Genesis- Foxtrot

Genesis' reputation as one of the big 6 rests on a 4 album streak from 1971 to 1974 with Peter Gabriel as their frontman. The Gabriel lineup was augmented by Phil Collins (Drums, would replace Gabriel in 1975), Tony Banks (Keyboards), Mike Rutherford (Bass), and Steve Hackett (Guitar). Foxtrot, released in 1972, is the second album in this stretch. It builds upon the musical themes the band explored on the previous year's Nursery Cryme.

Foxtrot starts with "Watcher of the Skies", a mid length textbook example of symphonic Prog. After an organ into, the track gets right down to business with a vocal lead. The lyrics here are very open to interpretation, and seem a little sci-fi to me. The next piece is "Timetable", which has almost the same melody but this time is a straight piano ballad with more presence from the other instruments. It's nice and sweet if not substantive. "Get 'Em Out by Friday" then picks up, and it's got Genesis' signature keyboard sound with lots of layers of drums. This track has changes in tempo and in instruments to create lots of Prog Rock intrigue. Afterwards, "Can-Utility and the Coast Liners" continues the trend of subdued, light symphonic prog. Then there's the short 1:41 acoustic guitar romp"Horizons" to wrap up side 1. Now, it's time for the crowning jewel.

The 22 minute epic "Supper's Ready" is generally considered Genesis' crowning achievement by the prog community. It has seven distinct movements, although many have great similarities. Overall, this one is dominated by an incredibly emotional vocal performance by Gabriel and the sonic synths from Banks. There's plenty of nice changes in mood, with guitars here, then some drums there, slow-fast-slow. Most of the lyric content is very serious, written after Gabriel believed his wife was possessed by a demon, although there's a great non-sequitter section about people turning into flowers. When performing this song live, Gabriel was known to wear elaborate costumes, including one of the flowers and the Fox seen on the cover of the album.

There's plenty of great material on offer here. Even though some of the lyrics are dark, the whole album is very listenable with interesting changes in chord and the like, but accessibility too. Many other bands would attempt to capture the ease and wonder of listening to Genesis, but few were able to match their mastery of pitch, tempo, chord, and volume to make magic.

Foxtrot delivers in all the areas that Prog albums should, and has very little to complain about. A true masterpiece of the progressive area. Grade: A

8 Prog Songs that Became Radio Hits

Supposedly doomed to remain obscurities, from time to time a Prog song managed to push through that shuffle of R&B grooves, Bubblegum Pop, Hard Rock, and Singer Songwriter fare to make a dent on the billboard charts. Event today these songs will come up on Classic Rock stations right before Bruce Springsteen and after Billy Joel. Here are the standard bearers that got converts to Prog in 1974 just like they're still doing in 2010. This list uses the United State's Billboard 100 for its chart positions.

Pink Floyd, "Money"
Although the entirety of "Dark Side of the Moon" gets airplay in the modern day, Money remains the most popular song. From the opening bass riff through the kick as guitar solo, this song oozes with fun and is the first exposure to Progressive Rock for many. Top Chart Position: 13

Pink Floyd, "Another Brick in The Wall"
While it might not be as progressive as "Money", it certainly has the accessibility. It's perhaps the only Prog single to sell one million copies in the U.S., with over 500,000 in most European nations. Top Chart Position: 1 (in 10 Countries)

Yes, "Roundabout"
Yes had quite a few songs that made a chart impact, but they were criminally edited down. Top Chart Position: 12

Emerson, Lake and Palmer, "Lucky Man"
Although it wasn't actually a bit hit at the time, this song gets played all the time on classic rock radio. Smooth and simple, it has widespread appeal. Top Chart Position: 48

Jethro Tull, "Aqualung"
There's a reason that this song's guitar riff is the most famous in Prog. It was one of the few that the average Joe heard. Top Chart Position: 7

Focus, "Hocus Pocus"
Although initially thought of as a novelty by the band, this song's sheer lunacy was enough to make it a hit. Despite the yodeling. Top Chart Position: 7

Kansas, "Carry on Wayward Son"
This is another one of those times a band did a pseudo Prog song and got a big hit out of it. While Kansas defiantly was a little less complicated then the standard Prog fare, this song is good nonetheless. "Dust in the Wind", however, is not remotely Prog enough to get a mention on this list. Top Chart Position: 11

Genesis, "Follow You, Follow Me"
The point where Genesis began to become a pop band. It was included on a mostly Progressive album, though, so I'll count it. Top Chart Position: 23

Gentle Giant- Three Friends

Gentle Giant is by far the most cited Prog band that's not a household name. With an intricate style employing extensive vocal harmonies, strange chord combinations, and use of a plethora of different instruments, their music embodies all of Prog Rock's core elements. Formed by Three Shulman brothers (Derek, Phil, and Ray) along with Kerry Minnear and Gary Green, they all played a variety of instruments from guitar/bass and organ to xylophone, viola, and trumpet. They wanted a permanent drummer, and this spot changed constantly in their early lineup. For their 3rd album, Three Friends, in 1972, Malcolm Mortimer held down the drummer's chair.

