#679: Prog Rock Road Test!

Here at the Back-Up Plan, we decided to take a wide selection of mostly-new-to-me Prog Rock (& some other stuff) out on a Road Test to see how well it all holds up. Here's the 65-song line-up, hold tight on the curves:

Incredible String Band -- First Girl I Loved.
Can -- Mother Sky, She Brings the Rain, Mushroom, One More Night, Outside My Door.
Jethro Tull -- Nothing is Easy, Bouree, A Song for Jeffrey, Beggar's Farm, A Christmas Song, A New Day Yesterday, Living in the Past, Teacher, Life's a Long Song.
Sparks -- Eaten by the Monster of Love, Angst in My Pants.
Genesis -- Counting Out Time, Carpet Crawlers, Firth of Fifth, The Cinema Show, Supper's Ready, The Musical Box, The Knife, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
Barclay James Harvest -- Summer Soldier, One Hundred Thousand Smiles Out.
Yes -- Leave It, It Can Happen, Rhythm of Love, Big Generator, Lift Me Up.
Nektar -- Do You Believe in Magic?, Cast Your Fate, King of Twilight, Oops (Unidentified Flying Abstract), Fidgety Queen, Recycle/Cybernetic Consumption/Recycle Countdown/Automation Horrorscope/Recycling/Flight to Infinity/Unendless Imaginations.
Caravan -- For Richard (live), Memory Lain/Hugh/Headloss.

From WONDROUS STORIES (4-CD "Complete introduction to progressive rock" set):
Comus -- Diana.
Van der Graaf Generator -- Darkness 11/11.
Atomic Rooster -- Devil's Answer.
Sam Gopal -- Season of the Witch.
Colosseum -- Walking in the Park.
Nucleus -- Song for the Bearded Lady.
Dr. Z -- Evil Woman's Manly Child.
Jan Dukes De Grey -- Mice and Rats in the Loft.
Curved Air -- Back Street Luv.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer -- Fanfare for the Common Man, From the Beginning.
Mike Oldfield -- Tubular Bells (single version).
Rare Bird -- Epic Forest.
Camel -- Sasquatch.
Caravan -- Golf Girl.
Gryphon -- Opening Move.
Rush -- A Farewell to Kings.
Jethro Tull -- Pussy Willow.
Emerson, Lake and Powell -- Touch and Go.

