Tag: Great Moments in Prog

The Big Big Tangent

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music6 Comments

Subtitle: “Or, How Plato Made Me Realize We Need to Love 2013.  And, If We Don’t, Why We’re Idiots.”

A week or so ago, I had the opportunity to list my top 9 of 11 albums of the past 11 months.  Several other progarchists have as well, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed looking at their lists as well as reading the reasons why the lists are what they are.  I really, really like the other progarchists.  And, of course, I’d be a fool not to.  Amazing writers and thinkers and critics, all.

Another page from the booklet. Courtesy of the band and the artist, Matt Sefton.
From the 96-page BBTFP booklet. Courtesy of the band and the artist, Matt Sefton.

I’ve been a bit surprised, frankly, that there hasn’t been more overlap in the lists.  I don’t mean this in the sense that I expect conformity.  Far from it.  We took the name progarchists—complete with the angry and brazen red anarchy sign in the middle—for a reason.  We’re a free community—free speech, free minds, free citizenship, and free souls.  We have no NSA, CIA, or IRS.  Nor would we ever want any of these.  And, we’ve really no formal rules.  We just want to write as well as we can about what we love as much as we love.  Any contributor to progarchy is free to post as often or as infrequently as so desired, and the same is true with the length of each post.

I, as well as many others, regard 2013 as the best year of prog in a very, very long time, perhaps the best year ever.  I know that some (well, one in particular—a novelist, an Englishman, and a software developer/code guy; but why name names!) might think this is hyperbole.  But, having listened to prog and music associated with prog for almost four decades of my four and one-half decades of life, I think I might be entitled to a little meta-ness.  And, maybe to a bit of hyperbole.  But, no, I actually believe it.  This has been the best year in the history of prog.  This doesn’t mean that 2012 wasn’t astounding or that 1972 was less astounding than it actually was.  Being a historian and somewhat taken with the idea of tradition, continuity, and change, I can’t but help recognize that the greatness of 2013 could never have existed without the greatness of, say, 1972, 1973, 1988, or 1994.

In my previous posts regarding 2013, I thanked a number of folks, praised a number of folks, and listed some amazing, astounding, music—all of which, I’m sure I will continue to listen to for year to come, the good Lord willing.  And, I’m sure in five years, a release such as Desolation Rose might take on new meaning.  Perhaps it will be the end of an era for Swedish prog or, even, the beginning of an era for the Flower Kings.  Time will tell.

So, what a blessing it has been to listen to such fine music.  My nine of 11 included, in no order, Cosmograf, The Flower Kings, Ayreon, Leah, Kingbathmat, The Fierce and the Dead, Fractal Mirror, Days Between Stations, and Nosound.

The cover of the new Sam Healy solo album, SAND.
The cover of the new Sam Healy solo album, SAND.

And, there’s still so much to think about for 2013.  What about Sam Healy (SAND), Mike Kershaw, Haken, Francisco Rafert, Ollocs,and Sky Architects?  Brilliant overload, and I very much look forward to the immersion that awaits.

No one will be shocked by my final 2 of the 11 that have yet to be mentioned.  If you’ve looked at all at progarchy, you know that I can’t say negative things about either of these bands . . . or of Rush or of Talk Talk.  Granted, I’m smitten.  But, I hope you’ll agree that I’m smitten for some very specific and justified reasons.  That is, please don’t dismiss the following, just because I’ve praised them beyond what any reasonable Stoic with any real self respect would expect.  No restraint with these two, however.  Admittedly.

So, let me make my huge, huge claim.  The following two releases are not just great for 2013, they are all-time great, great for prog, great for rock, great for music.  In his under appreciated book, NOT AS GOOD AS THE BOOK, Andy Tillison offers a very interesting take on the current movement (3rd wave) of progressive rock.

The current, or third wave of new progressive rock bands is as interesting for demographic and social reasons as much as for its music . . . . Suddenly a wave of people in their late thirties began to form progressive rock bands, which in itself is interesting because new bands are formed by younger people. . . .

I’m not sure how much I agree with Andy regarding this.  I’m also not sure I disagree.  I just know that I’ve always judged eras or periods by what releases seem to have best represented those eras.  Highly subjective, highly personal, and highly confessional, I admit.  But, I can’t escape it.  For me, there have been roughly four periods: the period around Close to the Edge and Selling England by the Pound; the period around The Colour of Spring, Spirit of Eden, and Laughing Stock; a little bit longer—or more stretched out—period around Brave, The Light, Space Revolver; and Lex Rex.

Of course, I’ve only listed three.  We’re passing through the fourth as I type this.  Indeed, the fourth is coming from my speakers as I type this.  Over the last year and a half some extraordinary (I’m trying to use this word in its purest sense) things have happened, all in England and around, apparently, some kind of conflicted twins.

When asked about why he participated in latest release from The Tangent, Big Big Train’s singer, David Longdon, replied:

Amusingly, [Tillison] has said that The Tangent is Big Big Train’s evil twin.

