volume levels on the stage. But his hands were quite literally bloody afterwards

[MJ-Plagued]

yes, of course. But my remark is more specific. It's this guitar theme that first appears at around 4min of The Weird Wind, then dominates the scene from 5.45 for approximately one minute. This is a clear nod to Awaken in my opinion. Mike, Bob? Anyone?

Well, since you asked, not really. At least not consciously. True, I was a big Yes fan way back in the 70s, and I really liked that 11/8 section in Awaken with that cool guitar figure (and that great 12 string guitar solo!). But no, I wasn't thinking about that song, or Yes at all, when I wrote it. The alleged "Yessiness" of This Weird Wind only became apparent to me (sort of) after the song was finished. I think it's mainly Bob's vocals that have evoked the idea, largely because of the vocal range since I don't really think Bob sounds much like Jon Anderson. And of course the finger picked acoustic guitar part in he "verses" that might evoke for some the B section of Starship Trooper.

All that said, I can't deny that all that stuff lives in my head along with a lot of other 70s prog stuff, and no doubt it at times osmoses into my own musical ideas.

[MJ-Plagued]

My first, bought when they performed at Progday inside the Cat's Cradle (this was the first time the festival was chased indoors due to the weather). Their show in that dark room was utterly transcendent and still one of the most beautiful, memorable and haunting live sets I've seen at any Progday.

That was indeed a pretty special show. It was only the second live performance by that particular line-up. And I must confess..."mistakes were made." But no matter, the energy in that room, especially once we scared out all the "uninitiated" (har), was really wonderful. A whole big room full of Plague-heads who'd never seen us before - and a hurricane bucketing rain outside! Playing out at the farm wouldn't have been nearly as good.

While I do certainly like the album, it isn't my go-to album from them (that's a tie between Early Plague Years and History of Madness); however, it is forever tied to that amazing, wonderful show.

That's great. Glad we could do that for you. Funnily enough, I think the LAST 2 Plague albums are the best.... Oh well, all in good time...

[Joe F.]

My first, bought when they performed at Progday inside the Cat's Cradle (this was the first time the festival was chased indoors due to the weather). Their show in that dark room was utterly transcendent and still one of the most beautiful, memorable and haunting live sets I've seen at any Progday.

While I do certainly like the album, it isn't my go-to album from them (that's a tie between Early Plague Years and History of Madness); however, it is forever tied to that amazing, wonderful show.

That was my first time seeing them too. What a great show!

[NogbadTheBad]

One of the first TP album's I bought when I really first dived into the whole avant end of the pool. Terrific stuff that still resonates a lot. Personally I like the more recent albums more but they are all great. Very happy to have seen them twice, Cuneifest and then at RIO when they essentially opened for Magma, what a 1-2 punch that was. Les Etudes d'Organism is monstrously good.

[aith01]

Got this album somewhat recently as one of the Cuneiform weekend sales on Bandcamp, since I was late to the Plague train. I haven't listened to it enough yet to really contribute anything to the discussion, and I really need to rectify that. It's one of three Thinking Plague records I've got so far (the other two being Decline and Fall, and Hoping Against Hope). I agree with the comments about TP being able to actually rock without getting too "squonky". Sometimes avant-rock groups seem to forget the "rock" part. But these guys bring it.

[Bob Drake]

My knock on In Extremis is that I don't think the tracks are arranged that well. It's like Deborah Perry drops off the earth in the middle of the album. I wish she had something to do in This Weird Wind and Les Etudes d'Organism, or that they'd broken these songs apart.

Bill

This story has been told before, but Weird Wind started out as an attempt to be a completely new band, with Mike, me, Dave Kerman and Sanjay Kumar, but with Mike in Denver, and the rest of us at that time scattered about the LA area between Burbank to Torrance, it wasn't exactly a feasible project and Weird Wind was the only thing we ever did. Years later Mike included it on the TP album. "Etude for Organism" was always instrumental, it was an arrangement we came up with to include in our show at the Boulder Theatre in the early 90's. The recording is a fancy production of that live arrangement. Anyway that explains one reason Deborah wasn't on those two.

