Clouda

[D S]

Quite! The question however is, given that Jem doesn't appear to visit this forum any longer, how can we let him know that he does still have a loyal fan base who enjoy all that he has done and do still feel that Frost* remains relevant, for the very reasons set out above? Difficult to put all that in a Tweet!

[Trapezium Artist]

Quite! The question however is, given that Jem doesn't appear to visit this forum any longer, how can we let him know that he does still have a loyal fan base who enjoy all that he has done and do still feel that Frost* remains relevant, for the very reasons set out above? Difficult to put all that in a Tweet!

So put it in three tweets :-)

But as one who in fact eschews the 140 character Tower of Babel, I feel compelled to quote the good Doctor:

The Doctor: Human souls. Trapped like flies in the World Wide Web. Stuck forever. Crying out for help.
Clara: Isn't that basically Twitter?

[tigermoth]

Thanks Gonzo. Well you could always send jem a message with a link to this page I guess, whilst  stressing that the threat of violence is purely hypothetical. Lol. As for whether Frost is "relevant", is Night At The Opera stil relevant? Sergeant pepper? Bridge over Troubled Water? I'm implying yes, just to clear up any doubt. I think both albums are outstanding, but Million Town has something special. I don't think I can put my finger on it, but it does. And as for being prolific, I understand the pressure of thinking one needs to get an album out there, and to be honest there's so much talk on this forum saying "Come on where the hell's this new album FFS" or feelings to that effect. I've said it myself. On one hand Jem might feel pressured to put out something substandard for the sake of getting it out there, but if he doesn't visit this forum any more it might be that he's just trying to distance himself for a while to not be influenced by those feelings. But, the old saying stil stands, quality over quantity. I agree with you Gonzo about DT and NM. I've been collecting their stuff for a while, but I kind of stopped because the stuff is great, but it's kind of the same stuff. Even Kaiper who I love, well I sometimes find myself thinking "Which album is this?". What ever I think about EIMA, it was certainly different from MT, and TDL was something else too. I wish we could assure Jem that Frost is stil relevant, and further more, his contribution to music in general but Prog inparticular canot ever be ignored. And while we all want a new awesome Frost album, I don't care if it takes another 5 years, as long as its the album they want to make. I think Clouda will be great, and will definitely make our minds work.

[owen]

Not to make disparaging comments about the illustrious Mr G but he can be a bit of a weathercock. How many times has he broken up? I'd suggest just letting him get on with it. Frost was originally done because he wanted to get away from his day job of rhyming love with dove or bruv as I recall. I doubt many on this website would turn down a JG solo album instead of  Frost one, and I doubt either would sell by the bucket load, so if he's in an optimistic frame of mind then fine, press record. If he feels Frost is becoming a millstone that's not good for him at all. Mind, I'd agree about the comments that no one sounds like them. Here's hoping Clouda is out before Xmas. Preferably this Xmas

[Mikey]

Sorting the wheat from the chaff, I think there are 3 main points in there

running 2 careers side by side for 10 uninterrupted years

For the record, Frost isn't dead

it's just good to be back and loving it all once more

[D S]

Good point - although I'm not sure about the "uninterrupted" bit.  Seem to remember Frost* getting binned on 2 or 3 occasions for lengthy periods until Jem decided to resurrect it... 

[Fogeyspasm]

I don't ever really understand the music as being "relevant"?
ELO Out Of The Blue, one of my favourite albums, was it relevant at release or is it now?
I don't care because it puts a smile on my face when I play it.

Good music will always be good music. Sometimes the lyrics date it (Yes), sometimes the sounds(80's Simmons drums etc), but who cares?

Frost* = Awesome melodies that are catchy (A rarity in "Prog" ), modern soundscapes and sounds but with enough "widdle" to keep the "Proggies" happy without resorting to a DT note fest.
As A.J. said. Frost* sound like Frost*. Nobody else.

Blimey!
I don't think I have ever done a post with so many " and ? in it.
I need to sit down with a biscuit and a big mug of tea.

Note to Mr Godfrey if you are passing through. Crack on when the time feels right. We can wait (a bit  )
Frost*, is, was, and will still be relevant to us all.
Now what was all that bollocks i was going about music being relevant. I have just contradicted myself above.
Must give my head a shake and have a word with myself!

[gr8gonzo]

Agreed on the majority of the above. As most of us know and respect, he's stated on many occasion that Frost* is a hobby. Life doesn't revolve around hobbies. The man's got an angel of a wife and a shoe full of kids to think of. He shouldn't feel pressured to produce a damn thing. Sometimes he's become disenchanted with it and taken a step back, but he's thus far come back, rejuvenated and inspired. The problem is that, in his excitement, he often announces his intentions which in turn creates expectation. The man has always been extremely generous with his fans, so it's appalling to me that anyone would gripe for him changing his mind on a project. I've seen it happen. Those people need to find something better to do with their time - like write and record a quality album. Let's see how quickly they manage it. While some have and will certainly become impatient waiting for new material from him, I'm content with whatever timetable that suits him. Always have been. You can't rush that level of quality. We're all our own worst critic. He can't objectively look at his own material and feel how we do about it, because he wrote it. Whether 6MIS sees the light of day in whole, in half or in pieces, next year or next decade, you know it's going to be good. And that's worth the wait.

[Brom]

Not to make disparaging comments about the illustrious Mr G but he can be a bit of a weathercock. How many times has he broken up?

I had noticed this, and it got me thinking.... not that I'm much in the way of a psychologist you understand.

