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Beau Heem
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Joined: January 12 2005
Location: Finland
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Points: 227
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Topic: How did you find your way to Prog? Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:05 |
This question has been in my mind for ages; How are ppl introduced the
world of progressive rock? Obviously, there are two very different
categories, when it comes how prog has gotten to us
1. Those alive (and thinking) in the late 60 early 70s
2. Those yet to be born or just too young to listen to music at the time.
Born in 1980, I obviously fall in the second category...
I suppose that the way I got interested (and to some extent involved)
in progressive rock is somewhat different from the "typical" way,
whatever it might be.
My parents used to listen to a wide variety of music (classical, jazz,
blues, rock and even progrock, I suppose) and I learned to appreciate
almost all sorts of music (except, say, punk and metal).
At 11 or 12 I had heard and listened to Bohemian Rhapsody repeteadly,
on and on again, just because I couldn't understand how such a piece
could ever have been made...
I was a sort of eager to find out, whether there's more of it where it
came from but it took me several years before i got back to the search
of that interesting, different music.
I played the cello as a kid up until I was 19, I think, and the
contacts to ppl with sensible knowledge of differing musical styles
provided me information about progressive rock. But that was only after
I discovered progrock on my own.
At 13, I decided to go through my fathers lps, the same records that my
parents had listened when I was a small child. I must've listened to
30+ records when the right record (my first true ProgRock encounter)
flooded through my ears...
The record was nothing more and nothing less than Niemen Aerolit, by the polish musical genious, Czestaw Niemen. That album and Niemen Enigmatic are
probably the only progrock albums of Niemen, but nevertheless, they
were the seeds that have brought me to listen to the whole entriety...
I played the records to a friend of mine (who was later to join me in
various progock groups), who had found something "as interesting" and
played Tarkus for my sheer pleasure...
Didn't get to listen to any ELP for years, but my father introduced me
to Gentle Giant and Jade Warrior he had recorder with his open heel
tape recorder a decade and a half back.
this is a short version of the story that brought me to and keeps me at progressive rock.
Cheers.
-Beau
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--No enemy but time--
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sigod
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Joined: September 17 2004
Location: London
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Points: 2779
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:08 |
^ What a great story Beau.
For me it was the usual story of being introduced to prog via my mates and gradually growing to like it. The chords always did it for me. Nothing like a good prog chord to get the blood pumping.
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I must remind the right honourable gentleman that a monologue is not a decision. - Clement Atlee, on Winston Churchill
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oliverstoned
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 26 2004
Location: France
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Points: 6308
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:15 |
I was born and 1977, and went to prog by myself. I start at about 12 with PF, Mike Olfield and soon discovered Soft machine and KC... What a shock it has been when i first listen to Volume I and II! I felt that i was at the beginnning of a long path...
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mirco
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Joined: January 04 2005
Location: Venezuela
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Points: 819
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:26 |
Luckily, the 70 were a nice decade to listen to good music. Even in this third world country, you could listen to prog in the radio (some specialized dj at some weirds hours). But even in the normal hours was allways good stuff on the radio. So was not that difficult to enter on prog world. Things became ugly in the next decade, but the taste was adquired, the right bands was knowns, and record stores still had the records.
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threefates
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Joined: June 30 2004
Location: United States
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Points: 4215
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:31 |
When I was 12, my brother who was 14 years older than me, bought me "In the Court of the Crimson King".... it was all over with from there!!
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THIS IS ELP
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oliverstoned
Special Collaborator
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Joined: March 26 2004
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:34 |
threefates wrote:
When I was 12, my brother who was 14 years older than me, bought me "In the Court of the Crimson King".... it was all over with from there!! | Nice gift!
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mirco
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Joined: January 04 2005
Location: Venezuela
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Points: 819
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:35 |
Thinking about it, ITCOCK was my first approach to prog too... I was 9 or 10, and my sister came home with a strange record about some schizo of the 21 century, which had a monster on the cover. At the time that sounds creepy as i remind... Funny story, 10 years after that I bought my own copy, and still today my sister claims that I stole that album from her...
Edited by mirco
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sigod
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Joined: September 17 2004
Location: London
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Points: 2779
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:38 |
^ This what I admire about fans of prog who arrived later on the scene. In the 60's and 70's, prog was everywhere. It was new and exciting, and readily available to most. During the 80's and 90's you REALLY had to look for it as hardly any radio station seemed to play it. It also almost never appeared on TV so I have full respect to the latest generation of prog fans.
You guys had to want to listen to prog and go some distance to get it.
