History Lesson, Part 3

Continued from Yesterday

Classic Era, Part 2: Expansion and New Directions
As the early 70s gave way to the mid 70s, prog was in full bloom. Now that the form was established, the major developments were the rise of new bands, disbandment or reshaping of old ones, and the fruition of international prog rock. The Big Six became less important during this time. In 1974, King Crimson broke up, and Yes and Genesis went on hiatus and had lineup and direction changes after they returned (’77 and ’76, respectively). ELP had a hiatus until ’78 without a lineup change. While Tull continued through the mid 70’s, they had lineup changes and their albums are generally considered to be not quite as strong as their pre-1974 work. Only Floyd, with strong efforts in Wish You Were Here (1975) and Animals (1977) went through the mid 70s much the same as the early.
In the wake of this, other bands emerged in British prog. Camel, perhaps the best known of these, released the transcending Mirage (1974) and all instrumental The Snow Goose in 1975. Although German, the band Eloy played in a British space rock style with English lyrics and is well known for psych prog albums like Ocean (1977). Other bands that were of lesser importance before the decline of the Big Six became better known. Gentle Giant had released music since 1970 in the prog folk and later symphonic vein, but achieved more recognition in the mid 70s. Many minor bands produced a single well known album at this point.
Prog found new strength overseas. Germany’s prog scene grew by inventing electronic prog. This style is simply electronic music, but with progressive structure and form. Synthesizers are used heavily. Tangerine Dream became the most famous of these bands. Initially an ambient unit bordering on prog, TD started to innovate more heavily and use the Mellotron synthesizer to great effect. Phaedra (1974) and Rubycon (1975) stand up as their greatest. Klaus Schulze became one of prog’s few solo acts on his prog-electronic albums. Frenchman Jean-Michelle Jarre is also associated with this style, especially on 1976’s Oxygene. Krautrock became less prominent in Germany at the time, but still had a following, with bands like Neu!
Italy had a brief but very productive period of prog fever from 1972 until 1976. Italian style of prog followed Italian classical patterns, with little Jazz influence. The synthesizers made in Italy at the time also give their music a distinctive flavor. Most lyrics were in Italian, unlike the Germans, who sung in English about half the time. Unfortunately, Italian bands often disbanded after just one album. Those that lasted longer tended to gain the most notoriety. Some with longevity included Banco Il Muto Sorccorso, known for Darwin! (1972), and Il sono nato libero (1973). Le Orme, from Venice, gained fame for albums such as Felona e Sorona (1973), and Premiata Forneria Marconi, or PFM, was well loved for albums like Per un Amico (1972) and L’isola di Niente (1974).
The Unites States and Canada developed a prog scene at this time. Their style tended to have a more accessible, mainstream side to it. These albums are sometimes ignored by prog elitists, but often wrongly so. The heaviest prog activity in the States took place in the Midwest, while Quebec province produced a large share of Canadian prog. America’s best known prog acts of the age included Kansas, who’s Leftoverture (1976) produced the famed single “Carry on Wayward Son”. America, like Italy, had a high number of one-off bands. Canada’s prog pride and joy is undoubtedly Rush. Their signature falsetto from Geddy Lee and strong drumming from Neil Peart showcases itself on albums like 2112 (1976) and Hemispheres (1978).
Other areas saw prog grow. Dutch and Belgian prog grew larger and more extensive, France developed a grand-piano centered style that spread into Switzerland, Scandinavia developed a dark, heavy prog, Spain produced many symphonic albums, Japan and Brazil each had unique style. While Ireland, Australia and New Zealand barely experienced prog rock, each produced a band or two in a mostly English style. Prog had reached her peak.

