Favourite 60's and 70's Classic Rock Bands

DH56 · Post by **DH56** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 3:15 pm

I'm quite surprised that nobody mentioned Gentle Giant.

Ah yes the Giant. Quite an impressive blend of Rock and Classical for sure. Octopus is still on of me fave's from them, especially "Raconteur Troubadour" and "Dogs Life".

I also enjoyed a lot of King Crimson as well and I see that Vlad put up another one of me progressive faves with Marillion. Another top Prog fave is The Flower Kings.

Ah, just too much good music to listen to in a weekend!

No ducks nuts for me thanks.
We don't use them here state side. lol

Ha ha! Yes, I believe the British equivalent to the aforementioned "duck's nuts" is "the dog's bollock's"

We don't use those Stateside either!

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:37 am

Justo I'm staying on the page, I thought this thread was about older bands, but I'm quite okay with the way it's changing. Flower Kings, Porcupine Tree, Transatalantic, Spock's Beard. Modern prog is simply amazing! I really need to check out Neal Morse's solo albums too. So should you all!

DH56 · Post by **DH56** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 6:45 am

Good one's all JK! Glad to see Transatlantic mentioned. I have a DVD of them performing live and it rocks. Also the FK's DVD called "Instant Delivery" from 2006 is just superb.

I think the one that surprised me the most was Porcupine Tree. Wilson's unique blend of Rock & Prog reminds me of a cross between Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and King Crimson.

I also got wind of another good Prog band by the name of The Tangent. A list of the personel tells you all you need to know...

Andy Tillison: keyboards, vocals
Roine Stolt: electric guitars, vocals
David Jackson: sax, flute
Sam Baine: piano
Zoltan Csorsz: drum
Jonas Reingold: bass
Guy Manning: acoustic guitars, mandolin, vocals

Another good under rated CD to check out-Kino's "Picture". Pete Trewavas, Chris Maitland, John Mitchell and John Beck. It sounds a little more mainstream, but songs like "Swimming in Women" and "All You See" will get you going every time!

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:56 am

Hey ther DH56. Don't know if you've ever heard any very early porc. tree but they sounded totally different than they do now. Very much into strange electronically. Then again, early king Crimson didn't sound anything like they did later. Evolution is good!

DH56 · Post by **DH56** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:42 am

Evolution is good!

Here hear! Yes indeed. Come to think of it, I don't sound the same as I did back in the 90's either!

Got me on a Prog bent here. I went and put all my favourite Flower Kings, Marillion, Porc Tree, and Spock's Beard on my Walkman so I can listen and jam out when I travel. I was really amused that SB had mimicked that famous Gentle Giant vocal trick that sounds so fab on several albums. Let the thoughts roll!

Ah, and while we're on the subject of evolutionary change, it was amazing to consider that Marillion was basically a Genesis clone early on, with Fish doing a very convincing Peter Gabriel too! Fast Forward to 1989 and the addition of Hogarth really did wonders to change their sound. I could listen to "Afraid of Sunrise" and "Afraid of Sunlight" every day and never get tired of them. Hogarth's voice is just so brilliant and their lyrics are so deep.

And last but not least, I first got wind of the Tree with "in absentia" which was a late start to say the least. Suffiuce it to say that I enjoyed what I heard so much, I went and scooped up every PT album I could get my hands on. The early electronica stuff is interesting, but I prefer the later stuff from Stupid Dream onward. One of my favourite tunes is quite an oddball too...While Lightbulb Sun is not one of my favourite PT albums, that song "How is Your Life Today" will put a big smile on my face everytime. It is such a simple little ditty, but what he does with the vocals is just a real charm!

Got to go have a listen!

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 3:15 am

I think I got into P. Tree even later. I first heard Deadwing a couple of years after it came out. Then I picked Fear of a Blank Planet just after it was released. Been a fan ever since. Now I have most of their cd's.

On another note; all puns always intended;

I've found my playing has gone through a serious of changes since I first started playing in bands. My first gig was in 69. A Christmas thing at a public school for kids up to grade 6. Still counts as a gig in the 60's though!

I went through a stretch of trying to find a style that I liked so I played in a lot of different bands, rock, new wave, classic R n B, metal. I've also done a ton of just off the cuff jamming. Making it up as we go along in a kind of fusionesque style. I used to play in a band called the Cunning Stunts. We would do the odd gig with no rehearsal and no idea as to what we were going to play so we would just make it all up on the spot. We did three songs or three sets, depending on how you looked at it. People liked it enough to get us return dates.
I'm sure that some of it was crap but I do know that there was often a lot of magic going on. On the odd show, we'd have a singer who did as we did but he had to put up with a lot of solos!