In this annus mirabilis, does this mean we have to choose the good and the evil?  Plato (sorry; I’m not trying to be pretentious, but I did just finish my 15th year of teaching western civilization to first-year college students.  And, I like Plato.) helped define the virtue of prudence: the ability to discern good from evil.

Well, thank the Celestial King of the Platonic Realm of the Eternal Good, True, and Beautiful, we get both, and we don’t have to feel guilty or go to Confession.

Progarchy Best All-Around Progger, 2013, Brit: Sally Collyer.
Progarchy Best All-Around Progger, 2013, Brit: Sally Collyer.

Aside from being the Cain and Abel of prog, The Tangent and Big Big Train offer the overall music world three vital things and always in abundance of quality.

First, each group is smart, intelligent, and insightful.  Neither group panders.  The music is fresh, the lyrics insightful—every aspect is full of mystery and awe.  The listener comes away dazzled, intrigued, curious, and satisfied, all at the same time.

Second, each group strives for excellence in every aspect of the release—from the writing, to the performing, to the engineering, to the mastering, to the packaging.  And, equally important, to interaction with fans.  Who doesn’t expect an encouraging word and some interesting insight on art, history, and politics—always with integrity—from either band?

MARTIN STEPHEN COVER PICAs maybe point 2.5 or, at least, the culmination of the first two points, each band has the confidence to embrace the label of prog and to embrace the inheritance it entails without being encumbered by it.

In Big Big Train’s English Electric Full Power, there are hints of Genesis and, equally, hints of The Colour of Spring and Spirit of Eden.  But, of course, in the end, it’s always Greg, Andy, David, Dave, Danny, Nick, and Rob.

In The Tangent’s Le Sacre du Travail, there are obvious references as well as hints to Moving Pictures, The Sound of Music, and The Final Cut.  But, of course, in the end, it’s always mostly Andy.

Big Big Train's justly deserve award, "Breakthrough Artist of 2013," by Jerry Ewing and the readers of PROG.
Big Big Train’s justly deserve award, “Breakthrough Artist of 2013,” by Jerry Ewing and the readers of PROG.

Regardless, each gives us what David Elliott masterfully calls “Bloody Prog™” and does so without hesitation.  Indeed, each offers it without embarrassment or diversion, but with solidity of soul and mind.

Finally, but intimately related to the first two, each band releases things not with the expectation of conformity or uniformity or propaganda, but with full-blown art.  Each band loves the art for the sake of the art, while never failing to recognize that art must have a context and an audience.  Not to pander to, of course, but to meet, to leaven.

Life is simply too short not to praise where praise is due.  Life is too short to ignore the beauty in front of us.  And, no matter how dreary this world of insanities, of blood thirsty ideologies, of vague nihilisms, and of corporate cronyism, let us—with Plato—love what we ought to love.

The Tangent and Big Big Train have given us art not just for the immediate consumption of it, or for the year, 2013,—but for a generation and, if so worthy, for several generations, perhaps uncounted because uncountable.

 

[Ed. note–if there are any typos in this post, I apologize.  I’ve been grading finals, and I’ve been holding my two-year old daughter on my lap.  She’s a bit more into Barney than Tillison or Spawton at this point.]

Tarzan: Son of Man, Son of Prog

On By Julie BIn ProgarchyLeave a comment

I was raised listening to the 3 M’s: Motown, Musicals and Mozart. My knowledge of singers, let alone songwriters, was limited to The Temptations, Dionne Warwick, and Rogers and Hammerstein. My mother likes the story of driving me and a neighboring girl to pre-school one day, and the little girl told us that she loved Michael Jackson. “Oh, me too!” I said. “And what is your favorite Michael Jackson song?” asked my mother. “Thriller,” said the girl. “Oh What A Beautiful Morning!” replied I.

Fast forward to 1999: my oldest friend’s birthday was approaching in late June. We decided to see Tarzan, the Disney film released that summer. Perhaps you’ve never seen it; it’s a good movie, though I have serious doubts that Edgar Rice Burroughs would have ever penned a gorilla character that sounds like Rosie O’Donnell. This was also my first encounter with anything prog music related.

At age 11, “progressive rock” was not in my vocabulary or musical repertoire. Genesis was the first book of the Bible. And yet, Phil Collins filled my ears. He wrote the entire soundtrack of Tarzan, you see. He sang his own songs, instead of the animated characters filling in the key notes. It was mesmerizing, playful, and flowed like chocolate over strawberries: it was utterly delicious to listen to, and I sat in that dark theater and occasionally closed my eyes, if only to make the song’s notes linger.

A few years down the road, in high school, my musical tastes included The Band, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Coldplay, Bob Dylan, Queen, Pink Floyd, Johnny Cash and plenty of pop music. I passively listened to Phil Collins  because my Studio Art I, II and III teacher played him during class. I had yet to connect the reasons of why I love certain types of music, but that would surface in college.

