Freitag, 26. Jun 2009, 14:14
Five years ago, I got into progressive rock through Marillion, Genesis and The Flower Kings. Of course, in discovering your new favorite brand of music, you should know your classics. So here are what I consider to be some of the finest albums from the Golden Age of Progressive Rock - From the breakthrough of King Crimson in 1969 until punk screwed it all up in 1977.
10 - Camel - Mirage - 1974
Camel is an easy-going folky prog group from England, led by guitar virtuoso, vocalist and flautist Andy Latimer. Their trademark is a brand of accessible, beautiful and mostly instrumental symphonic pop. Just don't look for any rock, though. They are the Bach of prog rock; unlikely to offend anybody.
The Song: Lady Fantasy. The closest Camel ever got to making something not only beautiful, but actually exiting. The beginning is brilliant.
9 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery - 1973
In contrast, ELP might be one of the least accessible of the classic prog bands. This is mostly due to Emerson's keyboard sound: very loud, very quirky and very obnoxious. They made a number of highly influential but slightly unbalanced records in the early seventies, consisting of original compositions, brutal butcherings of traditional songs and classical pieces, random silliness, and completely over-the-top epics. BSS may be their most interesting, along with 1972's Tarkus. Also, the H. R. Giger artwork is something else.
The Song: Karn Evil 9. The show that never ends. It is overlong, loud, obnoxious and self-indulgent. But do I ever love it.
8 - Focus - Moving Waves - 1971
Prog has a reputation of taking itself very seriously. While this is true for bands like Pink Floyd and Yes (more on them later), Focus will have none of this. Thijs van Leer cheerfully yodels his way through "Hocus Pocus", a lovably silly but seriously rocking ditty that became the band's best known song. The rest of Focus' sophomore release is more downbeat, very much in Camel vein. Most of it is instrumental, the only song with lyrics (the title track) happens to be the weakest tune. Focus has a knack for writing beautiful and accessible melodies, and retains its wonderful sense of musical humor and quirkiness throughout. They have resurfaced some ten years ago and continue playing in their unique style as if the 27-year gap in their career never happened.
The Song: Eruption. A side filler, Eruption lacks the bite of a true epic but is a very smooth and relaxing piece with lots of virtuoso guitar and Hammond playing.
7 - Frank Zappa - Over Nite Sensation / Apostrophe' - 1973/1974
Talk about a sense of humor? Now, it may be a bit of a stretch to include Frank Zappa on this list. But hell, anything that defies categorization will end up in the Progressive Rock category eventually - it's a fact of life. Frank has made a lot of different kinds of music, all presented with an uncanny sense of dry, absurdist and at times controversial humor. These two albums, released within a year, are both rather short and make references to another. They have been released together on one CD. Musically, it goes all over the place, from blues to prog to proto-metal to pop rock to funk to to jazz fusion. Frank's verbal and musical virtuosity is omnipresent, and still has me laughing my ass of after some twenty listens. But it demands a lot of attention.
The Song: Camarillo Brillo. A very catchy rock song, almost easy listening compared to Frank's usual shenanigans.
6 - Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here - 1974
Pink Floyd is probably the biggest band ever to receive the Progressive Rock moniker. But I actually find them to be a bit overrated. Many of their songs just crawl along at the same pace for too long, with not a whole lot happening. At the same time, they certainly know how to build up an album. Wish You Were Here is the artistic highlight of their career (Dark Side Of The Moon fans: bring it on). Apart from the legendary, epic two-part Shine On You Crazy Diamond (the most interesting of the Floyd epics, along with Dogs) it features three shorter songs that aren't even half bad. The title track is one of the most stunning rock ballads I know.
The Song: Shine On You Crazy Diamond. You may know it.
