7 Songs for 7 Days

[King Postwhore]

King Crimson is a band that I love certain songs but I can't listen to full albums. A little too avant-garde for my tastes.   

Iron Maiden is a band I was nuts over as a teen. Seeing The Number Of The Beast album cover over a neighbors and then listening made me a fan right away.

[jingle.boy]

My favorite Maiden tune.  Absolutely flawless.  I recently made a list of my top 100 favorite songs, and this shows up at #9.

[Lowdz]

Well I'm with you on the Ozzy and Maiden but KC aren't for me.
I'm liking the theme too. Can't beat a great album closer, and yes, the bonus track era has ruined this concept.

[Train of Naught]

How could I ever disagree with this, this song is one of my all-time favorites, and I don't just throw that term around with favorite songs, lifechanging song right here.

[Evermind]

My favorite Maiden tune.  Absolutely flawless.

This. Fantastic song.

[TAC]

I think whatever list of 7 songs I make, Hallowed will find its way on it.

After DT's Learning To Live, Hallowed is my second favorite song of all time.

[jjrock88]

Hallowed rules!!

[Kwyjibo]

Can't go wrong with Maiden and especially with this song. Great choice.

[Podaar]

Fantastic choice! A metal classic like no other.

[Stadler]

After DT's Learning To Live, Hallowed is my second favorite song of all time.

Interestingly enough, I had LTL on my original list, but then realized I got it on CD first, and couldn't remember if it was released first on vinyl or not.  Rather than f*** up the theme, I replaced that with Fracture.   I'm now thinking I should have stuck with LTL! 

Okay, next one.

I didn’t intend this, but the next song is the third song here that has an official version by our host band.  As noted, I was a metal fan growing up, and as I started getting into prog more and more, I tended to shy away from some of the more “twee” forms of the genre.  I liked, and appreciated “A Venture”, but I loved and adored “Starship Trooper”.  That would be here, but for it wasn’t the album closer, only the side one closer.  So I went with the high point of a strong, but sometimes maligned, album, “Fragile”, the first album with Rick Wakeman, the first album to feature Roger Dean.   “Heart of the Sunrise” was really a mission statement, and I feel a spiritual precursor to the follow-up, widely considered by many to be the greatest prog album ever.  Much of the song was written before Wakeman joined, but he added a lot, including the idea of revisiting themes later in the work. Also for contractual reasons, he was not given credit, but it was really the first song to demonstrate what this new lineup could create (as opposed to just “play”).  I think this is one of Anderson’s best lyrics (“dreamer easy in the chair that really fits you” is classic) and the crescendo at “Sharp! Distance!...” resolves so nicely.   It’s the band’s fourth most played song, and one of the few that really held its own in both the Howe era and the Rabin era (I felt “And You And I”, in contrast, lost a lot of the delicateness when played by the Rabin lineup).   Side note:  the song ends with a hidden track, an opening door and a reprise of the Anderson feature “We Have Heaven”, slowly faded out.  My original store-bought cassette tape did not have this, and I was somewhat surprised, pleasantly, to get the remastered CD in ’94 and hear this at the end.

Heart of the Sunrise

[TAC]

I originally had I&W on cassette so I think it would fit your criteria.

I'm going to  on Heart Of The Sunrise.

[jingle.boy]

I can't say that I'm a huge Yes fan, but this is an excellent song.

[King Postwhore]

Yes, Rush and Kansas were my gateway to Prog.  I've seen so many incarnations of Yes live.  Great tune from my first Yes Album I bought after Fragile.

[TAC]

I cannot get into Yes. I have tried.


Although whenever I try to describe Dream Theater to anyone, I refer to them as the Heavy Metal version of Yes.

[Lowdz]

I'm not the biggest Yes fan but don't mind them when I'm in the mood. Played The Yes Album yesterday in fact, leading Mrs Lowdz to say "what is this shit you're listening to?" 

[Kwyjibo]

Really great tune and a great way to close the album. One of my favourite Yes songs.

[Podaar]

Love, love, "Heart of the Sunrise". It may be the perfect album closer when considering the Yes discography. It certainly finished of "Fragile" in classic style.

[Stadler]

Here’s a real left turn, I think.  We’ve had metal, we’ve had prog, but here’s a sort of odd hybrid of the two by a band that I don’t think anyone would confuse for a prog band, but who I’ve long said was way more prog than their “hits” let on.  This is my favorite song by this band, and the closing song of one of my top five albums of all time.    I know Sabbath is legend, and “Fathers of Heavy Metal” and all that, but if you ask me, their greatest moments are NOT their heaviest moments.   In fact, I kind of don't like the "Riffmaster General" version of Tony Iommi; I like the cool little midrange bits that are all over the mid-years of Sabbath.   Tony started to get this very trebly, very cutting sound out of his SG around the time of Vol. 4 (“Supernaut”) and that continued on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.  Mix the finger-picked acoustic intro, the almost jazzy drums, the chugging rhythm guitar, killer melodic bass, and the subtle orchestra, and this in my opinion, pure prog (and, for Sabbath, almost, dare I say, happy and optimistic!)   Plus, silver ships on plasmic oceans!!  (Though that is rumored to be a heroin reference).  Anyway, a side of Sabbath that rarely gets mentioned, and yet for me is what separates them from their cheap imitators.   Side bar:  Rick Wakeman, in an adjoining studio recording Tales From Topographic Oceans, appeared as an uncredited studio musician elsewhere on the album, and his son, Adam, toured with them on the “13” tour (and will likely tour with them again on “The End” tour.)

