Marvin Gaye's What's Going On & P-Funk... prog?

Was listening to What's Going On the other day. This is as much a prog album as Dark Side of the Moon is: a concept album, a song cycle in which each song blends into the next one, culminating with a reprise from the opening track.

Then there's P-Funk, which was often as synth-heavy and guitar-based as any rock band - pretty much taking the funk of James Brown, and proggy-ing it up.

There are others as well. Sly & the Family Stone's "There's a Riot Goin' On," albums by Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes.

You could probably fool people into believing that "Summer Madness" by Kool & the Gang is an out-take from "Wish You Were Here" (it actually predates it by a year), or that the instrumental "Cebu" by the Commodores is a Floyd track.

I don't expect them to be added, or for there to be a new genre added (prog funk? prog soul?), but it's interesting to think of these albums in terms of their relationship to prog. In fact, George Clinton (leader of P-Funk) has talked about the big influence Floyd had on his band.

Cheers.


Edited by jude111 - March 26 2014 at 09:30

1) Not all concept albums are prog

Edited by Svetonio - March 27 2014 at 06:55

Who stops us from that ^    Beelzeboob

Guldbamsen wrote: Well it ain't prog, but it was progressive for it's day. Speaking as a huge fan here, I'd like to think of it as progressive soul music, just like The Temptations did with the track 'Zoom' off the album 1990. Most other places these acts are described as psychedelic soul/funk, which I largely agree with. Calling them prog is rather like saying Django Reinhardt is prog, They were progressive for their day, yes, but have nothing to do with prog.....unless we've started making up our own music history.

Edited by jude111 - March 27 2014 at 07:25

jude111 wrote: Guldbamsen wrote: Well it ain't prog, but it was progressive for it's day. Speaking as a huge fan here, I'd like to think of it as progressive soul music, just like The Temptations did with the track 'Zoom' off the album 1990. Most other places these acts are described as psychedelic soul/funk, which I largely agree with. Calling them prog is rather like saying Django Reinhardt is prog, They were progressive for their day, yes, but have nothing to do with prog.....unless we've started making up our own music history. We kind of are making up our own music history, and we've made our definition to exclude certain kinds of music. Prog wasn't a genre till after the fact, and then we (collectively) created a genealogy, delineating who fits into the family tree and who doesn't. (And it's a largely white family, except for that black sheep clan named 'fusion'.) As I said in my first post above, I don't expect any of them to get in, and am not pushing for it - it would be a hopeless cause, haha. I do however like the idea of prog albums being admitted by non-prog artists. And "What's Going On" is a prog album.

Completely agree with lazland. If What's Going On is a Prog album then Psychedelic Shack by the Temptations is the equivalent of In the Court of the Perennially Suntanned King. The Marvin Gaye album is certainly a masterpiece that changed what soul music was allowed to express forever but it ain't Prog y'all. You state you don't expect it to be admitted and are not actively lobbying for same so why create the thread at all? (unless you just want to see people considerably more PC than myself appease your playing of the disingenuous race card) If any artist records a bona fide Prog album they can be admitted to the archive, their skin colour is of no consequence. You wanna start a thread lobbying for the Non Caucasian Side of the Moon?.


Edited by ExittheLemming - March 27 2014 at 07:59

In 2008 Funkadelic were suggested for Space Rock. That discussion ran to seven pages.

lazland wrote: (...) Prog funk????  (...)

Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder & Funkadelic may have been ground-breaking and thought-provoking, but that doesn't mean they were Prog-Rock.  At what point do we draw the line?  Should Prog-Rap/Hip-hop be considered too?  Do we start including classical composers like Wagner, Mahler or Stravinsky because they were progressive?  How about Prog-Country like Hank Williams or Willie Nelson?  It's a little ridiculous. 

I'm not that familiar with the Marvin Gaye album, but I was supportive of Funkadelic in PR and think that the first Parliament album, OSmium in 1970, also has a certain crossoverish progginess about it