The Progressive Web: January 2019

Characteristics
Progressive Rock or Prog Rock is a sub-genre under rock music. The basis is a rock band, whose members compose and play the music. The band's instrumentation mostly and typically consist of vocals, guitars, bass, drums and keyboards.

What differentiates prog rock from other genres is mainly the approach how the songs are composed.

The songs or pieces of music are mostly built similar to classical pieces of music, which incorporate most of the following elements:

- the songs are built like scored compositions, consisting of a beginning/intro, one or more middle parts and an ending/finale
- polyphonic use of voice and instruments, vocals are treated as one instrument among others, counterpoint in the melodic textures
- extended harmony/tonality, breakup of major/minor modality, chromatic shifts, pentatonic/whole step/tritone scales, unusual chord progressions
- change of rhythm/time/tempo within the song
- extreme dynamic changes (loud and quiet passages)
- integration of additional solo instruments into the band that are not typical for rock music, such as violin, saxophone, flute, vibraphone etc.

Historical annotations
Progressive rock as a genre evolved in the United Kingdom at the end of the 60's of the 20th century. The release of the album 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' by King Crimson in the year 1969 was regarded as a ground-breaking milestone. In the first half of the 70's a climax was reached, when many mainly British bands released their most epoch-making albums like 'Foxtrot', 'Selling England By The Pound' (both Genesis) or 'Close To The Edge' (Yes). Although in general not commercially successful, this type of music influenced nevertheless many artists at that time, even within the pop scene.

The 80's, which was dominated by punk and new wave, marked the downfall of prog. The prog bands of the 70's tried to simplify their music and include more pop and hit singles. Through this step, paradoxically, some bands, like Genesis and Yes, gained more commercial success than ever before, which resulted in a wider popularity. At the same time a few new bands emerged, like Marillion, who continued the 70's style of prog, but often less experimental, using a conventional rock band line-up without exotic instruments, a more simplified song structure based around melodious guitars, lush synths and a more straighter beat. This evolution of prog is known as neo-prog.

The 90's saw a revival of prog rock, with a 'third wave' of many new bands emerging and with accompanying prog festivals evolving. The formerly British dominated prog scene became more internationally spread, with a strong scene in Scandinavia and Northern America. Through the influence of the progressive heavy rock band Rush the music became heavier in general. Despite this revival the influence of prog on the rest of the present day musical scene could be stated as marginal to non-existent. However, within a diversified musical world this genre managed, also with the help of new technical means like crowdfunding, internet streaming and online stores, to establish a niche, which is alive even today, supported by a small but steady world-wide fan base.

Relationship to classical music
Because of the compositional approach prog songs often sound as if they were rock interpretations of already existent classical pieces. In some cases the bands actually played rock versions of classical music. As examples can be named Emerson Lake and Palmer's version of Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition, or the various classical pieces interpreted by Ekseption. Most prog compositions, however, are self-composed, though it is common for prog artists to adopt styles or quote parts of classical music. Manfred Mann's Earth Band uses many quotations, for example a theme of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite used in the track Starbird. In the music of Genesis Bach-like chord progressions can be observed, and in the compositions of Yes the influence of late-romanticism is prevailing.

Naming
It is not clear, where the name 'Progressive Rock' is originated. The usage of the term might be traced back to the early 70's in the United Kingdom. A wide spread usage of the term occurred in the 80's, where the music journalists needed a more distinctive name for this type of music rather than the term 'art rock', which had also been widely used for all types of 'unusual' rock music.

The term 'progressive' might refer to the following:

- external form: The music progresses from conventional rock music in a way that it crosses the borders of rock towards other genres like classical music, jazz, folk or world music.
- intrinsic meaning: Within a song the music 'progresses' from theme to theme.
- time: When this type of music first appeared, it revolutionised the way, rock music can be approached and was a progressive step beyond the prevalent R&B style of rock at that time.

Typical bands of the 70's
Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Van der Graaf Generator, Gentle Giant, Camel, Renaissance, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Alan Parsons Project, Barclay James Harvest

Typical bands of the 80's
Marillion, IQ, Pendragon, Pallas, Saga

Typical bands since the 90's until today
Porcupine Tree (UK), The Flower Kings (Sweden), Spock's Beard (USA), Dream Theater (USA), Anekdoten (Sweden), Echolyn (USA), Discipline (USA), Transatlantic (USA/UK/Sweden)

Listening examples
- ground-breaking: The Court of the Crimson King (King Crimson, 1969)
- typical: Can-utility and the Coastliners (Genesis, 1972)
- epoch-making: Close To The Edge (Yes, 1972), Supper's Ready (Genesis, 1972)
- short piece, approx. 3 min.: Happiness Is A Warm Gun (The Beatles, 1968)
- long piece, > 40 min.: Mei (Echolyn, 2002), Seas of Change (Galahad, 2018)
- suite: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Genesis, 1974)
- unusual instrumentation: Funny Ways (Gentle Giant, live 1974)
- counterpoint: Knots (Gentle Giant, 1972)
- twelve-tone technique: Only Twelve (Echolyn, 1992)

Gryphon is a band from the UK formed by classical trained musicians Richard Harvey and Brian Gulland. They combine English folk, baroque and renaissance inspired elements with rock music to their version of symphonic progressive rock. They have released five albums between 1973 and 1977, after which they disbanded. They reformed in 2015. But today I am spinning their 1974 release 'Red Queen To Gryphon Three', an instrumental composition in four check movements:
- Opening Move
- Second Spasm
- Lament
- Checkmate
Featuring crumhorn, bassoon and recorder among others.

Starport Omega : Saturday 18:00 PST (Sunday 03:00 CET, 02:00 GMT)
Floating Islands : Sunday 15:00 PST (Monday 00:00 CET, Sunday 23:00 GMT)
My streaming URL

Monday, 28 January 2019

Prog Rock Definition

Sunday, 27 January 2019

The Windmill - Tribus (2018)

Sunday, 20 January 2019

Gryphon - Red Queen To Gryphon Three (1974)

Sunday, 13 January 2019

All Traps On Earth - A Drop Of Light (2018)

Saturday, 5 January 2019

A mixed bag of prog