This album is a concept album, about three friends who grow up together and are incredibly close, but as they age they take separate paths and no longer see eye to eye. With the creatively titles "Prologue", the album begins with a a keyboard solo and lots of wah-wah distortion. the song also features tons of vocal harmony and some cool bass. Afterwards comes the relaxed "schooldays" which subverts its complexity in quiet. However, the keyboard and bass parts go through some cool time progressions, and Phil Shulman's singing here is very strong. As the friends promise to wait for each other forever, they grow up and each get a song. The first one becomes a blue collar laborer laborer and sings "Working All Day" about doing just that. This song is sung by Minnear, and is the heaviest track to emphasize the sludge and grime of the factory. Lots of bass and guitar about here in a pretty traditional Symphonic Prog structure. It gets a bit repetitive after a while, but has a nice rhythm.

Friend #2 became an artist, and sings "Peel the Paint" about all of the little details it takes to make great art (and how menial the work of others is). This song is a festival of guitar playing, and it goes all over with the notes. This artsy chaos is quite hard to follow, but has lots to offer. The last friend becomes a rich white collar executive concerned with reputation and sings "Mister Class and Quality". Oddly, this track seems like a mix of the last two. There's also a splash of violin in there. The album ends with a title track that is almost choral. It is only 3 and a half minutes and goes by quickly.

At a short 36 minutes, Three Friends defiantly lacks in quantity and needs to deliver in quality. While the songs here are good, complex, and certainly progressive, they lack a key ingredient. Passion. Gentle Giant has gone so over the top with the intricacy that the soul of the music is pretty diminished. While this style is going to be pretty pretentious no matter what, they succeeded in creating that spark on some of their other albums, but not this one.

Three Friends has plenty of Prog's brains, but just not enough of its heart. Grade: C

Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick

After the success of Aqualung, the Tull was ready for their most ambitious project yet. Drummer Clive Bunker, however, left the group to be replaced by Barriemore Barlow. The new Anderson/Barre/Hammond/Barlow/Evans line up generally is the best known for Jethro Tull. For the 1972 album Thick as a Brick, the band decided to go all out with one 44 minute epic of progressive rock. supposedly, this song is a poem written by child genius Jeremy Bostock, and it was disqualified from a contest for being to downbeat and cynical.

The piece starts out 100% acoustic, with just Ian Anderson singing with his guitar and flute (later piano). This part of the song's lyrics lay down the themes that are going to dominate the song: class conflict, emotion, and how the wise look down upon fools. About the 3 minute mark, the electric guitar, drums, and bass come in and they go into a sonic attack, mirroring the attack of the upper class as they try to civilize the poor. The heavy organ really seals the mood. From here, the song takes a path through guitar solos, hymn like lyrics about mending the evil ways of the poor and the foolish, and crazy blasts of flute here and there. After the 12 minute mark, it becomes more and more organ dominated, and the vocals become a bit sparser. Around the point where the record has to flip over, the chaos comes to a halt and fades out. However, on side two the body of the song resumes with haste. The second half of the song has more drum antics than the first, and some non-sequiteur passages. While the instrumental themes vary little, the melody changes just a little bit frequently to keep things interesting and to prevent boredom. As things go on, there's more acoustic passages, and a general claustrophobia. As the song enters the finishing stretch, it goes for a grand medieval punch, and has all fo Prog signatures: time changes, tempo changes, strange instruments, and reflective lyrics.

Thick as a Brick will come down like a brick the first time you hear it. The album is packed with extreme amounts of panache and vigor. While certainly not Tull's most accessible work, it is by far the most rich and rewarding, as the incredible length of the song "Thick as a Brick" leaves something new to be discovered every listen.

A behemoth of Progressive Rock that is not to be missed under any conditions. Grade: A+

Search for Vinyl

The vinyl record has been dead outside of collector's markets and die hards for a good 10 years now. This had mixed effects for Prog of the age. While CDs keep their sound much better, leaving all of that musical intricacy, it came at the cost of all of that wonderfull album art. Today, there are lots of albums form progressive rock's golden age that are available only in the vinyl format. With the Internet in tow, their not so hard to find even? Still, it raises the question, what got left behind?

Basically, non-English prog. The record industry doesn't produce as many albums in several parts of the world that were integral to prog, such as Italy, Scandinavia, and Spain. All but the most famous albums from those areas didn't even touch a CD until 2000 at least, and many remain out of print or only on vinyl. Also, Prog electronic albums tend to be only on the black disc.

I advocate the preservation of vinyl record for the coming generations. While very little of my prog collection is in that format (or even on CD for that matter), all of those extra gimmicks, books, liner notes, and artwork are worth the extra cash. The only question is how much can a record be worth? The rarest prog albums are in high 3 digit sums, which is enough to bankrupt anyone. Personally, I would not spend more than $50 on any one record.