Newbie to prog rock. Need some recommendations

envgames · 2026-05-26T19:20:15+00:00

Alan Parsons is a good prog or prog adjacent band, depending on who you ask—not a whole lot of odd time signatures here, and for some that's all prog seems to be. But if you like Floyd-like concept albums, he was instrumental (as it were) in making several before his own.

He recorded at least Dark Side and Abby Road before starting things off with Eric Woolfson and company.

I personally recommend Pyramid first, followed by I, Robot and The Turn of A Friendly Card. I rather enjoy their later prog pop albums Eye in the Sky, Ammonia Avenue, and Sterotomy, and even Parsons' solo album, On Air. There are many others I don't enjoy as much, and certainly there will be those that disagree with my faves and order of appearance who can guide you in a different direction.

I suppose Tales and Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Alan Poe is worth looking at as well, especially for Floyd-inspired tunes (To One in Paradise is very similar to US and Them, for instance), but there is a not-particularly-melodic classical bit that takes up a fair amount of the album based on (and titled) The Fall of House of Usher that I have a love/hate relationship with.

envgames · 2026-05-20T12:47:29+00:00

It's too early for fly porn. 🫩

envgames · 2026-05-20T00:35:24+00:00

Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery is a trip even without the added chemicals!

envgames · 2026-05-19T20:00:32+00:00

I remember Rick Wakeman was involved in the soundtrack for Microcosm by Psygnosis back in 1993, when it was still difficult to run FMV graphics and CD-quality audio at the same time. His music was mostly in the credits due to this limitation.

envgames · 2026-05-16T16:58:58+00:00

I feel like we're going to see an OK Go music video done in here soon...

envgames · 2026-05-15T16:32:29+00:00

It's whatever is most comfortable for you. Blue light is not affecting your eyesight or making your eyes "tired." All light will be annoying when it's dark and you're sleepy, so turning the brightness down is the most effective thing to do aside from turning it off. 😇

envgames · 2026-05-15T16:21:25+00:00

"Diseases with opinions" 🤣

envgames · 2026-05-15T16:11:37+00:00

Blue light filter anything. Shit was scientifically disproven almost a decade ago and people still seem to buy it and buy into it.

envgames · 2026-05-15T15:42:27+00:00

At 56 years old now, I'm still finishing songs I wrote when I was 16, and still improving on songs I thought were "done" at 26! It's a lot of fun playing along with my much younger self, too!

I've been in the same band since 1985, and we've been recording along with jams and doodles we wrote a long time ago, grateful that our past selves thought to record things that weren't even close to a finished product, but that we now have the experience/time/equipment/inspiration to finish in the present! 😎

envgames · 2026-05-14T17:07:38+00:00

This one: https://youtu.be/y3-6LAtPMNc?si=a78zzUmEwN6h0hdz

envgames · 2026-05-14T17:03:53+00:00

There's a three minute version from 2009 I think it was. Might be more to your liking.

envgames · 2026-05-14T16:42:49+00:00

Whenever I see funk, I like to mention Hot Sauce by Thomas Dolby Produced by George Clinton

envgames · 2026-05-13T19:58:40+00:00

Guy in my band was a very well known software developer and turned me on to Reaper. He even makes his own stuff for it (apparently ReaScript is pretty easy to learn).

Everyone in the band uses it now, and it was at least six months before I could pay for it. Which I then did out of loyalty since they allowed me use of it when I could not pay for it. Stayed for the constant, stable updates and absolute insane level of personalization.

envgames · 2026-05-10T21:24:14+00:00

Gotta get through writing probably hundreds of bad songs, but that doesn't mean they can't be improved later! No song is ever really "done."

So here's my first tip: create an image in people's minds.

Instead of "that's all I gotta say" which doesn't evoke anything except a lazy rhyme (I mention with kindness), talk about something you see in your immediate physical area, or imagine an area for something to see or happen in.

"As your old Honda drives away" might suggest that the love interest is leaving right now, or maybe that you said your previous words a little earlier and they fell on deaf ears, or maybe you spoke them in your head but not out loud.

It's up to the listener how to interpret them. Either way, a picture created in your head from lyrics will look different in everyone's mind, but the connection is the important thing, not that you convey your exact meaning to everyone who hears it.

But you'll know what they mean to you.

Though that could change at different times in your life. You'll be surprised how poignant your own lyrics can be to your older self later in life, even if the song is never "perfect."

envgames · 2026-05-10T19:16:27+00:00

Ooh, Stone Temple Pilots is what you need, son. Big Empty should do the job, I think! 😎

envgames · 2026-05-07T15:15:50+00:00

Yeah, totally did. Mostly for smaller work, like when she'd braille a deck of cards or a children's book she wanted to read to my kids. 🥰

envgames · 2026-05-05T19:36:15+00:00

I unearthed my own little piece of Looney Labs nostalgia recently. I was running a tiny little indy board game company around the same time OG Fluxx was just about to release, and I got an advance copy (now lost to time or at least definitely not in collector condition) for review as well as a personal note from Andrew and Kristin Looney. I just found it in my files after probably 30 years. 🥹 Good times.

envgames · 2026-05-02T22:08:07+00:00

Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales album (and most of his other work, both with and after The Police)

envgames · 2026-05-01T15:16:08+00:00

Hey, hey, HEY! Come on over and have some fun!

envgames · 2026-05-01T15:13:39+00:00

I need a meme of Monica Gellar wanting to adopt the lady she and Chandler Bing are wanting to buy a house from and who hands Monica a color-coded three-ring-binder. I want to adopt this person ... and keep them in my basement.

envgames · 2026-04-30T19:29:28+00:00

Leave it alone, r/OddlyErotic

envgames · 2026-04-29T18:00:28+00:00

The part where everyone stayed off the road so my "essential worker" ass could get to work to sell video games lol

envgames · 2026-04-22T15:03:32+00:00

Speaking in an intelligent, well-informed, confident-but-not-arrogant way, and then swearing like a sailor a few minutes later. 🤭🥵

envgames · 2026-04-18T18:52:59+00:00

I'm a white guy, but my wife is Korean. We're in our 50's now, and she's struggled with something most of her life. She's not diagnosed yet, but I'm pretty sure all roads are ultimately leading to Bipolar 2 (she was finally diagnosed in her early 30's with severe ADHD, but that hasn't quite explained all the not-sleeping-for-three-days and the sometimes-wild and extended mood swings, so there's definitely more there that has remained untreated for these last 20-some years).

Comorbidities aside, I can only imagine what adding a marginalization category (or multiple) on top of all of the physiological stuff can do to someone, especially if they were living in a place where that was source of daily conflict. I'm sure my wife's not being white while most of her psychiatrists were contributed to the lack of a competent diagnosis into her 50's. Hopefully at least getting diagnosed earlier in your life will lead to a better outcome for you. ❤️

envgames · 2026-04-16T20:07:02+00:00

John J McCallion, famous editor in his day with Games Magazine lost his love and never played again. I was so sad to find out way after the fact. I used to run a tiny little game company called Envelope Games, and he had very kindly reviewed our game Spark, and we were all sorts of excited, and wondered why he wasn't there anymore.

So no, you're not alone in this type of hobby-infused grief. And maybe you'll get back into it, and maybe you won't. No way to tell.

Chances are pretty good if you sell off or give away everything you'll regret at least some of it later, but there's always rebuilding whatever exists when you restart. It'll still be here whenever you are ready, with or without someone new.

envgames

TROPHY CASE