Yours Is No Disgrace (Day 10)

I don't know what's gotten into me recently, but I've been listening to Jethro Tull and Yes nonstop. This is something I haven't done in years. Maybe about five or six years ago, I listened to progressive rock regularly--and not just the big names either. I listened to more obscure stuff like Gentle Giant, Faust, and Caravan as well. Somewhere along the line, I fell out of love with the genre (the same goes for heavy metal for the most part) and started listening to more ambient and electronic music. I think in some ways I grew tired of the flamboyant and ostentatious antics of these groups and sought more downtempo, emotionally grounded music. I started to care less about complex arrangements and guitar solos and more about textures and atmosphere. Artists like Boards of Canada, Joanna Newsom, Isis, and Mogwai were among the only things I listened to.

There was an implication at the time that my musical tastes were "maturing" but my opinions have changed. I was a burgeoning musical elitist and there's certainly still traces of that in my system--but I can honestly say that I've made a lot of strides in that area. It seems silly now for me to have ever felt shame for enjoying a certain kind of music. Sure, my opinions can change. I'm definitely not into noodly prog metal bands like Dream Theater or Symphony X anymore, but I can't hold anything against someone that digs that kind of music. Guitar solos and complex, technically demanding arrangements can be really fun to listen to, but I think groups like that tend to strip all of the feeling from their compositions. Hey, I probably enjoy some groups that might be considered "prog metal" but at the end of the day I don't care about labels. If your music hits me in the gut the right way, I'm going to like it.

Still, there's something fundamentally different about a band like Dream Theater when compared to classic prog rock acts. Early Yes is just so earnest and fun. Sure, some of the compositions are really technically complex, but they're also really catchy and upbeat without being slavishly adherent to pop rock radio standards. Dream Theater just doesn't have that same genuine feeling; their compositions feel relentlessly practiced and a little soulless. Their music could be fun to listen to as a musician perhaps, but not as a simple fan of music. Rush is probably a better band to compare them to, considering they drew their primary inspiration from them. The song is the same, though--Rush is fun, catchy, and complex. James LaBrie is just not going to go down as a legendary rock singer like Geddy Lee. That's just not going to happen.

I have fancied myself a music critic in the past but the more I listen to music, the less I feel I'm qualified to comment. I have at least a passing familiarity with a lot of different music scenes throughout history but for me its so hard to quantify music in writing. I could sit here and tell you about some of my favorite songs of all time but it would be difficult to explain why they are my favorites. I think it might be an interesting exercise to look at my top 10 tracks on last.fm and figure out what themes they share. I might have to cheat a little since over half of my top 10 is the album Ys by Joanna Newsom, but then again I love that album so much it might do me some good to talk about it.