Assorted useful music stuff

(well, at least i think it's useful)

The main things underlying this page are that i'm a fan of progressive rock and folk (with special kudos to bands that manage to combine the two!) and as a hobby i play the electric bass. I am enough of a child of the eighties that i actually like the way graphite basses sound, so one day i hope to have saved up the money to afford a Status Graphite S-2 Classic 5-string headless bass (with a black cherry finish), but that's still a ways off — at the moment all i have is a cheap (non-graphite) Steinberger knock-off. For the moment this page has stuff dealing with the music i listen to rather than the music i play, but more links will make their appearance over time. And it's not like i listen only to prog-rock and folk, after all, so this page will probably end up being rather eclectic, though weighted toward sources for information on folk and prog.

There are thousands of bands/performers with homepages, both official and unofficial, on the web. What follows is a collection of some for bands/performers i like, listed alphabetically by name.


	•	David Bowie


	Not only does he make good music, but he has the same name as me — and what more reason than good taste in names would i need to include him on my list?


	•	Enigma


	Gregorian chants will never be the same! (It's just too bad the whole concept of having an anonymous band didn't work out.)


	•	Fairport Convention


	This band has been perhaps dozens of different bands over the course of their existence; my favorite phase was in the early 70s, when they became one of the few bands to ever do electric folk right.


	•	Gentle Giant


	Really astonishingly complex music. Be sure to give yourself a few listens before trying to come to a conclusion on what they're doing.


	•	Grey Eye Glances


	A South Jersey/Philadelphia-area folk-rock band with progressive rock influences who actually managed to get through buying their music back from their label. People i've talked to about them either love them or hate them — there is no in-between. For my part, i think their work has generally been quite good (though it's started showing signs of slipping toward the mainstream lately).


	•	Jethro Tull


	A rather unclassifiable band with some uneven output over the years, but whatever you want to say about them, you can't say anything against a band that has at times played fuzz guitar and flute off of each other.


	•	King Crimson


	Probably the least-known of the best-known prog bands. You really ought to see this site whether you like the band or not — after all, how can you not go to see a site titled "Elephant Talk"?


	•	Ozric Tentacles


	A progressive/fusion/psychedelic instrumental band from England. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds.


	•	Renaissance


	A really astonishingly impressive prog-rock band. No other description can apply.


	•	Seal


	Yes, i like Seal's work, even despite the fact that he had a song on the Batman Forever soundtrack.


	•	Steely Dan

I have heard Steely Dan's music described as jazz-influenced rock; i prefer to call much of it rock-influenced jazz. A fan page is also available, and to be honest, you'll probably have to spend some time there if you want to make any sense of the official one. (I read a recent review of the resurrected Steely Dan that criticized the band for still singing songs with no point; it's a shame when even the professional reviewers don't get the joke, you know?)


	•	Yes


	One of the original prog-rock groups, and probably one of the three or four best-known. They went through a bit of an extended slump in to 80s and early 90s, but they've finally come back alive with their latest stuff, it seems.

Last updated 2 May 2002 v2.2