New Genesis Book

My playlist of what I have been listening to lately.

Sorry about adding all these irrelevant videos. I am just trying to target my "After the Ordeal" video for my adsense player.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Zune vs iPod, Beatles vs Apple

Will the Zune beat out the ipod. Why don't the Beatles want to work with apple (I guess because they had their own apple company in the 1960's). Watch this video and find out more.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Sound alikes? Girl You'll Be Woman Soon & Valentine

Pulp Fiction Girl You'll Be Woman Soon (Urge Overkill / Neil Diamond ) and Richard Hawley - Valentine. They sure sound alike to me. What do you think?

Slash at Chapters

Not prog, but I just had to include this picture of Slash signing his new book at Chapters on Nov 20th. Huge crowd, I was surprised. I saw Andy Summers (The Police) in this same spot a year before and there wasn't even one tenth the turnout.

Progrocktv1000.com

Check This out.
http://progrocktv1000.blogspot.com/

"Rock Family Trees" The PROG ROCK YEARS

Rock Family Trees : The PROG ROCK YEARS

Rick Wakeman

Dylan Howe, son of Steve how?

Very cool. I think this is Steve Howe's son. He has a profile on youtube. It is.....
http://youtube.com/user/DylanHowe
I can see he is very tech savvy. He even posted some videos of his old man playing.

Steve Howe on a 1971 BBC documentary

Did you know? Steve Howe and Robin Williams

I saw Steve Howe in the credits for the movie "Toys" from 1992. I will have to give that one another listen. And, he was actually in a movie called Smashing time from 1967. I would die to see a clip from that. Anybody out there have one?

Rush, the most hated or loved prog band?

Here is a quote I stumbled upon from a blog, "Rush, I have to say I've always managed to avoid and on the evidence of what I saw and heard last night, there's no question of a late shift in that policy." To read more, go to http://sidsmith.blogspot.com/2001/03/c4s-top-ten-prog-rock-show.html
I myself like Rush, they were my favorite band in high school, and they are the ones that got me into prog bigtime. But I can understand how some out there may hate them. They just are not as good or intelligent as Genesis, the best prog band ever.

Genesis and Pink Floyd

The Moody blues

Jethro Tull

ELP and Yes

Hawkwind and Rush

Camel and King Crimsom

OMG! The best Prog Doc I have ever seen "Bill Bailey's Top Ten Prog Rock"

I couldn't have done it any better myself. I have never seen a funnier, whitier documentary about prog. Leave it to the British to create the most entertaining documentaries. Full of dry whit. I don't completely agree with Bill Bailey's ranking order, but all the right bands are there. I don't hate a single band on his chart. I do wish I knew more about Camel, Hawkwind, and the Moody blues (I will have to do some more research on them), but I sure knew the other names on the list. Here is his ranking.

10. Camel
9. King Crimson
8.Hawkwind
7.Rush
6.ELP
5.Yes
4.Jethro Tull
3.The Moody Blues
2.Genesis
1.Pink Floyd

Any Halo players out there?

I know I am getting a little off track here, but if there are any Halo players out there, my gamer tag is Onlyprogenesis
Yes, that is because I am a huge Genesis fan, so I was searching for that perfect gamer name. Of course progenesis (Prog + Genesis) was taken, so they suggested Onlyprogenesis. So that is how I came up with my gamer tag.

Add the F#

I often love adding the F# when playing the d major chord. It add that extra depth.

2
3
2
0
X
2

Dark and Mystery

------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------2---------------------------2--------------------
---------------4-------------------------1----------------------------
---------0------------------------0-----------------------------------
----2-----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------2-----------------------------------------

Here is an idea that sounds a little dark and mysterious.

The "Rush" Chord.

0
0
4
2
0
4

Here is one of my favorite chords. Rush has used this chord on a number of occasions. Two example that jump to mind. One is the acoustic into to A farewell to Kings and the other is Spirit Of Radio. The key to this chord are the open notes played against the G#.

