I liked their Flying Teapot Era, but I'm totally old-school. I'd say that era of Gong was moving toward fusion, as a lot of that stuff had a pretty jazzy feel.
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Best Prog Rock?
- Thread starter Doctor Intrepid
- Start date
I liked their Flying Teapot Era, but I'm totally old-school. I'd say that era of Gong was moving toward fusion, as a lot of that stuff had a pretty jazzy feel.
It seems that some of those early 70s prog type groups morphed more into jazz fusion bands at some point.
For me, Daevid Allen is an acquired taste. Highly innovative but out there.
"Which is a good thing".
True. Changes in personnel, societal tastes and industry demands.
Eg. Fleetwood Mac blues to Pop.
Bands that were edgy had a hard time selling records and getting on the radio. Changing formats or being more palatable to the average listener was more profitable. Some groups would have a couple catchy songs on an album and fill the rest with whatever they usually would do at the time.
I can remember a time (long ago) when Pacifica Radio or KAAY Little Rock Arkansas
were the only outlets for fringe or cutting edge progressive. Zappa etc.
Least in my neck of the woods.
Agree. He is a little too out there for my tastes nowadays, but I loved that stuff when I was in high school. I still like a lot of the music, though.
As always best is a tough medicine to take in something as subjective as music. Even in prog there are subtle nuances that given personal taste, may disqualify a band ( I like less involved keys in my prog, for instance so Dream Theater wouldn't be my top choice. Of course the shrill voice also would eliminate them, for me, personally )
I like intricate sonic structures but only if it serves the song. Note Olympic playing, while fun, and cool, isn't as important to me as vibe. Prog, to me, is all about how it excites your mind in all the places. Emotional, surprising, thoughtful and memorable. The words and the music need to tell their own story and mesh.
My personal final four:
Rush
Pink Floyd
Riverside
Marillion
My final two:
Pink Floyd - The one two punch of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here is prog nirvana.
Marillion - It's unfortunate that the CD version of Misplaced Childhood couldn't recreate the LP experience. There was no break between the tracks on the LP. It was a seamless transition from song to song and it was impactful. It blew me away as a younger man.
My personal "best"
Pink Floyd
For me it comes down to story telling, harmonies, achingly good guitar playing and emotional investment in the songs. Floyd checks all the boxes with and without Waters.
I love the genre and listen to pretty much all the bands listed in the thread.
I will say, OP, I personally feel Clockwork Angels is Rush's finest work. I think it is their most complete and honest album and it really REALLY speaks to an older man, like myself. The Garden is as good a song, from any genre, that has ever been written. This among the other monster albums they've released which I enjoy completely.
I like intricate sonic structures but only if it serves the song. Note Olympic playing, while fun, and cool, isn't as important to me as vibe. Prog, to me, is all about how it excites your mind in all the places. Emotional, surprising, thoughtful and memorable. The words and the music need to tell their own story and mesh.
My personal final four:
Rush
Pink Floyd
Riverside
Marillion
My final two:
Pink Floyd - The one two punch of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here is prog nirvana.
Marillion - It's unfortunate that the CD version of Misplaced Childhood couldn't recreate the LP experience. There was no break between the tracks on the LP. It was a seamless transition from song to song and it was impactful. It blew me away as a younger man.
My personal "best"
Pink Floyd
For me it comes down to story telling, harmonies, achingly good guitar playing and emotional investment in the songs. Floyd checks all the boxes with and without Waters.
I love the genre and listen to pretty much all the bands listed in the thread.
I will say, OP, I personally feel Clockwork Angels is Rush's finest work. I think it is their most complete and honest album and it really REALLY speaks to an older man, like myself. The Garden is as good a song, from any genre, that has ever been written. This among the other monster albums they've released which I enjoy completely.
Not in the realm of Progressive "Rock" per say- more Jazz Fusion but
Progressive nonetheless- no apologies. Just good stuff post Focus.
