Patto-Last chance to prove a "valid prog - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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mystic fred View Drop Down

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Joined: March 13 2006
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Posted: June 26 2007 at 12:17

^great band Patto - the Faces/Rod Stewart comparison is a good one, though they play jazz too.

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Dick Heath View Drop Down

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Joined: April 19 2004
Location: England
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Points: 12799

Posted: June 26 2007 at 13:20

If you want comparisons in addition to Rod Stewart &The Faces , listen to the hard rock evolving (I daren't use "progressing" because of the local misinterpretation):

Stud - similar or greater number of experiments with rock/other music hybrids on the first Patto album.

Skid Row, especially second album 34 Hours - rock with lots of unusually time signatures.

Pioneering rock but not prog .

Edited by Dick Heath - June 26 2007 at 13:21

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Sean Trane View Drop Down

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Prog Folk

Joined: April 29 2004
Location: Heart of Europe
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Posted: June 27 2007 at 03:34

Dick Heath wrote:

If you want comparisons in addition to Rod Stewart &The Faces , listen to the hard rock evolving (I daren't use "progressing" because of the local misinterpretation):

Stud - similar or greater number of experiments with rock/other music hybrids on the first Patto album.

Skid Row, especially second album 34 Hours - rock with lots of unusually time signatures.

Pioneering rock but not prog .

It seems that Patto was a schizophrenic band with two different faces:

The first is indeed the Rod Stewart type of Faces rock (for years, I thought this was the way they were, I only heard an awful purple and green artwork album, which was not prog)

the second is the jazz-rock of their debut album (I only heard this one two years ago) and most likely this album:

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/patto/ducks_in_flight___the_lost_jazz_album_/

Haven't heard the rest of the album, though!

let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword

Dick Heath View Drop Down

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Joined: April 19 2004
Location: England
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Points: 12799

Posted: June 27 2007 at 11:52

Perhaps by knowing Patto evolved out of Timebox, who called themselves 'jazz rock', before virtually any other UK band, might give limited support. However, the Decca CD Timebox compilation does little to prove they were jazz rock in their recordings. In fact they were aiming at the UK pop charts, beit with Ollie Halsall playing vibes as opposed to a an electric guitar in the instrumental solo middle 8 on their two very minor hits.

As I've written elsewhere, playing a jazzy middle 8 in a pop hit, wasn't unusual, e.g the Zombies did it! But I can report (again) that on my one occasion of seeing Timebox, their live set had more space for jazzy solos and less for the pop-stuff. There was also the strange sight of Halsall apparently destroying his vibes (ala Keith Moon) at the end of the set, only to see him then recover all the strikers in one movement, since they were all attached to a long piece of heavy duty cloth tape. Ironically Timebox announced their cessation as a band, "'as there was no interest in jazz rock in the UK', only a few weeks before the successful jazz rock group Colosseum announced its formation!

Edited by Dick Heath - June 28 2007 at 05:58

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Dick Heath View Drop Down

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Jazz-Rock Specialist

Joined: April 19 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12799

Posted: June 28 2007 at 05:57

Just been advised to check out the dedicated Ollie Halsall website, and now suggest others do the same wrt assessing Patto and categorisation:

http://www.olliehalsall.co.uk/moose.htm

where you can down load for nothing, tracks from the Patto "lost jazz rock album". But read the attached message about the reality of this being a "lost album". Certainly these recordings are jazz rock for the most part. They also demonstrate the schizoid nature of the band's music (and a carry over from Timebox), i.e. keeping themselves within comparatively restrained boundaries on studio albums without completely shifting into mainstream jazz rock, whilst letting loose (musically as well as other things!), when touring.

In other words I'm inclined to shift my position on inclusion of the band, and although the majority of their familiar recordings put them firmly in the pub-rock ala R. Stewart & The Faces territory. I most strongly recommend that if they do end up in the jazz rock fusion section, the biography author must emphasise this schizoidal element in their music and point to their live music often being a considerable extrapolation from the studio recordings, especially with the jazz elements coming to the fore - and show the weblink above, as well as one to Patto.

Edited by Dick Heath - June 28 2007 at 10:56

The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS.
CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php
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