As one of the contributing writers here at Progarchy I look forward to what this year brings with new and exciting Prog. We have the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Yes and their music which us Yesfans are excited about. This will be Prog’s year to celebrate and enjoy all the music expected. Look forward to your comments on each article.
And let your Prog friends know about us! Happy New Year!
How many of your favorite albums has Bill Bruford played on?
All those amazing early Yes albums (oh man, who can ever forget the way the drums come back in along with Rick Wakeman’s organ solo in “Roundabout”?), plus King Crimson albums like Red and Discipline (to name just two of my favorites), not to mention his insanely great solo work (I will always love “Fainting in Coils” — am I right, Kruekutt?) and, all considered, it is undeniable that if anyone ever deserved 100 honorary doctorates for contributions to progarchy, that man would be Bill Bruford.
But now he’s Dr. Bill Bruford, and he earned the doctorate himself. You can download and read his dissertation (thanks, Internet!) or buy it this year in print because it is being published by the University of Michigan Press.
Congratulations, Dr. Bruford! And welcome to Academy!
Most of us have some sort of superstitions. Maybe we believe in a lucky number, carry a lucky rabbit’s foot (the rabbit might disagree about the luck associated with the foot), or have a pre-game ritual for our favorite sports team. On the flip side, we may harbor some superstitions about bad luck. Walking under a ladder, opening an umbrella indoors, having a black cat cross your path … those superstitions are prevalent as well.
For me, I always had a thing – negative that is – about the number 17. For some reason it just felt like an unlucky number. Whenever there was an occurrence of something not to my liking, any association with the number 17 was immediately seized upon. So, it was with a little trepidation that I approached 2017, including in terms of music. Boy, was I wrong, and boy, was I glad to be. Superstition status: shattered.
Once again, for the umpteenth year in a row, it was a great year in music, particularly in the genre of progressive rock that brings us all to this site. Once again, it was a year where the number of great releases exceeded the amount of time available to listen to all of them – as the wide variety of picks in the year-end lists on this site demonstrates. So, without further adieu, her is my own list.
No one would ever confuse the music that Natalie Merchant writes and produces with prog. Not in the least! Well. . . ok, maybe a bit in the least. That is, while Merchant is firmly in the folk and pop tradition of American songwriting, she’s also willing to take grand chances. It would certainly not be out of the realm of reality to call what she does artful pop. And, artful it most certainly is.
Most recently, Merchant released a rather glorious 10-cd collection of all (almost) of her solo material. This package from Nonesuch, The Natalie Merchant Collection, is a thing of joy. The sound of the music is so crisp and the packaging is just perfect. I will admit, I’m a sucker for good presentation and packaging. The box is sturdy and the 100-page booklet that comes with the set is just stunning. This, my friends, is the way to release music.
I must also state—somewhat of an embarrassing admission that might be perceived as sexist by some—that I find Merchant one truly beautiful woman. When she was younger, she was what one would’ve called in the 1980s, “cute.” As she has aged, however, she has allowed her hair to grey, and she doesn’t hide the few wrinkles of age. Thus, I find her absolutely stunning as a middle-aged woman. Thank you, Merchant for NOT succumbing to the disgusting and plastic culture of “forever young.”
In addition to the solo albums Merchant has released, she also includes in this package a new studio album, Butterfly, and a final disk of “rarities.” At amazon, you can purchase this package—116 tracks!—for a mere $40. Quite a bargain, especially given the beauty of the package itself.
The new album, Butterfly, is quite good, but I need a bit more time to absorb it. I hope to do an in-depth review of it soon.
Of everything Merchant has done, however, I find her 2010 double album—Leave Your Sleep—not only her best, but one of the best albums of the rock era. Certainly, it should rank in the top 100 of all time. On it, Merchant playfully yet intelligently reconsiders children’s stories and poetries. The songs range from the most intense pop to the most whimsical. It’s pretty much perfect.
