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Topic ClosedGibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock

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Tom Ozric View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 14 2015 at 02:10
A friend of mine actually spent hours printing the entire GEPR A-Z list on A4 paper, using both sides too. It was almost as thick as a bible !! Great resource, especially when many of us weren't hooked up on-line at the time.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 14 2015 at 09:58
Hi,
 
I think this was the group that I wrote a couple of things for in the very early days, the first one about Nektar, I think.
 
Unfortunately, at the time, the first computer I had died and I lost everything and in those days, search engines were heck! Never managed to connect again, and i don't think I was asked, either.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 15 2015 at 01:19
It was the first Prog resource I encountered when I first got online and was first getting into Prog by the late 90s/early00s...  It was good enough for the time, but was also a bit skimpy on the info, just listing a bands albums without much else, and maybe a paragraph with one dudes impression on the overall band.  Made it difficult when you sought a bands best release to start with.  And I made a few missteps because of it.

Of course this was also during the dial-up days, there was no youtube or other places you could sample stuff either.  So Blind purchases were still part of the game...  I wouldn't want to go back to those times but I'm glad I at least experienced what Gibraltar had to offer before I found other avenues....  haven't looked back at that place in ages though,


Edited by mithrandir - March 15 2015 at 01:21
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Tom Ozric View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 15 2015 at 01:47
^ it's now overshadowed by what PA has to offer, you think ??
Still, this GEPR should be printed out as a bona-fide 'Introductory Guide to Progressive Rock'. Fully edited, and, at least compact enough (compared to P.A.), for the adventurous person to buy as a 'physical' reference. Then again, most of us are on-line, so there goes that idea.......
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 15 2015 at 02:13
Fred never wanted a chat forum, and both sites have artists the other does not.  The sites complement each other pretty well.
"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."   -- John F. Kennedy
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 15 2015 at 09:45
Originally posted by Atavachron Atavachron wrote:

Fred never wanted a chat forum, and both sites have artists the other does not.  The sites complement each other pretty well.
 
Chat forums in those days were heck, and filtering them to keep out spam was a full time job, so him not wanting that was understand'able. Nowadays, it's a bit different, although I miss the honesty, the care, and the desire that the early folks had.
 
it was inspiring, and me seeing all these bands yakked about was a treat. Here's this guy sitting with 2500 LP's and such, and no one to talk to about the music ... it wasn't fun!
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2015 at 22:58
Fred's site is a great one.

My guess is that it just became impossible to keep up with all the new prog bands coming out weekly because of the ease of one man outfits making music on a laptop and passing it off for a prog band or act.

The quantity of prog coming out is inspiring.  The quality of the vast majority of new prog is far from inspiring. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2015 at 00:39
I must admit I used it once or twice, but I discovered it after I discoverd PA and just found this site to be more useful. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2015 at 07:30
Originally posted by Fred Trafton Fred Trafton wrote:

Why yes, I do. I'm Fred Trafton, former editor of the GEPR. Sadly, I haven't had time to work on it in years. But the good news is that a consortium of fans is currently working to revive the site. Hopefully in a few months you'll see it reappear with new content, along with the old content. And without all the ads ProgArchives makes you wade through Tongue

Good news Fred. Thumbs Up

Like many others, GEPR was my first resource. When I first started working on the Symph team here it was used often as a comparison when making decisions on new additions. Comparing sub-genre classification was always helpful and if a band was not on listed GEPR that would be cause for hesitation. 


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2015 at 08:16
Originally posted by Jake Night Jake Night wrote:

...
The quantity of prog coming out is inspiring.  The quality of the vast majority of new prog is far from inspiring. 
 
Sometimes, I think we say this just because we're comparing too much ... I say stick to the music and stop thinking of the past and its past music, and you will find today's progressive fairly good and worthy of mention, but all we can do, it seems, is state that it doesn't sound like or doesn't feel like Genesis or ELP and that's not fair!
 
We have to stop that!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 18 2015 at 08:26
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

The thing with PA is, there is no contents published by the site itself as such, the 'Prog Rock Guides' section is (I believe) dead frozen for a long time. OK bands and bios are added by the Collabs but actually the bios can have been written by any normal member having suggested the addition.
...
 
