An Embarrassment of Prog

Put down your double-disc concept albums and 25-minute musical fantasias. Everything you love about prog rock lives in the Top 40 and FM radio hits of the 70s. In this episode we’re putting our collective foot on the (classical) gas and sailing away to the point of know return. There may be a little hocus pocus involved assembling this Frankenstein of an episode, but we sure felt like three lucky men by the end. Join Charlie, Henry, and Bill for the most hummable episode of An Embarrassment of Prog yet!   On YouTube: "Classical Gas" on the Smothers Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1xHJRHWOlw   "Sylvia/Hocus Pocus" by Focus on the Old Grey Whistle Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV-X-5CcfYY   "Frankenstein" by the Edgar Winter Group live on the German TV show Rockpalast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh3wIlHqPlI   Matt Berry's perfect prog roast, with a definite nod to Edgar Winter (Snuff Box on "Old Grey Whistle Test"): https://youtu.be/zxB4_uZyWAI?si=a4UQJvukMeh-n12e        

In a voyage to the borderlands of this podcast's announced subject, this week we listen to three records that might not be your (or anyone's) idea of prog rock, but which all share something elusive with the music that more comfortably flies the Mellotron Flag.  We start with the Incredible String Band's 1968 psych-folk opus "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter," cross an ocean and a continent to the sunny L.A.-based sound of Ambrosia's 1975 self-titled debut, and wind up in the studio with Kate Bush and her arrival as a sonic auteur, 1982's "The Dreaming." We finish by facing the question that haunts a project such as this: just what counts as "prog rock" anyway, and why?  Join us in perplexity. Discussed in this episode Incredible String Band's "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" on YouTube Ambrosia's debut album on YouTube Kate Bush "The Dreaming" video on YouTube Kate Bush "Sat in Your Lap' video on YouTube  

King Crimson's 1969 "In the Court of the Crimson King" stands for everything familiar about prog rock—the fantastical lyrics, the eerie ghost-choir Mellotron atmospherics, a brooding atmosphere of Heavy Tunes for Bookish People. But when guitarist Robert Fripp re-formed the band in 1981, after a long personal quest for spiritual and artistic renewal, the sounds that came out were from another universe, a tightly-woven, world-music-and-found-audio informed sound that was...danceable?  Can we even call records like "Discipline" and "Three of a Perfect Pair" prog rock?  Charlie, Henry and Bill talk about the unpredictable road that led to these surprising, thrilling records, the new King Crimson documentary, and why Robert Fripp's NYC album "Exposure" is the secret art-rock gem we want to make one of your new favorites. 3/06/23: UPDATED WITH SOUND CLIPS! Discussed in this episode King Crimson's "Discipline" full album on YouTube King Crimson's "Beat" full album on YouTube King Crimson's "Three Of A Perfect Pair" full album on YouTube Robert Fripp's "Exposure" full album on YouTube The League Of Gentleman's "Dislocated" Live Video 1980 on YouTube King Crimson's "Elephant Talk" Live Video on Fridays 1981 on YouTube

Is there any purer expression of the prog-rock moment than the one-side-per-track "concept album"?  How about a double concept album?  This week, Charlie, Henry and Bill  say Yes to the excess and set sail across the four sides and 80-plus minutes of Yes's 1973 "Tales from Topographic Oceans." Conceived when vocalist Jon Anderson got his hands on Parahamhansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi," gestated in a Georgia hotel room by candelight and born in a London studio decorated as a farm (complete with bales of hay), the result is the record that became an instant symbol of prog rock "going too far."  But could it be that Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman and White found treasure in the musical deeps?  Climb aboard... UPDATE 3/06/23: AUDIO CLIPS ADDED. Click here for Charlie Nieland's "musical map" of "Tales from Topographic Oceans." Yes's "Tales From Topographic Oceans" full album on YouTube

