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.