The Rise And Fall Of “Progressive Rock”

A scholarly essay by James Buckley (ex inmate of Stretford Grammar School)

These are the introductory notes to an imaginary 80 minute compilation CD which I recently thought up. Of course, I wouldn't dream of actually making a copy, because that would infringe copyright laws!

My definition of Prog, or more properly “Progressive rock”, is quite simple. It is quasi intellectual, highly arranged and virtuoso riff based hard rock music that generally can’t be danced to, and isn’t about falling in love, rebelling, dancing or partying. Most importantly, it isn’t – ever – chart music: perish the thought!! Other people say that it is Grammar School music for people who mistakenly or otherwise, feel that they are a little bit cleverer than everyone else. This is nonsense of course, but in the mid seventies, just before the punk explosion, this was the type of music that you had to like to be cool: at least at was in my school.   

Prog evolves directly from The Beatles’ classic groundbreaking album “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in 1967. Up until then, pop music was meant to be pretty much pleasant sounding background music, in one ear out the other, not to be taken seriously at all, Cliff Richard probably epitomising this best. With “Sergeant Pepper” the Beatles not only invented the concept album, but they introduced the completely novel idea of pop music that was intended to be taken seriously and regarded as a work of art. This was the mantle that the Progressive rock pioneers soon took up as a crusade.

The Beatles themselves didn’t progress very much further down the Prog route. They were first and foremost a pop group, albeit one that changed the world, but “rock” music wasn’t really their cup of tea. However the seeds that they planted started to take root and soon came to blossom. During the late sixties, proper “rock” music started to appear : Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Led Zeppelin, to name a few, but they weren’t “Prog” by today’s definition, and it was the combination of art rock, instrumental expertise, deep “intellectual” lyrics and above all the “concept album” that got the Prog band wagon rolling.

The first proper Prog record by common consent is “In The Court Of The Crimson King” by King Crimson, from 1969. There were plenty of groups tinkering around on the edges, such as Jethro Tull, but this is the one that really started things going.  This is an esoteric album in the extreme, with its combination of jazz, classical, long tracks, virtuoso musicianship, weird arrangements and even weirder lyrics. Many people regard it as unlistenable, and to a certain extent I agree: I have included the famous track “21^st Century Schizoid Man” on this alum, but only for its historical value, it isn’t one of my personal favourites. What this album did was to set the English rock music fraternity alight, suddenly anyone who was anybody was releasing pseudo intellectual albums based on fanciful concepts, full of wizardly keyboard and guitar playing, with ten or twenty minute tracks arranged like Beethoven symphonies and full of lyrics that were deep and meaningful and supposed to be akin to poetry.

What is a “concept” album then? The whole idea is pretty central to Prog, as every group on here has produced more than one, and in the Prog heyday of the seventies, it was de-rigeur. A concept album is simply a group of songs based on an idea. “Sergeant Pepper” was just a group of songs linked by an introductory and a closing track, it was meant to be a mythical group on tour, a substitute for the Beatles having decided to stop touring. It wasn’t really a concept album in the terms of what they were to become, but it set the ball rolling. The best example of a concept album is “Dark Side of The Moon” by Pink Floyd, which is a group of songs joined together musically, and lyrically by having a common theme of being about things that drive you mad.

Of course, it was all claptrap and shouldn’t have been taken too seriously. In 1972 Jethro Tull released a concept album called “Thick As A Brick”, which contained one –yes ONE – track, timed at 44 minutes, with lyrics which were totally impenetrable. It was all completely tongue in cheek, a mickey take at the whole Prog rock scene, but people fell for it, it was taken seriously, sold enormous numbers and is an all time classic.

Sadly, it encouraged people the wrong way – in 1973, Yes released “Tales From Topographic Oceans” which was one track spread over a double album, divided into four twenty minute “movements”. Although it sold well, this was an awfully overblown, po-faced and flatulent record, and was the prime reason for the birth of punk in 1976. Quite simply, this was not the type of music that young lads from council estates could identify with at all: they wanted a return to accessible two minute rock and roll songs about love, sex, and defying your parents. Much as us Grammar School boys might have liked the supposed intellectual high ground, Prog had long since lost the ability to communicate on such a street level.

