DAE have an unrational fear about SW becoming a mainstream artist?

A large part of what SW does is derivative. Not to say that it's bad, but no matter what he's doing it's not unique. Take a song like "Time Flies" -- it's clearly an homage to Floyd's Animals. You can hear lots of King Crimson's "Letters" from Islands in Grace for Drowning's "Belle du Jour" and "Deform to Form a Star." "Luminol" sounds like a Yes song. "3 Years Older" has a riff in it that could have been lifted from Rush's Hemispheres. "Perfect Life" has a drum track that is absolutely industrial. All of these things are influences on him and he'll frankly cite them if asked.

So, how is this "taking the meaning out of progressive rock"? It's all part of the genre.

Prog has very amorphous boundaries, and the album is "progressive" in the sense that it's a big concept and invites a lot of different styles into the tent -- from art rock to jazz to AOR to pop to metal -- but ultimately you've just agreed with me, in that this album IS more pop-oriented, and I think that makes it weaker. The distinction for me lies in the emphasis on musicianship. If it's not technically challenging, I think it loses something. I mean, I imagine Nick Beggs and Marco Minneman were bored as hell recording the title track of HCE, and I could easily play the drum part. I don't have a chance in hell of playing most of the album, but I could cover that track. Same with "Perfect Life."

So I guess that's my main complaint -- and it's been the same for Rush and many other bands who are "prog" but have been moving their music more mainstream (i.e. simpler). Don't take away the last bastion of great rock musicianship in favor of record sales.

/r/stevenwilson Thread Parent