AnyBlogDotCom: Prog Rock and Other Forms of Progressive Music

As I started to seriously get into music in my pre-teens I became aware of the term "progressive music" and "progressive bands". The term "prog-rock" had not yet slithered into existence. My understanding of "progressive" was music and bands which were developing or progressing the electric blues format. Though the term would later be applied also to folk music of the period (late Sixties, early Seventies), my understanding at the time was that it related mostly to electric blues, so bands such as Cream and Led Zeppelin were progressive bands, but Donovan, Fairport Convention, and Lindisfarne were not. There was, however, a sampler album, Wowie Zowie! The World of Progressive Music, released in 1969, which I possessed (and probably still do). This album contains tracks by East of Eden, Genesis and The Moody Blues, who have all been associated with progressive music or prog-rock, though only Genesis is a core prog-rock band. The Moody Blues are usually regarded as psychedelic, and a key influence on prog, but not prog themselves. East of Eden are more jazz-fusion-pop than prog, though are often considered to be on the fringes on the prog-rock world. Other artists on the album are John Mayall - a significant, though mostly traditional, electric blues enthusiast who, with his band, the Bluesbreakers, nurtured some of the best electric blues guitarist in the UK: Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Tayler. The track, "Where Did I Belong", comes from the Bare Wires album, which has jazz-fusion influences, and a song suite on side one, but is otherwise a blues album. Same is true of many of the others, such as Savoy Brown, a blues rock band, William R. Strickland was a folk/pop singer who made one album which had electronic doodlings and psychedelic touches. John Cameron was a pop music arranger and composer who worked with Cilla Black and Hot Chocolate. The Keef Hartley Band were straightforward electric blues with a touch of jazz as was the fashion at the turn of the decade. It seems the compiler just got lucky in picking Genesis for an album with the words "progressive" in the title. Additionally, progressive music is today regarded as a wider grouping of music, and is more about an attitude and approach than a genre, so "progressive music" does not necessarily mean, even today, "prog rock", and in certainly wouldn't have in 1969, as prog rock had not yet emerged from the slime.

I can't say for sure when the term "prog rock" first appeared, though my association with the term is that it was negative, and applied to bands who lacked connection with the audience, lacked a natural approach to music, were not part of the underground crowd, and were British. So the adventurous bands from Germany were not prog rock, they were Kraut rock. Hippy bands such as Gong and Hawkwind were not prog rock. And nor were Pink Floyd.

Prog rock bands tended to be overly serious and somewhat detached from the audience. The music was more structured rather than organic and spontaneous. My own vague memory of the term is that it was closer in meaning to "programmed rock" than "progressive rock".

Other than a sense of prog rock being non-humanistic - that is, music and performance somewhat detached from the audience and the community of the audience and done for itself - somewhat inward looking music done for its own sake rather than to communicate with the audience, and music which takes ideas and structures deliberately and obviously from classical music, I am not sure prog rock is actually a genre of music, such as blues, jazz, and folk is. I think prog rock was a term applied to bands and albums, same as with punk rock, which had a sort of idealised identity rather than a musical identity and/or happened to release albums during a certain period, and whose music was contemporary with that period. I see it in the same bracket as Punk, Britpop or British Invasion; music which could be quite varied and different, ranging from pop to rock, simple to complex, loud to soft, and in itself utilising identifiable genres of music which possibly preceded, succeeded, and/or ran contemporarily with bands identified as prog.

Wikipedia:

Progressive rock (shortened as prog; also known as classical rock or symphonic rock; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an outgrowth of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing.

Prog is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres, involving a continuous move between formalism and eclecticism. Due to its historical reception, prog's scope is sometimes limited to a stereotype of long solos, long albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. While the genre is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture, few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, and only a handful of groups purposely emulated or referenced classical music.

