SUPERNATURAL FAIRY TALES - THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK ERA

I find music samplers to be indispensable in getting to know strange new musical worlds where you are utterly clueless as how to proceed into the strange new universe you are wanting to explore. They are particularly helpful when exploring the niche markets of which progressive rock is definitely a member of. This 1996 5-disc boxed set boldly titled SUPERNATURAL FAIRY TALES...THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK ERA is really the only prog sampler i've ever heard. Prog is one of those umbrella terms that includes oceans of music that a meager little 5-disc set could hardly ever even begin to describe. I could personally make up a 5-disc set of material for individual bands included on this release alone.

After reading the vast number of negative reviews that this album has garnered from progsters, I have to remind them that this release isn't for them. It was intended to re-introduce the forgotten world of yesteryear to the clueless public at large in the mid 90s. Remember that this was before the internet as we know it today and the easy access of information in the form of electronic or otherwise. So this was in effect designed for to be an introduction to progressive rock to newbies during the grunge years when prog was making a small comeback after the release of newer classics like Anglagard's Hybris.

I got this as a freebie when a friend made me a copy several years ago well after being familiar with many of the bands on here. Despite knowing much of this, there were still a lot of bands I still had not yet encountered. Such acts like Rare Bird, Supersister, Peter Sinfield, Savage Rose and others had eluded me and it was great to get a small dose of what they sounded like. So I threw this on my itunes and let all these tracks pop up randomly on a DJ list. The result was quite pleasing as tracks I knew would come up and new ones I would discover as well. Overall I agree with a lot of the criticism of which tracks are on this. I have read that the there were licensing issues and such and it does indeed seem like a rushed affair just throwing anything they could find on here.

I think it's agreed that every lover of prog could come up with their own version of what they think should be a introduction sampler for newbies and how to develop it from the origins to the more advanced and eclectic nooks and crannies, but the fact is most of us have not done that and do not know the huge amounts of legal red tape and the mammoth task at hand in trying to summarize a musical style that is so vast and nebulous. I for one think this is an ok introduction especially if you don't pay a lot of money for it. I'm not sure it has any relevance in the modern world with such extensive review sites like ProgArchives existing, but for me personally I have found it to be both useful and interesting despite thinking it utterly ludicrous to include such tracks as "Radar Love" by Golden Earring or even "America" by the Nice. Far from perfect but far from a total waste of time.