And yet I don't really like prog-folk and listen to virtually nothing else in the genre. I would listen to any other PA sub-genre (with the exception of my bugbear neo-prog) more than I do prog-folk

 

Is this wierd, to just love ONE band from a genre?

 

(I suppose this could be a problem not with prog-folk but with a possible misclassification of JT. Fans have noted before that it's odd how JT are almost always described as folk rock when their folk period is really only three albums and that after their commercial heyday.)

 

btw I think Ring Out Solstice Bells is my favourite Christmas song ever.

It's more about integrating the folk element into the rock and prog elements, which have created such a wonderful and unique sound.

 

I think that we're over-concerned with the "definition" of the style of his music, when it might have nothing to do with it at all, and it might be the way he's comfortable playing underneath his voice and flute.

 

There are a lot of bands out there that do not know how to support a flute and woodwinds ... and these tend to get buried in the mixes and in the case of Ozric Tentacles in their earlier days, you can hear it in the albums, but cold day in heck that you could hear it in concert, which only supported drums, bass and guitar, and even forget the keyboards. Ian is intelligent enough to know that the music has to come up and I think that sometimes we do not give him credit for it.

 

I never thought of his music as "rock", or "prog", or "folk" ... it's just good stuff and music and I couldn't careless for the definition of it. Most definitions are for "fans" in this commercially minded world and has nothing to do with the artist and the music itself. You don't buy Beethoven because it is "classical romantic" music, or Bach because it is "baroque" music.

 

So, just forget the definition and let go everything else and just enjoy it.

 

But, please ... there is a lot of music out there in many forms ... and if you let go of the definition, you might find that other things also come to your noggin, and you will like them as well.

 

Too much of the discussion is by people that only listen to "styles" and the terminology, many times is not adequate to any artist and is also a prison ... you are stuck in something that might not be you at all ... how would you like to be branded by that?

but i think jethro tull might be an exception. because jethro is a rare band that can define a certain kind of music itself. they are not just a prog folk band, i mean they are JETHRO TULL 

Very good way of looking at it. I agree. They really are 2 distinct styles and rock with folk elements is the one I really like and Tull fits that description.

 

Totally!

 

I always thought that the Incredible String Band is incredibly progressive, but they are not going to get a listen because of the "rock" guns in this board ... that simply can not appreciate progressive anything else. Sometimes I think that "progressive" is way too stuck on "rock" ... and loses its ability to find and see other music's out there that are also quite progressive.

 

For all intents and purposes, Bob Dylan in his early days was quite progressive, since he was doing his own thing ... which folk regimentalists didn't like, then.

Also, I'm a big Tull fan, and I would pick them as my #1 band, on top of everybody else, any time of any day.

 

Kinda strange to see CARMEN listed as that ... but I suppose that is closer to it than anything else ... if we "unplug" it, all you have is a spanish guitar with bass, drums and keyboards. And it would be on par with a lot of the Spanish Classic Guitar music ... the only issue being ... in all my days in Portugal, next to Spain, I never heard that music called "folk" ... and much of it is over 700 to 800 years old and predates a lot of European history, going back to the Moors, even before the so-called "European history" that tends to start with Charlesmagne, after 900 years of wiped history by ...

 

Any way ... I suppose it would be folk ... and there is enough in it that is quite folksy ... but the combination of a rock guitar with the spanigh guitar licks are amazing, and not something that we're going to see very often. There are a couple of metal thrashers out there that do a pretty good imitation, but in general they are just playing around a chord and not doing a whole lot with it at all, at least like CARMEN did.

 

I'm glad you like Underwraps, which could be considered New Wave Prog.

 

When JT won the Grammy for best Heavy Metal recording,  their recording was just as heavy as any tradional HM band like Thin Lizzy or Led Zepplin released

 

Nope. I also love Tull (though I can't listen to Under Wraps in this day and age), but I listen to little of anything else that is even marginally folksy. Except I do like Renaissance and "Renaissance-y" stuff like some Blackmore's Rainbow, Mellow Candle, etc.

 

I understand : JT are pretty unique in their genre. And featuring exceptionnqlly skilled musicians and the genius of Ian Anderson.

 

I don't like that much other prog-folk bands.

 

We could even add Capability Brown to this. VOICE would be their magnus opus.

 

I don't really find Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span that traditional even if they play traditionals. Their arrangements are always very nice. You want to hear a folk/prog song that was the last Sandy Denny recorded, you should really catch "One Last Chance", which turns into a massive prog jam towards the end, which was probably added to it after she passed away as a tribute to her, but it is magnificent in every way. And if you have not heard "Reynardine" you are missing one of the most beautiful things ever done on a guitar and voice.

 

Richard Thompson should be here, although some like to think that he fits better everywhere else other than here, but even in the early stuff like Calvary Cross and Night Comes In, that's quite progressive and well done.

 

Byzantium - Tough one, since their first album is ... pop music? ... but it is longer cuts pop music, and very well done and orchestrated. The second album is on par with Capability Brown.

 

I would think that Roy Harper and Kevin Ayers are both quite progressive, although Kevin is "simpler" and more song oriented, whereas Roy is almost all poetry oriented and if the music doesn't come with him, too bad! There are some superb things here ... Headquarters, Unknown Soldier, Jugula +4 to mention just a few. But Kevin's album "The Confessions of Dr. Dream" is very progressive.

On the re-release of The Gypsies and Widescreen, there are notes by Allen in there and he says that the band pretty much fell apart and Ian had already tried to get John to play with them, but he didn't want to break up such a nice band. But Carmen had run its course, lost its manager and felt kinda "dumped", and it was over. You know what is sad about that? ... he has not touched an electric guitar since ... how's that for insane and nutz ... that kind of talent wasted, but it tells you something about the musicianship and its appreciation ... who gives a sh*t about a rock guitar player, but he can get some appreciation and a pat in the back in Spain for his playing ... you can blame the rock press, the studio system and the "fan" fickleness for that ... but John Glascock did help Ian put together a couple of very fine albums ... and when John died, between you and I ... Ian has not been half as good since.

 

But yeah ... Bullerias ... is all over my head all the time ... awesome work, not only the feet, but the bass and the drums ... tell rock'n'roll to stuff it ... this is fabulous music! And those feet could send drummers to music school anytime, specially that one guy ... that just quit his band ... when the ego is bigger than the feet, the music is over buddy!