Album Homework Assignment: George Lamie Faces Off Against Rand Kelly

[@independenceltd.]

George was smiling more in this episode than every other one he's been in combined.

[@tonypeake467]

Love George, a legend on "In The Prog Seat" vids, but understand your point.

[@FireMoon42]

So pleased to see Thank You Scientist receiving some attention. Completely off the charts music that reminds me of early to mid seventies Zappa crossed with The Mars Volta. Save to say, twenty minutes into first discovering them via KZbin I'd bought both their available albums on vinyl. I understand they won't be to everyone's taste however, as contemporary prog goes they are for me anyway, the current pinnacle.

[@danbretherton]

Absolutely loving the Thankyou Scientist album.

[@jason-budney7624]

Great show George, Rand, and Pete, this series is awesome! I will be spinning both bands today. Fireballet I never heard of, and Thank You Scientist I have heard a few songs on some Spotify mixes, so it's time to dive deeper.

[@davidclark2208]

Thanks for a great show .It go to show just how many great bands are out there that I have never heard of before now.So I look forward to hearing more of homework shows

[@ron6927]

Drawn to Thank You Scientist after watching this. I'm 4 songs in and this is fantastic music indeed. The horns give it a Zappa feel. Even a George Michael vibe to the start of one song. So far, i wouldn't describe the simger's voice as thin though.

[@johnmichaelwilliams6694]

Upon hearing that Rand and George would have homework, there was little or no doubt that either band or album would be completely off my radar. That held true. Had time to listen to a little of Two, Too and planning to track down some Thank You Scientist for listening. Did watch the official video of the Party All The Time cover by Thank You Scientist. Definitely attention getting. In the Carrollon opener of Fireballet, a brief keyboard sequence that seemed briefly note for note from the instrumental Classical Gas. But very brief. Since Rand and George also mentioned Beethoven's ninth elsewhere, planning to listen to this entire album just to see what else is heard. So thanks Rand and George for participating in this series and giving such thorough discussions of each of the albums and thank you, too, Pete, for continuing this series.

[@sdrandazzo]

Thank you George, Rand and Pete for another fantastic homework episode. Really looking forward to checking out Thank You Scientist on YT. Great album cover design. Will take my time to try and listen to Fire Ballet lol.

[@thedarkwizardroom]

Great sounding listenings from the assignment. LIke both I checked on with these bands. Thank you this grand day guys😀.

[@armandovenditti4523]

A great show. I am sorry I missed the premier.

[@DonHornsby]

What a fantastic discussion. George and Rand offered two interesting albums that I am not familiar with. From this discussion, I need to check them out.

[@Leo-ci9kc]

Great show! Rand really sold me on Thank You Scientist!

[@mikep9377]

I gotta say I am digging on Thank You Scientist. I hadn’t even heard of them before and the past few days I’ve been playing them quite a bit. Really interesting combination of instruments and sounds. Good one George!

[@carlsalazar4490]

Pete your costing me a fortune. My wife is seeing packages being delivered everyday. I just need to have the physical copy. Good show.

[@careytamburrino746]

Thank you Scientist is a band a good friend turned me on to a year or 2 ago. His son and himself went to the show both of these guys are musicians. It took me a little bit to catch up with exactly what they were doing but man what a great interesting crazy cool band!

[@kdiamond]

I definitely hear Mars Volta and Coheed and Cambria in TYS. Which I guess is not a coincidence as according to Wiki Coheed singer signed them to his label.

[@arnaudb.7669]

Currently listening to Fireballet "Two, too".What a great record! Reminds me a little bit of Starcastle.Mandatory for any Yes fan!

[@jimneary2802]

Good episode, if you can't get a feel for these albums after seeing this there's something wrong with you

[@dcyeager7285]

Thank You Scientist: Any band that can make me not cringe at hearing Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time" is right by me.

[@85vesti]

Haha I LOVE the original! it had a new lease of life after being featured in a GTA trailer

[@wagstaff6135]

Hilarious -- first thing I found after listening to this episode, and for some reason clicked before realizing what it was.

[@bryanmcfadden4071]

Shots Fired! Pew-pew

[@milesdorst7120]

I learned about Thank You Scientist from Mike the Music Snob, they are some of the greatest musicians of their generation, and their music really embodies the term "progressive" in a way that few modern bands do.

