Help me for I have discovered Prog

Fretwired

Other things to check out:

Focus - Moving Waves, Focus 3
Camel - Moonmadness
Strawbs - Hero and Heroine
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
UK - UK
King Crimson - Larks Tongues in Aspic and Red
Gentle Giant - Octopus

Winny_Pooh

Quite obscure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(Go_album)

Some great guitar playing on here too

english_bob

EricTheWeary said:

english_bob said:

EricTheWeary said:

If PhilakaPip were still around he'd be guiding you toward Caravan and their amazing guitarist ( Andy something?). 

I think you're thinking of Camel, and Andy Latimer. 

Ahh, that's the one. He sent me some stuff once and I think I upset him by saying it was nonsense about wizards but with great guitar solos. In retrospect I was probably a bit rude...  ...but great guitarist though...

To be fair, it is nonsense about wizards but with great guitar solos

Jalapeno

Dare I mention Dream Theater (bloody US imperialistic spelling) ?

kaypeejay

I got introduced to Haken's music the other weekend and I quite like what I have heard so far. Quite heavy, a bit in the vein of Porcupine Tree.

octatonic

Jalapeno said:

Dare I mention Dream Theater (bloody US imperialistic spelling) ?

Yes, because Britain never had an empire.

rlw

UFO
Soft Machine
Matching Mole
Quintessence
Third Ear Band
Wally
Edgar Broughton Band
Uriah Heep
Barclay James Harvest
Renaissance
Colosseum
Moody Blues

to name several

and surely The Nice were prog long before anyone ever dreamed of it..........

Nitefly

rlw said:

and surely The Nice were prog long before anyone ever dreamed of it..........

As indeed were The Move!

Camel's "Rain Dances" was good.

english_bob

rlw said:

and surely The Nice were prog long before anyone ever dreamed of it..........

Yep. Everyone should get an earful of their stuff. Their version of Bernstein's "America" is brilliant, and Keith Emerson's routine with the knives and the Hammond organ is awesome.



Knives out at 2:10-2:50, but watch the whole thing.  

To be fair, The Nice formed in '67, and both Yes and King Crimson formed the following year, so they weren't *that* far ahead of everyone else.

blobb

You must listen to The Rotters Club by Hatfield & the North. Side 2 (Mumps) is probably the single greatest recording ever put down on record. A truly astonishing album. Their first self titled album is also up there.

Hatfield went on to become National Health, with the departure of Richard Sinclair (Caravan / Camel) and arrival of John Greaves from Henry Cow and Alan Gowan who's own band Gilgamesh are also worth a listen. Gowan is pure magic - listen to 'Playtime' by Gilgamesh, with Hugh Hopper from Soft Machine on Bass.

Henry Cow are in a different league, you will struggle at first but the reward is worth it (start with Legend [Leg - End?] ). They were so anti establishment, a whole new movement sprung up around them - Rock in Opposition (RIO). There are plenty of RIO bands around, even a festival. Zappa fits into RIO quite well. No one can compete with The Cow for technical ability and craziness, although John Greaves dropped a tray of cutlery on the floor on Old Grey Whistle Test during a National Health performance (on YT if you search for it!). He went on to release Kew Rhone with the lyricist Peter Blegvad. I've always struggled with it to be honest but, when it came out, Robert Wyatt bought two copies. Wyatt of course is a genius and worth a listen to anything of his. Rock Bottom stands tallest, so beautiful, written in his hospital bed after breaking his spine falling our of a window at a party bringing an end to the Matching Mole project he was developing (Matching Mole = Machine Molle, French for Soft Machine) They had a couple of records out which are worth a listen. Or even better, dig out the mad YT video of Wyatt / Matching Mole on French TV with Wyatt drumming in a full face ski mask / balaclava thing.

VDGG already mentioned, they were the main act when Genesis were last on the bill. The originators and broke the mould in so many ways. H to He is my favourite (There's a house with no Doooor...) but fill your boots with them. That video of Peter Hamill writhing round the studio barefoot with a Shelley style blouse, and a glass of red wine in his hand singing Plague of Lighthouse Keepers......class. He also released several notable solo albums.  

Finally, I would suggest looking at the RPI (Rock Progressivo Italiano) scene. The greatest exponents were PFM - Premiata Forneria Marconi or Marconi's No1 Bakery! - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - the Bank of Mutual Assurance!, and the wonderful 'Le Orme', who basically came over to England in the early 70's, nicked Genesis' ideas and created their own version. There are modern day equivalents. Seek out L'Enigma del Vita by LogoS. Stunning.

...and if you have never listened to the Flying Teapot Trilogy yet, you simply must. I'll let you go search that one but it don't get more crazy than PHP's and Octave Doctors! With The Submarine Captain (Steve Hillage). Which brings us to Ozric Tentacles, for a modern take on it.

 Prog Archives has definitions of the different Genres, it's not all symphonic Prog i.e. Genesis and Yes, but if that's your thing they have good reviews of a pretty much all the avenues you can take.

Personally, I liked Selling England by the Pound but that's about it. Close to the Edge was ok. Rick Wakeman and his wives of Henry The Eigth lost me from the start.

Quintessence get a shout above. I've never met anyone who didn't love Quintessence when they first heard them. 'Epitaph for Tomorrow' compilation is the place to start Alan Mostert' understated guitar is sublime (listen to St Pancreas).  

ICBM

I'm not sure Barclay James Harvest are really Prog… although I do like them.

But I forgot to mention Aphrodite's Child, who definitely were. Vangelis, Demis Roussos (yes really!) and a couple of other Greeks you won't have heard of.

proggy

Two albums I really must recommend to you are solo efforts from Yes members.

Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow.

Chris Squire - Fish out of Water.

You really must listen to these records.

Col_Decker

Bloody iTunes is going to get a hammering tonight haha

blobb

ICBM said:

But I forgot to mention Aphrodite's Child, who definitely were. Vangelis, Demis Roussos (yes really!) and a couple of other Greeks you won't have heard of.

yes, a real Prog classic. You know, I sat this out for such a long time, waited for a decent vinyl version to come my way, sat down all excited. Hated it :-) Ah well, horses for courses I 'spose.

Has anyone mentioned the Krautrock angle yet? KRAAN (esp Live '74), Can, Eloy etc...

I'll also throw in Supersister for the best Dutch Prog (you know those two words go together well) and Picchio dal Pozzo, which is RPI but generally considered Canterbury. One of my favourite albums of all time that one, a real hidden gem.

mike_l

Col_Decker said:

Cheers guys. BTW this all started when our band leader came to us all excited saying we'd asked by a venue if we could support some chap called Martin Barre and his band at a gig. Who's he I asked ....

Anyway we couldn't do the gig as they only wanted a 3 piece outfit. Bugger.

Your band could, and probably should leave their bassist at home.......

prowla

Col_Decker said:

Cheers guys. BTW this all started when our band leader came to us all excited saying we'd asked by a venue if we could support some chap called Martin Barre and his band at a gig. Who's he I asked ....

Anyway we couldn't do the gig as they only wanted a 3 piece outfit. Bugger.

Martin Barre is a darned fine guitarist; I met him in the 70s when he did a clinic at Carlsbro Sound in Mansfield.

prowla

rlw said:

UFO
Soft Machine
Matching Mole
Quintessence
Third Ear Band
Wally
Edgar Broughton Band
Uriah Heep
Barclay James Harvest
Renaissance
Colosseum
Moody Blues

to name several

and surely The Nice were prog long before anyone ever dreamed of it..........

Ah yes - UFO (one of my favourite bands) and The Moody Blues.

prowla

Actually, this thread is reminding me of some stuff I need to revisit.

Another rule I have is: anything with a Roger Dean cover.

Blueingreen

Depends how you define "prog".  I'm not much of a fan of core prog, with some exceptions.  I like a lot of King Crimson stuff.  I also went through a phase of listening to Steven Wilson a year or two ago but that enthusiasm seems to have passed.

OTOH I like Kate Bush and David Sylvian, and I think you could make a case for those as prog.  The virtuoso instrumental elements are largely missing of course, but song structures, melodies, sonic palette, instrumentation and production values seem to me to come from prog. 

Bellycaster

Classical Prog.