Consider Blueshammer. Fictional, yes, short-lived, definitely (seconds at most). Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff made no bones in their film Ghost World (from Clowes’ graphic novel) about white blues musicians — that is, Blueshammer — who drowned out the source of their inspiration through sheer volume, and the thoughtlessness of the fans who followed them. It’s easy pickings, sure, but there’s also some truth there, and as practitioners of the art of the blues hammer, it wasn’t the first time Led Zeppelin and their peers were skewered in pop culture (see Spinal Tap), nor would it prevent other very capable white bro’ blues artists from on the one hand shredding and posturing, and on the other (and doubly suspect I think) donning the Ray-Bans and porkpie hats and a-how-how-howing through thousands of dollars of instruments, cables, amps, etc. to legions of adoring fans. Shall we name names? No. You and they and I know who they and I and you are.
Even at their emergence, many rock royalty decried the bludgeoning the mighty Zeppelin gave the blues, and certainly their excesses were as clear as their achievements. But, they achieved a lot: between their approach to traditional music of all stripes (they bludgeoned everything equally, often with finesse), their revolutionary production techniques, Jimmy Page’s ability to find the sweet spot between technique and feeling (and Robert Plant’s cock-of-the-walk wail, and John Bonham’s pounding, and John Paul Jones’s rock steady everything else), and their marketing prowess, it’s hard to sell Led Zeppelin short. As they would have it, it might be blues hammer, but it was blues hammer of the gods, straight outta Valhalla. And they were pretty much right, the most powerfully potent rock band of the 1970s, so successful that the only thing they risked was radio fatigue from overplay — a risk that proved all too real for a lot us (I’d never surrender my Zep LPs, but do I listen to them….?). When Bonham drank himself to death it probably wasn’t the worst thing to happen to the band in terms of its own legacy: across eight seamlessly consistent studio albums they managed not to make one dud, as they threw most everything against the wall. It all stuck. Their apex was 1975’s Physical Graffiti, a double album opus that sprawled and summed, peaking with the epic “Kashmir.” It was a landmark of progressive hard rock, an ego-driven nod to world music in all its variegated unfolding, and even as Zep dressed their song in the North African and eastern themes that captured their imaginations as strongly as the Mississippi Delta or the Welsh hills had, there was never any doubt that this music was completely theirs, and that it was nobly and spiritedly done.
Here is “Kashmir” from Celebration Day, the concert Zeppelin gave in 2007 in honor of Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic Records founder. It may be their greatest live moment, even minus their legendary drummer, as the band (with Bonham’s son Jason ably thundering), healthy and aged and all in, describe why they were worth listening to in the first place, and why, really, they were never just a hammer of the blues, but indeed a hammer of the gods.
soundstreamsunday presents one song or live set by an artist each week, and in theory wants to be an infinite linear mix tape where the songs relate and progress as a whole. For the complete playlist, go here: soundstreamsunday archive and playlist, or check related articles by clicking on”soundstreamsunday” in the tags section.
I just found that Colin Tench–Colin Tench Project, Corvus Stone, etc.–has passed away. It looks like he died on December 29. I didn’t know Colin personally, but when we founded progarchy back in the fall of 2012, he was one of the first two or three major musicians to take us seriously. I could not–nor would I–ever forget something like that. When you’re just coming of age, it means everything to know that those you respect are willing to let you play in the playground. And, not just tolerate your presence, but welcome you as an equals.
There are others at progarchy who could speak much better and more eloquently about his music, but it was clear to me that Colin valued his independence, having no time for conformity or uniformity or much of what passes as culture in our tapioca whirligig of a world. He cared, first and foremost, about the art and about those who practiced the art and those who recognized the art for what it was.
I did have the privilege of emailing with Colin several times. I found, even in our brief correspondence, that he was as hilarious as he was humble. One of my favorite moments in being an editor at progarchy came when Colin sent us a review copy of CORVUS STONE II. One look at the cover, and I replied, “Holy Moses, Colin, now I’m going to have to go to Confession!” We both laughed at that over a couple of emails.