Edited by sigod
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I must remind the right honourable gentleman that a monologue is not a decision. - Clement Atlee, on Winston Churchill
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oliverstoned
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Joined: March 26 2004
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:45 |
it was our karma to become progrockers
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Dick Heath
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Jazz-Rock Specialist
Joined: April 19 2004
Location: England
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Points: 12802
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:48 |
Beau Heem wrote:
This question has been in my mind for ages; How are ppl introduced the world of progressive rock? Obviously, there are two very different categories, when it comes how prog has gotten to us 1. Those alive (and thinking) in the late 60 early 70s 2. Those yet to be born or just too young to listen to music at the time.
At 11 or 12 I had heard and listened to Bohemian Rhapsody repeteadly, on and on again, just because I couldn't understand how such a piece could ever have been made...
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I fall into the former. So underground, British blues boom and some psychedelia sneaked up on me in the late 60's, and readily accepted as being more adventurous than the 3 minute or less pop. Also enjoying a lot of the classical music and the jazz around (especially Dave Brubeck Quartet, who used strange time signatures, infused classics with modern jazz), I guess I was subconsiously waiting for pop and rock to take off at tangents from the conventional and be more complex. So originally progressive music (note NOT rock) covered anything from the Moody Blues to Canned Heat's electrified delta blues - in other words rock was being hybridised for the first time with other musics or treated in radical new ways, and so literally progressing into something new. As far as I remember the term progressive music became progressive rock early in the 70's, with the genre being categorised by King Crimson, Yes, Nice (subsequently ELP), Van Der Graaf Generator, Soft Machine, (the Yardbirds spin-off) Renaissance, and to a lesser extent (and in deed largely forgotten nowaday) the Californian band Touch (keyboardist Don Gallucci had invented the Louie Louie riff when with the Kingsmen, several years before). The Moody Blues as one of the first (that is with hindsight) with a prog album, and set a target easily exceeded by those who came soon after. Tull and Genesis were slightly behind these. Floyd had to resolve their 'psychedelicness' and the loss of Syd Barrett before shifting genres. With the term progressive music consigned to the waste bin of popular music history, so to did separation of heavy rock and blues rock - remember Deep Purple up until In Rock were perceived as a progressive music band. Jazz rock was there too, especially with Soft Machine, Miles Davis and the associated spin-offs (in chronological order): Lifetime, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever and then later Headhunters and Weather Report, giving you rock hybridised with a variety of jazz.
And so to Bohemian Rhapsody - I heard this the first day the Night At The Opera album was released in the UK (bought by a friend, a then consumate Queen fan) and cringed - I'm one of those who enjoyed Queen's heavier rock of their first albums and hear for instance the progressive rock in Brighton Rock (sans electronic keyboards). However, Bohemian Rhapsody seemed to me to be a parody on prog rock - now I hear the joke having lightened up in 30 years but it is still a parody.
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joniox
Forum Groupie
Joined: January 09 2005
Location: Finland
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Points: 48
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 11:50 |
There was a rock band that I liked. Then i found out what they liked.
King Crimson
Yes
Jethro Tull
Genesis
Rush
etc.etc.
Then I went to library and borrowed average Yes collection. I liked
early Yes more than prog Yes. Around this time I found
rateyourmusic.com I bought Moving Pictures from Rush and Selling
England By The Pound by Genesis.
Soon I'll have 30 prog albums by biggest artist. And I'm planning to move on. I think I found my music. And I'm 22 already!
Edited by joniox
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I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat...
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Beau Heem
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 12 2005
Location: Finland
Status: Offline
Points: 227
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:04 |
Dick Heath wrote:
So originally progressive music (note NOT rock) covered anything from the Moody Blues to Canned Heat's
electrified delta blues - in other words rock was being
hybridised for the first time with other musics or treated in radical
new ways, and so literally progressing into something new.
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Ah. This should be obvious, but apparently it's just too easy to forget, not having lived that era myself...
Dick Heath wrote:
And so to Bohemian Rhapsody - I heard this the first day the Night At The Opera album was released in the UK (bought by a friend, a then consumate Queen fan) and cringed - I'm one of those who enjoyed Queen's heavier rock of their first albums and hear for instance the progressive rock in Brighton Rock (sans electronic keyboards). However, Bohemian Rhapsody seemed to me to be a parody on prog rock - now I hear the joke having lightened up in 30 years but it is still a parody. |
Parody it is indeed, though widely misinterpreted... i suppose. But at the same time it's wonderful music, maybe not as good as Queen II in my ears, but a hell of a achievement anyway.
I've always loved Queen, no matter what they've done, although We are the Champions really sucks. I'd rather have seen Killer Queen or Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke in the top5 of the best songs in the last 25 yrs in Britain - or whatever the poll is/was about...
BTW, Weather Reports' I Sing the Body Electric was one of the records that I also was very fond of at the age of 14, going through my fathers vinyls...
Edited by Beau Heem
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--No enemy but time--
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Petra
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Joined: August 23 2004
Location: United Kingdom
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Points: 663
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:06 |
The first prog i heard (apart from folk/prog at home) was when my sisters boyfriend gave me tape copy of Ummagumma and I just couldnt believe anyone could make such amazing music, i love 'carefull with that axe, eugene'.. this was in 1978 so lots of Prog was about then.