5 - Gentle Giant - Octopus - 1972
I've only recently gotten into Gentle Giant, and they've quickly found their way to my LastFM top ten. They are a unique band, as they literally sound like nothing I ever heard before. They are a bit of a cult band, but have had a pretty big influence on the current Third Wave of prog. They excel in compact but incredibly clever songs full of odd time signatures, eccentric melodies, multi-layered vocals, unusual instrumentation and an almost medieval feel. "Octopus" is their standout album for me, if only for the intriguing artwork. All eight songs here have something going for them, but the standout track would be "Knots". It features an a-capella arrangement to put Bohemian Rhapsody to shame, a xylophone solo, lyrics put together like an abstract poem, and a hell of a chorus. This actually works.
The Song: Knots. It has to be heard to be believed.
4 - Yes - Close to the Edge - 1972
Let me get one thing out of the way here: I think Yes is the worst band in the world. While this is a bit of an overstatement, Yes embodies everything that's bad about prog. Overly pompous, serious and self-indulgent, unintelligible spiritual lyrics, a freak for a singer and a most horrible sense of fashion. Having said all this, it is completely impossible not to love Close to the Edge. The title song is so majestic, challenging, put together extremely well and absolutely gorgeous. What's really surprising is that, at nineteen minutes long, it is a coherent whole (unlike Genesis' Supper's Ready, for one) and doesn't get boring for a second. Also, the ending is fabulous. The two other songs on the album (both ten minutes) are nearly as good. This album is so awesome, it almost makes up for the rest of Yes' career.
The Song: Close to the Edge. Probably the ultimate prog epic.
3 - Rush - A Farewell to Kings - 1977
Now we're getting to the really good ones. Rush is one of the very few 70's prog heroes who are still out there and rocking out as ever. Virtually all Rush albums are good (save for a few from the early nineties), but this is a highlight album from their highlight period. Rush single-handedly redefined prog in the late seventies by emphasizing the ROCK part of Progressive Rock. Man, do these three boys rock. As a lyricist, Neil Peart might not be all he's cracked up to be, but he is definitely the best drummer ever. Along with the next band, Rush helped define the edgier, ballsier side of prog.
The Song: Xanadu. All qualities of Rush crammed into eleven minutes. Gotta love the church bells.
2 - King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King - 1969
Now, what we have here is possibly the most influential prog rock record of all time - for one thing, it's considered to be the first. I have only recently discovered it, and I must say that even without its monumental impact on music it is simply a brilliant album in its own right. It is creative, melodic, tight, brutal, bombastic and subtle all at once. Each song brings out a different side of the King. I could have done without the ten minute improvisation on "Moonchild", but for the rest this is an extremely tightly played, well composed and truly progressive effort - in any sense of the word, in which the whole is considerably more than the sum of its parts. Get over the hideous cover; you need this. Incidentally, vocalist Greg Lake (who later formed ELP) is the only person to appear twice on this list.
The Song: 21st Century Schizoid Man. Up to that point the most brutal song ever. Rancid sax, freaky guitars, distorted vocals and a killer riff. It stood the test of time.
1 - Genesis - Selling England By The Pound - 1973
Genesis is, to me, the quintessential prog band. I had the pleasure of joining them on their 2007 comeback tour, and loved every bit of it (with the notable exception of "hold on my heart", at which point I went to pee). But the absolute artistic peak of their career, the music of the seventies and indeed the whole progressive rock movement, was in 1973, when Selling England By The Pound came out. From the a-capella opening lines of "Moonlit Knight" via the baffling keyboard and guitar workouts of "Firth of Fifth" through the Peter Gabriel vaudeville show of "Epping Forest" to the reprise of the first song in "Asile of Plenty" - I love book-structured albums - it takes you through all the marvels of prog rock without being overtly pretentious or boring for even a second. One of the greatest goosebumps moments I know is around the 7:00 mark of "Cinema Show", when grumpy ol' Tony Banks plays this positively delightful theme on the ARP soloist… only to reprise it seconds later with TONS of Mellotron added.
The Song: The Cinema Show. This is what heaven sounds like.