Song Idea's

Just like most guitarists out there, when I come up with an interesting idea, I like to scratch it down on a piece of paper. So I decided to start a new part to my blog where I right down some of these ideas, and readers can try them out and tell me what they think. Here is my first little idea. Just a simple riff, but I love the sound of that f# and G#.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------2------------2--------------2------------2--------------2---
----2-----------2--------------2-------------0-------------0--------
-0----------2-------------0-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------2-------------4-------------

My little prog comp I made ages ago.

Musical Box remix

TOP 100 CANADIAN ALBUMS by Bob Mersereau

TOP 100 CANADIAN ALBUMS by Bob Mersereau

1. Neil Young - Harvest

2. Joni Mitchell - Blue

3. Neil Young - After The Gold Rush

4. The Band - Music From Big Pink

5. The Tragically Hip - Fully Completely

6. Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill

7. The Band - The Band

8. Arcade Fire - Funeral

9. Rush - Moving Pictures

10. The Guess Who - American Woman

11. Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Leonard Cohen

12. Bryan Adams - Reckless

13. Blue Rodeo - Five Days In July

14. Sloan - Twice Removed

15. The Tragically Hip - Up To Here

16. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

17. Rush - 2112

18. Joni Mitchell - Court And Spark

19. Rheostatics - Whale Music

20. Daniel Lanois - Acadie

21. The Tragically Hip - Day For Night

22. Neil Young And Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps

23. Gordon Lightfoot - Gord's Gold

24. Sarah Harmer - You Were Here

25. Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

26. The Tragically Hip - Road Apples

27. Barenaked Ladies - Gordon

28. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People

29. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man

30. Neil Young - Tonight's The Night

31. Neil Young - Decade

32. Mary Margaret O'Hara - Miss America

33. Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing

34. Sloan - One Chord To Another

35. Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Love And Hate

36. Simply Saucer - Cyborgs Revisited

37. k.d. lang - Ingenue

38. Rheostatics - Melville

39. Eric's Trip - Love Tara

40. Neil Young - On The Beach

41. Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Not Fragile

42. The Guess Who - The Best Of The Guess Who

43. Feist - Let It Die

44. The Band - The Last Waltz

45. Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train

46. The Joel Plaskett Emergency - Down At The Khyber

47. Neil Young - Harvest Moon

48. Bryan Adams - Cuts Like A Knife

49. Harmonium - L'heptade

50. Teenage Head - Teenage Head.

51. Max Webster - High Class in Borrowed Shoes

52. Joni Mitchell - Hejira

53. Glenn Gould - J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations

54. Stan Rogers - Fogarty's Cove

55. The Guess Who - Wheatfield Soul

56. Harmonium - Si on avait besoin d'une cinquieme saison

57. Bruce Cockburn - Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws

58. Teenage Head - Frantic City

59. k.d. lang - Hymns of the 49th Parallel

60. Trooper - Hot Shots

61. Robbie Robertson - Robbie Robertson

62. Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions

63. Ron Sexsmith - Ron Sexsmith

64. Voivod - Nothingface

65. Shania Twain - Come On Over

66. Hayden - Everything I Long For

67. Blue Rodeo - Outskirts

68. k-os - Joyful Rebellion

69. Gordon Lightfoot - Sit Down Young Stranger /If You Could Read My Mind

70. The Pursuit of Happiness - Love Junk

71. Jean-Pierre Ferland - Jaune

72. The Ugly Ducklings - Somewhere Outside

73. April Wine - Electric Jewels

74. Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown

75. The Weatherthans - Left And Leaving

76. Our Lady Peace - Clumsy

77. Harmonium - Harmonium

78. The Guess Who - Share The Land

79. Ian & Sylvia Tyson - Ian & Sylvia's Greatest Hits

80. Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf

81. Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon

82. Stompin' Tom Connors - Bud the Spud/Other Favourites

83. The Constantines - Shine A Light

84. The Lowest Of The Low - Shakespeare My Butt

85. Thrush Hermit - Clayton Park

86. Sloan - Smeared

87. Jann Arden - Living Under Jane

88. Joni Mitchell - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

89. Crowbar - Bad Manors

90. King Biscuit Boy with Crowbar - Official Music

91. Gordon Lightfoot - Lightfoot!

92. Tom Cochrane - Mad Mad World

93. Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright

94. Ron Hynes - Face to the Gale

95. Willie P. Bennett - Hobo's Taunt

96. Ian Tyson - Cowboyography

97. The Sadies - Favourite Colours

98. Gordon Lightfoot - The Way I Feel

99. Rush - A Farewell to Kings

100. Sam Roberts - We Were Born In A Flame

Where are they now.

