Prog Rock

The 25 Best Progressive Rock Songs of All Time
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/141547-best-25-rock-songs-of-all-time/P0

There are likely a song or two that some readers won’t recognize, but I endeavored to not make this an exercise in obscurity (a person willing to rank prog-rock songs does not—or should not—need to further bolster his ambiguous street cred by listing songs nobody is remotely familiar with).

Seems to me a cop out just cuz dude was too half-assed to bother checking out Van Der Graaf Generator, Gong, Gentle Giant, etc. So it should be qualified as best populist prog choons or something. I made a playlist of the ones I have of above, but it's begging for an additional 25....

that list is rope tbh

Dunno if this has been posted somewhere yet but this 5-part Slate series on prog is really nice

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/prog_spring/features/2012/prog_rock/history_of_prog_the_nice_emerson_lake_palmer_and_other_bands_of_the_1970s_.html

Man, I can't believe I wrote off Mahavishnu upthread.

y'all have checked out this, right? http://everygreatsongever.tumblr.com/tagged/UK-prog
extensive series of UK prog mixes. I haven't even made it through the first five and he's up to vol. 17. fun stuff.

there were so many errors in that slate series

it's definitely not entirely accurate but it's still a good read

Man, I can't believe I wrote off Mahavishnu upthread.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, August 24, 2012 10:56 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM

Yeah, I thought that Slate piece was a mess. Errors, too much pride in liking ELP while still sort of making fun of the genre/the author himself, a poor job pointing out how different, say, King Crimson was from Genesis, or Gentle Giant from Yes, etc.

Mahavishnu is incredible. Not sure how prog it is. To my ears it is sort of Crimson-heavy.

I'm just glad to see The Nice get some credit; they weren't really a great band or even really a good one, but the fact that they're unheard of is ridiculous

mahavishnu is fusion not prog IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXVnXVuj4Ps

fusion as well but whatvr

mahavishnu is fusion not prog IMO

funny because my jazz snob dad wrote them off as too prog. obv they are "fusion" as far as record store bins are concerned, but imo they are only about 11% less prog than 1974 era king crimson

i have this thread to thank for my new name.

i'm not really sure how to classify Mahavishnu either but it's clear that prog fans are like their #1 audience and that jazz dudes aren't really keen on them

yeah but marsalis/crouch jazz snobs think everything after bitches brew and ornette is basically insane clown posse

y'all have checked out this, right? http://everygreatsongever.tumblr.com/tagged/UK-prog
extensive series of UK prog mixes. I haven't even made it through the first five and he's up to vol. 17. fun stuff.

Seconding this, the writeups are really good too.

This seems like the closest to a general prog thread here, so . . .

If this started in LA I just might do it.

Cruise to the Edge

you'd have to hurry -- looks like the progtanic is filling up

http://cruisetotheedge.com/pricing-availability

Excellent liveblog ILM thread op too

I silently ridiculed this concept when it first appeared but watching it continue each year, I'm thinking it could well become the more successful type of festival for the North American prog audience (see the recent death of NearFest.)

Also, I wonder if Marillion's presence this time would make it slightly less of a middle-aged sausage fest?

that is the first and only time in history i expect to come across that sentence

My point being that one is likely to find more women at a (current) Marillion show than at one headlined by Yes, UK or homages to Gentle Giant, etc. All numbers very relative, of course.

i know what you meant dude, i was just joshing. don't think i've heard a note of Marillion since Fish left.

dark side of the honeymoon package includes grilled schindleria praematurus

every meal served with two complimentary scoops of and you and ice cream

I love when people bill themselves as part of a singular person (i.e. "Tony Levin of Peter Gabriel"). I know it means of his touring band, but that's always funny to read.

it's like he's squire to a knight of the prog table

The cruise organizers should've gone one further and linked every act on the poster in some way to Genesis.

if i organized the event we'd paint the ship up as tarkus and go joust this yacht party

http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?458487

So happy I found a reasonably priced cd copy of Carol Of Harvest (selftitled album).

Really digging Supersister. Listening to their debut and I have their second album waiting (hope it won't be long before I get the next two). Quite complex in places and fun.
There's a song that could be mistaken for Gong, with twee absurdist lyrics about gnomes and tea but it's not like the rest of the material.

Not that it really matters but they're easily the prettiest prog band I've ever seen (they were a bunch of young guys).

Enjoying the debut so much I just went ahead and bought the third and fourth albums.

those supersister albums are a treat. one of millions of bands almost lost to history because lester bangs and robert christgau didn't feel cool listening to them, the poor slobs

these new GOBLIN remasters are amazing, by the way. suspiria sounds brand new

Not so sure about that. I've been hearing very mixed things about their fame or lack of it. "She Was Naked" seems to be a genuine hit, apparently they did extremely well in Netherlands and Robert Jan Stips has been in several successful bands including Golden Earring. Yes, that isn't proper FAME but I think they have a more secure place than a lot of obscure prog bands.
Apparently Ian Curtis liking them has secured them to a degree. Most other mentions of Supersister on this forum are related to that.

But whatever the case I think they're way better than most B and C list prog bands. And even some of the A listers.

For some reason the final album Spiral Staircase is way more scarce and expensive than the rest.

Robert Jan Stips is possibly best known for playing keyboard for The Nits for most of their existence, who are well worth checking out if you like bands similar to XTC.

I think Stips was also some sort of prodigy and there was already a buzz around him before he joined any band.

Picked up Present From Nancy on this rec - this is damn tasty

very much like the first two Soft Machine records

Great.
I think it's quite funny how in one track they have someone shouting out a request for "She Was Naked".
Odd that there's no songwriting credit to Byrds for "Eight Miles High". Since they only sing a few words of it, does that make it legal?

I need to check out the other Soft Machine stuff. I've got Third and I was a bit mixed on it. I really liked parts of it though.

Track I like best on Present From Nancy is "Mexico", really great.

Weird: even before their first releases they owned a club that they played at every Sunday night. It was used for music, poetry, dancing, theatre and film screenings.

This new Beardfish record has some great moments... and some wtf moments. Anxious to dig into the new Steven Wilson.

Another Glass Hammer on the horizon, and shocker, it's supposedly their best one yet

is jon davison involved?

new steven wilson rules, though way less crimsonisms than that the last one

Been listening to Carol Of Harvest. Quite disappointing overall. "Try A Little Bit" is really drawn out with some rote singing and most of the 8 tracks aren't that memorable (the last 3 are bonus live tracks that have no studio versions).
What saves it are "Somewhere At The End Of The Rainbow" (nothing to do with the Wizard Of Oz version), a really beautiful song with a warmth and power unlike anything else on the album. Live bonus track "Sweet Heron" is pretty dynamic, with interesting effects.
The former track is really worth hearing.

Seems they have a reunion album from 2009 but it might be a different band.

"Another Glass Hammer on the horizon, and shocker, it's supposedly their best one yet"

they're still happening, even with Davidson in Yes?

GH have gone through a ton of vocalists through the years so I think they'll survive - Davison is only on three of the band's 15 (?) albums.