Progressive Instrumental Recommendations??

Magic

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Progressive instrumental eh? There are a LOT of different "flavors" so to speak. Liquid Tension is the contemporary wanky "fusion" type. I have both 1 and 2 on disc. I think that consists of members of Dream Theater along with Tony Levin if I'm not mistaken.

Two absolute classic instrumental fusion albums are The Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Inner Mounting Flame" and Billy Cobham's "Spectrum" albums. Alphonse Mouzon's "Mind Transplant" is also really good. It's interesting to consider that Tommy Bolin plays on both those last two albums. He did stuff with The James Gang and Deep Purple so he's by nature a very Rock oriented player. The Inner Mounting Flame may be the ultimate Jazz/Rock fusion album of all time.

There are a LOT of other varieties though when you state "Progressive". Have you heard the album Hocus Pocus by the group Focus?

Movie Soundtracks can be pretty cool and moody. Lots of good Italian stuff there abouts. The soundtrack to the French movie Fantastic Planet is "out there".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgCxCZNkQ9E

There is also a ton of REALLY great contemporary psychedelic/progressive instrumental offerings available too. Have you heard Ozric Tentacles? How about Pelican?

Most of the German/UK/Swiss & Scandinavian progressive groups from the
7os did songs that were a good 10 minutes long each and contained monstrous amounts of excellent progressive instrumental arrangements.

Satin Whale were an AMAZING group. If you get the opportunity, check out an unbelievable album from the Swiss group Krokodil called "An Invisible World Revealed" It's a guaranteed mind blower for certain.

Of course there are all the contemporary guitar/bass/drum wanker virtuosos too. I am certain you have heard a great deal of Joe Satriani's stuff.

There is a label called Tone Center that has some really monstrous material from all sorts of virtuoso combined artists and their subsequent efforts.

Help me to tune in a little more so specifically with respect for the "vibe" you are after.

If you like Liquid Tension Experiment, possibly check out Derek Sherinian's Planet X too.

Thank you very much! You have given me a lot of stuff to dig through. And I really do appreciate the mini-descriptions you offered :) I will let you know later what I liked.
 

starman

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Thank you very much! You have given me a lot of stuff to dig through. And I really do appreciate the mini-descriptions you offered :) I will let you know later what I liked.

You are very welcome Magic. It's always a sincere pleasure for me to reflect on music/film & culture.
 

Magic

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I really like Jordan Rudess & John Petrucci



 

LG

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I have the "Inner Mounting Flame" by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and it is excellent. I like Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment as well, not familiar with the others that Starman posted though, except Ozric Tentacles.

I already have a post about Tommy Bolin in the Rock Lounge,,,in my hibernating thread...:heheh:
 

Magic

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Starman, I have listened to quite a bit of Ozric Tentacles and Pelican.


I wasn't really wild about Ozric Tentacles, a bit tooooo psychedelic for my taste, but I do like Pelican. I am "obtaining" a couple albums as we speak:

the self-titled EP:

Pelican_-_Pelican.jpg

And Australasia from 2003:

Pelican_-_Australasia.jpg


Australasia is very deep and dark.....good stuff!!
 

starman

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Magic, have you heard the Rudess Morgenstein Project? Pretty good.

I've been listening to Billy Sheehan's "Holy Cow" CD lately. Some smokin' instrumental tracks on that one for sure.

The whole Magna Carta label thing is pretty cool. However, some of that stuff is more progressively technical than it is truly feelingful to my ears. I honestly believe if you enjoy that Magna Carta material, you will really appreciate the Tone Center recordings.

Steve Smith (drummer from the old band Journey) is the common element in many of those recordings. Tone Center is a spin off label of Shrapnel Records.

For starters, check out the Henderson, Wooten & Smith selections, or better yet, possibly the Gambale, Hamm & Smith releases. My goodness, that stuff is masterful and you can pick up most of those titles used pretty cheap.
 

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