And while this makes it a socialist type of situation, in the end, there is a leadership issue. The definition is way out of line and unclear, and the worst music reference ever written, and the top ten is just another Billboard sales push!
 
The sad part of this, is that it reinforces the might makes right attitude and folks do not learn to see that there is a dichotomy here ... it started almost as anti-establishment thing, and was an attempt to make better and more serious music than lollipop rock music! And what do we do? Bring it back to the top ten concept and the like, and the individuality is gone! It's almost bizarre ... the very thing that helped make the music is the thing that we want to take out in favor of some"styles" and other crazy details!
 
It's no longer about the music ... it's about the idea!!!
 
Methinks we need to grow up!Wink


Edited by moshkito - March 18 2015 at 08:37
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 19 2015 at 11:52
The GEPR was one of those gems of the nascent internet.  Like Elephant Talk, it provided access to a whole new world of information, and was particularly useful in publicizing the 90's prog revival.
 
I found it sad to hear about your friend who thought he had to lose music to find God.  I had friends like that in college (got a lot of great free CD's that way,) but I was FINDING God through progressive rock.  Yes, Genesis, Robert Fripp, Kansas, and The Flower Kings have all contributed in lasting ways to my theology.  What is "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" but a modern-day "Pilgrim's Progress?"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 19 2015 at 12:04
Originally posted by freyacat freyacat wrote:


The GEPR was one of those gems of the nascent internet.  Like Elephant Talk, it provided access to a whole new world of information, and was particularly useful in publicizing the 90's prog revival.
 
I found it sad to hear about your friend who thought he had to lose music to find God.  I had friends like that in college (got a lot of great free CD's that way,) but I was FINDING God through progressive rock.  Yes, Genesis, Robert Fripp, Kansas, and The Flower Kings have all contributed in lasting ways to my theology.  What is "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" but a modern-day "Pilgrim's Progress?"

It wasn't that bad. It turned out he lost his music to me as I purchased his collection off of him, so it was a windfall, sort of speak. His new wife at the time was probably the probable cause of him turning his back on prog, but I wouldn't be surprised if they'd split by now; she was a real nut.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 24 2015 at 00:21
GEPR may be more present than you know: I was reading about Marillion and went to GEPR (after reading about it here) to find that the description in PA is copied from GEPR!  Shocked
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 24 2015 at 01:02
^ That should be corrected immediately
"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."   -- John F. Kennedy
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 27 2015 at 01:31
Who gets out of PROG because of religion? hahahaha
Listen to Jesus Christ superstar hahaha
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 27 2015 at 11:21
My friend obviously did. And Jesus Christ Superstar ain't a bad suggestion with some of its proggy elements and all. By the way, what color is your broom?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 08 2015 at 07:37
My first source of information on prog rock was from reading posts in the rec.music.progressive Usenet group back in college. I believe this group compiled an A-Z list of prog rock bands that eventually morphed into GEPR. I recall making a couple contributions to GEPR when Mike Taylor was running it, including suggesting ELO as an addition. I regularly followed it while Fred was in charge. I started using both PA and GEPR around 2005 or 2006 to supplement each other.
 
Another source was the book The Progressive Rock Files by Jerry Lucky (4th edition published in 1998). I was also a regular subscriber to John Collinge's Progression back in the day. I really ought to resubscribe to that since I've let it lapse for several years now.
 
Thanks to the original poster for starting this thread. It brought a lot of memories back to me. And thanks to Fred for chiming in to let us know that GEPR will have a future. Thumbs Up
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 10 2015 at 13:45
Like most of us, GEPR was my first prog site. I didn't have regular web access (either at home or at work) before 04, so I used to go to cyber café, and GEPR was THE site I was visiting


Originally posted by Fred Trafton Fred Trafton wrote:

Why yes, I do. I'm Fred Trafton, former editor of the GEPR. Sadly, I haven't had time to work on it in years. But the good news is that a consortium of fans is currently working to revive the site. Hopefully in a few months you'll see it reappear with new content, along with the old content. And without all the ads ProgArchives makes you wade through Tongue



aaah, addblock is generally a cool way to peruse PA, though I'll admit it doesn't work for those e-bay and Amazon adds.
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