The genre coincided with the mid-1960s economic boom that allowed record labels to allocate more creative control to their artists, as well as the new journalistic division between "pop" and "rock" that lent generic significance to both terms. Prog saw a high level of popularity in the early-to-mid-1970s, but faded soon after. Conventional wisdom holds that the rise of punk rock caused this, but several more factors contributed to the decline. Music critics, who often labelled the concepts as "pretentious" and the sounds as "pompous" and "overblown", tended to be hostile towards the genre or to completely ignore it. After the late 1970s, progressive rock fragmented in numerous forms. Some bands achieved commercial success well into the 1980s (albeit with changed lineups and more compact song structures) or crossed into symphonic pop, arena rock, or new wave.

Early groups who exhibited progressive features are retroactively described as "proto-prog". The Canterbury scene, originating in the late 1960s, denotes a subset of prog bands who emphasised the use of wind instruments, complex chord changes and long improvisations. Rock in Opposition, from the late 1970s, was more avant-garde, and when combined with the Canterbury style, created avant-prog. In the 1980s, a new subgenre, neo-progressive rock, enjoyed some commercial success, although it was also accused of being derivative and lacking in innovation. Post-progressive draws upon newer developments in popular music and the avant-garde since the mid 1970s.

AllMusic:

Progressive rock and art rock are two almost interchangeable terms describing a mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. The differences between prog-rock and art rock are often slight in practice, but do exist. Prog-rock tends to be more traditionally melodic (even when multi-sectioned compositions replace normal song structures), more literary (poetry or sci-fi/fantasy novels), and more oriented toward classically trained instrumental technique (with the exception of Pink Floyd). Art rock is more likely to have experimental or avant-garde influences, placing novel sonic texture above prog-rock's symphonic ambitions. Both styles are intrinsically album-based, taking advantage of the format's capacity for longer, more complex compositions and extended instrumental explorations. In fact, many prog bands were fond of crafting concept albums that made unified statements, usually telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. In addition to pushing rock's technical and compositional boundaries, prog-rock was also arguably the first arena where synthesizers and electronic textures became indispensable parts of a rock ensemble. The earliest rumblings of progressive and art rock could be heard in the poetry of Bob Dylan and conceptually unified albums like the Mothers of Invention's Freak Out! and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, all of which suggested that rock was more than just teenagers' music and should be taken seriously as an art form. Prog-rock began to emerge out of the British psychedelic scene in 1967, specifically a strain of classical/symphonic rock led by the Nice, Procol Harum, and the Moody Blues (Days of Future Passed). King Crimson's 1969 debut In the Court of the Crimson King firmly established the concept of progressive rock, and a quirky, eclectic scene was taking shape in Canterbury, led by the jazzy psychedelia of the Soft Machine. Prog-rock became a commercial force in the early '70s, with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, Jethro Tull, Genesis, and Pink Floyd leading the way. Meanwhile, a more avant-garde scene (dubbed Kraut-rock) was developing in Germany, and eccentric, unclassifiable bands continued to emerge in the U.K. By the mid-'70s, a backlash was beginning to set in; prog-rock sometimes mistook bombast for majesty, and its far-reaching ambition and concern with artistic legitimacy could make for overblown, pretentious music. Its heyday soon came to an end with the advent of punk, which explicitly repudiated prog's excesses and aimed to return rock & roll to its immediate, visceral roots. Still, prog-rock didn't completely go away. A number of AOR bands used prog ideas in more concise songs; plus, Pink Floyd, Yes, and Genesis all had number one singles in the '80s by retooling their approaches. A small cult of neo-prog bands catered to faithful audiences who still liked grandiose concepts and flashy technique; the first was Marillion, and many more popped up in the late '80s and early '90s.