It can't be easy having a hobby which is technically the same as your day job. Either at the end of the day, it's not that really that much fun to do as it's too close to what you've been doing all day and most folk have had enough of that by 5 o'clock, or it makes your day job seem less attractive - and as that's what pays the bills, so you have to keep at it whatever.

Add to that having a family to raise and the associated distractions, I can easily see why the above might happen.

EDIT - And I've now read Gonzo's post above which more or less says the same as wot I did. Teach me to dive in head first! 

[Drarok]

It can't be easy having a hobby which is technically the same as your day job. Either at the end of the day, it's not that really that much fun to do as it's too close to what you've been doing all day and most folk have had enough of that by 5 o'clock, or it makes your day job seem less attractive - and as that's what pays the bills, so you have to keep at it whatever.

Hmm, I dunno. I have a hobby which is also the same as my day job (which is why I aimed my life in that direction in the first place – I knew I enjoyed it). Some days, you're definitely right; coming home and thinking about doing some hobby time is out of the question after a long/bad day. Other days, I'm actually willing my work day to hurry up and end so I can work on my own thing. And sometimes (just sometimes) I find myself working on my personal stuff at work and have to put in the equivalent hours of actual work from home to make up for it.

I guess what I'm inadequately trying to say is "sometimes".

[Mikey]

I don't ever really understand the music as being "relevant"?
ELO Out Of The Blue, one of my favourite albums, was it relevant at release or is it now?
I don't care because it puts a smile on my face when I play it.

Good music will always be good music. Sometimes the lyrics date it (Yes), sometimes the sounds(80's Simmons drums etc), but who cares?

Frost* = Awesome melodies that are catchy (A rarity in "Prog" ), modern soundscapes and sounds but with enough "widdle" to keep the "Proggies" happy without resorting to a DT note fest.
As A.J. said. Frost* sound like Frost*. Nobody else.

I've never understood this relevant bit either.
Should I bin any albums that are over, say, 5 years old?

Quick answer to that one is easy. No! it would include Milliontown.

In fact  does it mean all bands should pack up after a few years?

[D S]

In fact  does it mean all bands should pack up after a few years?

If so, clearly nobody has told the Rolling Stones... 

[Trapezium Artist]

In fact  does it mean all bands should pack up after a few years?

If so, clearly nobody has told the Rolling Stones... 

The window of opportunity before they became decrepit was rather narrow: they're all deaf now, so can't hear you suggesting that they hang up their cardies.

I mean, not that it applies to Frost* in any way, shape, or form ('cos they're too young :-), but it is interesting that almost the earliest generation of rock and pop musicians is generally still alive and just about kicking (as opposed to individuals, many of whom have gone).

Any many of them, 50+ years on, are still performing live.

I am personally deeply ambivalent about this, and could wax lyrical for hours on what it means for the generations that have grown up with them. At least when they were young, they more or less only appealed to the contemporary generation, but by now, if and when the Stones play, it's not only to their contemporaries (in their zimmer frames), but also to all of the subsequent generations, to whom they're not "just" a band, but also "legends".

What does this say about music in general, I wonder. I mean, younger generations still go and listen to Mahler, of course, but it's really not the same thing as seeing the Stones (or any of many such bands) themselves actually "playing".

'Nuff said: don't get me started ...

[Mikey]

Some of the best bands I've seen recently have starred some "old fogeys"
Carl Palmer
Geoff Downes
John Wetton
Manfred Mann

Note the Frost* connection

[Trapezium Artist]

Some of the best bands I've seen recently have starred some "old fogeys"
Carl Palmer
Geoff Downes
John Wetton
Manfred Mann

Note the Frost* connection

But Mikey, that's because you're an old fogey trapped in a miasma of nostalgia yourself: you can't let go of your youth, even though in reality, it left the building years ago.

I speak from a position of self-knowledge 

The critical point, I think, is that the first rock and pop generation in the late 50's introduced the idea of eternal youth and we all bought into it. In previous generations, it seems as though there was a much more significant divide between adolescence and adulthood, but those demarcations are deeply blurred now, and every subsequent generation has been able to remain 18 in some form or other.

A confluence of many phenomena, including longer lives and easy access to an all-encompassing audiovisual media library spanning decades of culture have, it seems, made us all into Peter Pans, neither wanting or needing to accept growing old (yet). And as we cling onto the past, we also drag in younger generations into our churning maelstrom of old and new, each subsequent generation keeping the music of its youth around too, with pretty much every genre of music still keeping its niche audience.

Of course, many of us would claim that we cling on to the musical past because it's palpably better than the musical present. Even if that's true, to what extent is radical and revitalising development in modern music hampered by the cobwebs of the every generation since the 1950's still draped all over the curtains?

I suspect that a key transition will come when the original bands of our youth really do call it a day or simply die of old age. It's one (debatable) thing to go and watch Yes play now with a substitute younger lead singer, but what happens when they're all gone, and it's essentially a completely ersatz tribute band? Will people really go and see them play live in the numbers that people flocked in the 1970s? The recorded music may well carry on, but live music will be something else.

Classical music never really had this problem: the link between the composer and the performance was generally weaker and could more easily survive the departure of the composer. But rock and pop has always had a much more significant link between studio band / recording artist and live gig ...

Yes, there are many exceptions to my theory and I'm sure it's possible to shoot holes in it from all angles. Maybe once the early generations of rock bands finally pop their clogs, music will finally experience a revitalising epiphany. Or perhaps rock and pop will in fact prove to be an ~50-100 year ephemeral phenomenon whose time may be up sooner rather than later.

I could go on; I often do