MetaFilter posts tagged with progrock

PROG ROCK SPECIAL - PART 2

philip-random — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:23:27 -0800

Times were tough. Hair was long, complex and strange, and so were the songs. Where were you 35 years ago, and why weren’t you surrounded by stack of keyboards wearing a sequined gown? So-called Progressive Rock may still be with us in some form or other, but it’s never been as absurd, as popular as strangely relevant and all encompassing as it was for a few short years back in the 1970s. A few more notable hairstyles, freakouts, and very long songs ... Soft Machine Utopia (featuring Todd Rundgren) Pink Floyd (keeping it peaceful) Camel Strawbs Grobschnitt Deep Purple Queen Rush Jethro Tull ... and (why the hell not?) Frank Zap pa + more Yes. Previously.

RIP Hugh Hopper

jbickers — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:39:15 -0800

RIP Hugh Hopper. A sampling of his work, and some audio samples from his record label. You might also enjoy this introduction to the Canterbury Scene (loads of awesome vinyl cover art), an exhaustive Canterbury resource, as well as some streaming Canterbury radio.

Durn kid. Git off my genre!

Herodios — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:42:36 -0800

In 2006 Nell James was a teenage prog rocker, writing, playing and singing all instruments, and self-producing an album in her bedroom studio that paid homage to 1970s English art rock, a genre that arguably passed its zenith when her parent were in kindergarten. The result, Tempus, received positive reviews in the re-emging prog rock press. Also impressive was her cover/re-arrangement of Gentle Giant's On Reflection. More recently, under her real name, Nell Shaw Cohen, she has turned to composing for early instruments and encouraging other composers to do the same. This fall she begins studies in composition with Michael Gandolfi at New England Conservatory, and as of June, was added to the artist roster of the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation, an international charitable organization that supports "emerging artists of exceptional talent". Music o Myspace (with clips) o Tempus (links) o Cover/re-arrangement of Gentle Giant's On Reflection (mp3) o Cover of Yes's South Side of The Sky (mp3) o Digital music created using Propellerhead Reason (links) Time-Lapse (For English Horn, Clarinet, Viola, Cello) o mp3 o score (PDF) Memory (for vocal quartet) o mp3 of entire composition (12 minutes) o Score for pt I: Memory (PDF) o Score for pt II: Recollection (PDF) o Score for pt III: Inward action (PDF) o Score for pt IV: This power of memory (PDF) o Inspiration: Book X of St. Augustine's "Confessions" o Nell’s essay about the composition Reviews o Baby Blaue (auf Deutch), the essence of which is: "A musically coherent album lying at the intersection of classical, prog rock groups such as Yes, Gentle Giant, or Renaissance, and American folk rock a la Aimee Mann or Joni Mitchell . . . a soft, warm atmosphere full of harmonic complexity. A very promising debut. Recommended." o Harp Magazine o Sea of Tranquility o Local coverage of her debut at the 4th Annual Playhouse Project Benefit Concert: "[M]elodious and thoughtfully constructed works that impressed with their maturity."

Original Rush drummer John Rutsey is dead at 55.

zorro astor — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:17:50 -0800

Original Rush drummer is John Rutsey dead at 55. Rush was one of the most successful prog rock acts of the 70s and 80s. Much of this success can be attributed to Neil Peart, whose airy, transcendent lyrics and virtuoso drumming in large part defined the band. But there was another drummer--more in the heavy style of John Bonham--who gripped the rhythmic helm on their first album: one John Rutsey. Mr Rutsey left the band early after a diagnosis of diabetes. This month he succumbed to a heart attack, a common complication. Unfortunately, a discursive look at youtube revealed no live footage of Mr Rutsey in action. Here is a pic from his heyday.

The final Cellodown

wendell — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:46:15 -0800

If you love the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (and who in their right mind doesn't?) and enjoyed the Japanese version of Smoke on the Water, you might just barely tolerate this. Warning: contains five minutes of repackaged ~~progressive~~pretentious rock and images of cello-based dorkiness. I gave it 98/100.

Woe is me, my life hard-fated!

klangklangston — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:03:54 -0800

Anglo-Finnish artist Sanna Annukka's vibrant, flat design work (especially her Icons series) got me curious about her, well, iconography.

She mentioned The Kalevala previously, the Finnish national epic poem (in Finnish here), a tale of creation and heroism that arguably spurred the Finns to independence from the Russians.

Like so much else epic and awesome, it spawned a '70s prog band, with three albums.

A modern-day warrior mean mean stride, today's tom sawyer mean mean pride

psmealey — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:34:23 -0800

Rush Rush is a Canadian rock band comprising bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Gary Lee Weinrib, guitarist Alexander Zivojinovich, and drummer and lyricist Neil Ellwood Peart. Bewitched by Ayn Rand, obsessed by nuclear war and enraptured by cheap science fiction, Rush were role models to geeks everywhere, yearning to be cool, but failing. Still, they rocked, in their own way. Finding Their Way (past Led Zeppelin): Finding My Way Working Man Anthem Fly By Night Bastille Day More progressive than Yes or ELP: 2112 Cygnus X-1 Xanadu Closer to the Heart The Trees Tom Sawyer Witch Hunt Spirit of the Radio Science!!!!: New World Man Subdivisions Red Sector A Distant Early Warning And if I wave my magic wand... I'll get the big money (well, not really): The Big Money Show Don't Tell Presto ... And, back to basics: Working Man By-Tor and the Snow Dog Spirit of the Radio YYZ La Villa Strangiato The Trees

At home he still plays with his organ from time to time

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 07:59:31 -0800

Procol Harum organist wins battle over joint authorship of A Whiter Shade of Pale. Gary Brooker is not amused, but then again it was a Bach ripoff anyway.

I'll see your Janis, and raise you an ELP

Eideteker — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:33:34 -0800

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer live, at California Jam. (Google video, approx. 53 minutes)