Prog never died, but after “Topographic Oceans” it couldn’t really be taken seriously any more, and the Sex Pistols soon made it seriously uncool to be associated with it in any way. Being in the fifth form by then, it was too late for me to feel like that, but Prog was gone for ever as a mass market youth interest by 1977. Much brilliant stuff was yet to be produced of course, but on the whole it was done by either well established groups (Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Yes), by new groups who appealed to a very clearly defined niche audience (Marillion, or later, Radiohead) or by groups who operated totally outside the English environment (Rush).  Other established groups either went mainstream and sold out to pop (Genesis), or simply ceased to exist (Emerson, Lake and Palmer). On the other hand, some well established groups from other genres gradually became more and more “proggy” (Iron Maiden).

As to why should anyone care? Well, it just couldn’t possibly have all been bad, could it!! Prog rock groups have sold untold millions of records, they can still sell out huge concerts today and it has influenced whole generations of music fans – don’t forget that in 1977 , like it or not, the biggest selling act was far and away Pink Floyd, not the Sex Pistols. And last but not least, although it certainly had its excesses, at its best, Prog rock was bloody good music, as I hope this CD will demonstrate.

The Tracks:

For reasons of space, I have had to choose quite “short” tracks. This means that certain classics like Jethro Tull’s 44 minute long track “Thick As A Brick” have had to be omitted. The Emerson Lake and Palmer track is a bastardized single version of a classic 9 minute plus track, and the Rush track is an extract from a longer 20 minute “suite”, made possible only by its appearance on a live album. On the whole though, I feel that this selection gives a good enough overall perspective.

(NB *** indicates that the track is one of my official all time top ten favourites)

1. “Karma Police” - Radiohead (1996)

Many people would be aghast that I think that this is Prog, but like it or not, I think it is. Despite being a favourite of the trendy Guardian reader type of person, this is modern, 1990s style Prog. It comes from a concept album, contains intricate arrangements and lyrics, and has deep, but disguised social commentary. It isn’t about falling in love or dancing, and above all else, it sounds exactly like Pink Floyd!

2. “House Of The King” – Focus (1971)

This one, along with track number (5) and (14) is something of a “filler”. It is not a track, or a group, which is in any way essential to the history or understanding of Prog, but with its flute and guitar solos and decidedly pastoral and medieval feel, it is very much in line with the somewhat “elevated” feel of the time. Like track (5) it was chosen as the signature tune to a BBC science programme in the early seventies, which is one reason why Prog Rock has a slightly undeserved reputation as being the special preserve of geeks and boffins. Also, much to my surprise, it is not by Jethro Tull!

3. “Fanfare For The Common Man” – Emerson, Lake And Palmer (1977)

I can’t include classic stuff like  “Tarkus” or “Pictures At An Exhibition” for reasons of length, so here is E.L.P’s most well known track, one that did quite well in the hit parade, I seem to remember.

Following the success of King Crimson (see below), this was the first group to consciously exploit the progressive rock bandwagon. They were one of the first of the so called “super groups”, with supposed world leading musicians on each instrument: Keith Emerson on keyboards, Greg Lake on vocals and bass, and Carl Palmer on drums.

They scored great immediate successes with their grand, symphonic quasi classical and jazz masterworks of inordinate length, but they eventually failed dismally, for one very good reason: they had no guitarist! Because Keith Emerson was so grand and important (the keyboards equivalent of Jimi Hendrix), they couldn’t possibly have a guitarist coming in to overshadow him. This meant that the format of their music soon became incredibly tight and restricted, and when you got a whole side of an  LP record (“Works”) being given over to a “Piano Concerto” with a full orchestra, you just knew that punk had a very valid point and that these bands really were dinosaurs.

