Fans of old and new Progressive Rock?

haha, that sounds a lot like me...i only really like 'in the court of the crimson king' and genesis w/ peter gabriel...including such great songs such as 'musical box' and 'the return of the giant hogweed'...'Epitaph' is my favorite song on that king crimson album...along with the song w/ that flute with they lyrics 'i've been here and...i've been there and...' that song is tremendously enjoyable..though less progressively influenced than 21st century schizoid man for example.

 

Well, most commonality of prog-rock I listen to is highly sophisticated or complex structure. Take for exemple early Renaissance "Innocence", I'm not sure if I recall correctly, but it's gotta be this one:

Intro(retaken in B) A(Leading particle) B A' B' C D e B''


On the other hand you find lots of experimentation.


Edit: There has been some confusion with this message.

I just wanted to track the most basic characteristics and wrote a text so messily, that this has been understood as the "unique definition" which is absolutely wrong and which has not been the intention of this post.

See following messages.

 

So is that all there is to it? A little emancipation of form? What about harmony, phrase structure, instrumentation, tonality, tempo, and all the other factors that constitute a piece of music?

 

www.progarchives.com

It is great for the discography...the forums suck though. Give it a look through, I found out about 100s of 60s and 70s prog bands because of that site.

But don't let anyone fool you, prog is hard to define. If you are saying "is that all there is" than you need to start exploring because the genre always surprises and is hard to describe in a few paragraphs or even pages. So far, descriptions in this thread have done an injustice so I direct you to the above link that will properly describe it and do a little more justice to the amazing genre. Take an hour or two to really explore the site.

 

Well just a few comparative points to say what differs from other rock music, and in what way, in a few of the key aspects would suffice.

 

'i've been here and...i've been there and...'

i talk to the wind, and thats my favorite on that album!

 

I love Genesis... at least up until Gabriel left. I still go through binges where I'll listen to nothing but Genesis for a week or two. I used to travel to record shows to pick up bootlegs of live performances, and they're great, I can't imagine a crowd now that would sit through a concert and be so quiet you could actually hear someone coughing on the recording. Peter also gets awarded my best frontman of all time.

Crimson is about the only other prog rock band I still listen to and hunt down bootlegs for. Both Greg Lake and Bill Bruford blow my mind. When Adrian Belew joined the band, though, they did a nose dive, imo.

Oh, and Sax, Prog Rock is typically based more along the lines of classical music and jazz fusion, rather than rhythm and blues. It's much more complex, usually having tempo/time sig changes and the like.

 

Well, Sax Machine, I said: most commonality, meaning main.

All the things you complained about not being answered are differing from "normal" rock. It's just as Carlfloydfan told: It's hard to define.

And therefore I just gave the most basic aspect. Complexity of form. Well. The time I was investigating about progressive rock, I was also quite confused about the flaky definitions and characterizations. Take two different bands and you will find two different types of progressive rock. Well. I know, this seems very undeterministic and unsatisfying, but it's simply difficult.


Maybe this approach might help you:

The more it differs from very basic, simple and "chunky" rock, the more it is likely to be progressive.

But I just join Carlfloydfan's statement:

What's progressive rock?
That's one of the unanswered questions of the universe and it is just wonderful like this, with large space of interpretation and freedom of development.

 

Well let's put it another way. When you hear a prog rock track, what is it about it that says to you that it's prog rock?

 

I LOVE Pink Floyd.


And New Prog is like The Mars Volta, who are absolutly amazing.

My dad is a big fan of prog, he has loads of old ELP and Yes vinyls.

 

for prog i think of when a band takes a lot of time and variations to develop a theme and the composition long and spread out with complicating twists and turns. the instrumentation is usually on the virtuoso end, but floyd shows that's not always true. the sound is often artificially big, mimicking symphonic or orchestral textures. thematically, political, abstract or far-reaching concepts seem to outnumber popular concepts like sex appeal, heartbreak, and machismo.

 

Techically, I don't know. I'm really an aesthetic listener rather than an analitical listener.

 

i can't really separate old music into categories but according to the bands mentioned I guess I prefer what is called progressive rock


when it comes to newer music i definately prefer progressive rock

 

heyyy what are u doing over there???? what is harmony? what is complexity? what is form....forget about it....music is not form or harmony....the most important thing is always IDEA! what do you want to say with your music...so progressive rock is one of the strong thing to say something (especially utopia! it's really important!) about life, about death! listening is not enough; we must think!!!!!

 

Jethro Tull, all the way.

 

and in the second place...there is no new progressive rock...it's finished in 1977! neo-prog is just a comedy...without soul you are NOTHING!!!!!!!

 

Agreed for the most part, with a few exceptions (80s King Crimson, Univers Zero, etc.)... Bands labeled "progressive" in the 1970s actually strived to be so, pushing the boundaries of rock music; it seems that neo-prog's faithfulness to the genre-- complex arrangements, odd meters, virtuosic playing, orchestral timbres, etc.-- is anything but "progressive" in the truest sense of the word.

I used to absolutely love prog-rock; I don't listen to much of it anymore, but here are some of my favorites I still listen to semi-regularly: Genesis (w/Gabriel & Hackett of course), Henry Cow, Gong, Jethro Tull, and 70s-80s King Crimson.

 

king crimson, yes, jethro tull vs.. always at the top but i prefer german bands: rufus zuphall, eloy, grobschnitt, out of focus, eulenspygel, mythos and many more....