Emerson, Lake, and Palmer- Tarkus

This is another one of prog's most famous albums. Kieth Emerson (keyboards), formerly of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals/bass/guitar), formerly of King Crimson, and Carl Palmer (drums), formerly of Atomic Rooster, formed a supergroup in 1970. The general vibe and idea was a sort of "rocking the classics", as in Mozart classics, with some other assorted goodies. Their debut album was released in late '70, and Tarkus, their sophomore effort, followed in '71. This album is most famous for the ridiculous cover art.

As a blog on prog ought to have some opinions, it's time I committed my first controversial act of heresy. I really don't care for ELP much compared to other big name prog bands. Their debut is admitably a very good album, but their others are filled with lots and lots of wankiness and filler in addition to the good stuff. Let's throw in a Honky Tonk number on a Progressive Rock album! Sorry, guys, I'm not going to stand for that. However, this doesn't make Tarkus a worthless album. In fact, there's some good stuff here to find.

Most of said good stuff is in the side long title track. It has seven individual movements, and they aren't all that different in terms of style, rather they use different melodies and patterns. This song is totally dominated by Emerson. The Moog is everywhere here, and while this makes the track slightly dated, it gives it instant cred for a Prog effort. The vocals don't actually describe the story of the Tarkus (more on that later), but are an anti-war tirade. This has a very moderate tempo which speeds up,which gives it the epic quality that seals the deal. You must hear this, because so many times we hear obscure prog bands being refered to as ELP like, and this is the track that defines that major sound of that prog. The middle sections will get stuck in your head easily!

Now comes the problem. "Jeremy Bender" is the first song on the shaky side B. It's a barrel house number. I want my progressive rock! This both kills the flow from "Tarkus" and is an exercise in vanity. Then comes "Bitches Crystal" which is at least somewhat proggy. Yet, it's just got strange nonsensical lyrics, and more of that honky tonk piano that is suited for Joplin, not ELP. The comes "The Only Way (Hymn)", which is in eerie piece of pipe organ and anti religious hymn. It's not so bad, really. After a minute and a half it picks up in mood, and it's actually a little catchy. Then "Infinite Space (Conclusion)" is segued into. This is a filler piano instrumental. It also gives Palmer the first real chance to shine on drums this album. Next is "A Time and a Place" which can best be described as "Tarkus" light. Without the 20 minute epic length, it's just not the same. Finally is the joke "Are you Reddy Eddy", a homage to their recording engineer. This side of the record can best be described as an eccentric mess.

Of Course, there's that cover art. Yes, that actually is a robotic Armadillo-Tank rolling across a Rainbow colored landscape. If that's not ridiculous, I don't know what is. Weirder still is the ambivalent story told in the inner sleeve of the record. Evidently the Tarkus is born out of an egg beside a volcano in some dystopian future. It uses its tank guns to fight and destory both a Pterodactyl and a grasshopper-steel helmet-bazooka thingamajig. Then Tarkus is faced with a Manticore, who scratches it's eye. But never fear! Tarkus survives by becoming... Aquatarkus! He swims away to fight another day. I kid you not:

If you can make sense of this, you are a dedicated individual.

I've seen Carl Palmer play live, and he's the best drummer I've ever seen. However, he really gets sidelined here by Emerson and Lake. As players of their respective instruments, both are highly respectable, but they seem not to take themselves or their music seriously. If you don't treat it as a work of art, it's hardly progressive rock at all. I guess that all might have to do with their relative financial success, though.

Here, a strong Progressive Rock epic is let down by a very poor hodgepodge of eclectic and disappointing oddities. I'd give Tarkus a Grade of C-. Go for their debut or Brain Salad Surgery instead.

Adventures of a Prog Missionary

The Question: Last night, I threw a 40th birthday party for Prog. Yes, I am that much of a nerd. I had five of my closest friends over for four hours of listening. As well as bowling with plastic cups and getting a sugar high, I conducted some valuable research on what a youth that is criminally underexposed to classic prog might think of it. What appeal does Progressive Rock have to Generation Y?

The Hypothesis: In a world with about zero attention span, most of it will dud. Prog requires too much attention to detail.

Materials: One iPod, One iDock, and several helpings of pretzels and M&M's.

The Procedure: I played a playlist consisting of In The Court of The Crimson King in its entirety, because it was it's birthday, and then 25 additional songs, maximum of one per band. Total time: 3 hours, 44 minutes. I tried to go mostly symphonic prog, because it's the standard, but I put in a healthy amount of Krautrock and Canterbury. Additionally, I had Jean Michelle Jarre represent Prog Electronic, Hawkwind for Space Rock, and of course J-Tull for Prog folk. I intentionally left out any RIO/Avant-Prog/Zehul because those are a little bit too much for prog virgins, as well as Jazz Fusion, for time constraints.

