SUPERNATURAL FAIRY TALES - THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK ERA

Probably one of the most ambitious prog anthologies ever made: 5 cd's and even a Roger Dean cover art. It's quite difficult to spot well-known bands that are missing here. Pink Floyd had to be omitted for some copyright problems - and oh, where's Camel?? Jethro Tull?? ... Well, at least this will most likely give new delights to almost any prog fan, whatever subgenre (s)he prefers.

For me, there were many interesting discoveries or bands I had been waiting to hear, e.g. NEKTAR (from Remember the Future); some French and Italian prog - all too unheard by me before -; 'Under the Sky by PETER SINFIELD; fantastic 'Lothlorien' by ARGENT; an amusing SUPERSISTER song 'Radio'; enjoyable 'Let's Eat' by HATFIELD & The NORTH; very charming 'Dear Little Mother' by Danish SAVAGE ROSE (an arty band featuring a unique lady singer - could be included to PA); and a mindblowing 'Sunrise' by ARTHUR BROWN & KINGDOM COME. Some new names weren't up to my taste, such as PRETTY THINGS, MAGMA, HENRY COW or FAUST, but on the other hand it's good that they have a very wide picture of prog rock. I also appreciate not-so-obvious inclusions like WISHBONE ASH, MOODY BLUES (these two should be more obvious as they tend to be), KLAUS SCHULZE, Swedish SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA or Finnish WIGWAM.

However, the way the 5 cd's are filled, has some irritating things. 1) Why no as long cd's as possible? 2) Why two tracks by YES, GENESIS, STRAWBS, ROXY MUSIC and - aaargh - ELP? And those pairs aren't even giving two different sides of the bands, as it could have been. A waste of minutes that could be used more usefully. The whole compilation would easily fit in 4 cd's by omitting only some unnecessary 2nd tracks. 3) Some tracks have become cliches: NICE's 'America', RARE BIRDS' 'Sympathy' - as if it was the only good song they wrote. ELO is represented by horrible 8-minute 'Roll Over Beethoven'. 4) Also the package itself could have been made more handy, instead of taking awful lot of space. But a compilation this big is never perfect to anyone's opinion. Musically I give 4 stars, for the overall package 3 stars.

This compilation was noted in Finland, as it has the grand finale of WIGWAM's album "Being" included in it. I found this from the library of Tikkurila here in Finland, and I think that this CD-box fits to such place most wonderfully: One can loan a comprehensive box of this music genre free, with an informative booklet included. I'm not sure how much this box set costs, but I fear that 5 CD's, book and special packet makes it way too expensive considering its content. There are some previously unreleased teasers for the collectors here, like ASH RA TEMPEL's fine "Der Vierte Küss", but really this box has so big scope, that this is mostly directed for beginners, or for those who have this stuff on vinyl only. I agree, that the double tracks from the most famous bands are not a good idea. Otherwise the material is various, and quite good of quality. I found ATOMIC ROOSTER thanks to this release.

Ambitious yes, essential?...Not remotely.

This compilation was a gift from a former girlfriend which I thanked and placed in the car immediately, but as the songs and CD's passed, it was obvious that the producers of this box-set made three terrible mistakes.

1.- Most of the songs are great, but the selection doesn't remotely represent the best of each band, if anybody wants to talk about RENAISSANCE, they must choose "Song of Sheherezade", not "Kings & Queens" or in the case of STRAWBS, a masterpiece as "The Hangman and the Papist" would be more representative..

2.- The bands and tracks are mixed without coherence or logic, I don't ask this guys to base their selection in sub-genres, but they could match similar songs together, or at least by year of release would be nice, but mixing ZAPPA and ROXY MUSIC in the same CD is simply out of place.

3.- Some non Prog bands and tracks have been added, for example GOLDEN EARRING is barely Prog, but they have chosen "Radar Love" which is a pure Rock song and goes against the credibility of the compilation, or in the case of ELO, they went for "Roll Over Beethoven", one of the most mainstream songs they had.

I own most of this tracks in their natural context (the original albums by the bands listed), but when this fantastic songs were lumped together without any valid criteria, something important was lost...The atmosphere in which they were originally released.

I guess this collection must be expensive (Hey it was a gift, didn't asked the price), so better spend your money in original albums or if you like box-sets, go with one of your favorite band collection with rare editions or unreleased material, you will be more satisfied.

Not because of the quality of the music, but because the problems I found, will rate this collection with 2 stars, something that makes me sad, being that most of the tracks are timeless masterpieces in the wrong context.