Lace up your fringed boots, grab your favorite woodwind and your ticket for the Renaissance Faire: this week, Charlie, Henry, and Bill dive into the anti-cool heart of prog rock via a pair of mid-70s Jethro Tull masterworks: 1974's "War Child" and 1975's "Minstrel in the Gallery." Turning from the hyper-extended musical excursions of "Thick as a Brick" and "A Passion Play," the band's return to song is also an introduction of spikier melodies and tighter conceptions. Discussed: dressing in doublet and hose, loving (or hating) the movie Time Bandits, a word to the wise about choosing "Bungle in the Jungle" at Karaoke, and an alternate universe in which a certain glam rock icon replaced Ian Anderson on vocals. UPDATE 3/06/2023: NOW WITH AUDIO CLIPS! Discussed in this episode Jethro Tull's "War Child" full album on YouTube Jethro Tull's "Minstrel In The Gallery" full album on YouTube

Charlie, Henry, and Bill begin their journey into wild musical excess with a voyage to 1976 London, as the band Genesis records its first album ("A Trick of the Tail") after the departure of its flamboyant lead singer Peter Gabriel and follows it up with the most Englishly-titled album in rock, "Wind and Wuthering."  Discussed: the music of loss, putting your overture at the end of a record, Phil Collins's big moment, maybe having a little too much synth freedom and a hidden jukebox musical.  3/06/23: UPDATED WITH SOUND CLIPS! Discussed in this episode Genesis's "A Trick Of The Tail" full album on YouTube Genesis's "Wind And Wuthering" full album on YouTube

Picking up from the conversation started in our last episode, Charlie, Bill and Henry head for a visit at the Colony of Slippermen and the second half of "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway," the trippily majestic 1974 album that was Peter Gabriel's last outing with Genesis. Sunny high notes, facing down death, taking a few moments for a jazz odyssey, meeting (and eating) new friends...will Rael make it back to New York City? Will our trio of musical adventurers keep their footing as they Ride the Scree? Will they get lost in a discussion of Kurt Vonnegut's fiction along the way? There's only one way to find out... See the gatefold cover and read Peter Gabriel's liner-notes narratives here-https://www.andyphillips.tv/the-lamb-lies-down-on-broadway-the-full-inner-gatefold-story-and-lyrics/ On YouTube: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Original Mix)-https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaJcanknqCjqtODENGk_L8BKtN7EDLAei&si=Ac6DpzAksyeeIDLa The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (2007 Mix)-https://youtu.be/tax7ZlWyYvA?si=QUfTk6n8QHn0c3Vg German Choir Sings Carpet Crawlers (2010)-https://youtu.be/nDXjfqfwgo0?si=R1-E9WeL0mruySNC The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Live 1974/75 Movie-https://youtu.be/TKS9np3GoWc?si=94UQm4PTAMcRkn8V

The prog-rock podcast you didn’t know you needed is back for a new season of concept albums, long-form musical odysseys, sci-fi scenarios and occasional calls to the Rhyme Police. We’re starting out big, with a 2-part journey into the last record of the Peter Gabriel-era of the band Genesis, 1974’s double album “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.” In a departure from their previous songwriting practice, the band allowed Gabriel to become lyricist-in-chief for an extended suite set in an American environment that seemed a far cry from their previous outings. But as Gabriel dove into a fever-dream trip through New York City, the rest of the group generated a towering musical edifice of its own. Could the two visions be made into a single prog-rock composition? Charlie, Henry, and Bill head for the Chamber of 32 Doors to find out. On YouTube: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Original Mix)-https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaJcanknqCjqtODENGk_L8BKtN7EDLAei&si=Ac6DpzAksyeeIDLa The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (2007 Mix)-https://youtu.be/tax7ZlWyYvA?si=QUfTk6n8QHn0c3Vg The Story Of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Rael NYC Doc)-https://youtu.be/Os-F3DgjYis?si=fkMtVzYJVMXwGZr5 The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Live 1974/75 Movie-https://youtu.be/TKS9np3GoWc?si=94UQm4PTAMcRkn8V Phaedrus' Analysis of The Lamb-https://www.phaedrus.es/publications/the-lamb-lies-down-on-broadway/