The Experiment: The reception to ItCotCK was rather warm. They didn't seem to appreciate the originality of the work, but the definitely were into the overall feel of the record. "The Court of the Crimson King" was best received. Amongst the other bands, I found a surprising amount of praise for Italian Prog. Le Orme's "Sospesi nell 'incredibile" got the best reception all night, and Cherry Five and PFM went over well also. Sympho Prog was very hit or miss. Yes (as well as Chris Squire solo), Camel, Wishbone Ash, and Renaissance went down very well. My friends hated Curved Air and Gentle Giant. ELP was received lukewarmly. I unfortunately had to throw out the results for Genesis because "Watcher of the Skies" was interrupted by a terrible improvisation session. Hawkwind was well liked, and Jethro Tull got thumbs up, so their respective subgeneres have some potential. The Canterbury Scene was received very coldly, and Jarre got booed. Krautrock actually went over somewhat decently! Can an Neu! did well, but Guru Guru fell down hard. Yet, the biggest surprise of the night was that one of my friends had heard of Camel without me telling him about them first. I nearly fainted.

Results: Classic Prog may be long gone, but it doesn't have to be that way. Despite the fast paced world we live in, today's teenagers will still get enjoyment from complex time signatures and 20 minute guitar freakouts. There are still a lot of us who like this music, and I'll be damned if I don't continue to make more converts.

Potential Flaws: This was an above average group in terms of intellect. They were pretty spastic, so the whole attention span part of my hypothesis remains valid, but there might be less of ability to appreciate the inventiveness and artistic qualities of prog in the lower IQ levels.

Conclusion: Most Subgenres of Progresive Rock do have appeal to the modern teenager.

King Crimson- In the Court of the Crimson King

It is a rare occurrence that an album sounds so fresh, so revolutionary, 40 years after it is released. To do so it must posses something revolutionary, something spectacular. In the Court of the Crimson King manges to accomplish this seemingly without effort. When they evolved out of the trio Giles, Giles, and Fripp in 1969, a new chapter in rock music began. Robert Fripp (guitar), Greg Lake (bass/vocals), Michael Giles (Drums), Ian MacDonald (Woodwinds), and Peter Sinfeild (In-band lyricist) created this album at the tail end of psychedelia, and took the progressive tendencies of that genre to make a focused and fully progressive album for the first time.

While no longer all that ambitious by '69, the tracks here all last between 6 and 12 minutes. The album begins with the incredible "21st Century Schizoid Man", King Crimson's signature. This song is immensely heavy for 1969. The vocals are caustically distorted into a raspy electronic wail, and to go along is an instantly memorable riff and a general zaniness. Despite this aggression, "Schizoid" actually manages to be somewhat catchy. Look out for the wild sax from MacDonald and the stop-start section for more creativity gone amok. Next up is "I Talk to the Wind", a much more placid number. The vocals this time are more relaxed and natural, whereas instead of aggressive sax and electric guitar, we have tranquil flute and acoustics. It all works to set a very "open mountain air" tone, and the melody is genius. "Epitaph"then plays. This song, simply put, is one of man's greatest musical achievements ever. The lyrics are absolutely phenomenal:

The wall on which the prophets wrote/Is cracking at the seams.
Upon the instruments of death/The sunlight brightly gleams.
When every man is torn apart/With nightmares and with dreams,
Will no one lay the laurel wreath/As silence drowns the screams.

Sinfeild took his time on this one. The instruments only increase the effectiveness of the piece, by creating and eerie medieval mood. I adore the troubadour-like guitars mixing in with the horror-film soundtrack noises from the rest.

Side two contains "Moonchild", which is another highly ethereal, highly distorted lullaby of a song. It has two and a half minutes of a children's tale, followed by nine and a half minutes of minimalism with "elven" noises. This lull of a song works together with the final track, "The Court of the Crimson King", by easing the listener along to let the opening chord menace even more. To wrap up, we have the true epic. In 9 minutes, it goes through fantasy verses, social commentary, and philosophy, all while the instruments create a thrilling mood similar to "Epitaph." Truly inventive stuff at the time, as no one had put all the parts together without sounding pretentious until then.

Is it really possible not to understate the influence of this album? It hit number 5 on the UK charts, which is an accomplishment in itself. The symphonic tendencies of "Epitaph"and "The Court of the Crimson King" would find an outlet with many prog converts like Yes and Genesis as well as new bands like ELP and Camel. Meanwhile, the hard edge of "Schizoid Man" parallels some Krautrock to come, as well as the RIO movement. The free-from of "Moonchild" would help that sub genre as well as prog electronic and jazz-prog come to the fore, and "I to the Wind" shows it's influence in the prog-folk realm. Not to mention the perfectly fitting cover art, which was one of the first of it's kind.

It would be almost heresy for a prog blog not to give In the Court of the Crimson King a Grade of A+. This one's essential, everyone should hear this before they die.

