Viva Prog Rock

[Matthew]

For the past couple of weeks, I've been making my way through Robert Wyatt: Box Set, which has all the albums & EPs by Robert Wyatt, original member of Soft Machine, and it has been a wonderful experience. Not knowing too much about Wyatt, but interested anyway, I purchased the set, and it's perfect in every way: It has all the new remastered versions of everything, the price is great, since Wyatt's cds are mostly imports, but most of all, the music is great. Wyatt's voice is so unique, that it's like he is caressing a song. If you dig good music, in a prog-rock setting, do yourself a favor and get this set, you will not regret it.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Matthew

[Shawn]

ASTRA - The Weirding. Anyone who kind of misses that 1970-74 sound of bands like Floyd, Crimson or Yes should check out this band from San Diego. It takes a few spins to fully sink in, but it's worth the effort.

For once I agree with the review on AMG: "Unlike many other modern-day prog rock revivalists, Astra recall a day when the genre was more about creating sweeping mood shifts than mere mind-numbing instrumental acrobatics."

[7/4]

Stephen Prutsman- Soundchaser

piano solo

[Aggie87]

Not sure where to really put this, but I just read that Mick Karn (from Japan/Rain Tree Crow) has recently been diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer.

There's a page on Facebook (here) for Mick that offers the ability to leave messages (or donate money if you are so inclined) for Mick.

In addition to Japan and his solo material, Mick's recorded with Gary Numan, Kate Bush, Mark Isham, David Torn, No-Man, and others.

[7/4]

that's awful! I saw him with Mark Isham & David Torn at the Bottom Line years ago.

[Shawn]

Pelican's only vocal track is quite haunting and beautiful I think.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Shawn

[Kyo]

I think Aquarius by UK proggers Haken is one of the best debuts of the year so far.

These guys share some members with the band To-Mera, although in quite different roles: Haken is led by To-Mera keyboardist Richard Henshall, who wrote all the music and also plays some guitar on the album (the band also features another guitarist and a full-time keyboardist). To-Mera's main writer and guitarist Tom MacLean takes a back seat in Haken and is featured on bass.

The music is a very fresh sounding take on prog metal that mixes all kinds of influences in a natural way - there are wacky bits that remind me of the stuff Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess usually gets slagged for, there's some jazzy stuff, there are some growls (not a lot, though, so don't let that keep you from giving this album a chance if you mind those), and most importantly there are some really great melodies and strong vocals. Most of the songs are around 10 minutes long and both adventurous and well-constructed, with the closing 16:57 "Celestial Elixir" nicely wrapping up the whole thing - did I mention Aquarius is a concept album?

Their MySpace page has some streaming tracks and some decent live video that will give you a pretty good idea of their sound:

http://www.myspace.com/hakenmusic

Just know that the track "Drowning in the Flood" is not representative of the album's style, it's much more on the metal side than the rest of the material, which is a lot more melodic and more original in sound. Guess they picked that one to appeal to the sort of listener that's looking for yet another generic prog metal band - let me assure you, that's what Haken are NOT.

[Shawn]

thanks for the review, I'll check them out.

[Jim Alfredson]

In middle/high school I was the biggest Genesis fan on the planet I reckon. The Gabriel-era of course, although the early records with Phil Collins in front (before Abacab) are good records. Actually, I don't mind the later stuff either up until the last one without Phil. We Can't Dance was not a prog record, nor was Invisible Touch, so it doesn't matter.

Anyway, I tried getting into Yes, but never found them as interesting as the Gabriel-era Genesis. I did like Gentle Giant though. It just seemed to me at the time that every other prog band I listened to were "doing it just to do it" if you know what I mean. Genesis always seemed to be doing it because that's the music they HAD to create together. The records just sound natural, like they were meant to be that way instead of forced.

It's weird, I know.

Amazing what 7 years will do. I love YES now, especially Relayer, which I think is one of their most underrated record. I think my problem with them back in 2003 is that I tried to get into them a few years before that with Tales From Topographic Oceans... probably not a good idea.

I want to pick up that DVD of them live in 1975 from the Queens Park Rangers Stadium. I've seen most of it on YouTube and it's pretty amazing.