We are good, but we are washed up. Guess who these people are. Hey, is that Steve Hackett? Cool! And is that Nuno and the singer from Extreme. I think so.
From http://www.paulgilbert.com/Guitar_Wars.html

Kiefer Sutherland, the guitar collector

Kiefer Sutherland, the guitar collector. It turns out that Led Zepplin and AC/DC were the inspiration for his guitar collection. I wonder how his collection compares to Steve Howe and John Entwistle's collection. I also wonder how well he can play. From

http://www.undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=1441
photo by Paul Cashmere

10 things that killed Prog.

6.I will think of 6 to 10 latter. Out of ideas. Sigh.......
5.Yes's album cover art in the late seventies. Why naked men, now really.
4.Punk
3.ELP's album Love beach
2.Rick Wakemans solo career. Can we say conceited, boring trash?
1.ELP! ELP! ELP!

Blender magazine.

They now have an article about the 10 Most Overpraised Records Ever. Well I have to agree with two albums on their list. Number 2, Radio Head's "Kid A". This album never did it for me. Put me right asleep. Yawnnnnnnnn. And Sex Pistols, never mind the Bollocks, sounds like S***, they can't play, and so much hate, hate, hate. However, I do realize how important this album was. Too bad they killed my beloved prog rock.

Shocking!! Neil Peart second worst Lyricist!?!

Shocking!! Neil Peart second worst Lyricist!?! As voted by Blender magazine. Any thoughts on this. Poor guy, I wonder what he must be thinking now. Here is a link to the article. http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=2885

My thoughts on the subject are mixed. Growing up, Neil was my idol in many ways. I have even read many Ayn Rand novels due to his influence. Just today, I saw the 1949 movie, The Fountainhead, and I admit, it is some very strong material.

Today however, I feel Ayn Rands philosophy is way too black and white, and Rush's lyrics seem a bit stale. In many of the songs, I think he tries too hard.
I have read some of his books, and they are very thoughtful, but overall, there writing is still a little dry.

I can really relate to his love of Motorcycles and travel as these are some of my greatest loves.

Overall however, there is really nobody out there who writes the way Neil does, so I am thankful he made it in the music business.

Toyota Rush

I wonder if Rush fans would like to drive this Toyota. This is from the Toyota showroom in Japan. I swear, they really do call this little SUV the Rush. An interesting side note, Nissan has used Tom Sawyer in some car ads in Japan. one more interesting side note. The Video Game, "Guitar Hero" uses YYZ as one of the songs in the game.

What if......Geddy and Yoko

I don't want to even think about this.
From rush.com & http://www.johnlennon.com/

Rick Wakeman on Japanese TV

Rick Wakeman on Japanese TV. Speed test.

PFM

A great Italian Prog band, but very much unknown these days. A co-worker in Japan who was a walking encyclopedia of Prog music taught me about them. If you call yourself a prog head, you must know about these guys.

More fun with Steve

Pete Townsend & Horse

I just had to do this one. No comment.
From http://www.northrup.org/ and http://www.thewhotour.com/

Night of the Living Steve

Steve Howe as a Zombie

From http://www.nga.ch/
&
http://www.imdb.com/

My Heritage dot com with Geddy Lee

This website shows what celebrity you look most like. I put Geddy's picture in there, and this is what I got. I guess they didn't put Geddy's picture in the system because his face didn't come up.

Check out the website
http://www.myheritage.com/

Flaming Lips Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung (Pink Floyd?)