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Don't hate me I'm not special like you
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Beau Heem
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 12 2005
Location: Finland
Status: Offline
Points: 227
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:08 |
Just noticed a small fact;
in case everyone didn't know, one of the Progarchives collaborators, lucas has the pic of the cover of Niemen Aerolit as his sig...
Way to go, I say...
-beau
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--No enemy but time--
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zappa123
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Joined: July 13 2004
Location: Slovenia
Status: Offline
Points: 153
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:28 |
I heard In the court of crimson king and my prog road was born.
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Dick Heath
Special Collaborator
Jazz-Rock Specialist
Joined: April 19 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12802
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:33 |
Beau Heem wrote:
[QUOTE=Dick Heath
BTW, Weather Reports' I Sing the Body Electric was one of the records that I also was very fond of at the age of 14, going through my fathers vinyls...
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Interesting. One reason I don't include Weather Report amongst the first post-Miles Davis jazzrock bands, is that I found I Sing The Body Electric influenced by Miroslav Vitous and Wayne Shorter's free jazz - btw was this the first album or did a double live Japanese release by WR predate? - I wasn't hooked on WR until the period of Sweet Nighter and Tales Spinnin' (my first WR purchase), when Alphonso Johnson was giving the band a more funky sound. That's why I find it odd that Miroslav Vitous released Magical Shepherd around 1976, which was atypical of his normal LP releases - but a personal favourite. This might be called a Herbie Hancock album of jazz funk (Hancock provide the lead on electric keyboards) but with Jack DeJohnete, of all people, supplying funky drums...
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Beau Heem
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 12 2005
Location: Finland
Status: Offline
Points: 227
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:40 |
Weather Report is one of my all time favourites.
I think I own each and every studio album available, or at least I've had an original copy at some point...
About Vitous, btw, Magical Shepherd is obviously recorded prior to its
release (always going for a joke), but how much prior? It is possible
that it's recorded years earlier. I haven't heard the album, so I can't
say anything...
Or did you think that it ought to have been recorder later??
-Beau
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--No enemy but time--
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GFoyle
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 06 2005
Location: Finland
Status: Offline
Points: 199
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 12:42 |
I actually got into older prog just like couple of weeks ago. There was
talk about prog bands on another forum and somebody suggested
to check out this site, I did because one "prog" band I am a huge fan
of is Tool (easily my favorite, been years now). So I started
downloading those sample songs from biggest and most famous bands and
noticed that I actually quite liked most of them (even ELP!)... so I
went, sold tons of crap I have had collecting dust in my cd shelf and
bough myself (during the last week or so):
Genesis:
Nursery Chrymes
Foxtrot
Selling England by the Pound
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
A Trick of the Trade
Pink Floyd:
Animals
Wish You We Here
Rush (this was couple of month earlier)
all of them except the first and the last one (Feedback)
Yes
Fragile
Tales from Topographic Oceans
Relayer
ELP
A Collection
Trilogy
Renaissance
the first two albums
Marillion
a collection
Misplaced Childhood
Camel
Mirage
Jethro Tull
Aqualong
Thick as a Brick
War Child
Ministrel in a Gallery
and bunch of albums from Ozric Tentacles, Pain of Salvation, Paatos,
Deadsoul Tribe, IQ, King Crimson, Ayreon and Liquid Tension Experiment.
I have liked most of them. Jethro Tull have been probably my favorite so far though, I really like the folk influences.
Oh yeah, I was born 1980 so I unfortunantly didn't get a change to grow
up those bands (and my parents really didn't listen music that much, so
I have had to go out and search the old stuff myself). Well at least
now you can buy most of the old stuff with half price!
Edited by GFoyle
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Vaize
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Joined: January 13 2005
Location: Brazil
Status: Offline
Points: 55
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 13:02 |
I'm proudly included in category 1. I was alive (and thinking), teenager then, in the late 60s, so I witnessed the borning and explosion of the best music ever made. I had the privilege of listening the most important issues of prog rock as soon as they were released, so I could learn about antological albums in "real time", growing myself with the bands like King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator, Gentle Giant, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Yes, ELP, Mutantes, Mahavishnu, in the natural chronological order. Maybe the most representative record for me at that time was In the Court of the Crimson King, the first actual progressive rock album I remember having heard, and it was a shock, changed concepts, broke rules... I could say much more, but I will save my entusiasm for future posts!
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joniox
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Joined: January 09 2005
Location: Finland
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Points: 48
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Posted: January 13 2005 at 13:11 |
GFoyle you are fast. You should also get "Songs From The Wood" and "Heavy Horses" from Jethro Tull.
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I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat...
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