Anyone check out that BBC documentary Prog Rock Britannia? Pretty good, especially the early part, but then they skipped over a ton of bands.

[A Lark Ascending]

Anyone check out that BBC documentary Prog Rock Britannia? Pretty good, especially the early part, but then they skipped over a ton of bands.

Given how unfashionable prog rock has been in the UK since '76 - the music that shall never be rehabilitated - it's a wonder that programme got made at all. Even the most sympathetic of commentators cannot approach it without heavy layers of irony.

[7/4]

Yes!

I've been listening to them since I was a teenager, but this Spring I've been I've been on a kick. Steve Howe is really something, take away his classical and bagtimey influences and he's one of (if not the) most original guitarists of his generation. I've listened to Tales, YesShows, Drama and a bunch of his solo albums (The Steve Howe Album, Quantum Guitar, Turbulence) quite a few times recently. Got a copy of Magnification, learning to like that one. I wish there were more legit live releases with Bruford or Moraz on 'em.

Listening to Gentle Giant - In a Glass House for the first time right now.

Edited June 13, 2010 by 7/4

[7/4]

And part of what I've been excited about is his steel guitar playing.

whew!

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes!

I've been listening to them since I was a teenager, but this Spring I've been I've been on a kick. Steve Howe is really something, take away his classical and bagtimey influences and he's one of (if not the) most original guitarists of his generation. I've listened to Tales, YesShows, Drama and a bunch of his solo albums (The Steve Howe Album, Quantum Guitar, Turbulence) quite a few times recently. Got a copy of Magnification, learning to like that one. I wish there were more legit live releases with Bruford or Moraz on 'em.

Listening to Gentle Giant - In a Glass House for the first time right now.

I lost interest in Yes around the time of Relayer but took a chance with Magnification a few years back - really liked it. Strong songs. It think it benefits from not having a keyboard player.

I've never heard any of Steve Howe's solo music; but I notice a recent live album with his 'jazz' trio. Includes versions of Close to the Edge and Siberian Khatru!!!!!

Might use up my e-music credits on that, just out of curiosity!

They've even got a Dylan album by him which includes a 12 minute version of Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands with Jon Anderson singing! Now I understand why he called his drummer son Dylan!

[Just checked and it says the son is named after Dylan Thomas! Also that 'The Clap' was written for him as a baby. And I thought it was about something else!)

[A Lark Ascending]

Anyone know when this music got labelled 'prog'?

My memory from around 1970 when I started listening to music in earnest was that 'progressive' was a more general term used to describe music that tried to do a bit more than commercial pop (pop had yet to have sociological studies written about it proclaiming its importance). I vaguely recall pompously declaring my preference for progressive music to pop to my guffawing mates around that time. I thing Progressive with a capital 'P' started to be used around that time for the likes of Genesis, Yes etc but the 'Prog' diminution seems to come from later - initially, I suspect, used mockingly to deflate the grander word, later by the musicians themselves to demonstrate their ability to laugh at themselves.

At the time the appeal of the music was not so much it's 'progressive' nature as the fact that it didn't stick to standard blues progressions (Britain was awash with heavy blues-rock bands) and that the singers sang in an English accent (nothing against Americans singing in American accents, but Brits...!). As with folk-rock at the same time, there was a sense that this was a rock music made indigenous.

I think my hey-day with the music was at the time when it was still pretty home-made. I largely lost touch after '76, partly because it vanished from the airwaves, partly because what I did hear seemed more stadium orientated. It also seemed to fuse with metal at some point later - in the early 70s, although it ran parallel with metal, it was definitely an alternative.

I had to laugh at that Haken cover - guaranteed to scare off all but the core audience for prog/metal!

Edited June 13, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[Jim Alfredson]

Speaking of prog-metal (which seems to be pretty much the only prog being made these days), I typed Progressive Rock into Pandora and it was pretty much all prog-metal, a genre I'm not really familiar with, but one band stuck out that it played; Symphony X. It's so awesomely cheesy, I actually like it. The singer is a bad-ass. I could never get into Dream Theater because those guys just seem to take themselves way too seriously; maybe Symphony X does too, but I sense a bit of humor in their stuff, or maybe a sense of "fuck it, we like singing about pirates and shit, so let's just do that" instead of trying to be overly profound.

