Progressive Rock - SciForums.com

Fraggle Rocker

05-09-04, 01:34 PM

Any fans of progressive rock out there? Can anyone suggest some good progressive rock bands that I could listen to (specify album/song)?Oh boy can I. That was my all-time favorite era in music.

Quicksilver: Quicksilver Messenger Service. Most of the cuts are genuine prog-rock (violinist and all), but "The Fool" is a real opus that takes up most of side 2.

Jefferson Starship: Dragonfly. Most Jefferson Airplane fans feel compelled to trash their later music, and non-fans don't know anything by them but "White Rabbit" -- which is a great tune and I'm not knocking it but after all it's barely two minutes long -- but I think Dragonfly is one of the best albums ever made. Papa John Creach adds his jazz violin to most tracks. "Be Young You" is my favorite.

Supertramp: Crime of the Century. The line between "art rock" and "progressive rock" is hard to draw, but these guys have intelligently crafted changes in tempo and theme, as well as other dynamics, and to me that qualifies as prog rock. More importanly, many of the tracks on this album are just spine-tingly good. The opening to "School" will give you goosebumps.

Gentle Giant: Free Hand. Now here are your serious "progressive" musicians. All classically trained, with cuts full of violins, vibraphones, choral harmonies, counterpoint, and everything you expect from a hybrid genre. Unlike most prog-rock, many of their songs have a really jagged edge that turned off the Yes and Pink Floyd crowd. "On Reflection" is a brilliant rondo that starts off a capella, with one more singer coming in at the beginning of each round, then the instruments come in one at a time and do the same thing, sort of like Bolero. Starting off like a church hymn, it ends up in true rock and roll cacophony. Talk about dynamics!

Chris Squire: Fish Out of Water. Yes's bassist plays all the instruments and sings. (He sounds so much like Jon Anderson that you'd think this was a Yes album that you somehow missed.) He loves the odd rhythms like 7/4 and 11/4, and makes them work so well you can tap your foot to "Silently Falling" or "Lucky Seven."

Renaissance: Novella. Mostly long, epic stories with dynamics in drama, theme, tempo, and volume. Annie Haslam has a haunting voice that today would probably be making millions in the "Celtic Music" assembly line. If you like iconoclasm, Jon Camp's electric bass is the lead instrument more often than not. "Can You Hear Me" and "The Sisters" are profound.

Jethro Tull: Aqualung. If you haven't heard the title song then you don't listen to "classic rock" radio. But the other tracks are just as good and it almost holds together as a "concept album."

Pretty Things: Silk Torpedo. Again, it could be argued that these guys are art-rock, but to me the difference is as unimportant as it is hard to define. The opening segue from the instrumental "Dream" prelude into the "Joey's Got a Dream" song is as goosebumpy as Supertramp's "School" or Jethro Tull's "Aqualung."

Nektar: Recycled. A work of art that takes up one whole side, I would offer this as a textbook sample of prog rock at its finest.

Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, their last album with Peter Gabriel, or Trick of the Tail, their first with drummer Phil Collins singing lead. Both of these albums were derided by critics as "hopelessly middlebrow," which is the highest compliment that can be bestowed on a work of progressive rock. I like "Entangled" on "Trick of the Tail."

Kansas: Leftoverture. The American counterparts of Genesis, this album was critically scorned to the same degree, and it is just as good. "Carry on Wayward Son" is a staple of classic rock radio, but the other cuts are just as good and they haven't been worn out.

UK: In the Dead of Night. Like Nektar's "Recycled" only a few minutes longer, this ranks among the best of the genre.

Frank Zappa: Sheik Yerbouti. Don't write Zappa off as the Spike Jones of rock and roll. Many of these cuts are as good as the Who or Pink Floyd. "Yo Mama" is a really long cut that showcases Zappa's composing skill as well as the talented musicians he unerringly recruited.

David Bowie: Aladdin Sane. Another art-rocker, but who cares. The title song and "Lady Grinning Soul" clearly exhibit his progressive side.

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon. Everyone's heard it. It would still be in the Billboard Top 200 if they hadn't passed a special rule to leave it off. Just letting you know that my tastes aren't too offbeat.

Moody Blues: Days of Future Passed. Another one everybody loves. This album was actually recorded with a full orchestra, in 1967, years ahead of its time. When people began waking up to progressive rock in the early 1970s, it was re-released and finally achieved the fame it deserved.

Mott the Hoople: The Hoople. More art rock. "Marionette" has enough dynamics and seriousness to qualify as progressive.

The Baker-Gurvitz Army: Elysian Encounter. Guitarist Adrian Gurvitz could play circles around Eric Clapton. With Cream's drummer Ginger Baker, it's hard to understand how popularity eluded this band. "Remember" is a prime example of prog rock.

Be-Bop Deluxe: Sunburst Finish. Like many bands of the era, they put together one great prog-rock album, then ran out of ideas. But this album is truly great. "Ships in the Night" and "Blazing Apostles" should be getting classic rock airplay but they don't

Black Sabbath: Never Say Die. Practically every hot band in the mid-1970s got on the progressive rock bandwagon. "Junior's Eyes" and "Johnny Blade" are unmistakeably heavy metal, but undeniably progressive rock as well. This was Sabbath's last album with Ozzy.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Another band everybody loves to hate, but they're often credited with being the architects of progressive rock. "Take a Pebble" and "Tank" are terrific.

Jean-Luc Ponty: Imaginary Voyage. The all-instrumental albums, by the man regarded as having inherited the title of the world's premier jazz violinist from Stephan Grapelli, is invariably found in the "fusion" section of the music stores. Yet this is clearly progressive rock as well. There's nothing here so jazzy as to turn off a rock and roll purist, and there's everything to attract a fan of prog rock. The title track takes up side 2.