PROGRESSIVE ROCK ANTHOLOGY

A collection of old and newer prog concert clips on a low-priced DVD by the Classic Rock Society, the company that has supported Mostly Autumn and Karnataka (included as bonuses). All other bands have existed since late 60's or early 70's. I think the band choices are quite nice; it's hardly anyone's dream list but nor is it full of not-exactly- prog, like Various Artists prog compilations tend to be. All are acclaimed prog bands (+ solo artist Rick Wakeman), though being in a middle league in fame - except Wakey and ELP of course.

An introduction text - slow and big fonts - runs on the screen during the track beginnings, which gets irritating in time. It would have been better to have just the needed concert infos in the cover sheet. And track lengths. Otherwise the editing is good.

'Take a Pebble' (ELP -71, edited) has artistic film material of tree branches and ripples mixed into the concert shooting and it looks fine. Curved Air ('Vivaldi') are intruded irrationally by tropical fish that the text excuses. So what, it is overlong anyway to keep watching Darryl Way's violin play. Sonja Kristina is present too. Family's 'Weaver's Answer' is the third rarity from early 70's, sadly the monotonous song fails to show the band at its best. Also Focus is from the 70's, nothing special to say about it. They were visually quite uninteresting band it seems.

Caravan, Wakeman (correction: a track from Six Wives of Henry XIII, I forgot which one), Nektar and Barclay James Harvest are each from a concert dating around early 90's, but 'Desolation Valley' (originally on Nektar album Tab in the Ocean) mixes old and new concert shootings surprisingly seamlessly and is a highlight of the DVD. BJH's 'Mocking Bird' is another highlight even if fat John Lees' voice sounds stuffy. Caravan ('For Richard') sounds as good as ever.

Mostly Autumn's 13-minute 'Mother Nature' is fine (but I'd chosen something else) and Karnataka reminds me of Clannad. Hopefully I sometimes hear more of them. In all, not a bad purchase at all for 10 euros.

It is challenging to review a video/DVD, especially if it contains your favourite artists or music genre. Reviewing visual material should avoid or at least not put forefront the music itself, but rather the purpose and quality of video material. It is of course, tricky. "Progressive Rock Anthology" is a catchy and extremely misleading title because we can't call "anthology" any collection that lacks giants of the genre like GENESIS, YES, KING CRIMSON, to name a few. On the other hand, this collection is interesting because it features the famous "second league" prog stars (except ELP and Wakeman), those who never reached big commercial success or popularity like the above.

ELP's "Take a Pebble" is only an excerpt from a gig in 1971 and apart from being interesting for the fans, nothing special to see. CARAVAN's "For Richard" is an excellent performance of the reformed original line-up, with mostly static camera giving you a feel you are there in the audience. CURVED AIR's "Vivaldi" is a dissapointment. Camera is focused too much on Darryl Way during his lengthy violin exhibition, you don't see much of the band and Sonja is present only for few seconds. Of course there is that irritating aquarium fish sequences. Blah, the director was stoned or something... FAMILY shot was nothing special, I expected more interesting stuff. FOCUS are portrayed performing "Hocus Pocus" live in a studio, and Van Leer exposed his showmanship extravanganza with organ/flute/vocals, while Akkerman bursting out in laugh when looking at him during the yodeling part. Nice and funny to see. NEKTAR performs a composition not familiar to me, with interesting "overlapping" edit between an old 1975 and newer 199? performances of the same song. During the Wakeman's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" I fell asleep due to his boring "look at me surrounded by ten thousand keyboards" performance, as usual. Finally, BJH did a nice retrospective to their famous hit "Mockingbird", performed in recent years. As a bonus, two songs by a "new generation" of prog rockers are included: MOSTLY AUTUMN and KARNATAKA, and they are both interesting, featuring female vocals, but again they can hardly break any new grounds. At least IMO based on this watching and not hearing them before.

I cannot recommend this DVD as an essential or obligatory watching to average prog fans. Only glimpses of what these artists can or could do are present, so it is more suited for collectors of rare video shots. Still, those novices who never got a clear picture of what that "progressive rock" represents, can get a decent "background information" on this often disputed genre.

Review Nº 725

"Progressive Rock Anthology" is a DVD with a collection of ten progressive live concert clips. Eight of them are "old" and are taken from eight bands of the 70's, and the other two, included as bonuses, belong to two "new" prog bands.

