Jethro Tull- A Passion Play

After Thick as a Brick made a monumental statement, J-Tull fol owed it up with a second album long song in 1973's A Passion Play. With the Anderson/Barre/Hammond/Barlow/Evan lineup firmly in place, the group was at the height of their musical power. Another concept album, A Passion Play chronicles the journey of a man who is taken first to heaven, and then to hell, only to ultimately decide that the best place to live is the material earth.

Jethro Tull's medieval sounding chops are in full swing here, with abundant harpsichord, flute, and guitar sounds to give the album a true feeling of fantasy. Part one deals with the trip to heaven, while part two deals with hell. Neither really sounds that different, heaven at times menaces, and hell can show serenity. Like any good tale, there's lots of room to interpret the lyrics, and every prog fan will have an opinion. The real hero of the proceedings is John Evan, who's keyboard patterns (mostly ARP synths and grand piano) provide the main musical leitmotifs throughout the work.

There's a little catch, the work is cut in two by a little fairy-tale like turd called "The Hare who Lost his Spectacles". It breaks up the flow and is ridiculous beyond belief. Avoid it at all costs.


Fit for a minstrel, fit for a Prog Head. Grade: A

Prog Video Sampler

Here's some great old time videos of live Prog Performances:

Tangerine Dream- Phaedra

Tangerine Dream started out making complete space music, and their first 4 record on the German Ohr label are all key. However, after DJ John Peel named their album Atem best import of the year in 1973, they switched to Mike Oldfield's new Virgin label. Here, they changed things up, adding a bit more melodic structure while continued that open, minimalistic feel. The result is 1974's Phaedra often hailed as one of the electronic genre's first masterpieces.

The record contains a 16 minute long title track, two 9-10 minute pieces, and wraps up with a 2:20 meletron flute. That title track has a very airy feel, using Meletron extensively. It slowly transitions between a number of melodic structures, never actively gripping the listener but merely showering sound through their mind in a light manner. The whole record speaks of this: gentle, docile, and ambient. All but a few little sprinkles of guitar chords is done on electronic instruments. The two mid length tracks, are also very pleasing. "Mysterious Semblance at the Strands of Nightmares" is soft and cloudlike, while "Movements of a Visionary", one of TD's most famous tracks, is more analog sounding, and conjures up images of water. The quickie "Sequent C" is a very sweet overlaying on the Meletron's Flute sound.

This was indeed the future of E-music. Phaedra came out the same year as Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and Brian Eno's debut album. These three set the new bar: no longer reserved for experiments, purely electronic music can have melody, and be enjoyable. A Progressive work in every sense of the word.

A fantastic indicator of things to come, Tangerine Dream had reached their peak which would last several albums longer. Grade: A

I Need Your Help!

Every 4th month gets dedicated to a different international Prog Scene on this blog, and I've hit a bit of a roadblock. While the Italy, France, USA, and Germany months went well, it was mostly because I had easy access to albums from those countries. Sadly, I'm running dry on music from outside those 4 and The UK. Here's where I want to ask of your help, dear viewers. I can see from my convenient people counter that I've got people reading from every corner of the earth on here, from Israel to Japan, Finland to Argentina. My guess is that each of you know a hell of a lot more about your local classic Prog scenes than I do. In essence, I really would love your suggestions about those scenes. Don't feel shy, even if your from one of the countries that I've already done- I can always review the album separately, and eventually must double up. If you have the album and I can't access it, I'd be more than happy to have some guest reviewers. Please help me to spread some fantastic music across the globe!

Catapilla- Catapilla

Ever wanted to know what happens when you mix prog, blues, and jazz? You get Catapilla. This 1971 debut album (first of two) came from a British conglomerate featuring Robert Calvert (Saxophone), Grahm Wilson (guitar), Dave Taylor (Bass), Malcolm Firth (Drums), Hugh Eaglestone (Saxophone), and the distinctive rasp of Anna Meek (Vocals). Though their albums had some critical success and influenced peers, commercial success eluded the group.

Things kick off with the steamy "Naked Death", which is driven by frenetic saxophone and drum work for 15+ minutes of work. The guitar is aggressive as hell, and Meek's vocals are totally deranged and very creepy. They grate the ears, and she's going to be one of those love them or hate them things. The wah-wahs and jamming get cumbersome after a while. The much shorter "Tumbleweed" comes after all the meandering, which is really nothing but a rather well done blues rock number. The following "Promises" then shifts over into a short Jazz fusion song. The saxophone led melody is very catchy, and this song transitions well between several movements. The 24 minute epic "Embryonic Fusion" takes up side B, and it spends a long time with a monotonous bass beat underlying some sax jamming. Afterwards it starts going into that jazz and blues hybrid, and it drags on way too long.

Quite a bit of musical motifs take place here. On one hand, Catapilla wants to be a bluesy jam band record. On the other, it wants to do jazz fusion. Both turn out well when isolated from each other on the two shorter songs, but when blended together the whole affair becomes a meandering mess. I do like Meek's vocal though, it's a really weird Janis Joplin type voice. She adds a shock factor to the record, which can pull it through some of its lows.

A stew of genres and ideas, dragging things out too long hampers the work. Grade: C+