4. “We Used To Know” – Jethro Tull (1969) ***

James Bains Grammar School in Poulton le Fylde has produced two former pupils of exceptional world class renown. Mark Ernest Gut is the inventor of the “A-Zs”, a top Revenue and Customs officer, and the nation’s leading railway photographer, not to mention a great canal walker. Of only slightly lesser merit is Ian Anderson: singer, flautist, songwriter and main man of leading progressive rock outfit Jethro Tull.  Tull are quite different from the main run of the mill progressive rock,  specialising as they do in rural, blues and folk inspired rock (rather than classical or jazz) - played very loud.

This track comes from their second album “Stand Up” and is really from just before they became prog in earnest, but it is nevertheless well down the road to “progness”. The song is actually about living in student accommodation and being penniless (something that Mr Gut knows all about…..) but to me it transcends all of that. It is quite simply the best song ever written about looking back nostalgically to days when things were better than they are today. Although I obviously didn’t know this record at the time, it sums up for me everything that was great about the early ‘70s, and when you throw in a flute solo and two searing guitar solos, you can see why it is comfortably one of my all time top ten favourite tracks. I could quite happily put this track on repeat play and listen to it all night: one of these times I might just do so.  

5. “Theme One” – Van Der Graaf Generator (1971)

Not a group I know a lot about, but I intend to do some exploring shortly. I used to have the album “The Least We Can Do Is Talk To Each Other” on vinyl, but I’m not sure what happened to it. I have known this track for many years though, as it used to be a theme tune for a BBC programme. I have just looked it up on Wikipedia and found out that it used to be the closing theme for Radio 1, but more surprising is that it is composed by George Martin, the Beatles producer. Now, I never knew that!

6. “The Lamia” – Genesis (1974) ***

The only known genuine prog rock record in the whole of history to be explicitly about love and sex: but you would never know it from just a cursory listen. The “Lamia” are characters from Greek mythology, basically they are nymphomaniacs who suck out all the energy from you and hang you out to dry. It goes without saying then that this record sums up perfectly to me the whole “honeypot” experience. It is an exceedingly quiet record, but has an intense power and build up and is exceedingly melodic – for all these reasons it is one of my all time favourite top ten tracks.

Genesis themselves are somewhat of a curate’s egg for me. Their stuff with Peter Gabriel and the early Phil Collins stuff is classic prog rock, but it tends to be esoteric and hard to get into, even for me. On the other hand, their later stuff is pure pop, and although there are some pleasant enough tunes, I can take it or leave it.  

7. “Throw Down The Sword” – Wishbone Ash (1972) ***

Wishbone Ash aren’t generally considered a prog rock group, and to be honest, I agree. They are basically a soft rock act who have delved into country and folk and long since abandoned their origins. However, I do think that the structure, instrumentation and lyrics on the two early albums “Pilgrimage” and “Argus” are serious progressive rock efforts, albeit in a softer vein than other groups.

Their claim to fame is that they were the very first group to pioneer the twin lead guitar approach. It is commonplace now, thanks to the likes of Judas Priest, the Scorpions and Iron Maiden, but in the early seventies this was a revelation. This track has haunting, evocative lyrics that sum up a whole philosophy of avoiding conflict whenever possible and making peace. It strangely reminds me of my state of mind whilst going through some recent traumatic events. It also has the most thrilling and uplifting “twin guitar” solo, and for all these reasons it is one of my top ten all time favourite tracks.

8. “Comfortably Numb” – Pink Floyd (1979) ***

Pink Floyd are one of the founders of progressive rock, but they were around long before King Crimson and were part of the psychedelic scene in 1967, and many people would actually question whether they are prog at all. Fair enough, their early stuff isn’t really prog, but no-one can deny that “Dark Side Of The Moon” is surely the biggest and most influential concept album of all time. You only have to listen to their stuff from Dark Side onwards to realise the enormous effect they have had on prog: from Marillion to Radiohead, and even non prog stuff like Oasis owes an enormous debt to them. I always think that it is ironic that they are the main group that the punks aimed their ire at, yet they are the one prog group that dealt with hard faced political and social issues and as such were in line with many of the punks feelings and philosophies!