The English keyboardist, violinist and composer Eddie Jobson has a career that has touched nearly every corner of prog rock's strangely shaped universe. A prodigy who joined the band Curved Air at the age of 17, he went on to play with Roxy Music and Frank Zappa before becoming part of UK, prog's first "supergroup," in 1977, alongside bassist/vocalist John Wetton, drummer Bill Bruford (both ex-King Crimson) and guitarist Allan Holdsworth. UK burned briefly and brightly, and to lead us through the thrills of their self-titled debut and their follow-up "Danger Money" we're joined by NYC's favorite piano man, Joe McGinty, of Psychedelic Furs and Loser's Lounge fame. On YouTube: U.K.'s 1978 "Penn Landing" show https://youtu.be/12VFzCwub8M U.K.'s debut-https://youtu.be/13RhulcC394 Danger Money-https://youtu.be/nX7XrfR3e3Q Curved Air's "Metamorphosis" https://youtu.be/LzeWmEFa9e0 Roxy Music's "Out of the Blue"  https://youtu.be/2bC5LnCYHk8 Eddie Jobson & Zinc, "Resident" https://youtu.be/A9dYe67my-Y Eddie Jobson/Richie Havens, There's Something About A Train (Amtrak Ad) https://youtu.be/2bC5LnCYHk8 For more Joe McGinty, Check out “Summer Wine” by Alyson Greenfield and Joe McGinty Joemcgintymusic.com

If there's a single record that might be said to occupy the heart of prog rock, there's a good case to be made for Genesis's 1972 "Foxtrot," a record that begins with the cinematic, Mellotron-drenched "Watcher of the Skies," comments on rapacious landlords in a mixture of Dickens and dystopian sci-fi with "Get 'Em Out by Friday" and then winds up with "Supper's Ready," clocking in at almost 24 minutes, a journey through mystery, mythology, identity crisis, and the Book of Revelation that will have you humming along in 9/8. This week, Charlie, Henry, and Bill face down the task of explaining just why this thickly-packed, tuneful and ambitious record winds up an all-thriller, no-filler example of prog rock's pleasures. On Youtube: "Supper's Ready" live in concert (with costume changes!) "Foxtrot" full album  

"The Musical Box!" "Harold the Barrel!" "The Return of the Giant Hogweed! "You may be asking "Could these possibly be the titles of enduring classics that no home should be without?" You might already suspect that we'd answer that question in the affirmative, but whether you're already a fan of the 1971 Genesis album Nursery Cryme or just want to increase the amount of joy in your life, in this episode Charlie, Henry, and Bill tell the story of how Phil Collins and Steve Hackett joined Gabriel, Banks, and Rutherford to brew this delightful concoction. (And stay tuned for part 2, in which we forge ahead into 1972's Foxtrot and the apocalyptic "Supper's Ready.") Links for listeners: On Spotify: Songs from this episode. On Youtube: Genesis live on Belgian TV 1972 Genesis live at Bataclan Paris 1973 "Nursery Cryme" full album

“Have you walked on the stones of years?  When you speak, is it you that hears?” If these lyrical questions are familiar, you’re one of thousands of prog fans who looked at the crudely rendered, mechanical tank-armadillo creature on the cover of Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s TARKUS and said “I want to know more.” Did you ask yourself "What is the 'Endless Enigma', anyway" as you gazed at their fused heads on the cover of their follow-up, TRILOGY? This week, Charlie, Henry, and Bill get an organ transplant (sorry) from prog rock’s keyboard-centric power trio to take you on a trip into a futuristic dystopia of heavy rhythms, jazz riffs and sci-fi themes.  Plus: we dare to ask—is there such a thing as “dirtbag prog”? Discussed in this episode The Nice's "America" on YouTube Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Tarkus" full album on YouTube E. Power Biggs "Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor" by J. S. Bach on YouTube Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Trilogy" full album on YouTube