BD
www.bdrak.com

[Bob Drake]

Well, since you asked, not really. At least not consciously. True, I was a big Yes fan way back in the 70s, and I really liked that 11/8 section in Awaken with that cool guitar figure (and that great 12 string guitar solo!). But no, I wasn't thinking about that song, or Yes at all, when I wrote it. The alleged "Yessiness" of This Weird Wind only became apparent to me (sort of) after the song was finished.

It's funny because I actually never noticed the "Awaken-ey" resemblance in that guitar riff until years later when Kerman pointed it out to me! My vocals added to the "Yessiness" too, I was still wondering what my own voice was back in those days, hadn't got there yet! Oh ok the bass too, but I always play like that

[Scrotum Scissor]

There's as much GGiant and Yes as there's Cow and the Bears in here, so this isn't merely an ace example of "avant-prog" but arguably the single finest example of actually contemporary modern progressive rock period that I heard during the 90s.

On release I already knew a couple of their earlier records (Moonsongs and In This Life), and I also knew the extended family of fabulous acts (5UU's, U Totem), yet In Extremis was the one title which truly offered prospects for the future of my fave kind of rock music in general. To me, In Extremis represented everything those other pushers of pseudo-prog straightness couldn't even begin to hope at touching; here was genuine force and playfulness, intricacy beyond hitherto, artistic self-awareness (including self-irony) and a complete commitment to transcendence. And the performance was just one side of it; the main focus was another level of composition and creation altogether.

This was the "natural" temporal evolution of original progressive rock music, featuring all of its initial assets yet adding in abundance. A landmark.

The fact that Richard hasn't posted yet makes me fear for his life.

Thx for the concern, man, but fortunately I already died and was reborn into the same precious asshole I always was.

[Zappathustra]

Really grateful for the responses Mike and Bob

There's as much GGiant and Yes as there's Cow and the Bears in here, so this isn't merely an ace example of "avant-prog" but arguably the single finest example of actually contemporary modern progressive rock period that I heard during the 90s....and the performance was just one side of it; the main focus was another level of composition and creation altogether. This was the "natural" temporal evolution of original progressive rock music, featuring all of its initial assets yet adding in abundance. A landmark.

So you see my concern comes with a lot of self-interest, because you keep putting to words what wonders as unexpressed thought in my head. Yes, this is not just another "avant/prog" album, but a work that gathers once more the whole spectrum of progressive rock music and re-invents the genre in many ways. And the stunning thing is that it comes so late into the picture, almost made it into the new millennium, when one would expect that the game was already over, that there is simply not the space for such originality of writing.

A daring, beautiful, and - most significantly - relevant musical endeavor. Well, relevant, to whomever has ears to listen.

[battema]

That was indeed a pretty special show. It was only the second live performance by that particular line-up. And I must confess..."mistakes were made." But no matter, the energy in that room, especially once we scared out all the "uninitiated" (har), was really wonderful. A whole big room full of Plague-heads who'd never seen us before - and a hurricane bucketing rain outside! Playing out at the farm wouldn't have been nearly as good.



That's great. Glad we could do that for you. Funnily enough, I think the LAST 2 Plague albums are the best.... Oh well, all in good time...

Yeah...of all the bands "chased indoors" that year at Progday I thought yours maximized the alternate setting best. It was one of those moments where a band went from "I wonder what they're like" to "these folks are forever on my radar" in record time.

And I love all the TP albums including the last two...it's a bit like picking the favorite child

Thanks for responding!

[Yehuda Kotton]

One of the all-time great albums and easily in the Thinking Plague top 5!

It always sounded disjointed, but that's not really a bad thing. Mike's explanation in this thread makes sense of it.

Yeah, I always couldn't not hear Awaken. Not really a bad thing either.
This album is sort of a transition between the earlier experimental albums ("experimental" as in searching for their voice) and the later albums that are clearly Mike Johnson's voice. All excellent.

Always sounded to me like an Americanized British band, Not a bad thing.
Waiting anxiously for Mike Johnson's next phase. What's on the plate?

All in all, they don't suck.

[undergroundrailroad]

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 forever for the exquisite, powerful and dangerous In Extremis. This album bundles up everything I love about music into a neat package with a bow on top.

[MJ-Plagued]

There's as much GGiant and Yes as there's Cow and the Bears in here, so this isn't merely an ace example of "avant-prog" but arguably the single finest example of actually contemporary modern progressive rock period that I heard during the 90s.

