BBC 4 recently ran a program, Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements. I’ve been a sincerely devoted fan, I mean an avid collector, of progressive rock since the late eighties. In that respect I may have been born in the wrong era, but I was sure raised with this genuinely weird music: King Crimson, Yes, E.L.P. (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Genesis, Jethro Tull, Soft Machine, Egg, you name it! We skip the light fandango of Procul Harum, gather our psychedelia, our Beach Boys and Bach, Beethoven and Bartok, our Beat Boom and Weed and Jazz, and the crowd called out for more. And so it was that later, two weeks later, to be precise, that the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). The late sixties were the germination period of the genre, mostly influenced by psychedelic rock (Pink Floyd, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, the Nice, Tomorrow) and Jimi Hendrix.
The early seventies were the true classical era of progressive rock, when technical virtuosity combined with classical composition, when lyrics explored grand fantasy worlds, when chords revealed unheard harmonies and instruments displayed sounds never met before, when songs extended beyond ten minutes and time signatures shifted from 5/8 and 7/8 to 21 and 25, if you could keep up! This is the period of Close to the Edge and Nursery Cryme, Brain Salad Surgery and Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, and of course the ultimate prog rock send up Thick As a Brick (all ’72-73)! I really adore this kind of music, quaint and outdated as much of it will appear to unfamiliar ears. Perhaps it’s my attention-deficit disorder, my hyperactive mind, but this music engages me intellectually – and while this music may not be gratifying emotionally, prog rock gets me involved, amazes me, impresses me, and in the process transports me to wondrous worlds.
By the mid seventies things went over the top. Yes journeyed across Topographical Oceans with Tales that spanned entire album sides, four extended tracks on a double album. Genesis went all pomp and circumstance where the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Emerson, Lake & Palmer sought fame and fortune to Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends. (All 1974.) Then Queen came and brought the tune back. A Night At the Opera (1975), “Bohemian Rhapsody,” still progressive, still a lengthy three-part composition with the “opera” bit stuck in the middle, but it rocks and people all over the world can sing along with it, drunk or not. “Scaramouch, will you do the fandango?” And then Sex Pistols took a piss and brought three-minute rock back. No fills, no solos, three chords, and crap sound production. Never Mind the Bollocks (1977). “Prog” became a four letter word and it wasn’t until the mid-nineties that people here and there started whispering the term again. That’s not in the program, but it’s thanks to bands like Fates Warning, Dream Theater, Tool and Opeth that “progressive” is no longer a derogatory, dirty word. Thank heavens for small mercies!
The early seventies were the true classical era of progressive rock, when technical virtuosity combined with classical composition, when lyrics explored grand fantasy worlds, when chords revealed unheard harmonies and instruments displayed sounds never met before, when songs extended beyond ten minutes and time signatures shifted from 5/8 and 7/8 to 21 and 25, if you could keep up! This is the period of Close to the Edge and Nursery Cryme, Brain Salad Surgery and Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, and of course the ultimate prog rock send up Thick As a Brick (all ’72-73)! I really adore this kind of music, quaint and outdated as much of it will appear to unfamiliar ears. Perhaps it’s my attention-deficit disorder, my hyperactive mind, but this music engages me intellectually – and while this music may not be gratifying emotionally, prog rock gets me involved, amazes me, impresses me, and in the process transports me to wondrous worlds.By the mid seventies things went over the top. Yes journeyed across Topographical Oceans with Tales that spanned entire album sides, four extended tracks on a double album. Genesis went all pomp and circumstance where the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Emerson, Lake & Palmer sought fame and fortune to Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends. (All 1974.) Then Queen came and brought the tune back. A Night At the Opera (1975), “Bohemian Rhapsody,” still progressive, still a lengthy three-part composition with the “opera” bit stuck in the middle, but it rocks and people all over the world can sing along with it, drunk or not. “Scaramouch, will you do the fandango?” And then Sex Pistols took a piss and brought three-minute rock back. No fills, no solos, three chords, and crap sound production. Never Mind the Bollocks (1977). “Prog” became a four letter word and it wasn’t until the mid-nineties that people here and there started whispering the term again. That’s not in the program, but it’s thanks to bands like Fates Warning, Dream Theater, Tool and Opeth that “progressive” is no longer a derogatory, dirty word. Thank heavens for small mercies!
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