Progressive nonetheless- no apologies. Just good stuff post Focus.
Jan Akkerman was/is one of the most underrated and unappreciated guitarists of the era.
Yeah, I think the general party line about Gong is that David Allen’s band and Pierre Moerlin’s band had almost *nothing* to do with one another...a fluke of evolution rather than a logical growth, if you will.
Understandably confusing, as was/am I. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/GongFamily.png
But Gong are yet another to discover for me, most of what I know is Hillage. I either came by him because one of these songs that got minor airplay I heard somewhere and bought the album, or, because on his L album he had half of the Utopia band on it.
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Actually I remember some time ago huge posters of Rock band family trees, there may be some Prog in those.
It was there in School of Rock - Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Residents, and King Crimson being called out as the canonical examples. The Residents are an interesting choice, being a pretty obscure San Francisco avant-garde electronic group that doesn't often get called out in that category - I think the designer of the chart was having a bit of fun.
The ones I remember were white background with black print, like this but it's hard to read https://jowolff.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/eltonjohn.jpg
I do remember The Residents, I had their Commercial album, which was a real miss but I think their other stuff is probably better. Agree, uncategorizable save for avant garde.
I do remember The Residents, I had their Commercial album, which was a real miss but I think their other stuff is probably better. Agree, uncategorizable save for avant garde.
I actually saw the Residents perform in San Francisco a couple of times, which is saying something, since they very rarely gigged, and kept their identities secret, performing masked way before it was popular.
I there's a black-on-white transicription of that blackboard image out there (which I needed to decrypt "Residents", which I wanted to see as "Renaissance", but it's just too short), but I thought it more fun to share the original.
When I was 15, for me it started with Yes, and then King Crimson, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Flash, Premiata/Fornaria/Marconi, John McLaughlin & Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham and a number of bands that slip my brain today.
I listened to Jethro Tull from their first record but always thought of them as in their own category, one of my most favorite bands.
I felt the same way about Pink Floyd, in their own category, and a huge deal.
When Rush came along, I felt that they were Yes fans who made records aimed at younger listeners, sorry for the 300 guys I just offended here.
Never thought of ELO as Prog.
Didn't pay much attention to ELP, not sure why.
Was really busy with infant and toddler (and all the things related to that) when Dream Theatre came along and missed them completely for a decade.
My kids turned me on to Tool about 12-13 years ago and I like their records.
Over the last decade my kids brought me great music from bands like Portishead, Massive Attack, Air, KFMDM, Die Antwoord, Aphex Twin, Daft Punk, Gorillaz, Gramatik, Jah Wobble, Spiritualized, Parov Stelar.
These bands that have landed in my music collection in the last decade may or may not fit the Prog description but I think of them as bands that expanded my horizons, so they seem to fit the thing that Prog Rock did for me way back when....stretching a bit outside of the mainstream rock/blues/pop genre.
I listened to Jethro Tull from their first record but always thought of them as in their own category, one of my most favorite bands.
I felt the same way about Pink Floyd, in their own category, and a huge deal.
When Rush came along, I felt that they were Yes fans who made records aimed at younger listeners, sorry for the 300 guys I just offended here.
Never thought of ELO as Prog.
Didn't pay much attention to ELP, not sure why.
Was really busy with infant and toddler (and all the things related to that) when Dream Theatre came along and missed them completely for a decade.
My kids turned me on to Tool about 12-13 years ago and I like their records.
Over the last decade my kids brought me great music from bands like Portishead, Massive Attack, Air, KFMDM, Die Antwoord, Aphex Twin, Daft Punk, Gorillaz, Gramatik, Jah Wobble, Spiritualized, Parov Stelar.
These bands that have landed in my music collection in the last decade may or may not fit the Prog description but I think of them as bands that expanded my horizons, so they seem to fit the thing that Prog Rock did for me way back when....stretching a bit outside of the mainstream rock/blues/pop genre.
