September 2, 2006
Prog was a British movement. It germinated, heavily fertilized, in 1967-The Beatles-and it continues to spread. By its peak as a bona-fide movement-1970-1974--Prog had spawned bands across the channel--Kraftwerk, Can, Focus and PFM--and across the ocean--Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, Utopia and Kansas. Early Prog made claim to the place between classical and experimental situations, much like the Bauhaus, the Surrealists and Funkadelic. Proggers are still serious about making art.Prog as a genretype: the combination of advanced musical and technical knowledge, dramatic, cryptic and otherworldly themes; elaborate staging; and bands frequently swapping virtuosi wearing satin pants.5 Modern Progs Tortoise [Tool][1] Sigur Ros Mogwai Godspeed You Black Emperor!13 Original Progs Soft Machine-Soft Machine 1968 The Pretty Things-S.F. Sorrow 1968 King Crimson-In the Court of the Crimson King 1969 Van Der Graaf Generator-H To He Who Am The Only One 1970 Curved Air--Air Conditioning 1970 Mahavishnu Orchestra-The Inner Mounting Flame 1971 Emerson, Lake and Palmer-Tarkus 1971 Jethro Tull-Thick As A Brick 1972 Yes-Fragile 1972 Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells 1973 Pink Floyd-Dark Side Of The Moon 1973 Fripp & Eno-No Pussyfooting 1973 Genesis-The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 19745 Relatives of Prog Captain Beefheart Queen Kate Bush Wishbone Ash SupertrampLinks [INTERVIEW WITH TOOL'S DANNY CAREY; Street Level podcast][1] [progressiverock.com][2] [progarchives.com][3] [soft machine][4] [king crimson][5] [jethro tull][6] [pink floyd][7] [genesis][8] [1]: http://www.lawrence.com/podcasts/street_level/2006/sep/05/ad_astra_drums/ [2]: http://www.progressiverock.com/ [3]: http://www.progarchives.com/ [4]: http://www.strongcomet.com/wyatt/softs/ [5]: http://www.dgmlive.com/kc/index.htm?artist=2&bio=true [6]: http://www.j-tull.com/discography/thickasabrick/index.html [7]: http://pinkfloyd-co.com/disco/moon/moon_album.html [8]: http://www.genesis-music.com/lamb1.htm
Comments
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leslie (Leslie vonHolten) says...
I wonder if anyone has ever studied prog rock's correlation with higher math scores. Seems like it could be possible.
September 6, 2006 at 9:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tomking (Tom King) says...
You have to pay attention to prog--not just background noise. Might be a link...
September 6, 2006 at 11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thetomdotdot (anonymous) says...
I see a new series: Baby King Crimson.
Hopefully it would produce a better world than the one that allows "Dust in the Wind" to be shrugged off as a "Stairway to Heaven" knock off. (Found buried in one of your links, TK). I wonder if it's the "guitar and the guy singing" similarity or the more glaring underhanded usage of the A minor that makes it so. Those Kansans sure were sneaky bastards. I guess Led Zeppelin unwittingly made it difficult for composers to decide which of the twelve tones to use without infringing on some unwrittten copyright rules enforced by tone deaf music critics. I'd quote Zappa, but I'm tired.
Sorry to be so ornery, but I lived (and played) through the entire era. History is, in general, unkind to prog as if the entire genre were some kind of joke. Sure, people are entitled to think so, but its frustrating to see that no matter what the nature of the music in the context of its time, all we will ever have left when the dust settles is the critique. Sure, you can listen to "Dust in the Wind", but can it ever be the same as when it was first introduced? When it was on the radio in the crappy car stereos of the day? When every garage band singer was stretching to hit the high notes? (all your money won't another minute Buyhighhhhhhhhhhhhh). It was the 'alternative' music of the day and only a handful of prog bands broke through with hits like Kansas did. I remember the feeling of victory. A violin solo on AM rock.
Wishbone Ash put the progress in progressive. That is the definitive statement from the 15 yr old piano student who's first song with a band was "Blowin Free". The guys laughed their asses off at him for asking if anybody had the sheet music. Oh well, he got the job.
Sorry, Tom King, for ranting on your nice blog. I got angry when disco came out and never got over it.
I can only say, that in the best traditions (the pretty not the math) of progressive rock, the most beautiful and unabashedly over the top piece of music ever written and never mentioned is "Grace Darling" written by Dave Cousins of Strawbs. Off the 'Ghosts' album of 1975, it uses the legend of the lighthouse keeper's daughter as a metaphor for life-long love in retrospect. Beware, prepare, (bring kleenex and/or barf bag) and just remember I said over the top.
September 6, 2006 at 1:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AQ4schler (anonymous) says...
There's so much more than the listed 5 modern prog rock acts that are absolutely great. Spock's Beard, Karmakanic, Happy the Man, the Tangent, Flower Kings, and Mattias "IA" Eklund, to name but a few. Good prog tends to slip under most peoples' good music radars more than any other genre. There's some great local prog in Lawrence/KC area, too, or at least plenty of great local bands that are heavily influenced by great prog.