The End of Classic Progressive Rock and Prog Today
Unfortunately, Prog started declining in 1977, especially in the Anglophone world. Groups like The Ramones and The Sex Pistols had brought Punk to the fore in Britain. Since the point of punk is rebellion, crime, sleaziness, and anarchy, prog and punk mentality clashed extensively. Punk won in the end, essentially killing prog in England for a five year period, and it has never fully recovered. From 1978 on, I consider Germany to be the home base of Prog. The United States had a similar decline, but Disco instead of punk did the damage. The rest of the world didn’t really see a sudden end of prog, just a slow devolution into neo-prog, alternative, and post rock.
However, when does the age of classic prog end? As mentioned before, besides the start of the classic age, there are few set dates in prog. This question is debated hotly amongst the progheads. The most common dates are: 1) 1977, with the advent of punk, 2) 1978, due to the horrendous Love Beach album by ELP, a commercial sell out of the most quirky prog band, 3) 1979, with the over-pretentious The Wall from Pink Floyd, and 4) 1982, when the group Asia released their s/t debut. The group consisted of prog veterans, and was pure pop music without a hint of prog. Personally, I prefer not one but a two date system. Since many areas of the world, especially Spain and Germany, were producing strong Prog into the early 80's, I can't bring myself to cut them off from the age of the classics. Yet, these regions got started later than Britan. Therefore, for this blog's purposes, 1969-1979 will be the classic age in Britain and America, and 1971-1982 marks the classic age of prog in the rest of the world.
A dark age of prog defined the decade from 1982-1992. The output of prog reduced itself to perhaps five percent or less of the golden age output. Former prog giants such as Genesis and Yes turned into pop groups. Prog was driven deep underground, where only a few bands produced records. The most acclaimed band of the period is Marillon, with albums like Script for a Jester’s Tear (1983) and Misplaced Childhood (1985) keeping prog rock alive. Germany, as the new home base, produced natable bands such as Orzic Tentacles (of whom I currently know very little about). During the period of the 80's. Genesis and to a lesser extent Yes found massive success as pop bands, having abandoned prog. King Crimson breifly reformed as a new wave group.
Suddently, a very brief breath of fresh air lifted the prog community during the mid 90’s, when Swedish group Änglagård released Hybris in 1992. Unsatisfied with the state of prog as it was, the group purchased synths and guitars only made before 1975, and produced a symphonic prog album similar to something of that time. This revitalized an interest in prog rock. Metal and prog soon mixed, and essentialy all prog rock currently produced is known as progressive metal. I for one, consider these only metal bands without the least bit progressive element to them. The age of prog metal began in 1995, and bands like Dream Theatre, Tool, and Opeth have become the most famous.
Today, ELP is long gone, and Pink Floyd is no more with the death of Rick Wright (though in practice, they've been gone since 1995.) King Crimson has remained together, but has not toured recently. Genesis still exists as a pop band. Yes has retrned to thier prog roots, and still tours, as well as Jethro Tull. Since all of the major players of the classic prog area are over 60 thankfully, prog has a low drug casualty rate), it's hard to find them in concert, but many still play. Prog festivals are held in many places of the world.


Well, thanks for enduring all the basic training. Next time, I'll start acctually recomending music! Until then, Prog on, my friends.