This track is from “The Wall”, which is an even bigger, more bloated and self indulgent  concept album than “Dark Side”. The lyrics on their own don’t make a great deal of sense outside the album, but what makes the track one of my all time favourite top ten is the fabulous guitar solo from Dave Gilmour that finishes it off. I think it is the most orgasmic guitar solo of all time, and I could sit listening to it all night.

9. “Freefall” – Camel (1974)

Camel are a new group to me. I had heard of them years ago, but in the days when I had no money, there was never enough spare cash to lash out on an album by one of the relative “lesser lights”. In this new age of downloading, it is now a fairly simple matter to try out a few tracks before splashing out on an album, and I tried a few Camel tracks a few weeks ago and I liked them a lot; hence my purchase of the “Mirage” album. I like it, and more will follow. Camel are apparently part of the “Canterbury Scene”, something I intend to explore later in the summer when I am down there for some cricket!! I have to say that there is a track on the album (“Nimrodel”etc) which is based on “The Lord Of The Rings” – I find such laziness to be the last resort of the incompetent scoundrel and part of what brought prog to eventual disdain, but I can forgive crass lyrics when the music is good as this.

10. “Going For The One” – Yes (1977)

Along with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes were the masters of symphonic, classical music influenced Prog Rock, and more than most others, they specialized in the complex ten or twenty minute long track.

They were also world renowned for being masters of the totally impenetrable lyric. I don’t believe that anyone ever knew anything about what a Yes track actually meant, until this one came out. It is about the pressures of trying to succeed in sport – although I don’t know why they were so bothered!  It is very difficult to find a shorter track that sums up their style. This one is just about the most appropriate – it comes from the time when they were shocked into making a response to punk, hence the shortness of the track and the understandable lyrics.

“Owner Of A Lonely Heart” is a much better known track of course, but that has already been included on a Gutty Album, and being a big chart hit and being about love and sex, it is most definitely NOT suitable for inclusion on a Prog Rock album!

Indeed, Jon Anderson is in another world – when I saw them in concert a few years ago, he said “Burnley would win the FA Cup within ten years!”

11. “Chelsea Monday” – Marillion (1983)

No, it’s not about Jose Mourinho!!

This particular track was a particular favourite of mine whilst I lived in London from 1986 –89, because it’s about a prostitute living a lonely life amongst all the glitter and dazzle of London, who eventually disappears without anyone noticing. Needless to say, that’s pretty much how I felt about my own life at the time. The album from which it comes, “Script For A Jester’s Tear” is one of my all time favourites, and to my mind, without doubt the best album of the 1980’s. Whilst other people were enthusing over the likes of Duran Duran and Wham!, this is to me what the proper music of the era sounded like. Marillion were widely slated for being a rip off of early Genesis, but to me, apart from a vocal similarity between Fish and Peter Gabriel, they are worlds apart. This is definitely music for the brave new Thatcherite 1980’s, full of social comment and urgency, not bloated and drugged up.

Incidentally, Marillion also did the famous pop single “Kayleigh”, which is included on no less than two Gutty albums, but despite it’s commercial success, it comes from one of the major progressive rock “concept albums” of the era: “Misplaced Childhood”.

12. “21st Century Schizoid Man” – King Crimson (1969)

Well, here we are with a track from the album that started the whole progressive rock tradition. This track is for prog what “Anarchy In The UK” is for  punk. Rather sadly I think it is a massively over egged and self important record and I have only included it here for historical completeness.

Two points of anorak interest. Firstly, the singer on this track is Greg Lake, who subsequently deserted to form Emerson Lake and Palmer. Secondly, of much more import is the fact that King Crimson guitarist, founder and main man Robert Fripp is married to Gutty favourite Toyah Wilcox.

