Prog Rock

not really prog, more jazz-fusion

He certainly plays a lot of beats on those albums, ha ha.

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I've always wished someone would sample Bill Bruford's china-boy extravaganza on "One More Red Nightmare".

and the devi influenced tracks by brian auger's oblivian express.

http://www.suckadelic.com/main.html

I have the lotr one, which is only a little bit funny, unfortunately...

South Side Of the Sky
Going For The One
Ritual (!!)
OOALH
Long Distance Runaround
Soon

Vitalski: It's an obvious answer but do you have Yes' Fragile? The second side is a goldmine. Side 2 opens with the first drum and bass track evah! Also check out the intro to "Heart of the Sunrise" and "The Fish" and the basslines to "Long Distance Runaround" and "Roundabout". Neil Peart is another obvious choice.

I find Inner Mounting Flame more or less unlistenable once I got past how virtuosic it is.

Return to Forever (w/diMeola), for ex., sounds more like emotionless showmanship to me. Fun in some ways, in no way deep like Mahavishnu.

I saw them in Lowell at the Paul Tsongas Arena last weekend (the last gig of this leg of their tour; I think the one right after MSG), which they were videotaping I believe for a PBS special and later a DVD release. They played The Beatles' "Every Little Thing" (an early cover of theirs, but very much revamped) as an encore instead of "Soon", plus "Starship Trooper" as the final closer. Great versions of "And You and I", "Ritual", "Turn of the Century"...

Minuses: They did a shuffle-blues acoustic version of "Roundabout" (like Clapton did for "Layla" on his Unplugged)--sounds too cheezy to me. Dean's inflatable set looked very (ahem) Stonehenge like.

That aside, I continue to be amazed at what a great show these guys still put on, since they're all like 55-60 years old. Plus, the a/c that night was non-existent, so it was like 85-90 degrees on stage the entire time for them.

it actually exists. it's actually pretty good.

Nothing to do with this thread. But today I misheard "My building has great progressive broadband" as "My building has a great progressive rock band" and I asked "What's their name?"

Well, yeah. What you misheard would be a much more interesting conversation.

one a year or so I whip out Triumvirats Illusions on a Double Dimple and am blown away by how good it is. its not just the music but how incredible it sounds. even Eddy Offord couldn't get such a great low end. might even be one of the albums I'd use to get someone into prog rock had they not heard any of it before.

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/fruupp-wise-as-wisdom-the-dawn-albums-19731975-4cd-remastered-clamshell-box-set
One of those bands I see on really long lists, maybe I should check them out?

Kind of light noodly mostly instrumental stuff as I recall, upper mid-table second division prog

I've heard their first two albums and I'd call them a somewhat harder Genesis minus theatrics. Pretty mediocre and nothing another group didn't do better.

A bar in town does a monthly prog night, DJed by myself and another guy. Lately a lot of people have been coming in unaware of what prog is and I dunno if Van der Graaf Generator and Magma are scaring them away so I wanted to create a mix that was both pretty accessible for the newcomers and also fun and strange for those who know it all, and here's what I came up with. I'd upload it to YouTube but, y'know, there's King Crimson in it.

https://soundcloud.com/ratboy_slim/in-the-court-of-the-slim

Here are all the tracks used (some more than others)

ELP - Karn Evil 9
Yes - Yours is No Disgrace
PFM - E'Festa
Genesis - it.
Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
Rush - Spirit of the Radio
Kansas - Carry On My Wayward Son
King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man
ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
Rush - Working Man
Camel - Rhyader/Rhyader Goes to Town
Gentle Giant - On Reflection
Pink Floyd - One of These Days
Jon Anderson - What is a Computer?

i listened to a Fruup album but I don't remember anything about it.

First time I’ve ever seen prog in describing ZZ Top, but cool they made the list!

well, it's not in there for long, fast forward to about 17:30 :)

made it downloadable here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k5FWtJrGuWy7t_57tW9LN2oPFdz_bkij/view?usp=drive_link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55a32GiDU7Y

I listened to this on the radio, thought it was pretty shite tbh.

Better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH7TcqEGa78

Thought Peter Hammill was great and the rest was bobbins.