"First Girl I Loved" is the ISB's usual charming, tuneless, off-key whimsy, quite adorable & nicely nostalgic. Sounds like a throwaway, as does a lot of their stuff -- but the lyrics are cute & funny & well-observed, & there's a nice acoustic-guitar ... riff, sorta ... during the choruses. Nice soundtrack for letting your car warm-up a little. (From BEST OF 1967-1972.)
Can at their best fired on all cylinders, from Jaki Leibezeit's relentless involving rhythm to Michael Karoli's screeching chainsaw guitar, to Malcolm Mooney or Damo Suzuki's odd chanting vocals. "Mother Sky," "Mushroom" & "Outside My Door" are solid examples of their best work -- "She Brings the Rain" is like a lite-jazz-vocal piece, charmingly breezy & unexpected. If you're a sucker for rhythms, you should test-drive these guys. At their very best ("Father Cannot Yell," "You Doo Right," "Outside My Door," "Uphill") you won't care about the words.... (All from ANTHOLOGY.)
Tull's "Nothing is Easy" is my new themesong for work -- mainly it's about how the stress you expect is always worse than what happens in Real Life, I've got no problem relating to that -- & also about how the best way to chill-out is to listen to More Tull. I'd listen to them more often if they actually had a decent, representative best-of.
Tull at their best is like a well-built, rumbling old jalopy with lots of little statues & doodads glued to the body -- lots of extra not-always-necessary ornamentation on top of the pretty-strong songs. & they're gonna make sure you NOTICE EVERY LITTLE DETAIL. ...& I've been wanting to ask for awhile: Why is "Bouree" considered to be a big deal?
"Christmas Song," "Life's a Long Song," "Teacher," etc., all still sound great, & I'm starting to really like "A New Day Yesterday." But my complaints with their many best-of's remain: Not enough stuff from their later, folkier period -- though I will be checking-out their ACOUSTIC BEST-OF.... (All from 30th ANNIVERSARY BEST-OF.)
Sparks isn't Prog (crap, ARE they?), but I couldn't resist spinning "Eaten by the Monster of Love," a hilarious anti-lovesong that should've sold millions. "Angst in My Pants" isn't as sure-fire (if you've seen REVENGE OF THE NERDS, you've heard part of it), but the lyrics are almost as hilarious & the vocal is a lot more ... edgy. Do YOU have angst in your pants? You KNOW you do.... (From BEST OF.)
Early Genesis, hmmm. I have trouble with Peter Gabriel's voice. On "Carpet Crawlers" he sounds positively creepy. For me, the best of these is "Counting Out Time," because it has hilarious lyrics about good ole sex ... & because Pete sounds JUST LIKE Phil Collins. (Is it really Phil doing one of his rare vocal cameos from this period? Neither Wikipedia nor Amazon could tell me....)
Musically, this stuff is all pretty great -- nice melodic keyboards from Tony Banks, good ghostly guitar from Steve Hackett, the usual solid drumming from Phil. But on a lot of these I'm so much more used to Phil's vocals & the re-arrangements from their 1977 live album SECONDS OUT.
That said, "Supper's Ready" still works OK, & still has that great sense of relief & resolution at the end. "The Knife" is surprisingly dramatic, & has an intense megaphonic Gabriel vocal -- an effect he should have used on "Firth of Fifth." I'm not used to "Cinema Show" without "In the Cage" added-on (as on their 1982 THREE SIDES LIVE). "Firth of Fifth" works better with the piano solo in the middle rather than at the start. Bitchbitchbitch.... (All from PLATINUM COLLECTION.)
I would like to love Barclay James Harvest -- they had the right look. But as displayed on their early best-of THE HARVEST YEARS, under the flashy chassis, something somewhere subtly went wrong. All the connections didn't work. They were top-heavy & sluggish & they wandered all over the road. Early in their career they could've written really nice, charming little pop songs (check out especially "Ursula -- The Swansea Song"), but they chose not to. Maybe they didn't know what they were best at.
"Summer Soldier" is a 10-minute anti-war suite, not as heavy & overblown as the earlier "Dark Now My Sky" or "She Said," but still. "One Hundred Thousand Smiles Out" indicates they were listening to Bowie's "Space Oddity." They got better later, thank Ghod....
I find the early-'80s streamlined, revitalized Yes pretty invigorating -- just enough Steve Howe guitar & Trevor Rabin vocals to keep me listening. "Lift Me Up" is not-quite-classic, "Leave It" & "It Can Happen" should be on any Yes best-of, & even "Big Generator" has its attractions after you get past the opening. If "Changes" were here, they'd have the period covered. (From DEFINITIVE COLLECTION.)
Nektar at their best is pretty great driving music -- they just make you wanna go FASTER. "Fidgety Queen" & "Do You Believe in Magic?" are great forgotten rockers; so is "King of Twilight," but in this mix it's much too trebly -- there's no bass at all. "Cast Your Fate" is OK, & "Oops" is a kind-of jam. The RECYCLED suite features lotsa keyboards & strings & choirs -- I'll need more listenings. (All from THE DREAM NEBULA best-of.)
Caravan at their rockin' best also make you wanna push the gas pedal down -- "For Richard" starts off quiet, but the pushy, swinging, ongoing band&full-orchestra riff that fills up the last 9 minutes is freakin' great. "Memory Lain" continues in the same vein. (From the CANTERBURY TALES best-of.)