This one is a no-brainer. Nobody can deny that this song sounds like many songs from Pink Floyd's Live in Pompeii. I have no doubt that the Flaming Lips were doing this on purpose, hence the the name "Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung". Nice little student film on this video too. An interesting side note, I was in Chapters in downtown Toronto when I first heard this song, and I just had to ask the people at the music shop, who the heck this was. Perhaps it was some lost Prog track I had never heard. Not many songs produced today sound like this. I miss that retro sound.

Cat Stevens "Father and Son"

I just had to include this so my blog readers can compare this to the Flaming Lips, Flight Test.

Cat Stevens anybody?

As far as I know, the Flaming Lips were sued, and lost. Cat Stevens won his case saying that his song, "Father and Son" is just to similar to Flight Test. I don't think anybody can deny this.

Prog cleverly disguised as Alternative Rock

Prog cleverly disguised as Alternative Rock
The song that made Prog cool again after 30 odd years. Radio Head's Paranoid Android

Sound a-likes? King Crimson

It's a bit similar in sound and feel to Paranoid Android. This song is from 1969, and I think it really started the prog movement. Or, you could say the Beatles planted the seeds of Prog with St.Peppers.

Sound a-likes? Pink Floyd Saucerful Of Secrets and Paranoid Android.

The second half of the song, specially when David Gilmour stars singing, really reminds me of the chanting part in Paranoid Android.

Look alikes? Roger Waters & Koizumi

ex-prime minister of Japan
From http://pinkfloyd.com and http://www.imdb.com/

The Alfee and Geddy Lee

Separated after birth!?!
The Alfee is a popular group from Japan. Amazingly, they are a three member group, just like Rush. It is amazing how much the Guitar player (The guy on the right) looks like Geddy Lee. What an amazing world we live in. From http://www.alfee.com
and Rush.com

Look alikes? Roger Waters & Richard Gere & Koizumi

Koizumi was the ex-prime minister of Japan.
From http://pinkfloyd.com and http://www.imdb.com/

Look alikes? Hugh Jackman & Steve Hackett & Clint Eastwood

From http://www.genesis-music.com/ and http://www.imdb.com/

Look alikes? Mr Spock & Steve Howe

From http://www.imdb.com/ and http://www.yesworld.com/
I know this one is a stretch, but at least I think they have the same eyebrows.

Look alikes? David Gilmour & Milla Jovovich

From
http://www.millanews.com/
and
www.pinkfloyd.com

Look alikes? Cousin IT & Rick Wakeman

Prog guys that look like famous people.
From www.funshop.com
and http://www.yesworld.com/

Love Beach

Are they taking a piss? I guess they were trying to sabotage their own careers. I thought this was prog, not Yanni. ELP were good, but more than any other prog group, they got to big for their boots and everything went to their heads. A little to much? Probably. Come on guys, why the open shirts?
http://www.emersonlakepalmer.com/

Yes, 1973

The moment I saw this, I was hooked. Rick Wakeman's solo performance during this concert inspired me to buy a minimoog.

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on this issue. A must for any prog fan. View their website at http://www.mojo4music.com/

I would love to get my hands on this issue. See their website at
http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/

An interesting prog rock website. See http://www.progressiverock.com/

Here is the best prog website on the net.

Check out
http://www.progarchives.com/
I have spent hours exploring this website. They used to have free MP3 downloads, but I think they stopped that due to pressure form the music industry.

http://www.magle.dk

Here is an interesting poll I discovered from this link http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/745-what-greatest-prog-rock.html It doesn't not reflect my opinion, but interesting none the less. View Poll Results: What's the greatest prog rock band in your opinion?
Yes		26	15.12%
ELP (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)		13	7.56%
Jethro Tull		6	3.49%
King Crimson		18	10.47%
Genesis		24	13.95%
Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention		7	4.07%
Rush		8	4.65%
Pink Floyd		50	29.07%
Marillion		3	1.74%
Other (Please post which one)		17	9.88%