(For the record, since I started this Seven Day thing, I've listened to this album probably five times.  So friggin' good, if you ask me)

Spiral Architect

[TAC]

Spiral Architect is freaking awesome! After Megalomania, it is my second favorite Ozzy era track. The live version on the Reunion live album is fantastic.

[Podaar]

Sabbath has a ton of records with great album closers! In fact, I'd say only Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die have bad ones. I like "Spiral Architect" quite a bit, but of the first six albums I'd put it second to last as my favorite with only "Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes" being lower.

[jingle.boy]

I'm not really a huge Sabbath fan (I only own Paranoid), but this is a good track, on the mellow side for them.

[Stadler]

Sabbath has a ton of records with great album closers! In fact, I'd say only Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die have bad ones. I like "Spiral Architect" quite a bit, but of the first six albums I'd put it second to last as my favorite with only "Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes" being lower.

I don't disagree as to the overall quality, but in terms of specific songs, only Fairies Wear Boots comes close to this for me.  And for the record, I LOVE Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die (I like both of them more than I like Masters of Reality, for example).  I think, generally, the Ozzy era of Sabbath is about as good a total run as any band ever.  There is really not one album I wouldn't want to hear at any given time.   

[Podaar]

In all fairness, it's been years since I listened to TE and NSD. I should probably remedy that since it's likely my current tastes may find more to like.

Just for the record, "Lonely is the Word" is my favorite Sabbath album closer.

[edit] Oh, and FWB is completely awesome!  [/edit]

[TAC]

Sabbath has a ton of records with great album closers! In fact, I'd say only Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die have bad ones. I like "Spiral Architect" quite a bit, but of the first six albums I'd put it second to last as my favorite with only "Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes" being lower.

I don't disagree as to the overall quality, but in terms of specific songs, only Fairies Wear Boots comes close to this for me.  And for the record, I LOVE Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die (I like both of them more than I like Masters of Reality, for example).  I think, generally, the Ozzy era of Sabbath is about as good a total run as any band ever.  There is really not one album I wouldn't want to hear at any given time.

The Writ is an awesome closer too.

[jjrock88]

That's an obscure pick from Sabbath!

But I like it!

[Stadler]

Day 6

Ironically for a band that formed as a vehicle for the songwriting of its key members, Genesis evolved over time to be exemplary players and performers.  In fact, arguably my favorite moment on CD is the “medley” part of the “In The Cage” medley from Three Side Live.   Tony in particular was a master composer, and his tracks always bore a signature touch to them; odd chord voices, interesting rhythms, and, as in the case of “Me And Sarah Jane”, abandoning structure of any kind (musically, the song is basically five different parts played consecutively and never to repeat).  Abacab is my favorite Genesis album, but the album before, Duke, shows how deftly they could mix the full on prog with the jaunty pop they later became so associated with.   The album is a series of 10 songs, some exceedingly poppy (“Misunderstanding”) and others exceedingly morose (“Please Don’t Ask”), and above all, PERSONAL, for a band known for their excess and weirdness.   It later came out that many of the songs were acutally intended for an album side suite, called the “Duke Suite”, and symbolized by the two part instrumental piece, “Duke’s Travel’s/Duke’s End”.  Part musical embodiment of the loose concept, part musical summary and synopsis, the almost 10:00 minute piece is a tour de force of story-telling using no lyrics, capped off by the reprise of the opening figure of the opening song “Behind The Lines”.   For me, this was a concise and precise encapsulation of everything I loved about Genesis.  Heavy without being hard, melodic without being sappy, complex without being overly dense, and above all fun.   On my iPod I’ve sequenced a “Duke Suite” and when played in order, it makes zero sense lyrically, but musically, this piece ties the whole thing together nicely, and you get a great example of Tony’s composition skills.  I particularly love Mike’s guitar right before the reprise of the “Guide Vocal”, and the way the vocal (originally presented over a quiet piano piece) fits so nicely above the very energetic closing section of the song.   

Duke's Travels/Duke's End

[jingle.boy]

Man, you're really trying to alienate Tim, aren't you??   

[Stadler]

Hahaha.   No, I'm just taking the opportunity to share some things that don't get talked about here often. 

I know this is a tangent, but I have a real beef with the latest trend of artists having 8 different projects, and one being the "prog" project, and one being the "metal" project, and one being the "this" project, and one being the "that" project...  I like bands that don't have boundaries.  I like bands - and I'd like to think that for the most part, the selections here demonstrate that - that play at the fringes.  Yes isn't "prog" the same way that ELP, Genesis, Floyd and Crimson are.   I have a theory that the very best bands - the iconic bands - are those that are at the cusp of genres.  Very few bands that just sit squarely in one genre (AC/DC is one exception) achieve greatness. 

[TAC]

Man, you're really trying to alienate Tim, aren't you??   

He pulls me in, he kicks me out! Every other!


I know the seventh song!!!!!!! And I know it'll be TAC approved. 

[jingle.boy]

Man, you're really trying to alienate Tim, aren't you??   

He pulls me in, he kicks me out! Every other!


I know the seventh song!!!!!!! And I know it'll be TAC approved. 

My prediction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlN3oEjMpUQ

[Kwyjibo]

Duke is such a great record, imo better than a lot of the Gabriel stuff and the ending is great too, but in my book the best part of the record is the two song beginning of Behind The Lines/Duchess.

[jjrock88]

Man, you're really trying to alienate Tim, aren't you??   

He pulls me in, he kicks me out! Every other!


I know the seventh song!!!!!!! And I know it'll be TAC approved. 

My prediction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlN3oEjMpUQ

Lol

[TAC]

Um... No that is not it!

[TAC]

I know the seventh song!!!!!!! And I know it'll be TAC approved. 

Spoiler below!

Kiss-Black Diamond

[Stadler]

No other guesses?