[Kyo]

Amazing what 7 years will do. I love YES now, especially Relayer, which I think is one of their most underrated record. I think my problem with them back in 2003 is that I tried to get into them a few years before that with Tales From Topographic Oceans... probably not a good idea.

Probably not for a start, but strangely enough, Tales from Topographic Oceans has aged better for me than many of the more popular Yes classics. Today it's one of my favorite Yes albums and probably the one that I play most often (next to Drama, another rather untypical choice).

Speaking of prog-metal (which seems to be pretty much the only prog being made these days), I typed Progressive Rock into Pandora and it was pretty much all prog-metal, a genre I'm not really familiar with, but one band stuck out that it played; Symphony X. It's so awesomely cheesy, I actually like it. The singer is a bad-ass. I could never get into Dream Theater because those guys just seem to take themselves way too seriously; maybe Symphony X does too, but I sense a bit of humor in their stuff, or maybe a sense of "fuck it, we like singing about pirates and shit, so let's just do that" instead of trying to be overly profound.

Oh yeah, Symphony X are awesome! They've been moving away from the prog elements and

turning into a more generic power metal band recently (cheese and double bass drumming...),

but some of their material is really good. The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V (the latter

more orchestral and a concept album) would be my main recommendations! Their singer is

indeed fantastic and their guitarist is one of my favorite rhythm players in all metal.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Kyo

[Shawn]

Opeth is the epitome of prog-metal in my book, they cover all the bases and do it with style and class. They skip out on the Dream Theater-esque pyrotechnics and instead concentrate on mood and texture.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Shawn

[7/4]

can't say that progmetal holds any interest for me, it lacks most of what makes prog interesting.

[A Lark Ascending]

I've never heard any of Steve Howe's solo music; but I notice a recent live album with his 'jazz' trio. Includes versions of Close to the Edge and Siberian Khatru!!!!!

Might use up my e-music credits on that, just out of curiosity!

Downloaded it and played it today. Hmm! Grant Green and Jimmy Smith Play Yes! Interesting to hear the Yes pieces shoehorned into an organ trio format; pleasant enough as an album, but a bit snoozy. I'm no expert but it sounded a bit under-rehearsed on Howe's part - notes not quite clicking in with the overall time, just a bit inflexible rhythmically on his part. His son seemed well up for the job. The 'live' audience applause also seemed artificial - I'm sure it was just turned up at the end of tracks but it reminded me of canned laughter.

[Use3D]

I can't get into Symphony X, I dunno, they're just not connecting with me. Where's the melodies?? Opeth however are beyond comparison.

[Kyo]

I can't get into Symphony X, I dunno, they're just not connecting with me. Where's the melodies??

You might just be listening to the wrong (more recent) stuff - they moved away

from a melodic style on The Odyssey and even more so on Paradise Lost and I

don't like a big part of the former and most of the latter for that reason.

Try songs like The Accolade and Accolade II, Candlelight Fantasia, Through

the Looking Glass (stellar track from the uneven Twilight in Olympus album),

Communion and the Oracle or Rediscovery (the finale of the V suite).

[Use3D]

Alright, I'll do that. You're right, I checked out mostly the tracks on the last release, and it was all quite generic.

[7/4]

I've never heard any of Steve Howe's solo music; but I notice a recent live album with his 'jazz' trio. Includes versions of Close to the Edge and Siberian Khatru!!!!!

Might use up my e-music credits on that, just out of curiosity!

Downloaded it and played it today. Hmm! Grant Green and Jimmy Smith Play Yes! Interesting to hear the Yes pieces shoehorned into an organ trio format; pleasant enough as an album, but a bit snoozy. I'm no expert but it sounded a bit under-rehearsed on Howe's part - notes not quite clicking in with the overall time, just a bit inflexible rhythmically on his part. His son seemed well up for the job. The 'live' audience applause also seemed artificial - I'm sure it was just turned up at the end of tracks but it reminded me of canned laughter.

I have it, listened to it twice. I don't know what to think yet...let's hear him play bop!!!

[Shawn]

Opeth however are beyond comparison.

x2

[Shawn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8V-ueepk9s

Brilliant