History Lesson, Part 2

Continued from yesterday

Classic Era, Part 1: Innovation and Differentiation
In 1970 and 1971, prog bands sprung up all over the UK wanting to try out this new brand of music. Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull switched styles, while Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (henceforth referred as ELP), Yes, and Genesis emerged. With King Crimson, these 6 bands formed prog’s “Big Six”, the most influential, well known, and successful of the prog bands. Some of the great new ideas thrown around during this period included use of the Moog synthesizer, cover art gimmicks, more innovative bass guitar and drum playing to match the melodic instruments, side long suites, and more jazz influence in playing. There are three major branches of prog rock from this era: symphonic prog, Psychedelic prog / Space Rock, and Jazz/Folk type progressive.
Probably half of all prog ever, and more than half from the classic era, falls under the Symphonic Prog label. Of the Big Six, 3 were purely sympho-prog, and the others all were hybrids with another genre. Symphonic prog is known for its lush keyboards, long songs, complex time signatures, frequently occurring fantasy and sci-fi lyrics, and a strong melody. The most token example of sympho-prog is Yes. This 5 man unit produced some of the most classic and well known prog albums, such as The Yes Album (1971), Fragile, and Close to the Edge (both 1972). Yes’s signatures include the dexterous classical guitar playing of Steve Howe, slap-bass style of Chris Squire, the falsetto of Jon Anderson, and the Roger Dean painted album art of sci-fi landscapes. Genesis also proved a popular concert draw during this period. Their best known early works include Foxtrot (1972) and Selling England by the Pound (1973). Peter Gabriel’s singing of fantasy lyrics and his on-stage costumes was their best known draw at the time. ELP, a Bass & Vocals/Keys/Drum trio, was best known for their classical arrangements with new electronic instruments and their general whimsical approach to music. Best known of their albums are their s/t debut (1970), Tarkus (1971), and Brain Salad Surgery (1973). Many more obscure bands championed this style in the early 1970’s, including Curved Air, Gentle Giant, Focus, Aphrodite’s Child, and Flash.
The Psychedelic prog rockers continued with the 1960s love of experimenting and freeform music. These albums typically feature transitions, sound effects, complicated playing, and a general spacious feel, and concerts from psych proggers often featured lavish laser and video elements. The dominant band of psych prog is also progressive rock’s most famous sons, Pink Floyd. They’re known the world over for David Gilmour’s “double playing” guitar, the recently late Rick Wright’s lush keyboards, Roger Water’s existential lyrics, and iconic album art from Hippignosis studios. Their best albums from the first portion of prog’s golden age are Meddle (1971) and The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), which remained on the billboard charts longer than any other in history (and is my favorite album). As an offshoot of psychedelic prog, space rock formed. While the general feel of the music is similar, space rock is more repetitive, droning, and open, with an ambient feel and heavy reliance on electronics. The leader of these space rock groups were Hawkwind, an ever changing group of musicians led by Dave Brock. Doremi Fasol Latido (1972) and especially the 1973 live album Space Ritual set the stage for these releases. Other bands of the psych/space style include Nektar and Os Mutanes.
Other bands took a folksier or jazzy approach to prog. The folk- following tangent was small, but had a strong helm in the form of Jethro Tull. Known for Ian Anderson’s vocals, flute playing, and heavy social commentary in his lyrics, Tull won many fans during this period. Pink Floyd sold the most albums, but Jethro Tull was the prog kings of the singles chart. Their best known works of the time include Aqualung (1971) and Thick as a Brick (1972). Jazz and Prog fused together well, as their mentality towards the making of music paralleled each other. While In the Court of the Crimson King is firmly a symphonic prog album, as the entire band but guitarist Robert Fripp quit after its making, he decided to take the band in a jazzier direction. Circus (1970) is the best of the jazz albums. Crimson would soon take a turn towards a more hard rock approach on Lark’s Tongues in Aspic (1973) and Red (1974), which was rare for prog at this time but would become the style in the neo-prog age, solidifying their content. Jazz prog had many sub scenes. The Canterbury scene, based around Canterbury, England featured improvisational jazz artists using rock and jazz instrumentation to create a unique form of melodic and rhythmic jazz. It’s most famous members include Soft Machine and Gong. Soft Machine’s Third (1970) and Gong’s Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy (3 albums released during 1973 and 1974) are hallmark Canterbury albums. Jazz Fusion is considered to be a form of prog, led by bands such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra, with albums like Birds of Fire (1973).
At this point in prog history, prog was mostly a British music form. Minor albums came out in various areas, often in Holland or Belgium, but nothing extremely well-recognized happened. The exception was the German Krautrockers. These bands rejected melody completely, preferring ear shattering sonic waves, minimalism, and electronic feel. Krautrock also often features extremely long or extremely short songs, droning guitar and drum rhythm, and some classical influence. The best loved of the Krautrock groups was Can. 1971’s Tago Mago double album provides the textbook example of Krautrock, with Ege Bysami (1972) and Future Days (1973) not far behind. Amon Duul II, Ash Ra Temple, and Faust are amongst the Krautrock groups of the early 1970’s.

Intro, Definitions, and a History Lesson

Hey, all. I’ve decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while: write articles on my beloved progressive (prog) rock. Those of you that navigated here are all smart people, and I think you’ll really enjoy this music if you choose to explore it. Sorry for being such a dinosaur with my music tastes. I hope to do this at least monthly, maybe more. The schedule will be sporadic. Some articles will be in a list format, like Cracked.com or something up that vein. “10 Most Innovative Pink Floyd Songs”, “12 Great Prog Bands with Female Singers”, or “10 Best Prog Albums from Japan”, for example. Others will just be typical article fare. They normally won’t be anywhere near this long. However, I thought it right to just have a general overview of prog’s style and history as a good way to start. There are many key terms here, try to remember the styles more than bands or albums, as those can be jogged easier. Due to length, I'm publishing it in three parts. Do enjoy!
*Quick note, s/t means an eponymous album

What is Prog?

Progressive Rock, also known as Prog or Art Rock, is a subgenre of rock music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that intends to expand and retool the boundaries of traditional rock n’ roll. Prog rock integrates structures and instruments from jazz, classical and global music, and occasionally invents completely new elements. Lyrical concepts include fantasy, politically-charged, abstract, symbolic, literature-based, and existential topics rather than love and dancing (although the prog love song is still moderately common). The typical verse-bridge-chorus structure of pop music is distorted or eliminated. Large suites or melodies exceeding 10, 15, or sometimes even 20 minutes are a signature of prog rock. Musicians play with the timbre of the instruments, often in improvisation. The 4/4 rhythm we all know and love appears less frequently than in other music, with odd time signatures such as 7/4 and 11/8 occasionally making their way in. Melodic and harmonic structure gets toyed with, I-IV-V chord progression being very rare.