So, "Progressive Rock Anthology" has ten tracks, eight regular tracks and two bonus tracks. The first track "Take A Pebble" is a live version of a song of Emerson, Lake & Palmer from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer", released in 1970. It's a very rare film from an early 1971 film just after Emerson, Lake & Palmer had finished recording their debut studio work. This is an edited extract from a live version that runs to sixteen minutes with the full piano improvisation in the original film. The second track "For Richard" is a live version of a song of Caravan from "If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You", released in 1970. It was captured live in a concert in Central Music's Nottingham studios, during 1990. It features the classic Caravan line up, Pie Hastings, David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Richard Coughlan and Jimmy Hastings. The third track "Vivaldi" is a live version of a song of Curved Air from "Airconditioning", released in 1970. It's an excerpt taken from a Belgian TV live show, in 1972. This is the classic Curved Air line up featuring Sonja Kristina, Daryl Way, Francis Monkman, Mike Wedgewood and Florian Pilkington-Miksa. The fourth track "The Weaver's Answer" is a live version of a song of Family from "Family Entertainment", released in 1969. This live version was filmed for RTBF, a Belgian public television, in 1971. This is one of the most popular lines up of the group, featuring Roger Chapman, John 'Charlie' Whitney, Poli Palmer, John Weider and Rob Townsend. The fifth track "Hocus Pocus Medley" is a live version of a song of Focus from "Moving Waves", released in 1972. This is the classic Focus line up featuring Jan Akkerman, Thijs Van Leer, Bert Ruiter and Pierre Van Der Linden. The sixth track "Desolation Valley" is a live version of a song of Nektar from "A Tab In The Ocean", released in 1972. This is a very interesting and amazing film that intercuts live material taken from a 1972 live concert with footage shot thirty years later of the same song. The seventh track "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" isn't really a live version of a song from "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth", released in 1974. In reality, it's a live version of a medley of two original songs from "The Six Wives Of Henry VIII", released in 1973. This film shows Rick Wakeman captured in action with the English Rock Ensemble, in 1990. The eighth track "Mockingbird" is a live version of a song of Barclay James Harvest from "Once Again", released in 1971. This is the highlight of a unique live concert filmed at London's Town and Country Club, to mark the 25th Anniversary of Barclay James Harvest. It features only three of their founder members, John Lees, Les Holroyd and Mel Pritchard.

As I mentioned above, the ninth and tenth tracks are two bonus tracks. The ninth track "Mother Nature" is a live version of an original song of Mostly Autumn recorded on their third studio album "The Last Bright Light", released in 2001. The tenth track "Heaven Can Wait" is a live version of an original song of Karnataka recorded on their second studio album "The Storm", released in 2000. I must confess that when I bought this DVD, I think in 2005 or 2006, I wasn't familiar with these two bands yet. In reality, I had never heard of them before. So, this DVD became very important to me because somehow it has become my baptism to them. And thanks God that it happened. I really love both bands, particularly Mostly Autumn, which is in my opinion, one the best and one of my favourite British prog bands nowadays.

Conclusion: "Progressive Rock Anthology" is a very interesting DVD. It represents a good introduction for those who aren't accustomed to progressive rock music, with songs from bands that go beyond the general knowledge. As I wrote before, it's focused in the early 70's with the exception of the two bonus tracks. Relatively to the "old songs", I must say that "For Richard" of Caravan and "Desolation Valley" of Nektar are two perfect live performances and are the two highlights on it. "Take A Pebble" from Emerson, Lake & Palmer and "Hocus Pocus Medley" from Focus represent also two good live performances with some funny moments. However, it's a pity that "Take A Pebble" has been cutted. "Vivaldi" of Curved Air represents also a great musical moment especially the performance of Daryl Way which is unforgettable. However, the intrusion of images of tropical fishes is completely inexcusable. The live performance of Rick Wakeman is delightful and shows why he is considered one of the best and most gifted keyboardists ever. "Mockingbird" of Barclay James Harvest shows also a good live performance of the group, but "The Weaver's Answer" of Family represents the weakest point of the DVD. The live performance and the release aren't good and the quality of the sound is very poor. In relation to the "new songs" I love both, and the quality of image and sound is irreproachable.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)