13. “The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg” – Iron Maiden (2006)

Just to show that Prog is still alive and well in the 21^st century. Many people would dispute this as being Prog, on the basis of it being heavy metal, but I have to disagree.  Iron Maiden are of course the leading lights of a totally different musical movement stemming from 1979/80, the grandly named “New Wave of British Heavy Metal”, which was the first response of proper music to punk. They are without doubt a heavy metal band through and through, but they have always had pseudo intellectual leanings and their records have become longer, more intricate and altogether more “proggy” over the years.

This track comes from their latest album “A Matter Of Life and Death”, which is a huge, high falutin’ concept album on a deep and meaningful subject, and is full of intricate time changes and arrangements. It could easily have been a Yes or Jethro Tull track, but Iron Maiden play it in a heavy metal style. This is the one track on the album that could be “danced” to, and indeed it does bring to mind a certain rock chick acquaintance of mine. It has a particularly vicious and effective riff, and I really like some of the lyrics, such as “someone to save me from myself” which rings an emotional bell with me.

14.  “Sylvia” – Focus (1972)

Like its counterpart, track (2), this is a “filler” track, and the only time (due largely to brevity) that I have allowed a second track by the same group onto the album. Focus were a Dutch group, and this was their most famous track, making it – horror of horrors – to the upper echelons of the hit parade. It has even been seen on “Top Of The Pops 2” alongside the usual eighties pap. It just goes to show that for every rule there is an exception.

15. “Soliloquy/ Grand Finale From 2112” – Rush (1976, live version 1996) ***

Rush are the very first group that I got seriously into once I had listened to most of the Beatles stuff. I bought my first Rush album when I was 14, and their latest album “Snakes And Arrows” came out a few weeks ago and is presently being avidly listened to.

With the exception of the relatively trivial contribution made by the Dutch group, Focus, Rush are the only major non English group in the history of progressive rock. They are of course from Canada. It isn’t any surprise then that one of the dominant characteristics of progressive rock is its very “Englishness”, as opposed to almost every other form of popular music, which is fundamentally American,

Long before Iron Maiden tried pretty much the same thing, Rush were experimenting into bringing strong doses of hard edged heavy metal into their music: indeed they started life as pretty much a Led Zeppelin rip off. Their music has gone through innumerable changes since then, all of them very successful in my view. There was a worrying time in the mid ‘80s though when they seemed hell bent on becoming Duran Duran clones!

One thing that has always been somewhat controversial about Rush has been their supposed far right, neo fascist political viewpoint. To say the least this is more than far fetched, it is totally ridiculous since Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are both Jewish and Geddy Lee’s parents were Polish Jewish survivors of the Dachau concentration camp. This didn’t stop the trendy Guardian reader types protesting en masse during their British tour in 1977 though – what cretins they are! What Rush actually have done is write a few songs about free will and self determination – this of course goes against the grain with left wingers who idolise the welfare state.

The track in question is the closing movement of a twenty minute “suite” called “2112”. It is actually the track that led to Rush being labelled fascist sympathisers – it is a science fiction based story about a young lad on a world ruled by a totalitarian religious sect who don’t allow any freedom of thought or self expression. The boy finds a guitar and learns to play it, and tells the priests how liberating and enjoyable it is: but of course this goes against the priest’s rigid social policy and they persecute him endlessly. Needless to say it is a parody on the evils of the Soviet Union. The track starts just at the point when the boy has given up the struggle and is about to die – but in the nick of time the “Solar Federation” (aka the Americans…) come to the rescue and overthrow the priests. I love this track – it sums up life’s bitter and long struggle, and the fact that just when everything seems hopeless and beyond recall, there is still, nevertheless, a chance of things working out right. I think it is symbolic of my life, and for this reason it is not only one of my all time favourite top ten tracks, but the best and most appropriate way to finish this album off.

James Buckley

Friday, 06 July 2007