September 6, 2006 at 3 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tomking (Tom King) says...
thetom: rant on. I'm cut from old prog cloth myself.
AQ4: Happy The Man!
Obviously not enough room--or public interest, probably--to list all the notable prog bands... That's what the comments are for. Educate the people, commenters.
September 7, 2006 at 9:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thetomdotdot (anonymous) says...
"There's some great local prog in Lawrence/KC area, too, or at least plenty of great local bands that are heavily influenced by great prog."
For instance? Seriously, I am calling out from under the rock (pun).
September 7, 2006 at 10:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) says...
for the sake of discussion here are some self-labeled local prog bands
http://www.lawrence.com/music/wicked_...
September 7, 2006 at 10:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
feeble (anonymous) says...
So where does Prog-rock end and Post-rock begin? Are the two labels interchangable? I've seen Sigur Ros identified with both.
September 7, 2006 at 11:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
istoltmybass (Andrew Algren) says...
You could check out Emperor Stan over at http://www.myspace.com/emperorstan
September 7, 2006 at 11:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hornband (anonymous) says...
tom, what about these lawrence bands: white whale, blackout gorgeous, tri point paradox, cosmopolitics, ad astra... are they prog-rock? I'm not sure i really know what modern prog sounds like!
September 8, 2006 at 3:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Jester (Nick Spacek) says...
Goddamn... that Yes album is so fucking awesome.
September 8, 2006 at 5:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tomking (Tom King) says...
hornband: I'd say White Whale and Ad Astra are definitely the spawn of Prog--others are related. Actually, I'm hearing lately what I think is a resurgence of the original Prog ethos--it's been about 30 years so the cycle is right. Let's hope there's a tad more restraint in the form this time around.
feeble: Post-rock; that's a new one on me. Do you have a definition?
September 8, 2006 at 6:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thetomdotdot (anonymous) says...
Theres 31 genres listed on elldotcom, and no prog except the wicked prog which appears to be a joke. Thats what I'm talking about.
September 9, 2006 at 10:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
quinno (Patrick Quinn) says...
ooooo... Soft Machine.
Dig deep, my brother.
And where is _Here Comes the Warm Jets_ in this inventory?
September 11, 2006 at 10:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tomking (Tom King) says...
Quinno: HCTWJ is near the top of the heap.
September 11, 2006 at 12:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thetomdotdot (anonymous) says...
Ouch. Forget what I said about Wishbone Ash. Things sure do sound differnt after a few decades.
September 13, 2006 at 9:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tomking (Tom King) says...
thetom: And some Yes and ELP stuff sounds moldy nowadays... and Renaissance is almost embarrassaing. But in the day, they were groundbreakers.
September 13, 2006 at 11:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sjwilson (anonymous) says...
well, it's tempting for a garage-rocker to say it's all a load of shit. but that wouldn't be fair; would it? if, as quinno does, you include the first four eno records...sign me up. see... to me that's just art-rock by an inspired amateur. eno didn't have contempt for rock, or 12 bar blues, or 32-bar pop song form, he was just an artsy-fart who enjoyed manipulating the basic materials. same with lou reed and john cale. they rocked - and combined elements that could be described as either primitive or progressive (depending on the song, and one's perspective). where 'prog' goes too far for me is when it strays too far from paradigmatic rock (blues and folk) forms. much like it's antecendent "math rock," prog was over-populated with people who thought musicality was a product of playing a whole lotta notes in weird time signatures. ain't. never has been - not in classical, not in jazz. but we all have our biases - i like music that embodies qualities i like in actual humans - feeling, sexiness, smarts, humor - so i'll take the new york dolls over van de graaf generator - what can i say?
it's a big beautiful world in which we're free to disagree.
September 13, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thetomdotdot (anonymous) says...
TK:
Aaahh. Thanks for reminding me of my original point. Theres a lot of good stuff mentioned on this blog keeping me busy.
September 13, 2006 at 8:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thetomdotdot (anonymous) says...
sjw:
Ok, I hear you. My bias against music critics is that I rarely know what the fuck they are talking about, but that's just me. Whichever way you swing, I'm more proud of my garage rock heritage than anything else I've done musically. I'm just saying that lots of notes in wierd time signatures WAS garage rock, for a short while, anyway.
I like music that embodies qualities I like in women: soul, complexity, simplicity, harmony, dissonance, and, most of all, obedience.
Whoopsy, never had much success in that last one on either front.
September 14, 2006 at 8:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tomking (Tom King) says...
Little harsh there, Steve. Why would you assume that someone who appreciates prog rock would be incapable of appreciating garage rock, art rock or bubblegum as well? You say you have a problem with critics yet you make narrow-minded criticisms. Ouch!
September 14, 2006 at 9:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tomking (Tom King) says...
Whoops--brain fart. Disregard above comment, Steve. I misread your diplomacy: "...well, it's tempting for a garage-rocker to say it's all a load of shit. but that wouldn't be fair; would it?"
There's room for everything.
September 14, 2006 at 10:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )