Prog Rock: Where to Start?

zesty brick · August 18, 2008

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

King Crimson - In the Wake of Poseidon

King Crimson - Red

Absolute musts..

Yep.

Barryj61 · August 18, 2008

One final word on the Tool thing.........

I like Tool, and I like prog.....and those 2 things aren't really related to each other. Aenima is for sure not prog, nor is anything else in their discography.

Except............Lateralus. If that ain't prog I'll kiss somebody's ass!!!!!!!!!

I think they're still secretly paying Robert Fripp some royalties under the table for that one...........

dparr · August 18, 2008

Camel - Moonmadness

Nektar - A Tab in the Ocean

Gental Giant - The Power and the Glory

Renfield · August 18, 2008

13 minute songs, weird time, different band members playing in different times, heavy, soft, little bit of everything in the same song, not your usual song structure, etc. Sounds just like prog to me.

Yo.

+46 & 2

Renfield · August 18, 2008

has anyone listen to ''Achiles last stand'', by Led zeppelin? THAT is a prog rock song.

Best song in their catalog IMO. Dream Theater covered part of it too in a medley.

In Absentia · August 18, 2008

Pure Reason Revolution.

I just found this band a week ago due to an iTunes recommendation and they blew me away! THIS is the future of prog. If only their follow up release is as good as this album!

Bands like Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, and King Crimson are obvious recommendations and you should look into them immediately. The cool thing about Prog musicians is that they often times involved in many side projects and collaborations simply because of their love of music and indifference to how much money they make through album sales. Look how many side projects Steven Wilson, Petrucci, and Robert Fripp have put out and you can see what I'm talking about.

I bought that album recently and was disappointed. I liked it at first, but it died real quick.

Modern stuff like Porcupine Tree (especially In Absentia, Deadwing, and Stupid Dream) I agree with. Also, check out Frost*, Marillion, Abigail's Ghost, and Riverside.

Muddslide · August 18, 2008

First of all, TC, go to progarchives.com and poke around there, you'll find lots of different bands from around the world, many free songs, and descriptions of the different genres of prog.

Great advice.

Comus

, First Utterance. The media pegged them as "acid folk" back in the 70s due to their crazed, bombastic, acoustic instrumentation along with often gruesome lyrical content.

Aye. I love this album. It was sent to me by Motorik.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is a lot of the Krautrock stuff happening in Germany from '67-'76 or so. I think geographically at least, it makes sense to call Krautrock its own genre even though the bands ran the gamut from ambient to sci-fi jazz to acid freakout to folk opera.

But to anyone wanting to invesitgate prog, in addition to bands like (the Mighty) King Crimson or Gabriel-era Genesis, etc., I would have to point them to Krautrock bands like Can (especially the album Tago Mago), Popol Vuh, Agitation Free, Guru Guru, Amon Duul, Silberbart and so on.

Renfield · August 18, 2008

Yup - melodically they deviate heavily from the established prog mold.

Take a song like "Point of Know Return" by Kansas for example - a typical circle of fifths based prog-rock progression.

Now show me any Tool song that does anything but refer to some diatonic mode (usually with a flat 2nd in there. Hey Adam, that sound got old a few years back buddy) - that guy wouldn't know the circle of fifths if it hit him upside his head.

Don't get me wrong - Tool's a good band if a bit one-dimensional; but again they're melodically very much in the metal mold and rarely if ever indulge in the modulations that are characteristic of the classic prog music of the past.

I'm inclined to agree with you for the most part, and I have never truthfully ever referred to Tool as prog, nor would I. For the sake of opening a person to new musical horizons I would name drop them in the genre solely for some variation though.

Having said all that, it sounds to me that your beef is more with their guitarist than the band. I have always felt he was the weak link in the band, musically speaking. If he had the chops that the bassist and drummer do they'd be rhythmically a lot more challenging than they presently are I dare say.

Kelemvor · August 18, 2008

I bought that album recently and was disappointed. I liked it at first, but it died real quick.

Modern stuff like Porcupine Tree (especially In Absentia, Deadwing, and Stupid Dream) I agree with. Also, check out Frost*, Marillion, Abigail's Ghost, and Riverside.

I have In absentia, Deadwing, Lightbulb Sun, Nil Recurring, and FoaBP. What should I get next? And how is the Blackfield stuff?

Guitzilla · August 18, 2008

Carptree---Man Made Machine
Van Der Graaf Generator
Camel- Echoes
KTU-Eight Armed Monkey
Paatos-Kallocain
The Pineapple Thief-Tightly Unwound
Arti Mestieria
Magma
The Flower Kings-Retropolis

BlueEcho811 · August 18, 2008

I will say without a doubt my favorite prog rock band would have to be Porcupine Tree.

I highly recommend:

Tool (Yes, they are Progressive imo... what other word could describe Lateralus, 10,000 Days, etc... )

Opeth

Dream Theater

Liquid Tension Experiment

Minus The Bear

Fair to Midland

The Mars Volta

isaac42 · August 18, 2008

Agreed - it really all starts there.

If you're really adventurous, move on to "Tales of Topographic Oceans"

It all starts there? Yes's previous albums mean nothing? ELP's Tarkus, released four months earlier, nothing? I don't think so, Tim.

If there is an album where "it all starts", I'd go with "In the Court of the Crimson King", by King Crimson.

But I might be mistaken. Others have different opinions, certainly.

and ProgressiveRock.com have both cited the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the turning point at which progressive rock started.[citation needed] Earlier albums such as Rubber Soul and Revolver had begun incorporating Eastern music and instruments not common in rock music. Phil Collins would later claim that the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" opened up the avenues for progressive rock.[citation needed] However, Music critic Piero Scaruffi claims that "

echnically speaking ... progressive-rock began in 1967 with Cream and The Nice", which he describes as "groups that reacted to the simple, melodic, three-minute pop of the early Beatles". This, however, overlooks the fact that the Beatles, prior to 1967, had introduced Eastern Instruments and Classical Music in their songs, which would influence future progressive-rock acts such as Yes and King Crimson. However, Scaruffi notes that if "a more stringent definition, one that considers ambition and pretentiousness", is used, this "would push the birth date [back] to the Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow (1968) and the Who's Tommy (1969)."[2]

In 1966, the band 1-2-3, later renamed Clouds, began experimenting with song structures, improvisation, and multi-layered arrangements.[3][4] In March of that year, The Byrds released "Eight Miles High", a pioneering psychedelic rock single with lead guitar heavily influenced by the jazz soloing style of John Coltrane. Later that year, The Who released "A Quick One While He's Away", the first example of the rock opera form, and considered by some to have been the first prog epic.[5]

In 1967, Jeff Beck released the single "Beck's Bolero", inspired by Maurice Ravel's Bolero, and, later that year, Procol Harum released the Bach-influenced single "A Whiter Shade of Pale". Also in 1967, the Moody Blues released Days of Future Passed, combining classical-inspired orchestral music with traditional rock instrumentation and song structures. Pink Floyd's first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, contained the nearly ten-minute improvisational psychedelic instrumental "Interstellar Overdrive". In 1968, Big Brother and the Holding Company incorporated Bach's prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier into their cover of George Gershwin's "Summertime".

By the late 1960s, many rock bands had begun incorporating instruments from classical and Eastern music, as well as experimenting with improvisation and lengthier compositions. Some, such as the UK's Soft Machine, began to experiment with blends of rock and jazz. By the end of the decade, other bands, such as Deep Purple and The Nice, had also recorded classical-influenced albums with full orchestras: Concerto for Group and Orchestra and Five Bridges, respectively.

[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_rock]

isaac42 · August 18, 2008

Any pre-'Love Beach' ELP. Why the Bob Sagett they made that recording is beyond me...

Looking for something commercial, I'm guessing.

Muddslide · August 18, 2008

I'm going to go out on a limb here and also hail the Alice Cooper band's first few albums as containing some prog or prog elements.

Some of the tracks on those albums (before the band just became Vincent "Alice Cooper" Furnier and some hired hands): Killer, Love It to Death, Billion Dollar Babies, Easy Action and even their first album which is more psychedelic all have some stretched-out cuts with a bit of improv or more of an exploration of time signature, instrumentation, different "movements" within a song, themes sometimes atypical for rock and roll, etc.

Jarl Sigurd · August 18, 2008

Even though so-called progressive rock (what much later started being called simply "prog") had roots in the '60s with the likes of Moody Blues, Beatles, Pink Floyd (the Syd era), and psychedelia, the BIG explosion that put progressive rock on the map was King Crimson -- "In The Court Of The Crimson King" in 1969. From there everything else "prog" evolved.

For prog noobies, you should visit this website:

Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock

http://www.gepr.net/

Check your local stores first, then check these excellent places for prog CDs at low prices -- or just for review info:

http://www.lasercd.com/

http://www.waysidemusic.com/

Apendecto · August 18, 2008

Labels are just something to argue over.

Yo.

gonzobassman · August 18, 2008

I'm going to go out on a limb here and also hail the Alice Cooper band's first few albums as containing some prog or prog elements.

Some of the tracks on those albums (before the band just became Vincent "Alice Cooper" Furnier and some hired hands): Killer, Love It to Death, Billion Dollar Babies, Easy Action and even their first album which is more psychedelic all have some stretched-out cuts with a bit of improv or more of an exploration of time signature, instrumentation, different "movements" within a song, themes sometimes atypical for rock and roll, etc.

Yea,you are out there,but Cooper's original band was certainly a force to be reckoned with.Dunaway was one of the coolest bassist there was(Baby If You Wanna Be My Lover,Billion Dollar Babies,Under My Wheels)Great bass lines!Wonder whatever happened to him.

coyote-1 · August 18, 2008

LOL

I didn't mean to start a 60's and 70's prog rock > prog metal pissing match.

that being said...60's and 70's prog rock > prog metal

Y'know, there's only so much original stuff that can occur in any (sub)genre. Bach wrote literally hundreds of interesting counterpoint exercises, yet after a few they start to have a familiarity - and then early Mozart sounds an awful lot like that. Isn't Coltrane's Impressions really little more than an uptempo So What??

When people say "prog is dead" they are, in a way, correct. There's little truly new and unique 'prog' that could be written. Unfortunately, the folks who make that claim typically use it as an excuse to not really learn to play, and to write endless copies of the also-dead rock-pop genre.

lug · August 18, 2008

This thread has gone to hades.

The title is
"Prog Rock: Where to Start?"

not

"Prog Rock: Where did it Start?"

not

Prog Rock: Where to Advance To"

not

Prog Rock: Where to Find The Most Eclectic?

it's

Prog Rock: Where to Start?

Fragile - Yes

Thread Closed......AGAIN!

hi.flyer · August 18, 2008

^I STILL would choose The Yes Album or Close to the Edge over Fragile. :poke:

bholder · August 18, 2008

I'm going to go out on a limb here and also hail the Alice Cooper band's first few albums as containing some prog or prog elements.

Some of the tracks on those albums (before the band just became Vincent "Alice Cooper" Furnier and some hired hands): Killer, Love It to Death, Billion Dollar Babies, Easy Action and even their first album which is more psychedelic all have some stretched-out cuts with a bit of improv or more of an exploration of time signature, instrumentation, different "movements" within a song, themes sometimes atypical for rock and roll, etc.

Yup, I wouldn't normally think of it as prog, but back when "Alice Cooper" was the band, not the guy, they really were very creative and inventive, drawing from lots of unexpected sources. Not just "hard rock" by a long shot. (Examples: the "tango" break in the middle of BDB, or pretty much the whole of "Halo of Flies".)