1962–1967: Background and roots

The roots of progressive rock developed from the "progressive" pop groups in the 1960s who combined rock and roll with various other music styles such as Indian ragas, oriental melodies and Gregorian chants, like the Beatles and the Yardbirds. Hegarty and Halliwell identify the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Doors, the Pretty Things, the Zombies, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd as "not merely as precursors of prog" but "essential developments of progressiveness in its early days". According to musicologist Walter Everett, the Beatles' "experimental timbres, rhythms, tonal structures, and poetic texts" on their albums Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966) "encouraged a legion of young bands that were to create progressive rock in the early 1970s". Dylan's poetry, the Mothers of Invention's album Freak Out! (1966) and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) were all important in progressive rock's development. The productions of Phil Spector were key influences, as they introduced the possibility of using the recording studio to create music that otherwise could never be achieved. The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966), which Brian Wilson intended as an answer to Rubber Soul influenced the Beatles when they made Sgt. Pepper.

Folk rock groups such as the Byrds, based their initial sound on that of the Beatles. In turn, the Byrds' vocal harmonies inspired those of Yes, and British folk rock bands like Fairport Convention, who emphasised instrumental virtuosity. Some of these artists, such as the Incredible String Band and Shirley and Dolly Collins, would prove influential on progressive rock through their use of instruments borrowed from world music and early music.

The Sixties

1967

+ Procol Harum - Procol Harum [EB] [psy] [pg] Procol Harum are important in moving music on from R&B and British blues (which is evident on their first album) and into psychedelic and progressive music with their use of classical music ideas. Critics tend to like the 1969 album A Salty Dog, but in addition to capturing that moment of transition from British R&B into progressive music, the debut contains "Conquistador", and the US release also contains "A Whiter Shade of Pale" which makes it pretty essential. Score: 7

+ The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed (ATT) [pg] Why listen to this? Released in November 1967, this is considered a landmark fusion album, combining classical, pop and r 'n' b music styles that would later develop into progressive rock. It is a serious album, further developing some of the ideas explored on The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's album released in May. The album is a song cycle (or "concept") with a theme of a day; it starts with "The Day Begins" and concludes with the breath-taking "Nights In White Satin". The songs don't tell a unified story, but they do share the theme of parts of the day organised in sequence. Score: 7

+ The Nice - The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack [Psy] [pg] Psychedelic and prog-rock. This serves as a useful companion piece to Days of Future Passed, especially in terms of the hard and excessive instrumentation that was (still is?) such a negative component of prog-rock. Keyboard player Emerson would go on to form ELP, who did the same stuff. It's all here. Emerson didn't advance beyond this. Score: 5

+ Nirvana - The Story of Simon Simopath [Psy] A song cycle - rather twee. The song cycle needs the help of the story on the back cover. There is little musical connection to prog-rock, though some commentators see a link with pretty much anything psychedelic and later prog.

1969

$ King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King (ATT) [jz] [pg] [hr] Debut album of Robert's Fripp's eclectic band which is generally classed as either heavy rock or progressive rock or both, but, particularly on this album, also incorporated jazz rock. Score: 5 1/2

+ Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy [pg] Score: 5

+ Renaissance - Renaissance [fk] [pg] Progressive folk-rock. Not the sort of band I was thinking of. Probably not. Score: 4

$ Fairport Convention – Liege & Lief (MC) (G50) (ATT) [FK] Influential British folk rock - also considered an influence on some prog-rock bands. Score: 6

The Seventies

1970

+ Kevin Ayers - Shooting At the Moon (ATT) [PG] Score: 7

+ Gerry Fitz-Gerald - Mouseproof [PG] A lost album which was re-released on CD in 2006. This was the only album that Fitz-Gerald made. It sold poorly, and was only championed by John Peel. Sitting on the edge of the psychedelic folk-rock scene which was coming to an end by 1970, with quirky touches here and there of Sixties pop, and the edge of the sort of musical experimentation that informed early Seventies prog-rock, Krautrock, and the Canterbury scene, it lacks cohesion, or a singular voice or vision. The individual pieces are each listenable and interesting, but the whole is a bit of a mess giving the feel of a disjointed 1970s sampler. But that is also its main interest now - as a representation of the transition between some of the more interesting music of the Sixties with some of the more interesting music of the Seventies. None of it really commercial, but all of it alive with musical ideas. Score: 5 1/2

+ Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You [pg] UK organ led blues-rock and semi-prog band. Tight, moody and brooding. Score: 5 1/2