On release I already knew a couple of their earlier records (Moonsongs and In This Life), and I also knew the extended family of fabulous acts (5UU's, U Totem), yet In Extremis was the one title which truly offered prospects for the future of my fave kind of rock music in general. To me, In Extremis represented everything those other pushers of pseudo-prog straightness couldn't even begin to hope at touching; here was genuine force and playfulness, intricacy beyond hitherto, artistic self-awareness (including self-irony) and a complete commitment to transcendence. And the performance was just one side of it; the main focus was another level of composition and creation altogether.

This was the "natural" temporal evolution of original progressive rock music, featuring all of its initial assets yet adding in abundance. A landmark.

As I think I may have said before, Rikard, you should be the TP publicist - a truly thankless and "unremuniterative" job, but you could do it like no one else (you've already been doing it for years , and I thank you!).

[MJ-Plagued]

Waiting anxiously for Mike Johnson's next phase. What's on the plate?

Gee, I wonder....

All in all, they don't suck.

Heheh, thanks brother.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I thank you!

Well, y'know; fanboy comes runnin' along for other than the fun of it.


Of course, I don't listen to (or follow) music even half as much as I used to, but I still feel like praising the times of my life when it was all-engulfing.

[Bob Drake]

Waiting anxiously for Mike Johnson's next phase.

It might actually be a flange, or maybe frequency shift, but I am also extremely curious to hear what he does next. We were talking about music a while back and he mentioned a MJ project he was thinking about, I hope he does it! Or is doing it, even!

BD
www.bdrak.com

[Kcrimso]

This might be good opportunity to promote the Mike Johnson interview that Saku Mantere did for my progressive music site about year ago: https://pienemmatpurot.com/2018/12/1...of-rock-music/

I think it is a pretty nice interview

[Progatron]

The first of theirs I heard, way back when. I couldn't tell if I liked it, but I was intrigued and later fascinated by it. Now, I love it, but I think the followup A History Of Madness was even better.

[MJ-Plagued]

It might actually be a flange, or maybe frequency shift, but I am also extremely curious to hear what he does next. We were talking about music a while back and he mentioned a MJ project he was thinking about, I hope he does it! Or is doing it, even!

BD
www.bdrak.com

I am working on it (and other things). And of course, it's slow going - I get hyper-perfectionistic in the writing phase. In this case, as I think I told you, Bob, I'm looking to incorporate a real "orchestra" (or at least one or two players of strings, winds, brass, etc., that can be overdubbed however many times - all of which will depend on money and availability of capable willing players). Having had limited experience writing for orchestra, I've had to up my game, as it were, in the Finale software (and look into other new softwares), and to learn a lot more about scoring and orchestration. Meanwhile, I finally broke down and acquired Kontakt with a large library of sounds, which I will incorporate for samples, synths and weirdness. I plan to play all guitars, bass, and keys (playing or programming).
So, will it be "Thinking Plague?" Hmmmm...

[battema]

Honestly...you can call it "Eclipse of the Final Dill Pickle Brigade" and I'm going to be down for a copy regardless

[Steve F.]

"Eclipse of the Final Dill Pickle Brigade"

Who leaked this privileged information?

[battema]

OH FK!!!

[MJ-Plagued]

Honestly...you can call it "Eclipse of the Final Dill Pickle Brigade" and I'm going to be down for a copy regardless

Hmmmm....

[Dan Maske]

I'm looking to incorporate a real "orchestra"... Having had limited experience writing for orchestra, I've had to up my game, as it were, in the Finale software (and look into other new softwares), and to learn a lot more about scoring and orchestration.

Good to hear.
The new HBO series “Lovecraft Country” was the first to record an orchestral soundtrack, but done with each individual player recording by themselves, w/ no orchestra actually getting together. It turned out pretty well. Plus, doing it that way, one has more power to adjust the orchestration in places where it may not quite have worked with a full orchestra playing together. But if you entertain the possibility of ever performing it live, with orchestra, you’ll want the orchestrations to be solid, in that regard.
I’ve used Finale since the early ‘90s, but started using Sibelius, as well because of certain job requirements. I still prefer Finale.