WONDROUS STORIES is Universal Music Group's 2010 4-disc attempt to fit the history of progressive rock into a box. I've only heard about half of it so far, but can report that it's at least more extensive & more pleasing than Rhino's kinda thin, kinda disappointing SUPERNATURAL FAIRY TALES box issued a few years back.
Both these boxes have licensing problems -- no Pink Floyd, no King Crimson, no Genesis, no Soft Machine, weak choices from bands you've heard of, really BAD selections from bands you've NEVER heard of, etc.
But WONDROUS STORIES avoids SOME of that -- while some obvious prog milestones are included ("Roundabout," "Aqualung," "From the Beginning," "Tubular Bells," etc.), there are also some overlooked acts that deserved more time in the spotlight. Hey, GRYPHON is in here! With "Opening Move," as good an introduction as any....
Unfortunately, what WS mostly shows in its early stages is what a bad idea Prog seemed to be at first. A lot of this early stuff swerves right off the road & ends up crashing somewhere off in the weeds....
The set opens with Sam Gopal's self-consciously jazzy & fairly hideous "Season of the Witch" -- why didn't they just use Donovan's original? It would've fit right in & it still sounds great....
Then they get The Horn Bands out of the way -- Colosseum's "Walking in the Park" is OK except for the vocal; Dick Heckstall-Smith's sax sounds great, he should've had more room to play. Nucleus's "Bearded Lady" is breezy enough, good trumpet from Ian Carr & some nice acrid keybs -- decent jazz-rock, too rocky to be jazz.
Comus's "Diana" is warped folk -- sounds like trolls & witches singing in a wood, with some truly demented violin & drums. Not as violent or extreme as I'd expected from their reputation, sorta like the ISB on acid.
Van der Graaf's "Darkness" is their usual High Gothic Drama -- excellent sax from David Jackson & good doomy organ from Hugh Banton -- but WHAT is Peter Hammill ON about?
Then it's mostly downhill for a bit. Dr. Z's "Evil Woman's Manly Child" is heavy, man. Atomic Rooster's "Devil's Answer" is "eh." Jan Dukes De Grey's "Mice and Rats in the Loft" is some kinda Aztec-human-sacrifice drama with declaiming semi-operatic vocals; the best thing here is the underplayed sax, squoze-over & lost in the right-hand lane. None of these are exactly what you'd call Lost Classics.
After this, it's a pleasure to return to stuff I know: ELP's "Fanfare" & "From the Beginning" still sound great; "Fanfare" absolutely rocks, especially the part near the end where it sounds like Keith Emerson is stomping all over the keyboards, like they're about to collapse ... & then they return to the piece's triumphant main theme -- a classic moment. The single version of "Tubular Bells" still sounds like the best possible version of that piece.
Rare Bird's "Epic Forest" is a great lost prog classic, well worth enshrining here -- the album it's from (1972's EPIC FOREST) is in a Goodwill store near you & features exactly one more forgotten classic, "Birdman." Well worth 99 cents.
Camel's "Sasquatch" is as good an intro to that band as any; nice guitar from Andy Latimer. Caravan's "Golf Girl" is light & cute & funny, but not real representative; I would've picked "Memory Lain" or "All the Way," "Surprise, Surprise," "Be All Right," "Place of My Own," "Can You Hear Me?".... Gryphon's "Opening Move" captures them in all their renaissance-style mastery, with a little bit of their recorder-based wind-up-toy-band sound thrown-in. Timeless.
Rush's "A Farewell to Kings" didn't grab me except for the delicate acoustic-guitar work & Geddy Lee's helium vocal. "Pussy Willow" seemed like a no-big-deal instrumental. "Touch and Go" sounds suspiciously like Asia....
I'll be listening to more of this -- plus there's a whole disc of "neo-prog" & later stuff that I haven't even touched yet....
...Re-loading again soon....

