So is this a prog rock song? Gauntlet

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What does it matter if it’s a prog rock, rock, pop, jazz rock or whatever song?

For my part, I don’t give any importance to genre, style or category, whether the song is danceable or not. The attraction to me is what matters. If the first measures challenge me, I tend to go further in listening. Sometimes it’s the rhythm, the melody, the lyrics, the arrangement, the mix or simply the atmosphere that encourages me to listen more deeply.

I have listened to this song more than once because of the quality of the voice, the simplicity and the attraction of the melody, the quality of the arrangement and the mixing, the interesting contrasts that arise in these few minutes of music.

It’s an excellent song for all these reasons and maybe others that my subconscious suggests to me.

Sometimes a song can remind us of certain bands from a certain era and genre they were tagged with, but…it doesn’t really matter…This song is Shadowfax6 at its best… .

Very well done!

100% in line with Rene. Genre is no critical at all, on this forum, we find all of them, and we do appreciate from classic to hard-rock…
Your voice pleased me. I don’t know a lot about mixing voice, but it is clear, in front of us and understandable.
the other instruments are also very well supporting. Really nice work.

Apreciate your answers, thank you,

Maybe not prog rock but still a very well composed and performed tune. To me the mix appears to be a bit on the bright side or maybe it is lacking somewhat on the bass/mid tones. I too like the vocals a lot.

I think your right Hko, will take a look at beefing the bass a little, thanks.
Just beefed it up a bit now…

Great stuff, Kevin! Not prog rock. A really good rock ballad, I’d say.

Nice song, performance, and production. I do think it’s kind of in the later 70’s/early 80’s Prog bag. The lyrics and production tip it into that direction a bit, but I do feel like a few others here that genre labels help us to describe things in some ways, but it does ultimately come down to how we hear things and what our references may be as both listeners and performers. That said, this was a good song, that was completed and presented very well.
John

Thank you John, apreciate the listen and comments.

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Good song knmack681. Very well produced. I envy the voice you have. Don’t worry about the genre. Here is a not prog song at all, composed by a completely prog band.

Think of Me with Kindness (2011 Remaster) - YouTube

Thank you for your kind words Joss,

Good song knmack681. Very well produced. I envy the voice you have. Don’t worry about the genre. Here is a not prog song at all, composed by a completely prog band.

I find it slightly amusing that you should mention the Gentle Giant tune as an example of a not-prog song when it has all the ingredients (rather complex structure/chords and different time signatures) and also the stylistic choices of a prog tune. I think there are better examples of not-prog songs performed by groups which have been considered as prog groups.

Such as?

The level of «prog» in that song compare to the other songs of that Octopus album was way lower for me. Perception… perception…

For example Misunderstanding by Genesis.

You’re right. But it was a prog group turning into a pop rock group at that time.

I remember, I used to make (maybe bad) jokes about Genesis and Phil Collins back then, saying you could buy cases of Genesis albums at Costco with that kind of music universally played on the radio.

At the time these came out I didn’t like the way Genesis had turned out to be, but I must confess that I quite like them today. However, a bit later somehow I was into Phil Collins solo records. I think most of those songs might have fared much worse over time (In the Air Tonight excluded of course).

Very nice! Nice clean mix.
It does have just a little of that anthemic, grandiose 1970s prog rock sound.
A break down section with sound effects! Very cinematic and more than a little proggy!

A very nice song, easy to listen to, well produced and performed (I wish I could sing like you :wink: ). However, ‘Prog Rock’ implies some degree of originality of which there is very little here. Originality requires a certain degree of risk taking, courage and a deeper exploration of ideas, ‘throw s.it up the wall’ and see what sticks.

My criticism in no way aims denigrate your fine piece of work, I enjoyed it a lot, and that’s really what it’s all about. Keep it up.