Psychedelia: Did Prog enhance it or escape it?

SteveG wrote: One of the forms that Progressive Music developed out of in the 1960's was experimental Psychedelic Rock like the Beatles' entire Sgt. Pepper's concept album and songs. Was proper Progressive Rock Music in late 1960's trying to enhance Psychedelic Rock or become a more serious art form and try to escape it? Or was it a combination of both, or was neither the case?

 

Adding to the confusion is that Frank Zappa did not consider his music part of the psychedelic movement at all, only cribbing from it for the occasional pastiche. I think he identified more with the jazz scene than anything else, specifically the part that crossed over into rock music in the late 1960s.

Even when fitting into the definition of prog rock as a classical/rock fusion, Zappa was coming at a different angle than most in the European progressive rock movement he inspired. I believe his classical influence came from rather modern sources like Igor Stravinsky and Edgar Varese, which in Europe only some of the Kosmische Musik and the RIO groups drew more from.

Same thing with Beefheart, though I think he identified somewhat more closely with psychedelic culture.

I thought Zappa was categorized as experimental rock or art rock instead. I'm actually not that certain, maybe I need to get around to reading the guy's autobiography.

Prog burst out of the swollen stomach of psychedelia and then consumed its dying mother, who cried tears of joy. The birth of a king.

There was a wide gulf between American Psychedelic Rock, British Psychedelic Rock and European Psychedelic Rock, so much so they are practically different species.

earlyprog wrote: SteveG wrote: One of the forms that Progressive Music developed out of in the 1960's was experimental Psychedelic Rock like the Beatles' entire Sgt. Pepper's concept album and songs. Was proper Progressive Rock Music in late 1960's trying to enhance Psychedelic Rock or become a more serious art form and try to escape it? Or was it a combination of both, or was neither the case? I'm not accepting your assumption that Sgt. Pepper is psychedelic rock. Which tunes exactly are you referring to? The Beatles, thank God, never foraed into psychedelic rock, except for Yellow Submarine (perhaps even inventing UK psyche with this silly song?) whcih is very reminiscent of Syd Barrett's form of UK psycedelic rock. They were on drugs besides writing songs, particulartly John, but that doesn't make his output at the time psycedelic rock (Rain). US psychedelic rock was different than the silly Barrettesque UK form.  (In either form, psychedelic rock is not prog rock IMO, but unfortunately listed as such on PA lumped together with Space Rock which is also not prog rock IMO. I'm glad this thread gave me an opportunity vent my take on this again )

I guess Lucy in the Sky, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, Fixing a Hole, Within You and Without You, Lovely Rita and A Day In The Life were folk rock. My bad.


Edited by SteveG - September 11 2014 at 09:24

^With all due respect EP, this was the pyschedelic album of 1967 that launched a thousand Freak Outs, I know because I was there at the time.

PS Yes, the Beatles did a LOT of psychedelic rock tracks, though. ;-)

Prog embraced it.

earlyprog wrote: See, psychedelic rock has many definitions. Your's, SteveG, is based on what the music - however diverse it may seem - did to you. Well, prog rock blows my mind every now and then so I see the connection. (Blew his mind out in a car....Now I understand )

This is one those inane conversations where the definition of psychedelic rock is now called into question. Just because I was there doesn't mean I participated. I've seen enough LSD casualties not take it my self, but none the less, many others did. Here's a snatch from Wiki on this simple subject to put Sgt. Pepper where it belongs and not where you think it belongs.

Peak years[edit]

Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. 1967 saw the Beatles release the double A-side "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", opening a strain of British "pastoral"[64] or "nostalgic"[10] psychedelia, followed by the release of what is often seen as their definitive psychedelic statement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, including the controversial track "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".[65] They continued the psychedelic theme later in the year with the double EP Magical Mystery Tour and the number one single "Hello, Goodbye" with its B-side "I Am the Walrus".[66] Also enigmatic and surreal was one of the most influential records of 1967, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum, which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks.[67]

The Rolling Stones responded to Sgt Pepper later in the year with Their Satanic Majesties Request, and Pink Floyd produced what is usually seen as their best psychedelic work The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.[10][68] In 1967 the Incredible String Band's The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion developed their folk music into full blown psychedelia, which would be a major influence on psychedelic rock.[69] From 1967 Fairport Convention became a mainstay of the London Underground scene, producing their eponymous first album of American-inspired folk rock the following year.[70] The Pretty Things' rock opera S.F. Sorrow, released in December 1968, featured both heavy psychedelic songs such as "Old Man Going" and "I See You" and poppy numbers like "S.F.Sorrow Is Born" and "Baron Saturday".[71][72][73] The Small Faces' Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (1968), released soon after, also pioneered the concept album, with the tracks on LP telling a single story.[74]





The Redmond Stage at the Woodstock Festival in 1969
In America the Summer of Love of 1967 saw a huge number of young people from across America and the world travel to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, boosting the population from 15,000 to around 100,000.[75] It was prefaced by the Human Be-In event in March and reached its peak at the Monterey Pop Festival in June, the latter helping to make major American stars of Janis Joplin, lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jimi Hendrix and The Who.[76] Key recordings included Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow, the first album to come out of San Francisco during this era, which sold well enough to bring the city's music scene to the attention of the record industry: from it they took two of the earliest psychedelic hit singles: "White Rabbit" (1967) and "Somebody to Love" (1967).[77] The Doors' first hit single "Light My Fire" (1967), running for over seven minutes, became one of the defining records of the genre, although their follow up album Strange Days only enjoyed moderate success.[78] Santana, led by guitarist Carlos Santana, used Latin rhythms as the basis for their psychedelic music.[8]

These trends climaxed in the 1969 Woodstock festival, which saw performances by most of the major psychedelic acts, including Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead.[79] Psychedelic rock was glamorized on screen in Easy Rider (1969), which used songs including Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" as part of its soundtrack.[8]


Edited by SteveG - September 11 2014 at 16:15