Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Music Lounge
Forum Description: General progressive music discussions
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=101626
Printed Date: April 28 2024 at 00:31
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Topic: Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock
Posted By: Rednight
Subject: Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock
Date Posted: March 10 2015 at 11:49
| Way back when, a friend who was getting out of prog because he had found religion suggested I look into the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock (G.E.P.R.) as a go-to source for all things prog. Since discovering Prog Archives, I've disbanded any interest in perusing the former as P.A. seems the full-service, one stop web site to visit when researching different bands and the like. I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there who still has a soft spot in their heart for G.E.P.R. and utilizes it now and again for what it has to offer, however little that may be. |
Replies:
Posted By: apps79
Date Posted: March 10 2015 at 13:21
Wow, beautiful topic Great, great source, much more in an amateur level than PA, basically ran by Prog enthusiast Fred Trafton and a few volunteers.But you discovered extremely obscure bands and the description of groups and music were absolutely to the point (when there was one). Loved it back then, it has been quite a few years with no updates, I wonder where this guy is now.
------------- When the power of love overcomes the love of power,the world will know peace... listen to www.justincaseradio.com , the first ever Greek Progressive Rock radio |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: March 10 2015 at 13:24
|
GEPR was a great resource back in the day. A lot of time was invested in that thing, just like PA (which I agree is now the best prog stop on the InterWebs). ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: March 10 2015 at 13:41
|
I discovered a ton of new prog in the mid to late 90's from the old GEPR. I grabbed a copy of the entire GEPR (probably an ftp from the old usenet rec.music.progressive :-) printed it out and spent a few hours reading the whole thing. Then I made my list of albums to look for and began the search. Fun times... ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: Sagichim
Date Posted: March 10 2015 at 14:49
|
Ah yes Fred Trafton, he even has an account here. I use to frequently search that web for new bands to explore, I think I went through every band and maid lists of what to order. I also used to wait for his updates to see what he comes up with. I got into so many bands because of that site, usually it was accurate but every now and then it had a few flops. I haven't visited there in years, the archives is a better resource for sharing music and communicating. |
Posted By: zravkapt
Date Posted: March 10 2015 at 16:25
Prog is the devil's music.  GEPR was my go to source before PA came along. I discovered a lot of music on that site(and its sister site...progreviews.com I think it was). ------------- Magma America Great Make Again |
Rednight wrote:Posted By: Gerinski
Date Posted: March 10 2015 at 16:53
|
Used to visit the site long, long ago, not anymore for many years. Some good stuff but PA got nicer. I would swear that I once saw an interesting 'Prog Rock family tree' document there, which I can not find anymore. Ah, and its article about instruments was also my first inspiration for my own more extensive article I posted in the PA Blogs section.
|
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: March 10 2015 at 17:54
| ^This. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: March 11 2015 at 01:38
| Loved it, truly my major Prog reference before PA was created. |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: March 11 2015 at 01:54
|
Fred is the best, the GEPR can be a more accessible and easy website when first navigating the web for Prog. I still submit a new column to my 'Progressive Rock Moments' now & then. ------------- "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy |
Posted By: M@X
Date Posted: March 11 2015 at 11:45
 PA rules Thanks for the support
------------- Prog On ! |
Posted By: Gerinski
Date Posted: March 11 2015 at 13:58
|
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. For the rest, all the contents of the site is created by its members. Anybody can add albums, reviews, ratings, and the forums are obviously created and discussed among members (although Admins and Collabs can also of course create their topics, I don't think we can consider these as 'site-published contents'). So you can not actually praise nor criticize PA for being a 'good' or a 'bad' Prog Rock site. At most you could only praise or criticize its members for posting material of better or lesser quality. For good and for bad, PA is just a platform for any people to post stuff about Prog Rock, and it provides some 'umbrella' services such as creating the statistics from that user-added stuff such as the Top X lists, most popular album, popular artists list etc. |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: March 11 2015 at 14:05
|
Like many others (so it seems) GEPR was my first internet resource for prog, and when I discovered PA, I visited GEPR less and less, and now that I read this thread, I notice that I didn't visit it for a long time anymore, almost forgot about its existence. I still have a soft spot for the old days, though. There were some articles on GEPR from Mike Ohman about Italian prog that I printed out and studied for a long time. |
Posted By: Fred Trafton
Date Posted: March 13 2015 at 12:20
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  ------------- Fred Trafton - Editor, Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock |
Posted By: Fred Trafton
Date Posted: March 13 2015 at 12:24
|
"To the point (when there was one)". Masterful summary. ------------- Fred Trafton - Editor, Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock |
Posted By: M@X
Date Posted: March 13 2015 at 12:37
|
Prog on ------------- Prog On ! |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: March 13 2015 at 13:06
| Thanks, Fred. |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: March 13 2015 at 14:11
------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: clarke2001
Date Posted: March 13 2015 at 15:06
I was visiting GEPR ages ago, until I discovered PA. I even made a comparison list - huuuge list of bands listed in GEPR but not listed in PA, with dozens and hundreds of bands...it's still somewhere in the collab zone...however, I'm sure that such a list would be significantly shorter these days!  ------------- |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: March 13 2015 at 15:46
Same for me.....used it a lot in the past.
------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date 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. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date 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. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: mithrandir
Date Posted: March 15 2015 at 01:19
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date 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....... |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date 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 |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: March 15 2015 at 09:45
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! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Jake Night
Date 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. |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date 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. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: March 18 2015 at 07:30
Good news Fred. 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. ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: March 18 2015 at 08:16
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! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: March 18 2015 at 08:26
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!  ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: freyacat
Date 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?" ------------- sad creature nailed upon the coloured door of time |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: March 19 2015 at 12:04
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. |
Posted By: RalphWaldo
Date 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!  ------------- A record is a concert without halls and a museum whose curator is the owner - Glen Gould |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date 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 |
Posted By: Richbich
Date Posted: March 27 2015 at 01:31
|
Who gets out of PROG because of religion? hahahaha Listen to Jesus Christ superstar hahaha
|
Posted By: Rednight
Date 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? |
Posted By: progaardvark
Date 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. ------------- ---------- i'm shopping for a new oil-cured sinus bag that's a happy bag of lettuce this car smells like cartilage nothing beats a good video about fractions |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date 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
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. |