Jethro Tull- Aqualung

This is definitely one of the big boys in Prog Rock, one of the most recognizable albums in the genre. Jethro Tull had formed in 1967 as a Blues band, and only vocalist/flautist/sometime guitarist/general guiding light Ian Anderson survived from that lineup in the long run. Drummer Clive Bunker from that time is also here, although this is his last J-Tull Album. The group is rounded out buy guitarist Martin Barre, keyboardist John Evan, and new bassist Jeffery Hammond. This is their 4th release, and the blues is long gone in favor of Prog-Folk.

Aqualung commences with the title track, and its famous "dunna dun duh dah duh" opening riff. It moves through several movements, with lots of acoustic guitar. There's also tempo changes, and somewhat nonsensical lyrics about homeless people. The whole first side of the album is about that topic, evidently, but it's not worth trying to make sense of. Next up is the also famous "Cross Eyed Mary", which can only be described as an assault of flute. Then comes the quickly acoustic "Cheap Day Return", a forgettable transition into "Mother Goose". This is also mostly acoustic, and is a pastoral number. It's fairytale feel juxtaposes nicely with the hard edge of the first two tracks. Another quickie acoustic transition called "Wond'ring Aloud" follows, and then the A side closes with "Up to Me". This song combines the two prior moods, using piano and mostly acoustic guitar, but going in more aggressively.

Side B has an anti-religious theme, and it makes it a lot more clear than the message on Aqualung's A side (the back cover asserts that "In the beginning man created god.") "My God" is the first piece up, and it uses tempo and tone to create a creepy feel as it bashes god. This song also gets pretty bombastic, and there's some nice flute trills. Next, "Hymn 43" is another aggressive, but not very loud, piece of music mocking religion. It's quite endearing as it's got a simple melody. Yet another fast and expendable acoustic piece called "Slipstream" follows. Then comes the well known and menacing "Locomotive Breath." This one has another flute attack towards the end, but let's not forget heavy lyrics and guitars and a large amount of musical thrust. "Wind Up" then winds up the album, starting slowly with the acoustics, then speeding up slowly into the heavy side of Jethro Tull, and finally slowing down again for a quiet finish.

The album has varied moods, so as a continual work with two concepts it's not coherent. However, this is one concept album that works fantastically as a set of songs that are separate. Three songs get radio play on classic rock stations, and most of them are easy to get into because they're rather simple for prog rock (this is one of Prog-Folk's best strengths). The flute parts are some of the best you can find, and that's why they're Jethro Tull's signature.

A good combination of anti-religious sentiment, mastery of manipulating tempo, and progressive accessibility, Aqualung earns a strong Grade of A-.

40 Years of Prog- 6 Underrated Items

October 2009 is a milestone month, as it's now been 40 years since In The Court of the Crimson King went to store shelves and changed music. All this month, I'll be reviewing some of the best known Prog albums. To kick of the festivities, I'm going to make a nice list of underrated gems I quite like. I'll get to review them in time, but in a month where I'm intentionally going to be reviewing the most well known of prog albums, they deserve a mention and your time.

Campo Di Marte

An Italian Prog one hit wonder, their only album, which is self titled, is a cool little wonder. They use all sorts of assorted horns (not just the flute) and lots of acoustics. I'd describe them as "pastoral".

Chris Squire- Fish out of Water

Chris Squire has always been my favorite member of Yes. His distinct slap-bass like sound is what makes Yes unique, if you ask me. This solo album, released during the Yes hiatus of 74-77, showcases him in full form. He sounds great as the vocal star, too!

Frank Zappa

Famous, yes, but I think Frank gets a bit overlooked in the scope of Prog. I'm not going to argue that "Why Does it Hurt When I Pee?" is at all progressive, but a lot of his instrumental stuff, particularly Hot Rats and Waka Jawaka, is really awsome Jazzy prog. Let's not forget some of his most serious social commentary, which is defiantly prog in spirit if not execution.

Post Gabriel Genesis until 1981

For all too many Prog fans, anything Genesis did after Peter Gabriel left is considered crap. I can't say I agree at all. On both A Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering it's not hard to find some truly wonderful and progressive moments, like "In that Quiet Earth", "Dance on a Volcano", and "Ripples". Even ...and Then There were Three and Duke have some value. Yet, these four albums get continually lambasted by Prog-heads, mostly based on the poor pop-rock quality of the next 4. Give them a chance, they will reward you.

Pink Floyd's Meddle

This one usually gets good reception, but gets lost in the shuffle under Dark Side and The Wall and then the two in-betweens. Meddle does offer one total clunker ("Seamus"), but you can;t argue with the sheer genius of "Echoes" or "One of these Days." A psychadellic masterpeice for sure! Not to mentioned something that sounds like a stoned cookie monster.

The Netherlands

Sitting right in the shadow of Germany, our Dutch friends tend to get a bit underrated. But, they've got some fantastic bands to thier name, like Focus, Finch, Earth & Fire, and Supersister. Also, this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpV5InLw52U

Thijs van Leer is the most awsome person to ever live, barring Theodore Roosevelt.