I have no idea what Colin’s religious beliefs (if any) were, but I pray that he is happy now, resting in peace eternal, or, perhaps, more given his nature, dancing and performing happily in peace eternal. Earth’s loss is, to be sure, Heaven’s gain.
RIP, Colin. You clearly did everything to use the outrageous gifts God gave you, not for yourself, but for the good of creation itself. No one can do more in this fallen world.
CBC reports that the CD is not dead yet, because records execs are trying to keep whole album sales alive by any means necessary:
CD sales were boosted this year by a trend that saw some concert tickets for big arena shows — including tours by Arcade Fire, Shania Twain and Pink — bundled with a copy of the band or artist’s latest album.
Many concertgoers were offered the choice between a digital download or a CD sent through the mail. Whether those CDs were ever unwrapped is anybody’s guess, but each ticket sale helped rocket those performers to the top of the album charts in their first week of sales.
…
Preliminary numbers from Nielsen Music Canada show that while CD sales fell 18 per cent over the past year, still selling roughly 10 million units, they were relatively strong compared to the more dramatic erosion of digital album sales through stores like iTunes.
Digital album sales tumbled nearly 25 per cent for the year to 6.2 million units, extending what is expected to be a steep downturn as more listeners embrace streaming services.
David Bakula, who oversees Nielsen’s industry insights operations, said the changes in digital habits mean the CD is representing a larger share of the declining album sales market.
He believes that writing the obituary for the CD is premature as labels look to bolster album sales however they can, while older listeners stick to their usual buying habits.
“We’re not seeing this flight from the format,” he added.
…
Walmart also dramatically scaled back its CD selection while fellow retail giant Best Buy recently scrubbed music from its stores entirely.
All of this certainly hasn’t boded well for boosting sales figures, but music historian Alan Cross is confident record labels will follow the dollar.
“If they can’t get people into the store to buy a CD, well then (they’ll) just send the CDs directly to them, whether they want it or not,” he said, pointing to expectations that the success of ticket bundles will only lead to other artists experimenting with the strategy.
“By nature a lot of music fans are collectors and that means they need a physical thing to collect.”
It’s possible an established act like Bruce Springsteen or the Rolling Stones could try to up the ante by pairing scarce concert seats with an exclusive CD box set.
by Rick Krueger
This article rounds out my “best of 2017” series, focusing on older albums that I discovered — or rediscovered in one case! — in the course of the year. They’re listed in alphabetical order by artist after the jump:
‘E’ becomes the most brazenly progressive Enslaved record. Experimental keyboards, abrupt temporal shifts and frequent bursts of aggressive riffs — all reminding us of their Viking metal roots. Basically, art rock to symphonic prog to post-metal atmosphere effortlessly brewed with some inhuman screams. Add the use of flute, a surprising jazz segment and a Norwegian electronic synth-pop cover — Enslaved has never been more firmly rooted in both extreme and avant-garde territory.
Without completely abandoning black metal, they has carefully adopted some unproven experimetal progressiveness. Within these uncharted fields, it’s not surprising that they sometimes lurch between sheer greatness to downright peculiar. But, for long time listeners there is nothing unexpected here. The band continues to walk their chosen path – constructing a curiously rich, polarizing, and at times uneven mosaic of progressive black metal symphonies.
Dark Apostrophe at English Wikipedia [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Here we are again, folks. We find ourselves at the end of another great year for prog. Sadly, we’ve had to say goodbye to some amazing artists this year, including John Wetton, but we at least have their music by which to remember them.
I know I’ve been a bit quiet here at Progarchy lately due to beginning graduate school this fall. Hopefully things settle down going forward, and I’ll be able to contribute more. For now, here are my favorite albums from 2017 in vaguely ascending order.
Progarchy 