I find music samplers to be indispensable in getting to know strange new musical worlds where you are utterly clueless as how to proceed into the strange new universe you are wanting to explore. They are particularly helpful when exploring the niche markets of which progressive rock is definitely a member of. This 1996 5-disc boxed set boldly titled SUPERNATURAL FAIRY TALES...THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK ERA is really the only prog sampler i've ever heard. Prog is one of those umbrella terms that includes oceans of music that a meager little 5-disc set could hardly ever even begin to describe. I could personally make up a 5-disc set of material for individual bands included on this release alone.

After reading the vast number of negative reviews that this album has garnered from progsters, I have to remind them that this release isn't for them. It was intended to re-introduce the forgotten world of yesteryear to the clueless public at large in the mid 90s. Remember that this was before the internet as we know it today and the easy access of information in the form of electronic or otherwise. So this was in effect designed for to be an introduction to progressive rock to newbies during the grunge years when prog was making a small comeback after the release of newer classics like Anglagard's Hybris.

I got this as a freebie when a friend made me a copy several years ago well after being familiar with many of the bands on here. Despite knowing much of this, there were still a lot of bands I still had not yet encountered. Such acts like Rare Bird, Supersister, Peter Sinfield, Savage Rose and others had eluded me and it was great to get a small dose of what they sounded like. So I threw this on my itunes and let all these tracks pop up randomly on a DJ list. The result was quite pleasing as tracks I knew would come up and new ones I would discover as well. Overall I agree with a lot of the criticism of which tracks are on this. I have read that the there were licensing issues and such and it does indeed seem like a rushed affair just throwing anything they could find on here.

I think it's agreed that every lover of prog could come up with their own version of what they think should be a introduction sampler for newbies and how to develop it from the origins to the more advanced and eclectic nooks and crannies, but the fact is most of us have not done that and do not know the huge amounts of legal red tape and the mammoth task at hand in trying to summarize a musical style that is so vast and nebulous. I for one think this is an ok introduction especially if you don't pay a lot of money for it. I'm not sure it has any relevance in the modern world with such extensive review sites like ProgArchives existing, but for me personally I have found it to be both useful and interesting despite thinking it utterly ludicrous to include such tracks as "Radar Love" by Golden Earring or even "America" by the Nice. Far from perfect but far from a total waste of time.

On one hand, this is the best prog-rock compilation of which I'm aware. For me personally, this boxed set served its purpose of exposing me to a variety of artists, songs, and styles that I doubt I'd ever have heard otherwise.

Supernatural Fairy Tales was my introduction to Klaus Schulze (represented here by "Searching"), who's since become one of my all-time favorites, as well as to five other great prog groups: Caravan ("In the Land of Grey and Pink"), Premiata Forneria Marconi ("Celebration"), Renaissance ("Kings and Queens"), the Pretty Things ("Private Sorrow / Balloon Burning"), and Van der Graaf Generator ("Killer"). I'd heard the Moody Blues, of course, but "Legend of a Mind," which has become one of my favorites by the Moodies, was new to me; same with "Lothlorien" by Argent. And then there are great songs by groups I haven't gotten around to investigating further: Rare Bird ("Sympathy)," the Savage Rose ("Dear Little Mother"), and Slapp Happy and Henry Cow (who co-perform "War" here).

I'm sure Rhino's purpose in releasing this boxed set was to generate profit, but I also feel that the compilers did their best given the time and licensing restrictions. They managed to represent Zeuhl, Krautrock, RIO, and RPI along with the more obvious subgenres. They also included a fair balance of longer songs (by my count, eleven songs over eight minutes). As others have noted, the liner notes and artwork are nice too, and in this case, that counts for something.

On the other hand, it seems self-evident that a progressive rock compilation album which leaves out Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson could not be "essential," and thus could not rate four stars. Of course, even if Rhino had been able to include Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson, I would complain that they'd licensed the wrong songs! Furthermore, where's the progressive jazz? Why limit the collection to the 60s and 70s? Or, where's the second collection of more recent music, including perhaps some neo-prog or math rock or progressive metal?

Even if Rhino could address all of my concerns and exhaust all of my complaints, the compilation still wouldn't be essential because it would still contain only one song from each of many essential albums.

So: if you're new to prog rock (as I was when I bought this) and you can find an affordable copy of Supernatural Fairy Tales: The Progressive Rock Era, buy it. If it does its job, you'll probably rate it four or five stars to begin with, but at some time in the future, I'll bet you'll agree that it will no longer be "essential." Nonetheless, I can't award this collection fewer than four stars.