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Cheers, Himself.
Matron, I’m listening to "Caress of Steel" as I type. Would you class Rush as progressive? I always thought they were a heavy band, before they sold out to the US radio charts. Neil Peart was a superb drummer though, if a bit politically, er, dubious.
I bought Caress of Steel some 30 odd years ago – and 2112, another Rush album … and Fly By Night. I always thought the Canadians more of heavy metal band too, but with progressive rock overtones. Geddy Lee’s vocals never quite did it for me though – well, not in the same manner that Pavlov’s Dog’s David Surkamp’s outrageous falsetto did. Now, theres a band you should check out – if you haven’t done so already. Pampered Menial is an album that blew me away when I first heard it – and still does to this day.
I know I shouldn’t have become involved in this thread – you won’t get me to shut up now.
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I’ve got Caress on vinyl somewhere, with all the lyrics in the gatefold – plus 2112, and my favourite, "Farewell to Kings" which as you know, has Cygnus X-1 and Xanadu to recommend it. I know what you mean about Geddy – an acquired taste if there ever was one!
I remember Pampered Menial well, Himself. That album was well popular, but I haven’t seen it on sale for years…
Maxilon 5,
I would concure of how "Himself" described "Rush" as:- "progressive rock overtones"
I only really liked their early stuff as well.
Regards – Matron
Stan bush
, two of his songs that featurd in the orginal transformers the movie are my ipod. Its a good way too cheer up or cyc my self up. Even if the guy does have no taste in clothing or hair.My brother was a Rush fan , I didn’t really go for them myself.
Thinking back to that time it is striking just how much talent there was, much of it receiving scant recognition. I remember on one occasion listening to Bob Harris’s Radio One Show which ( I think) aired twice a week at 10.00 pm. He featured a guitar band known as “Home”. They had, to my ear, a very original sound. I had never heard of them up to that time and I was living a busy life with not a lot of time to spare or I would have sought out their recorded material.
To touch on the subject of album sleeves ( weren’t some of them amazing) I would have to say that my all-time favourite was the Hipgnosis sleeve for “Elegy” by The Nice. Followed by Ummagumma (Pink Floyd)Being madly in love with Syd Barrett for most of my life Pink Floyd were , to me, never the same without him; however, the album that boggled my mind like no other has done before or since was Atom Heart Mother; I can still remember the first time I heard it…John Peel played it and I can still remember standing in the kitchen of my flat [it was in my hippy Cornwall years..]; I can close my eyes and be back there now at that very moment in time, and although I play it sometimes it does make me very emotional to hear it [not exactly foot tapping stuff!]..
In general my attitude to Progressive Rock was, and is, nice artwork shame about the music: seductive and tactile gatefold sleeves concealing a turgid mix of pretentious claptrap performed by clever-dicks who took themselves and the whole dubious genre far too seriously.
Yes and ELP were the nadir, and Pink Floyd the zenith, though I never really took to their self-indulgent side-embracing pieces such as those on Meddle and Atom Heart Mother. Had great trouble ‘getting into’ (to coin a phrase beloved of Prog fans) Ummagumma and found it unlistenable last time I gave it a spin, so sold it (the ’69 original) for a tidyish sum to some sucker on eBay. The early Syd Barrett-including releases still sound as frothily good as they always did, as does Dark Side of the Moon.
Soft Machine anyone? zzzzzzzzzzzzz…
…and then came The Ramones, The Clash, The Damned, The Sex Pistols and The Stranglers: Popular Music was resuscitated, John Peel regained his youth and Bob Harris had a coronary.
http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/C/C.html
Amazing cover art site with some real epics. Harry Nillson and John Lennon in 1974. Caravan "Cunning Stunts". All the Tangerine Dreams (is there a group who have more racehorses named after their albums?).
Any Roger Dean (particularly Relayer) and "Animals" by the Floyd will do me.
pretentious claptrap performed by clever-dicks who took themselves and the whole dubious genre far too seriously.
I’ll get my (great) coat.
Julia Dream is one of the most beautiful songs ever written; the bit where they sing ‘does the key unlock my mind’ and you hear a key very quietly turning in a lock sends shivers up my spine every time I hear it….perhaps music for those of us that tend to question our own sanity….and I have been known to sit in a darkened room listening to See Emily Play over and over again…….
Agree about "See Emily Play", Moe.
No matter how tough it gets – there will always be Pink Floyd.
"Echoes" on now, as I type. (This is not going down well with my son).
Just for you Moe:
Sunlight bright upon my pillow
Lighter than an eiderdown
Will she let the weeping willow
Wind his branches round
Julia Dream, dreamboat queen, queen of all my dreamsEvery night I turn the light out
Waiting for the velvet bride
Will the scaly armadillo
Find me where I’m hiding
Julia Dream, dreamboat queen, queen of all my dreamsWill the fisty master break me
Will the key unlock my mind
Will the following footsteps catch me
Am I really dyingJulia Dream, dreamboat queen, queen of all my dreams
Julia Dream, dreamboat queen, queen of all my dreams
Julia Dream, dreamboat queen, queen of all my dreams
Julia Dream, dreamboat queen, queen of all my nightmaresDo you think Gamble is Roger Waters? he’s owned a few nags
when See Emily Play first came out I didn’t have a record player; I used to walk miles to my boyfriends house, go in walk up the stairs to his room [he stayed downstairs with his mum] play it over and over again…go downstairs and leave…….I wish I could be the girl that it was written about….there was an article about her in The Observer a few years ago….was I jealous…..[beginning to think I’ve got a touch of the ocd’s]
remember a day just like today..a day when we were young…..got to listen to Relics now…..
The quiet, wistful, folky toons of PF have withstood the test of time best of all in my view – regressive oases dotted randomly in the desert of progressive white-noise. In addition to the aforementioned, Grantchester Meadows; San Tropez; If; Summer ’68; and Fat Old Sun all have a characteristically warm and comforting melencholy about them.
I will be confined to my Study this weekend which apart from the obligatory ‘puter is something of a teenager’s time capsule. So it’s lock the door, crank up the Thorens TD166 turntable and Creek 4040 35Watt amp, and drop a blunt stylus on a Pink Floyd platter, starting with Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Most of my vinyl collection has been copied to hard-disk for posterity but as others have mentioned clicking a mouse does not compare to the enjoyable palaver of faffing about with records.
clunk-click every trip
in recent times the American band Espers have come pretty close to early Pink Floyd..worth a listen….
As one who used to have albums by such prog luminaries as Gong and Egg, I now fully appreciate the scorn later poured on them.
pretentious drivel.
Regarding Syd Barrett. I have his debut album. The song Dominoes from it is very good, I think.
I disagree with the opinion that Yes can be viewed as the "nadir" of progressive rock. Their Close To The Edge album ( their best imo) is very good. The title track is very melodic and well performed. In fact, Rick Wakeman considers it the best Yes album ever produced, as does Bill Bruford ( drummer ), who left the group following its completion, saying that Yes would never be able to top Close To The Ege. He was right, they never have.
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