In addition to the actual structure of the progressive music, prog rock as a scene has other well defined elements. Progressive rock groups love concept albums. Album art and packaging tend to be visually pleasing and colorful, taking full advantage of the entire vinyl sleeve to add to the art as a whole. In fact, artist Roger Dean is famous almost solely for his prog album cover paintings, especially with Yes. Bands often deploy stage theatrics such as acting out the lyrics of their songs, laser and light shows, pyrotechnics, and all sorts of whimsy. Prog evolved in and is most closely associated with The United Kingdom, but Germany, Italy, the USA, Spain, France, Canada, and many other countries all had their own rich, unique prog scene, often influencing each other.

A Brief History of Classic Prog

In most genres of rock, it is hard to pinpoint an exact starting point for the music. After Bill Haley and the Comets released “Rock Around the Clock” in 1954, the rock n’ roll era steadily evolved through rockabilly, the British invasion, psychedelia, soul, hard rock, soft rock, funk, punk, new wave, metal, alternative, indie, and countless smaller phases. There are often set points, however, of when a genre went through a major change, the release of very famous albums, such as Elvis’s debut, or The Sex Pistol’s Never Mind the Bollocks (firmly established punk as the top subgenre for the next 3-4 years after its 1977 release.) Prog rock, however, is the opposite. The foundation for prog is near universally accepted with the release of King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King on October 5th, 1969. The key dates surrounding the lead up to this are much less clear, as are the dates when prog took major turns in direction and evolved.

Proto-Prog

What influences did King Crimson draw upon to found progressive rock? Which bands used progressive elements prior to October ’69? These questions are the basis of the examination of what is known as the Proto-prog era, lasting from either 1966 or 1967 until In the Court. Proto-prog is largely mixed and synonymous with the psychedelic age of rock. The bands of proto-prog mainly changed the mold of rock music toward the art rock scene through several key innovations: the double album, the tape loop, use of the Studio as an instrument, the concept album, and more inventive use of guitar and keyboard in their works.

While there is some debate of proto-prog beginning in 1966, this column will consider it to last from January 1967 to September 1969. Early on, key albums include The Doors’ self titled debut (1967), The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and Abbey Road (1969), The works of Jimi Hendrix in ’67 and ’68, The Small Faces' Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (1968), Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention’s Albums (1966-1969, his Freak Out! Being an exception to my ’67 date), and The Who’s Tommy (1969), amongst others.

These albums made major innovations to the structure and form of rock music. Jim Morrison, John Lennon, and Frank Zappa pioneered the use of dark, political, and unorthodox lyrics, removing the seeming requirement for rock to be about love gained, love lost, or peace and love. Meanwhile, The Beatles on Sgt. Pepper, with the help of producer George Martin, began to experiment with new studio trickery. Technological improvements to recording in the mid 60s led to a new ability to clean and polish the sound, allowing for more complex sounding material. Pioneering work by the Beatles in the field made for quick popularization of the new technique of using orchestral instruments in rock, employing 8 track tape recording, and the integration of non-rock influences into their music.

In addition to lyrical and structural changes, the actual form of playing morphed. Hendrix invented new, fiery guitar playing methods. His seamless hybrid of blues and technicality pervades progressive music, as it allows for lots of power and emotion to fly from the strings. Hendrix also pioneered guitar distortion, along with groups like Vanilla Fudge and Deep Purple. Other groups of the period such as the Doors and Jefferson Airplane started to develop the common rock instrument of the organ (it was a staple over the entire 1960’s before disappearing) into the modern keyboard. Jefferson Airplane also invented the light show, along with the then-unknown Velvet Underground (not the least bit a proto-prog group, they ironically became proto-punk, the genre which would end the age of classic prog).

As 1967 and 1968 continued, these influences began to grow all over rock and in the heart of the public. Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake became a major influence not only as being one of the most popular early concept albums, but with its packaging, as instead of the typical vinyl square, it came in a circular form with the vinyl inside. During this period, a future behemoth of prog had evolved, in the form of Pink Floyd, although their music was still mainly psychedelic, not quite yet full prog. Jethro Tull also existed as a blues band. In 1969, The Beatles made their second major contribution to prog’s evolution on Abbey Road, the segway of one song into another on the famed B-side medley, courtesy Paul McCartney. The Who’s rock Opera Tommy, released in June, was the bona- fide king of double concept albums up to that point, paving the way for record companies to be willing to release the prog album slew.

And then there was In the Court. This album gets its reputation as the first prog album for no small reason. King Crimson experimented with medieval classical structure in their songs “Epitaph” and “The Court of the Crimson King”. The lyrics of the album contain the full allegorical and fantasy elements of a prog album. Ian MacDonald played woodwinds on this album, adding the new experimental instrumentation to the scene. A whole article could be written on the influence and innovation of In the Court (Perhaps someday!)