[@ericporter344]

Kudos to George & Rand, great show! Rand was loving Thank You Scientist. I have Stranger Heads Prevail, going to give it a spin today, and will check out Fire Ballet. Such a great concept, endless choices and combinations, I hope this continues to be a weekly show, I will look forward to this every Sunday Morning.

[@shyshift]

Thanks Eric Porter. Enjoy Fireballet.

[@arnaudb.7669]

Thank You Scientist "Terraformer" is great, i will check out Fireballet.

[@chiragchittar4179]

Thank you scientist is one of the most exciting bands in prog right now. The vocals took me a while to get into and the biggest influence I can think of on their music is the Mars Volta but I find their songs more enjoyable than the former. The production on their records is fantastic. Great band Have to check fire ballett though. Fantastic video

[@knightvisioniixv]

Just checked out that Thank You Scientist album - pretty cool stuff.

[@williamgainford9332]

Listened to mr invisible by thank you scientist - strong 70s zappa vibe - very cool

[@drewrose374]

I gotta check out Thank You Scientist!!

[@eamonmcdermott4032]

Very enjoyable. Thank You Scientists sound really interesting

[@russellcraft7269]

Are there even any albums that these two haven't heard?😉

[@cleftturnip7774]

A Hudson Valley squares homework show would be cool

[@Norshammar72]

I really dig both albums. The Fireballet vocals reminds me of The 5th Dimension. The sixties vocal ensemble that was a huge influence on Yes (according to Bruford from Yesyears dvd) And Thank You Scientists are just a killer album!!!

[@PTalker]

Thank You Scientist vocals are very similar to Coheed and Cambria

[@russellcraft7269]

Need to get Niamh on thus show, just so she finally listens to Kansas.

[@independenceltd.]

I'm pretty sure she just bought a Kansas boxset. But I'm not betting any money on it.

[@russellcraft7269]

@@independenceltd., hope so. People are always requesting Kansas and she replies that she has never heard them.

[@shyshift]

She’s going to be living at University so I doubt she will be taping at 1:00am.

[@independenceltd.]

@@shyshift If she's anything like I was, she'll be too drunk.

[@Jamie.Laszlo]

Yeah. The lead singer of TYS is reminding me of Claudio Sanchez. But dare I say that I hear a little Bruno Mars in his voice as well?

[@robbjj1]

I have the first FB lp and love it.

[@wagstaff6135]

Immediately after this episode, I look up "Thank You Scientist" on youtube, and the first thing I click on -- innocently -- turns out to be a cover of Eddie Murphy/Rick James "My Girl Wants to Party All the TIme". There's definitely a keyboard player, an old guy. Naked. You're welcome.

[@damiankarras]

The vocalist sounds like a cross between Tim Christensen (ask Portnoy if you’re not aware who he is) and Cedric Bixler Zavala of The Mars Volta.

[@dtltmtgt]

I like the idea of a show on prog bands that were a little too late...

[@stephennorris2524]

I wonder if the guys have heard or listened to the band Crystal Palace? The album Dawn of Eternity is well worth a listen.

[@attichatchsound-bobkowal5328]

The singer from "TYS" has a similar "head tone" as Triumph's Rik Emmett

[@wolf1977]

Actually at first I thought that too (not sure which track I started with that gave me that vibe) but then later he sounds different to me

[@mvancha]

Love Starcastle but I like Fireballet better as there is more variation in their arrangements, melodies, harmonies and rhythms .

[@hieroeadawulf9123]

The singer for Thank You Scientist voice is similar to Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria, just not as high pitched.

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

Boom! That's the guy I was thinking of!

[@jazzpunk]

Just over a minute in...and there's a band that George has never heard?!?! When Rand held up the alt-cover of Too Too...I have seen that artwork. Flash's earliest albums? Ray Bennett had that Squire/Ric thing going on.

[@edbe7385]

I've known George since the high school years. Not easy to find something he hasn't heard before.

[@eriklauritzen6898]

Rand is going to lose his mind when he hears Terraformer.

[@mvancha]

Hi Guys...Thank You Scientist totally comes from the Jellyfish "Spilt Milk" school so please listen to Jellyfish if you have not heard them. Take Jellyfish and mix with Haken and there you have them.

[@wolf1977]

I like Jellyfish a lot (their best-of package Best! is excellent & so is their Fan Club series), their cover of "No Matter What" is spot on. Nothing like any of this music but still...I think they're a bit more pop-oriented than TYS or Haken, maybe like Matthew Sweet (actually the other way around, MS is like Jellyfish) or Cheap Trick. Some of their tunes also remind me a little of XTC (great band), like "Brighter Day" or "Calling Sarah"...Speaking of covers, I LOVE their covers of Wings' "Jet" & Argent's "Hold Your Head Up", They even do "Season Of The Witch", really cool vibe on that track

[@mvancha]

@@wolf1977 Hi Wolf. What I was saying is the Thank you scientist is like a cross between Jellyfish and Haken. That's about the best way I can describe it.

[@samhouston1979]

i want Bryce Talks Metal as a guest on this series

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

Well, if you watched the whole episode I said at the end that he is appearing real soon.

[@samhouston1979]

@@seaoftranquilityprog I missed that I guess…that’s cool

[@wolf1977]

1) Fireballet (at first I thought we were talking about "Firebelly" which is why the names of the bands/albums should be posted at some point, even if it's after the fact). Initially really had nothing on them & hearing about "quirky vocals" I was thinking they probably wouldn't be for me. Since I have nothing by them just listened to a little bit of this album. The vocals aren't as bad as I'd expected (after hearing that they were "quirky"). Sounds to me a little like 10cc with a little Yes-type harmonies thrown in (like on "It's About Time"). "Carrollon" is actually pretty complex in structure, I like that one. The bass definitely reminds you of Squire. I'd give this one maybe 3.5 out of 5 stars & I'll probably download at least a couple of songs from it. So that got me interested in the first album Night On Bald Mountain - that one's maybe a little heavier. The 19 minute title track's an epic & harkens back to early Gabriel/Genesis (pre-Nursery Cryme I'd say). Also not a bad record. Overall to me Fireballet doesn't sound as much like Yes as a band like Starcastle does (especially vocally), maybe more like Nektar (they share a guitarist after all) with a bit more Yes mixed in. 2) Thank You Scientist - I was already familiar with this band. Stranger Heads is not my favorite TYS album, that would probably be Terraformer (Maps Of Non-Existent Places is also very good). Anyone who likes this record should definitely at least check out those other two. "Caverns" is a kickass number with some great guitar passages, lots of changes & quite catchy esp for intricate prog. Also easily me fave track from this album. These guys have a knack of making sophisticated prog songs sound catchy. Most songs start out with some type of "angular" theme & then they become more "accessible" as the songs go along. For (guitar) complexity check out the first couple of minutes of "My Famed Disappearing Act" or "Feed The Horses" from Maps Of Non-Existent Places. Overall I hear shades of Haken or The Dear Hunter (they have better vocals & are more mellow), or even (a better/more accessible) Coheed And Cambria. I agree that these guys can play anything, each band member is really on top of their instrument. HIGHLY recommend this band to any progger. If I had to pick a single song to play someone not familiar with the band I might pick "Terraformer", These guys might give Citizen Cain a run for best FF artist so far

[@mfc1874]

What’s that you’re drinking George?

[@georgelamie7001]

Mixed berry Powerade Zero

[@Rael_486]

Show idea. What band, artist or album is chiefly responsible for the demise of Progressive Rock in the late 70's.

[@jimmycampbell78]

My own opinion is that as soon as the big ambitious epic prog albums came out around the mid 70s, these prog rock bands had nowhere left to go creatively and the general record buying public began thinking they had heard it all before. Punk and New Wave offered something different, more concise and refreshing.

[@williamgainford9332]

The myths and legends of king arthur and the knights of the round table is largely responsible for john lydon having had enuf !!! - id say lol

[@wolf1977]

@@jimmycampbell78 I once read a pretty interesting article online that talked about the idea of 5-year musical cycles. Their point was that musical styles last about 5 years the first time around before the listening public moves on, not vanishing completely but being replaced at the top of the heap by a different style. For proof they cited disco (roughly 1975-1980), punk (about the same), Beatles-type pop (roughly 1964 - 1969), New Wave (1980-1985), Britpop (early - mid/late 90's), Mod Revival (also early - mid/late 90's in Britain, though popping up again in the US later in the 90's if you ignore the early 80's CA/Ska movement, running more or less alongside the US version of Britpop) & Grunge (early 90's - mid/late 90's). So I guess you could lump prog rock into that, early 70's - mid/late 70's. I'm not sure I 100% ascribe to that theory but something to think about...

[@arnaudb.7669]

3 letters : E, L, P.

[@williamgainford9332]

@@arnaudb.7669 yeah i think so - what did john peel call em a tragic waste of time talent and electricity lol - brilliant