$ Traffic – John Barleycorn Must Die (ATT) [jz] [pg] Traffic incorporated jazz, soul, and folk into their sound without making a fuss about it. Opinions vary, but I feel this is their finest album, though The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys (1971) comes close. However, it's not a hugely engaging album. One to quietly respect rather than groove along to. Often quite light with more pop-jazz aspects than anything really interesting. Score: 5

+ Third Ear Band - Third Ear Band / Elements [PG] Second album of avant-garde instrumental band on the fringes of modern classical, minimalist, and jazz-inflected prog-rock. Membership of band was fairly loose - and included John Peel playing Jew's harp on their debut album. The self-titled second album contains four pieces named after the elements, and so is sometimes known as Elements. The album was re-released on CD in 2018 complete with the soundtrack album, Abelard and Heloise, along with additional tracks, including different takes of the four tracks on Elements, which indicates how much the band were driven by improvisation. "Earth", with its repetitive notes and harmonic rhythms is reminiscent of Steve Riech's minimalist work. Fascinating stuff, reflective of the desire and willingness of musicians to explore and explore the boundaries of music in the early Seventies before the advent of Punk made such bold and creative, yet sometimes challenging, music unpopular. Score: 4 1/2

+ Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Emerson, Lake & Palmer The band's debut album. Emerson was the keyboard player in The Nice, Lake was the vocalist and bass player in King Crimson, and Palmer was the drummer in the just formed Atomic Rooster and was previously in The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Their second gig was the 1970 Isle of Wight festival, and they were an immediate popular hit, becoming commercially successful world wide, though, at the time, were not critically regarded due to Emerson's crowd pleasing excesses on the keyboards which tended to be regarded as pompous, overblown and superficial. They were the first well known prog-rock band, and largely set the template for classical music inspired, keyboard driven prog-rock. However, the structure, approach, and sound had already been laid down by Emerson in The Nice.

+ Barclay James Harvest - Barclay James Harvest [fk] [prog] Debut album of a Moody Blues style band with folk rock and prog rock elements, sounding at times like The Strawbs. Harmonious, baroque, gently rocking, very pleasant. They were always sort of on the fringes - not quite underground, not quite mainstream, not quite rock, not quite pop, not quite prog, not quite folk. They had a minor hit with "Mocking Bird", which is on their second album, Once Again (1971), which some feel is their best album, though I feel that this album states everything that the band were, and is a tight and enjoyable album. Score: 6

1971

$ Jethro Tull – Aqualung (1971) This album is regarded as one of the classics of prog rock, yet, to me, it mostly sounds like British folk rock, with its roots in British electric blues. Consider it a mix of Roy Harper and Cream. Score: 5

+ Caravan - In The Land of Grey and Pink (1971) Gentle, cute, slightly jazzy baroque pop/early prog-rock. Caravan were part of the Canterbury scene and while critically liked were only moderately successful; this, their third album (which has never been out of print), is widely regarded as their best. Score: 5

$ Yes – The Yes Album (ATT) [PG] Because of the circumstances by which I first came to hear this album, I may be biased toward it, however, I do feel this is a special album. There are some strong songs here which the band continued to play throughout their career. This is my favourite Yes album, and for me this is the best line-up of the band. There was a difference when Rick Wakeman joined; even though he is a supremely skilled keyboardist, and the band's sound required the depth and richness his keyboards could bring, he is also a little inclined to go overboard, to lose focus, and to go for bright sounds rather than emotional impact. I wonder how the band would have developed with Kaye remaining on the keyboards. Score: 8

+ The Strawbs - From The Witchwood [PG] Progressive folk rock with the added touch of Rick Wakeman's keyboard madness before he joined Yes. A number of fans and some critics regard their following album Grave New World (1972) as their definitive album, but I feel Witchwood is the more interesting album as it remained successfully within the folk framework, while with Grave New World the band moved more into prog rock, for which there are more notable albums by other bands to listen to. There are some great songs here, and the album presents as a unified whole. Wonderful. Woefully underappreciated. Score: 8

