I've always felt prog metal was too specific and limiting a direction to go in. A general rock sound, yes, with character-specific variations, but when you commit to just one style, you lose something.
I'm reminded of the words of old hand E.Y. Harburg: "A song [...] is custom-made. You have to write something that will fit a singer's style and ability, but you also have to know the character that is being laid. Today, young composers beat out one with rhythm and energy without any differentiation for character. Everything depends on the beat. Everything sounds the same. Somebody did a rock version of one of my plays. The young guy sang rock. Fine. So did his boss. When the hippie and the big executive both sing rock songs, the big executive loses his dignity and you lose the differentiation between the two. That's why you're not getting shows on Broadway except
Godspell and
Hair. They're just infantile charades, all the characters drumming and the same yah-yah-yah. A songwriter, like a tailor, has got to measure his customer." So too, I would argue, an orchestrator.
And there are a plethora of rock styles to be played with. I could see some Jim Steinman type arrangements here, an acoustic arrangement of "Green Finch..." a la "Blackbird" by The Beatles (especially with that finger-picking style playing off the voice; I think it would be lovely) there, the Judge's "Johanna" first resembling baroque pop (for that authoritarian air) not unlike "Walk Away Renee" and then coming unglued, etc.
Formerly gvendo2005
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Updated On: 8/6/14 at 08:55 AM
