the iPad is a nice way to take a huge library of music and a movie or two with me while I travel.

True, but there are alternatives. My portable MP3 player holds 80GB, cost $300 and with a good pair of headphones sounds really, really good. Battery time is so good that I have never once seen it run down, even after a 16-hour flight. It does not, however, play Angry Birds.

UbiquitousBubba


I have a Love-Despair thing with Prog Rock.  I absolutely love it.  It also drives me crazy(ier) when it loses its musicality in favor of a technical exercise.  I enjoy the technical brilliance and complexity, but sometimes, it seems many bands sacrifice a good melody or the "feel" for blinding wizardry. 

Watching a band play things so complex it causes brain damage is fun, but it leaves me cold when it devolves into noise.  I enjoy it when a band uses their technical expertise to enhance the song, rather than obliterate it.  For me, the song is what really matters.  Sometimes, I miss that in Prog Rock.

Couldn't have said it any better.  Well done sir.

I've always been a huge Genisis fan, or at least a fan of the first 2/3s of their career.  But the 5.1 SACD and DVD audio releases of those albums took my appreciation to new heights.  These remixes are extraordinary.
 
But I have a question.  Is there a precise definition of "progressive rock"?  Or is it just the intellegent stuff that doesn't fit neatly into categories like "pop", "r&b", etc.

dmbaer

Is there a precise definition of "progressive rock"? 

We could ask Moshkaie...someone will need to make the sandwiches and coffee though

EARLY PROGRESSIVE, STILL IN ROTATION:

LARRY CORYELL
MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA
GENESIS
KING CRIMSON
HAPPY THE MAN
MILES DAVIS, ****ES BREW
EMERSON LAKE AND PALMER 
JETHRO TULL
YES
SOFT MACHINE
GONG
GENTLE GIANT


LATER PROGRESSIVE, STILL IN ROTATION:
JEAN LUC PONTY
DIXIE DREGS
BILLY COBHAM
ALLAN HOLDSWORTH
CAPTAIN BEYOND
BE BOP DELUXE
BRAND X
RUSH
UK
AL DIMEOLA
RETURN TO FOREVER
BILL BRUFORD
RUNDGREN'S UTOPIA
ZAPPA

MORE MODERN PROGRESSIVE CURRENT ON THE ROTATION IN THE BAT'S BREW HOMESTEAD:

DREAM THEATRE
STEVE VAI
TOOL
COSMOSQUAD
GUTHRIE GOVAN
JOE SATRIANI
ANUBIS
DEVIN TOWNSEND
OPETH
MASTODON
SYMPHONY X

Lots of good stuff there.

"What is Progressive Rock?"

Heh, all this labeling makes me chuckle.  I tend to have two main labels:  What I like and what I don't.  Works for me, but is hard to translate to others...

To keep my large collection somewhat organized in iTunes, I use about 18 main genres the subgroupings within each.  The subgroupings don't have names, just a two-letter abbreviation of the main genre (like "PR" for Prog) and a number.  Each subgrouping simply gathers albums that sound good together to me.

 
I've tried and I've tried to like it, but it just wont happen I'm afraid.
 
Way back, a mate at school used to lend me his Genesis LP's (Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Trick of the Tail, Selling England...) and other stuff, but it never clicked. Sid Strummer loves his Rush, and I've listened to loads of that. Also some Yes as well. Wayne Tickler is a big prog fan and he's let me borrow a lot of his CD's - Porcupine Tree and other stuff.
 
I really appreciate the craftsmanship on offer, some of these guys are obviously musicians of the highest order, but nothing I've listened to ever leaves me wanting to listen to more.
 
I still have an open mind, and at least I've given it a go I suppose.
 
 
 

bitflipper

the iPad is a nice way to take a huge library of music and a movie or two with me while I travel.

True, but there are alternatives. My portable MP3 player holds 80GB, cost $300 and with a good pair of headphones sounds really, really good. Battery time is so good that I have never once seen it run down, even after a 16-hour flight. It does not, however, play Angry Birds.

Bf


I have Bloomberg on my iPad for work. I can edit PDFs that are sent to me by junior grunts. I have a lite version of excel and PowerPoint where I can review stuff.  And I can old tons of music on it. And it weighs a fraction of a laptop plus charger


If there was a windows based system I would convert