+ Focus - Focus 3 or III [PG] Focus were pop and classical orientated, taking their cue from Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Their top albums are acknowledged to be Moving Waves, III, Hamburger Concerto and Live at the Rainbow. Focus 3 is a double album that captures them at their peak, and allows them space to develop longer pieces alongside the more pop-orientated short pieces. It was their most successful album, and contains their hit "Sylvia". Score: 5

+ Comus - First Utterance (1971) Melodic and quirky British folk and prog band who were almost totally overlooked. Skilful, attractive, interesting, and quirky bands like Comus were a significant part of the musical scene in the early Seventies, though not often heard on mainstream media, and thus not commercially successful. Record labels like Virgin were interested in trying them out, and sometimes - as with Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells, found they had a hit on their hands, but too often such bands did not make the record companies enough money, and by the mid-Seventies such bands were no longer being supported. The advent of punk, in which loud, simple, and rhythmic-focused music was championed, meant musicians wishing to explore such music found it even harder. This was the band's first of two albums they made. It is a compelling blend of folk and classical music with a touch of psychedelic pop. Their second album was also attractive, but even though they had Henry Cow bassoonist Lindsay Cooper and Gong saxophonist Didier Malherbe on board, the result was less interesting.

+ The Moody Blues - Every Good Boy Deserves Favour [pg] Score: 3

XX Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Tarkus If there is to be an ELP album, then this is as good as any - it's just that the band were rather bad. They were fairly short-lived, and I'm not sure how influential they were, or how important in the realm of organ led progressive music. They were popular for a while. But I think this list could soon become crammed if every popular artist were included, particularly those who were temporarily popular. If they are to be included, it would be on the basis of the gap between the critics who regarded them as pompous and superficial, and their popularity. But this in itself is not new. On that basis I should be including the Bay City Rollers.... Anyway, one to think about. OK, I've decided. I'm removing this in favour of The Nice's 1967 debut album. Everything that is here was already present on that album.

XX Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Pictures at an Exhibition I think this may be the ELP album I like the most, but as only one album by ELP is needed, and this album doesn't contain any original material, just their thudding arrangement of Mussorgsky's composition, this is not the one to choose.

1972

1973

1974

+ Byzantium - Live And Studio (1974) Byzantium were a band very much of their time, incorporating folk-rock (British and American), prog-rock, pop, and psychedelic country. Accomplished musicians, their sound was very professional and attractive, though never quite got the attention of critics or public, perhaps due to their eclectic approach, or lack of image. This was their third and last album; paid for by the band, they mainly used it to promote themselves - unsuccessfully: they broke up shortly after, the individual members continuing their careers in other people's bands. They have attracted a cult following over the years, mainly for this very attractive and accomplished limited release double album, one side studio, one side live, and in 2004 it was re-released along with the band's first two albums, and the recordings they did in their pre-Byzantium days under the name Ora. The box set is called Halfway Dreaming.

1975

+ Renaissance - Scheherazade and Other Stories [fk] [pg] Renaissance were a respected cult progressive folk-rock unit founded in 1969 by Keith Relf and Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds, though by 1971 the band had a completely new set of members. This is their most interesting album, though 1978's A Song For All Seasons is their most accomplished, and contains their hit single "Northern Lights". The second side is a suite based on the Arabian (or 1001) Nights, whose main character is Scheherazade. It utilised a recurring motive from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. At times it sounds more like a score for a theatrical musical than a prog or folk-rock album, but it is listenable, and the first side does hold slightly more attractive songs. Score: 4

Bands

Spirogyra - Spirogyra were a British folk/prog band that recorded three albums between 1971 and 1973. The group's most well-known members are co-founder, songwriter, and guitarist Martin Cockerham and singer Barbara Gaskin. Their sound has been described as "whimsically English" and their third album, Bells, Boots and Candles, has come to be regarded as "a lost masterpiece".

