I understand what your saying but you should understand that I am obviously not coming from the same place as you at all.
Plus there is a story and plot in both however the second one is fairly personal and if I told you it would make sense, the first one is conceptual and if you aren't into thinking then you probably wouldn't get it.
If you got some cool imagery out of it than that is really what I am going for.
Look at Tool, can you pick out a narrative on almost any of the songs on Lateralus? I can but I have a lot of experiences that let me know what they are talking about, plus I have thought about it. Maybe you don't know what "the Grudge" is about. I know exactly what it is about though, in fact I have lived it, but if you haven't then you have no idea.
I gotta mention the Mars Volta again. Deloused is an incredibly interesting Science fiction story about a guy's dreams while he is in a coma. You would never really know it unless you knew it though. and even then it is still crazy conceptual and doesn't make a lot of real sense, but tell me how often you have dreams that really make sense when you start to look at them in relation to "reality". However not only do the vocals work amazingly with the music but they all still convey the feeling they are meant to, at least they do if you "get it". I don't know, maybe they don't for everyone but it makes sense to me and they paint an incredibly rich, deep and complex story.
Anyways, my point is not to get defensive, but imagery is much more important to me than whether or not you understand the story, because if I can convey the imagery and communicate the idea it may not be immediately obvious to you but if you think about it it should come out. That is my goal. Thats what I want to know about them.
If the imagery is at least interesting and provocative than you can begin to build a story from it and because it is up to you to discern meaning it will be much more meaningful (as in filled with meaning). Thats the idea anyway.
So imagery is what I am looking for, not pop sensibility.
Oh and as far as the structure goes. Like I said I write progressive stuff so song structure is not rock or pop structure I deliberately break it in order to tell a more complex and dynamic story. It allows me to change not only the feeling of the song throughout it but the meaning as well, it is more like a movie or book, continually building on itself and revealing more and more information to tell a story that goes from a to b to d then to c (for example), rather than a story with a singular meaning or plot line.
I do repeat structures and patterns but the words are not kept the same each time. Musically this allows me to move from section to section in a more symphonic way (like prog rock tends to do) instead of having a very static composition.
Anyway like I said I don't want to come off as being defensive (at least not overly so) but it does seem as though (if you don't like thinking) we are at an philosophical impass.
I guess my point is... how is the imagery working for you? ;)