I hadn't seen Peter Hammill for a while but, wow, he looks really old these days - and yes I know he is old but still came as a bit of shock.

yea sometimes old guys age a lot in 5 years and it looks like that's happening to him. or maybe old guys with that haircut just look kinda nuts. he can still bring it though, it's unbelievable how well *that* voice held up

Sounds a lot better than you think he would

A lot better than Gruff Rhys, that's for sure.

VdGG track is not best served by the Mike Batt-style orchestration. Not sure I can face the whole thing, do they do any Magma?

No chance. Seemed to me that the concert highlighted how snugly prog rock fitted into the cosy traditionalist vibe of the Proms. It could have been 1973 and no-one would have noticed.

Far too much of that Elbow guy

the orchestral arrangements really killed any semblance of groove these tunes had, do we not remember how ELP tried this in 1977 and fell flat on their faces? hearing them try "On Reflection" was pretty amusing at least.

most of the vocal performances weren't all that good either, nothing against the singers but some of this stuff just isn't in their range. I don't know who was doing the Annie Haslam role (admittedly I thought it *was* her at first but then realized Annie has got to be in her mid-70s by now) but she couldn't really hit those high notes, not that very many singers could. I thought "Entangled" sounded pretty good though.

best parts were the old timers I thought, Hammill was amazing, seemed to get the best reception of the night. I thought Palmer really brought it as well. I don't know how they didn't get more of the OGs to show up for this.

idk, glad they did this, but can't help but feel they missed the point. the bulk of this music was written by people barely in their 20s and I think they figured out you could use something like say a mellotron to give your music an orchestral sweep without having to actually score things for orchestra, they're great composers but this is not classical music, Gentle Giant imo are probably the ones who come closest

You could do some nice chamber arrangements of certain prog songs, but the cheeseball musical theatre approach stomps all over the compositions here. Rock and classical rhythmic approaches do not ever work together, have they forgotten Sky? All very clumpy clumpy clump on the drumming front. Some Univers Zero might have worked here though. Eloy less so.

I like Guy Garvey and his dedication to this uncool music but other than Hammill I'm not feeling like watching this is necessary

I like Guy Garvey and his dedication to this uncool music but other than Hammill I'm not feeling like watching this is necessary

Wow, that ELP reference is coincidental. I was watching the Old Grey Whistle Test episode with them just yesterday and it had clips of the Montreal show with the orchestra from ‘77. “Pirates” is kind of buried on Side Four of Works, but hearing it for the first time, that might be one of my favorites of their jams.

yeah because "Pirates" was actually written for orchestra. I didn't think they added anything to the pre-Works material but they did cost like $100,000 a day to lug across the nation, in a sense they are legends for actually doing it.

anyway I think there probably are 2 hours worth of great classic prog that could really work with this treatment, unfortunately they seemed to focus on tunes people actually would know. a lot of Camel music would work pretty well with this kind of treatment. as would a lot of ELP, but not the tunes they chose.

On BBC4 now "curated by Stuart Maconie" cheers I'm out

OK Hammill's on I'll give it 5 minutes this orchestration is shite btw

I share my life with a prog devotee and he is literally howling with pain at the TV… the one shining exception being Peter Hammill doing “Refugees”, which was actually fantastic.

“I want to die”, he has just said after The Staves murdered “And You And I”. And so to bed.

Ha! I watched the whole thing and was not sorry, though I'll never watch it again. In addition to "Refugees" the Genesis "Entangled" was also good, and the ELP "Great Gates Of Kiev" was fine. And I didn't mind "And You And I". Anyone coming to this has to alter their expectations, I say as a first generation progger.

wonder why they kept showing to this one specific flute player, was she someone special or something?? it felt like one of those Vic Berger edits.

Yeah, she was on a LOT. We kinda liked her.

At the dread words "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends", we paused, realised we weren't even halfway through, thought "too bloody right it never ends", and called it a night.