AllMusic:
Formed in Canterbury, England in 1970, Spirogyra was one of a group of young progressive folk bands signed to B&C Records at the same time as Steeleye Span. The band was formed by writer Martin Cockerham, vocalist Barbara Gaskin, Julian Cusack and Steve Borrill. Dave Mattacks played drums on their debut album in 1971. The sound on St. Radigund’s and the follow-up Old Boot Wine was similar to early Strawbs but also drew on the progressive ideas of the Incredible String Band. The songs sounded whimsically English and Gaskin’s voice gave them a pure, unsullied air. The final Spirogyra album, 1973’s Bells, Boots And Shambles, was recorded by Cockerham and Gaskin alone. Gaskin went on to work with Hatfield And The North and enjoyed a surprise UK chart-topper in 1981, in partnership with Dave Stewart, with a cover version of Lesley Gore’s ‘It’s My Party’.

Progarchives; Interview; Bolton News;

Sep. 1971	St. Radigund's / Spotify	B&C Records
June 1972	Old Boot Wine / Spotify	Pegasus
April 1973	Bells, Boots and Shambles	Polydor

Beautiful pastoral British folk rock with touches of psychedelia. In the same field as The Strawbs, Pentangle, The Incredible String Band, Donovan, Steeleye Span, etc, though a little more pop-oriented and pastoral. This is very much British folk rock with elements of psychedelia. Not really progressive rock, though are often classed as such, mainly due to the structure and musical structure of " In The Western World", and an association with prog through Gaskin's involvement in Hatfield And The North, and the coincidence that the band were formed in Canterbury at the same time as the The Canterbury Scene. They are closer to Donovan or Tyrannosaurus Rex than Genesis or King Crimson. Conventional length songs (apart from "In The Western World"), with little in the way of developed musicianship. These are folky songs with the occasional fey quirkiness. They made three albums before breaking up through lack of commercial and critical attention. Their last album has gained some attention from 21st century prog fans, though there is no prog rock in their music. Co-lead singer Barbara Gaskin moved on to become a backing singer with Dave Stewart's prog-rock band Hatfield And The North, and later, as a duo, Stewart and Gaskin had a number one hit in the 80s with a cover of "It's My Party".

Camel

Fairly light pop-jazz. Band gathered a following, and their most popular/acclaimed album is Mirage from 1974. The light pop approach combined with the occasional pointless twiddling of the lead guitar doesn't endear them to me - there is a lack of original ideas, innovation, cuteness, sophistication, oh, I don't know - anything that makes music interesting and/or moving. They sound rather modern, and suit the later Seventies and early Eighties more than the early Seventies when classic prog was being made.

Van Der Graaf Generator

Rather a cult act. You either love them or hate them. I find them simplistic and noisy with little grasp of the essentials of music or lyrics. "Make some weird noises" appears to be the main stylistic approach. Their two most acclaimed albums are Pawn Hearts (1971) and Godbluff (1975). I saw them at Weeley - this is some of what I experienced: "After The Flood". They've never made an impression on me - and it doesn't help when fans are so earnest, and insist the band has merit despite the evidence that they don't. Interestingly, for many observers and commentators on prog-rock, Van Der Graaf are seen as a central band - a sort of core prog band. For many, they are the quintessential prog band, for good and ill.

Later prog bands/albums

+ Marillion - Misplaced Childhood The most acclaimed album from the most successful neo-prog band. The album sounds too much like Genesis and Supertramp to be significant in itself. However, adding it for the moment as indicative of a movement that occurred during the Eighties that may perhaps be more than insignificant as it raises discussions points about music revivals, particularly reviving a genre that had been at its peak prior to punk, and was much castigated by the punk movement.

@ Cardiacs - A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window Variously classed as punk prog-rock or post-punk as the band combined some of the immediacy and directness of punk with more developed, progressive, or arty music ideas. Apparently they severely divide opinion, with most critics disliking them intensely. The NME refuses to talk about them at all, and AllMusic is dismissive, only commenting on two of their albums. I find them fascinating and hugely inventive.