#672: I'm all about Value

Prices for books & music -- I Don't Get them.
Because I'm a low-budget guy, I'm constantly looking to expand my musical & reading horizons on the cheap. & I can't TELL you how much GREAT stuff I've found at (this is not a commercial) Amazon.com for A PENNY plus shipping. You probably wouldn't believe me anyway.
The abundance of this Cheap Stuff convinces me that Billy Joel was right when he sang in "The Entertainer" that "If I go cold I won't get sold, I'll get put in the back in the discount rack, like another can of beans." When it comes to music & books, goodness & price have nothing to do with each other. You know how many 5-star books & CD's you can now get for a penny? More than you'll EVER read or listen to....
Of course your mileage may vary, but the more expensive stuff often makes no sense to me, the massive amount of money people ask for stuff & expect that Some Fanatic Out There will pay. I'm not that fanatic.
For instance:
David Sancious and Tone's 1976 jazz-rock/prog classic TRANSFORMATION: THE SPEED OF LOVE. Excellent album in places, with cosmic musical themes & synthesizer riffs that are GUARANTEED to mess up your body-rhythms -- plus one gorgeous solo piano piece. Got my vinyl copy back in 1979 for $5.99. Awhile back someone was selling a used copy on Amazon & asking $250! Yes, this album will Change Your Life -- but not THAT much.
SOME sanity has obviously dawned on sellers out there: You can now buy a used vinyl copy of TRANSFORMATION for a totally reasonable $4. But if you want it on CD, the price starts at $80. No.
But that's just the start of the insanity. Sancious' previous album, the not-as-startling or life-changing FOREST OF FEELINGS, is available on vinyl for a fairly reasonable $8. But if you want the CD, it's gonna cost you $455. & it ain't worth it, folks.
More weirdness? Sancious' follow-up to TRANSFORMATION, 1979's disappointingly average jazz-rock-pop TRUE STORIES, is $516.80 for the CD. THAT'S INSANE. I got my copy 4 $5 a couple years ago & was disappointed with it THEN. The released version of the album was messed-with by Arista Records, who pleaded with Sancious to come up with something reasonably commercial rather than the four 9-to-15-minute instrumental suites he'd originally planned. If I could hear the album he'd ORIGINALLY intended, I MIGHT pay $500 4 THAT....
(By the way, if you'd be willing to buy a copy of TRUE STORIES for $500, PLEASE drop me your e-mail address or phone number in the comments below. I've probably got some other high-priced stuff around the house you might like as well....)
Another example: Cromagnon's 1969 brain-damage "classic" CAVE ROCK. My blogging buddy Crabby sent me a copy of this last year when I was musically bored, & it shocked & disturbed me to the point that I'll never play it again. But a few months ago, folks were asking $50 for the CD. You can have MINE for $50 right now!
Here again, some sanity has prevailed: Currently you can get a copy of CAVE ROCK for $5. But if you want it on vinyl, it's gonna cost you $26. Ghod knows why you would want it at ALL, but again, if you're interested, drop me a note below, etc.
I understand Rareness. I'm OK with that. If sellers want to ask from $190 to $400 for a copy of Dan Matovina's WITHOUT YOU: THE TRAGIC STORY OF BADFINGER, there's nothing I can do. I know the story, but I'd love to learn more, & reviews indicate Matovina got all the ugly legal (& other) details down brilliantly & with a lot of sensitivity. Copies of the book also come with a CD of music, outtakes, interviews, etc. I'd love to read/hear it. But not for $190....
Ken Sharp's OVERNIGHT SENSATION: THE STORY OF THE RASPBERRIES used to be pretty high-priced, too. Now it's a mere $40. & there's not even any gut-wrenching tragedies in that story.
Ten-plus years ago, when I was a lot stupider about this Internet ordering stuff than I am now, I once paid $140 for an original Warner Books paperback copy of Jack Ketchum's horror novel THE GIRL NEXT DOOR -- supposedly The Ultimate Horror Novel, & very rare at the time. (Verdict: Four stars, but it won't Change Your Life.)
& of course, Ghod got me back, because 3 or 4 years later, Leisure Books reissued the novel for $3.95. & it's gone through a couple more printings since then. Lots of Ketchum's books tend to grab high used prices because they appeared only briefly as paperback originals. Out on bookstore shelves & newsstands for a month & then Gone Forever....
Not so long ago, I paid $95 for a copy of Sid Smith's excellent IN THE COURT OF KING CRIMSON, & I was more than satisfied with it. I think it's the best, most detailed book we'll get about that band until Rockin' Bobby Fripp writes his memoirs. Prices for it have gotten a little better -- you can now score a used copy for $59. But a new, updated version is reportedly Coming Soon....
Again, I understand Rareness & how that might boost prices. Grobschnitt's Krautrock classic ROCKPOMMEL'S LAND -- which features one charming 3-minute popsong called "Anywhere" & a 20-minute title track, & which I've been looking for another copy of since 1978 -- is now available on vinyl for a mere $26. But if you want the CD you're gonna have to pay $90 to $117. Why?
Deep-voiced & whimsical British prog-rocker Kevin Ayers' rare import-only outtakes collection ODD DITTIES will run you $40 on vinyl, but from $18 to $103 on CD. But he also has a best-of with most of the ODD DITTIES songs you Need To Hear -- & it's only $3.
A copy of John Coltrane's ASCENSION on vinyl is $120. I saw a copy awhile back in a used record store for $75. But you can still get GIANT STEPS and A LOVE SUPREME for less than $5 on CD. & they're worth it.
Gentle Giant's rare imported GIANT STEPS best-of -- featuring a couple songs you can hardly find anywhere else -- is $13 to $26 on CD, $15 to $52 on vinyl. The Giant's equally rare & import-only PRETENSIOUS best-of -- a better selection -- is $45 on vinyl.
Probably none of this stuff will ever make sense to me. The seller's motto is Whatever The Traffic Will Bear. I still Don't Get why people (and Capitol/EMI) ask such outrageous prices for Beatles albums that have never gone out of print....
But tonight while browsing for outrageous prices I found a vinyl copy of Space Art's A TRIP IN THE CENTER HEAD -- the best, most memorable synthesizer album I've ever heard, & I haven't heard a note of it since 1982 -- for only $9.98, & I am gonna GRAB that sucker.
Happy hunting....