I don't know who was doing the Annie Haslam role (admittedly I thought it *was* her at first but then realized Annie has got to be in her mid-70s by now) but she couldn't really hit those high notes

from the short clips i've seen on social media, i think that's Jane Weaver

Speaking of ELP--haven't brought myself to listen to this yet, but backstory is kind of appealing---Poland and Amsterdam maaaan:

GATES OF KIEV: Dutch Progressive Rock Trio To Release Eponymous Debut LP On The Laser’s Edge October 2nd; “Hamlet Burns” Single And Preorders Posted

Leading prog rock label The Laser’s Edge welcomes Dutch trio GATES OF KIEV for the release of their eponymous debut LP, today unveiling its cover art, track listing, preorders, and lead preview with the song “Hamlet Burns.”

GATES OF KIEV is a progressive rock band founded in the Netherlands by childhood friends, organist Tomas Mesman and drummer Hessel Braat. The band’s origins trace back to their teenage years, when a shared passion for classic and vintage music brought them together. What began as informal late night hard rock sessions in a small garage gradually evolved into the musical foundation that defines the band today. While performing on the Amsterdam live music circuit, the duo met Eszl De Vois, an established bass player in the underground psychedelic scene whose passion for unconventional jazz fit the band like a glove.

Heavily inspired by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the band adopted the name GATES OF KIEV, taken from the iconic piece featured on the EL&P live album Pictures At An Exhibition. Taking further inspiration from the modern local garage and punk scene as well as the early years of ‘70s prog bands, GATES OF KIEV’s live shows have evolved into loud, high energy, over-the-top, intense performances. The band’s songs are long and mostly instrumental, and the sparse lyrics they infuse into the music reflect both very personal struggles as societal topics, delivered in a whimsical and sometimes direct way. The dynamics and atmosphere within the instrumental parts are closely tied to the themes of the songs, trying to set a story without words.

The band’s debut album Gates Of Kiev presents forty minutes of incredibly dynamic and immediately engaging music delivered through four sprawling songs. Recorded by GATES OF KIEV, the album was mixed and mastered by White Willow’s Jacob Holm-Lupo in Norway and completed with cover art courtesy of Italian heavy psych illustrator Mont Doom.

The lead preview of the album arrives with the song “Hamlet Burns,” about which drummer Hessel Braat, “‘Hamlet Burns’ is a dramatic, ecstatic song inspired by the scenery of barren fields in Dutch Winter. The music and lyrics follow a journey of loss, deep experience and transformation. Almost as if portraying the unfolding of destiny within a human life.”

also cool band pic:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQhVXGPhbhssJpslzDmnjXxwlbg?projector=1

Wait, why did I think Poland was in there too? Sorry, too much Amsterdam today.

I wish I cared about ELP but, Lucky Man aside, I have never warmed to them. and I've tried

Props for using the Eloy font

hah, I think I actually heard of these guys through another prog community, they posted a couple live videos which I thought sounded good. "Drunkenship of the Mice" was a pretty crazy tune. I'm glad these newer prog bands are actually starting to rock again.

Been listening to the Supersister compilation M.A.N. Memories Are New and I'm really glad I wanted to be completist about this band. It's mostly songs that aren't on any of the albums, "Wine Melody" was worth the price of admission and the live versions never feel like a waste because they always added new tangents (often humorous) and they have a great energy.

I need to check out the bands Stips was in after Supersister and before Nits.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, January 26, 2024 9:14 PM (two years ago)

I honestly think this compilation is better than their studio albums, so much beautiful stuff on it. "Workman's Song" is about a guy fantasizing about killing people with his tools and its probably made to sound like a singer from a 70s variety show. It's brilliantly done.
There's a few dutch language songs (I don't think they did this on the albums?) so I have no idea what they're laughing about on the last track, they can just barely hold it together.

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

That's really good, thanks

this is some great new prog from brazil

https://papangu.bandcamp.com/album/celestial

^^ very otm, it's an awesome album. definitely restores the feeling.

Cover art is great too, never seen Juliana Lapa before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wugUR0oszgk

never heard of these guys but that sounds great

I'm thinking that Germanofon bootlegged some Iceberg albums in the 90s, which is why I thought they were a German band. TIL they're from Spain.

I thought they were Italian based solely on how they sound