In rural Michigan, thanks to Pandora Radio and its music shuffle, I  formally met progressive rock (in the form of RUSH) over my abundance of reading requirements. After a few songs, I became smitten. I would spend hours plugged into the music, getting to know these new friends. Prog rock’s lyrics have substance; prog rock’s instrumental prowess are unmatched; prog rock kept my attention through paper writing, research and editing the independent paper I co-ran on campus.

But back to Phil Collins and Tarzan. Tarzan, the story of the man raised by gorillas who eventually comes into contact with other humans like himself and such, human nature. Collins’ song “You’ll Be In My Heart” won an Oscar, and deservedly so, but that song is far from my favorite.

In third place, “Two Worlds”:

The song parallels two families (human and gorilla) growing in their environments who both face tragedy.

Collins: “Raise your head up/ Lift high the load/ Take strength from those that need you/ Build high the walls/ Build strong the beams/ A new life is waiting/ But danger’s no stranger here.”

In second place, “Strangers Like Me”:

(And for good measure, here is the radio version video that has Phil Collins in it.)

This is the song that explores the relationship between Tarzan and Jane, his love interest and fellow human. Less subtly, however, the film shows how the three explorers give Tarzan his first education by showing him slides of city life and the solar system, watching the stars through a telescope, teaching him to read and how to ride a bicycle. But it is Tarzan who has something bigger to teach them about being human: family ties, loyalty, protecting one’s community.

Collins: “I wanna know, can you show me/ I wanna know about these strangers like me/ Tell me more, please show me/ Something’s familiar about these strangers like me // Come with me now to see my world/ Where there’s beauty beyond your dreams/ Can you feel the things I feel/ Right now, with you/ Take my hand/ There’s a world I need to know.”

Finally, in first place, “Son of Man”:

This is one shows Tarzan’s childhood, and the challenges he encounters which shapes his person and his character. His father figure rejects him, his gorilla mother and cousin teach, help and love him, he’s forced to learn his limitations while pushing his abilities, all the while surviving in the jungle. This song reminds me of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If…”:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

Collins: “Oh, the power to be strong/ And the wisdom to be wise/ All these things will/ Come to you in time/ On this journey that you’re making/ There’ll be answers that you’ll seek/ And it’s you who’ll climb the mountain/ It’s you who’ll reach the peak.”

There is much to be said for the Tarzan soundtrack. Because of it, Phil Collins was inducted as a Disney Insider’s Legends in 2002. This may seem like a silly award, but I find it touching. In an interview with People magazine in 1999, Collins said, “We’ve broken some molds. The fact that I’m singing and the characters don’t burst into song makes it (the film) very different.”

The molds he broke were more than him singing: he introduced progressive rock into the mainstream culture via a children’s animated film, and won an Oscar as a result. He also translated the Tarzan album into German, Italian, French, and two dialects of Spanish (Latin American and Castilian), according to the Disney website – “an unprecedented feat by a musical artist for a motion picture.”

May there be many more recordings! Keep spreading the prog love, Phil.

Great Moments in Prog — Part 3

On By Time LordIn Progarchy1 Comment

 

Temple blocks! Cowbells! OK, citizens, let’s go exit stage left (see video below), for “The Trees”… where things really get interesting at 1:46; the tension starts to build at 2:24; and — whoa! — now, here we go at 2:52! Alex’s amazingly effective solo starts at 3:08. And then, one of my favorite “great moments in prog” happens from 3:25 to 3:54.

The rest of the song is appropriate election commentary.

Peart fans: check out the drum part analysis starting on p.43 of Neil Peart: Taking Center Stage – A Lifetime of Live Performance Book. And this book has all the info you need in order to build your own replica of the drum kit used in the song!

Great Moments in Prog — Part 2

On By Time LordIn Progarchy1 Comment

Steve Hackett’s latest has me thinking again of great moments in prog. I will always remember the time when, gathered around the record player with some buddies, sitting on the floor in a friend’s bedroom, we first listened to a vinyl copy of Selling England By the Pound. Hackett’s new double-disc celebration of great moments from Genesis reproduces for me a couple of those moments of elation when the magic happens. Take, for example, “Dancing with the Moonlit Knight”. For me the truly great moment (in the original recording) is at 3:18 as the guitar gloriously sings out, right after the thrilling build-up starting at 2:57. By the way, I have always found annoying everything after 4:57 in this song, because it seems inorganic and tacked-on. But that still doesn’t take away from the magic moment, where Eddie Van Halen and the rest of us are shown the way into the dimension of transcendence. So, I am pleased to find that the magic is still there on Genesis Revisited II (build-up at 3:13; break-out at 3:34). See also the clip below (build-up at 3:25; break-out at 3:47).

Great Moments in Prog — Part 1

On By Time LordIn Progarchy6 Comments

What was your great moment, when you first “stepped out” (Latin: progressus) and went forth, advancing into prog?

Can you recall those great moments when you proceeded to access prog’s transcendent “worlds within worlds”… to go wheeling through the galaxies of “genres within genres”?

I’ll never forget the first time I heard “Xanadu”, especially when it all came together with Alex’s outro solo…

Nota bene: That solo kicks in below at 8:20.